LoL Rankings: 2016 Jungle Spring Split Rankings

This article is part of our LoL Rankings series.

The jungle is the first position I will recommend to fade early on in your drafts. There are a few junglers who are worthy of a high pick, but if you take a jungler early you likely miss out on a better fantasy option from another role such as mid lane or AD Carry. There is a lot of depth in the jungle among the first two tiers especially and if you end up with one of those eight players as your starter than you should be fine. Waiting on a jungler is kind of like waiting on a quarterback in fantasy football, you may not get the highest scoring player at the position, but the difference between the top player and the eighth probably won't cost you your league either.

*Note: The following teams currently do not have a jungler: Team Impulse, Elements, and GIANTS! Gaming

Tier 1 (in alphabetical order): Amazing, Reignover, Rush

Amazing showed consistent improvement, much like the Origen team as a whole, throughout the season. His LCS totals aren't the most impressive from the Summer Split, finishing fifth in kills, seventh in assists, and tenth in creep score. That said, he looked better as the year went on with great performances at Worlds and IEM San Jose. Amazing will never be a high-kill total jungler, but he shines in his jungle routing and is often in the right place at the right team for his team to pick up assists.

Reignover enjoyed a strong rookie season in the LCS with FNATIC winning both the Spring and Summer Splits and making it to the World Semifinals. He finished the Summer Split third in kills, fourth in assists, and third in CS. His move to North America and a new team could have some initial effects on his fantasy production, but his synergy with Huni should not be understated. I think he remains a top option in the jungle this season.

Rush is the premier jungler in the LCS in terms of fantasy production. His hyper-aggressive style was on full display in the Summer Split and it earned him a popular following as well as the Summer Split MVP Award. Rush finished first in kills and assists, while finishing sixth in creep score. His move to Cloud 9 is good for both the player and the team as Rush joins one of the top organizations in North America and should have a positive impact. It's possible that teams will target ban Rush this season, but he's shown an ability to make plays no matter what champion he uses.

Tier 2: IWDominate, Jankos, Spirit, Svenskeren, Xmithie

This tier presents pretty good value as you probably won't have to take these guys in the top three rounds and can build your roster in other ways while still picking up a reliable jungler later in the draft. Specifically, this group showcases a handful of different jungler styles: some provide a safe, assist driven fantasy asset, others are a bit higher upside in terms of kill focus, and one is looking for a bounceback split on a new team.

IWDominate and Xmithie provide the safe picks in this tier. Both are not relied on as carries, but show consistent team fight presence with good jungle routes early in games to gank lanes and pick up assists. IWDominate finished eighth in kills, second in assists, and fifth in creep score while Xmithie finished twelfth in kills, third in assists, and seventh in creep score.

If you're looking for the highest upside in this tier those titles go to Jankos and Spirit as both present a more aggressive style of jungling which generally leads to more kills. Both are on new teams for the 2016 season as Jankos joins a revamped H2k lineup and Spirit moves to the LCS with FNATIC from China. Jankos finished second in kills and creep score, while finishing twelfth in assists. Spirit is known for playing aggressive junglers in China including Jarvan, Lee Sin, and Nidalee. His performances with FNATIC at IEM Cologne further identified this style as he played mostly Nidalee at the tournament. As he settles into the LCS with FNATIC, who should be a top team once again, look for Spirit to be a solid fantasy producing jungler.

The last member of this tier, Svenskeren, also joins a new team for the 2016 season. SK Gaming had an awful summer split last season and were eventually relegated from the LCS. Despite that Svenskeren finished tied for second in kills, eleventh in assists, and ninth in creep score. Where he lost a lot of points, in terms of fantasy scores, was in the death department as he died 71 times during the split, finishing second in the category among all junglers. On what seems to be a strong TSM roster, look for his death total to go down as he likely won't feel the need to press to make plays happen, while his assist total should rise, providing a nice bounceback candidate.

Tier 3: Crumbz, Diamondprox, Kirei, Moon, Shook, Trashy, Trick

This tier represents the unownable, or at best, the backup class of junglers. New players to the LCS include Trick, Moon and Kirei while Crumbz returns to the LCS with RNG after leaving Dignitas in early 2015. This tier also includes LCS players on new teams including Diamondprox, Shook who played ten games with the Copenhagen Wolves, and Trashy, who returns to Europe to join Splyce. All three present limited upside, with the highest potential coming from Shook, who joins a pretty solid Vitality lineup for 2016.

As for the newcomers, I'd take a wait and see approach, mainly on Trick and Crumbz. Trick had shown in limited appearances with CJ Entus that he could play aggressive junglers; if this happens in the LCS there may be some fantasy upside to be had. Crumbz could provide a steady option for RNG, and if NRG ends up showing a hyper aggressive style, Moon could have potential upside as well.