The jungle position is perhaps the most frequently adjusted role by Riot Games after each season, and strangely, despite numerous changes, they still haven’t found a way to make this role truly balanced. The start of Season 10 has been a disaster for junglers as resources are scarce while responsibilities are immense. Therefore, players have devised the optimal strategy of ganking as early as possible; when resources are low, the best move is to help teammates snowball as soon as possible.
This strategy has been extremely successful for professional teams, including GAM Esports. The yellow-jerseyed team often initiates early turret dives in the top lane to cripple one side of the opponent, thereby gaining easier control of the map and the opponent’s jungle. It seems this trend has spread too quickly, putting too much pressure on top laners, prompting Riot to nerf this playstyle.
In a recent post by Riot’s Mark Yetter, the lead designer of League of Legends, he outlined plans related to the jungle role. Essentially, the benefits of early ganks will be reduced while resources will increase for players who choose a farm-focused jungle playstyle. Specifically:
Riot Mark Yetter: “In Patch 10.8, we will deliver the final part of the jungle position upgrade plan. To clarify, here are the two key components of this design:
1. Reducing the power of early ganks
We will add a small Scout effect for champions that are taken down early in the game.
Reduce the experience gained from taking down enemy champions in non-solo kills during the early game.
2. Increasing the power of jungle champions themselves
Increase experience from farming (the target will be mid to late game, when the jungler is falling behind).
Enhance jungle sustain at very low health thresholds for starting jungle items (this helps less jungle-oriented players farm more easily).
In Meddler’s previous post, we have been seeing positive results for the top lane position. The whole team hopes that with these updates, we can finalize our work on the jungle position soon and stabilize things a bit.
Thank you all for playing League of Legends, stay safe!”
With these updates, it’s likely that Riot Games aims for the top lane to be a true 1v1 solo lane. The snowball potential from early ganks being reduced (experience and levels) will force junglers to think much more carefully, especially since farming will yield more XP. Perhaps Riot Games does not want to see a situation where one side is completely “shut down” before the 5-minute mark as currently happens.
Hopefully, teams that are implementing early gank and turret dive strategies, like GAM Esports, will have contingency plans and adapt to the changes brought by Riot Games.