Smite changes to actually promote diversity, my thoughts.
After reading patch notes, watching some newly released videos from prominent jungle mains, and talking to myself the entire ride home from work, I have a few thoughts about how jungle diversity can be expanded.
The primary issue facing junglers is that early game clear and projecting power into the lanes. This is why the bruiser types with ganking pressure are the strongest junglers at the moment, and virtually no one else is being seen taken to the jungle role. Tank junglers suffer, because, in truth, tanks need late game to be unkillable. If they don't get farm over the course of the game, they are a quick engage, some light peel, and then a corpse that is danced on by both teams while fighting. So, we need to buff their early game, without also buffing those tier 1's into god status.
Next, we can't just buff juggernaut, that doesn't change anything until mid-game. It is already too late to help them where they need it most. The increased gold that bruiser got from successful ganks has already catapulted them into a gold income range where they can outtank your pathetic jungle tank.
My solution is one of two options. Both seem pretty drastic, but I think a drastic change might be the answer.
Option 1. Your smite locks you into a strategic role. If you choose chilling smite. You can NO LONGER SMITE NEUTRAL OBJECTIVES. Extreme, like I said. What this does it make your choice meaningful when you upgrade machete. If you want to commit to ganking and killing champions, you can, but you give up some objective control. Now, you have to hunt the enemy jungler, kill him, and time your own burst so you don't have a dragon or baron stolen. Make taking chilling smite a CHOICE, and not a necessity, and give it trade off.
Option 2. Make the PVE smite upgrades DO MORE DAMAGE. Less extreme, but allow the junglers that take trailblazer (or poacher's, lol) have increased objective control through their choices. It only makes sense that the guy living in the jungle would have a better smite to use against monsters. Less effect overall than the first option, but it still gives some possibilities.
In the end, either of these options gives you the chance to buff the sustain of trailblazer, and put poacher's knife in a better place. And, I think, puts you on a path to having more options for who gets to come out of the jungle. Maybe it will just mean we have a thousand Lee Sin's that take trailblazer, but it may give options for more champs besides gank heavy chilling smiters to come out and play.
