Playing aggressive junglers is a great way to increase your impact early on in the match to prevent it from going bad later on.
There are jungle champions that are excellent at creating early leads that you can snowball and carry games way harder. These are usually picks with extremely quick clear or higher damage than most other champions during the first few levels.
This list will cover the top 7 most aggressive junglers in League of Legends, their playstyles, and pros & cons, and it will help you get the most out of playing them.
7. Kha’Zix
Kha’Zix is an amazing champion and one of the best solo carries on this list. Once you start one-shotting enemies with Kha, you will have a hard time feeling the same joy with another jungler.
When it comes to the early game with this champion, there are many options to consider. You can gank as soon as you hit level 2, you can invade the enemy at level 3, or you can just do a safe full clear.
The main thing you will want to do as Kha is to generate a lead and keep it. And you definitely don’t want to fall behind on Kha. Because when you do so, it will really be hard to come back and make an impact, no matter how aggressive you are.
My favorite method of getting a lead with this champion is through invading the enemy jungler.
I will often fully clear the blue side and then invade the enemy at their Red. This is extremely consistent and easy to execute in low elo since the lower-ranked players always start their clears from the bot lane.
Another thing you should do as Kha is contest/take Dragons and Heralds. You can do it solo or with your team, depending on the circumstances. If you think that the enemy will be coming to fight you, you can always wait for them in a bush to catch them off guard.
In the late game as Kha, you will want to avoid big fights because you will not be able to proc your passive for bonus damage.
The best you can do is split-push a lane, or have someone else in your team split-push. This will disband the enemies and allow you to take them one by one.
6. Olaf
Olaf is a true representation of an aggressive jungler, and he is the greatest champion when you want to rely only on yourself.
Unlike Nidalee, Olaf is perfect for lower elos. He is much easier to execute, and the lower-ranked players have a much harder time countering him.
The main thing that makes him hard to counter is his insane healing. Even the high elo, players with proper anti-heal itemization have problems dealing with Olaf’s notorious healing.
But despite being really strong when played correctly, he still has some vulnerabilities. Olaf has really low mobility, and to make him work you need to get in the face of the enemy, no matter what.
Luckily, his Qs provide excellent slow, and landing them consistently will help you chase down most champions easily.
To get great at Olaf you will need to learn to auto-attack efficiently. This means you will have to attack without losing time between attacks. Pulling this off requires some practice since Olaf’s attack speed changes constantly due to his passive effects.
Read Also: 10 Best Junglers for Beginners
5. Lee Sin
Lee Sin is one of the most fun aggressive champions you can play. The greatest testament to this are the Lee Sin mains who have a 40% win rate and still pick him in your ranked games.
Lee is one of the strongest early-game champions and he enables you to perform ganks successfully as soon as you hit level 2.
The main spell for his level-2 combo is Q, and the secondary spell will be optional (either W or E). Most often you’ll want to take E for the extra slow it gives, but sometimes W will be great for closing distance.
To perform well as Lee sin, you will want to keep your eye on the map constantly. Every missed opportunity in the early game pushes you further away from victory. But if you do well in the early game, you will have no problems scaling well into the mid and late game.
The thing that drives most people to play Lee Sin is his unlimited outplay potential.
It is a thing to respect but you need to keep in mind that consistency will always trump cool outplays. You should strive to keep your plays simple and effective, saving montage plays for when you are ahead.
To close out the games with Lee Sin, you will need to have a really strong macro/game knowledge.
Your responsibility is to do all the objectives when ahead, and direct your team towards the right decisions. If the game drags out for too long, and you failed to take objectives when ahead, you can easily lose the game.
4. Jarvan IV
Jarvan is a very versatile champion that is usually played as a fighter, but he can be successfully played as an assassin too. He has a strong presence in the jungle and the ability to easily snowball games.
As with all other junglers on this list, you will want to check lanes for ganks all the time.
When playing Jarvan I will usually start Red, path to Blue, and take it alongside Gromp for a fast level 3. I will generally look for ganks while walking to Blue and when finishing the Gromp.
The only times you should be full clearing as Jarvan is when you have weak laners, like Kassadin for example. There is rarely an early game fight you can win with these hyper scaling mid laners.
But in most situations, Jarvan’s E + Q combo can provide enough damage and CC for anyone on his team to score a kill and get ahead.
In the later stages of the game, the best thing to do is look for fights when your R is up. There are always good opportunities to trap enemies and have you and your team beat them up.
Read Also: 7 Best Utility Junglers
3. Vi
Vi is definitely a champion you should consider if your playstyle is primarily aggressive. She has really simple and effective mechanics, but she is really a fun jungler to play.
In the early game, you can gank as soon as you hit level 3. And to perform successful ganks, you’ll simply want to go behind the enemy and close their exits. This will usually grant you a free kill or a Flash at least.
A great trick that will make your ganks much more impactful is learning to hold Q.
When you charge and hold Vi’s Q, many enemies will be startled, they will panic-Flash or start moving up and down. In any case, they will either lose a Flash or time that they could have used for getting further away from you.
The time you should really focus on ganking is after hitting level 6 since Vi’s R is a really powerful tool for fights. My suggestion would be to always look for bot plays since that is where you can get the biggest leads.
And even if you fail to kill the bot opponents, your team will still be in a much better position, and you will most likely have better chances of taking the Dragon.
Speaking of objectives, Vi is really good at solo-killing them. If you are sure the enemy does not have vision on neutrals you can simply take a Herald or a Dragon without anyone’s assistance.
2. Nidalee
Nidalee is a queen of aggressive junglers. She is just made to exert pressure on the enemies as soon as she gets out of the base.
This is a champion that has been performing consistently well ever since her release, and can 1v9 games in every elo.
But despite being strong in all ranks and servers, I would not recommend playing Nidalee if you are below high-Platinum. Nidalee can be a tricky pick for newer players and those that lack mechanical skills, but she is powerful nonetheless.
So it’s true, Nidalee requires really strong mechanics which can be hard to pull off, especially if you lack fundamental game knowledge.
The main qualities you will need to perform consistently as Nidalee are great clearing speed and landing most of your Qs. Those who choose to play Nidalee now are in luck since the jungle has been simplified by Riot, and you will have a much easier time clearing camps.
But in any case, if you can develop a fast clear speed as Nidalee you’ll be able to invade the enemy jungler and be the aggressor in every match.
1. Nunu
I saved the best for the last, and I am proud to introduce you to full AP Nunu. Nunu is definitely the most aggressive jungler in the game, and this build makes him even more aggressive.
To make the AP Nunu playstyle work, you will need these items like Hextech Rocketbelt, Rabadon’s Deathcap, and Void Staff. As for the runes, going for Dark Harvest and Relentless Hunter is always a good option.
The goal with AP Nunu is to get as fed as possible, as fast as possible. And to do this, we start out by learning my tried and tested route that works across all elo brackets.
The route starts with Red buff regardless of the side, then I always snowball my way into Raptors and try to find a gank on mid. Afterward, I will clear Blue and Gromp, and look for a gank mid or top. If there are no gank options, I just take Scuttle and reset.
After the first reset, the best thing you can do is to look for ganks on low-mobility targets.
If you have done a couple of nice ganks, you’ll probably be strong enough to do objectives. You’ll want to get Heralds and Dragons in every game possible. Nunu can do true damage with his Q, so he’s excellent at taking down objectives alone.
In the mid to late game, you will want to continue securing objectives and your additional responsibility will be engaging in fights.
Other than that, you will often find that your carries will be in a bad position. You can use this to your advantage as enemies will all look to all-in your carry. And if you just stand near, you will essentially have enemies come to you, making it easy for you cast your R.
Read Also: Top 10 Best Champions with Resets in LoL
Conclusion
Aggressive junglers in League of Legends are great for taking control of the games and carrying your team.
Depending on your needs, there are several good options. If you enjoy highly mechanical champions with unlimited skill caps, you can go for Nidalee or Lee Sin.
If you want something that is somewhat easier, you can always go for picks like Nunu and Vi. There are also two good options for those who like invading and clearing objectives, and those are Kha’Zix and Olaf.
Read Also: 7 Most Aggressive Mid Laners
