Why is Smite still a summoner spell? (And other Jungle tweaks)
So a quick preface: I like the new Jungle items. On a conceptual level, at least. I think the four Smite derivatives are playing with some fun concepts, and the Enchantment system offers some flexibility based on what the jungler scales on and intends to be doing (though some obviously work better with others) My question, however, is why Smite hasn't just been moved to an Item active for the jungle item line?
Summoner Spells are there to offer choices for high-stakes plays. They almost universally have long cooldowns and potent effects that aren't gated by the capabilities of the champion themselves. The exceptions, of course, are Flash (which everyone takes because it's stupidly powerful) and Smite (which is only taken by junglers and more or less must always be taken by junglers) So we've got the illusion of choice taking up a valuable spot for an archetype of champion who's got enough problems to deal with anyways.
So how about we just migrate it over to the Jungler line?
Passive - Jungler - Deal 30 bonus magic damage over 2 second to enemy monsters on spells and basic attacks, and restore 7 health and 3 mana per second while in combat with enemy monsters.
Active - Smite - Deals 390 - 1000 true damage (based on level) to target enemy monster. Grants bonuses based on the monster targeted. (60 Second Cooldown) (750 Range)
Only one Jungler item can be owned at a time.
This seems like a pretty reasonable change. The new jungle is a harsh place, after all, and allowing players to bring Barrier or Exhaust would allow them to focus on certain aspects while remaining flexible in others.
Now I can already hear the complaints. "But wouldn't that mean everyone can pick up a Jungler item and upgrade it to get some cheap and powerful stats on top of Smite!?" Well yes, if we just left it at that. But I there's a fairly straightforwards solution to this problem: Prevent players from Enchanting their Jungling items unless they're actually jungling. Lets, for example, bring back the stacking system from the old Feral Flare. Not in the "infinite stacking" capacity, of course. That'd just be silly. Instead, lets have it take a certain number of stacks to "unlock" the enchantment slot for the item, and then have stacks gained from killing large Monsters.
Passive - Enchantment - Killing large monsters awakens the power of this weapon. Grants a stack with every large monster kill, Smite use against large monsters, and Champion kill or assist. At 20 stacks, can be upgraded with one of 4 enchantments.
This limits the Jungling items to, you know, junglers, but offers enough flexibility for all junglers to upgrade them in a timely manner.
Now that we've got my main point wrapped up, a few other quick things:
Poacher's Knife is a massive risk with rather piddling reward. The bonus gold and whatnot is nice, but ONLY working in the enemy jungle more or less means telegraphing your intent about a sneaky activity and then begging your face pounded in because you telegraphed your intent to only counter-jungle. This is bad. Counterjungling is very risky, and making an item that only does a single risky thing just doesn't work.
Instead, lets focus Poacher's Knife on taking out priority targets while implicitly focusing it on counterjungling.
Active - Ravaging Smite - Deals 390 - 1000 true damage (based on level) to target enemy monster. Grants bonuses based on the monster targeted. In addition, marks the Monster with Ravage for 6 seconds, doubling the Jungler bonuses against that monster. If the monster dies while under the effect of Ravage, grants 15 bonus Gold, restores Health and Mana equal to 15% of the champion's missing Health and Mana, respectively, and grants a 175% Movement Speed bonus that decays over 3 seconds. (45 Second Cooldown) (750 Range)
Is now much more of a "quickly take a big thing" as opposed to a "Hopefully don't get murdered while stealing." Additionally, all upgraded Smites gets a 45 second cooldown, and Ravaging Smite gets the needless heal from Blasting Smite. Speaking of which,
Blasting Smite does way, waaaay too much. On top of AoE damage and AoE stuns, offers a rather potent heal. Moving that to Ravaging Smite will help even out their relative powers and keep Ranger's Trailblazer from being the go-to for everyone and their mother.
