According to the announcement, the 12th season of League of Legends (LoL) will conclude at 11:59 PM on November 14. After that, publisher Riot Games will lock the ranked mode to prepare for the update of the Pre-Season 2023 version. This year, they are making significant changes to many Tank and Mage items, while also fully upgrading the Jungle area for players. Most notably, the Smite spell will undergo a complete revision in the near future.
In Pre-Season 2023, 2 old items, the Dagger, will be removed to make way for 3 pets that support Jungle players. There are 3 different types of pets including: Ixtal Lizard, Noxian Fire Cat, and Ionia Fox. They will provide different stats, suitable for the roles of various champion groups. In addition, the Smite spell will also be changed this Pre-Season. Players will even need to complete tasks to accumulate large monster kills to upgrade the spell. The critical thresholds for enhancement will be 21 and 40 targets.
Now, Jungle players have 3 levels of the spell: Regular Smite, Unleash Smite, and Primal Smite. When purchasing Jungle items, players will summon a pet to assist in clearing the jungle, dealing area damage each time the player attacks a monster. The damage of Smite will now be 600 instead of 450 as before.
If players accumulate enough 21 large monster kills, they will upgrade the spell from Regular Smite to Unleash Smite. Now, the spell deals 900 damage to monsters and can be used on enemy champions. The target will take true damage based on level and be slowed by 20% movement speed for 2 seconds. The biggest difference among the 3 types of pets lies in the function of each type of Smite when the spell is upgraded to the highest level.
At the point of completing 40 accumulations, the Jungle item will disappear, saving one slot for other items. When players activate it on enemy champions, opponents will take true damage based on level and be slowed by 20% movement speed for 2 seconds. Moreover, Jungle players will also receive a 30% damage reduction from large targets (Dragon, Elder Dragon, Baron Nashor) if at least 2 allies are nearby. The Smite spell after being maximally upgraded will deal 1200 damage to the main target and half that amount to nearby targets.
Additionally, players will receive unique functions from the 3 types of pets as follows:
– Noxian Fire Cat : Players gain Fire Cat stacks when defeating jungle monsters. Attacking opponents with 100 stacks will apply a 30% movement speed slow effect that decreases over time, while burning 4% of maximum health over 4 seconds.
– Ionia Fox : When moving into bushes, players will receive an additional 45% movement speed that decreases over 2 seconds. This number increases to 60% if the owner kills a large monster.
– Ixtal Lizard : Players gain a permanent shield that interacts based on level when defeating jungle monsters. The shield converts to healing after 10 seconds out of combat. They will gain an additional 20% crowd control resistance while the shield is active and for 3 seconds if it is broken.
The biggest difference among the 3 types of pets lies in the effects after completing the task of accumulating 40 stacks. At that point, Noxian Fire Cat, Ionia Fox, and Ixtal Lizard will respectively suit champion groups in the Jungle for: attack, mobility, and defense. Therefore, players need to carefully calculate their choice of Jungle items suitable for Pre-Season 2023.