Hi, I'm Joey Adrian aka J03B0B! I've been playing since season 3 and have been a jungle main the whole time =D I hit D4 last season spamming Pantheon, Elise, and Rek'Sai.

Since then I picked up streaming, especially during pre season, this lead to a lot of smurfing and I've realized Elise is truly the queen of the jungle at all ranks!

Come watch, ask questions, hang out, and make me do a back flip! <--- Click here

As you can see, early game is how I like to play! I don't like leaving the game up to chance so I play champions that take over early, before your team can int, and have the tools to end before the enemy can out scale! Elise is perfect for this!

Throughout this guide I'll be showing you how to play Elise early, mid, and late game. Including what you should be looking to accomplish, how to get a lead, play with a lead, AND how to play with a disadvantage. While the general play style of Elise will remain similar (covered below) I've included various builds and runes you can use depending on the enemy team composition to give you the edge you'll need to take the W!

PROS + One of the best lvl 3's in the game + High Burst Damage + 1v9 Early game + Every Item Is A Power Spike + Good Build Options When Behind + Can Level 3 Tower Dive + THE GAME IS IN YOUR HANDS Elise is a champion that wants to get ahead early then take over the game and she has all the tools to get it done! Her level 3 power spike is huge for ganks, skirmishes, and dueling. Her ganks are unmatched in power due to her Cocoon and Rappel allowing her to lock down targets, gap close, and tower dive. Landing Cocoon is almost guaranteed to net a kill early game. Spider Forms bonus movement speed allows you to move around the map quickly so you are never late to the party. spiderlings makes it so Elise can take early dragons and rift heralds.

CONS - Hard To Play In Team Fights - Weak When Behind - Gets Out Scaled - Mistakes Are Costly - 6 Abilities Can Be Overwhelming - Constant Need To Be Proactive Due to Elise' early game power, she does come with some downsides. Her biggest issue is how hard she is punished for making a mistake or being complacent. YOU MUST be proactive and calculated throughout the first 15 minutes of the game. Her team fighting is relatively weak and difficult to pull off, making her late game quite weak as well, especially when behind! Elise hates slow games and passive laners which make it hard to get an early lead. She struggles vs tanks, heavy cc, and dashing champions.

ELECTROCUTE ✦ Electrocute If you're new to Elise, there's nothing wrong with taking Electrocute every game! It will help with your early game and secure some guaranteed early kills. There's never really a bad situation to take this rune since Elise is generally a single target killer Electrocute fits her perfectly! Take into squishy team comps. If you're not sure what rune to take, take Electrocute!

PRESS THE ATTACK ✦ Press the Attack This has been my favorite rune lately! It gives you similar early burst to Electrocute but allows you to continue pouring on the damage if you can't get them low enough with your combo. It doesn't scale as well with AP and is harder to proc since you can only proc it with auto attacks, but feels WAY better into bruiser compositions and match ups. I've been taking this rune almost every game lately and it feels amazing!

CONQUEROR ✦ Conqueror Take Conqueror when the fights will be long! The bonus adaptive stats mixed with healing will keep you in the middle of fights constantly doing damage! I take this rune in to tanks and melee compositions where it will be easy to continue using at full stacks. Early ganks will be weaker since you have no extra burst damage so look to invade and skirmish more often.

Electrocute

★ If you're new to Elise, there's nothing wrong with taking Electrocute every game! It will help with your early game and secure some guaranteed early kills. There's never really a bad situation to take this rune since Elise is generally a single target killer Electrocute fits her perfectly! Take into squishy team comps. If you're not sure what rune to take, take Electrocute! With this rune you are looking to 100-0 someone, prolonged fights should be avoided when possible since Electrocute will only proc once in the fight.

Cheap Shot

★ In general, you don't want to take fights if you don't land Cocoon, this basically means Cheap Shot will be used in every fight for bonus damage. Sudden Impact is good too for its synergy with Venomous Bite but I prefer Cheap Shot!

Eyeball Collection

★ As Elise we want to get kills and snowball the game FAST! Eyeball Collection helps us do this! Each kill we get, we will become stronger. I strongly prefer this over Zombie Ward below high plat since no one wards enough to easily stack ward kills.

Relentless Hunter

★ Elise has built in healing with her spiderlings and bonus Omnivamp from the jungle item passive... This makes Ravenous Hunter sub optimal. Our goal is to dominate the map early, we need movement speed to do this. Get kills, get movement speed, control the map. Take Relentless Hunter every game!

Nimbus Cloak

★ Speed is the name of the game! Nimbus Cloak will help you close the gap during ganks. Before smite upgrade you can smite minions for bonus move speed, after you can smite champions to slow them, get on top of them, and guarantee Cocoon hits. Nimbus Cloak will help you escape sticky situations mid to late game after you Rappel, or Zhonya's Hourglass.

Waterwalking

★ Gotta... Go... FAAAAAST! Waterwalking gives you slightly faster gank windows but most importantly allows you to rotate around the map faster. As a bonus you gain extra damage in the river for neutral objective fights.

Press The Attack

★ This has been my favorite rune lately! It gives you similar early burst to Electrocute but allows you to continue pouring on the damage if you can't get them low enough with your combo. It doesn't scale as well with AP and is harder to proc since you can only proc it with auto attacks, but feels WAY better into bruiser compositions and match ups. I've been taking this rune almost every game lately and it feels amazing!

Triumph

★ While running precision as your primary tree, your goal is to be stronger in prolonged fights. trimphs healing will keep you healthy and fighting for longer!

Legend: Alacrity

★ Bonus attack speed allows you to proc both Press the Attack and Conqueror faster and more reliably. IF the enemy team is heavy on CC you can swap this with Legend: Tenacity

Coup De Grace

★ Perfect synergy with Venomous Bites execute damage. There is nothing worse than an enemy crawling away on 5 hp and forcing you to use Rappel preemptively to chase down and get yourself killed. Don't let this happen... Take Coup de Grace!

Cheap Shot

★ *SAME INFO AS ABOVE* In general, you don't want to take fights if you don't land Cocoon, this basically means Cheap Shot will be used in every fight for bonus damage. Sudden Impact is good too for its synergy with Venomous Bite but I prefer Cheap Shot!

Relentless Hunter

★ *SAME INFO AS ABOVE* Elise has built in healing with her spiderlings and bonus Omnivamp from the jungle item passive... This makes Ravenous Hunter sub optimal. Our goal is to dominate the map early, we need movement speed to do this. Get kills, get movement speed, control the map. Take Relentless Hunter every game!

Conqueror

★ Take Conqueror when the fights will be long! The bonus adaptive stats mixed with healing will keep you in the middle of fights constantly doing damage! I take this rune in to tanks and melee compositions where it will be easy to continue using at full stacks. Early ganks will be weaker since you have no extra burst damage so look to invade and skirmish more often.

Triumph

★ *SAME INFO AS ABOVE* While running precision as your primary tree, your goal is to be stronger in prolonged fights. trimphs healing will keep you healthy and fighting for longer!

Legend: Alacrity

★ *SAME INFO AS ABOVE* Bonus attack speed allows you to proc both Press the Attack and Conqueror faster and more reliably. IF the enemy team is heavy on CC you can swap this with Legend: Tenacity

Coup De Grace

★ *SAME INFO AS ABOVE* Perfect synergy with Venomous Bites execute damage. There is nothing worse than an enemy crawling away on 5 hp and forcing you to use Rappel preemptively to chase down and get yourself killed. Don't let this happen... Take Coup de Grace!

Cheap Shot

★ *SAME INFO AS ABOVE* In general, you don't want to take fights if you don't land Cocoon, this basically means Cheap Shot will be used in every fight for bonus damage. Sudden Impact is good too for its synergy with Venomous Bite but I prefer Cheap Shot!

Relentless Hunter

★ *SAME INFO AS ABOVE* Elise has built in healing with her spiderlings and bonus Omnivamp from the jungle item passive... This makes Ravenous Hunter sub optimal. Our goal is to dominate the map early, we need movement speed to do this. Get kills, get movement speed, control the map. Take Relentless Hunter every game!

Instead of telling you what each ability does (basic information found in game) I'll be giving you a couple tips for each ability to help you maximize your effectiveness with Elise!


Spider Queen Elise' passive gives you bonus AP and healing on your auto attacks. Use this after a skirmish to continue clearing your camps, invade, or shove waves while healing.


Spider Form This is where most of your damage will come from.

Spells don't cost mana in Spider Form and auto attacks from you + spiderlings heal.

Use your spawned spiderlings to block enemy skill shots like Morganas Dark Binding.

During early clears, make sure YOU tank your camps so your spiderlings can continue dealing damage + healing you.

Utilize your bonus movement speed in Spider Form to move out of base, camp to camp, rotate, etc.

If all you need to do is land Cocoon you can approach in Spider Form, Rappel in, swap to Human Form, point blank Cocoon. USE CAREFULLY!

Can't kite camps when spiderlings are alive. Be sure to switch to Human Form from time to time to kite camps towards the next camp/gank.



Human Form Has all of your gank set up. Always approach ganks in Human Form and be sure Spider Form is off CD when you land Cocoon.

Don't underestimate your ranged auto attacks, especially with red buff! You can often run people down who are trying to dodge your Cocoon and even proc Press the Attack before the fight starts.

Your abilities replenish spiderlings use this while clearing to keep maximum dps on camps.



Neurotoxin Take Level 1 for fastest Clear

Does % CURRENT HP, be sure you use early to deal max damage.

Costs 85 mana at level 1... Avoid using on camps unless you have blue buff!


Venomous Bite Main source of damage!

Deals % MISSING HP. Use on low targets to maximize damage and secure kills.

Use in combination with smite to secure dragon.

Causes Volatile Spiderling and all spiderlings to jump onto whatever you Q, use this for surprise burst damage.

When in melee range, use this LAST! It's a bad habit to use immediately after transforming if you don't have to. The lower the targets health, the more damage Venomous Bite will do.

After you full combo in a team fight and Rappel, wait for Venomous Bite to come off CD before dropping back on to a low health enemy to secure the kill.

Can be used TWICE as a gap closer. Q to a minion, smite kill the minion, your Q will refresh it's CD but will still use the small dash. This can allow you to get in range when Rappel isn't available, or slightly out of range. HARD TO PULL OF IN THE MOMENT.


Volatile Spiderling Will jump to any target you hit with Venomous Bite! Throw it in a way that it won't hit minions, then Venomous Bite enemy champ to burst.

Great for clearing AOE camps.

Save for killing all mini krugs at once and use it in the middle of raptors to help burst the minis.

Gives vision, use this to scout brush before face checking.

Always use before going into Spider Form when fighting.

Great while siegeing and kiting for your team, especially with Rylai's Crystal Scepter



Skittering Frenzy Counts as an auto attack reset (auto THEN W for instant second auto).

During early clears, make sure you have all your spiderlings for max dps to camps. Don't let them tank the camp! You want them doing damage.

You can use this just before Zhonya's Hourglass and your spiderlings will continue attacking nearby enemies! They HURT late game and will heal you.


Cocoon In the early game, hold on to Cocoon until you can guarantee it landing! The threat can be just as powerful as landing it.

The enemy team will actively try dodging this before you throw Cocoon, use this time to auto attack them and close the gap.

The closer you are to the target, the easier it will be to land.

Once you get a feel for the CD you can often use Cocoon twice in extended fights.



Rappel This can be used in a variety of ways, it's important that you understand when and how to use it for maximum effect.

Escape/safety. Rappel can be used after your full combo to escape, drop tower agro, or similar to Zhonya's Hourglass to stall for time.

Chase down if someone flashes away during a gank.

Rappel gives vision in the radius. Use this to jump to plants, jg camps, recently placed wards, pink wards, enemy champions, etc.

Using Rappel on the ground will lift you into the air and you'll stay there until it wears off, or you click something to drop on to.

Using Rappel on an enemy champion will lift you up and drop you directly on to the enemy giving increased attack speed and healing to your spiderlings for 5 seconds (increases damage output).

Combined with Zhonya's Hourglass you can stall for up to 4.5 seconds. This can be HUGE when engaging fights early and stalling for your team to follow up.

The first 10 minutes of the game is vitally important for Elise. Ideally you'll be able to secure a kill or two which will allow you to press your lead and convert it into neutral objectives like dragon and rift herald.

Before the game starts you should be looking at the lane match ups and seeing which lanes are volatile.

There are a TON of things to look for and this requires a high level of game knowledge. We're going to keep things relatively simple by looking for these characteristics -

1 - Heavy cc lanes that will offer good gank assist ( Nautilus, Pantheon, Annie, Renekton etc.)

2 - Melee vs melee match ups where both laners take ignite. This signals aggression and a volatile lane.

3 - Lanes that will harass and set up good dive opportunities ( Renekton, Quinn, Urgot, Caitlyn and Morgana, etc.)

4 - Enemy Junglers with bad dueling/clearing.

Our goal is to get on the map early and create an impact. We do this by pathing TOWARD these lanes so we can gank them at level 3 and start snowballing immediately. The idea is that if you can get a winning lane ahead, they will dominate and you'll be free to take over that side of the map, counterjungle, and repeatedly kill the enemy laner.

If the lane you want to gank is bot lane, plan to start top. Elise starts to struggle around 15 to 20 minutes when team fights become more common, this means our priority is to take control of the game early by making our presence felt! The leash isn't that important! Getting on the map and creating an early impact is important!

League is a very complex game and you must be ready to adapt to any given situation but for simplicity sake I'm going to give you 10 steps for the early game. This should show you what goals you are trying to accomplish, when to accomplish them, and a little bit of how.


Step 1 - TRY to get your team to walk with you to drop an early ward on their bottom buff, OR in river to watch for invades/lvl 2 ganks (when necessary).
If your team can't walk with you or you have a weak lvl 1 team, hold on to yellow trinket to deep ward enemy Jungle after lvl 3 clear.

Step 2 - Base and buy sweeper to help with your level 3 gank, unless you couldn't place your yellow trinket.

Step 3 - Clear your first camp while watching both top and bot lane to see which side leashed. You'll be able to tell who leashed if laners get to lane late, get to lane with missing hp, or get to lane with missing mana. This allows you to predict where the enemy jungler will be pathing.

Step 4 - GET LEVEL 3! Red Buff, Blue Buff, and Gromp = 3. This is your go to clear.

Step 5 - Gank, Invade, double scuttle, or (situationally) full clear. IN THAT ORDER. Getting lanes ahead is your priority. Getting yourself ahead is a close second. You only want to full clear if the enemy jungler can out duel you, AND lanes are NOT gankable due to playing very passive, or you have no priority in lanes because they already died.

Step 6 - Clear remaining camps/invade. IF you get a good gank off and still have HP, look to invade. Otherwise, clear your remaining camps to try and get enough gold for Sorc Boots. Be careful not to stay on the map too long without creating some pressure or you will lose tempo to the enemy jungler. NEVER walk across the map just to farm.

Step 7 - Base for items!

Step 8 - Watch lane states while leaving base! This should determine where you walk, NOT your camp sequencing.
If you have a strong laner freezing, GANK.
If the enemy is low on hp or mana and shoving with time for you to get there, GANK.
If the enemy laner already burned flash, GANK.
If your lane is slow pushing a huge wave, DIVE.
If you've been tracking the enemy jungler, INVADE.
Only fall back to farming if no other option is available.

Step 9 - Get vision and prio around Drake/Herald. Be sure to contest every scuttle that you can! Your ability to do this is highly dependent on lane states.
YOU can help get your lanes get prio by ganking slightly before OBJ spawns and helping shove the wave. This allows the lane you ganked to move with you and secure the OBJ. Careful in low elo as your team might rage... RIP :(

Step 10 - Secure Drake/Herald.



Okay... That was a lot.

Games will NEVER be this simple, there WILL be deviations. This is simply an outline of what you want to be prioritizing during the early game. I see a lot of people confused in the early game and not sure what the correct decision is. This leads to a ton of wasted time. Hopefully this outline will give you some idea of what you should be doing.

No matter what, DON'T WASTE TIME!

If you decide to base, BASE! Don't start to recall, stop to clear a camp, start to recall, stop to gank, etc. Make a decision and stick to it, even if it's the wrong one! You can correct the mistake in future games and in lower elo, NOT wasting time is more important than anything else when it comes to jungling.

This is my first guide and I had a blast making it! Please let me know what you think and leave any feedback in the comments!

I left a couple things out

1 - I'm not 100% sure if people want a full outline of the entire game. I'll be more than happy to write it up if people want it! Just let me know.

2 - I left out "combos" since I don't believe they are important. Most of Elises combos are intuitive and any special interactions were covered in the abilities section. Decision making and reading the map is 1000X more important than forcing ganks that will only work with a "perfectly executed combo".

Elise is a champion that can take you from the depths of Iron all the way to the top of the ladder if mastered! She is very rarely out of the meta entirely and almost never banned. She is one of the best champions to one trick in my opinion!

She won't faceroll 1v9 late game like a Master Yi will BUT once you hit higher elo's Elise will FAR outshine the Silver 1v9 champions and be able to carry you to higher highs!

Don't be discouraged when learning Elise! There is a large learning curve when playing early game champions. When reviewing your games it's important to not only look at the major mistakes but also be aware of when you COULD be making an impact and aren't. 30 seconds spent farming instead of pathing towards a gank can be just as big of a mistake as dying in some games.

Always be looking to be proactive and keep grinding!

If you enjoyed this guide and want to learn more, come hang out with me on Twitch!