Opinion on the current state of the jungle?

For season 5, there is no doubt the jungle has changed dramatically, more so than other seasons. All monsters have been modified, and the jungle items had a complete overhaul. How has this affected the junglers you played in season 4. Are you content with the current jungle?

 

There's more ways to jungle and the jungler have different strengths

 

The new jungle items are flawed in that one of them is always going to be OP and the rest unused. I do like the enchantments though. The difficulty of the jungle and the gold increase on machete has reinforced the meta so heavily that only a few junglers are viably played (where before almost any champion could jungle.) Gromp and golem buffs were great additions though in my opinion.

Overall not a huge fan.

 

I'm a bit biased because I loved the AP junglers pre-season 5. Spirit stone allowed me to do well in the jungle as syndra and zyra in diamond, because of the mana return I would get from clearing camps.

I really dislike this new jungle because of the poor mana return, and lack of sustain. Champions that bring AD runes and have ad ratios rule the jungle because autoattacks are used every second, while abilities typically are used every 5-15 seconds, and consume mana.

It just doesn't currently make sense to bring AP runes into the jungle, when AD runes on champions with AD ratios are so much more efficient. Really hope they do something to bring AP somewhat in line with AD in the early game.

 

I think it has helped with the champion pool to be able to compete in the jungle but, the lack of sustain makes it very hard to pull off early ganks effectively.

 

Tbh I just adapted with it, despite the fact that I don't like it/support it, I still enjoy the game. Thats my opinion

 

It's pretty crappy to be honest, I find it impossible to sustain on a lot of champions that were previously viable in the jungle. I usually have to back after 1 or 2 camps and both buffs.

I kind of got somewhat used to it, but I still prefer the previous jungle.

 

The new jungle seems to be more forgiving on those who don't know how to jungle. I also think carry junglers are still stronger than tank junglers. Overall I miss the sustain the spirit stone gave, and the snowball potential the jungle use to have

 

Tbh I think from item sets only boots are balanced between each other, you almost never buy the same boots on the same champs over and over again, especially if you are a tank. (Besides mid and adc, even mids sometimes go for cdr boots instead of m. pen)

 

Definitely agree with this.

I was pretty happy about the state of the jungle items up until this last patch. It was pretty nice to be able to swap the base item at will before it was upgraded but now you are forced to make your choice far earlier... 250g is a lot to swap an item type.

 

The new jungle has drastically limited the amount of viable picks. Currently, the only 2 good junglers are vi and lee sin - the others are a tier below

 

Hate it really, but then again i dont jungle, the only way it affects me is when im playing adc and get smited from 700 range 40% slow for 2 seconds out of nowhere which allows the jungle to land their combo no problemo.

Almost impossible to escape from ganks now Lower the slow or duration pls rito

 

I was a jungle main S3 and S4, but now I can't stand to play jungle at all. I feel like I have to struggle for that initial 450g before my first base trip. Of course, unless I'm playing the small handful of viable junglers. (Nunu, Vi, Lee)

 

last season I used to main evelynn in the jungle and played her to great success but with the reduction of her base armor and the changes to the jungle monsters she has a very hard time clearing.
It is even hard to get your clear for 450G sometimes , therefor i moved onwards.

This year I am playing Vi and sejuani to great success and can only suggest people to learn the 2 as they are fun to play and offer alot for your team , weather it beeing a huge sejuani ult for a teamfight or vi locking down single fed targets left and right.

 

Preferred the old climb, I feel unless you play like J4 or Lee, lvl 2 ganks (and in some cases level 3) are just out of the question, your jungle will just fall so far behind and there was a certain skill curve about knowing how and when to gank early after clearing half the camp or just going full Shyvana farm mode. I feel like I have to invest more into early farm which delays my actual impact until the mid game.

 

New jungle is definitely way less forgiving than it was before... especially since you can only start with 2 health potions with machete now so your first clear is even harder. The viable jungler pool is extremely limited right now (Nid, Lee, J4, Vi?).

Honestly the old jungle with spirit stone was so much better, it allowed for a lot more diversity in picks because of the sustain that spirit stone offered. Right now there's no reason to pick anything outside of the jungler meta because everything else is so bad.

 

Definitely prefer season 4 over 5. I feel like you can fall behind in levels to someone who is powerfarming way easier than before. Season 4 you were able to stay ahead with kills/assists but now if someone has a trailblazer they can just chill in their jungle and never worry about falling behind.

 

Eh not really, the new jungle allows the enemy jungler to catch up in experience extremely hard, and it's difficult to absolutely destroy the enemy jungler yet be way ahead of them in levels. I've had times were I've had multiple kills and assists in comparison to the enemy jungler, higher cs, and they're the same level as me. It's absolutely ridiculous. I can 3-buff the enemy jungler and gank, and still be the same level as them.

 

Oh if that's what you meant then I agree. My duo partner often gets invaded and solo-killed by the other jungler and becomes extremely behind early but still manages to stay relevant and on equal-footing going into mid-game by just farming up.

 

The new jungle isn't amazing I don't think. I play at mid Diamond level, and even now you are able to 8 games out of 10 cheese their jungler at their first buff. It takes away from the fun of it really. I understand them nerfing early jungle presence, but the fact I can almost definitely kill their enemy jungler early isn't that fun for me.
The items have brought in a bit more variety of junglers, and I think it's a step in the right direction, but I don't believe the chilling smite was a good addition to the game, it just made the already gank heavy junglers, stronger, which I don't appreciate when I'm playing mid
I'm sure they'll slowly but surely sort some of the issues out anyway.