LoL: Spotlight on Jankos, is he still the best player in the LEC?

Before we begin, let me quickly introduce you to this new series of articles. Each week, one player (mainly from the LEC, but we can talk about other leagues as well) will be highlighted due to their recent performance. The goal is to explain what he brings to his team and why it is extremely important to him. The main purpose of these articles is to highlight players who are performing very well, so we will not write articles to condemn the fraud that sometimes creeps into teams.

If it was necessary Name the best European player in history, opinions will certainly be very diverse. Elders will want to talk about certain things xPeke or DiamondProXNew viewers will probably mention Caps, and those who want to cut a pear in two might think so Reckless. however, The correct answer may be Jankos. Dhruv is a true monster who has established himself in all the jungles of the world just like Mike Horn from League of Legends.

Always on top, from the LEC to the world

We tend to forget it, but Jankos has been playing at the best European level for the last 10 years. He qualified for the 2014 Spring Split with a 100% Polish team: ⁠Kiedys Mialem team. By buying the team rocket, And it was under this tag that viewers discovered Jankos for the first time. The results were immediately very encouraging, with the team achieving third place in the spring and fourth in the summer.

Then in the championship Alliance, dominated by Fnatic, SK and Gambit. However, he did not manage to reach the Worlds during these two years with the Rockets, failing in some Worlds matches each time (especially from 2015, the arrival of Origen in the summer that broke everything on his passage).

Jankos leaves Then on H2K, And his choice is good. team Qualified for Worlds in 2016 and saved European honors by reaching the semi-finals (hopefully during the quarter draw) of the competition. While many remember the performance of Forg1ven, the main carry of the team, we often forget that Jankos was the guy who kept his lane from losing, buying his ADC the time he needed to scale. The year 2017 is more complicated, and if Dhruv is not yet seen by the majority of viewers as one of the big stars of the LEC, he pointed to what will become the best European team in history: G2 Esports.

With the arrival of South Korean and Chinese territories, Only three European teams have really been able to compete on equal terms with the best teams in these regions: Fanatic and Origin since 2015 and G2 since 2019/2020.. Samurai were known for the individual talents of each player, but A Excellent management of the card, which will allow them to offer Europe its only international trophy since the game’s arrival in Asia.. If the Caps and Wonder were able to play so freely back then, it was because they had Jankos looking after them. It was at this time The one who was nicknamed the First Blood King showed that this reputation is not due to his aggressiveness, but the fact that he always knows where to go to face the best opposing actions on the map.

Lane strong, lane weak, his dominance is absolute

After that Departing from G2, many believed Jankos’ prime was over, and he will experience the classic fate of former good players: slowly sinking into oblivion, in teams more accustomed to mid-table play than places for international competitions. only, Dhruv 2023 has everyone agree: he is the most effective jungler in the LEC, And it mostly is Thanks to him, the Heretics did not collapse last season. The team’s performance may not be remembered, but they still are Managed to get Top 4 in Summer Split, While this is the moment when the top teams are supposed to be the most efficient. Of course, Jenkos doesn’t get all the credit for his good performance, but his contribution was very important.

in 2024, Jankos is just as impressive: 83% partnership kills From his team, which makes him the best jungler in the LEC in this region and the second best overall, Patrick with 86% KP at GIANTX. What’s really impressive about Jankos is that he mostly plays An aggressive champion who likes to be active early, but apart from that, he is able to keep up with more passive opponents, whether through farming or getting gold. Besides that, it is also Jungler who brings the most vision to his team in the LEC (According to Wright’s Vision Score). And all this, while the Heretics are far from being a 2024 superteam. Wonder took a six-month hiatus, Perks is nowhere near as dominant in midlane as he was in his heyday, and Flaked has never been one of the best ADCs in LEC (he’s good, even pretty good, but not very good. Competing with Upset or Swan ).

Yet the Heretics have had a very convincing start to the season. His style of play is not the most flamboyantBut within three weeks they succeeded Establishing themselves as one of the LEC teams that play the card the best. Certainly the experience of the players plays a big role, but we clearly feel that Peter Dunn has a hand in this type of strategy, and the game plan revolves a lot around Jankos’ ability to dominate the early game. This allows heretics to play quite aggressive formations, By forcing their opponents to take risks, without necessarily taking the kill in a snowball

Even if they don’t want to. This doesn’t stop a team from being outplayed in certain situations, but they haven’t They don’t really have OutMacro in their games yet (A phrase that can get old very quickly).

No matter the situation, no matter the composition of the teams, Jankos will always succeed in making intelligent plays. No matter the meta, Pole always manages to find picks that allow him to make things happen quickly on the map. This is reflected in his champion pool, as almost all of his favorite picks have this profile, with Sejuani being the only real exception. First known for his aggressiveness, Jankos has long passed this stage. It’s too early to say whether 2024 will be the year it returns to the spotlight, but Heretics’ start is very encouraging.