The jungle is probably the greatest role for carrying in League of Legends. But it can be a little overwhelming for new players.
And playing complicated champions makes it more difficult than it needs to be.
The best thing you can do as a beginner is to choose some easy junglers which will make your game more enjoyable. These include champions with simple mechanics but impactful spells so you can find quick success in those first solo queue matches.
Here I will cover the top 10 best junglers in League of Legends for beginners, which are powerful and fun to play.
1. Master Yi
Master Yi is my first recommendation for new jungle players. He is extremely fun to play and deals massive amounts of damage. But if you chose to play him, prepare to be called a noob for the entirety of your League career.
This champion is simple in both his kit and the way he is supposed to be played. With many champions, you will need to learn advanced mechanics and play the game in a really specific way. This is not the case with Yi.
Master Yi is strong at every stage of the game, but you will mainly want to farm in the beginning. This is because you want to insure a safe game and proper scaling because he is the strongest in the late game.
Yi also has a high amount of viable builds. You can go on-hit, building items like the Blade of the Ruined King, Guinsoo’s, and so on. This build will be great for quickly melting tanks, but it will work great vs. everyone else.
The other build you can run is a one-shot build. This build consists of running Hail of Blades, which allows you to do 3 fast auto-attack strikes, and getting items that amplify your damage. These items can be full crit or full lethality.
I personally like running the lethality build the most. I will first build the Duskblade which allows me to one shot enemy one by one. This playstyle of disappearing and reappearing to kill another enemy feels really satisfying.
The crit and lethality builds are a little advanced, so you will need a little experience before executing them. They are really bad for killing tanky targets, and that can easily cost you a game.
The key thing you need to learn about Yi is how to play team fights.
You will most likely feel tempted to run in team fights and try to 1v5 the entire team. I understand how appealing this is, but it is something you should never do. The best thing is to wait for the enemy to use their CC and then go in.
2. Amumu
Amumu is a great champion for beginner junglers. He has easy yet fun mechanics and it can teach you how to play as a tank jungler.
In the early game with Amumu, you will mainly want to chill before level 3. Then, you will have all 3 of your basic spells unlocked, and you will be able to look for ganks. If you do not find good gank opportunities, you can just continue clearing to level 6.
Once you hit level 6, you will really need to gank. Amumu’s E along with his R provides one of the greatest CC combos in the game. So even if your allies don’t have any crowd control, you’ll still have a great time ganking their lanes.
A great way to get the lead in the early game is to gank bot lan though. If you manage to severely damage the enemies or kill them, you will easily be able to take objectives such as the Dragon.
This is how you will want to play the most of the game – assist allies and take objectives along with them.
In late-game teamfights, you will either want to protect your carries or focus on the enemy carries.
Another thing you should always look to do is stun multiple enemies with your R, since this has the potential to turn your whole game around.
Read Also: 15 Best Mid Laners for Beginners
3. Nunu
Nunu is an AP tank champion who will teach you how to read the map in the early game and perform successful ganks.
With Nunu, you’ll generally be strong enough to gank after your first camp.
If you are doing Blue Buff for example, and the enemy is on low HP on your side of the mid lane, it will usually be easy to take them out by rolling a snowball in their direction. In the worst-case scenario, you will get a Flash out of the enemy.
Nunu is also great for counter-ganking. If you sense an enemy is going to gank your laner, you can charge a snowball and catch the enemies off guard. You will usually win 2v2 fights due to Nunu’s tankiness, and CC.
Another great thing about Nunu is that he is really great at taking neutral objectives. You can easily take out the Rift Herald and the Dragons. His Q coupled with Smite makes him really hard to contest.
A great way to win team fights with Nunu is to go flank the enemy from behind and spam their carries with all your abilities.
4. Rammus
Rammus is a champion that will teach you map presence and the importance of countering and itemization.
He is a champion with high mobility, and as such, he requires you to be really present on the map. If you do not use this strength, then he will pale in comparison to other champions and he will not be very useful.
As you have probably noticed, Rammus is a champion that is mostly made for countering heavy AD comps.
The higher armor he has, the more damage he will deflect to enemies. This makes him really strong into full AD comps and helps you understand how important itemization actually is.
With Rammus, you will want to play the mid and the late game much like Ammumu. This means you will mainly be focusing on helping your team, doing objectives, and catching enemy carries off guard.
In the late game, Rammus can solo kill any ADC champion in League of Legends simply by taunting them with his W.
5. Kha’Zix
Kha’Zix is not necessarily the easiest beginner jungle to pick up, but he is really rewarding for those who like a little challenge.
Kha’Zix is great for teaching you the importance of staying ahead and prioritizing objectives. He excels at catching enemies off guard by invading or flanking them.
When you are playing Kha’Zix, your main goal is to not fall behind simply because it’s really hard to come back on this champion.
To stay ahead you will always want to look at the map and look for opportunities to score kills. Don’t leave every kill to your laners because each kill has the potential to make you snowball the game really hard.
When there are no kill opportunities you can always focus on the objectives. Each objective will push you closer to winning.
A great objective to take with Kha’Zix is the Herald. It will give you much-needed 300 gold for killing it, and 360+ gold when you use it on towers.
Another way to extend your lead is to take dragons. Killing dragons with Kha’Zix is easy, and killing all 4 and getting a soul will usually win you the game.
Read Also: Top 10 Most Fun Junglers
6. Xin Zhao
If I was to start playing jungle again as a beginner, I would most likely play Xin Zhao. He is a strong pick that can do many things and he is extremely satisfying to play.
Xin’s spells are really easy and fun to use. Once his Q is activated, his auto attacks become empowered and the third one will knock up the enemy. His W is a long-range spear thrust, that will slow the enemy and increase the range of your E (allowing you to dash even further).
But his R is one of the most interesting spells in the game since it creates a circle around Xin and blocks all the incoming damage.
As you can see, his kit is quite simple but there are some other things you will need to focus on if you want to win a game. The main thing is map awareness.
Xin Zhao is really strong at ganking as soon as he hits level 3. This means that you will need to spend most checking for possible ganks and counter-gank opportunities.
Xin Zhao is also great for taking objectives and team fighting.
You can solo any objective as long as you are not underleveled and you have at least one back worth of items. In team fights, you can disrupt the enemy team by focusing their carries, and deflecting all the damage with your R.
7. Zac
Zac is a unique AP tank. And the thing I like the most about him is that he can launch himself into the enemy team from the most obscure locations.
I would recommend this champion for a little more advanced beginners since he has a few mechanics that can be a little challenging. His Q, for example, is hard to hit and connect to two enemies, and landing his long-range E is not that easy either.
The early game with Zac is easy though since you will mostly want to farm till level 6. Once you unlock your ultimate you will have a huge power spike with your R. This will make your ganking much easier and more powerful.
In the late game, you will mainly want to focus on being present in team fights, and targeting the enemy carries. You can do this successfully by having a sweeper and jumping from weird spots that enemies would not think of.
8. Jax
Jax is a great champion that allows you to beat down enemies with his lamppost and counter all their auto attacks.
Jax is not a great ganker, and you will mainly want to be full-clearing jungle. This is good if you are a beginner because you will not be pressured to know everything. It will allow you to not fall behind, despite not being great at ganking.
Another great thing about Jax is that he is a hybrid champion. This means that he can build any item and it will synergize well with any build.
This does not mean that you should be overwhelmed by all the options, it just means that you should not overthink your build.
In the late game, you can easily side-push enemy lanes and exert pressure that way.
This is because Jax is extremely strong at 1v1’s and can duel almost anyone, or multiple champions at once. If you are forced into team fights, wait for the enemy to come to you. If you go in first the enemy will most likely be able to escape.
Read Also: 7 Ultra Aggressive Junglers
9. Lillia
Lillia is an amazing champion that will help you understand the importance of clearing fast and playing the team fights well.
The main thing you want to do as Lillia is learning to clear camps as fast as possible. This champion has an intrinsically fast clear and you clearing well will just amplify her power. The faster you clear the faster you will acquire items and reach her late-game potential.
Lillia can be played as a bruiser and as an AP hyper carry.
I personally prefer the AP hyper carry playstyle and I would recommend it for you too. The AP version is simply much better at consistently carrying the games. Once you get a few items, you become a real menace in the fights.
The AP build I am running consists of primarily Liyandry’s Anguish and Demonic Embrace. These items will melt enemies and really synergize well with Lillia’s playstyle. They will deal damage while you are running away around enemies and periodically hitting them.
The other items are completely situational. I would start with a Dark Seal early on and upgrade it as soon as I am done stacking it. I would then transition to Rabadon’s if I am confident that I can survive, or Zhonya’s if I am afraid of the enemy team.
In teamfights, you will want to hit as many enemies as you can.
My main combo is Flashing and hitting 3+ people with my spells, then freezing them with my R. This significantly reduces everyone’s health and allows my team to finish them oft. And if the enemies start focusing on me, I will usually have a Stopwatch to buy enough time.
10. Vi
Vi is my main champion, and it is definitely one of the junglers that I would recommend if you are a true beginner.
Vi has shown to be a consistently strong pick over the seasons and was always reasonably well-balanced. She is not picked very often, and she is not banned often either. This means you will rarely be unable to play it.
Vi’s kit is fairly simple. Her Q requires charging to gain more distance and damage, and it makes Vi dash dealing damage to the enemy.
Her W is a passive that stacks when you auto-attack or damage a champion with a spell. E is essentially an auto attack that damages the enemy, and those in a short distance behind them.
And her R is a point-and-click ability, which makes Vi unstoppable until she reaches and knocks up the enemy.
All these spells are really simple to use. And the only thing that might be somewhat difficult in the beginning is hitting her Q. But after playing Vi for a few games you will feel like you played her forever, she is just easy.
When it comes to builds, you can pretty much build whatever you like as long as it provides damage or defensive stats. If you are playing against carries who you wanna kill you can simply focus on the damage, and if you want to protect your carries you can take defensive items.
It is also important to know that Vi is extremely good at taking objectives, you can solo dragons and Heralds if you are at least level 4 and have two Long Swords and a Smite.
Read Also: 7 Best AP Junglers
Conclusion
There are many champions you can play as a beginner jungler. Different champions will teach you different things about the game.
I would recommend picking the champion you enjoy the most, and sticking with it for about 50 games.
After that, you can start branching out and testing out different playstyles.
Read Also: 10 Best Top Laners for New Players
