Naafiri hasn’t even made her way to League of Legends yet, but some players are already calling her “the best jungler in the game.”
In a June 28 Reddit thread, a player said they played 10 games of Naafiri on the PBE and claimed she’s the best jungler in League. As a Kindred main, the player highlighted gap closing, enormous damage, and what’s most important—how much fun she is to play.
“This champion is the most fun Jungler I’ve ever played,” the player said. “Bring this champ to the jungle and you’re golden… [Naafiri] can block skills shots with the dogs, can go over walls to get out of sticky situations. This champion is amazing in the jungle.”
This comes as somewhat of a surprise because Riot Games labeled Naafiri as a mid lane assassin. The player also tried her in that role but said she’s much worse there. “I’ve also tried her in middle, but honestly she feels horrible into most ranged match ups and completely unplayable versus Ziggs and Taliyah.”
Other players agreed with this perspective, claiming it’s bizarre the devs labeled Naafiri as a mid laner. “I swear she was originally supposed to be a jungler, then when they did her spotlight they said she was a midlaner and I was floored,” one player said. “I always assumed she would be played jungle as well. Makes too much sense and doesn’t make any sense mid.”
Related: The biggest winners and losers of League of Legends Patch 13.13
From our point of view, it makes a lot of sense to play Naafiri in the jungle rather than the mid lane. With an easy-to-land gap closer, high-damage, and low-cooldown abilities, she seems to have the perfect tools to quickly clear the jungle and gank sidelines.
Naafiri is expected to hit the live servers alongside Patch 13.14 on July 19, according to Riot’s release schedule.
