Hi!

My IGN is Yityo and I main Crystal ozo. I have great jungle experience and I hope you guys enjoy this guide.

Roles

"Giga-Treant"

Counter Building

Threats

Matchups

First things first, the junglers big job is to harass the enemy carry. It doesn't matter if you die trying as long as you deprive the enemy of gold, levels, and momentum. This doesn't mean suicide solo gank them every time. Play conservative, farm, and be the king of the jungle.

A secondary role of the jungler is to rotate through the fold. If you know the enemy is up in the lane, steal there back camps. If the enemy are in the lane pushing go and help. My biggest pet peeve when laning is when my jungler farms the whole time. Don't be that guy who does nothing except put warning pings on every bush and farm all day. It doesn't help.

As of patch 2.1, a new aspect of how a team will make their first move has changed. Now the jungle creeps spawn at 35 seconds leaving time for something else, well that something else is what I like to call the "giga-treant". (I hope this catches on) It has about 3 times as much base as a regular treant, the same signature root spell and the same healing effect. It spawns where the jungle shop would usually go. I would attack it if you had an early game comp like Koshka or Petal. If you have a later game hero like Blackfeather I would hold back and have your roamer try to steal it. DO NOT GET ROOTED YOU WILL BE DOOMED! Always have your laner rotate down, your laner will have about 20 seconds until he needs to get back up to kill the first minion.

Rotating is general way of saying moving from the jungle to the lane to the jungle in some way. This always varies between teams but a safe way to do it is after having a "giga-treant" confrontation farm out your jungle then move up to the lane. Make sure your laner doesn't get jumped. Maybe harass the enemy carry. Maybe even scout out the enemy bush. Then head back to the "giga treant" who has re spawned by now. Have your roamer scout trap the other jungle shop bush then try to kill the "giga treant". Is the enemy come down disengage, AND DON"T GET ROOTED! (You must remember this) Then repeat...

This will be a brief chapter because what counter building comes down to is... who do we want to shut down. I main crystal Ozo and if I am up against a late game hero I will often adapt to it. If the enemy team has a Skaarf I will almost always get a shiver steel to lock him down instead of a second defense item. Also whenever playing strong early game opponents *cough* *cough* Koshka *cough* *op* *cough*, I will build a double sheild or armor to always be able to take them on. I see this happen with pros a lot were it works out great. I saw an Adagio in the world championships with a Fountain of Renewal and two Kinetic Shield. Crazy huh, but he wanted to stay alive versus a Skaarf and it worked. So in escence its more of feeling thing, but a good rule of thumb is if they have a Petal or a Koshka get double Light Shield, It really does work.

I decided to put the threats down here instead of on a single character build because thse characters are universal threats no matter what you are using

In the next section are threats for all jungle characters not just the meta ones.

Alpha

Alpha is a very sticky character, she is hard to shrug off and had massive sustain capabilities. There are three ways to shut down an Alpha.

1. Ambush

An Alpha usually likes to pull a fast one you, but if you can get the first jump your golden. Watch out if she has a breaking point. Try to disengage into a bush, wait for all her stacks to where off, a reengage.

2. Strategically Attack

If you know how to use Alpha you know that the biggest part is her Core Charge stacks. If you can catch her without them you will beat her.

3. Use petal

Use Petal...

Blackfeather

Blackfeather is like a Koshka and a Taka mixed together. He is mobile, strong, but what separates him is that he is a late game hero. Unlike those two other assassins. There is one good reliable way to tale him out.

1. Don't let him get ahead

Put pressure on him early game, force him to buy shield and tanky items. He will fall off without attack items and he will be a potato. If you see a Blackfeather in draft I like to pick up Koshka because she can easily stop him. And since she will own the jungle you can snowball into the late game.

Glaive

Glaive is a big soft kitty, he tends to make circles with all his abilities. He spins his axe in a circle when he after burns, he uses twisted stroke to crit which is in a half circle, Bloodsong makes him spin in a circle... Glaive is the circle kitty. A good Glaive knows the power of a strong engagement. He will Afterburn your carry into wall and kill him/her. Simple.

1. Fight in the lane

So my advice is to fight him in the lane, don't pick fight in the jungle where he can surprise your carry. In the lane there is less brush and less walls. Take advantage of that. Another good place for fighting him is the Kraken pit, his after burn tends to hit the gold miner or kraken. He will take a beating from them.

Idris

Idris is so mobile is isn't funny, you can'y get away from him unless you are Lyra or Glaive.
He will chase you down to the very end but he has two flaws which make him a bad hero.

1. He has low damage output

Just out trade him, he has no damage. If he is going glass cannon just counter.

2. He is squishy

For a jungler he is very easy to kill, I was excited for his release but he let me down a bit. His spear/chakram fighting style is cool but he doesn't have enough base defense to really harm at any point in the game. As of patch 2.1 he just isn't strong. I hope he gets buffed. But since he is squishy as a jungler he will be easily taken out by more offensive less tank junglers like Samuel or the ever OP Koshka or Petal.
All in all he shouldn't be much a problem.

Joule

KAMEHAMEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Yes Joule will Big Red Button you into oblivion. She is really scary but has a few flaws...

1. Heavy Plating

Most Joules will go glass cannon early game because they can rely on the Heavy Plating perk, especially since it was buffed in patch 1.6 I think. If you can get behind her you can bypass and wreck her.

1. KAMEHAMEHAAAAAA!

You can get behind her while she is firing and punish her big time. Expect to see this coming if she has you in a tight jungle area where she is guaranteed to hit you.

3. Stun

If you stun a Joule she is dead, try to stun her during the laser, it will hurt. Trust me, I know from experience being countered with Catherine... CURSE YOU NON META ROAMER!!!!!

Kestrel

Kestrel is in my opinion the best hero right now, she is either banned or picked in every match right now. She has immense damage potential and can 1v3 when used right. PONtheoriginal what a beast. From my experience there is one thing to do against a Kestrel.

1.Have a good roamer

I have tried different things against Kestrel but only one thing works, having a well rounded out roamer. You can try to burst he down but she will easily re position. A good roamer will know if they have a Flicker a Taka or Kestrel they will get a contraption first and get a Flare Gun as there first item instead of two items. If you can control vision you can beat a Kestrel. Two good roamers to use against her are Flicker or Ardan. Ardans Gauntlet can trap her, and Flicker is the best at controlling vision. If you have a bad roamer spam early game Scout Traps.

Koshka

Koshka, the pouncy kitty of death. She is the bane of all late game heros. If you encounter a Koshka in draft your best bet is to get at least two stuns on your team.

1. Get stuns

Despite what people say about Celeste being bad against Koshka she is a good laner to have. If you can catch Koshka without her Bloodlust and get her in a choke point she can Core Collapse then Heliogenesis and Koshka will fall. The point is the stun is hwat opens that up. Also roots like Lances and the next character can help.

2. Reim

He is a very good counter to Koshka. Reim is good against all melee heros. If you can Ice Spire or basic attack her into Chill Winds You have her on lock down if you are using a Reim build with Shiversteel or Frostburn.

Krul

Krul is in my opinion the third best character based on sustain, 1st being Reim and 2nd being Rona. All these characters have something in common, they are melee, and generally immobile. ( Rona might be a little)
So kite kite kite and kite some more.

1. Kiting

Kiting is the process of hitting someone while staying out of range of them. Skye is exceptional at this. Jump around the field and don't let him get weakness stacks.

2. Reim and (a good) Rona

Reim and Rona are both in the same category of tankey junglers, use this to your advantage. Most people say, huh Rona can't beat Krul. Yes she can, a good Rona will adapt and get a Poisoned Shiv. And Reim has no trouble with Krul.

Ozo

Personally I hate playing Ozo.................. because I hate witnessing how they don't play him right. I main Ozo, hes my man... or monkey. But a good Ozo is a tool of destruction. I can 1v3 mid game and snowball the rest, this is the power of Ozo. He is dangerous mobile but has a flaw that I hate to see when I use Ozo.

1. Zoning

Ozo can be easily zoned, he has powerful mobility in his Acrobounce but when he doesn't have that ability up he is extremely sluggish. Lance is extremly powerful against Ozo as he can Gythian Wall him out of Acrobounce. Other characters like Ardans Gauntlet or Lyras Bright Bulwark can shut him down to.

Petal

Ah Petal one of the best *cough* *OP-est* *cough* characters in the game. She has stupid consistency and a great harass game. Petal is a character I usually try to either pick up or ban while doing draft. She can be beat though

1. Counter

Get the early double Light Shield simple. This will stop her from snowballing which she tends to do.

2. Focusing her

I try to focus down petal in team fights, I know your supposed to get the carry but more often than most petal will be acting as the early game carry while in the jungle so focus her down until your sure you have her to a manageable mid-game point where she can't blow up your team. Watch out for build with a Shatterglass instead of an Alternating Current they can blow up your team with Spontanious oOmbustion

Reim

Tanky tanky he won't ganky. Unless he is really over aggressive. Reim has no mobility and is only good against melee characters.

1. Kite

I like Kestrel and Petal against Reim because they can kite him. He will die very fast if you don't give him his barrier, so don't ever get close to him. The good thing about Kestrel is that she can Active Camo him and punish him for trying to get close to you. Skye is also good at kiting but she has no reliable escape options if she gets caught. Petal can slow and Trampoline! away and Kestrel can Active Camo, I know she has Suri Strike But she has to have a target and you won't get far if your locked on to him or if you get " Chill Windsed."

Rona

Rona honestly should be meta. She can hack away at the other team, build Breaking Point stacks and just stay sustained with Serpents Mask. She is hard to be but it's possible.

1. Out Sustain

Rona is "unkiteable" she can Into the Fray and Foesplitter to close gaps. But her only source of sustain is her Serpents Mask. If you can get Krul use him and rush a Poison Shiv. It will shut her down and you will be able to out sustain her by a long shot. Krul isn't the only counter, just get Poison Shiv nd you can shut her down.

Samuel

The dark mobile mage of Vainglory. Since his release in 1.5 I think he has made different things in the fold possible. He has a different kind of play style with some different kind of flaws.

1. A new concept

Samuel has two play styles, in your face and flanking. That's what hes good at, so wait you noticed I didn't say kiting. That's because if you know how to play a Samuel kiting wont work on you, here's a new concept... ignore him. Wait until you've killed the the two other team members. Samuel has incredible sustain but he doesn't have the highest damage output unless he substitutes his armor which a good jungler wouldn't. So just kill the rest of his team. It has worked for me in many matches. I have seen in worlds were there was a Celeste in the back line racking up Broken Myth stacks while that Samuel stood there sustain and doing his thing. If they ignored him the y could have just gone for the Celeste and probably one the fight.

Skye

Skye is a light gunner with great kiting capabilities. Seeing a lot in professional play she is a big contender in the fold. But she is very squishy and with flaws...

1. Roots

This would be stuns but there are more long range roots than stuns so it makes sense. Roots shut down Skye, simple. One good Impale from a Lance and boom, she is on lock down. So pick Lance against her or any character that has a long range root or stun with the exception of Krul, he is bad against her.

Taka

He is more a utility jungler than a warrior, devs please change this. Taka has good utility with X-Retsu and its mortal wound and she can face check bushes. Just a good character but an assassin non-the-less with a common assassin flaw.

1. Vision

You roamer should go with a Flare Gun first item and an immediate Contraption. You should be fine if your roamer knows what there doing.

2. Defense

Taka likes to initiate with X-Retsu and keep the mortal wound going the whole fight. This means he has incredible single target lock down skills. If you can somehow divert his attention to another character you could break his momentum. Lance is good at this by zoning Taka out and letting his teamate get away.

Thanks for reading, this is my first guide so please give feedback. Comment, vote, and go be Vainglorious!