As a jungler, especially in lower tiers many people forget the importance of having map awareness and control. I consistently see in lower league player's basic mistakes that are not difficult to fix. Fixing this will not only help you out, but the rest of your team!

To start, we have to talk about dragon positioning. In lower leagues, dragon is often regarded as not that important. However having a jungler that understands the importance of dragon, when to make calls for dragon, and where to be on the map when dragon is up is important. One of the most common mistakes I see is when bot lane is losing, mid is losing, and the jungler goes to gank top while dragon is up. This is a clear cut sign that it is safe to do dragon for the enemy team. Not only is their jungler not there, but bot lane and mid lane are too weak to contest the dragon. When dragon is up, and your lanes are losing, stay bot side.

Baron is along the same lanes, I see countless bad Baron calls. Costing your team to die, and their team to get a free Baron. The safest way to get a Baron kill is to know your strengh. If you have killed their jungler and you outnumber them to the point were you are unquestionably stronger than them, Baron is a good call. NEVER do Baron when their jungler is up and yours is not for obvious reasons. Also, as a jungler, you should know when to call Baron, but also when to back out from doing it. If your team is taking way too much damage from Baron and they are trying to contest it with a fairly even fight, back out.

Our next topic is ganking. First off, do you have a strong early game? Champions like Elise, Vi, Shaco and more all have extremely strong early games compared to to others like Hecarim. Know how strong your champion is early game. When ganking always watch out and prepare for a counter gank. A proper time to gank is if you are stronger than their jungler, or you see their jungler in another lane (eg. top while you are about to gank bot). This will prevent many deaths, and will become second nature after a while.

Hopefully you will head onto the rift and practice these tips. Following these can and will help you become a better, more aware jungler!

Calvin 'Jailir' Cindric