Community discussion

There is a very specific kind of jungle argument that happens in solo queue where the laner pings for help, the jungler looks at the lane and refuses to come, the laner decides jungle is ignoring a free kill, and the jungler decides the laner has no idea how ganks actually work.

From the laner’s side, the enemy is pushed up, the matchup feels punishable, the enemy has no respect, and one jungle visit looks like it would fix the entire lane. From the jungler’s side, the wave might be too big, the laner might be too low HP, the enemy might have too much space to walk out, the lane might not have enough crowd control, or the laner might be so far behind the wave that they cannot actually move when the gank starts.

That is why I think a lot of gank arguments are not really about whether the jungler should help. They are about whether the lane has been made gankable in the first place.

Where the argument starts

A lot of laners judge ganks by enemy position. If the enemy top, mid, or bot lane is past the middle of the lane, they think the gank is available. If the enemy has been trading aggressively, they think the gank is available. If the enemy has no flash, they think the gank is available.

Junglers usually judge the same situation by whether the play can actually start cleanly. Can the laner move in the first second. Can they survive long enough to help. Is the wave going to block the engage. Does the enemy have an easy escape path. Is the countergank stronger. Does the gank fix the lane or does it just walk into a bad wave and make the lane even worse.

That difference is where most of the frustration comes from, because both sides are looking at something real, but they are not looking at the same part of the play.

When the laner makes it impossible

A laner can make a gank impossible by letting the wave become too large before asking for help. If the enemy has a stacked wave, the jungler is not just fighting the enemy champion. They are fighting the wave, the enemy laner’s damage, the risk of countergank, and the fact that the ally laner may lose too much if the play takes too long. A gank into that kind of lane might technically be possible, but it is often so expensive that it only works if the enemy makes a serious mistake.

A laner can also make the gank impossible by being too low health before the jungler arrives. Sometimes the enemy is pushed up because they already won the trade pattern, which means the lane looks gankable from distance but is not playable once the jungler enters. If the laner cannot walk forward without dying, then the jungler is not entering a 2v1. They are entering a situation where the ally laner is present on the screen but not actually useful in the fight.

When the jungler is overthinking it

At the same time, junglers use lane state as an excuse too often. There are ganks that are not perfect but are still correct because the enemy is overextended, the laner has enough damage to follow, the enemy cooldowns are down, or the gank only needs to force a summoner and fix the pressure. Not every gank needs to be a clean kill. Sometimes the correct jungle move is to relieve the lane, break the enemy’s pressure, or force the enemy to stop playing like there is no jungle in the game.

This is where junglers need to be honest as well. If the laner has held the wave in a decent spot, preserved enough health to move, pinged the enemy’s missing summoner, and the enemy is still walking forward with no respect, then refusing to come because the play is not perfectly clean can just be passive pathing disguised as good decision making.

The real question

For me, the useful question is not whether the enemy laner was far forward. The useful question is whether the ally laner could actually participate when the gank started. If the laner can move, deal damage, hold the enemy in the lane, and survive the first few seconds, then the gank is much more real. If the laner is trapped behind the wave, too low to walk forward, missing the cooldown needed to help, or sitting in a lane state that makes the play lose even if the enemy gets chunked, then the gank might have been fake before the jungler ever arrived.

This is why some lanes feel ignored when they are actually unplayable to help. The laner sees pressure and wants relief. The jungler sees the cost of entering and knows the play might make both players lose tempo.

What I want people to answer

When you watch these situations in your own games, where do you draw the line.

Is the laner responsible for preparing the wave, preserving health, and baiting the enemy into a real gank angle before pinging for help, or should the jungler be more willing to come even when the lane state is messy because solo queue lanes rarely look perfect.

If you play jungle, what makes you look at a lane and think this player is making the gank impossible. If you play lane, what makes you feel like your jungler is refusing a play that was genuinely free.

I think the best answer usually sits in the thirty seconds before the gank, not the moment where the jungler finally appears. The wave, health bars, spacing, cooldowns, and enemy confidence usually tell you whether the play was real or whether both players were arguing about a gank that only looked good from one camera angle.

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I’m Shelbion, a Professional Challenger Coach with 9 years of experience, and I’ve coached more than 5,000 clients across every role and rank. I work with individual players and teams, and I have experience coaching in the US collegiate scene, so if you are looking for coaching you can add me on Discord at shelbion or join the server here https://discord.gg/9TvZvQgMPU and message me.