Why is Smite needed for Jungling Items?

Top lane tank jungle item was pretty broken

Midlane mana regen/CDR/ gold income was pretty broken as well

Basically solo laners made this change happen when it became meta to bring jungle items to lane as they were so strong at the time

It doesn't seem to me that Smite is absolutely needed for a Jungler so that's why I asked. Design problems seem like a more logical explanation than limiting these items to Smite just because. Do they intend to change these items or is this something that will stay? And if these items are so good for laners does it make sense to take Smite as a laner just to be able to access them?

I also have a few other questions. Which neutral monsters in one stack do you kill first, the small ones to remove the extra damage from them quickly or the big one because it deals so much more damage than the small ones that you can basically ignore them?

What's the difference between top lane and bottom lane? How is the middle lane different from them?

What are the bonuses some neutral monsters give you? Do they all give you something? Anything useful to know about jungling? What is "leeshing" or leashing I presume? I thought ancient stacking was only a thing in Dota 2.

Because the new jungle items are cheaper than other items that they mimic. Having access to warrior would be very weird for top lane right now

I'd like to think it's so laners can't get (certain) items that are not useful for them.

Mostly because of , actually.

Not that it stopped him.

Maybe... because Smite is essentially for the jungle? And Jungle belongs to the Jungler? Who uses smite? And Jungleitems belongs to the jungler? Who uses smite? x)

Riot actually explained it when they made the changes. It's because a lot of jungler's were not taking smite and getting rekt in jun or at the very least clearing too slow so it's a tactic to force smite onto junglers. It's also a reverse tactic to prevent ADCs and so forth from wasting a slot on jun items.

Because if the items weren't gated by having smite, they would be very tempting for some laners. I love playing Cho and I usually play him top lane. His builds often includes a Rod of Ages, a Rylai's/Dead Man's Plate (you usually see one), and a Banshee's Veil or Spirit Visage. That's 1400 health from those sources, plus a base health of around 2000 at 18, plus 900 health from feast stacks at 18. So at level 18, Cho's walking around with 4,300 health.

If you still needed more health in the game, a cinderhulk enchantment would net you another 400 + 15% of 4,700. So in total, you'd get 1105 health from the item. The item costs 2,625 gold. The 1105 health is worth around 2946 gold. So, it's already gold efficient. Then you have added value from the mini sunfire cape effect and either 160 extra true damage on your combo at level 18 or some extra vision for your team.

Is being able to use that item and help secure objectives with smite worth the loss of flash or teleport? It could be. But of course, since games are so short, I'd never risk taking smite just to use an item that I would realistically build 5th or 6th on Cho and only if the nature of the game warranted it.

I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you can think of other champs who might benefit. Hell, if games reliably lasted long enough to sate when not in the jungle, it'd be fun to test out getting a devourer's on Teemo. Teemo always needs more on-hit effects for extra irritation. :)

If laners want to take one of the items (like Cinderhulk Mumdo top), if they didn't have to take smite, they can still run flash teleport and run the laning phase just as safe. By having to take smite, there is some down for the laner as smite brings pretty much nothing to laners.

Wait, what do you mean I have to use Smite on a large monster to get the bonus? Bonuses aren't only for killing them? And does Smite have to be the final blow? I was using Smite in what I was referring to and didn't see long bonuses.