I was going to talk about the Jungle.... but I realized I had a lot to say.

This post was originally intended for the Red Thread about the jungle, but once I got started with my opinions about game balance I just couldn't seem to stop. The first section does cover the jungle pretty exclusively but I talk about some other changes i would like to see. It is a word wall, but I plan on backing my opinions with what I feel are logical and solid arguments. As such I would just like to remind people that even with solid backing, these are still just my opinions.

First lets talk about items, starting with the new item in the jungle: the Cinderhulk. I like the idea of this item. I think it will add a valuable tool in the form of combat effective stats for a lot of champions. I also like Juggernaut. I also think that Juggernaut adds valuable tools in the forms of utility to a lot of champions. My point is why not have both? Would it really be so bad to add a new color to the rainbow (yellow, 'cause BURN baby BURN)? If a Fizz wants to be a little beefy while he tries out the new AD bruiser build in the jungle, why should the ideal tank item preclude him from buying Juggernaut? If a Zac wants the CDR and tenactiy over a faster clear time, why should he not be able to have the choice. To me, for all of Riot's talk about jungle diversity, it seems like allowing more diverse build paths and letting the players themselves decide how they want to play is a easy step. I am not suggesting that Riot keep adding more and more items, I am just saying that Juggernaut is already THERE, and by no means OP. So why not just leave it in?

Next, I want to address Poacher's Knife. This item in my mind (and probably many others) is very problematic, simply because it telegraphs the fact that you are intending to counter jungle just by buying it. The enemy jungler and or laners can then take measures to prevent you from succeeding. This item probably needs a complete rework, but in the mean time why not give it a little buff. My suggestion is what I like to call "The Candid Camera" option. In addition to what poachers already does, why can't also provide a little bit of vision. You have the new Farsight Ward trinket ward already coded into the game. It can't be targeted by TP, and is not invisible and only has one health. What if when you killed a large monster in the enemy jungle with poachers it drops the little ward? "Hi, your on TV, have $5!" This change, while (I think) relatively simple provides at least a fairly compelling reason to actually buy Poachers EVEN if you don't intend on a hard counter jungle strategy. Vision is always nice.

Ok, now that I said my peace on the jungle items I would like to share my opinions on the champions that make up the jungle themselves. Lets start with the recent PBE changes. I do NOT have a PBE account, so I am just going off my imagination and the documented changes. In general I like to see when buffing/nerfing champions, the use of the scalpel, and not the hammer. That being said, Nautilus look like a BEAST now. A 3 second (after CDR) spam slow with the potential 440 base damage. Helllooooo Liandry's, you sweet thing you. And the shield is STILL huge, and Cinderhulk. Can ya say "YOU SHALL NOT PASS"? Anyone? No, ok then moving on, I am a Nid main and I have no real qualms with the changes. The traps are more lethal to champions at low health fleeing my spears if they accidentally step on one. I am a little worried that the changes might be too soon considering the rise of the tanks, which (in my OPINION) are natural counter picks to Nidalee. Volibear will make Trick happy. Gragas and Skarner got some love (tho Skarner might need a little bit more), and Zac..... well, lets talk about Zac and other tanks for a bit.

In my mind, a successful tank is a hard to kill champion that does very little damage in exchange for considerable utility. I mean, whats the point to killing a hard to kill champ if they don't do anything to hinder you right? Malphite and Maokai (and probably soon to be Nautilus) are perfect examples of strong tanks right now. They both have very efficient kits backed by reliable and strong passives. They bring ENORMOUS amounts of team fighting ability without having a lot of kill potential. Enter Zac, not only does this dude's kit have VERY little utility compared to other tanks or even to fighters, (which traditionally trade utility for the ability to kill people,) he also suffers from extremely long cooldowns and does almost no damage. Not to mention he burns his own health to use his abilities and his passive is unreliable in the BEST of situations (it literally takes you out of combat or what little zone control you have to make use of it). Also worth mentioning is the fact that Zac's build paths are very limited, with few tanky options having CDR, without having to waste money on mana, a stat he doesn't even use. Hell, even the jungle item is less gold efficient on Zac because you are spending money to some extent on mana regen. The only buff he gets is a .5 second addition to his knock-back? Forget hammer or scalpel, this isn't even a drop of water in the ocean. I know that I am being critical here. BUT I do have a fairly good way to buff Zac up to at least the power levels of the other tanks, and it uses mechanics and accentuates strengths and counterplay mechanics that are ALREADY in his kit. And the best part: I didn't even think of it, Riot did. Remember how you changed his W so that collecting his blobs reduced to cooldown on the skill? Why don't you just do that for the rest of his skills?

What this does for Zac is naturally increase his damage output while farming, (more in the jungle than in lane, 'cause counterplay) as well as accentuates interesting combat mechanics for teamfighting that are already present. I know, your thinking "Mr. Quack, that seems like a really really powerful buff." Well, you would be right. It is also on a notably unreliable and unstable part of his kit. And it creates depth in both his own play style and an enemy team's ability to counter play him. Right now, in a team fight, he has his initial shock and awe initiation, stringing his E, W, and R together. (I would like to remind everyone at this point that Zac's ult can be CC'd, stuns and roots still lock him up and make it do nothing.) After which he becomes the epitome of the wet noodle champion. No damage, No real zone control (his q is a very short range skill shot with an unimpressive slow that in the jungle isn't leveled beyond 1 point until you hit lvl 14.) At this point Zac can try to wet noodle people to death, or go collect his blobs and THEN try to wet noodle people to death. Either way, he can be ignored by the enemy team, even more so given the amount of moblilty currently in the game. Enter the new change, now if the enemy team ignore Zac and he collects his blobs he can reengage with his E>W very quickly, providing more annoyance and damage. Or the enemy team can counterplay Zac. You know that the blobs provide a significant buff to wet noodle Zac, you can see them, you can destroy them, or even better you can let Zac put himself out of position and bait himself into really bad situations because he REALLY REALLY wants the blobs. The same goes for laning. If he REALLY wants the blob, you can REALLY punish him for making a bad decision.

Any-who, that is my idea of what a healty Zac would look like. Lets talk about some other jungle champs that need help. Elise and Eve are noticeably missing from this patch. Why can't Eve just get the Shyvanna treatment and have a buff to damage she deals to monsters. Elise got her utility nerfed pretty hard during the last season. Bring some of it back, If Rappel targeted allies as enemies (not wards please, more on this later) it would grant her better options with engaging, disengaging and even lining up that tricky skill shot stun.

Now on to a champ that for me should receive some love soon. While he is not my main jungle champ he is the champ that got me interested in the jungle. (Believe it or not I have been using the handle "Jungle Quack" way longer than there was even a game that had a jungle to quack in.) Udyr really need some love Riot. Here is why, and what I would do to add depth to his playstyle. Since the last change to his kit in April of 2013 (yes, I had to go back almost 2 years) there have been 11 (soon to be 12) released champions. Only 2 of these champs did not have a mobility skill (Jinx and Vel'koz.) That means that over 80% of the champions had some form of dash, dodge or gap close. Not to mention that Rek'Sai literally does everything Udyr does but better. With the new jungle, he can't even hard farm like he used to, he cant solo baron at 15 minutes anymore, and while he can still take dragons, that's hardly exclusive to him, and they provide less of an outright benefit. Not to mention that I find it a little sad that a single Frozen Mallet can 100% shut down an entire champion's kit. And that's just tip of the item iceberg of slow inducing purchases that completely hamper him, you have Frost Queen's, Rylai's, Righteous Glory, Randuin's, and even Stalker's Blade. In fact there is so many items that provide either a slow or a quick high speed boost, that combined with the insane amounts of mobility champions posses naturally makes him continue to fall from grace. I would like to see him get some love while he is still semi popular, before he becomes Taric.

My ideas? I am glad you asked my invisible friend. To me, Udyr represents the paragon of jungle play styles and diversity, or should represent. He has 4 skills, all available at lvl 1, all able to be leveled up to 5, and remains to only champion with this unique attribute. It seems to me that how and in which order you level up your skills should define your play style and goals in the jungle. Two of the skills right now are pretty lackluster, you never hear people talk about "Bear stance" or "Turtle stance" Udyr, only Tiger or Phoenix. Here are the changes I would make to his kit if I could.

New Turtle stance Active effect: Upon activation Udyr gains a shield (60/95/130/165/200) for 5 seconds and 10/12/14/16/18% damage reduction for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds. Persistent effect: While in the stance Udyr gains 10/12/14/16/18% life steal and moves 14/13/12/11/10% slower. Upon Activation Udyr loses all bonus movement speed from Bear stance.

New Bear Stance Active effect: Udyr gains 15/20/25/30/35% bonus move speed for 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3 seconds, ignores unit colision, preforms a slight dash with his auto attacks towards targets he would stun as well as a consumable charge that enhances his next "stun dash" by 100/175/250/325/400 range. Persistent effect: Udyr's auto attacks stun for 1 second, this ability cannot occur on the same target more than once every 6 seconds.

I would like to draw your attention specifically to the fact in "My Udyr" that the turtle stance shield no longer has AP scaling. To me these two changes really increase his depth of play. Before you would simply pick Tiger or Phoenix depending on what you wanted to build and essentially that is where the majority of the builds differed. Now however, you would have OPTIONS. Do I max bear first? I would sacrifice early farm and clear speeds for (semi)wicked early ganks, but not have a lot of damage. Or do I max Turtle and Bear to become a super annoying Mid game Tank? Do I max Phoenix and Turtle to be the best farmer ever? Do I max Tiger and Turtle for early game dueling and tower pressure? Do I max Tiger and Bear to have a no tank early gank kill build? With the change to turtle specifically you can no longer get tankier as you run away while still accelerating, but on the other hand you are rewarded for good timing as well as player skill and dropping into turtle to avoid a burst of damage or to duel someone who has committed hard (less troll, more skill). Anyway, it could be that this is all crap but it doesn't really look that bad from my point of view.

Speaking of mobility, that Kassadin nerf. Forget the scalpel and hammer, y'all dropped a nuke. I hated loathed playing against good Kassadins and even I think you went to far. What is his win rate now? 30%? If I had to make a suggestion it would be something like Riftwalk has 450/575/700 range and costs 60/70/80 mana at ranks 1/2/3. It looks better on paper, still hurts his early/mid game and still allows him to have a late game. As for other champs with mobility I would like to see the ward hop removed from both Katarina and Jax. Given, the new "sightstone" yellow trinket is part of the reason I say this, but I also feel that the skills in question (shunpo and leaping strike) don't really need the extra ward hop. Unlike the other famous ward hopper (Lee Sin) they both have point and click damage on the skills in question (direct combat effectiveness vs the utility only nature of Safeguard) and Jax's even has a very low CD at rank 5 (6 seconds before CDR compared to the 14 of lee sin). These guys are not Kassadin, they should not be able to do what he does. I also think that this frees up some power that would allow Riot to** buff the champions in a more meaningful way**. They can still have an ally/enemy champion, minion, or neutral monster near by to make the hops to safty, This is a team game after all.

OK, novel over. For those of you who actually read this you deserve a cookie. Please comment on things you like or don't like, but please no "you suck" or "you really suck" comments. They are not constructive.

P.S. New Veigar: Did he get harder to use? Yes. Did he get some much needed counterplay mechanics? Yes. Do I see 700 AP 2 item Veigars @ 15 minutes? Yes. To me, that seems like a fair trade.