Jungling has always been a challenging task to take up in Wild Rift, so patch 3.5 will introduce changes that make it easier for you to Jungle.
Riot will be revamping other champion roles in Wild Rift. In patches 3.3 and 3.4, we saw multiple changes to items and enchants. These changes improved the game by allowing Supports to have a more impactful presence in every match. In patch 3.5, Riot will move on from this to take on a new champion role: Jungler.
Jungling is a unique role that plays very differently from other roles as it doesn't restrict itself to a single lane. It allows champions to roam freely, stack up kills against neutral monsters, and collect gold and experience to create a strong build to carry the late game.
However, Jungling has almost always been reserved for some of the more skilled Wild Rift players due to how challenging it can be to do right. That being said, Riot hopes to open this role to more players by making it easier to Jungle by removing unnecessary complexity while maintaining its "high depth and high impact."
Easily Share Jungle Buffs With A New Mechanic
Blue and Red buffs offer powerful advantages to a single champion. But this exclusivity has led to many Junglers and champions arguing over who should get to equip it.
To resolve this, Riot will be adding a new buff sharing mechanic where, after eight minutes of game time, killing the Red Brambleback or Blue Sentinel will drop a temporary buff that other players can pick up by walking up to the buff circle. The shared buff will only drop if the Jungler clears the camp, and will only last 45 seconds before it expires and disappears.
This change will remove Evolved Red Brambleback and Evolved Blue Sentinel.
Gain Gold With The New 'Conservation' Buff
A new Jungler-specific buff will be introduced to Wild Rift in patch 3.5: Conservation. This buff is meant to be a natural guide on how Junglers should balance between farming and ganking.
Every five seconds, the Conservation buff gains 6 or 12 stacks of charge depending on how much gold you have. The maximum charge cap is 150. You can cash in your stacks for gold by killing a large monster.
Smite Has Been Improved For Junglers
The Smite Summoner Spell will also be updated in several areas following the new game update. The 'Challenging' Smite, also known as Red Smite, will be removed from Wild Rift in patch 3.5. Riot believed that it wasn't "a compelling choice" for Jungle players and its effects were not truly felt throughout the game.
Besides this, the Smite upgrade system will be changed. Originally, you had to kill a specific amount of monsters to upgrade your Smite. After patch 3.5, your Smite will be upgraded based on the number of times it has been used. This will allow the upgrade times of Smite to be more consistent across games and not allow players to gain an unfair advantage in the early game.
On top of all that, the new update will make both base Smite and the upgraded Smite deal a fixed amount of damage to monsters instead of scaling based on your champion level.
Monsters Will Offer Better Rewards And Be Easier To Kill
Finally, Riot will be adjusting the stats and behavior of Jungle monsters in patch 3.5. This will allow clear times to be faster and you should find it easier to survive against these neutral monsters in the early clears.
This change will most importantly affect your first camp start decisions. Originally, it was almost a necessity for Junglers to start at the Red buff to maximize their champion's clear speed. As the stats and behavior of Jungle monsters are adjusted, this should offer players more freedom in choosing their first clears.
The Rift Herald, also known as Shelly, will also be adjusted. This monster is meant to be a mid-game tool that allows you to snowball but its current state leads to varying and often disappointing rewards. So to improve the Rift Herald, her summoning speed and charge speed will be increased in patch 3.5 so that value gained from eliminating her will be much more consistent.
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