Just How Tough Are The Creeps?

The second aspect to consider when it comes to jungle creeps is just how tough they are. This matters for a few reasons – how quickly can you kill them? How well with they hold up against other creeps? And how tough will they be when a Chen or an Enchantress or anyone with a Helm of the Dominator takes over? Well, let us have a look.

First, we have the Small Camp.

As expected, the small creeps don’t post much of a challenge to either heroes or the creeps. However, the small camp is the only place where units with Medium armor are found. Medium armored units are much more durable against towers and ranged creeps; more on that soon.

The Medium Camp:

Centaurs remain a standout here, as also seen in the damage charts. Also notable are the Ogres and the Golems – golems are a famous favorite of Naix, because of their great health pools; Ogres however have even more health amongst them, do barely more damage, and have less armor. Something else the Naix could use to salve himself up.

Next is the Large Camp:

As expected, the various large creeps are the hardest to kill – whether it’s by heroes, creeps or towers. Interestingly, the smaller Hellbear is actually noticeably tougher than its bigger cousin – or the Satyr Tormentor, for that matter. You can also see that armor makes a noticeable difference to the creep’s health.

Lastly, here is what the Ancient creeps look like:

Not much to note here, really. Ancient creeps are big, tough, and have a sizeable bounty on their heads. Do remember that the Black Drakes are not magic immune. They still resist many effects, such as Holy Persuasion, but they will take damage from all spells.

Here is a complete chart, with the least significant creeps removed for brevity:

Overall, the Centaur is the toughest creep in the jungle. The high HP and the high armor really go a long way. I also added a side chart to show how the creeps are able to stand up against the various towers (as their damage differs). One thing of note is the various Medium-armored creeps are very durable against towers. More to the point, the Harpy Stormcrafter is actually able to take more damage from the tower than the Centaur or anything else!

Next up, I took the same chart and adjusted it for Chen’s level 4 Holy Persuasion health boost. The chart is sorted by survivability versus towers, as I believe that’s the main time the creep durability really comes into effect:

As you can see, the Medium Armor modifier really comes into effect here. The Harpy Stormcrafter is actually able to survive 40% longer against a tower than the Centaur! Medium creeps now become the best way to tank a tower; even the puny Kobold Tunneler is more survivable than most common creeps. The medium creeps do little to no damage against the towers, meaning you would still want to bring along a wolf or a dark troll summoner or a wildwing to dish out the damage. 

More on the same, additional armor really amplifies the survivability of creeps. Here is what the survival times look like for Chen-converted creeps with a Wildwing Ripper aura and Vladmir’s Offering aura:

As you can see, a Harpy Stormcrafter can survive an incredible 20 seconds against a T1 tower or 14 seconds against a T3/T4 tower – and this can happen relatively early into the game. This can go a long way to allow you to tower-dive heroes, or to quickly take towers without losing your key pushing ability.

All things combined, an ideal Chen/Enchantress pushing team would include a Harpy Stormcrafter, a Ghost or a Hill Troll Berserker to tank the tower; a Dark Troll Summoner to spawn skeletons to damage the tower, and either a Wildwing Ripper for more survivability or an Alpha Wolf for more damage.

Do remember that you need to control tower aggro to get the full benefit from the Medium creeps. They are mostly ranged, so you would want to bring them as close as possible to the tower. Furthermore, you might need to use aggro switching mechanics to keep the turret on the right target.

This concludes articles on jungle creeps. Going forward, I will be putting together similar articles for summoned creeps – such as Necronomicon summons, the Spirit Bear and Invoker’s Forged Spirits. Thanks for reading, hope to see you soon.