kainypoo:

Amumu is a champion that I feel is incredibly underrated by the community and I think he is one of the strongest junglers in the game. Not only do I think he’s a strong jungler, but I am also of the opinion that he is a very viable mid and a situational pick for top. He’s pretty out of place for bottom, but he can work there as well. I’ll only address the strengths of his jungle in this blog, but I do think it’s very important to recognize that Amumu can be very, very strong in every lane. I’d like to start off by dispelling some myths about Amumu, move on to why I think he’s strong, how I play him, and sum it up by explaining the role that he plays later in the game.

*This turned much more into a guide than I wanted it to be, but I’m still generally pleased about the outcome of it! This is my first blog ever and also my first post on tumblr ever, so please let me know what I can do to make posts like this better. I really wanted to get some in-game footage of how I play Amumu, but I have unfortunately been way too addicted to Diablo 3 to get that done. If you have any comments, differing opinions, constructive criticism, or just want to say hello, please, please leave me a message!*

Myths

1.  “Amumu is a slow jungler.” He has one of the fastest level 3 clears in the game and a decent level 4 clear without optimizing for clear speed whatsoever.
2. “Amumu is more susceptible to counter-jungling than other junglers.” He is only susceptible to counter-jungling if you allow him to be. By using an aggressive level 3 route, not only is it hard to counter-jungle him, but it is incredibly easy for him to counter-jungle the opponent jungle and even score an early kill.
3. “Amumu is a bad duelist.” As mentioned in point (2), he can easily score an early kill on the enemy jungler. With a long ranged stun, extremely durable base stats, and a cooldown resetting Tantrum, he is one of the strongest double buff junglers early in the game. If your opponent is using a standard level 4 route, it is especially easy to catch them off guard and absolutely obliterate them, allowing you to take free reign ganking their mid and/or top lane.
4. “Amumu is reliant on blue buff.” Sure, it’s nice to have, but what makes Udyr less reliable on blue buff than Amumu? Same with Olaf (who is actually much more blue dependent for fast clears), Alistar, Jarvan,.. The list goes on. Blue buff is awesome to have on all junglers, but it’s certainly not a necessity. If your blue gets counter-jungled, it’s not the end of the world, and I’ll discuss this situation specifically later on in this blog.

But… Why’s Amumu So Good?

• He’s a fast level 3 jungler and a decently timed level 4 jungler without optimizing for jungle clear speed whatsoever. Although I don’t suggest a level 4 route, Amumu is capable of pulling it off at a decent speed. No, he won’t be as fast as Shyvana or Mundo, but he will be very close to their time for a level 3 clear.
• He’s a great counter-jungler. Despite contrary belief, Amumu is a great counter-jungler because of his fast small camp clearing speed and his ability to escape a lot of situations with clever use of Bandage Toss.

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