Guide · Jungle

Wukong Guide

the Monkey King

Fighter

Tank

Tier A Jungle

Wukong, the Monkey King, is a fighter and tank champion that is easy to pick up. Across our 667 analysed ranked games, Wukong is mostly played in the Jungle (87% of its games), and more rarely in Top (13%), with a 52.5% win rate in that role: tier A among Jungle champions (#13 of 48, ranked by win rate). Wukong's damage is mostly physical (80%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 54.5% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min, 319 games) versus 44.3% in long games (over 35 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Average KDA

6.9 / 5.2 / 7.9

ratio 2.9

Damage / min

642

CS / min

6.8

Gold / min

443

Kill participation

49%

Vision / min

1.02

Averages measured over 577 Jungle games played with Wukong, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Wukong is a combat jungler whose armor and regeneration increase in combat (stacking effect). Crushing Blow reduces armor, Warrior Trickster makes him invisible with a clone, Nimbus Strike dashes him onto a target with images that attack its neighbors, and Cyclone knocks enemies up.

Wukong's strengths

Gains armor and regeneration in combat with champions or monsters.
Warrior Trickster makes him invisible and leaves a clone that attacks in his place.
Cyclone raises his movement speed and knocks the enemies it hits into the air.

Wukong's weaknesses

Has to get close: Nimbus Strike is his main engage.
Warrior Trickster has a long cooldown (18 to 22 s).
His ultimate only works if the enemies stay within reach of his staff.

Role in team fights

Wukong enters a fight by surprise with Warrior Trickster (invisible, clone left behind), dashes with Nimbus Strike onto the target he has chosen and casts Cyclone to knock enemies up. He is especially effective at isolating a carry.

The engage

Q AA AA

When: An enemy is within Nimbus Strike range.

Nimbus Strike dashes you onto the enemy while sending images that attack nearby enemies, Crushing Blow reduces their armor, Warrior Trickster makes you invisible with a clone.

The team fight

When: Several enemies are grouped.

Warrior Trickster hides you, Cyclone raises your speed and knocks up the enemies it hits.

See all 4 Wukong combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Crushing Blow has a longer range and reduces the target's armor: open the trade with it. Your passive gives you defense as the fight goes on.

Common mistakes

Casting Cyclone with no grouped target.
Forgetting the clone from Warrior Trickster.
Using Nimbus Strike with no plan for what follows.

Riot's official tips for playing Wukong

Decoy and Nimbus Strike work well together to quickly strike your enemy and get out before they can retaliate.
Try using Decoy near brush to make an enemy overreact to your movement.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Black Cleaver, Trinity Force, and Death's Dance (125 games, 60.8% win rate).

Black Cleaver

Trinity Force

Death's Dance

125 games · 60.8%

80 games · 60.0%

76 games · 57.9%

Skill order

Max order : Q > E > W60.6% · 66 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q		●		●	●		●		●
W			●											●	●
E	●							●		●		●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 86 games).

Starting items

Gustwalker Hatchling

Health Potion68.2% · 22 games

Scorchclaw Pup60.0% · 20 games

Scorchclaw Pup

Health Potion42.1% · 19 games

First completed items, in order

36 games · 61.1%

26 games · 50.0%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3792 gold, 68 CS, 3803 XP. At 15 min: 5949 gold, 104 CS, 6396 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Smite52.6% · 576 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Inspiration

53.5% · 492 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Alacrity97%

Last Stand73%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight98%

Magical Footwear97%

Shards

Attack speed96%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling87%

Conqueror + Domination

43.5% · 62 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Alacrity100%

Coup de Grace84%

Secondary tree · Domination

Sudden Impact98%

Ultimate Hunter95%

Shards

Attack speed98%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling95%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Wukong's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team52.0% · 171 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Trinity Force 53.5%

Black Cleaver 55.4%

Sundered Sky 50.0% ▼

Death's Dance 68.0% ▲

Maw of Malmortius 61.4% ▲

Guardian Angel 52.6%

The item that stands out most is Death's Dance: 68.0% win rate, +9 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team54.7% · 150 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Trinity Force 54.2%

Black Cleaver 54.4%

Death's Dance 53.7% ▼

Sundered Sky 61.1% ▲

Guardian Angel 50.0%

The item that stands out most is Sundered Sky: 61.1% win rate, +5 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team51.6% · 256 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Trinity Force 52.5%

Black Cleaver 53.2%

Death's Dance 57.7%

Sundered Sky 57.9%

Guardian Angel 77.1% ▲

Maw of Malmortius 36.8%

The item that stands out most is Guardian Angel: 77.1% win rate, +14 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Wukong in the Jungle

Graves Wukong: 26.1%23 games

Graves has the edge in 74% of the 23 Jungle duels against Wukong. See the Graves guide.

Talon Wukong: 47.1%17 games

Talon has the edge in 53% of the 17 Jungle duels against Wukong. See the Talon guide.

Kayn Wukong: 47.4%19 games

Kayn has the edge in 53% of the 19 Jungle duels against Wukong. See the Kayn guide.

Lee Sin Wukong: 50.0%36 games

Lee Sin has the edge in 50% of the 36 Jungle duels against Wukong. See the Lee Sin guide.

Kha'Zix Wukong: 50.0%18 games

Kha'Zix has the edge in 50% of the 18 Jungle duels against Wukong. See the Kha'Zix guide.

Who Wukong is strong against

Naafiri73.3% · 15 games

Lillia64.7% · 17 games

Sylas58.8% · 17 games

Lee Sin50.0% · 36 games

Kha'Zix50.0% · 18 games

How to play against Wukong

Wukong will often use Decoy after Nimbus Strike. Try delaying your abilities by a short amount of time to ensure that you're hitting the real Wukong.
Wukong becomes tougher to kill when surrounded by his enemies. Try to isolate him to gain an advantage.

Riot's official tips.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Wukong's matchups.

Wukong Jungle: what our games say

Laning phase against the Jungle average

Measure	Wukong	Jungle average	Gap
Gold at 10 min	3792	4023	−231
CS at 10 min	68	69	−1
XP at 10 min	3803	3898	−95
Gold at 15 min	5949	6322	−373
CS at 15 min	104	106	−1
XP at 15 min	6396	6602	−205

Measured over 86 Wukong games with a timeline; the average covers 69 champions played Jungle in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

short under 25 min52.9 %170 games

medium-length 25 to 35 min54.5 %319 games

long over 35 min44.3 %88 games

Best result: medium-length (25 to 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Wukong in another role

Role	Games	Win rate	CS/min	Gold/min	Most-built items
Top	90	50.0 %	6.9	413

Roles where we have at least 40 Wukong games.

Abilities

PassiveStone Skin

Wukong gains stacking armor and max health regeneration while fighting champions and monsters.

QCrushing Blow

Wukong's next attack gains attack range, deals bonus damage, and reduces the target's armor for a few seconds.

WWarrior Trickster

Wukong becomes Invisible and dashes in a direction, leaving behind a clone that will attack nearby enemies.

ENimbus Strike

Wukong dashes to a targeted enemy and sends out images to attack enemies near his target, dealing damage to each enemy struck.

RCyclone

Wukong's extends his staff and spins it around repeatedly, gaining Move Speed.

Enemies struck take damage and are knocked up.

Other Jungle champions to know

Most played

Strongest (at least 100 games)

Frequently asked questions

What is the best build for Wukong?

The most-played core build is Black Cleaver, Trinity Force, and Death's Dance (125 games, 60.8% win rate).

Who counters Wukong?

Wukong's toughest matchups in the Jungle are Graves (26.1% win rate over 23 games), Talon (47.1% win rate over 17 games), and Kayn (47.4% win rate over 19 games).

What are Wukong's best matchups?

Wukong posts its best win rates against Naafiri (73.3%), Lillia (64.7%), and Sylas (58.8%).

What game length suits Wukong best?

Win rate varies with game length: 54.5% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min, 319 games) versus 44.3% in long games (over 35 min).

Which runes should I play on Wukong?

The most-played rune page uses Conqueror with the Inspiration secondary tree (492 games, 53.5% win rate).

Full Wukong page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides