Can we add blasting smite back to the game?

AlienPrimate·Jun 7, 2016·80 votes·5,362 views

For those of you who don't know or don't remember, blasting smite was an AOE smite that stuns monsters. It made a lot of champions who aren't really viable junglers actually really good at jungling by drastically increasing their clear speed. I ~~won 14 games in a row~~ went 13-1 (I checked my match history to confirm) playing Taric jungle with blasting smite. When the item for it was removed, the clear speed was so bad I could no longer do Taric jungle. I think a major reason it was removed is because how easy it was to stack devourer using it but with the removal of all stacking jungling items can we get blasting smite back?

http://i.imgur.com/wlMFRft.jpg

88 Comments

FaieJun 7, 20168 votes

It was removed for the reason that there was no reason to take any other smite except for very particular circumstances. Trailblazer just made clear speeds waaay too high for junglers with already fast clear speeds. It made it so that you could speed through your entire jungle, constantly be at full hp and mana, and gank a lot, then farm a lot, and it made the jungle way too safe.

TrickMagnetJun 7, 20165 votes

it was actually removed for precisely the reason you want it put back in; to discourage champs that shouldn't be junglers from jungling, or at least to dis-incentivize it to the point that it's too tough to be worthwhile.

think for instance how riot nerfs alistar every time he's a viable jungler. ganks are too powerful, doesn't necessarily require mass gold to scale. put that same thing to someone like annie, who could just charge a stun from fog of war, then just stroll into your lane and stun you with her ranged q, or tibbers once she hits 6. it's not exactly something that needs to be encouraged.

granted there are absolutely plenty of absurdly powerful junglers that still do this (nautilus is a huge outlier here) but generally speaking it's something riot doesn't want encouraged

NaturesMayhemJun 7, 20164 votes

I like how a majority of those matches you fed but still won.

Voluug13Jun 7, 201621 votes

A tank's job has no glory attached.

SpoofghoulJun 8, 20161 votes

Sion this guy obtains glory in death

The LovelessJun 7, 20161 votes

I didn't even see the score lol. Holy moly, how'd the OP win those games??

JorenciceJun 7, 20167 votes

The score is amazing for a utility tank...

invisiblecat1Jun 7, 20164 votes

Stacking junglers were about 1/2 of them problem. I think Riot also removed it because champion who were terrible jungle picks were being played, and would build this item and still do well even though they would try and do stuff like ADC's in the jungle, so this item was being abused by odd champion picks too, so it if it stayed it would mess up the jungle meta even more, which I would be fine with since I am SICK AND TIRED of seeing Kindred and Graves jungle EVERY GAME!!!

HateDaddyJun 7, 20163 votes

Wasn't it trailblazer

ÁCTION IS COMINGJun 7, 20164 votes

{quoted}

Wasn't it trailblazer

The item was ranger's trailblazer, the smite was blasting smite

dragon1xxJun 7, 20162 votes

It was kind of OP it seems. IDK I didn't play jungle back then.

SaltyKrackaJun 7, 20162 votes

It was removed because none of the proper junglers actually needed it.

AlienPrimateJun 7, 201610 votes

That is why I want it back. None of the "proper" junglers need it so you only see the same 5 junglers in every single game. If they added it back I'm quite certain there would be many more "proper" junglers available making the game less bland.

Technically anyone can jungle to a varying degree of success but 65% of jungle picks right now are LeeSin Volibear Khazix Rengar Malphite

ltmetalJun 7, 20162 votes

Taric is my favorite support jungler (can't stand playing Nunu anymore) and I play him whenever I have a double ADC comp. Try spec'ing this out: 0/12/18 masteries with Strength of the Ages keystone, being sure to take Runic Armor and Meditation. Flat AS marks, scaling armor seals, scaling magic resist glyphs, and scaling armor quints. You can run CDR flat or scaling if you don't like defensive quints. Q, E, W, max Q, max E, max W. Always start talisman + 3 pots. Gromp start gives fast clear, Krugs start gives healthy clear. Weave your passive in between Q casts to maximize clear speed. item 1409 item 3047 item 3025 item 3065 item 3083 item 3075 Swap in merc treads for tabi when needed. Last two items can be situationally changed for item 3748 item 3512 item 3190 item 3504 item 3004 item 3003 depending on what your team needs.

AlienPrimateJun 7, 20162 votes

The reworked Taric can clear the jungle. I was talking about the old Taric after the removal of blasting smite when it took 2 minutes to kill the first blue buff at level 2.

My build on Taric now is typically item 1401 item 3111 item 3025 every game and then 3 of these item 3742 item 3110 item 3143 item 3075 item 3083 item 3065 item 3102 item 3060 item 3512 item 3190 item 3800

I go 0/18/12 for the 11% healing boost (13% with spirit visage)

chipndip1Jun 7, 20162 votes

Not everyone needs to be a jungling option. Removing it made sure certain champs would stay in their lane.

ParoeJun 8, 20162 votes

{quoted}

Not everyone needs to be a jungling option. Removing it made sure certain champs would stay in their lane.

slowclap Yeah, enforce that meta! /sarcasm

chipndip1Jun 8, 20161 votes

{quoted}

slowclap Yeah, enforce that meta! /sarcasm

There has to be SOME structure to game design, you know? Not every champ should be viable in every lane. Not every champ should do well with every build. Don't start being a hipster about it. It's true.

Pika FoxJun 7, 20161 votes

Im pretty sure the reason it was removed was because it was a noobtrap item...

KVbqbFsC8eJun 7, 201649 votes

It was removed because it gave junglers who already had insane clear times even more insane clear times.

AlienPrimateJun 7, 201618 votes

Those junglers can already clear the whole jungle before it respawns anyways so why would they waste the chance to have challenging or chilling smite just for redundant clear speed?

KVbqbFsC8eJun 7, 201611 votes

{quoted}

Those junglers can already clear the whole jungle before it respawns anyways so why would they waste the chance to have challenging or chilling smite just for redundant clear speed?

It would be different now with Devourer being removed, but you could take it on Nidalee and out CS your laners.

AlienPrimateJun 7, 20166 votes

Taking blasting over chilling would also provide her with exactly 0 CC for ganks.

Sona PingJun 7, 201610 votes

CC that she really does not even need. And also when discussing the impact of certain roles on the game, people forget to consider that there is more to the game outside of laning phase, which is actually the majority of the game.

TehNACHOJun 8, 20161 votes

people forget to consider that there is more to the game outside of laning phase, which is actually the majority of the game.

Adding onto this.

One of the biggest strategic advantages I found of Blasting Smite post laning phase was that it was an amazing siege aid, and far more easily tipped minion waves in your favor for when the situation required them.

Troll for TrumpJun 8, 20161 votes

The smite should be relevant late game. Red makes dueling easier at all phases, the Light Blue one allows more vision control, and chilling gives cc.

MrBuffingtonJun 8, 20161 votes

I don't think Nidalee typically takes chilling smite anyways; her spear is much longer range than smite.

B1naryB0tJun 7, 20163 votes

Actually Red Smite is more valuable on her. It gives her a ton more damage and on most junglers Blue Smite is a noobtrap.

AlleoJun 7, 20162 votes

Unless you play rengar and can one shot people anyway :^)

macromiteJun 7, 20163 votes

think you said that backwards, the cc is much much more valuable than dueling power, because it's not useful to have damage if you can't hit them because anyone worth ganking is running as soon as they see your ass.

TehNACHOJun 8, 20162 votes

Just gonna let statistics speak before we continue on with this conversation.

macromiteJun 8, 20162 votes

Just gonna put this here.

I can use statistics as well. and I have more.

TehNACHOJun 8, 20163 votes

You're going to use champions other than Nidalee to explain why Blue Smite is valuable on Nidalee?

macromiteJun 8, 20161 votes

"on most junglers Blue Smite is a noobtrap."

That's what I'm arguing.

B1naryB0tJun 8, 20161 votes

Top Tier Junglers Don't Need Blue Smite

To be clear, a slow is typically unneeded because you already have enough cc or it's not enough cc to be worth the lost damage without red. Some tanks just take it because they don't get much from the other smites.

macromiteJun 8, 20161 votes

I very deliberately chose the champions I chose, they are all currently top tier, or nearly top tier.

To be clear, it's not just a slow, its a movespeed steal. this means that though the slow is small, it functions a lot better. it also can functions as a ranged ping, finishing off low health targets that are too far for you to engage on, something red smite can't do at all.

and also, unlike red smite, blue smite retains usefulness in teamfight, red smite is entirely useless if there is more than one target fighting you, as the target you smited can simply disengage while another target murders you, where blue smite would give you reliable damage and cc. which you could use to disengage yourself.

Infact, blue smite functions as a counter to red smite. in a mirror, two champions with smite and the same kit, the blue smiter would have the advantage in a duel, first by both blowing smite, and blue gaining distance, and escaping the damage of red smite, thus gaining essentially free damage, which then puts blue at a slight advantage.

Red smite is the inferior smite in every regard, with the only champions using it being the ones that either can't use blue smite effectively like nidalee, or the ones that have particular synergy with red smite like kindred. and even in cases of the latter, blue smite is still an acceptable decision, as it is a better smite.

you shouldn't argue this anyway, you seem to be a support main, not a jungle main. you don't know, you just see trends and think it means more than it means. the fact that voli uses blue and not red should be an indication to you the blue is stronger, as voli could use either to an equal effect.

FantasySniperJun 8, 20161 votes

Yet more than half the time, blue smite didn't give me any chance at catching them. It's also practically worthless late-game outside of peeling a single champion. Red smite gives you the damage resistance from a single target, which is worth more than a slight MS boost when you can never reach them anyways.

macromiteJun 8, 20161 votes

if you can't catch them with blue, red isn't going to help. what blue does do though, is it makes you much more sticky, which means that you can hit them more, also unlike red it gives you a ranged damage source, which cannot be understated, as it can be used as a pseudo execute or something else

blue smite is very versatile in its uses, red smite isn't. the main use of red smite other than dueling pressure is its vision granting capacity, but unless you are playing a character that is particularly good at chasing that part is nearly useless, only preventing certain kinds of escapes that can be beaten with smart warding.

FantasySniperJun 8, 20161 votes

{quoted}

it makes you much more sticky

What I'm saying is that blue smite doesn't make you "much more sticky", it just makes you "slightly more sticky". 20% MS steal for only 2 seconds isn't a lot. 20% damage resistance and true damage burn for 4 seconds is.

macromiteJun 8, 20161 votes

its makes you much more sticky in comparison to red smite is what i'm trying to say. and besides, what amounts to a 40% slow isn't bad when it comes to stickiness.

MunchCrunchLunchJun 7, 20163 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Big Piece,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=MRtVEZsQ,comment-id=0002000000000000,timestamp=2016-06-07T03:40:27.996+0000)

It would be different now with Devourer being removed, but you could take it on Nidalee and out CS your laners.

yes but you can take chilling smite on some of the best gankers and have even better ganks. and take challenger smite on the best duelers and become stronger at that. thats just a bad argument my friend

Naag OneJun 8, 20161 votes

Solution: Delete nidalee

its not good when 1 item makes 1 champion God tier and everyone else struggles

DengedenJun 7, 20162 votes

Because all the damage in the world won't help you if you're clearing your jungle when your lanes are dying. Junglers with fast clears tend to have powerful ganks, so accelerating their clears increases their ganking potential. Because getting a damage smite and (inevitably) using it in your jungle is a waste of resources that some junglers don't want to get into.

elon wątrobaJun 8, 20161 votes

DrMundo Shyvana powerful ganks, yeah.

CeexSettJun 7, 20162 votes

It was because some junglers have fast clears but take huge damage in between them ( Evelynn Nidalee Fizz ). If you gave them a sustain method their clears would be almost instant, like they were.

The Yetii RiderJun 7, 20167 votes

{quoted}

Those junglers can already clear the whole jungle before it respawns anyways so why would they waste the chance to have challenging or chilling smite just for redundant clear speed?

Clear speed is never redundant.

You have neglected to mention in every moment so far that the use of Blasting Smite restores 15% of your missing health and mana. This made it fantastic on champions who have high clear speed but huge mana issues (like Pantheon) or champions that can clear pretty well but have poor sustain (like Kha'Zix).

Lee Sin and Elise love Blasting Smite because it enables them to more quickly steal entire camps from the enemy jungle. Blasting Smite was intended to help poor early games but it was actually used by strong early games to set poor early games even further behind.