Let's Talk about the Madreds Line

I wanted to raise a single point here: The Madred's line dictates a playstyle rather than supplements a champion kit which leaves several champion's with unfulfilled needs from the jungle.

The champions I'm talking about are auto attack based champions who are not carry junglers, as in they are not Master Yi, Tryndamere, Jax, etc. There are actually a lot of champions that fit into this role. These champions don't want to farm heavily and carry the game. They want to be the traditional jungler who comes to your lane and ganks for you. Xin Zhao, Trundle, Udyr... Pick a Season 2 jungler who synergized well with Wriggle's Lantern and they probably would fit into this category.

So what I mean by dictating a playstyle is that Wriggle's Lantern, by virtue of it's stacking mechanic, highly incentivizes farm heavy jungle strategies. And I say that it doesn't supplement a champion's kit because it is a money sink until you have farmed the required stacks. If you compared the gold efficiency of a Wriggle's to any of the Spirit Stone items, you would find the Wriggle's to be severely lacking in power. This early-mid game power drop even further incentivizes hard jungle farming because you wouldn't be able to contribute as much to a fight. All of this suits a carry jungler just fine. They're quite content to just sit back and farm away until they reach all of their item power points and appear stronger than anyone else on the field for the first time. I included a flowchart below that I think really hits home the problem I see. Notice the 3rd question in particular? On one side, you ask yourself what play style you want. On the other, you ask yourself what stats you need for your character...

But not all auto-attackers actually want to do this. Xin Zhao, one of the strongest early-game champs, wants to put his team over the top by the 20 minute mark. He does this by going to lanes and getting kills for himself and his team. The current incarnation of Wriggle's Lantern runs completely contrary to Xin Zhao's goals. Trundle and Udyr all fall into this same pattern.

I would kill to hear what Statikk thinks on this topic. He doesn't come around the forums much though. Maybe Xelnath will poke him in this direction?