Two 1/2 Junglers and Three Solo Laners

Instead of having one jungle god, I think having two sharing this task makes a lot of sense, one on the left side of the map and one on the right. Here is how I see it. (By "sharing," I am not saying these two should buddy up and get all chummy as they stroll around the jungle together like in the old jungle meta that All4Games was kind enough to enlighten me about below. The idea is they split the map down the middle, one takes care of the right, helping mid and right lane, the other takes the left side, helping mid and left lane. Overall, the 1/2 jungle meta puts a greater emphasis on distressing and suppressing the enemy, early, getting more 2v1 and 3v2 chances, early, and hopefully more kills early but in a safer way. It is about more collective safety, everyone getting reasonable fed, like a no-man-left-behind policy. It is about pushing your opponents back earlier, getting the first tower down across the board if possible, in order to pillage their buffs more safely. It respects the idea of defense more than the current meta, while preferring a more coordinated offense strategy earlier on in contrast to feeding one or two players who eventually carry your team to victory. The 1/2 junglers meta is about shutting that down, making early levels a living hell, a full-blown frustration fest for the I'm-so effing-wonderful, feed-me glory hounds.)

At present, lone junglers have to be fairly savvy players to be any good at all. A jungler's tasks include 1) helping lane players obtain buffs 2) ganking and otherwise helping in lane when needed, 3) pillaging the enemy jungle whenever possible, and 4) trying not to get killed. Sure, it sounds like fun and can be if you are good at it, but being a good jungler, let alone a great one, is not so easy. You have to be very quick; your map awareness has to be excellent; you have to plan your routes carefully to arrive at buff camps when they are about to regen so that you are not wasting your time and just to avoid getting killed. You have to know when a laner is in trouble and be there to help when necessary. You have to gank as much as possible and successfully. If you fail to do these things and be quick about it, you will fall far behind in XP and levels. It is common for even good junglers to fall a little behind. If the deficit becomes too great, you are dead meat and a liability for your team.

Having two part-time junglers would make the task of keeping the jungle orderly not only easier but quicker and safer. Being a team sole jungler requires you to be alone a lot. In Smite, being alone for extended periods is often a poor life decision, especially on the enemy's half of the map. With two part-time junglers, you would only need to be there half the time and for shorter durations. This would give you twice as much time and opportunity to gank and be helping out in lane, which should allevitate the jungler's tendency to fall behind, and that would make things safer for you (and your team), too.

Consider for a moment the plite of enemy junglers. Trying to do their job against one good jungler was challenging enough but against two might not be much fun. Imagine their consternation in this example senario. They encounter you raiding one of their buff camps and successfully chase you off. Feeling good about a job well done, they continue on their route to the other side of the jungle only to find it totally pillaged. WTF? They throw in a gank and spend a little time in lane to get some much needed XP, then return to the side of the jungle they chased you out of only to find it empty. They venture into your side of the map for some buff camp revenge and get a bit unlucky to find themselves pincered by two of you.
Okay, okay, it is just an example, but a very possible one. With two part-time junglers, it might well seem to the enemy jungler that you can be in two places at once because your junglng ops really can be. And with two of you in and out of the jungle often, it is not so unlikely that you both might be in mid jungle at the same time to 2v1 a beleaguered enemy jungler. A little coordination could make it happen by design.

In the current meta, your mid lane god is often ducking into the jungle to get what he needs or to help out side lane anyway. So why should there necessarily be a full-time jungler anyway? I am not sure I get it.

To make this work perhaps we need to think a little outside the box, but so be it. To me, it seems to open up a lot of new possibilities. I had been thinking of gods like Ne Zha and Bakasura as being well suited to the task. They are top junglers and gankers, and do not fall off hard in late game. Thor came to mind, also. As feasible as that sounds, now I am thinking that other gods could possibly be employed in this 1/2 jungle role, or modified for it, since it is not as demanding as the full role...say, the new Guan Yu, maybe?

I came to the idea playing Kali (who really needs and deserves to be reworked--I have some solid ideas for that I'll share in another forum). I like Kali but she is not a top choice at the present time. With gods such as Bakasura, Ne Zha, Arachne and others around and the change in the meta, there are better junglers to be had. Trying to think of a way to use her and experimenting with build, I came to the conclusion that if she take care of the just one side of the jungle and spend more time ganking and in lane so as not to fall behind in XP and levels then she would be much more viable. She can put out considerable pain early, but what is her best role? As just noted, it is not jungling anymore. There is a tank build for her on here, and while it is not a crazy idea, there are, frankly, better tanks available. By the book, she is an assassin/carry. She needs to bring the hurt, and for that she must not fall behind, which I think is her main difficulty right now. Without reworking her (they really need to), the way to get the most out of her would be the 1/2 jungle role.

If a jungle co-op strategy were to be employed, some thinking about the three "solo" laners. Essentially that is what your other three gods need to be. In reality, with two 1/2 junglers, no one would be left alone for long.

Consider the change for the enemy mid lane god. Being in the middle, getting ganked from either side by the jungler is just an occupational hazard. It is a challenge to be sure, but what about getting ganked twice as often and often from both sides at once? That seems rather unpleasant to me, though I'm sure your own mid would be quite happy about it. This would frequently free your mid lane god up to do damage elsewhere. As for the side lanes, there would be two solo lanes instead of one, but why shouldn't this be a tenable situation. If having a solo lane is viable when having a full-time jungler, it is even more so with a 1/2 jungler that had a lot more time to assist the solo lane.

I think a good basic strategy would as follows. The two 1/2 junglers complete their routes on their respective halves of the map. Next, they converge on mid lane for a double gank, killing the mid or sending him or her to the well hurting bad. The lane is insta-cleared, freeing your mid lane ally to go with one of you to the lane the enemy has a 2v1 advantage. Now it is 3v2 and you are going to hit first with your gank. If your mid is someone like Apollo, he can put up a buff first and meet you there with a gank from above.

The lane is insta-cleared, and your mid returns to mid lane to hold, backing to the well first if necessary. Meanwhile, your other 1/2 jungler went to the other side lane. If the other team got lucky, their jungler was there to hold the status quo at 2v2 (if not then this lane is already secured), but now the side laner you just helped is free to pick up a buff and head to the other side to make it 3v2 if needed, perhaps first backing to the well, while you clear the jungle out on that side or perhaps the enemies half of the jungle since, well, there is not one there but you.

Okay, Okay, it is just an example, but again, a very possible one. Yes, teleports might come in handy. Yes, a global ult like Neith's or Athena's might save a lot of running and sweating. No, movement speed would not hurt at all.

In sum, what I am trying to say that having 2 1/2 junglers seems to me to be a viable stratgey that could introduce some new tactics, new builds, even some new gods to the joys jungling...part-time, of course.

Intelligent feedback, creative ideas, and constructive criticism welcomed.

there used to be a 2 junglers meta but it was too good and was made impossible almost to do and still be effective. though thet meta was a jungler with bumba's and a tank without bumba.

your 2 jugnlers 1 in each side of the jungle is not what i would call a great idea because while you clear your jungle faster the junglers will get only half exp/gold leaving them underfarmed. ganks would be difficult because of that.

yes you will be a more dominant force in the jungle and can possibly go in the the enemy jungle but if you get spotted you are screwed because the lanes will come over and you won't get away that easy.

All4games: thanks for your response. I didn't know there was formerly a two junglers meta, and I understand your concern about being under farmed, but I question it.

The idea is to not remain in the jungle too long, but get back in lane and having more opportunities to gank and keep up your XP and farm that way. The laners should not be worried about you farming lanes a bit because they should have more time to gank and visit other lanes, too.

And you have to think about the other team's farm too, not just your own. If you can suppress their farm you don't need as much. If you have more than they do, that is what matters. What about their jungler? He might become extremely under-farmed and vulnerable. The harass and ganks from two part-time junglers should be hard for their laners to deal with, too. Done right, you should get a lot more 2v1 and 3v2 chances, which should lead to more kills.

Right now, the goal seems to be to get one of two of your players fat so they can wreck havoc and carry the team to victory. What I am suggesting is developing everyone more evenly, being safer, allowing fewer deaths, and suppressing the enemy from doing the same, or at least forcing them to adjust to an unfamiliar strategy to stay in the game.

What I am proposing here is not the old two junglers meta. The way I see it being played ought to lead to an early game lead against otherwise even competition. I suspect once a pro team gets the sense of what I am saying, they will employ it, it will work, and it will eventually become the new meta.

It seems to me when the changed the jungle meta there was an overreaction. Playing it the same, formerly very powerful way, wasn't so effective anymore. Understandbly, people decided two junglers did not make sense and so scaled back to one instead of modifying the approach and composition of the junglers. I say the 2 half junglers meta is betta. :)