LoL Scuttle Crab Guide: Spawns, Catching Her and the Shrine

The scuttle crab is the only monster that neither fights back nor stays put, and the 55 gold was never the point. Here's how she runs, how to catch her, and what the shrine she leaves is actually worth.

League of Legends Guide

The Scuttle Crab

Catching the Runner

Every other camp on the map sits in one place and hits back. The crab does neither: she patrols a fixed path along her half of the river and runs directly away from whoever attacks her.

That's why she generates more early fights than any other neutral objective. You aren't clearing a camp, you're catching something, usually while somebody else is trying to catch it too.

Spawns Catching Her The Shrine After Twenty Minutes FAQ

2:55First spawn, both rivers

65%Health on the opening pair

1On the map after that

-100Move speed while calm

90sShrine duration

LobbyWhat sets her level

Two at first, then one forever

She arrives at 2:55 in both halves of the river, and the respawn timer doesn't start until both of those first two are dead. Leaving one alive freezes the whole system, so a team that takes only its own side has stopped the clock on the next one without meaning to.

After the openers are gone the map holds exactly one crab at a time, and which half she returns to is random, flagged in advance with a respawn marker. A single contested object, a known timer and an announced location is the exact recipe for two junglers arriving together.

The opening pair are also weaker, spawning at about 65% of a normal crab's health. At three minutes with no items that's a real difference, and it makes the first crab a question of who arrives rather than who can burn her down.

Three rules for catching her

• Don't wake her early. Out of combat she moves 100 movement speed below her real value. Champion damage, or any immobilizing effect from any source, restores her full speed and sets her running. The crowd control you throw to stop her escaping is also what makes her fast.
• Hit her from the side you want her to leave. She flees from the source of champion damage, and damage from anything else won't make her switch. Start from the far side and she walks herself toward your half of the river while you finish her.
• Don't chase down the river. Reaching the end doesn't corner her; she dashes back to the center and carries on fleeing. Cut the angle instead of following the animal.

Her level is the average of all ten champions, the same rule the big camps use, so a crab nobody touched for ten minutes isn't a leftover. She grew while you were busy.

The shrine is a ward you can stand on

Killing her drops a Speed Shrine in the center of that river section for 90 seconds. It gives passive vision of the area around it, and allies crossing it get bonus movement speed.

Ninety seconds of free river vision plus a speed pad is worth considerably more than 55 gold, and it's the entire reason the crab is worth fighting over. The gold was never the point, which is also why trading a flash for her is defensible in a way it isn't for a raptor camp.

At twenty minutes she becomes a ward killer

Once Baron arrives, every crab for the rest of the game is permanently Voidborn. Killing one now releases void energy that spreads out from the corpse, revealing enemy champions for three seconds and everything else for twelve, and dropping every ward caught in it to 1 health.

So the crab stops being a small jungle chore at exactly the moment vision around the river starts deciding games. That isn't a coincidence, it's the same event.

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Frequently asked questions

What time does scuttle crab spawn?

2:55, one in each river half. After both die, a single crab respawns in a random half with a marker shown in advance.

Why is the crab so fast all of a sudden?

She's 100 movement speed slower out of combat. Champion damage or any immobilizing effect gives her the full amount back.

Which way does the crab run?

Away from whoever dealt champion damage first, and it doesn't change afterward.

Is the scuttle crab worth fighting for?

For the shrine, yes. Ninety seconds of river vision plus a speed pad is the real reward.

What changes about scuttle after Baron spawns?

She becomes Voidborn permanently, and killing her reveals the area and reduces enemy wards to 1 health.

The short version

Approach from the far side, don't crowd control her until you can finish her, and remember you're buying vision rather than gold. After twenty minutes she's a sweeper with legs.

For everything else in the jungle, our jungle camps guide covers leashing, timers and buffs, and our Baron guide covers the arrival that changes her for good.

How often do you actually contest crab? Let us know in the comments below.