A few weeks ago, Riot Games published several articles explaining the somewhat poor jungle meta and their desire to expand the jungle champion pool. This move was generally well-received by players as it makes the game more interesting, especially for a high-pressure role like the jungle. However, the way they executed this was far from satisfying for the players.
Recently, a high-rank European jungle main harshly criticized this update from Riot Games, stating that their changes were making these champions not only viable in lanes but also able to take objectives at an incredible rate.
Additional damage to monsters should only apply if you use Smite
As the title suggests, increasing damage to monsters is a direct buff to champions and their compositions, and it wasn’t Riot’s original intention. I am currently at the High rank on the Western European server, and to me, Riot’s buffs seem extremely foolish; I hardly see any of the “new jungle champions” actually in the jungle role.
The problem doesn’t just stop at these champions being able to leave lane and farm jungle extremely quickly (for instance, Talon can steal the Red Buff or the Krug camp); this additional damage also affects major objectives. Therefore, strong laners like Darius or other supports (Zyra, Brand in the upcoming update) can take Scuttle Crabs, Dragons, Rift Heralds, and Barons much faster.
Thus, leaving lane to farm jungle means that those champions with additional damage will face significantly lighter penalties compared to standard champions. I think that’s quite unfair.
Riot’s plan is to directly buff champions like Garen, Darius, Zed, and Talon to increase their damage against monsters, intending for these champions to farm the jungle more easily. However, what Riot failed to account for is that this additional damage also applies to objectives like Dragons, Barons, Rift Heralds, and even Scuttle Crabs. This means that the aforementioned champions can secure major objectives extremely quickly compared to before, creating immense pressure on opponents.
Recently, Garen and Darius have emerged as two of the strongest top lane champions in solo queue while they were buffed for jungle purposes. The result is that these champions, already capable of solid lane presence, receive additional jungle damage, allowing them to push lanes quickly and easily move to the river to take Scuttle Crabs, or at the very least, take a camp from the jungle. This leads to increasing advantages in gold and vision, crushing their lane opponents.
Even crazier is the next patch, where champions like Brand or Zyra will receive these buffs. Both of these champions are attack-focused Supports that push lanes and apply pressure on opponents, possessing strong skill damage to do so. Their weakness has been that they do not contribute much damage when taking objectives.
And when the new patch arrives, these three champions will gain additional effects that increase damage to jungle monsters, meaning their ability to take Scuttle Crabs will become much stronger. This means that their biggest weakness has been completely addressed. Just imagine facing a duo of Ashe – Zyra pushing the lane incredibly fast while also losing Dragons and vision in the river due to Zyra’s damage; how quickly your bottom lane will crumble.
Perhaps Riot Games has thought too simplistically that by giving champions damage against jungle monsters, players would take them into the jungle. In reality, players will exploit the buffs that Riot Games grants to enhance their laning capabilities and the map pressure that those champions provide. Why bother going to the jungle when you can leave that task to “more professional” champions like Lee Sin or Rek’Sai, while you continue laning normally and take advantage of the new power to gain an edge.
The best solution right now should be to limit the damage to monsters of those champions to only apply if they hold Smite to benefit from that effect. Simply because holding Smite is the most obvious sign of a jungle champion, and that damage against monsters should be reserved solely for the jungle role.