Monkeying Around in the Jungle – Bronze IV Game 5 [LOL]

I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable at Bronze IV, having a few wins under my belt. In this game, I went with Wukong in the jungle again. Since I was 3rd pick on our team and mid was taken by Vel'Koz, I figure this worked out since I feel I can play jungle decently now.

Bronze IV – Game 5 – 37 LP
BANS – Kass, Leona, Teemo/ Blitz, Mundo, Thresh
Our Team – Jinx(a), Vel'Koz(m), Wukong(j), Shen(t), Heimer(s)
Opposing Team – LeBlanc(m), Pantheon(j), Ezreal(a), Zed(t), Taric(s)
My Role & Champ – Jungle – Wukong
Map Side – BLUE

Started with Red Buff

I started red and with the help of Heimer and Jinx had it down by 2:11. Vel'Koz and Shen we already in their respective lanes – in the future, I need to ask for assistance in leashing and keeping on eye on the 2nd buff. While it did not hurt me this game, it can be bad. Wu does much better with the blue buff as he can be a bit mana starved early without it and I have not figured out how to get a faster start with him yet. Facing a Pantheon jungler, I don't think it is too bad though, since I have never had a Pantheon counter jungle the first set of buffs – Lee Sin on the other hand or Udyr, I've had counter and it was not a good thing. Blue buff down at 2:52.

First Blood

LeBlanc drew first blood on Vel'Koz in the mid lane as Vel suffered a lag spike and sat there as she unloaded her level 3 combo on him – Q-E-Auto-W-Q-Auto and Vel's 392 hp were gone. She took some turret damage, but nothing that didn't let her stay in lane and increase her advantage.

Vision is Key

With nothing I could do to help mid, I went down to bot lane and intimidated Taric and Ezreal for a bit, but nothing came of it. I then headed top lane where I ran over a ward which gave warning and let Zed escape back under his turret. Shen eventually took advantage of the minor damage I did though, and got a kill on him at 7:12. I backed and purchased some nice Boots of Speed, a Spirit Stone, and a Vision Ward. I have started buying Vision Wards particularly as jungler since they can last for a LONG time – I've had one sit in the bot side river bush for 30 minutes. They are only 25 more gold and can give vision for much longer than the Stealth Wards. I am a big proponent of warding regardless of which role you play – it is always important to know where the enemy is.

Don't Face Zed with Half Health

Vision doesn't help though, when you try to go against a full health Zed when you are at 50%. I thought I would help out Shen top lane, and ended up getting smacked around and almost costing Shen his life as well, he got Zed though before Pantheon jumped in with his ultimate. Shen was able to get away and he also did a nice dance to dodge an Ezreal ultimate that came from the bot lane.

With my efforts top lane stymied, I went back to farming the jungle. Clearing my jungle, I did some counter jungling since I saw Pantheon was not around, and then Vel and I headed to bot lane to make some trouble. We interferred with Taric and Ezreal enough that Jinx was able to take down the turret and hit Taric with her ult, getting a nice kill.

Stealing Their Blue Buff

Having given an advantage to bot lane, I headed to the enemy's blue buff to see if it was up. Pantheon was nowhere to be seen so I took it with the help of Jinx and then helped Heimer take out Pantheon when he finally showed up. Things were definitely going in our favor – we were up 2-0 in turrets and 9-4 in kills. I did not have a kill to my name, but I caused enough trouble that I feel I was contributing.

At 15:13 I dove a turret to take out Taric who was down to 126 hp, but I almost died. I need to get better at gauging when to go in and when it is not in my best interest. This time it was close – between the turret and Ezreal, I was down to 150hp and one more shot from either would have taken me down. As it was, Pantheon came out of the jungle as I headed back to the river and took me down.

Mid Game Equality

As seen by Pantheon's play, they were not going to go easily. By 20 minutes they had made up some ground getting 10 kills to our 13 and we were even in turrets. We were 1700 gold ahead due to dragons and cs, but they were not giving up. For myself, I had finished up my Spirit of the Elder Lizard and Merc Treds and was working on a Brutalizer. My Vision Ward was still happily standing in the river bush giving us good vision and providing escape routes when needed.

Shen was carrying us at 5-0, but Zed was starting to split push and had the most cs at 135. I decided to go after him top lane while the rest of my team pushed mid. They knocked down the mid inhibitor and the bot inhibitor turret by 24 minutes while I forced Zed to back without getting our turret. We were definitely on our way to victory.

Pushing to the End

Once the bot turret was down, the enemy started chasing Jinx who was the last one left alive down there. They ran him out to the dragon and he flashed into our jungle where he hid in a bush. When I saw the chase, I headed mid and ran up the river to the bush and waited for them to come by – when they did, I landed my ult on Taric and EZ, knocking them up while Jinx laid into them with his ult and a few autos and killed them both. We were now up 25-15 in kills with an inhibitor and 6 of their turrets down.

With bot and mid in trouble for them, we focused on the top lane to increase the pressure and by 27 minutes, we had all their inhibitors down. They tried to defend, pushing us back once, but there were too many minions and we were too far ahead in gold for them to keep us away. At 29:26, we ended it with 33-20 kills and a 13600 gold advantage. I felt pretty good about this game, but I think with Shen, we never seemed to be in danger.

What I Learned

• When playing jungle, ask to have someone watch whichever buff you are not going for first.
• Do not try to engage Zed when at half health – he will destroy you.
• Be careful when tower diving so you can get the kill and still survive – dying while tower diving is not smart in most situations.

Game Result – WIN
My K/D/A/CS – 7/5/5/69
Final Build – Black Cleaver, Spirit of the Elder Lizard, Mercury's Treads, Pickaxe, Vampiric Scepter, 2xStealth Wards, Warding Totem