Let's talk about Poacher's Knife

While i think it's a great addition to the game its actual implementation isn't good enough yet.On the PBE however Riot is currently testing out an ammo system with increased cooldown on all type of smite.

However compared to the other options the item lacks something that would make it a considerable option for counter jungling.

Some things that make it hard to actually counterjungle with the item:

• In high level games a well placed ward at chokepoints are an easy way to warn about incoming invade. This is especially true for the red buff side. On the other side it's even harder to invade because of the little ghost thingy which is gained upon smiting the big wolf. It's a very powerful vision tool moreso in this case.

• Going in to the enemy jungle without vision is gambling. So you decide to buy ward(s).That's at least 75 gold or 150 if you want to make sure.But stealing only the big monster won't make up for the cost also a succesful enemy gank will nullify any negative impact you did on them both in gold income and exp income.

• It's only useful in the enemy jungle!!!This is a big drawback.Usually if your team loses mid tower,the risk of invading becomes too high and often because of a well placed ward it results in your death setting you back even further. The other options are as others have said it multiple times are useful throughout the game.

• To deny the enemy jungler from exp and gold trailblazer's does the job better because of the overall dmg and faster clear.Also it grants sustain on both side of the jungle not just in theirs.

Here are some suggestions:

• Give the item a ward which is special kind of ward. It does not count toward total wards. It has one hp. It is visible. And lasts for 10 sec? So a really short time. This ward would help to diminish the expenses of buying ward(s) for safer counterjungling. Also it would give vision till you finish a camp.

• This is a suggestion i saw on PBE and looks pretty good to me: "So I think most people can agree that Poacher's Knife is kind of the most situational and possibly weakest upgrade for Hunter's Machete there is. So I think it could use a little buff that is practical and actually could be used pretty strategically and that is to make it so you get the same movement speed buff and 20 gold for using the smite on enemy minions as well. That way you can use smite in lane like all of the other upgrades, unlike before where it would feel like a waste to use smite on a minion when you had Poacher's. You could also take away the 20 gold part from doing it to enemy minions if you feel that would cause a weird strategy of using smite on lane minions only to get the 20 gold. Anyways I feel like the movement speed from smiting a minion would be the perfect buff to Poacher's because then you could use smite strategically in fights to either escape with the small boost or to help you chase down someone when you gank."

• Fix junglers so every jungler has the option to choose different items and not forced to go with trailblazer.

I could see these changes work out without making the item too powerful.

Thoughts?