Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 3

Vol.19 Ch.17: Time Efficient Jungling

After clearing the griffins in Top Jungle, Fiona rotated to Top Lane. There, she helped Cornelia establish lane control against her opponent.

Once they cleared the enemy wave together, Fiona immediately moved on to the next scheduled play. "Please ensure that the Knight stays under his tower for a while. I plan to invade their jungle."

"But, isn't it dangerous?" Cornelia asked. "I think their Jungler has respawned by now?" She opened up the menu to verify. "Yes, as I thought - their Jungler is back in commission. I knew that a noble such as myself wouldn't miss such a crucial detail, ohoho!"

"Yes, I am aware that their Viking has respawned," Fiona said. "Nonetheless, I believe I can get away with a little more counter-jungling."

"Is that so? Very well. You're a noble, so I shall trust your judgment on this matter."

With that sorted out, Cornelia proceeded to preoccupy the enemy Knight with a strong push. She had many soldiers to spare, whereas the enemy's army was in ruins. Therefore, the peasant had no choice but to flee in terror against Cornelia's noble assault, ohoho!

Meanwhile, Fiona ventured into the enemy jungle. With the Knight busy protecting the tower, the only one who could possibly interfere with this counter-jungling attempt was the enemy Viking.

From what I have seen of his playstyle thus far, there is a very high chance he will try to attack. Fiona reasoned. However, his combat skills did not impress me, so I do not believe he will pose a real threat.

There was undeniably some risk in this play but the reward was too tempting to pass on. Counter-jungling earned spoils for the team while simultaneously denying these same resources to the enemy. It was an integral part of playing Jungler at a high level and some degree of risk always came with the territory.

In any case, I have to make this quick. Fiona assaulted the Wolf Camp on the enemy side of the jungle. So far, our odds of winning this game look barely any better than 50-50. Therefore, I have to ensure my GPM remains above average as we transition into the team-fighting phase.

Most roles in this game were stuck in their respective lanes and had to follow the standard gold-per-minute pace set by the game designers. There were a couple of ways to boost the pace, such as scoring kills, but such opportunities were not easy to come by.

On the other hand, the Jungler had the freedom to decide its own fate in that department. Though there were general guidelines for how to best traverse the jungle in order to maximize the farm, there was never a 100% fixed rotation the Jungler could follow in every game.

In addition to farming, the Jungler was expected to ambush lanes and fill in for missing laners even in the early-game. And, once the Jungler deviated from the recommended rotation even once, they were thrown into uncharted territory. From there onward, it was up to them to make adjustments to their jungling routine based on the situation at hand.

This made farming substantially more complicated for Jungler. However, in exchange, the Jungler had the freedom to travel to any part of the map and seek the best opportunities to capitalize on. This was the main quality that sold Fiona on the role.

With this much flexibility, she could help any lane on demand in order to improve the team's overall position. Furthermore, with swift decision-making, Fiona could boost her farming speed far beyond what was possible for any of the laning roles.

The calculated path she traveled from Bot to Top as she counter-jungled was an example of how these two aspects of the Jungler role could be combined into one advantageous line of play. Just by killing the enemy Jungler, Fiona managed to gain this much advantage for the team.