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Poacher's Knife

yiCKPkhs5s··3 votes·1,208 views

I love the season 5 jungle and all the options and build paths it presents. I find myself buying each jg item on different occasions to fit different situations. Except poacher's knife. I have never found a legitimate scenario where poacher's is a better option then the other 3. Even on counter jingling heavy champs poacher's doesn't seem like it is the best option for counter jungleing. The problem is it is just too specific.

I'm sure there are plenty of ways to buff poacher's but here's my idea for it. Make PK a 1 charge sight stone like spirit of the ancient golem used to be. True counter junglers don't care about a speed buff or gold increase, they care about not getting caught red handed, and wards are the best way to do that. Furthermore wards can be used for more than just counter jungleing so it promotes strategic diversity (and I know you guys love that). I think changing poacher's knife to be vision based would make it a much better and more used item, not just for counter junglers but for team play.

Just placing wards might not be strong enough for 450, I'm not sure, but there are plenty of small bonuses you could add to make the item balanced. You get the big picture, poacher's knife needs a rework and wards are the best way to do it. What do you think?

10 Comments

SionideCN2 votes

The issue is if you give a jungle item the ability to place vision it instantly becomes the best jungle item in the game and all the Jungler's who can utilize it become even stronger. Vision is too strong to just place on an item willy nilly; PK needs buffs but giving it vision isn't exactly what it needs.

grLKQ9ma0o1 votes

I disagree. Make it like the new blue trinket ward, with a visible 1-hit ward that lasts like 15 seconds (probably a 45 or 60 second cd). That would give you enough time to clear the camp and get out. It still wouldn't replace the innate sustain or gank potential of the Trailblazer or Stalkers, so those wouldn't be nullified, but it would allow counterjunglers to actually do something.

yiCKPkhs5s1 votes

I was suggesting that you remove the the current bonuses of Poacher's Knife and instead just make it a mini sight stone (with maybe some small benefits like reduce smite CD) but I like MajorTrump's idea also of a blue trinket style active.

SionideCN2 votes

{quoted}

I was suggesting that you remove the the current bonuses of Poacher's Knife and instead just make it a mini sight stone (with maybe some small benefits like reduce smite CD) but I like MajorTrump's idea also of a blue trinket style active.

In that case I might be more inclined to buy it, but you'd maybe want to make it slightly stronger than just a ward; say, a ward that can give you timers for the camp you place it at. Even after it was killed, excluding large monsters. Which would make counter-jungling very interesting.

yiCKPkhs5s1 votes

Exactly, it probably needs a little more than just a ward. I think it still needs something that changes smite because they all have that. Maybe smiting a monster gives a slight speed boost regardless of the side of the map. Not as large as the current speed boost but something you can do to improve clear speed or escape

Nixtarma2 votes

I also play jungle a lot, and I have noticed the same thing. I am not sure if this idea is the best one, but it definitely an interesting idea, and a step in the right direction.

Castanean1 votes

I don't actually find Poacher's to be too bad. You just need the right champ and scenario to abuse it. If you want to buff it in a way that wouldn't break it, why not let it lower Smite's CD a bit? Because, y'know... Poaching. Maybe even reduce the delay between each smite?

yiCKPkhs5s1 votes

That's the thing though, you need the stars to align for it to work. It is just so much more specific then the other jg items. I think it should be changed in a way that makes it still good for counter jungling but also good at other things. Wards were the best and simplest way I could think of.

Castanean2 votes

... It could be given a passive MS boost while out of combat? It'd help you jungle faster and help you move between lanes. It'd also help in ways the other smites don't offer, but not be completely decisive in and of itself. It'd also allow you to get into and out of the enemy jungle faster, thus also helping with what it was intended to do.

yiCKPkhs5s1 votes

That's another really good alternative!

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