Rengar is a strong jungler, fun to play, and very rewarding when mastered to his full potential. He does great in skirmishes and duels than many other assassins.
But establishing control in the early game can be very challenging for Rengar, especially if you don’t know how to gank before level 6.
Falling behind and going up against tank matchups in the jungle makes it tough for Rengar to carry games. More CC and protection on the enemy team also increase the difficulty of the assassin’s job.
So, you need to know how to gank effectively as Rengar both before and after you unlock his ultimate.
You need to be aware of Rengar’s strengths and limitations, as well as what the enemy champions can do to him at any given time.
And in this post, I’m going to talk about the ways you can dominate with Rengar and avoid making mistakes, especially during the early game.
Let’s begin.
How to Gank as Rengar Before Level 6?
Even though Rengar focuses on farming the jungle before level 6, he isn’t the worst ganker in the early game.
One way Rengar can gank before level 6 is by sneaking up in the bot or top lane bushes and jumping on his opponents with his passive.
For this, he needs to have Oracle Lens for making sure there’s no vision in the area as well as an empowered Bola Strike (E) for applying crowd control.
There are other ways to make use of Rengar during the early game too.
If you can successfully predict where an enemy player will be, you can wait for them in one of the bushes and assassinate them quickly.
Rengar’s damage is really good early on, so don’t be afraid to sneak up on your enemies.
But for ganking pre-6 as Rengar, you should also consider different aspects of a successful gank. Here they are.
Read Also: League of Legends Jungle Pets – Complete Guide
Start the Game with a Plan
If you are just playing the game to see what happens, you are already making a mistake. And the chances that you’ll get outperformed by enemy jungler are high, especially in higher elos.
Of course, being flexible in any term is very important. But some general things like mobility & CC of the enemy champions can determine what you should and can do in order to have more successful ganks.
So, always think about what you can do to the enemy team and what they can do to you even before the game starts. And construct a plan around that!
Brushes
Rengar’s passive, the Unseen Predator allows him to dash for a decent range into anything that you can target with basic attacks.
Not only is it a huge part of Rengar’s mobility as an assassin, but using jungle and lanes bushes for ganking and fighting in general, is a huge part of mastering this champion.
Take a good look at your surrounding whenever you’re fighting with Rengar and analyze how you can take advantage of it.
Read Also: How to Gank as Shaco? (Guide)
Vision
Brushes are a huge part of Rengar core gameplay, but they’re also likely to be warded by the enemy team.
You don’t want to approach from a warded brush or else you will just waste your time and fail the gank. As a jungler though, you are responsible for clearing vision so you can take control of the whole jungle.
So remember to get more Control Wards and clear enemy vision with them as well as Oracle Lens.
Ferocity
Another part of Rengar’s passive is Ferocity. When fully stacked, he can use one upgraded ability either to maximize his damage output (Q), gain some extra sustain (W), or even land the only CC that he has (E).
You gain one stack of Ferocity when you jump or attack a target with your abilities. And let me tell you, managing this passive has a huge impact on your ganks.
For the early game though, we mostly want to focus on Bola Strike (E) with its Ferocity Bonus, because during the early phase of the game, CC makes ganking easier for every jungler.
So if you are going for a gank, you can root the enemy champion while he tries to escape with this ability.
Wave Management
Every jungler knows that for a successful gank, your target position in lane is very important. I mean, you can’t gank the enemy while he is under the turret, or at least not in the early game.
Wave management, however, has two main sections that every jungler needs to learn and master so they can improve their macro gameplay significantly.
With Rengar, we also want to read the map through wave management to predict the enemy’s position and be there for a gank at the correct time.
The wave has a direct impact on laner’s position. You can check and see if they are getting pushed in, or if they can freeze and force the enemy champion to stay in lane.
Whatever the case, if you are playing Rengar, you really want to be there at the correct time more than any other champion in the game.
Read Also: Top 15 Best Off-Meta Junglers
Lane Gank
I would say that you need to play Rengar like a real hunter, unexpected.
Thanks to the brushes that exist in side lanes, you can always surprise enemies and burst them down, either killing the target or burning their spells.
Simply approach and walk into the brushes without being seen, to avoid this you should watch for enemy minions and use Oracle Lens to make sure that brushes are not warded.
Read Also: How to Jungle as Yasuo in LoL?
River Gank
If you want to approach a lane from the river, do not forget about vision and Ferocity management if possible.
Blast Cones can help you with getting into brushes and activating your passive for dashing on enemies if they are in range already. So even if a brush is warded it would be too late for them to react if you get in with a Blast Cone.
You don’t want to waste too much time with river ganks, but you can put a lot of pressure on each lane by clearing their vision and attempting to repeat a gank.
Runes
It is recommended that you have a selection of mobility runes while playing Rengar.
At the current meta, runes like Magical Footwear & Relentless Hunter are popular among junglers, and can give you some extra movement speed to help you travel across the map faster.
What Will Be Different When You Have Your Ultimate?
If you have a lead, you will feel strong enough to engage and eliminate your target, no matter who they are.
If you are still scaling, your ultimate it’s a perfect engage for an assassin, so you don’t need to walk into a lane for ganks. You can join fights or even start them with your ultimate and pressure the entire map that way.
Read Also: How to Gank as Kayn? (Guide)
Conclusion
I know Rengar isn’t the easiest jungler to figure out, especially if you’re new to the role.
Ganking before level 6 can be really tough if your team is pinging you for help and but you have no brushes to take advantage of your passive.
So, consider the lane ganks early on, or at least inform your team to play more passively until you unlock your ultimate. That’s how you should approach playing Rengar in solo queue!
Read Also: How AP Rengar One-Shots Players – Complete Build Guide