According to the official release for this update, jungle was a role that was actively avoided by a significant number of players. While the goal apparently isn’t to dumb down the role, some areas of difficulty are being reworked to remove this barrier of entry and allow for greater skill expression in other areas. Let start with the pets - by a large margin the most brow-raising addition to the role. While the folks at Riot Games aren’t giving up details on how exactly these will work, we know they’re an answer to the bland blue smite / red smite itemisation. This is being added to make the process of killing jungle camps a bit more exciting - rather than make it a practice of dull minion farming. In terms of jungle pathing, this is a major area in which barriers of difficulty - or frustration - are being torn down. According to the jungle changes reveal, the team is “exploring some changes like jungle pathing aids—think something similar to recommended items but instead it’s how to do your first clear, a stepping stone toward mastery of the role.” The way the camps are leashed is also being altered, specifically range and reset rules. This should mean there will be less situations where red buff runs away from you mid pull and heals to full. Wrap all the above with the final goal of giving junglers more tools to communicate a gank or a push for an objective (rather than spamming pings), and it’s looking like a exciting - or maybe nerveracking - time for League of Legends players right now. As is pre-season tradition. What are you thoughts on these changes? Let us know in the comments below!
