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The state of the Jungle and Runes: New Player Friendly?

Clockwork Madoka·5/25/2015, 4:28:50 PM·7 votes·990 views

I may not be the most experienced player, but I feel my feedback can be considered reasonable, considering I am apart of the player base who is most affected.

The current jungle, while diverse and interesting, is a difficult and straining "lane" for new players. While the monster buffs and effects are easily learned and put into action, the actual performing of a clear is incredibly difficult to a large amount of champions, some still having trouble even with a leash.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/tips-tricks/x7qinmWu-season-5-jungle-how-to-do-the-clear This was a thread I posted awhile ago, asking for advice as to how to do the first jungle clear. Many, if not all, of the replies greatly encourage, if not enforce, the use of runes and masteries.

Pre-level 20 is possible the worst point to jungle, yet in systems such as team builder, it is a heavily searched (and greatly underplayed, if I might add. Takes a tad long to find a jungler as of late.) Many team layouts restrictively searching for a jungler.

As to the point of this thread, is this new player friendly? I would honestly say, no. Pre-level 20, you cannot get the runes necessary to effectively do a clear, and after level 20 is a grueling process to grind for the runes you require, often taking weeks, if not months, for those without time to dedicate. (Playing at least twice a day, sometimes going up to 4+ times a day, it still took me about 2-3 weeks to have enough IP to unlock Ahri.)

Runes are expensive, especially for their purpose at hand. You're not necessarily unlocking new content, but only making it easier to do something you should be able to do nonetheless. As stated, some champions, while not forced to, are pushed towards the jungle because it is the place where they can get the most farm at a rate where they can become useful at opportune times, common examples Include Evelynn, Udyr, and Amumu, plus many more.

Rune costs (going from the following guide (not mine): http://www.lolking.net/guides/144581)

Marks 205IPx9 (Greater Mark of Attack Damage)

Glyphs 820x6 (Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction) + 410x3 (Greater Glyph of Ability power) or 410x9 (Greater Glyph of Ability Power) or 205x9 (Greater Glyph of Magic Resist)

Seals 205xs9 (Greater Seal of Armor)

Quintessences 1025x3 (Greater Quintessence of Ability power)

Math wise... minimum cost (with all runes)-8,610 IP maximum cost (with all runes of set)- 14,145 IP All runes together (for all 3 possible sets)- 17,220 IP

All this, just for runes. No truly "new" content, and yet they cost an astounding amount more compared to champions.

If these were possibly bought with RP, I would have a significantly reduced reason to protest, due to there being another way to do it. The way they are set up, however, to be bought solely with IP, I am forced to grind for possibly MONTHS on end, just to be able to afford A SINGLE SET of runes, to play a single role as a champion. I am not saying they should give the option to use RP, but the fact there's only one way, and that one way is incredibly long and virtually unworth the input, there really needs to be a change. Runes give almost no new content, and yet a single rune page set combined is worth more than any hero, even on release.

This is ludicrous, and I ask Riot to take a second look at rune prices, and how to obtain them.

16 Comments

Junsui Aoi5/25/2015, 4:48:19 PM6 votes

I'm going to say, while I agree they are difficult to attain, and that its absolutely HORRIBLE to jungle pre-level 20; I still believe they should not make it RP based.

The fact that you can't get an advantage by spending money is great. Sure, you can get a boost or two, but not a straight out hey, I was able to buy all my rune pages. Also, the grind is where you learn. Look at it as the opportunity to practice more. They'll get there eventually, and if they want the full rune set, they'll get there eventually. But now they'll have more experience as well.

If they use basic runes, they'll be able to have armor yellows, and scaling mr blues for each set. Just changing marks and quints between pages.

4nth0l0gy5/25/2015, 5:15:23 PM4 votes

I would much rather they just made runes a lot cheaper. It shouldn't take a month to make a rune page.

SH Azykan5/25/2015, 7:05:37 PM4 votes

Nunu Warwick can both jungle without runes/full masteries

they are also great to learn how to jungle on anyways. Don't try to take a champ into the jungle like Evelynn before you have runes but there are still options for champs that can do so.

Ghiefelstein5/25/2015, 7:38:03 PM2 votes

If only Riot gave every player a free tier 2 rune set upon reaching level 20. Enough to try out the jungle without getting completely butchered by the monsters. Then everyone can still do the grinding for the tier 1 runes they want.

TotalJerk5/25/2015, 10:08:37 PM1 votes

While I wholly agree that the jungle should be at least playable pre-20. I managed to almost fill 3 pages before I hit 30 because I wasn't buying 6300IP champions every time I had the IP(although I did buy Jinx). Starting out, you should collect a small pool of about 5-10 moderately priced champions and STICK with them. Especially since it's better you're good at 5 champions than kinda sorta competent at 20.

Baron of Bread5/26/2015, 12:41:24 AM1 votes

Plenty of champions can deal with the jungle with no runes or masteries. I recommend trying Yi, Warwick and Aatrox. There are plenty of others that work, but I would have to do testing to make sure I didn't recommend someone who would get wrecked.

NorthernDruid5/26/2015, 9:43:00 AM1 votes

They need to cut the price for runes drastically. Or give you a basic set for free as you level up.

TotalJerk5/27/2015, 5:00:49 AM1 votes

How about they revamp the system so that for each empty mark/seal/glyph slot, the other runes in that category are 10% more powerful. Armor yellows would be something like:

  1. 1.9
  2. 3.6
  3. 4.8
  4. 6
  5. 7
  6. 7.8
  7. 8.4
  8. 8.8
  9. 9

While Quints would make the bonus 30% so gold quints end up like:

  1. 1.6
  2. 2.6
  3. 3

While it doesn't solve the problem, it does drastically lessen it.

50000000000000005/25/2015, 5:29:13 PM1 votes

It's pretty much impossible to jungle without runes and masteries. Only those with decent sustain can jungle.

RouterSmiter5/25/2015, 8:32:19 PM1 votes

Don't waste your ip on champions, spending 20$ every now and than isn't that bad for 2800 Rp, buy champions on sale... Spend ip on runes. Pre 20, could play nunu. Nunu's consume gives him jungle sustain, and his passive gives hi free spells

Onimus Terlain5/25/2015, 8:38:54 PM1 votes

The jungle, in general, is not new player friendly.

Warwick and Nunu are good new player junglers, but a lot of the better junglersvwho need runes for their early clears, like Sejuani, need the greater runes to jungle efficiently.