League of Legends Patch 9.7 tier list: jungle edition

Who is the League of Legends king of the jungle in Patch 9.7?

Patch 9.7 was kind to the jungle, with no direct buffs or nerfs to the junglers who are most played at the role, but a big buff to one of the jungle items. With the Cinderhulk buffs, there was an expectation that tank junglers would take over the League of Legends landscape. But what do the experts and data say about that?

Once again, we’ve created our tier list from aggregated data of eight other sites that are either ranking champions based on the available data or the opinions of their creators. What do the data and the opinions of experts have to say about the jungle in Patch 9.7?

The tier list

S tier: Jarvan IV, Rek’Sai
A tier: Kha’Zix, Lee Sin, Evelynn, Vi, Karthus, Udyr, Master Yi, Kindred, Kayn, Nunu & Willump, Hecarim, Rammus, Shaco
B tier: Elise, Rengar, Jax, Graves, Shyvana, Ivern, Skarner, Amumu, Nidalee, Urgot
C tier: Taliyah, Warwick, Pantheon, Xin Zhao, Nocturne, Gragas, Sejuani, Zac, Fiddlesticks, Wukong
D tier: Volibear, Sylas, Olaf, Twitch, Poppy, Dr. Mundo, Camille

Rising champions

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Kindred (B tier to A tier)

Kindred has largely bounced around as a low-A to high-B champion, but now she has shot up to being a mid-A champion in Patch 9.7. Despite not seeing any direct buffs or nerfs, Kindred was rated A tier by five tier lists this patch, whereas in the last patch she was only ranked by three sites as an A tier champ. Maybe this is an anomaly, but Kindred is definitely a solid pick if you can pilot her properly.

Amumu (C tier to B tier)

With the buff to Cinderhulk in Patch 9.7, we were expecting champions like Amumu to take a step forward. The Sad Mummy didn’t exactly jump to the front of the pack after the change, but he did at least move towards respectability. No site we audited rated Amumu below C tier after Patch 9.7, while two had him D tier or lower in Patch 9.6.

Hecarim (B tier to A tier)

We saw Hecarim take a massive jump in the top lane, so it’s unsurprising that he would gallop up the tier list in the jungle. We discussed all the buffs that the Shadow of War has received in our top lane discussion, but I will note that opinion of him as a jungler fairly uniform. All but two tier lists agree that he is at least A tier except op.gg (which has him as B tier) and Proguides (which inexplicably omitted him).