Reign of Gaming

When the new jungle comes around things are obviously going to change very quickly. They say it will be like a mixture of the season 1 jungle and then the season 2 jungle and that sustain will play a big factor in jungling again. Riot also mentioned that single target junglers will find their place again. I don't need to go and write about the season 3 jungle all over again for I did that in an earlier article. What I do want to talk about is which junglers are going to need a buff or a prayer that the season 3 jungle has some means of letting them jungle.

Let's just go by the assumption that the season 3 jungle will be kicking people's asses. I already mentioned a few junglers that are going to be godly in a previous article. Lee Sin and Maokai were gods in season 1 and if season 3 jungle is just going to be a slightly weaker version then they'll be gods there. The nerfs to Lee Sin since then weren't big enough to make much of a difference. However just for a quick list of which junglers are, in my opinion, going to likely be strong forces in the early season 3 jungle if it mirrors season 1 jungle without any massive changes: Cho Gath, Lee Sin, Maokai, Skarner, Udyr, Trundle, Dr. Mundo, Nunu and Shyvana. Doesn't it seem very similar to the list we have right now? Aside from Dr. Mundo and Nunu (because Nunu was nerfed before the jungle change and then both of them were buffed) these junglers were very powerful in the old jungle and stayed strong in the new jungle and will likely just be strong again.

I'll just copy paste the reasons I wrote in a previous article for some of the junglers I felt are going to be crippled by the new jungle unless they receive some love or the new jungle allows for padding here and there.

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Nautilus - This guy already gets his ass kicked in the season 2 jungle even with a leash. His shield is his clearing speed but as soon as it gets knocked off he's slow as hell and fragile. The newly powered up monsters are no doubt going to slap that shield off a lot quicker making his life miserable. He might be able to manage with cloth + 5 (but barely) and even then he'll have to suffer his abysmal movement speed and the severe vulnerability to invaders. Coincidentally, Sejuani will actually fare better than him as her clearing tools aren't affected like Nautilus.

Alistar - Now he could function in the season 1 jungle but let us not forget he's basically been butchered since then. He's a far cry from what he used to be and now they're buffing the jungle to deal more damage. Alistar is not a farmer - he's a ganker. He's really bad at clearing and this I feel may be one of the biggest nerfs to jungle Alistar. He may be forced to alter his build in a gimmicky way and he may no longer be able to take boots if he just gets manhandled in the jungle though admittedly he can try for level 2 ganks still though god help him if a duelist finds and kills him or counter ganks him.

Shen - This is up in the air actually. I mean the fact that leashes exist is great but he's so damn slow now and he's just going to get slower. If duelists become a big thing again then he'll be back in hell. I can't say much about him but I have it in mind that he'll be relying more on his infinite jungling than ever before.

Hecarim - Now this one is also up in the air but hear me out. Hecarim is a weird jungler and he's surely untested in the old jungle. His clearing is ungodly awful in the first few levels because of how bad his early ranks of his abilities are. I can only imagine how worse they'll fare vs beefed up monsters. He also gets his ass beat even in the season 2 at least in the first clear because of this. This could become a huge glaring weak spot for him and I'm wondering if he can overcome that. Aside from that the increase experience and gold will do him wonders. We may actually see him being played.
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Now for a more expansive list here on junglers I think are going to get their asses handed to them unless they get help or at least are just up in the air about whether they will work or not.

Gangplank - He was strong in the old jungle for sure. Hell he was overpowered but that was more because his numbers were simply extreme. Then he got nerfed over and over and he eventually just became okay. Other characters were more favored than him near the end of the season 1 jungle. This is why I'm a bit unsure about whether to consider if he may even be good. They nerfed everything about him and never really brought him back. He is a single target jungler right now but sucks at single target damage rather early vs monsters. The new jungle almost actually murders him even with a leash. The guy has seen better days and I don't think the season 1 jungle revert may help him.

What he needs - A buff on his passive stats for E. Perhaps give his rank 1 E a good chunk of base stats and every rank of it increases the passive stats by a little but the active gain by a good amount. He needs a bit more offensive power so he can shift his masteries into the defensive tree.

Master Yi - The old jungle definitely had the farm for him to be able to carry if he was allowed to farm but the guy would just get melted by the old jungle no matter what he did. The season 2 jungle actually did help him out but it was only temporary as mobility becoming a big factor and the new champions each making things worse for him did him in. He had issues in both season 1 and season 2 jungle and unless something changes with the character he'll have issues for season 3.

What he needs - He needs one of his abilities to be more reliable at jungle clearing. His Q has a super high cooldown at rank 1 and doesn't do anything unless it procs. His E is an amazing steroid but in season1 it forced him to be very careful about how he used double strike. There were actual guides with timers on when to active your Q and E in the camps in order to make the most out of your E active + double strike. A little complicated if you ask me. I can't decide actually on what to buff. His alpha strike should probably have a flat amount of damage on monsters.

Kha Zix - Everyone seems to be hoping that a season 1 jungle farm will help the guy out. This is a big maybe. Leashing definitely made a lot of characters who couldn't jungle in season 1 actually manage something (Alistar) and made some older junglers even godlier. The problem here is that even with a leash sustain played a big game in helping those characters jungle. Kha Zix has no sustain outside of his really terrible early W sustain that is likely not going to keep him up while the jungle beats him up.

What he needs - He'll likely just need his W to be buffed up a tad or heal him even when he's not in close to it. That would help him do some kiting tricks maybe and pad some damage. As far as my opinion goes his W will be the big factor in whether or not a season 1 jungle will kick his ass.

Rengar - Not counting that he can actually gank - he's likely going to have some issues clearing. He has issues in his first clear in the season 2 jungle. They quickly become non factors in subsequent clears but the fact that he had poorly sustain first clear is there. Now let's remember that the season 1 jungle beat your ass silly and realize that Rengar has no sustain outside of that ferocious W. If the first clear is at a season 1 jungle clear level then he's going to be hurting. The nature of his ganks being so strong is what will carry him but still that can play a factor on whether or not he'll see a lot of love. I can picture him being a the new jungle pantheon. Terrible clearing but powerful ganks.

What he needs - What can you give him that will not make his lane powerful again? This one I have no real suggestions. Not everyone needs to be a jungler.

Rammus - He's just been nerfed so hard. He was nerfed to make him weaker in the season 2 jungle and his clearing speed has been butchered. If you throw him back into the season 1 jungle as gimped as he is now (for clearing) then you're just going to have a bad time. The guy needs his W to be buffed back up to murder the monsters. His ganking is fine even if it's weaker than season 1.

What he needs - His W needs back some of the reflect numbers back or a bonus on monster damage. Rammus is going to need some loving before he's back rolling that is, again, assuming it isn't too radically different from the season 1 jungle.

Shaco - Once more he's been slapped with the great sausage of balance since then. His ganks will always be strong and his boxes will always be stupid but his clearing has been weakened for years. The latest nerfs to - everything - means he's going to have a worse time a season 1 jungle. At the very least he'll be forced to take cloth armor again.

What he needs - Shaco can go to hell

Darius - He lack sustain to a pretty high degree and he loses quite a bit of health right now even with a leash. What sucks is that he may have to take cloth armor in order to make up for his weak sustain which in turn severely will gimp his ganking.

What he needs - Nothing. Jungle Darius is, in truth, something that could happen that wasn't really intended (or his favored place) so it was nice while it lasted.

Elise - Her early jungle is terrible and her sustain is only adequate for the new jungle. It's going to have to improve before the jungle shift. Her ganking is great aside from some kinks here and there. She's just going to need better sustain.

What she needs - Her W heal should have a better base value so it will increase her early sustain otherwise the new jungle, even with a leash, will beat her ass pretty hard.

That said every opinion I shared here is made with the assumption that the season 3 jungle is very similar to the season 1 jungle in terms of murdering the jungler and being hard to clear.