Got a Kill as Jungler? Take the Objective

Getting a kill as a jungler isn't the win. It's the down payment. The win is the dragon, the grubs, the Herald, the tower or the Baron you take while that player is grey, and most Gold junglers walk right past it.

We went through 270 reviews of real Gold jungle games and logged every mistake our coaches called out, 3,644 in total. Not turning a kill or a won fight into an objective showed up in 56% of those reviews. That's 152 games where the coach stopped the video and asked some version of "why aren't you hitting the objective?" It got flagged 255 times overall, and it was the main lesson of the whole review in 23 of them.

And it gets worse as the game goes on. It showed up more in the late game than in the early or mid game, which is exactly when the objective on the table is a Baron and the mistake costs you the match.

A number advantage is a question

Every time someone on the enemy team dies, one question should pop into your head before anything else. Is there an objective up?

"anytime you have number advantage, the first thing that's popping in your head is, can I get an objective? Is there an objective up?"

That student had just gotten a double kill. 5v3, Herald up, and he hesitated because the enemy bot lane was strong. A strong bot lane doesn't matter much when two of their teammates are grey. Pull the Herald right after the kills.

And it doesn't have to be a big kill. A support death counts. One of our coaches put it about as plainly as it gets.

"there's nothing more OP in League of Legends than the number advantage, even if it's a support kill, you have a number advantage"

Ping Baron, ping it again, and pull it.

Pull it now, not after your camps

This is the version that frustrates me most, because the student is doing something that looks productive. Two enemies die, and he goes to clear wolves and Gromp first. By the time he walks to dragon they've respawned and it's a coin flip 4v4.

"If you pull right now, it's 4v2. Their mid can't come, and their support can't come, because they're dead."

Pull dragon instantly when two of them are dead. Then do your camps. They'll still be there.

Same thing with grubs. Get the top kill, pull grubs right away. One student only started hitting them once the enemy had respawned, which turns a free objective into a contested one for no reason at all.

Stop chasing the kill

I see this all the time. The fight's won, the objective is right there, and the jungler runs off after the one guy who got away.

"Just have to keep hitting the dragon, I don't know why you want to kill so bad"

Just keep hitting the dragon. It's worth more than the kill you want.

Chasing is honestly a maybe at best. One student left a free dragon to go save bot lane and chase an Evelynn, with the enemy mid, support and a tank dead or low. Evelynn has invis. You catch her or you don't. The dragon was a guarantee.

"So who's going to stop you if you just go solo dragon? Nobody, right? So this is just a guaranteed free dragon"

Take the guaranteed free dragon. Another student chased a Warwick when the rest of the enemy team was dead, with no ults on his side and a Vladimir waiting to win the 2v3. Don't blindly chase. Start the Herald now and help chase afterwards if it's still on.

And chasing a chunked target is its own trap. After a gank took Kai'Sa's flash and a big piece of her HP, one student kept diving for about 20 seconds looking for the kill. Sylas could show up any moment and turn it into a lost 2v3, and the team had prio on dragon the whole time.

"I think now we just instantly pull dragon. I think looking to dive or continue the fight is bad."

Pull dragon instantly after the gank chunks them and burns flash. At soul point it's even worse. One student chased half HP enemies instead of starting dragon, a teammate followed him and died, and the team went from up numbers to down numbers and lost the soul. If you're up a lot of HP, immediately start dragon.

When their jungler dies, so does their smite

That's your Baron. No smite on their side means they can't steal it, and you get the full window.

"The second we kill Nunu, we should be spam-picking Baron, the second we kill Smite, boom, Baron, Baron, Baron"

Spam ping Baron the second the enemy jungler dies and take it. One student killed Briar and only pinged Baron after the coach honestly had to beg him, with their jungler dead for over 40 seconds. Another had four enemies dead and no enemy smite, and the team still didn't take a 5v1 Baron. Take it, base, play for dragon. Take a reward after every won fight.

It's not only kills either. If their jungler has to leave, that's a window too. One student watched a Vi with no items who would have to base within about 30 seconds and still didn't pull dragon. If you know he's basing soon, just pull it.

Baron over everything

The late game is where this hurts most, and it's mostly Baron. AD carry dead at the 45 second mark, pull Baron. Smolder chunked and forced to base with Ezreal bot, pull Baron. That's a 5v3 with your damage. The student who ran around the map instead pulled it once all five enemies were alive again.

The other late game habit is hitting the wrong building.

"You have to understand, Baron is always better than Inhib, because when you have Baron, you'll break Inhibs."

Take Baron over the inhib, every time. Same with sieging into a Ziggs who defends solo. He's one of the best champions in the game at holding base. Go Baron, and if you have an ult, put it on Ziggs so he has to Zhonya and can't throw spells at your AD carry.

And don't back off when you're the one who should be leading it. A student at 3.5 items and level 16 danger pinged Baron while his team was only down one. Group with your team and be the one pulling Baron.

There's one exception, and I love it. When their whole team is dead for 30 to 40 seconds and you're far ahead, you don't need the objective. You need the Nexus.

"So you shouldn't even do Dragon here. The second they all die, you should just run mid right now."

Run mid right away and end it.

Already have it? Use it

Taking Baron and then going back to your camps is the same mistake wearing a different hat. With Baron up and half their team dead, push waves and take mid, top or bot tower and inhibs. Towers give gold too, and nobody is there to defend.

Herald works the same way. If you have it after a won fight, use it right away on top or mid and take the full tower. And if you're way ahead, one tower isn't enough. Use it for two or three towers.

When you're ahead, take everything

If you're far ahead of the enemy jungler, your job is to guarantee every objective. First dragon, first grubs, second dragon, first Herald. Not giving some away to grow your lead somewhere else.

And don't hand anything over for free.

"No one ever gives Herald. It's never good. Ever."

Even when you do lose one, trade. If they take dragon, set up for one or two grubs. If you lose grubs, take dragon.

"Your job as a jungler generally speaking is if you lose the first dragon you want to get one or two grubs"

Speed matters too. Kill each dragon as early as you can, because the faster it dies the faster it respawns, and soul shows up a few minutes sooner. That's honestly the easiest way to close games.

Know what you're playing for

Most of these come from the same root. The student doesn't know what the next objective is, so he fights and chases for no reason.

"I think the intention here is really important. What's the next objective? What are we playing for?"

Decide the next objective and play for it. Keep a priority list in your head with objectives first. A free objective beats a random chase into their jungle with no flash and no ult, every single time.

How we counted

270 reviews of Gold junglers by Jungle Kingdom coaches, every one of them a real ranked game. Most of the reviews come from one of our coaches. We recorded each mistake the coach pointed out, sorted them into types, and counted how many reviews each type appeared in. This is what our coaches flagged, not a survey of every coach out there. Quotes are the coach's own words with the filler cut.