Ranking the top 5 junglers at MSI 2022

May 6, 2022

The jungler attending MSI 2022 range from some of the most elite in the best leagues in the world, to players casual League of Legends players probably have not heard about. Even those elite junglers have different strengths and weaknesses, which should make for an interesting clash of styles.

Here are Inven Global's ranking of the top 5 junglers attending MSI 2022.

5. Juhan — PSG Talon

Lee "Juhan" Ju-han was brought onto PCS juggernaut PSG Talon as the replacement for Kim "River" Dong-woo and he has not disappointed. Although PSG's performance in the Spring Split dipped from the previous iteration with River and Huang "Maple" Yi-Tang, it was merely going from an 18-0 record in 2021 to a 16-2 record this Spring. And PSG did need some help going through the lower bracket in order to finally win the PCS Playoffs.

While players like Su "Hanabi" Chia-Hsiang and Wong "Unified" Chun Kit get most of the headlines for PSG, Juhan has made quite a name for himself with his performance so far. As a rookie, he was second in the league in both KDA and gold per minute (GPM) among junglers. In fact, on Juhan’s four most-played champions, he has a KDA over 4, which is quite impressive. Going up against some of the best junglers in the world will be a fantastic learning experience for the young jungler.

4. Inspired — Evil Geniuses

The former LEC MVP struggled initially after crossing the Atlantic to join Evil Geniuses. A lot of that had to do with the team’s own struggles during the early and mid part of the regular season, in which several games. But in the later rounds of the regular season and the spring playoffs, both EG and Kacper "Inspired" Słoma morphed into a completely different animal.

In the playoffs, Inspired’s KDA jumped from a very strong 5.41 in the regular season to a godly 6.39. His GPM also rose by over 30 in the playoffs and he had some truly dominant performances on aggressive champions like Xin Zhao and Diana. Inspired hasn’t quite reached the level where he once was as a god in the LEC, but he’s certainly on that trajectory.

3. Jankos — G2 Esports

It may be shocking for such a veteran player, especially one who has been on such a dominant G2 team for so long, but this will only be Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski's second MSI appearance in his career, the first since 2019. Of course, Jankos has no shortage of international experience under his belt, being one of the most veteran junglers in the tournament. This experience should serve him well against these young, aggressive junglers.

During the Spring Split, Jankos has been the consummate team player. He’s sacrificed his early game heavily to protect his laners and turn would-be-ganks into stalemates or kills in G2’s favor. There is a risk that this overly-protective style will get exploited by those more aggressive junglers he’ll be facing, but when your laners are Rasmus "caPs" Winther and Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik, it makes sense to give them a safety blanket.

2. Wei — Royal Never Give Up

At only 19 years old, Yan "Wei" Yang-Wei will be making his second MSI appearance and will try to cement his spot as one of the best junglers on the planet. Given how well he has performed domestically in the last two years, as well as his performances at MSI 2021 (where he helped lead RNG to a title) and Worlds 2021, that’s not too daunting a task.

Like Jankos, Wei is willing to take a backseat to his star laners Chen "Bin" Ze-Bin and Li "Xiaohu" Yuan-Hao, but with the added benefit of a strong early game. Unfortunately, unlike Jankos, he can tend to go a bit too ham at times and ends up being an extremely feast-or-famine jungler. In every single one of RNG’s losses during the LPL Spring Playoffs, Wei had six or more deaths. In the games RNG won, only once did he have more than three deaths.

1. Oner — T1

It’s rare to get complete consensus from all the Inven writers, but it was completely unanimous when it came to Moon "Oner" Hyeon-joon: he is the best jungler at MSI. Oner took over the jungle spot for T1 from Moon "Cuzz" Woo-chan last Summer and has looked like an absolute monster ever since. He’s only getting better with more time and experience, as he helped T1 to form one of the most unstoppable teams to ever play in the LCK.

Oner and T1 have only lost eight games total during the spring split and playoffs combined, which is absolutely bonkers. Oner has been the driving force behind T1’s incredible early game and objective control, which is why they win games so quickly and convincingly. Make no mistake, he might only be 19, but Oner is the king of the jungle at MSI until someone unseats him