User blog:Willbachbakal/(Item Concept) Another Look at Jungle Items

Jungler itemization has gone a long way. Since the creation of and its upgrades in Preseason 3, junglers have followed a dedicated item line that allows them to not only clear the jungle better, but also reap greater rewards, with the addition of their gold generation passive. Over time, with the reworks to the items as well as the addition of a new one,, those items have adapted further and further to better fit the playstyle of junglers and cater to different archetypes.

Over time, though, the system has also shown some major weaknesses, and almost all of them hinge on Hunter's Machete: originally intended to be the one jungle item to start them all, it now only truly caters to one jungler type (fighters) and does little to help the others, limiting the starting roster of viable junglers. More importantly, though, it is singlehandedly responsible for some of the most bizarre itemization quirks out there: although it builds into two different items, and  (and soon into ), those items share literally nothing in common, whether it be in terms of stats or unique effects. The transition to those items is similarly awkward: building into Madred's loses you the Butcher passive, and building into Spirit Stone loses you the Maim passive (also the free regeneration from and ). Not only does this go against pretty central item design tenets (items should not lose bonuses as you upgrade them), it also creates gameplay issues, such as the low-interaction Madstone (Madred's + Spirit Stone) build. In general, the top-tier jungling items have little in common, and with the upcoming rework to SotAG will also have even less consistency in terms of jungle clearing mechanics. They're just not designed to build from the same item.

The good thing is, Season 4 has shown us that there's no need for a dedicated role to have to start out with just one item choice: thanks to the support item trifecta of, and , supports with subtle differences to their lane behavior can choose right from the start to have an item tailored to their playstyle. Arguably, with jungling being a position that accomodates for many different roles ( for super-autoattackers, for tanks,  for AD damage dealers and  for AP damage dealers), there should be even more of a reason to create a dedicated line for each item.

Autoattackers= {{#tag:tabber| Hunter's Machete=

Changes

 * Butcher passive removed.
 * Maim damage increased to 20 from 10.
 * New Unique Passive: Huntsman. Gain 10% increased gold from monsters.
 * Now classified as a Gold Income item.

Changes

 * New Unique Passive: Huntsman. Gain 25% increased gold from monsters.
 * Now classified as a Gold Income item.
 * New Active: Hunter's Ward: Places a Stealth Ward that reveals the surrounding area for 180 seconds (180 second cooldown - 600 range).

Changes

 * New Recipe: +  +  + 550g.
 * Total cost increased to 2200g from 1800g.
 * Attack damage removed.
 * Attack speed increased to 50% from 30%.
 * Gold generation is now Huntsman, a unique named item effect.
 * Additional gold from monsters increased to 40% from 30%.
 * Active is now Hunter's Ward, a unique named item effect.
 * Ward cast range increased to ~1000 from 600.

Changes

 * Attack damage removed.
 * Attack speed increased to 50% from 30%.
 * Gold generation is now Huntsman, a unique named item effect.
 * Additional gold from monsters increased to 40% from 30%.
 * Active is now Hunter's Ward, a unique named item effect.

Changes

 * Combine cost increased to 150g from 75g.
 * Total cost increased to 750g from 700g.
 * New Unique Passive: Conservation. Store 1 stack of Gold per 1.5 seconds (Max 80 stacks). Kill a large or epic monster to cash in up to 40 stacks.
 * Now classified as a Gold Income item.

Changes

 * Combine cost increased to 600g from 450g.
 * Total cost increased to 2200g from 2000g.
 * Hunter's Ward cast range increased to 1000.
 * Conservation maximum stacks increased to 120 from 80.
 * Conservation maximum stat cash-in increased to 60 from 40.

Changes

 * Combine cost decreased to 113g from 580g.
 * Total cost increased to 2200g from 2000g.
 * AD increased to 40 from 30.
 * Now grants +10 armor penetration.
 * Incinerate damage is now instead of 14(2level).
 * Butcher passive removed.
 * Incinerate damage now restores and  over 3 seconds against monsters.
 * New unique active: Hunter's Ward. Places a that reveals the surrounding area for 180 seconds. 180 seconds cooldown (~1000 range).
 * Conservation maximum stacks increased to 120 from 80.
 * Conservation maximum stat cash-in increased to 60 from 40.

Changes

 * Combine cost increased to 630 from 480.
 * Total cost increased to 2200g from 2000g.
 * Cooldown reduction increased to 20% from 10%.
 * Spirit Drain passive renamed to Engorge.
 * Butcher passive removed.
 * New unique passive: Devour. Deal 30% increased magic damage to monsters, restoring 6% of the damage dealt as health and 3% of the damage dealt as mana.
 * New unique active: Hunter's Ward. Places a that reveals the surrounding area for 180 seconds. 180 seconds cooldown (~1000 range).
 * Conservation maximum stacks increased to 120 from 80.
 * Conservation maximum stat cash-in increased to 60 from 40.

Changes

 * base gold lowered to 30g from 35g.
 * base gold lowered to 60g from 65g.
 * base gold lowered to 35g from 40g.
 * base gold lowered to 50g from 55g.
 * base gold lowered to 50g from 60g.
 * base gold lowered to 50g from 60g.