In the aftermath of the Preseason updates hitting PBE, many players have voiced their concerns about the new changes coming to jungle leashing.
Jungle in 2022 has been steady and more about innovative jungle pathing and enabling the team towards victory. So far, we have seen many champions, like Wukong, Jarvan, Hecarim, etc., in the jungle this year.
The role has been one of the most important positions in the game for a long time. Any jungle mechanics change impacts how players play the game, especially in higher ELOs and competitive play.
With the League of Legends preseason 2023 update announced, the jungle changes have caught people’s eyes. There are bigger changes in the jungle, like the Chemtech changes, Avatar pets, and such. However, the change that has drawn the players’ ire is the leashing range in the jungle.
Every camp in the jungle has a range up until you can leash/drag it to ensure the aggro meter does not hit 0. The aggro meter is typically on the monster with a green/yellow/red indicator. If you leash the monster beyond its range, the patience meter will reset, causing it to return to camp. Similarly, the bar decreases slightly every time the aggro shifts to another player.
With Riot proposing a leashing range change, it will massively impact how players do jungle clears. Let’s talk about the changes, why people are concerned about them, and my opinions on changes.
Read More: How Does the New Ward Timer Tracking Work in Preseason 2023?
Preseason 2023 Jungle Leashing Changes
If you have not caught up with the jungle leashing changes planned for Preseason 2023, this is the place to look. Essentially, the leashing changes involve adding indicators to show the leashing range. Furthermore, the range of leashing a jungle monster will also be reduced.
Players’ Concern over Jungle Leashing Range
As mentioned earlier, players have voiced their concerns over social media platforms. There have been threads created on Reddit and many posts on Twitter. Most players are complaining about losing skill expression in terms of kiting jungle camps and double camp clearing.
Double camp clearing has been part of the game for quite a while now. Most players will primarily double camp the Blue Sentinel and The Gromp on the blue side of the jungle. Additionally, there were many double camp clearing methods to clear Red Brambleback and the Raptor Camp.
However, since the changes were announced and Riot’s intention to stop double camp clearing, players have not been pleased with that.
Also, with the leashing range change, kiting camps will get harder. Champions like Kindred and Graves will have to tank the monsters instead of kiting them. This is something many players have not liked.
Those two aspects mentioned above are the primary concerns for players. Losing both these aspects of jungle camp clearing is causing many players to think that Riot is removing skill expression from the role.
Riot Clarifying The Jungle Changes Planned
Riot Phroxzon, the Lead Designer for the Balance Team and Preseason, has clarified many jungle changes on Twitter in multiple posts. The whole thread is worth reading for anyone concerned.
“We’re focusing on accessibility with features like JG path, ability/rune rec, showing leash ranges (at edges), etc. this season,” Riot Phroxzon said. “Veteran players have suffered through learning obtuse mechanics the hard way, but doesn’t mean that we should gatekeep newer players to also do so.”
There is a lot in the thread to unpack. In short, Riot wants to remove clear optimizations and make it more about creative pathing, ganks, and such. Riot Phroxzon has also said that they will be looking to balance and tweak the changes to make it more balanced and give jungle champions the buffs they need to stay relevant in the new jungle system.
Final Thoughts on The Players’ Concerns and The Jungle Changes
I have a lot of thoughts regarding these jungle changes. First, let’s talk about the changes Riot has announced and later clarified. I agree with a lot of what Riot Phroxzon said. The jungle should be all about innovative pathing, counter jungling, gank, etc., not double camping to get a lead and appear.
AoE jungler have an inherent advantage there because they can clear faster. So trying to eliminate double camp clears is the right approach in my books, even if it’s easy to learn and such. However, champions will need to be adjusted that rely on double camp clearing like Fiddlesticks and Riot Phroxzon said they would fix issues relating to that.
On the kiting aspect, the players have the right to be a bit concerned, and the leash range seems too small based on what we know so far. However, given this is in PBE right now, Riot can always adjust it and put it on the live servers. So it will be growing pains in that regard.
All in all, the changes will encourage more people to try the role and simplify things. Pathing recommendations should make it easier, and they won’t have to worry about double camp clearing. The changes will bring more invades, counter jungling, ganking, etc., to the game, which is not necessarily bad.
I like the new changes put forward, and players are somewhat exaggerating on their socials. Changes can be better if we learn to accept them and help Riot integrate the changes better into the game.
