15 Best AP Junglers in League of Legends (Strongest Picks)

Chris Lee
Chris Lee 17 Min Read

Navigating the jungle in League of Legends demands more than just quick reflexes—it requires a mastermind who knows the power of magic. As an AP Jungler, the burden of outsmarting opponents with devastating spells falls on you.

But amidst a roster brimming with choices, how do you pinpoint the champions that will lead you to glory? Fear not, for we’ve distilled the essence of arcane knowledge to present you with the top 15 AP Junglers.

With this wisdom, victory is not just a possibility—it’s within your grasp.

1. Maokai

Within the thicket of AP junglers, Maokai stands out with his resilient nature and explosive sapling traps, making him a solid choice. You’re part of a group that appreciates strategic variety, and Maokai provides just that.

His distinct set of abilities not only disrupts enemy movements but also shapes the battleground to favor your team. Choosing Maokai means you’re selecting a guardian who stands resilient amidst chaos.

Understanding the Twisted Treant’s skills is key. His Twisted Advance ensnares adversaries, disrupting their location, while his saplings serve as powerful wards to deter encroachments.

You’re part of an informed collective that recognizes Maokai’s potential to sway team fights with his crowd control and territory denial, snatching victories where defeat seemed imminent.

2. Morgana

Morgana, a powerful AP jungler, combines dark sorcery and crowd control to excel in the jungle and affect other lanes with her binding snares.

Her Tormented Shadow is excellent for clearing camps quickly and maintains her health, allowing for efficient jungle pathing and reducing the risk of enemy invasions.

Her skill shot, Dark Binding, can alter the outcome of ganks and small fights. A successful hit can secure an advantage or result in a kill, strengthening your team’s influence on the map.

In larger battles, her ultimate, Soul Shackles, can turn the tide. It disrupts the enemy team’s positioning and can stun, positioning you not only as an attacker but also as a critical strategist.

Mastery of Morgana will resonate with your allies, as clever use of your abilities significantly aids the collective pursuit of triumph.

3. Amumu

Shifting focus from Morgana’s captivating skills, you’ll discover Amumu’s despair is just as formidable in the jungle. His ability to deal area-of-effect damage and secure enemy champions makes him a distinguished AP jungler.

Joining the ranks of these unique champions, you’ll find Amumu’s blend of melancholy and might intriguing.

His abilities are particularly suited for group skirmishes, where his ultimate, Curse of the Sad Mummy, can alter the tide of a fight with a timely bandage toss.

SkillUtilityImpact in Team Fights
Bandage TossEngage/DisengageHigh
DespairSustained DamageMedium
TantrumDamage ReductionMedium
Curse of the Sad MummyArea ControlVery High

Mastering Amumu requires a commitment to teamwork, as your effectiveness is closely tied to how well your team coordinates and responds to your initiation efforts.

4. Diana

Every jungler you’ve come across seems less formidable when you consider Diana’s lunar abilities, with her powerful leaps and skill at dismantling the opposition’s defenses.

Aligning with the moon’s champion, you’ll find her abilities are a perfect match for those aiming to be stars on the Rift.

Here is what makes Diana a formidable force in the jungle:

  • Lunar Rush (E): Offers excellent capabilities to close the distance to initiate or pursue enemies.
  • Pale Cascade (W): Provides a defensive shield and area damage, improving jungle endurance.
  • Moonsilver Blade (Passive): The core ability for quickly clearing camps.
  • Crescent Strike (Q): A curved projectile that’s crucial for marking targets to enable Lunar Rush resets.
  • Moonfall (R): A disruptive area effect ultimate with significant potential for influencing team skirmishes.

Mastering Diana places you among the skilled junglers who influence the outcome of the game bathed in moonlight.

5. Evelynn

Harnessing Evelynn’s seductive power, you’ll quickly realize her position as a formidable AP jungler with an effective mix of stealth and burst damage.

Mastering her unique ability to become invisible with her passive, Last Caress, opens up chances to surprise foes and shift the battle in your team’s direction. Your role is critical: you’re the hidden danger, a whisper of fear to every adversary.

Through careful analysis of each skirmish, you can use her Allure to soften defenses, followed by a powerful Whiplash and Hate Spike combination to eliminate targets.

When the right time comes, you can execute her ultimate, transforming team confrontations into exhibitions of your strategic ferocity.

6. AP Shaco

As a Shaco player, you’ll take on the role of a clever illusionist, transforming the jungle into a labyrinth of deception with your AP abilities.

AP Shaco excels at using cunning and powerful burst damage to outwit adversaries and claim victories. Your arsenal isn’t solely about sheer force; it’s about outsmarting enemies and causing them to question their every move.

  • Jack in the Box (W): Set these intimidating traps to dominate the area and guard your sides.
  • Two-Shiv Poison (E): A thrown weapon that inflicts considerable magic damage and can finish off opponents with low health.
  • Hallucinate (R): Employ your duplicate to confuse enemies or capture objectives with its destructive end.
  • Deceive (Q): This quintessential tool for evasion and attack is perfect for stealthy ambushes.

Early Game Impact: Take charge in initial conflicts with your potent burst and establish an advantage for your team.

Mastering AP Shaco means you’re part of a dedicated group of players who value the art of the trickster.

7. Gragas

With Gragas, you’ll command a brawling brewmaster who delivers high magic damage and exceptional control over enemies in the jungle.

His abilities create a unique mix of disruption and resilience that can influence the outcome of smaller fights and larger clashes.

Examining his skills, you’ll notice that his Barrel Roll (Q) and Explosive Cask (R) serve as strategic assets for pushing adversaries away and securing eliminations.

Your pivotal role involves initiating with his Body Slam (E), which can swing the momentum of a battle to your advantage.

To excel with Gragas is to learn the jungle’s rhythm and the art of surprising your foes. Joining the ranks of strategic players, you’re not merely participating—you’re outwitting opponents with each thought-out action.

Adopt the Gragas playstyle, and you’ll be seen as an irreplaceable force within your team.

8. Elise

Choosing Elise, an AP jungler, equips you with a skill set for a versatile playstyle, promoting adaptability and strategic positioning.

As part of the League’s most cunning predators, her abilities allow for dominating gameplay through burst damage and utility in her spider form.

  • Cocoon (E): This skill shot stuns the first enemy hit and is ideal for starting ganks.
  • Volatile Spiderling (W): Deploy it to scout areas and inflict explosive harm.
  • Spider Form: Transforming provides access to new abilities and improved movement.
  • Rappel (E in Spider Form): Use this to evade abilities or close the distance on targets.
  • Venomous Bite (Q in Spider Form): A potent move to finish off opponents with low health.

With Elise, you carve a distinctive role on your team, crafting an influence across the map, securing objectives, and eliminating opponents with deadly accuracy.

Welcome to the spider’s domain, where the center of the action is your home.

9. Nidalee

Nidalee offers a unique blend of ranged attacks and melee power, making her a formidable AP jungler you’ll meet on the Rift. With her, you transform into the ultimate hunter—tracking your targets with precision and pouncing when the moment is just right.

Her adaptability enables you to adjust to the changing pace of the game, alternating between hurling spears and transforming into a fierce cougar seamlessly.

Mastering Nidalee means you’re not just controlling a champion; you’re adopting a playstyle that requires finesse, timing, and strategic placement.

You’ll move through the jungle, claiming buffs and objectives, always prepared to assist your team or secure a solo takedown.

As part of this select group, you’ll appreciate the excitement of tracking and the gratification of landing a perfectly timed Javelin Toss.

Welcome to the wilderness.

10. Taliyah

Transitioning from the adaptable hunter Nidalee, meet Taliyah, a skilled AP jungler who masterfully controls the battlefield with precision and strategic area denial.

Being a part of the League’s varied cast, engaging in the game means joining a community that appreciates a spectrum of playstyles.

Playing Taliyah offers a sense of community as you:

  • Use her ultimate, ‘Weaver’s Wall,’ to create advantageous terrain.
  • Release a volley of stones with her ‘Threaded Volley’ to deal burst damage.
  • Dislodge enemy formations with the powerful ‘Seismic Shove.’
  • Prevent opponents’ movements and block their paths with ‘Unraveled Earth.’
  • Augment your team’s ability to move quickly and increase gank efficiency by honing your skills with her passive, ‘Rock Surfing.’

Examining Taliyah’s abilities, it becomes evident that with skillful placement and timing, you have the potential to direct the course of the match, making Taliyah a significant AP jungler when utilized effectively.

11. Ekko

Turning your attention to Ekko, you’ll encounter a flexible AP jungler whose abilities to manipulate time can decisively alter the outcomes of team battles to your advantage.

Playing Ekko aligns you with a smart group that understands the significance of timing. His abilities provide the utility and escape mechanisms required to outmaneuver adversaries.

Engage in skirmishes with his Phase Dive (E), which not only diminishes distance but also provides potential clever maneuvers with its teleportation feature.

Analyzing his Chronobreak (R), it becomes evident that the ability can change the course of a conflict. It acts as your contingency, enabling bold actions with the knowledge that you can revert to safety.

To excel with Ekko is to grasp the tempo of the match and predict the actions of your opponents.

In your hands, gameplay becomes an act of orchestrating temporal dynamics, ensuring every ambush and team battle presents a chance to exhibit your strategic acumen.

12. Fiddlesticks

After getting to know Ekko’s abilities to manipulate time, you’ll find Fiddlesticks’ ability to instill fear in the jungle a hauntingly effective choice for AP junglers. This champion excels in the role, instilling fear in the enemy ranks with his creepy abilities and unexpected ganks.

  • Crowstorm: Fiddlesticks’ ultimate can change the tide of team fights with its extensive area damage.
  • Bountiful Harvest: This ability helps him maintain health in the jungle, making camp clearing a breeze.
  • Terrify: Used with strategy, it can prevent enemies from fleeing.
  • Reap: Offers a silence effect that can interrupt enemy spell-casters.
  • Effigies: These act as both wards and tools for setting up ambushes, improving your control over the map.

Join the community of Fiddle mains and enjoy the thrill of executing the perfect ambush in the game.

13. Lillia

Why settle for conventional junglers when you can control the whimsical power of Lillia, whose abilities allow you to glide across the battlefield with grace? Entering the jungle with her means you’re part of a community that values finesse and tactical play.

Lillia shines with her swift clear times and exceptional kiting abilities, using her passive to whittle down her enemies’ health.

Study your opponents’ patterns, and when the moment is right, use Lillia’s ultimate, ‘Lilting Lullaby’, to induce a deep sleep in your adversaries. This power not only sets your allies up for victory but also shows your understanding of the subtle skills required for jungling.

In skilled hands, Lillia is more than just a formidable character; she becomes a force that dances to the beat of triumph.

14. Nunu

As you refine your skills in the role of jungler with Lillia, don’t dismiss the icy capabilities of Nunu, whose mastery of frost provides a formidable challenge to adversaries.

With Nunu, your ability to clear the jungle is highly effective, and your ganking efforts are persistent, giving your team an advantage.

Pay attention to these crucial abilities:

  • Consume (Q): Excellent for maintaining health in the jungle, readying you for ganks.
  • Biggest Snowball Ever! (W): Allows for dynamic ganking opportunities and enhances your movement across the map.
  • Snowball Barrage (E): Slows enemies in succession, hindering their escape attempts.
  • Absolute Zero (R): A powerful ultimate that can change the course of a game with its substantial area effect and damage potential.
  • Snowball-centric gameplay: Introduces a distinctive and strategic way to play that’s both enjoyable and tactical.

Incorporate Nunu’s frosty set of abilities and you’re likely to become a valued player in your League community, known for your icy ganks and respected for your skillful control.

15. Karthus

Transitioning from Nunu’s icy ambushes to the deadly territory of Karthus, you’ll notice his potent sorcery and map-wide influence rank him as an exceptional AP jungler in League of Legends.

Playing Karthus means establishing control on the field with every strategic action. With his ‘Lay Waste’ skill, he can clear monster camps swiftly and ‘Wall of Pain’ grants him the ability to control expansive zones, aiding in securing objectives and applying lane pressure.

Yet, it’s his ‘Requiem’ – a global ability – that truly brings your allies together, offering a unique capability to affect skirmishes no matter where they occur.

Mastering Karthus’s abilities doesn’t just mean efficient farming; it’s about readying for an unyielding offensive that can shift the momentum of the match you’re playing.

Share This Article
Follow:
Hello, Summoners! I'm Chris Lee, the face behind LaneLectures. Peaking at Master (459 LP) in Season 12 and with nearly a decade in the League of Legends arena, I've explored the depths of this complex game. Now, with LaneLectures, I aim to share the crucial tips and insights garnered over the years to help you climb the ranked ladder. Whether you're battling out of Elo Hell or eyeing the prestigious Challenger tier, together we'll navigate the strategies to reach your League of Legends goals!