Jungle Guide Part 1: Camps and Plants

The jungle can be a dangerous place - but with our help, you will be ready for everything it has by the time the next ranked season is coming. In this first part of our guide, we will cover the basics of the plants and jungle camps.

The Summoner’s Rift map is a sight every League of Legends player is quite familiar with - in fact, it is fundamentally similar to the classical MOBA map from the time Defense of the Ancients was a Warcraft III custom map. Three lanes with a jungle with camps between them and a river bisecting the map - should be simple, right? Well, maybe not quite so simple. The Rift has a few secrets that take a bit of learning. So whether you are a budding jungler or just want to know what's happening outside your lane, read on.

Plants

The jungle may be full of plants, but three of them have special effects when targeted. All of them need one hit to be “activated,” after which they respawn in 5-7 minutes.The Blast Cone does not do damage, but it will propel people around it away from the plant, including through terrain. This can be quite handy if you want to jump over terrain to escape an enemy or to bypass a ward.

Meanwhile, the Scryer’s Bloom is especially handful for revealing the map. Attacking it will release a wave of pollen that reveals everything in its path for some distance, including vision wards and other invisible enemies. Finally, the Honeyfruit bursts into five melons. Moving over them restores 6% of your missing mana and a fixed amount of health (between 14 and 116, depending on your level) or 3.5% of your max health, whichever is more. It slows you momentarily, but it is usually well worth it.

• Warding 101: A Guide to Lighting up the Map

Once you have an elemental rift after the first two dragons have been killed, you may see more plants of a certain type. On an Infernal Rift, there are more Blast cones, while a Cloud Rift and an Ocean Rift will have more Scryer’s Blooms and Honeyfruits respectively.

Monsters

While plants don't fight back when attack, the fauna on the Rift is seldom so accommodating. Jungle monsters don't attack first, but they will fight back and chase you some distance if you try to escape. If you run too far, the red patience meter under their health will deplete and they will go home, getting a burst of speed and regeneration.

Each monster killed will give some experience and gold to the champion that lands the finishing blow. They will respawn some time after the last monster of the camp has been killed. You will usually want to kill them all to get the maximum gold and XP,  but leaving just one lonely monster from a large camp is also an option if you want to slow down the enemy jungler. 

• Want to Rule the Jungle? Check out Our Mid-Patch 11.24 Tier List

Finally, monsters grow more powerful as all champions level up. While they used to have different armor and MR values, nowadays these defenses are identical for all regular camps.

• Murk Wolves (two regular murk wolves and a greater murk wolf): this trio is fast, but their damage is not that high. They first pop up at 1:30 and respawn 2:15 minutes after the last wolf is killed. 
• Raptors (one crimson raptor and five regular raptors): with five of these critters having little health, this is a camp that can do a lot of damage but dies quickly to area damage. It has the same spawn and respawn times of the murk wolves

• Krugs (one ancient krug and one regular krug): this is a slower camp to clear, but it gives the most gold of all. The ancient krug spawns two regular krugs when cleared, and each krug spawns two mini-krugs. Any monsters spawned from killing a krug will despawn when killed - so if you want to counterjungle, consider leaving the original krug alone. The camp spawns at 1:42 and respawns 2:15 minutes after cleared. 

• Gromp (one gromp): a big frog-monster, the Gromp is a natural one-two target when clearing the blue buff if you have the health. It's attack is slow, but powerful and has a short range to it. Killing it will recover some lost health and mana, depending on your level and how much you are missing. It has the same spawn and respawn timer as the Krugs.
• Blue Sentinel (one sentinel): The big stone monster is a good start for jungle champions who use a lot of abilities for their clear. The one who kills it gets the "Crest of Insight" (or "blue buff") that gives them +10 ability haste and bonus mana or energy regeneration for 120 seconds. Killing the champion with the crest before the buff expires transfers the buff to their killer and refreshes the duration. The Blue Sentinel spawns at 1:30 and every 5 minutes after it is killed.
• Red Brambleback (one brambleback): The angry red and mostly wooden counterpart to the Blue Sentinel, often the first target by junglers who rely on autoattacks. Killing it nets you the "Crest of Cinders" (a.k.a. "red buff") that makes your autoattacks apply slow and a damage over time effect, and lets you regenerate hit points out of combat. Like the blue buff, this effect is transferred and refreshed if another champion kills the bearer before it expires. It shares the same spawn and respawn timers as the sentinel.

• Rift Scuttler: this camp is unusual in several ways - it moves up and down the river and does not hit back if attacked. Instead, when hit the scuttler will move away from the champion faster. It comes with a shield, but a smite or hard crowd control (stuns, roots, charms etc) will break it. Killing it gives an unkillable "vision shrine" in front of the Dragon or Baron pit that also gives anyone from the killer's team a brief speed boost. The scuttler spawns in both sides of the river at  3:15. Two and a half minutes after killing the last one, a new one will respond in either the top left or bottom right part of the river.

Read More:

• Vi Jungle Guide to Dominate With
• Warding 101: A Guide to Staying Alive and Winning Games
• 11.24B Micropatch: All Buffs and Nerfs [UPDATE]
  

Thats it for now - merry Christmas and don't flame the jungler!