The complete Blitzcrank Jungle guide

The way Riot Games have managed to keep League of Legends fresh and entertaining for 13 years is by constantly messing with it. This year we had a huge meta shift in the middle of the season, the item changes are still being worked on and even the Chemtank Drake is coming back.

Is Blitzcrank Jungle a good pick?

But every once in a while, Riot just picks one random champion, buffs it way over the top, and then makes it a jungler. With the meta for the World Championship being locked in with patch 12.18, Riot did exactly that on the following two patches.

That’s how we got here, where Blitzcrank Jungle is not just a good pick, but it’s a great one due to its versatility. Riot achieved this by buffing his base attack speed and attack speed ratio, which increased the value of buying attack speed. 

His W ability also got an attack speed buff, and those auto attacks now deal 1% of his maximum health as magic damage. His E and W abilities now do a lot more damage to jungle monsters, with his ultimate receiving the biggest buff to date. Once Blitzcrank gets his ultimate ability, his auto attacks now zap the enemy with bonus damage with this feature stacking, giving him a free source of damage.

Blitzcrank Jungle Build

With so much damage being given to a support champion that has innate utility, it’s no wonder Blitzcrank has shot up in popularity and win rate. These are the runes and builds that you should be abusing with Blitzcrank Jungle.

AP Blitzcrank Runes

According to statistics, Tank Blitzcrank Jungle has the highest win rate. But you already know that ability power is what makes this champion interesting to jungle with. So if you want to be successful with the squishy AP build, you need to optimize and build properly.

Conqueror is without a doubt the best keystone on AP Blitzcrank all around. Dark Harvest or First Strike might be fun to experiment with against squishy teams. But if you are using this to gain some ranked elo, make sure to follow this guide. 

Blitzcrank stacks up Conqueror really fast since he can now get so many auto attacks off with his W ability. Alacrity and Coup de grâce also help him finish out enemies, as well as improve his clear. For secondary runes, make sure to always use Hexflash and Cosmic Insight. Blitzcrank’s kit makes him a great pick champion, creating an advantage out of thin air. 

To do this, he relies on his Flash and his Q ability to hit. Having the Hexflash rune means that he can reposition and gank with it, with proficiency similar to Rek’sai. On the other hand, Cosmic Insight gives him a lower cooldown on his smite to clear the jungle faster, and helps him get his real Flash back up.

AP Blitzcrank Items and Abilities

Now that you understand what makes Blitzcrank Jungle so deadly, it’s time to learn how to equip him with items. If you like going for a lot of plays, using your Flash and hook, make sure to get the Ionian boots of Lucidity. They give him a lot of cooldown reduction and reduce the timer on his Flash as well. Boots of Swiftness are another solid choice, as they reduce his self slow after his W ability ends. This helps you stick to enemies after smacking them with your W. 

Nashors is the best item for any jungle Blitzcrank build because he has great synergy with it after the buffs. Everfrost is your mythic item, since it’s cheaper than Ludens, gives you health, and an amazing active to combo your abilities. After that, you can go for Zhonya for some survivability and cooldown and Deathcap for a massive power spike to his scalings.

As you level up, you should always start with your W ability and max it out fully. If you are going for maximum burst damage and full ability power build, you should max your Q and E after that, leveling up your ultimate ability whenever possible.

AD Blitzcrank Items and Runes

What makes jungle Blitzcrank so versatile is his ability to do mixed damage. Since Riot buffed every attack speed aspect of his kit, Galeforce Blitzcrank with 60% Crit is somehow viable. This is thanks to his E ability, which has a crazy 200% AD scaling and goes down to a five-second cooldown. This means you must include a sheen item in your AD build, with Galeforce, Essence Reaver, and Infinity Edge being the core for the crit build. 

If you want a bruiser build, Trinity Force, Manamune, and Black Cleaver should be a good core. The AD builds lack a lot of attack speed items, so going for Lethal Tempo as your main rune should help with that issue. If you are using the AD build, you should be maxing E into W and Q, compared to the W, E, Q maxing order of the AP build.

Tank Blitzcrank Runes and Items

Blitzcrank is a hard champion to win games with, mainly because his kit works if you hit your skill shots. That’s why these recent buffs have only positively impacted the win rate of tank Blitzcrank builds, in both the jungle and support roles. Tank Blitzcrank offers the same utility and playmaking, while serving as a frontline for his team and having enough damage to kill anyone with the changes to his ultimate ability. These are the runes that you should be using to make the most of Tank Blitzcrank in this meta.

Predator helps you chase down enemies without having to use your Flash and your hook. If you get in range to knock them up with your E ability, your hook is guaranteed to hit. Relentless Hunter also helps with this, and we already discussed how powerful these secondary runes are on Blitzcrank.

Frostfire Gauntlet is the best mythic item on Tank Blitzcrank, as his first auto attack slows the enemy and makes sure you can stay in range. But you should always get Lucidity boots before your mythic and round out your build with Frozen Heart. It’s one of the most cost-efficient items and gives a lot of mana that Blitzcrank needs for his passive and spamming abilities. If you get ahead you can include a Nashors in your build, since he can use it so effectively. Otherwise, you are better off building a Force of Nature to combat multiple magic damage threats.

Blitzcrank Jungle Pathing

Since Blitzcrank lacks AOE (Area of Effect) damage and his abilities can only target one enemy, his jungle clear should always start on the blue side. Always start with your W ability on your blue buff and smite it at 400 health. After that you should do your Gromp and make sure to use the auto reset mechanic with your E ability. 

From there you can do Wolves into Red buff, securing the scuttle crab and attempting multiple ganks. Blitzcrank will have a hard time clearing the rest of the camps without Bami Cinder, so make sure to create advantages for your teammates by using your play-making potential. Blitzcrank is not Graves or Kindred, so farming does not help you win the game.

Header: Riot Games