A couple concerns about some jungle items
- It's obvious that Hunter's talisman is supposed to be "the jungle item for junglers who don't really scale very well with
" but, in trying to be so broadly general, it really seems to underwhelm. Look at machete: bonus damage on hit and lifesteal. This is PERFECT for any jungler who uses primarily basic attacks to take down jungle monsters, whereas talisman is designed for people who use abilities, especially AoE abilities. The problem is, this includes both mages and tanks... but mages and tanks need very different things, so it's not really ideal on either of them. So far, it seems to perform better on mages because of the FLAT health restoration, and the fact that mages generally have enough damage in their kits to take down monsters without MUCH help. Tanks, on the other hand, are still really slow with a talisman, and the FLAT health regen doesn't keep them very healthy either. Here's a good indicator: I've run talisman and jungle masteries on Evelynn (one of the least safe, and most fragile junglers) and Sejuani (who, last season, was very good at clearing the jungle quickly and safely compared to pretty much any other pure tank). This season, not only does Evelynn jungle much FASTER, but the mana restore on runeglaive means she is coming out of the jungle with more mana, the FLAT health regen on talisman and
) means she's coming out with more HP than Sejuani as well! Even when building straight damage Evelynn!!! It really feels like there needs to be some % health scaling healing for junglers and/or some on-BEING-hit effects like quill coat to help tank junglers stay relatively healthy and clear at least a LITTLE more quickly (no... gromp-smite alone doesn't cut it)
- Basically, 2 wards just doesn't seem to cut it at all. It seems like this is supposed to be the jungler's response to
and
where you get a sightstone without giving up a full item slot for it, but you forfeit your on-champion smite to be able to do so... the problem is, the measly two wards doesn't seem to be strong enough to seriously compete, not only with the smite upgrades, but even with the
which you can get and keep for free, carries two charges as well, AND restores charges over time. I think a good way to give this item a little buff an some identity is to make its purpose obvious: This is supposed to be the counter-jungle option. You use it to get some scouting vision, or some cover-your-back-while-you-counterjungle vision. But the two charges on it run out really quickly. I think the PERFECT way to buff this item a little bit to make it useful would be to give it a little bit of the old Poacher's Knife flavour. Basically keep EVERYTHING about it the same as it is now, but, if you have less than two charges, killing an enemy's jungle camp that you have used smite on will restore one charge. It happens rarely enough that it won't flat out outclass a sightstone, but often enough that it's useful if you are actually counter-jungling.