How to Become a Fearsome Jungler

[Dang, these guys are sick!] Ronald grinned as he fled for his life. [No idea how the heck they knew I'll be coming here, but no biggie. I mean, it's just the DK chasing me. The Elf is way too far to hit-]

ZAP! A laser beam penetrated Ronald's skull. It was a headshot!

"For real!?" Ronald exclaimed. [From that far!? Did this guy just headshot me from like half a jungle away!?]

There was no time to turn around and confirm Gunz's current position, but surely the guy couldn't have moved too far away from his previous position, not while using Elven Sight. That first-person mode cut down the player's Movement Speed by like 80%, so Gunz was practically rooted in place while sniping.

[So yeah, bruh literally sniped me from like 5 kilometers away. Word.] Ronald smiled nervously. [And of course, my defense is trash right now because I built power items like a real man. So, these damn snipes hurt, dang it!]

Each of the Elf's laser beams erased nearly 10% of Ronald's HP. And, combined with the Dark Blast that hit him earlier, Ronald had already lost a whopping 50% of his HP!

Yes, he lost all that just for setting foot in enemy territory for half a second! It was crazy!

[But, I'm okay. No problem.] Ronald took a deep breath. [I just gonna take that corner over there, then it'll be impossible to snipe me no matter how good Gunz is. Ezpz.]

And so, Ronald moved around the corner. This maneuver slowed down his escape a little but it was worth it. Now, the jungle walls were going to shelter him from any further snipes, so he was safe.

[Okay, so that's that.] Ronald sighed in relief. [Man, they sure had me for a moment there, but I've escaped! Hell yeah!]

The Elf could no longer snipe him, and the Dark Knight couldn't possibly chase him down considering how slow that bulky knight was. So, at this rate, Ronald will be back to safety in no time- CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.

"Excuse me...?" Ronald raised an eyebrow. For some reason, the metallic stomping of the Dark Knight sounded way closer than it should have been.

But, it was impossible. That heavyweight bruh should've fallen behind a long time ago.

[What gives? I mean, I know my Cryo isn't the fastest bruh out there, but it sure as hell faster than DK-]

SLASH! A dark blade assaulted Ronald from behind!

"For real!?!?!!?" Ronald shouted. [He caught up!? How?! Did he buy Sprint or something!?]

Ronald quickly pressed TAB and scanned the enemy data, all the while running away from the threat breathing down his neck. It was a little dangerous to multitask like this during such a critical moment, but no problem! Ronald was a pro, so he could focus both on running away and reading data, all at the same time! Yeah, he was definitely ready for the pro scene, no doubt about it.

[Wait, did this guy just build Wind Blade? On DK??? I don't even...] Ronald was speechless. [How is this a build that even remotely makes any sense???]

That was nonsense at its finest. And yet, this Memer burh legit built Wind Blade on his Dark Knight. That's how he was able to keep up with Ronald's Cryomancer despite his lower base Movement Speed.

[So wait, are you telling me he's straight-up faster than me right now?] Ronald laughed dryly. [Fuuuuu! I should've shot him then! Well, it's not too late to do it now!]

He turned around and fired a basic attack at his pursuer. Doing so slowed down his escape immensely, but it was for the greater good.

Thanks to Frostbite, Cryomancer's passive, the ice shard Ronald fired was imbued with a slowdown effect. Sure, it wasn't going to cause a huge slowdown, but it should be enough to get that dang Dark Knight off Ronald's case.

But, that's only provided his shot actually connected. Unfortunately...

"Not so fast!" Luke rolled forth, passing right under the ice shard! That kind of feeble counterattack wasn't gonna stop him! [I'mma chase ya down to death, man!]

He rolled right past Challenger, then recovered and delivered an immediate slash! He was on a roll! The initiative and momentum were both on his side! He was like a monster cornering a hapless prey!

"Oh! There it is!" Vincent made noise as he watched the intense scene. "Such is the power of the fierce predator that's aspiring to rival the legendary Storm Chaser of Taurus! At present, he's a Wind Chaser for sure, but we do not grant him the rank of Storm Chaser. Nonetheless, one day, he might rival the greatest!"

Vincent's hype commentary was nonsensical at best, but as usual, it contained a grain of truth in it. The build and techniques Luke was employing right now were indeed very reminiscent of Taurus's StormMonster, the chasing expert.

[Heh, what do you think now, Yuel?] Luke grinned. [Is this "aggressive" enough for ya, man?]

He grinned madly while sticking close to his target's back like glue. Truly, he was like an overwhelming predator that couldn't be challenged! Luke was in total control of this situation and Challenger could only flee in terror!

[Man, this feels awesome!] Luke nodded. [I really don't mind playing aggressive Junglers for thrills like this. I'm not all about setting things up for others, ya know.]

Even though Luke excelled with Setup Jungelrs and that was the type of jungling he used the most, it wasn't the only style he could play. It's just that Yuel frequently rejected Luke's more aggressive picks because these were the spiciest memes. As a result, Luke usually picked the tamer memes, to appease that meta-slave.

And yet, despite that, during the review of the Taurus scrimmage, Yuel had the gall to rant about how Luke mostly picked Setup Junglers. It was practically the guy's own fault, yet he blamed Luke for it.

But, Luke didn't lose heart there. He admitted that his "aggressive picks" were somewhat lacking compared to his Setup Junglers, so he went on a journey to find an aggressive pick that'll get the tyrant's approval.

After consulting the memeing wizards online, the spiciest idea that came up was Dark Knight. Maybe these guys were just trolling Luke, but he didn't care even if that was the case. After all, the idea of playing Dark Knight Jungler in a competitive match sounded too damn cool!

[But, that alone wasn't enough.] Luke knew it. [That dang Yuel won't be satisfied until he sees results. That's why I had to go the extra mile.]

Dark Knight Jungler was a very aggressive Jungler pick, no doubt about it. But, Yuel would immediately shoot it down for being a hella spicy meme

Therefore, Luke also had to make sure he actually delivered good results in Ranked. The only thing that could truly convince the meta-slave were cold, hard statistics.

And so, Luke took the time to practice this Dark Knight spice real gud. He absorbed all the advice he could from fellow expert memers, the wizards who brought memes to Challenger ranks games and still got wins.

There was lots of cool tech to learn, both mechanically and strategically. It turned out Dark Knight was an interesting and dynamic pick with tons of build options, just like every top-tier meme should be!

But, polishing execution and studying builds weren't quite enough. It lacked that "oomph" Luke needed in order to convince a stubborn meta-slave like Yuel.

He had to be stronger, fiercer, and scarier. Luke had to turn into the kind of "dangerous Jungler" that Yuel claimed the team was missing when Nia was absent.

But, "stronger", "fiercer" and "scarier" were just words. They didn't mean anything without a good example.

Was there anybody out there who fit the bill for these descriptions? Of course, a bunch of pros did, but these guys felt too distant of a goal to strive toward. Besides, they were the very definition of meta-slaves, as they were the ones who defined the meta in the first place. So, none of the pros seemed like a good example to follow in this case.

["Nah, pros won't do. I need something closer to home."] Luke thought. ["Was there any Jungler my level that's like really fierce and scary and stuff? Like, the kind of dude who makes his prey sweat real bad?"]

One day, the answer came to him out of the blue as he was rewatching parts of the Taurus scrimmage. There was one Jungler who stood out there, a scary dude whose mere presence instilled terror in its prey. It was StormMonster!

["Hell yeah! This guy totally fits the bill! It feels like a freakin' horror movie when he chases ya, word."]

With that realization, Luke found a very clear inspiration for his "Scary Jungler" project. He rewatched the games from StormMonster's perspective, paying careful attention to the guy's movements, builds, and decisions.

["Dang, this dude is like a veteran hitman. He gets himself equipped real good for chasing anybody in any situation, and he always advances on his prey all efficient-like. This is what I call a scary Jungler!"]

Luke took notes and studied the guy's tech, from builds to jungle rotations to fighting techniques. It was clear the guy has been polishing all of this for years, so it wasn't something Luke could replicate in a few weeks. Nonetheless, he still learned a lot from this.

The most important takeaway was building Movement Speed as early as possible, to be ready to chase down some poor scrubs right in the early-game. StormMonster also utilized that extra speed to rotate around the map very quickly, which played a huge role in how many opportunities he got to gank and chase people.

This was a very important lesson but it was rather difficult to execute in practice. After all, building items with Movement Speed came at the expense of not getting other important stats, mainly Attack Power. So, it required a lot of planning and preparation to be able to play a speedy build like that correctly.

Fortunately, Dark Knight happened to be a very dynamic Jungler meme. Thanks to its incredible base power, it delivered big damage in the early-game even without building much power.

["So, what if I build some speed instead!?"] Luke put that idea into motion and tried out various early-game builds.

In the end, he settled on Wind Blade, which provided Attack Power, Attack Speed, and Movement Speed. Starting with shoes was another viable option, but the overall combination of stats from Wind Blade felt the most oppressive for chasing enemies.

So, that's why Luke went with this game as well and it didn't disappoint! Not only did he catch up to Challenger without effort, but he has already smacked the guy twice during the chase!

Dude was literally down to like 20% HP already. The guy was legit one Dark Blast away from dying! So, in a few more seconds, Luke will be able to finish this ezpz!

[But hey, maybe I can just finish him off with two more basic attacks.] Luke wondered. He was already this close to his prey and he was faster, so he could go for the kill right here and now without burning his HP on another Dark Blast. [Alrighty, here we gooooo-]

Unfortunately, his opponent was no pushover. Challenger had no intention of making this easy for Luke.

"Nice dodge back there, bruh," Ronald complimented. "But, that's enough of you!"

He turned around and fired a shard of ice right in the Dark Knight's face! From point-blank, there was no chance he gonna miss.

The ice rammed into Memer's face and shattered to pieces. It didn't deal much damage but it successfully applied Frostbite, slowing down the guy's Attack Speed and Movement Speed.

That was the end. The guy was practically neutralized, so he won't be hitting Ronald anymore here... but that didn't discourage him in the slightest!

[You still coming at me!?] Ronald exclaimed as a sudden sword swing passed right in front of his face. The attack was just a few millimeters short of hitting Ronald's nose. [What a persistent bruh!]

With the predator still hellbent on attacking, Ronald had no choice but to run for his life.

[This is getting a little dangerous, haha.] Ronald gulped. [He won't be reaching me with his basics any time soon, but he can still blast me from this range. Is one Dark Blast gonna finish me off? Yeah, I think it will. Dang, DK OP, haha...]

Was Ronald seriously going to die here? Less than a minute into the game? That gotta be a world record for competitive games! His name will go down in history as the lamest death ever! Nuuuuuuuuuuu!

But, just then, he saw a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. An angel came to rescue his ass!

WHISH! A white beam of light passed right through Ronald, aiming at the predator behind him.

"Crap!" Luke exclaimed at the unexpected attack. A white arrow popped out straight from the Cryomancer's back! Luke didn't even have the time to react! [Damn, the Seraph is already here!? I didn't even see him!]

There was no denying that Luke's field of view grew narrower because all his attention was concentrated on his prey, but that wasn't all. He was perfectly aware of the fact that somebody might come to Challenger's rescue sooner or later, so he made sure to check his surroundings every now and then.

And yet, he failed to spot that Seraph in time. That sneaky dude positioned himself around the corner and only peeked the bare minimum in order to place his shot.

What's more, Winner fired that arrow from a spot that Challenger's body was blocking from view. All of this together made it impossible for Luke to see any of this coming.

[How did Vince call this shit again? Something about a "matrix"? Anyway, this dude sure knows how to position himself in the nastiest spots.]

"Luke, that's enough," Yuel said. "You should regroup with the others."

"But maaaaan! I'm so close to getting this kill!"

"Yes, you are. But, it's too risky to continue and ultimately unnecessary," Yuel argued. "You did a good job reducing Challenger's HP. One Dark Blast will kill him, so he can't stay in the jungle like this. He'll have to recall now, which will remove him from the game for about the same amount of time as killing him anyway."

Respawn times were short in the early-game, so killing Challenger here won't keep him dead for long. As such, forcing the guy to recall was almost as good as killing him.

"Dang, you and these 200 IQ arguemetns." Luke smiled wryly and retreated as ordered. [I really wanted the kill thoooooo! Welp, but Yuel is right. Kill rewards are meh this early anyway, so I'mma just retreat.]

"Kai, Lars. Group up with Luke," Yuel instructed. "And, after that..."

This was a great opening. It started off with a lucky guess that developed into an incredibly favorable opening position. And of course, Yuel had every intention to exploit this advantage to its utmost.

The enemy might be thinking that Luke's retreat dropped the curtain on this early assault, but it was actually only the beginning...