I main jungle role, but sometimes I like to skip it, just to see what choices come to the table. I do this outside of ranked games, just to see people's choices and ways of jungling, helping in what I can. And I've got to admit, I'm kinda disappointed.
I always see the same junglers: Amumu (instalock when not banned, even if player sucks with him), Lee Sin, Diana (more on mid, but are still occasional), Nocturne and Skarner. Xin Zhao and Warwick are a horde.
What happened to the tanks? Maokai, Nautilus, Udyr has gone off the grid. Why is this happening. Well, it's quite simple. They don't do damage.
What I mean by this is that you're team dependant and will not carry the game or make gamebreaking changes if things go wrong (if you do, it's rare). The only exceptions are Malphite, Volibear and Sejuani, which good amounts of damage, while still being beefy, and can change games with their kits.
So I tryed to reach the source of the problem, and so I played with Maokai and Nautilus, which I own for quite a while, and I must say, I am not impressed now as for why they are not chosen as junglers anymore. People do things they do better... in a way. Since these junglers are pure tanks, their damage will be quite small, opposed to the recent bruisers that can act as tanks and still do tons of damage, while lacking the full utility. Maokai for example, has an ulti that negates 20% damage for all who stand on it, but the enemy either takes the fight somewhere else, or forces us to go away. Nau can do a bit burst damage and CC quite a few, but beyond that... not much. What I am trying to say is, next to the other junglers, these don't look appealing enough. Still, they kick ass in ranked in a good team, but in blind, not so much.
But then what about fiddlesticks and even Elise (only saw her 3 times in the whole game). Why are they ot used? Well, Fiddlesticks is used quite a lot in mid nowadays in low elo, but in jungle not really, cuz there he lacks gold, and fiddle loves gold. As for Elise, the skill cap is high, and top is far more rewarding. Also, people don't use champs the "pro's" don't use.
Another thing I noticed is the rage when X jungler is picked. As some know, Akali is starting to rise as a jungler, with high DPS ganks and a good slow and escape. But when someone picks her, or other uncommon junglers (hello Fiora), people start raging, saying they go afk (some do be4 they even see how the junger turns out to be) and tell the enemy to report for troll pick.
What happened to the calm games where people took the champs they like to use and used them in a non-troll different way? What happened to jungling tanks whose DPS and dueling is not great? I am afraid that, for now, in non High elo games, they are dead.
So, to finalise this thread, I ask, with whom do you jungle? With the common wolf, a lost duelist, or even a Freljord Robin Hood? Leave your choices down below, and thanks for reading.