Pathing: What is jungle pathing in League of Legends?

In League of Legends, "pathing" refers to the movement patterns and routes taken by players, particularly junglers, as they traverse the map to farm jungle camps, gank lanes, or invade the enemy jungle.

In simpler terms, every jungler has a predetermined path that they follow as soon as the round starts. By following the path, the jungler aims to farm a camp, gank a lane, claim an objective, or invade the enemy jungle in a specific order to ensure they don’t miss anything and are able to repeat the cycle in time for everything to respawn.

Why is pathing important?

Effective pathing is crucial for maximizing efficiency, maintaining pressure on the map, and securing objectives. Junglers often plan their pathing based on multiple factors like champion strengths, matchup knowledge, objective timers, and information about enemy movements. Naturally, information can be collected through map awareness or comms from teammates.

Good pathing can help a jungler maintain a gold and experience advantage, control the pace of the game, and support their team in achieving victory. It also ensures that the jungler doesn’t miss out on any objective or experience and remains under-leveled. For example, if the jungler attempts to go for a camp that it can’t defeat at that level alone and ends up dying then they’ll be at a major disadvantage compared to the enemy jungler.