When to Back as a Jungler (The Gold Mistake)

Nothing in this dataset annoyed me more than this one. Not fights, not pathing, not mechanics. Junglers in Gold walk around with a full item sitting in their inventory, unbought, and then wonder why the Ahri they ganked didn't die.

The numbers back that up. Our coaches review ranked games from Gold junglers, and we went through 270 of those reviews and logged every mistake the coach called out. 3,644 in total. Sitting on gold showed up in 57% of them, 155 reviews, 301 separate moments where a coach paused the video to ask some version of why haven't you based yet. And in 23 of those reviews it was the main thing the coach wanted fixed, not a side note. It happens early and it happens mid about equally, and it only drops off late because by then the game is usually decided by whoever got their items first.

So this is the whole article on one mistake. It deserves it.

The rule is simple and you're still not doing it

If you have the gold for an item, base. Not after one more camp. Now.

One of our coaches said this to a student who was still hitting grubs with his item sitting in the shop.

"When you have item you should insta-base"

Here's the thing people get wrong about this. They think basing costs them time. It doesn't. With the item you clear every camp 4 to 5 seconds faster, so you finish the clear at the same time you would have anyway, except now you're stronger when something happens. One camp is never worth delaying that. Another coach watched a student clear and invade with a full item's worth of gold in his pocket and told him the same thing. Once the urgent play is over, base immediately, then clear down.

Check the shop while you're on a camp. If the item is there, go. That's honestly the entire system.

The krugs to wolves walk

This one is its own disease. The student finishes krugs, has 1,600 gold, and runs the entire length of the map to wolves. Then wonders why he's behind.

"There's not a single item in the game where you don't have your item with 1600, and again, this is from running to krugs to wolves, or running from fountain to wolves"

Homeguard or the portal gets you to the next camp just as fast as walking does. So honestly the walk saves you nothing, and the item you could have bought is sitting in base doing nothing. One coach watched a student do this with a tunnel available and basically begged him to stop.

"Anything you have completed, you should look to base. You have tunnel right now, instead of running all the way from krugs to wolf camp, how about you just base right now and then wolf,"

The coach thought the extra item would have killed the Ahri in the next gank. Another student did the same walk and ended up unable to take a free dragon when his bot lane got a double kill and the enemy jungler was top side, because he had no completed item. Base after krugs, buy Tiamat or a pickaxe plus a glowing mote, then go to wolves.

One more version. A student checked the enemy top camps and then walked all the way from enemy wolves back to his own wolves. Look at the map and compare the two lines. The recall line is shorter every time.

You're not strong until you spend it

This is the part that actually loses games. The student gets a couple of kills, feels strong, and walks into a fight with 2,000 gold unspent.

"right now, you think you're strong, this is an analogy I always like to say, you're 4-1-5, you think you're strong"

I love that analogy because it's exactly right. Until the gold is spent, the kills didn't happen. You're fighting as the champion you were before the kills, against people who may have already based.

"Right now, you have Hubris money in base, why would you ever want to fight when you have such a huge power spike?"

Another coach, watching a Morgana player trying to help teammates before Liandry's, said the same thing. Base, then force fights. Before that spike she's too weak to help anyone, so there's no reason to be there. The fix is the same every time. Make a defensive play if you have to, throw a W, run, clear your camps, base, and fight after you've bought the item.

The worst version I saw was a student starting dragon with 600 gold unspent after watching Talon base. Talon came back with his items and killed him.

"I think the really simple one that could apply to any champion is the fact you should know, guaranteed, he's going to be stronger than you"

Doesn't matter what champion either of you are playing. He based, you didn't, he's stronger. Treat it as a fact and spend your gold before the fight.

And if you've got no ult and no ignite on top of the unspent gold, there's no decision to make. One student joined a bot side fight in that state and died. Get the item, get the ult back, then take the same fight and win it easily. Another started a 3v3 mid with a thousand gold in his inventory, an enemy already dead and nothing up. That fight isn't the win condition. Base and open to the next objective.

Dragon in 30 seconds and you're doing krugs

The objective timer should make you base faster, not slower. The student sees dragon spawning in 30 seconds, has 3,000 gold, and goes to krugs.

"dragon spawning in 30 seconds, you have 3,000 gold, how about we base, instead of doing krugs, we skip krugs, base"

Skip the camp, base, run to dragon with the items. One of our coaches said basically the same thing with dragon 40 seconds out.

"You should be looking to base. You have 1,700 gold. Dragon's spawning in 40."

The expensive version was a student with about 2,000 gold who ran to dragon while his teammates were in base and died to the collapse. He could have bought everything, done gromp, wolves and raptors, shown up at level 10 with the items, and won that fight. Instead the enemy got the dragon for free.

It applies late too. After a won Baron with Elder also up, one student didn't base for his full Deathcap and the team went in 3v5 and lost both buffs. There was no rush. Base, buy the full item, group all five mid, then dive the nexus. Same with Atakhan. If you're far up the map with a lot of gold before it spawns, you don't need to be there. Base in the bush, spend everything, take the portal and start playing for it.

You got the kill. Leave.

A kill is the end of the play, not the start of another one. One coach said this to a student who got a kill and then kept fighting with about 2,000 gold.

"I think once you get the kill, A, you could just play to leave, you don't need to keep fighting, you already got the kill, you have 2,000 gold"

Play to leave after the kill. Same after crab, same after dragon. One student took a kill and crab and then went for a flippy dragon where the enemy Fizz and Skarner could show up. The coach's answer was to take the crab, base instantly, then do red and krugs and turn the kill into dragon or plates. Another pulled dragon and then hung around checking enemy bot camps that the coach had already tracked as down. There's nothing there. Base.

And if there's honestly nothing to do, no gank, no camps, no crab, that's the clearest base signal there is. One student stood around with Hubris, Dirk and pickaxe money and lost his red buff to an invade he would have won if he'd based and run straight to it.

The other mistake, basing short

Now the flip side, because there's a wrong way to base too. Don't recall 100 gold short of an item when there's a camp next to you.

"check your gold before you base, here, you're actually one or two camps from full item, before you base, you should always check how much money do you need for item"

One student started recalling 130 gold short of Hubris while standing right by his camps. Kill two or three camps, then base on the full item and go bot side. Check your gold before you press B. Every time.

The same logic applies in the shop. A student left base 8 gold short of Last Whisper with two kills worth of gold unspent. Wait the few seconds, or buy the Warhammer. And don't leave with 340 gold either.

"Leaving base with 340 gold feels really bad, because basically the raptors and krugs you got were basically worthless"

Sell the potion for a Longsword or buy boots. Leaving gold in the shop is the same mistake as leaving it in your inventory on the map.

Two more. One student took raptors before basing even though he'd left base with 130 gold and the camp didn't give him anything new. Basing straight away would have been about 30 seconds faster and put him on gromp to counter gank with the exact same items. Do the math first. And one student based so late his team was already dead at dragon by the time he arrived. The item doesn't matter if the fight is over. Base earlier so you're there in time.

One last one I think about a lot. A student didn't base and ended up stuck between camps, not on his respawn timer and not able to reach the crab or Ekko's blue. He got lucky and nobody punished him. Spend the gold and be back on your camp respawn. Awkward is a position, and it's a bad one.

How we counted

270 reviews of Gold junglers by Jungle Kingdom coaches, all real ranked games. We logged each mistake the coach pointed out, sorted them into types, and counted how many reviews each type appeared in. Most of the reviews come from one of our coaches, so this is what our coaching team flags, not a survey of every coach in the world. Quotes are the coach's own words with the filler cut.