On Tuesday, Riot Games posted some information regarding changes coming in preparation for Season Three in League of Legends. Lead Designer ‘Statikk’ gave a more in-depth look at what we can expect from the changes coming to jungling dynamics.
From the post, it seems they have two major goals in mind (regarding the jungle) when implementing the upcoming patch:
- Reducing early game pressure.
- Increasing jungle diversity.
“…We want to make early ganking from the jungle a more difficult, conscious choice that will require constant monitoring of the risks involved.”
With these goals in mind, Statikk went into further detail, explaining that Season Two opened up many more possibilities for early game control via ganking and creating more pressure for the enemy lanes. He states that even though they like this new opportunity for teams, they want to create more risk vs. reward thought-processes before junglers commit to ganking enemy lanes. To do this, he explains that the jungle creeps will receive a damage boost, causing early junglers to have significantly less health once they get through their initial jungle route. They will have look at the risk taken by jumping into a lane with low health, and consider whether or not it will help or hinder their team should they do so.
To increase the jungle diversity, they want to create more applicable choices for jungling champions. Riot will be including several new items specifically to help with the initial jungling route, allowing different champions a better opportunity to take part in the jungle. Also among the changes will be significant XP and gold scaling received from creeps as the game goes on, so that junglers have a better chance to keep up with early game levels.
Once again, these announcements are really exciting for me. As a fan of League of Legends and an invested player, the changes mentioned above really pique my interest. I can’t wait for this patch to be pushed out once it’s polished and ready. The full article can be found Here, should you want to read further.