Lycanthrope dota 2 jungle enigma

Jungle nerfed by 7.07 – Viable heroes & best options

The jungle died in 7.07. Metagame changes and consecutive nerfs reduced its value over time. Jungling is effectively viable only with a few dedicated heroes.

I will prove that jungling is not an efficient option with many heroes.

If you know players that still resort to jungling when all other core positions are taken, please share this article to them. Even if picking a support is absolutely prohibited by their creed, a roamer or a second offlaner are way more useful to the team than an afk jungler.

Main nerfs to jungling in 7.06 and 7.07

IceFrog implemented a multitude of adjustments in Dota 2 that deeply affected the gameplay. I won’t bother you with a big list, or explain how the meta shifted in the past years, but will focus our attention on some simple changes that nerfed the jungle.

Less gold and experience

7.06

Neutrals now give 20% less XP and Gold.

7.06e

Neutral small camps gold bounty increased by 10%.

Starting from 7.06, all neutrals provided less gold and experience. The condition marginally improved in 7.06c, but still all junglers had to face a sad truth: they have to spend more time farming to acquire the same level and items as before.

In most games, the team will play 4 versus 5 for a longer time.

Below, gold and experience granted by all the small, medium, and large jungle creeps. Pictures from the amazing Dota 2 Wiki.

Update: 7.07d reduced all neutral ancients gold bounties by 10%

Neutral creep spawn time delayed

7.07

First neutral creep spawn changed from 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Supports are less efficient early on

The offlaners have an easier time because the supports can’t stack anymore at minute 1.

If the supports immediately need to balance the equilibrium of the lane, the only option left is pull-through. This is not difficult to counter because you can either ward/block the spawn of one of the camps or interfere with the pulls.

Junglers’ actions are delayed

It is a noticeable nerf to junglers – as their farm is delayed even more – and particularly to Chen and Enchantress.

Before 7.07 they could take the control of a big neutral and gank prior minute 1. Now, all their actions are postponed by 30 seconds, and on average it is hard to attempt an attack before 1:30.

Which heroes can be played as junglers

If you want to win, it is fundamental to understand that many heroes are viable in the jungle, but only a small number are efficient and can positively affect the outcome of the match.

Nature’s Prophet

Nature’s Prophet should be played as an offlaner.

In a recent article, I discussed about creep-blocking in the offlane and on how some heroes can shape the creep equilibrium thanks to their skills – Nature’s Prophet is one of them.

Jungling is viable and you can even farm at a reasonable speed, but the Treants are such an awesome tool in lane: you can pull the enemy creeps and force the opponents to play the entire game near your tower.

The carry will farm less, and probably will soon insult his own teammates.

The supports will waste time to deal with you, negate the pulls, and restore the lane in their favor.

The rest of your team will have a painless game because the enemy supports will have less time to roam for ganks.

What I just said about NP also applies to many more heroes: a typical example is Lone Druid as he can do the same with his Spirit Bear.

Even if you end up jungling with Nature’s Prophet, don’t just farm all the time. Keep checking the lanes for a chance to score a kill or save a life.

Team Liquid’s Miracle as Nature’s Prophet in the offlane. Note his use of the treants. Patch 7.06f – Video by Dota 2 Pro.

Team Liquid’s Miracle as Nature’s Prophet in the offlane. Note his use of the treants. Patch 7.06f – Video by Dota 2 Pro.

Chen and Enchantress

I am putting them together because they share a similar ability, but Chen is a better jungler than Enchantress.

She is a quite greedy hero that needs gold, so you can’t just play her as a hard support. I love to pick Enchantress as an offlaner, exploiting the big neutral for protection and pulls – but this is just a way to play her.

The most common approach is jungling, while also being ready for ganks in the easy/mid lane at any time. In the early game, the neutrals are powerful as the heroes still don’t have many health points and all the skills at their disposal.

Chen is a jungler – he can’t play anywhere else.

When using him don’t forget you should use the neutrals to help the lane, gank the enemies, and exploit their absence to push the tier 1 tower.

Enigma

Enigma is simply the most efficient jungler in the game.

The Eidolons deal a lot of damage and can kill any neutral camp. They are squishy so you can’t just afk-farm as when you are playing with Nature’s Prophet, but micro-management is needed to keep them alive. Imo this is the main reason the hero isn’t played more in pubs.

Enigma is also a great ganker: all you need is a level of two of Malefice to stun the target and your Eidolons for damage. If you have the chance, attempting an early gank would be an amazing idea – you don’t need to wait for the Black Hole before any action.