League of Legends Olaf Jungle Guide

Introduction

 

Olaf's performance has increased in Season 3 in the Jungle when compared to Season 2 because of the new items introduced. I believe Olaf has a lot of new found potential because of his faster clear times and decent ganks.

He's very bursty early to mid game, and then becomes an unstoppable tank late game.

Pros and Cons

 

Pros
-Fast clear times
-Decent slow that comes with good chasing abilities
-Can't be CC'd with his ultimate
-Passive armor penetration
-Strong early-mid game nuking power
-Extremely manly

Cons
-Not a lot of late game damage
-Very mana hungry
-Gets squished without proper itemization

Masteries

 

I chose these Masteries because Olaf thrives off of being tanky. It is his job to run into the enemy team and tank everything with his face while mauling their carries with true damage. He doesn't really need the extra damage like Assassins such as Lee Sin do.

Runes

 

So, let's talk about the runes. I chose Attack Damage Marks so you can clear the jungle a little bit easier and do some more early game damage. You don't really need Armor Penetration because Olaf has passive Armor Penetration on his ultimate. I chose Armor Seals because you kind of need to survive jungle creeps beating in your face. Magic Resist per Level Glyphs because you don't need that MR until later in the game. Jungle creeps don't cast spells, contrary to popular belief. Finally, Movement Speed Quints tend to be useful on Olaf so he can get around the jungle and chase even better than he already does. You can also swap these out for Attack Damage quints if you'd like.

 

Summoner Spells

 

Explanation:

I take Smite because you're jungling. If you don't know that you need to take Smite to jungle, then I think you should turn around and leave. This guide isn't for you.

I take Ghost because you don't really need Flash. Ghost allows you to cover more ground without being CC'd because of Ragnarok.

Skills

 

Passive: Berserker Rage

Explanation:

Very helpful in your initial jungle clear. This is why we don't need to take Attack Speed marks. While you're getting your face beat in by blue buff you get to do more damage. Huzzah!

Q: Undertow

Explanation:

Olaf's bread and butter. You can quickly take out camps in the jungle, and use it to gank. It's an amazing skill overall which is why we max this first.

W: Vicious Strikes

Explanation:

This is your sustain. You lifesteal from things while getting damage from tankyness. It's very helpful but we don't really need the extra lifesteal or anything else until later, which is why we max it last.

E: Reckless Swing

Explanation:

An amazing nuke that we unfortunately cannot max first without sacrificing good clear times or ganking CC. This will allow you to take off 1/3rd of a squishy's health bar every five seconds. Since we don't need until later, we max this second.

R: Ragnarok

Explanation:

This ability is amazing. I would sleep with this ability. Not only does it allow you to do a little extra damage late game, but you can't be disabled. Nothing can stop you as you flip on Ghost and Ragnarok and skip through their team, taking no damage because of your tankyness and destroying their carry with true damage.

Jungling

 

Route

Olaf's route doesn't really vary a whole lot. The most basic and widely used route is:

Wolves -> Blue Buff -> Wraiths -> Red Buff -> Golems -> Wraiths -> Gank

Alternatively you can do things like:

Wolves -> Blue Buff -> Gank

But I personally prefer to clear my jungle and hit level 4 first. If you go for a level 2 gank, which isn't really common on Olaf in the first place, the enemy jungler (depending on the champion) may counter jungle your red side, which'll end up fucking you over pretty badly.