14 DAY TRIAL // Riot Games has gone into detail about the many changes to the jungle area in the Summoner's Rift map made by the new update 4.20 for League of Legends, from the increased toughness of the minion camps to the new items that jungle champions can use.
League of Legends is one of the most popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) titles, capturing the hearts and minds of tens of millions of people from around the world. Developer Riot Games has made sure to keep things fresh in the experience by rolling out new updates and patches, not to mention champions that make things even more interesting.
The latest and greatest update, in the form of patch 4.20, is now live and brings plenty of major changes to the whole experience, particularly when it comes to the jungle zone and role.
The jungle mechanic is overhauled
According to the official website, the jungle zone and the role players can have in that area after the release of patch 4.20 isn't tweaked overall but there are plenty of actual mechanics that have been changed by the studio.
"The focus of the 2015 jungle is to let players pick the junglers they love while flexibly fitting them into their team's strategies. The jungler role is most rewarding and healthy when the strategic decisions of the jungler are as important as their mechanical play. In this way, we want to highlight the unique strengths of each jungler by providing different optimization paths and more unique ways to interact with the jungle."
Tougher camps, better rewards, and longer spawn times are present
Among the things changed by the new update for League of Legends are the difficulty, the experience and gold rewards, the longer camp spawn times, and much more, including a new type of monster that's found in the river.
More specifically, the health and damage of the monsters found in the jungle camps are now higher, but so are the rewards for killing them in terms of gold and experience. The camps will also spawn every 100 seconds, instead of 50 seconds, as it was until now.
There's also a new monster called the Rift Scuttle, which can spawn in the actual river and runs away instead of fighting back when attacked. If killed, the team receives a vision bubble and shrine that grants out of combat movement speed in front of the Baron or Dragon pits.
There are also new items, including upgrades for the Hunter's Machete, so jungle champions will have a bigger variety of things to choose from, depending on their preferences.
