What is the new jungle meta for the beginning?

Ok so, I'm trying to learn how to jungle effectively, started out using Thanatos and Fenrir. First couple of times, I did pretty good going 12-4, two deaths were from botched gank attempts and two more were at the end of the match. However, this was back when you'd have 5 people all go to the mid camps. I just tried jungling again a couple of day ago and it went terribly for my starting game. It took my ages to clear red buff even with HoG, duo lane had cleared their blue by the time I got over there so i missed out on exp there, son on and so forth.

So yeah, how does the jungler start out now? Does he do mid camps with middle, then run over to help duo with their buff, then proceed to do a standard jungler route? Or am I missing something?

this is how most people start the jungle now. the left laner('s) get's blue while 3 people get the right mid camp.

if the solo lane is left he and the junlger clear out the whole left jungle so start at mini furies then get the jungler speed then the solo blue and hang aroud the lane for a level then go on with the jungle.

if the duo is left they grab only their blue and go to lane. while the jungler, mid and solo grab mid camps then the jungler and solo grab red for the jungler and then they grab the solo blue. in this case it's your choice if you want to get a level in the solo lane or not and continue with jungling.

keep controle of the mid camps together with your mid laner, signal when you gank and help out lanes that need help.

at your level your team may do a 5 man mid camp so just tell them that if the duo is left they go to there lane directly and that mid to goes to lane directly. that way you get more exp with the solo laner. if solo is left just make sure you only the duo laners help you with red and blue.

https://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/markis-guide-to-ne-zha-20-11-patch-1924#chapter8

Try and see if any of that under "jungling" can help you out a little ;)

I'll pm you some more later, dinner atm :p

Almost every jungler starts with the same build: Bumbas, red potion, HoG. Purple pot for magical junglers obviously. I've seen Ne Zha and Thanatos both start Death's Toll instead of Bumbas, but the red pot is pretty much essential in the meta right now. It makes a huge difference on early clear speed.

Starting path depends on what side of the map you're on. You'll be clearing camps, then going to the solo lane where you stay until you rotate for mid harpies.

Solo lane on right, the solo laner should help with mid harpies while you solo red, then you both go to blue. You HoG red, the solo laner HoGs blue. This start gets you to lane later than the other side (especially if your solo lane doesn't have HoG,) so most junglers dislike starting on this side.

Solo lane on left, you and the jungler clear speed (jungler HoGs first,) then blue, then go to lane and push. Starting on back harpies like someone above me posted wastes your advantage from starting on the left. If you have fast enough clear/push, you can cut the enemy jungler/laner off while they try to get to lane, making them lose almost an entire wave to the tower.

It's standard to stay in that lane until around 1:40, where you rotate to mid harpies, but don't feel bound by that, especially if your 2v2 is worse than theirs. A lot of mids play stupidly aggressive in the first two minutes since the meta has the jungler not gank that early. If you see them playing up too far, rotate early. It's always sweet to see an Agni dash to clear a wave at 1:20 right as you get there.

Be extremely careful in the solo lane though. Starting red pot makes an early death very hard to come back from. If they have something like Tyr/Zeus, just hide, because you will die and be behind all game. It's kind of silly how many games are lopsided the whole time because the jungler gives first blood in the solo lane.

Thanks for the responses everyone, especially phil. Hopefully I'll be able to come back into the new meta. I like how this game keeps changing things up, but man, if you aren't in the know how you just get left in the dust.

Watching some of the pros stream is a good way to stay up with the meta at high levels. Even a game or two is usually enough to get a good idea on what to do. A lot of the top players play jungle as well, so it's easy to find some high level play there. The meta definitely changes quickly though, pretty much with every patch. Just need to up the price of a red pot by 50 and suddenly everything is different.

You should try to keep up if you're playing ranked, but it really doesn't make a huge difference outside the top levels. If there are games where five people are doing mid harpies, you're not gonna lose because you took a slightly less efficient path in the first minute.

Honestly I think it depends on the team and the character. some people like different starts better than others. some people like to invade enemy buffs, some people like to play it safe. A team with Arachne can start at gold fury.It's important to communicate with your team so that you know what they want to do and also so that they know what you want to do. There isn't a buff order that should be followed every time, at least currently.

Personally, I start out with rank 1 hand of the gods, rank 1 boots, and some pots. But I like to jungle Thor, and he usually doesn't have problems clearing camps. Some gods can really be made much more effective by a red pot instead of boots, but some champs don't as much. It's important that when the game starts that you communicate with your team man. Whether its to tell them how you are going to start, or finding out how they would prefer to start.