Clarification on Plant RNG

So, obviously, there has been PLENTY of talk about these so called "plants" that Riot hope to implement into the game, along with several other jungle changes.......and plenty of disgruntled players are voicing most of the talk.

Most of the negative comments towards the plants have been aimed at the element of RNG these plants bring to the table. League is meant to be a game of skill, and any amount of randomness detracts from the skill factor of the game (which is Critical Strike is so heavily criticized). People are under the assumption that the plants are completely random, spawning in random locations across the map, and spawning at completely random times.

This is not true.

The plants are "pseudo-random", meaning that they do have an element of RNG to them, but the randomness is very strictly controlled. Not making sense? Don't worry, the whole point of this post is to clear up the confusion going around about that "pseudo-randomness".

Before I go on, I would like to say that I am not associated with Riot in anyway, except that I play League. What you see could be slightly incorrect. Also, this post is not to debate whether or not the plants are a good decision, this is purely context to help better visualize what Riot is intending.

Now that we have that out of the way...

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#Spawn Timers

• Plants spawn in "waves". What exactly this means, I'm not entirely sure. It could mean that the next set of plants does not spawn until all plants on the field have been used, or each set of plants have a timer before they all reset. I would assume its the former, or something similar to it.

• The first "wave" of plants does not spawn until a little later into the game. My guess is possibly around the 8 to 10 minute mark.

• Once plants are used, they wait a minimum amount of time before the next timer starts (apparently, this amount of time is actually fairly long. My guess is probably a minute to 1:30). After this minimum time has passed, they will wait an extended amount of time until they finally telegraph when and where they are going to spawn (they telegraph themselves at around 30 seconds before they respawn). This time extension does vary, but it is within certain constraints (around 90 to 140 seconds, I believe).

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#Spawn Locations

• Each plant has certain areas on the map that they will spawn from. The exact location in these areas do vary.

• These areas do not overlap. This to ensure that you will not have to guess which plant is spawning where. For example; you will not have a Honeyfruit plant spawn in an area where a Satchel plant is supposed to be, or vice versa.

I have created maps to help visualize where some of these areas might be.

DO TAKE NOTE that these maps are NOT official, and I expect them to be wrong. They are simply to help visualize what Riot is intending.

##Blast Cone Areas

http://i.imgur.com/VdP9fhW.png?1

The Blast Cones (or, probably more commonly known as "satchel plants") spawn in areas that give you the ability to hop over certain walls that most champs won't be able to. These areas are mostly around bushes, and thin walls.

##Scryer's Bloom Areas

http://i.imgur.com/YDeDuUA.png?1

The Scryer's Bloom are located in areas that vision can be used most effectively. Essentially, near common warding spots (since they can reveal wards) or over the Dragon and Baron pits.

##Honeyfruit

http://i.imgur.com/wAGDZKa.png?1

The Honetyfruit are the only set of plants that spawn specifically in the river. They will not spawn near lane exits, in fact, any laner will have to walk a considerable distance just to reach one.

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Here is an overview of where I believe the spawn areas are located.

http://i.imgur.com/4sM8Wtj.png?1

Again, I cannot stress enough that I CREATED THESE MAPS. I expect that these maps are far from being correct, they are simply to help you visualize what Riot is trying to intend.

EDIT: Meddler provided a more accurate map, which is shown below. Unfortunately, it is not color coded. To be honest, I'm surprised I was actually quite close.

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

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#The Plants

The plants themselves are not random at all. Each plant serves a specific purpose, and will fulfill that purpose each and every time they are used.

• The Blast Cone is basically W, Satchel charge, except that it does not deal damage to either party. This plant will knock you up and away from where the plant was, including every other unit within its radius.

• The Scryer's Bloom is a plant that, if auto attacked from a certain direction, will give you vision and reveal any wards in a large cone facing the direction you auto attacked (in the video, you can see a pale cross on the bottom of the plant, indicating the directions you can use it in). The vision granted does not last long (only about 5 seconds).

• The Honeyfruit, when used, spawns five "fruits" that you can walk over and consume. When consumed, you receive a 90% slow for 0.25 seconds each time you consume a fruit. The amount healed is around 350 HP in total (I assume it will scale throughout the game).

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##Conclusion

And that's it guys. Hopefully this clears up any confusion about the RNG elements these plants bring to the table. Just remember, they are not purely random, they are "pseudo-random".