LoL Preseason 2023: Huge Jungle Changes

The League of Legends devs think that jungling has become way too hard, and so to remove the barriers to entry, they're giving junglers a new tool.

Pets in lol
No! Don't hurt them! They'll be helping us in the jungle... | © Riot

Has the "jungler" role struggled to keep up with the rest of the meta? Do you think it's dated and needs a rework? If you were nodding as you read this, you should know that the devs agree, and we can share some fantastic news with you. But if you love the current state of jungling... maybe it's time to switch roles?

I'm not a jungle main, so I have no horse in this race, but now that the preseason has started, Riot finally launched the newest patch with some major changes for the Jungle and I think most players will either hate these changes or love them. Riot wants to make the jungle more beginner-friendly, hell even I might give it a go (especially while the skins are this good). So, shall we take a look at these huge updates?

LoL Preseason 2023: All Jungle Changes

Now we know a lot of League of Legends players use third party apps like Blitz, op.gg and Porofessor. This gives them advantages over players who don't use these types of applications, which is why Riot wants to even the playing field by adding a few key updates in this LoL preseason.

New Camp Mechanics

  • Marked for Death: When a large monster dies, all small monsters in its camp are marked for death. Monsters marked for death die if they are not in combat with a champion for 10 seconds.
  • Own-Side Clearing Strength: Junglers now deal 20% more damage from non-true damage sources to monsters on their own side of the jungle.
  • Parting Gifts: Large monsters will now heal 27+3/level and restore 15+2/level mana upon takedown if you have a jungle companion. This heal/mana restoration will take the form of a projectile that will be fired towards the champion that last-hit the monster.

Jungle Companions

The biggest and also cutest additions for the preseason 2023 jungle are probably these little adorable, feisty, and all-around wholesome companions.

Jungle pets come in the form of eggs which you purchase at the start of the game. Getting monster kills will 'feed' these eggs until they hatch and become your jungle companion.

If you give them enough treats, stacks, and love, they will grow and develop throughout the game. If you take good care of them, they will return your love and bring you a lot of benefits.

Companion Attacks

  • Companions will deal 20(+4% bonus HP)(+15% AP)(+10% AD) and will attack at a rate of 1 attack per second.
  • Companions will heal their owner for 70% of the above number every time they attack
  • Damaging a camp from a distance will cause companions to leap attack toward the camp, dealing the same amount of damage

Companion Mana Regeneration

  • Companions will provide their owners with an increase to mana regeneration equal to [(8*percent missing mana) + (8*percent missing mana)*(level/1.3)*0.1] while in the jungle (including your jungle, the enemy jungle, and the river)

Companion Progression

Your companion will evolve twice throughout the game by receiving treats through the following methods

  • 1 treat per large monster/champion takedown
  • 1 bonus treat is stored every 60 seconds before reaching the companion’s final evolution form
  • 1 bonus treat is stored every 90 seconds after reaching the companion’s final evolution form
  • When a large monster is killed with bonus treats available, players will receive 2 treats and 50 bonus gold. 1 bonus treat stack will also be removed.

Companion Evolution

As jungle companions evolve, they will receive the following bonuses at each evolution

First Evolution
  • Smite damage will be increased to 900 true damage against monsters
  • Smite is now castable on enemy champions, dealing 80-160 (based on level) true damage and slowing the target by 20% for 2 seconds
  • The jungle item will remain in your inventory
  • Companion will visually evolve
  • Smite’s icon will upgrade
Final Evolution
  • Smite damage will be increased to 1200 against monsters and will do 50% of its damage as AoE damage against nearby monsters
  • Players will become empowered and receive buffs depending on their chosen companion
  • The jungle item will be removed from your inventory
  • Companion will visually evolve
  • Smite’s icon will upgrade

Mosstomper

This jungle pet is perfect for junglers looking to frontline and tank for their teams.
  • Mosstomper’s Courage: Gain a 75-330 health shield after killing a monster camp or after 10 seconds out of combat. This shield will remain indefinitely. Players will gain 20% Tenacity and slow resist while the shield is present and for 3 seconds after it has been broken.
  • Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while at least 2 allies are within 1300 units

Scorchclaw

This will be the pet of choice for junglers looking to play more aggressively.

  • Scorchclaw’s Slash: Scorchclaw collects Ember stacks at a rate of 3 stacks per 0.5 seconds or 100 stacks when killing a large monster. At 100 ember stacks, your damage against an enemy champion slows all enemies within a 250 unit radius by 30% (over 2 seconds) and deals fire damage equal to 5% of the target's maximum health as true damage over 4 seconds to the primary target.
  • Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while at least 2 allies are within 1300 units

Gustwalker

This jungle pet will be great for junglers looking to rotate and move around the map more quickly.

  • Gustwalker’s Gait: Gain 45% bonus move speed when entering a brush that decays over 2 seconds after leaving the brush. This is increased to 60% for 2 seconds after killing a large monster.
  • Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while at least 2 allies are within 1300 units
Jungle Companions
These Jungle Companions are way too cute | © Riot Games

LoL: Riot Looking to Bring Back Banning System Similar to Tribunal

Chemtech Drake Back In LoL For Preseason 2023

Of course, we cannot forget our dear friend from the 2022 LoL preseason the chemtech drake. Riot initially added the drake into the game, but the terrain, as well as the soul were just too OP and they quickly, after only a month or so removed the drake completely from the game.

Well, now he's back and he is ready to shake up the rift once more with a new soul, new map and new added bonus stats. So let's go over all the details of the new chemtech drake.

Drake

Effect
Chemtech Drake
  • If the Drake is below half health it gains 33% damage resistance and deals 50% more damage. This drake will deal 100% total AD + 4% of its target’s health as physical damage with each attack.
Chemtech Soul
  • Players will receive a buff that gives them 10% damage resistance and 10% more damage while below 50% health
Chemtech Buff
  • Your team will gain a stacking buff that grants 5% Tenacity and 5% Healing and Shielding power after killing a Chemtech Drake
Chemtech Map
  • Blast Cones will now blast those in range twice as far as before
  • Honey Fruits will upgrade into Stim Fruits, no longer slowing champions that consume them and granting a small bonus shield in addition to the usual heal
  • Scryer’s Bloom will upgrade into Stalker’s Bloom. When hit these plants will now reveal a small circular area around the plant and a cone opposite of the direction it was hit, granting movement speed towards revealed enemy champions and reducing wards revealed to 1 health.
Chemtech Drake
The Chemtech Drake is back in LoL! | © Riot Games

Camp Gold And Eperience Changes

  • Lane Minion Experience: Junglers only get 75% experience from lane minions before their first pet evolution unless the jungler is behind the average game level.
  • Large Monster Gold: Non-junglers will get 15 gold less from large monsters.
  • Large Monster Experience for Non-Junglers: Non-junglers get 15 experience less from large monsters (The Ancient Krug gives 12 experience less).
  • Large Monster If you have a jungle companion, all large monsters give an additional 15 experience.

Monster Changes

Blue Sentinel
  • Health: 1850 ⇒ 2300
  • Attack Damage: 78 ⇒ 66
  • On-Hit Damage: Blue Sentinel now deals 5% of its target’s current health on hit
Gromp
  • Health: 1650 ⇒ 2200
  • Attack Damage: 74 ⇒ 70
  • Attack Range: 200 ⇒ 175
  • On-Hit Damage: Gromp now deals 5% of its target’s current health on hit
Krugs
  • Ancient Krug Health: 1050 ⇒ 1350
  • Ancient Krug Attack Damage: 74 ⇒ 57
  • On-Hit Damage: Ancient Krug now deals 3% of its target’s current health on hit
  • Krug Health: 500 ⇒ 650
  • Ancient Krug and Krugs Death Animation/Smaller Krug Spawn Time: 1.3 seconds ⇒ 1 second
  • 1=2: Ancient Krug is now counted as 2 CS (The Krugs camp as a whole will still be counted as 4 CS)
Murk Wolves
  • Greater Murk Wolf Health: 1200 ⇒ 1600
  • Greater Murk Wolf Attack Damage: 35 ⇒ 30
  • On-Hit Damage: Greater Murk Wolf now deals 3% of its target’s current health on hit
  • Murk Wolves Health: 480 ⇒ 630
Raptors
  • Crimson Raptor Health: 800 ⇒ 1100
  • Crimson Raptor Attack Damage: 20 ⇒ 17
  • On-Hit Damage: Crimson Raptor now deals 3% of its target’s current health on hit
  • Raptor Health: 425 ⇒ 500
  • Raptor Attack Damage: 10 ⇒ 7
Red Brambleback
  • Attack Damage: 78 ⇒ 66
  • Health: 1850 ⇒ 2300
  • On-Hit Damage: Red Brambleback now deals 5% of its target’s current health on hit
Rift Herald
  • Experience Given to Champs within 600 units: 200 ⇒ 300
  • First Spawned Rift Herald Charge: 2000 ⇒ 1500
Rift Scuttler
  • Spawn Time: 3:15 ⇒ 3:30
  • Health at Level 1: 1050 ⇒ 1550

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Leashing Range Updates And Indicators Added

One of the changes is going to be new leashing indicators. Have you ever pulled out the blue buff so you can get closer to gromp to try and kill both objectives simultaneously, only for the blue buff to lose its patience and casually walk back to their starting position? Yeah...

With the new changes Riot is looking to make the jungle easier for beginners. Adding camp range indicators is just one way of doing just that, but they also added "Soft Resets" that will delay the full reset of a monster.

Soft Resets

After losing all patience, the monster will "soft reset" for 6 seconds. During this time, the monster will move towards its camp center, regenerate 6% of its max health per second, and ignore attackers outside its leash range. After these 6 seconds have passed without the monster being attacked, the monster will "hard reset" and ignore all attackers, rapidly heal, and return to its original position.

Also, Riot made the distance for jungles smaller, since they don't want players to have to stand on the perfect pixel for the camp not to lose its patience.

Small Monster Patience: Will match the patience of their respective large monster, if it is within 700 range

Blue Sentinel: 650Gromp: 450Krugs: 650Murk Wolves: 650Raptors: 650Red Brambleback: 650Rift Herald: 1100

Jungle Path Recommendations Added in Preseason 2023

Of course, there are many other issues for players when they start off playing League and one of those is figuring out where to go in the jungle and when to do certain camps. Until this point and time third party apps have been helping junglers out, but now Riot wants to do just that.

Riot has added patch recommendations for the first clear. These recommendations are displayed on your minimap and above the camps and indicate a recommended order for your first clear.

These are the biggest changes to the jungle we've seen in a while. Riot seems to want to make the position more beginner-friendly, but how will this effect those players who have more knowledge of the game in general? Let's see how these updates pan out.

Malena Rose

Malena is a game design student and writer at EarlyGame. Her life-long passion for videogames inspired her to make a living out of it. Through her studies in Game Design, she now plays an active role within the gaming industry....

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