Feral Junglers Flare up in LCS Playoffs
Riot··1 votes·3,813 views
Feral Flare has revolutionized the jungle, at least as far as solo queue is concerned. But what has the impact of Feral Flare had on the competitive scene? The finals were dominated by five junglers: Elise, Kha'Zix, Xin Zhao, Nocturne, and Evelynn. How did Feral Flare play out in any of their matchups?
Nocturne was definitely the strongest of the Feral Flare junglers. He was about even vs Elise, and he performed quite well vs other junglers, including Kha'Zix and his fellow Feral Flare jungler, Xin Zhao. He showed off his significantly higher farming speed, turning that farm into a Blade of the Ruined King, making him very strong in the mid game as a ganker combined with his long ranged ultimate. However, as he got tankier towards the late game, that ultimate allowed him to dive onto back lines in late game, serving as a hugely disruptive force.
The combination of fast farming, strong ganks, and late-game scaling allowed him to easily beat Kha'Zix and Xin Zhao, but did not fare particularly well vs the early game potential of Elise, combined with the strong CC she brings late game.
Xin Zhao, the Seneschal of Demacia
Xin Zhao was extremely hyped in solo queue, but failed to perform well in the LCS playoffs. His extremely low clear speed meant that his Feral Flare took longer to complete, and became less impressive. As such, he was completely shut down by Elise, who could snowball games well before he could make an impact. He was also beaten by Nocturne, in part due to less reliable dive-power forcing him to build tankier earlier. He performed decently well vs Kha'Zix, largely because he could duel him early on, thanks to his strong damage and spammable single-target CC.
Elise was definitely the most dominant jungler in the playoffs, going 14-6. She did especially well vs the Feral Flare junglers, with a combined 9-3 record vs Xin Zhao and Nocturne. The early pressure she was able to exert on lanes compared to either of them allowed her to snowball lanes, while her late game strength has not been heavily impacted by her nerfs (on Elise mains).
Meteos and Jankos both had much different builds than most Elise players, prioritizing CDR with items like Locket of the Iron Solari, Frozen Heart, and Ionian Boots of Lucidity, and went a combined 10-0. The rest of Elise junglers went more standard pen builds, and only managed a 4-6 record.
Evelynn, the Widowmaker
Evelynn was one of the worst-performing junglers of the playoffs. She did well vs Kha'Zix, but suffered vs every other jungler. Overall, she only had one game against Feral Flare (Xin Zhao), and she lost that game.
Kha'Zix, the Voidreaver
![](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_scale/public/khazix.jpg?itok=U4bCHMK5")
Kha'Zix was the only jungler to have a winning matchup vs Elise. However, he did not perform particularly well against the Feral Flare junglers, going 3-4 overall. He actually continued to out-scale Nocturne, serving as a combination assassin/tank, but Xin Zhao was able to fight him 1v1 early on and shut down his early game strength.
Feral Flare
Feral Flare allows junglers to farm and scale into the late game. Of course, the downside is that it incentivizes junglers to focus on their own game and not impact lanes. This can be devastating for a team if the opposing jungler chooses to focus on lane pressure, or their laners are simply stronger. While many thought Meteos would transition immediately to this style, given his farm heavy season, he doesn't “really like feral flare as an item because it only rewards a hyper passive play style”, something he doesn't believe “to be very effective in the current metagame”. However, he does think that “Feral Flare is strong on champions that auto attack a lot and can clear the jungle quickly, such as Nocturne, Master Yi, and Xin Zhao”.Feral Flare Junglers
Nocturne, the Eternal Nightmare
Nocturne was definitely the strongest of the Feral Flare junglers. He was about even vs Elise, and he performed quite well vs other junglers, including Kha'Zix and his fellow Feral Flare jungler, Xin Zhao. He showed off his significantly higher farming speed, turning that farm into a Blade of the Ruined King, making him very strong in the mid game as a ganker combined with his long ranged ultimate. However, as he got tankier towards the late game, that ultimate allowed him to dive onto back lines in late game, serving as a hugely disruptive force.
The combination of fast farming, strong ganks, and late-game scaling allowed him to easily beat Kha'Zix and Xin Zhao, but did not fare particularly well vs the early game potential of Elise, combined with the strong CC she brings late game.
Xin Zhao, the Seneschal of Demacia
Xin Zhao was extremely hyped in solo queue, but failed to perform well in the LCS playoffs. His extremely low clear speed meant that his Feral Flare took longer to complete, and became less impressive. As such, he was completely shut down by Elise, who could snowball games well before he could make an impact. He was also beaten by Nocturne, in part due to less reliable dive-power forcing him to build tankier earlier. He performed decently well vs Kha'Zix, largely because he could duel him early on, thanks to his strong damage and spammable single-target CC.
Spirit Stone Junglers
Elise, the Spider Queen
Elise was definitely the most dominant jungler in the playoffs, going 14-6. She did especially well vs the Feral Flare junglers, with a combined 9-3 record vs Xin Zhao and Nocturne. The early pressure she was able to exert on lanes compared to either of them allowed her to snowball lanes, while her late game strength has not been heavily impacted by her nerfs (on Elise mains).
Meteos and Jankos both had much different builds than most Elise players, prioritizing CDR with items like Locket of the Iron Solari, Frozen Heart, and Ionian Boots of Lucidity, and went a combined 10-0. The rest of Elise junglers went more standard pen builds, and only managed a 4-6 record.
Evelynn, the Widowmaker
Evelynn was one of the worst-performing junglers of the playoffs. She did well vs Kha'Zix, but suffered vs every other jungler. Overall, she only had one game against Feral Flare (Xin Zhao), and she lost that game.
Kha'Zix, the Voidreaver
Kha'Zix was the only jungler to have a winning matchup vs Elise. However, he did not perform particularly well against the Feral Flare junglers, going 3-4 overall. He actually continued to out-scale Nocturne, serving as a combination assassin/tank, but Xin Zhao was able to fight him 1v1 early on and shut down his early game strength.
= Death and Destruction
Pheonix jungle and i can tell ya its damn OP with 
