Jungle Items in 4.21: What's Hot And What's Not?

Every year the preseason brings huge changes to the way that League of Legends is played. While there have been changes across the board, the biggest aspect of the game to be revised has been the jungle. Camps are tougher, gold has been redistributed, smite has upgrades and itemization has completely changed, with Hunter's Machete being the only item to remain in the game. With all of this in mind, it's important to examine these new items to find what's strong, as well as what is weak.

It all starts with Hunter's Machete, which has been nerfed pretty considerably. Your basic attacks apply a 30 magic damage DoT to monsters and while you're in combat with the jungle monsters you gain bonus health and magic regeneration. You also get a bonus ten gold from killing jungle camps. Overall, your first clear is going to hurt more and take longer (with some exceptions), mainly due to the decrease on the number of Health Potions available to you at the start of the game.

This is where things get interesting. There are now four jungle items, and four enchantments that can be applied to any of the items, similar to how boots currently work. However, while boot enchantments are often the last items you buy, jungle enchantments are usually going to be rushed, as they're all cost efficient and strong in their own way.

All jungle items now have the same base stats (45 magic damage DoT to monsters and more regen stats while in jungle combat), cost the same amount of gold and increase the bonus gold from killing monsters from ten to twenty, but give different bonus effects to your smite. This is a huge change that in some cases fundamentally redefines the way junglers work. However, all of them feel intuitive and at the very least, decent.

Stalker's Blade
Stalker's Blade allows you to smite enemy champions, slowing them by 50% for two seconds and dealing a small amount of true damage. This sounds really strong on paper, but falls short in some areas. For one, the jungle itself is way stronger and has more incentives for smiting minions, meaning that it's rare that you have your smite up for a gank. If you play a champion who can easily clear but could use some help ganking, this is an ideal upgrade.
Best on- Udyr, Fiddlesticks and Volibear

Poacher's Knife
Poacher's Knife is made for counter jungling, as when smite is used on an enemy jungle camp, smite's cooldown is cut in half, you receive bonus gold as well as a movespeed boost that decays over to seconds. This is a fairly decent ability, but it is limited in scope. Only buy it if you plan on living in the opponent's jungle and constantly denying them. Even then, it is a risky purchase.
Best on- Shaco and Nunu

Ranger's Trailblazer
This is the most basic of the upgrades. Your smite becomes AoE, stuns monsters for one and a half seconds and gives you some health and mana. This really doesn't have a downside, and is useful on almost everyone. If you can't really abuse the power of another upgrade to an extreme degree, pick this up.
Best on- Anyone who can't abuse the other items

Skirmisher's Sabre
This is the best 1v1 item in the game. You can smite an enemy, marking them for six seconds. Marked targets are revealed to you, deal 20% reduced damage and recieve bonus true damage on hit. This means certain characters are amazing with this item, while it is wasted on others. Specifically, champions with high attack speed that are good duelists are great with this.
Best on- Warwick, Fiora and Nocturne

Enchantments
All Enchantments have the same total cost of 2250, but build out of different components.

Warrior Enchantment
The Warrior Enchantment builds out of a Brutalizer and gives 45 attack damage, 10% cdr and 10 flat armor penetration, making it extremely cost efficient and powerful. This is a really good all around upgrade, and is pretty much the replacement for season four's Spirit of the Elder Lizard. It's pretty good all around and a solid choice on any AD based jungler.

Magus Enchantment
The Magus Enchantment builds out of a Fiendish Codex and gives 80 ability power and 20% cdr. This is a huge chunk of cdr for a jungle item and a really solid amount of AP, making it great for all junglers that previously used the Spirit of the Spectral Wraith item last season, such as Fiddlesticks and Diana.

Juggernaut Enchantment
The Juggernaut Enchantment builds from a Kindle Gem and a Ruby crystal, giving a respectable 500 health, 10% cdr and 35% tenacity. This is a really solid item that is is a huge step up from last season's Spirit of the Ancient Golem, despite being used on the same champions.

Devourer Enchantment
The Devourer Enchantment builds from two daggers and gives 50% bonus attack speed and 25 magic damage on hit. This number can increase, gaining one for every large monster killed and two for every kill or assist. This is the replacement for feral flare, and does a decent job, providing a similar overall level of power.

As a general rule, the new jungle definitely takes some getting used to. However, once you become familiar with the new items and systems in place, it all becomes much easier. Hopefully with a better understanding of the jungle itemization you'll be able to abuse these new items and achieve victory!