Kha'Zix One-Trick Climb: My Jungle Matchup Tier List (Long Post)

This is the list of jungle matchups I felt against Kha'Zix while climbing from Dia 2 last season to Dia 3 this season. Tried to write as many as I could, but I don't face off-meta picks like Skarner much, so couldn't include them. Hope you understand.

Lee Sin - Early Season 7 when he was at his peak, Kha couldn't even survive his burst if he engaged first. After the nerfs, it's manageable. In my main account ranked games, 4 out of 5 games have Lee Sin, and honestly, I'm just grateful. Unless the enemy is a boosting service player, if you just plan your pathing right, by the time you're level 11 and evolve W, your teamfight contribution is way higher. Not a hard matchup overall. But the Lee Sins who go red smite + full damage + Ninja Tabi (instead of Peanut's typical build) are pretty tough. That build is definitely made with Kha'Zix in mind. Even trading with red smite, I can hardly win, and the damage chunks hard. Still, there's a lot of noobs playing him, so it's actually on the easier side.

Gragas - His kit is just too good at stalling the game. Even if you shut him down early, he'll just ult someone in, E-flash to pick them off like a ghost and get away. Glad he's not as OP lately. During Season 6, he was one of my most hated jungle champs, but since Rod of Ages is gone, he feels manageable. Against a Gragas building Runic Echoes, a single Luden's is enough to blow him up. But if he builds Sunfire, Iceborn Gauntlet, Ninja Tabi, it gets very rough late game. He'll try to E-flash pick you mid-to-late game, so ward diligently and don't go into fog of war. I died to him like 3 times just trying to sweep brushes lol.

Graves - The current absolute apex Tier 0 jungle, Lord Graves. First off, these guys eating all their camps without even using a health pot. His 1v1 damage is just insane too, good players can kill you without taking a hit using Smoke Screen. And the popular Phantom Dancer Graves build — if you get hit by a wall-into-Q-auto from a bush, the PD movespeed proc will make him zoom away, and you'll never catch him. If you try to chase, you'll just die to his team's collapse. The ones who build Zerker Greaves over Tabi, maybe you can fight them with red smite, but his E passive gives him so much armor it's disgusting and he barely takes damage. Honestly, just permaban him. In Diamond+, he's a must-ban anyway so everyone just bans him. Convenient.

Nocturne - Haven't seen him much, but the occasional one-tricks. His early 1v1 and ganks are so strong it can be hard. Especially with red smite, feels unwinnable... Well, maybe not, once you hit 6, you can kite him with your ult stealth pretty easily. When his spellshield is up, back off, then kite with a W-auto-Q-auto combo, then re-engage with stealth to kill him. Also, one tip: don't use Q right after your E. If you auto, then Q, they'll usually panic and cast their spellshield early, so there's a higher chance your Q goes through. Kinda similar principle to Sivir's spellshield? Honestly, if you fall behind against him, it's so hard to recover. Only comfort is he doesn't show up often.

Nidalee - Since RoA was removed, she's a shadow of her former self. Kha doesn't lose in damage, and he outperforms her in ganks. Just don't die to her even once, or you'll see your jungle magically disappear by 2-3 camps. No matter how much she's nerfed, her clear speed is still top tier. If your comp is full AD and she goes Tabi, Iceborn, Zhonya's, the game gets rough. So build up as big a lead as possible early. That way, you can just make her a non-factor.

Nunu - Popped up for a bit because of his passive rework, his winrate is surprisingly good lately. Honestly, as a jungler, he relies a lot on his team. Like Ivern. He doesn't lose 1v1 at any stage though, but his stacking health auto can hurt. Good players buy green smite and ward the map up heavily. Always carry a control ward when ganking; there might be wards everywhere.

Rek'Sai - A champion for the mains. Good damage, good ganks, good escapes and mobility. Good players can blow up the game instantly. With Tremor Sense, invading is risky. Her usual build is Ravenous/Titanic -> Tabi -> Sunfire. Completing those 3 power spikes makes her disgustingly tanky and hard to kill, real annoying. Need a Cleaver to even fight her, but she'll just unload her damage and tunnel away. Still, her fall-off in teamfights is quite significant. As long as you survive early, she's not a problem.

Rengar - At the start of Season 7, this crazy cat was wreaking havoc in the jungle, even more oppressive than current Graves. He was so strong he got nerf after nerf and finally fell from the throne. Armor nerfs, W nerf, damage nerfs — everything's been hit, so he had to fall off. But if he keeps stacking those bone necklaces, his damage is still there. Don't overstep when he has his empowered ability. Against Rengar, don't even think about it, just go red smite. These days, even if he gets the jump on you from a bush, you won't necessarily lose, he just has a slight edge. Honestly, with these two, it's always the one who engages first who wins lol. Both Kha and Rengar have been nerfed, so it's pretty even. But Rengar got hit harder, so overall Kha feels better...

Rammus - Among farming junglers, he's abnormally strong against AD. In low elo, there's no champ as good at doing his job as Rammus. But as you climb higher, players learn to manage the map and ward, so he becomes less effective. Unless there's a massive gold/level difference, he doesn't beat me in a 1v1, but the difficulty spikes to 'Hard' when your team is full AD. The reflected damage is brutal. Even if you get ahead early, if you slip for a second, the full AD comp limit kicks in and you'll see the game thrown occasionally.

Master Yi - If he shows up in Diamond, you can basically consider it a free win. Only one-tricks play him, and the reason is that compared to other junglers, he's way too inconsistent. With just one brush ward and one scuttle (...), he's practically dead. Very limited wall-jumps, and his only escape is an ultimate that should be used offensively. That's why Yi is a jungle champ that just doesn't work. The one thing Yi is good at is itemizing a mix of damage and defense to melt frontlines in fights. But that scenario is very rare... Anyway, the easiest jungle opponent.

Shaco - Undeniably a pure one-trick champ. That said, I've never seen one in ranked on my main lol. I saw them occasionally on my smurf, and when I did, I'd lose because I didn't know how to deal with them. Tip: always ward around your buffs when taking them. That's about it. (Sorry, don't have much experience vs Shaco...)

Ivern - He's really great for teamplay. Sharing buffs, creating brush to hide teammates, shields, and Daisy preventing engages. Really good, but his unique clear allows for diverse pathing. Honestly, if you fall behind against him, the snowball is massive, so I recommend warding your team's buffs and raptors closely.

Aish, first time writing a long post. Running out of content as I go lol. Still, I tried my best...