The state of the jungle in League of Legends may be ever-changing, but despite that flux, it may still rank among the game’s strongest roles—at least, that’s what Phreak says about the roaming-cross-farming position and its status in Season 13.
Since the start of Season 13, the jungle has seen various changes, from camp timer adjustments to the introduction of pets, and even a push toward farming over ganking. These changes were supposed to lessen snowballing and the power the jungle has on the Rift, but they may not be enough to reduce its sheer strength.
So, in season 13, junglers are “about 20 percent stronger than other roles,” according to LCS caster turned Riot Games designer Phreak, and may need some major nerfs.
“If we nerfed [its] power by about 15 percent, that would probably be about appropriate and fair,” he admitted to fans on a Twitch stream on Aug. 19.
Phreak’s on-stream comments already have League players speculating that Season 14 may introduce yet another significant preseason jungle rework, or at least other big changes that impact the role again.
Related: Here are the League Patch 13.16 patch notes
Riot did load several big jungler changes onto the League PBE recently, including epic monster damage reductions, lower damage against pets, less slow durations, and Gustwalker nerfs. Top jungle picks like Kindred, Evelynn, Kayn, and Kha’Zix were also being nerfed. There appear to be no plans to actually ship them live, for the time being.
This is good news for a host of players, many of whom think the role doesn’t need changing. Instead, they claimed on Aug. 20, junglers should be kept at around the same power levels because it’s the toughest role to pick up.
That was the same argument the other side used too though; it would be okay for Riot to nerf the jungle’s impact a little if junglers who played the roaming position actually learned key mechanics like communication, coordination, and macro gameplay—all of which they claim average solo queue junglers struggle to learn these days.
At the very least, Phreak says, there are no nerfs coming immediately.
