League of Legends Patch 9.5 tier list – jungle edition

In Patch 9.5, we see two brand new faces in the S-tier! How has our League of Legends tier list for the jungle position been shaken up?

Patch 9.5 saw changes to a lot of League of Legends junglers. Vi got a semi-rework, Graves got some buffs (to everyone’s chagrin), and even the often-neglected Skarner got some love.

As in the past, we’ve created a tier list based on aggregated data, from multiple sites with tier lists to inform what are (generally) the consensus strongest picks. What does this data say about the jungle tier list?

Jungle tier list

S tier: Rek’Sai, Jarvan IV

A tier: Kha’Zix, Nunu & Willump, Evelynn, Lee Sin, Karthus, Master Yi, Xin Zhao, Jax, Shaco, Udyr, Kayn, Rengar, Vi, Elise, Kindred, Nidalee, Shyvana, Ivern, Rammus

B tier: Rammus, Graves, Sejuani, Pantheon, Warwick, Skarner, Nocturne

C tier: Fiddlesticks, Zac, Amumu, Volibear, Gragas, Hecarim, Olaf, Taliyah, Wukong, Camille, Sylas

D tier: Aatrox, Twitch, Trundle, Poppy, Kayle

Rising champions

Rek’Sai (A tier to S tier)

Rek’Sai has been rising solidly since the mini-rework to her ult and subsequent buffs. She’s been picked constantly in competitive because of her ability to get off early ganks (with flash+knock-up) and contest scuttle crabs early. She’s also loving the new Conqueror rune, as she has enough auto-attack resets and built in true damage (on her E) to make great use of it.

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Olaf (D tier to C tier)

Another Conqueror abuser, Olaf isn’t rising quite as high as he did in the top lane tier list simply because he doesn’t have a reliable way to proc it often. In all likelihood, he’s going to keep favoring Predator in the jungle, which is just plain not as good on him.

Graves (C tier to B tier)

Graves got that infamous three AD buff in Patch 9.5, and it seems as if it’s actually doing the Outlaw some good. Relax everyone, he’s not back to his god-tier, Season 6 past yet. 

Falling champions

Sejuani (A tier to B tier)

She didn’t get any nerfs in Patch 9.5, but the Fury of the North slipped a bit out of the A-tier. I’d attribute this to the fact that a bunch of tanks are getting crowded out of the jungle (other than Nunu) because of how badly they do at dueling early. Sej also suffers after the bugfix/nerf to Aftershock, hurting some of her survivability.

Kha’Zix (S tier to A tier)

Also not getting any nerfs, Kha’Zix is just dropping due to the fact that you have Rek’Sai entering into the fray. She’s able to do just about everything Kha’Zix wants to do, just with more CC in her kit. Kha’Zix is still widely regarded as one of the strongest junglers in the game, so don’t feel at all like he’s not worth a pick or ban.

Buffed champions

Skarner

Skarner was so bad last patch that he didn’t even make the jungle tier list. Now the scorpion is not only good enough to get a ranking, but he’s almost universally considered to be a solid, though not exceptional pick. Although no tier list gave him a rating higher than A-tier (and most were solidly in the B or C range), he did well enough to slip into the B-tier here.

Vi

Vi’s been a solid pick for a few patches now, so I was interested to see if the bevy of buffs/changes she got in Patch 9.5 would elevate her to S-tier or even just high A-tier. And the answer is…not really.

She’s risen the ranks, to be sure, going from B-tier to A-tier, but she’s right in the middle of that A-tier pack. With junglers, you always ask about a pick “can anyone do their job better?” Right now, when it comes to initiating junglers, you’d almost always want to pick Jarvan, Rek’Sai, or Lee Sin before Vi.

Graves

Noted above, the Outlaw has improved as a result of that three AD buff he got, but not enough to bump him out of the B-tier. In all likelihood, he’ll continue to struggle as long as the meta is very oriented towards early gankers.

Nerfed champions

Nunu & Willump

Taking down two champions who were close to, though not at, the top of the jungle tier list proves harder than Riot anticipated. The Boy and his Yeti remained right where they were last patch: at the top of the A-tier. They may not be able to gank early or duel, but their ability to snatch up scuttles and steal camps allows them to stay in front of the enemy jungle in terms of experience.

Rek’Sai

Also discussed above, Rek’Sai got some bugfixes mid-patch but she still remains in the S-tier. Don’t expect to see the Void Queen leaving the top jungle spot soon.

Conqueror users

We’ve touched on it in the top and mid tier lists, but it’s worth noting that some junglers who would use Conqueror – Rek’Sai, Master Yi, Jax, and Kayn – all had a bit of power taken away from them. It appears not to be that huge a deal, as they remain high up in the tier list.

Aftershock users

Like the top laners, the nerf to Aftershock really set back a lot of the tank junglers. We already touched on Sejuani, but other tanks who used this rune like Rammus and Amumu also saw their effectiveness drop in Patch 9.5.

Which junglers do you think are most underrated (or overrated) in Patch 9.5? Let us know who you’ll be using to climb in the comments!