League of Legends: a look at all the problems of the jungle
By Josh Tyler
After a video detailing all the changes to the jungle in League of Legends exposed the problems with the current iteration of the role, how can Riot fix the state of the jungle?
Earlier this week, Skillcapped released a video with the hyperbolic title “How Riot RUINED the jungle and what NEEDS to CHANGE?” The video is an excellent breakdown of how the role has evolved from the days of gold per ten items to camp smite buffs to smite upgrades to power farming to early ganking. By breaking down each of the changes Riot has made to the jungle each season, going back to Season 1, the author(s) of the video is able to explain how we got to the jungle in its current state.
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A state which, as they point out in the video, is not great. Laners feel increasingly dependent on their jungler to win the early game and impact their lane. Junglers feel that they are often unable to push their own individual leads and rely on their laners to play properly with whatever advantage they give them. It’s a conundrum, where both parties feel as though they are powerless.
Right now, the jungle is one of the least popular roles in League of Legends, yet it is perceived as the strongest. This dichotomy of perception – wherein laners cry that junglers impact the game far too much and junglers respond by wondering why laners don’t abuse the role – creates an unhealthy role for jungle and junglers in League of Legends.
Skillcapped not only presented the problems within the role but also offered solutions to solve them. I will attempt to examine those solutions, offer my opinions, and offer some other possible solutions Skillcapped didn’t mention in their video. First, though, we need to look at what the problems are with the jungle in its current state and the pain points junglers and laners complain about, as was explained in the video.