A Way to Make Jungle Tanks Better

Winged Hussars·Apr 8, 2014·3 votes·816 views

It would take tuning, but since you said the main reason that pure jungle tanks are pushed out of the meta might be due to the items all healing based on damage... what if increased the health and mana reward of the big monster in each camp? It would benefit champions with large health and mana pools more than regardless of damage. It would give defensive incentive to health, which is all around the best defensive stat for a jungler compared to laners that usually need to specialize. Also, wicked synergy with , or tank items like and . Hell, it would even be good for AP fighters like and that might want to build .

10 Comments

Tobasco da GamaApr 9, 20143 votes

Interesting idea, but I think the problem with tank junglers is not clearing the jungle after getting Golem but rather actually getting to the Golem in the first place. They usually have a very fragile first clear simply because their damage is so low, which means they spend a lot of time at each camp. Buffing Golem doesn't really do much to help with that problem.

AbiwonKenabiApr 9, 20142 votes

I think this is why they buffed Spirit Stone with it's sustain, but it ended up having the opposite effect and making damage heavy junglers work better. Junglers like Pantheon and Wukong only exist because of the Spirit Stone changes.

Tobasco da GamaApr 11, 20141 votes

Well, I think the Spirit Stone sustain was actually aimed at enabling relatively fragile "carry" junglers. The Maim passive (+X bonus magic damage on each attack) is the part I think was added to help tanky junglers. Maybe the lower-level Maim items need a slight (slight) buff, with a corresponding slight reduction in the % damage amplification?

I mean, I actually like that you can play a carry jungler now, I think think the tanky guys need a little something to help them compete in the early game.

AbiwonKenabiApr 12, 20142 votes

I'm glad carry junglers are better now too, and you're right the Spirit Stone sustain was probably aimed at them. But it seems for whatever reason that where carry junglers were rare and tank junglers were the best thing ever in S2 and S3, the opposite is now true. Here's hoping we can eventually find that happy medium, because I miss Maokai :(

Tobasco da GamaApr 12, 20141 votes

Nautilus and Diana are the only two junglers I'm any good at, so believe me I feel your pain.

AbiwonKenabiApr 9, 20142 votes

It's not a bad idea. Healing based on specific stats might help as well? I guess that might make it unnecessarily complicated, I'm not sure.

Another thing to think about is Elise. They've obviously been trying to make her less dominant as well, and often she will buy item 3207 . How will it effect a pick like her? Also, will it make item 3209 obsolete? Will everyone just switch to buying Ancient Golem instead?

Trying to channel my inner game designer here...not perfect I know. But I like your idea.

ProfDrDeathApr 11, 20142 votes

Any idea thrown into the game would need to be balanced, for sure. So that both Spirits (and even item 3206 ) remain an option.

Maybe have the bonus effect scale with missing/max HP and mana?

ProfDrDeathApr 9, 20141 votes

Interesting...

Tyliear DeprawApr 10, 20144 votes

bigest problem with tank junglers right now is how easily the enemy jungler can come to your jungle and bully/kill you. if you manage to get both your buffs without dieing you've already won a huge battle

PolaritieApr 10, 20142 votes

If your mid is on the ball (i.e. recognizes early invades are a thing), this often results in the enemy jungler giving up first blood though - the fight will usually happen around red, and your team can make it a quick 2v1 smackdown.

But yeah, once double-buffed you're good to go. And tank junglers all pack nice heavy CC loads, so they all gank well... it's basically grab buffs, gank/farm to Golem, then non-stop ganking, clearing a camp every time you hit 40 stacks.