Thoughts on the new Jungle

A New Game?

Well in some light it is a new game. Things have changed and I think people will have to change their comfortable style of play to adapt to the changes. A lot of new builds for the champions will be a viable choice with items being created class specific, for example ranged melee champions have their own item.

Will this be better than the standard build which you see on all ranged melee champions? I don’t know. But I think even though there are new items and new jungle routes I do believe that mechanical skills are going to stay the same. So there is still going to be the amazing plays and entertaining games which we see every day.

Items are not the only changes to come in and affect the playstyles and builds of the game. With new runes featured in the new patch, these are hybrid runes giving more and 1 type of stat. These kinds of runes may be in danger of not being as popular as riot want, although it could have the exact opposite and be instantly favoured by all.

Masteries have also taken a rework to help give a bit of a different start and change up the plays early game. What I have noticed that support players have been given alot more in the new patch. New items which help out supports and the new utility page give a ward at the start of the game. This is helping supports not spend all their money on wards at the start.

 

Solo Queue, Oh how you frustrate EVERYONE!

I think solo queue is going to be a whole new experience. With the new jungle coming in, old champs are coming back to play as well of new ones. A lot of people have been trying out the new jungle on the PBE and I have read that alot of current champions who are not top tier junglers are doing well in the jungle like Darius, super strong top lane but it has been recorded that he has one of the faster clear times when jungling.

All the solo queue players are going to be running anyone in the jungle, which I believe is the best practice as everyone is unknown to which are the strongest champions. Maybe you find that overpowered composition which others haven’t got; this could get you to the top of solo queue or even 5v5 ladder facing the professional teams.

I personally think that this practice is the best approach to improve you jungling mechanics, don’t be scared to give a champion a run through. If you wait for the professional guides to be released your putting yourself behind on improving with everyone else. Although I know what solo queue is like down the lower end and it takes a lot of convincing to run unorthodox champions, where you get the instant “troll” claim as soon as you lock in. But you just have to give it all a go to the best of your ability.

The META switch

The current Meta of the game changes all the time, more or less every few weeks. This new patch will change the Meta stride. It definitely has the potential to change up the whole game. Lane switching in the in the current “end of season” patch is common in professional play. You don’t see it in solo queue as it requires alot of team work and communication. But this could be gone by next season, lanes and team compositions will change around the junglers used, the new items look to release a wider champion pool for the other positions in competitive play which will see so much change and strategy, well hopefully

With there being a mass amount of new champions being released by riot and still another one expected before the year is out, champion diversity in champion select is great. This will always help change strategy and Meta due to having such a wide variety of champions to choose form.

This whole patch is designed to change up what is currently happening in game, from the starting items to how the whole game plays out. My only concern is that it has the possibility to be too much change for something that was not really broken.

The Professional scene

Professional players have said that the new jungle feels or looks like it’s the same as season 1. So maybe this will be the return of some old school players? Or the teams who have been a little quiet this season? One team I think has the quality now to make an impact next season is season 1 champions Fnatic. There are showing extreme strength at the moment reaching the Dreamhack final. I just hope they don’t lose the momentum as Europe needs more teams to compete with the rest of the world.

What I think this new patch does bring to the professional scene is a fresh start or level playing field (of justice). This can produce new talent and maybe new teams breaking through the ranks to prove that when given the opportunity to start again they have what it takes to go all the way!

The professional scene will be so different coming in to the Championship Series. There is a tournament to get teams who haven’t qualified for the championship series a shot at becoming a professional team. So this gives the unknown or teams who just missed out a chance to get there and compete with the best in the world.

To round this ramble up I am looking forward to this patch and what it has the potential to hold for professional league of legends. But I don’t think it will break the game. I have a feeling everyone will get along with the changes fine in the long run. I think riot have thought about this enough to change people’s current routine on the game which is what was needed.