League of Legends: Beginner to Diamond
The Map: The Jungle
In the last chapter, we covered the main objective of League of Legends, as well as turrets as lesser objectives, so now it makes sense to cover monsters as lesser objectives. The jungle is home to these fearsome monsters as well as bending walls and bushes which are often hiding enemy champions.
Oooooooo~ sounds spooky!
Well, no, I guess not so much. The jungle is quite comfortable to navigate, and proper ward placement can alleviate some of the pressure of accidentally running into that really fed Rengar, who just wants to eat your face and take your buffs. The monsters aren’t too much of an issue either. They’re stronger than minions, but won’t attack unless someone attacks them first.
Monster Camp Overview, Spawn Timers and Initial Rewards
Wraith Camp
The wraith camp consists of one wraith and three Lesser Wraiths. Wraith camp first spawns at 2:05 (minutes into the game) and has a 50 second respawn timer.
The Wraith hands over +35 gold and +90 EXP.
Lesser Wraiths give +4 gold and +20 EXP each.
Wolf Camp
The wolf camp is home to a Giant Wolf and two wolves. Wolves spawn at 2:05 and have a 50 second respawn timer.
Giant wolf rewards it’s killer with +40 gold and +110 EXP.
Each of the smaller wolves hand over +8 gold and +25 EXP.
Golem Camp
The Big Golem and Golem spawn in the golem camp at the edge of the jungle, also at the 2:05 mark, and has the 50 second respawn timer.
The Big Golem’s initial reward is +55 gold and +140 EXP.
While the smaller Golem yields +15 gold and +40 EXP.
Wight Camp
The wight camp only hosts one monster, but don’t underestimate it, Wight deals tonnes of damage early on. It spawns at 2:05 and, again, has the 50 second timer.
Wight will reward it’s killer with +65 gold and a nice +150 EXP.
Ancient Camp
The blue camp is host to the Ancient Golem and two Young Lizards. The monsters of blue camp spawn at 1:55 and will respawn after 5 minutes dead.
The Ancient Golem will hand over +60 Gold, +260 EXP and Crest of the Ancient Golem (commonly referred to as ‘blue buff’ or just straight up ‘blue’). Blue buff gives the holder 25 flat mana regen per 5 seconds and 0.5% of their maximum mana per second, as well as 10% cooldown reduction on abilities. If slain, this buff transfers from its original holder to their killer. It experies after 2:30 minutes.
The Young Lizards will reward their killer with +7 gold and +20 EXP each.
Lizard Camp
Like blue camp, red camp also holds a monster that will reward its killer with a buff. The Lizard Elder and two Young Lizards live in this spawn point. Red camp also spawns at 1:55 and has a 5 minute respawn timer.
The Lizard Elder’s initial reward is +60 gold, +260 EXP and Blessing of the Lizard Elder (‘red buff’ or ‘red’). Red buff makes it so the holders physical attacks apply a debuff that slows the target’s movement speed for 3 seconds and also applies a DoT that ticks twice for 8+ (2 x level) bonus true damage. Again, if the buff holder is slain, the buff transfers to the killer and has a duration of 2:30.
Again, Young Lizards reward +7 gold and +20 EXP.
Dragon
Dragon spawns in an alcove off the bottom half of the river at 2:30 and has a respawn timer of 6 minutes. Dragon is considered a boss monster and as such, killing him often requires several players.
Dragon’s initial rewards are +25 gold for landing the killing blow and +125 global gold, as well as +150 EXP to the killer and all nearby allies.
Baron Nashor
Baron Nashor is another boss monster and typically requires a whole team to kill him. Baron initially spawns at 15:00 and respawns after 7 minutes.
When defeated, Baron rewards his killers with +25 gold for the killing blow, +300 gold to all teammates, +900 EXP to all teammates, and Exalted with Baron Nashor to all living teammates. Exalted with Baron Nashor, or just ‘Baron buff’, grants up to 40 ability power, up to 40 attack damage, 3% of your maximum health per 5 seconds in health regen, and 1% of your maximum mana in mana regen per 5 seconds. The buff lasts for 4:00 minutes and does not transfer on death.
Jungle monsters level up after being killed. When they respawn, their level increase is based on the average level of the champions (player characters). However, this doesn’t apply to boss monsters like Dragon and Baron Nashor, their level increases as the game goes on without having to respawn. As the monster’s level increases, so does its damage, armour and magic resist stats as well as gold and experience rewards.
Heads up, monsters grant additional experience points if the level of the champ that kills them is lower than that of the monster. This bonus experience caps at a hefty 200% for killing dragon, and 50% for the non-boss monsters. This makes the jungle a quick source of experience if you are falling behind your team in levels, so make use of it.
Targeting
When a monster is attacked by a champion it will move towards whoever is nearest and begin to attack them. If the monster goes too far from its spawn point or is unable to attack a champion, it will return to its camp and rapidly heal to full heath. If attacked again on its way back to its spawn point, it will turn around and try to target a champion again.
After having changed targets 10 times, the monster will give up altogether, and return to its spawn and heal. It will not reengage until it has restored all its health.
So what does this mean?
The objectives in League of Legends give very powerful advantages, whether it’s gold for your team, a buff to help take down your foes, or one more destroyed turret closer to the enemy nexus, you should do everything in your power to control them.
Good luck on the fields of Justice.
