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Bumba's Mask
Potion of Magical Might
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Traveler's Shoes
Telkhines Ring
Hastened Fatalis
Polynomicon
Spear of Desolation
Shoes of Focus
Chronos' Pendant
Soul Reaver
Void Stone
Bancroft's Talon
Gem of Isolation
Magi's Cloak
Chronos' Pendant
Shoes of Focus
Telkhines Ring
Hastened Fatalis
Polynomicon
Spear of Desolation
Y
B
A
X
It's risky business telling everyone that you want to take the giant tree into the forest for the majority of the game when most people would prefer you to be the team medic. But the ends justify the means. You'll still come around healing guys, but you're mainly going to outshine everyone by stealing kills. Most enemy players won't be able to deal with your teammates in the early game if you run out from behind and stun them. They'll be forced to rush crowd control items instead of a preferred build, giving your team the advantage. Late game, this build takes off in power, allowing you to get kills unassisted.
Pros:
- Fast Early Game
- Strong Late Game
- Strong Basic Attack Hits
- High Amount of CC
- High Mobility
- Quick Clear Early Game
- The Element of Surprise!
- Active Camouflage in the Jungle (lol)
Cons:
- Relies on Team for Early Kills
- Without Communication your Team will Assume you're going Support when you pick Sylvanus. Some people might pick an assassin after they see you pick Sylvanus :(
- Difficult to Kill Tanks Unassisted
NATURE'S PROTECTION:
25% Chance to Root Enemies for 1s if they hit you with a Basic Attack.
Anyone trying to chase you has a very distinct disadvantage and ADCs can't sit there and drill you while back pedaling (or pain will follow).
VERDANT GROWTH:
Next Basic Attack becomes a Seed. Hitting an Enemy deals damage and Roots them for 1.25s, hitting the ground plants the seed. 10s after the Seed has been planted it becomes a pod that gives you and your allies MP5. If an enemy kills it they get Reduced Protections for 5s.
This Ability sets up a lot. It allows you to grab someone easier, pins them in place for maximum gankage, and does a considerable amount of damage with Polynomicon and Telkhines Ring. It's the main go-to with Jungle Sylvanus as it's the only ability he has that actually damages minions and jungle camps. On top of all that it does a whole lot of things. You can plant one or two of these down near your ally's tower so that they have a better resource of mana in their lane. It helps against tanks if they hit them.
WISPS:
Wisps spawn out of your pet tree, restoring the health of you and nearby allies over time, while dealing damage to nearby enemy gods over time.
This is a very nice follow-up after rooting someone and pulling them to you. It also allows you to maintain longer in the jungle and stay topped off in between fights. Your allies will often sing praises for the heals as well. Definitely the main ability of a regular Sylvanus, but only second for a Jungler.
NATURE'S GRASP:
Grover's hand reaches out and hits the first god in that direction, which then stuns them and pulls them towards him.
This ability it really good at changing the tide of a battle. Are they pressing you while you're in your tower? Pull 'em in and stun 'em. They'll retreat. I promise. Are they hiding from you in their tower? Stun them and then pull them towards you. Then drop all the rest of your abilities and hope a teammate can react fast enough to finish them. One major upside is the fact that you can pull the enemy through walls. This helps peal enemies off of your teammates so they can retreat. Unfortunately, it's relatively slow in getting to the enemies, Sylvanus sits in place for he duration and it's super difficult to do successfully if you wants to stun them afterwards rather than before. So that's why I typically don't waste some skill points on it until I have to.
WRATH OF TERRA:
Knocks Up and Poisons nearby Enemy Gods.
The Ultimate packs a bigger punch than most enemies will realize due to the fact that it takes 5s to finish. The issue comes into play with protections. DOT hates protections. It's extremely satisfying running in, hitting this and WISPS and then walking away, knowing you got the kill. Cool guys don't look at explosions after all.
START:
The first thing you want to do is buy the BUMBA'S MASK, followed by 2 HEALTH POTIONS and a POTION OF MAGICAL MIGHT. If you want to be a nice guy you can go plant some Spores at your ally's towers so they get the hookup on Mana (I mean what else are you gonna do while you wait for the game to start up. See additionally: Ah Muzen Cab). If you're not as interested in helping your teammates then just plant a few in the jungle so you can get a small dose of the good stuff while clearing jungle camps. After that head home, and right before the game actually starts drink the POTION OF MAGICAL MIGHT, then buy 3 MANA POTIONS. This maximizes the amount of time you get to have the POTION OF MAGICAL MIGHT, as well as restores your mana from having baby Spores sprouting up all over the damn place.
AFTER THE FIRST BACK:
Hopefully you spent a large amount of time out in the wilds and racked up quite the coin. You typically don't want to get back until about 1700 Gold or so. More is always great I guess. It's time to get some speed. Some real speed. Not some half-speed boots, but the ones that make you shoot rocket fuel out Grover's... trunk? TRAVELER'S SHOES. Get them. They'll get swapped out later. You don't need CDR, mana, or power as much as you need to be the tree that zooms through that jungle, pops outta nowhere, stuns and hurts, then gets out before they have time to react. The speed is unexpected, and the HP5 plus your WISPS is going to make you last that much longer in the Jungles. A couple potions never hurt either.
MID GAME:
So you've probably had your fun now running about, causing CC mayhem and healing your team while ganking, but now you really need some power. Raw power. TELKHINES RING is the item of choice. Your VERDANT GROWTH is your main offensive and it only get's stronger with TELKHINES RING. You can now zoom in and really get some hurt in. On top of that, the longer they're stunned, the loads more damage they take.
After that you want to keep the speed advantage going with HASTEN FATALIS. This gives you the edge in and out of combat now. Speed is key for this type of Sylvanus. Additionally, it should be noted that this item is interchangable with other varying circumstances. GEM OF ISOLATION if you would rather be more of a presence in the fight than good at getting around the map. WINGED BLADE if their Jungler likes FROSTBOUND HAMMER. But that's all things you should know already.
And after that round of fights you're probably noticing that you're doing slightly less damage than you want and are taking more and more damage as they keep anticipating your presence. That's precisely what POLYNOMICON is there for. DAMAGE. All the DAMAGE. Loads. Oh, and lifesteal as well I guess. Because that's what Sylvanus needs. More Lifesteal. But if you're not as much a fan of the basic attacks or you rage at the thought of POLYNOMICON, just go for BANCROFT'S TALON. It does quite a bit for you as well. I just prefer to hit my VERDANT GROWTH and make my enemies rage quit.
LATE GAME:
So right about now you're probably feeling like your clear is decent enough and you aren't losing too much health to Jungle Camps, if any at all, and you're starting to loath the BUMBA's Mask. And the shoes were funny earlier but you just need some more damage. Now is the time to swap them out for: CHRONOS' PENDANT and SHOES OF FOCUS. This gives you the damage you were starving for and the CDR to really bring it to those team fights.
Shortly after it will be time to decide what the last item should be, and my recommendation is SPEAR OF DESOLATION. I know it's expensive but it's worth it. Basically every kill will net you all your ****py CC Abilities right back, and the Penetration/Damage combo of that weapon are unreal. Alternates could be the GEM OF ISOLATION in order to keep a fairly good speed advantage... and the fact that you can hit 5 gods at the same time, frequently. SOUL REAVER is a nasty thing to buy in order to truly get a great VERDANT GROWTH hit on someone. They really don't expect to be dropped as quick as Sylvanus can with this item. If you're tired of protections getting in the way and don't have the time to wait for SPEAR OF DESOLATION, VOID STONE a fairly good alternative. And of course, if the CC is real, get the MAGI'S BLESSING.
As far as relics go, I'd say that PURIFICATION is my hand's down favorite. If you don't want it early game, CURSE is a good choice. BLINK isn't as good as it used to be (RIP Combat Blink) but is still very good at surprise attacks. SUNDER helps melt those pesky tanks and is easy to get off on Rooted enemies. If you're so inclined, your team would love you getting SCOUT but that's a personal taste kind of decision.
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I've experimented with sylvanus enough myself to know that your build isn't optimised for playing a setup-jungler.
In my opinion this build is more geared towards playing as a carry-vanus, although I would change a couple of your item choices for that role.
But as a setup-jungler this is definitely not optimal.
Also a 'typical jungler' doesn't go too deep into enemy lines with no allies, a stupid player does...
So what if you get slowed or rooted or blocked by a wall? Or if your deep in the jungle or enemy lane? How you gonna get away to your tower without taking considerable damage/dying, when a bad situation occurs.
Your wisps will give you maybe 500 health over, what, 4 or so seconds at max level. That will mean nothing if you're being burst down. Without protections built a single hit from an adc will do more damage than your entire heal.
And bumba's only heals when you clear camps, so you're telling me you're going to go clear camps to get health back while you're being attacked? Same with shoes - only heals when you're in the jungle, so it's not going to help you if things go sour in a lane.
Also, as a jungler, why would you want to 'sit under tower for days'?
Tbh I haven't even looked at the build, as I was not stressing a point about the build, I was making a point about your not seeing his lack of a mobility skill as a problem.
I play enough sylvanus (support, carry AND jungle), and enough guardian jungle (Athena, Ymir, Bacchus, cabrakan and xing tian) to know that his lack of mobility stifles his effectiveness A LOT when he doesn't have protections built to back it up.
With lack of protections in this build people will be able to burst you down EASY when they catch you, as you have no way of getting away quickly and/or safely.
I wouldn't necessarily agree with this as most (not all, but most) junglers tend to build 1-2 protection items, whereas you have only 1 as a situational.
Oh right, sorry, clearly I don't know the basics...
Test it. Just test it one time. That's all I'm saying. Don't play like a typical jungler that goes too deep into enemy lines with no allies. Communicate with your team for a good team effort. Set things up. It's super easy.
So what if you get slowed or rooted or blocked by a wall? Or if your deep in the jungle or enemy lane? How you gonna get away to your tower without taking considerable damage/dying, when a bad situation occurs.
Your wisps will give you maybe 500 health over, what, 4 or so seconds at max level. That will mean nothing if you're being burst down. Without protections built a single hit from an adc will do more damage than your entire heal.
And bumba's only heals when you clear camps, so you're telling me you're going to go clear camps to get health back while you're being attacked? Same with shoes - only heals when you're in the jungle, so it's not going to help you if things go sour in a lane.
Also, as a jungler, why would you want to 'sit under tower for days'?
Tbh I haven't even looked at the build, as I was not stressing a point about the build, I was making a point about your not seeing his lack of a mobility skill as a problem.
I play enough sylvanus (support, carry AND jungle), and enough guardian jungle (Athena, Ymir, Bacchus, cabrakan and xing tian) to know that his lack of mobility stifles his effectiveness A LOT when he doesn't have protections built to back it up.
With lack of protections in this build people will be able to burst you down EASY when they catch you, as you have no way of getting away quickly and/or safely.
I wouldn't necessarily agree with this as most (not all, but most) junglers tend to build 1-2 protection items, whereas you have only 1 as a situational.
Oh right, sorry, clearly I don't know the basics...
So, what if the enemy team has warded up so you can't just 'crash in behind them'?
What if the enemy jungler counter-ganks?
What if another laner rotates to the lane you're attacking?
What if your laner can't confirm the kill and you're now in trouble?
What if you get caught off guard?
What if your under levelled?
What if the enemy you're ganking has a good escape (
You seem to be just assuming that everything will go perfect every time, but these are just a few situations, of which a few tend to happen every match, in which having an escape will vastly increase your chances of survival.
Usually I'm over-leveled. 95% of the time. If a bad situation occurs or they see you coming, back up to your tower. But if you don't know the basics of playing Smite then idk what else to tell you. You end up gaining enough health back with your own ability + bumba + the shoes that you can get to dangerous levels of health (if you play smart) and still sit under the tower for days. People don't like being dragged into the tower and then getting stunned. I'm going to go ahead and assume that you haven't play-tested it. In fact, I almost guarantee it. Maybe not even played Sylvanus? It would make since. All I ask is that you try this out. Once. In practice, co-op, versus, whatever. Just keep in mind that when you tell them Sylvanus Jungle, they're think you're joking and underestimate you, and pick an Assassin. That's why I advise practice or co-op first. Get a feel for it. Then get an actual team that's half-way decent, make sure they trust you, and ask them to let you test it. Then comment. It takes a bit to get used to being a slightly-tanky-er Jungler, but the end's justify the means.
You don't need an escape. You crash in behind them and CC them with your teammate for maximum gankage. You get to heal your entire team throughout the match, giving them more time in the lane and get easy kills with DOT to any enemy with a quarter or less health.
So, what if the enemy team has warded up so you can't just 'crash in behind them'?
What if the enemy jungler counter-ganks?
What if another laner rotates to the lane you're attacking?
What if your laner can't confirm the kill and you're now in trouble?
What if you get caught off guard?
What if your under levelled?
What if the enemy you're ganking has a good escape (
You seem to be just assuming that everything will go perfect every time, but these are just a few situations, of which a few tend to happen every match, in which having an escape will vastly increase your chances of survival.
His mobility is for **** as well as his basic. All this build will do is get one ganked like crazy. 25% to get a possible random root wouldn't make him a reliable jungler. Once the enemy team knows that you're trying to jungle what do you think will happen? You will be a target the whole match. You don't have an escape and your ult is mediocre at best. Not tryibg to be rude but this is a bad guide and a waste of time for whoever dare tries to jungle with a no escape slow moving tree...
You don't need an escape. You crash in behind them and CC them with your teammate for maximum gankage. You get to heal your entire team throughout the match, giving them more time in the lane and get easy kills with DOT to any enemy with a quarter or less health.
pro high mobility?
If you have questions test play it.