@Riot Xypherous: New PS5 jungle items.

Just a disclaimer: I don't have a PBE account, and all of the information I have about the preseason is from PBE notes and several Youtube videos about the preseason changes.

Anyway, Xypherous, I am directing this to you since last I heard, you were working on the changes, or at least were working on the discussion for some of the changes. I had some questions about the different jungle items and how they work in relation to different classes. Hunter's Machete now starts with a considerable magic damage DoT on hit, and while that seems fine, I was thinking it seems a little unbalanced for AP junglers like Diana and Fiddlesticks (Diana less so, but they are just examples), since AP junglers rely on spells for damage most of the time. While I understand that it eventually has the Magus enchantment, which I like, it seems like it is a little counterintuitive to build an AA focused item that you will have to sit on for a while before getting the perks of the Magus enchantment. Maybe have the magic damage DoT apply on spells as well?

For the smite enhancements, the Gank smite seems a little TOO weak, considering that you have to sacrifice both lower smite cool down AND ganking frequency or strength. I understand the reasoning behind nerfing early banking junglers, I think that this, combined with the overall harshness of the jungle as it stood before getting swapped out again, makes ganking nearly impossible pre 6, which seems like too big of an adjustment. The counterjungling smites (Quick smite and AOE smite) are almost required because the one reduces the cool down to useable levels, while the AOE is too strong right now for fast clearing (It should probably get its splash damage nerfed a little bit). The sort of duelist/invade smite seems like a great Idea, but it is just a touch too weak in comparison to the other ones right now.

The Jungle item enchantments seem pretty solid, but I have a question about the Juggernaut upgrade: Why doesn't it have the % bonus hp increase that live's SotAG has? To me (and I main tank junglers) that was the best thing that ever happened to them, since it meant 2 things: 1, You don't have to worry about fighters using it since they won't stack all of that hp, and 2, you reward the tank for being tanky and help them scale into late game better. Right now if juggernaut goes through unchanged, I feel like it may be like S4 preseason all over again where EVERYONE built the old SotAG. the other enchantments are done pretty well, the fighter option, has moderate damage and boosted sustain, good. The AP one has good AP and decent CDR, great for getting out more spells. The AA based item seems like you handled it well, by keeping a little bit of Feral flare with the AS and on hit magic damage, while also adding a neat stacking AS buff. All around, these upgrades are pretty solid in my opinion.

And now the jungle itself. The jungle just seems overly strong early, to the point where only a few jungles can survive it at all, but then once they upgrade machete, they can magically all clear it. I think that there should be a more visible difference between champs built around sustain (Aatrox, Trundle), and those who aren't. Right now, basically everyone except Nunu and Fiddlesticks has to back after three camps, but then once they return, the jungle no longer poses a threat, and as the game goes on, the jungle seems to become ridiculously easy to clear. If you want to scale up the difficulty of the jungle like this, I think it should be more difficult later as well, but less brutal early than it is now. I am in favor of making the jungle harder like the changes are pushing towards, but they seem to not be very evenly applied to early and late game.

Thanks for your time if you actually read this, and I hope that the Jungle turns out great!