How to fix the jungle

How to fix the jungle

How is it possible to create jungle diversity?

There are multiple characteristics that makes a jungler good:

• clearspeed
• health sustain
• mana sustain
• ganking ability
• duelling ability

There are champions, which do this naturally better than others. In order to create jungle diversity, it is necessary to maintain these advantages of the naturally good junglers to a certain degree, so that they can't be chased off the jungle, while mitigating these advantages at the same time, to allow other champions to jungle.

What was wrong in Season 4?

Spirit stone was so powerful, that sustain junglers like Warwick and Fiddlesticks didn't have any longer an sustain advantage compared to other junglers.

The jungle was so easy, that clearspeed also didn't matter much.

That meant that ganking and duelling potential was too important, and junglers with other strengths were chased off.

What is wrong in Season 5?

The jungle is so difficult, that junglers with low clearspeed and low sustain are locked out.

The additional ganking tool of chilling smite favors good ganker more than bad gankers, because good gankers gank more often. That means the disadvantage of bad gankers made worse.

Now how to fix the jungle?

A ganking tool will always favor good gankers even more than bad gankers, and can't create jungle diversity. Even the ganks of the best ganker, will not be 100% sure, so he will went for the ganking tool. Therefore chilling smite should be removed.

Clearspeed should matter, but jungling should still be possible for bad clearers. Therefore the jungle item should have two passives: Taking damage by jungle monsters damage let them burn by 2% of their current health per second. And: Damaging jungle monsters burns them by 2% of their maximum health per second for 5 seconds. Two passives are needed to handle AoE-junglers vs single target junglers.

Health sustain should matter, but jungling should still be possible for junglers with low sustain. In order to reach that goal, junglers with no sustain should get low in the jungle, but not too low. I think the following jungle item passive would be good: You take 0.5% less damage by jungle monsters per 1% missing health. Sustain junglers would have an gank advantage, but everybody could get through the jungle.

Naturally low mana problems should lead to an advantage, but jungling should not be impossible for champions with high mana costs. Therefore i think of the following jungle item passive: Damaging jungle monsters by an ability restores 50% of its costs.

Good duelists will always have an advantage in an duel, but bad duelists should not be killed as easily as it is. Therefore an other jungle item passive: You take 0.5% less damage from Champions with summoner spell smite per 1% missing health.

All these passives should be on one T1/T2 jungle item:

• Passive: Taking damage by jungle monsters let them burn by 2% of their current health per second.
• Passive: Damaging jungle monsters burns them by 2% of their maximum health per second for 5 seconds.
• Passive: You take 0.5% less damage by jungle monsters and champions with summoner spell smite per 1% missing health.
• Passive: Damaging jungle monsters by an ability restores 50% of its costs. Additionally some health regeneration should be on the item.

With these changes everybody could burn down jungle monsters, but fast clearers would still be faster, sustain junglers would have more health while jungling, but nobody would went too low, that they can't jungle at all, and bad duellists would be somewhat protected from being killed by counterjunglers.