LoL: Everything You Need To Know About Season 13 Jungle

The Jungler role in League of Legends often gets plenty of hate, even though they are considered the team's backbone. Junglers must farm neutral monsters to gain gold and experience while helping their team secure much-needed objectives like Rift Herald and Dragons and maintain a solid map presence.

To make the Jungler role more fun and accessible, Riot Games introduced a series of changes in preparation for Season 13. These changes included improving the stats of jungle camps, adding in jungle pets and pathing recommendations for jungle camps.

Hopefully, these new Jungle changes introduced in League of Legends Season 13 will make the role easier to play for beginners wanting to climb the ranks in solo queue!

Jungle Pets

The Jungle role has been massively overhauled with the inclusion of Jungle Pets, replacing the Emberknife and Hailblade items. While the player has the Smite summoner spell equipped, they can purchase one of the three adorable jungle companions from the shop: Mosstomper, Gustwalker, or Scorchclaw in their colored egg forms.

Jungle Companion Evolutions

While players are taking down their jungle camps, claiming map objectives and getting champion takedowns, their chosen pet will grow and evolve twice through the game by receiving treats. Junglers can get bonus treats in the following ways:

• 1 treat per large monster or champion takedowns.
• 1 bonus treat every 60 seconds before reaching the jungle pet's final evolution form.
• 1 bonus treat every 90 seconds after the jungle companion's final evolution form.
• When a large monster dies with bonus treats available, the jungler will receive 2 treats and 50 bonus gold.

As the jungle companions evolve (like your own personal Pokemon!), they will provide their Jungler with the following bonuses with every evolution:

First Pet Evolution

• Smite true damage increased to 900 against monster camps.
• Smite now usable on enemy champions, dealing 80-160 true damage (dependent on current level). Smite also slows the enemy target by 20% for 2 seconds.
• The jungle item will stay in the player's inventory.
• The jungle companion will evolve and will visually evolve Smite's icon.

Final Pet Evolution

• Smite damage increased to 1,200 against monsters. 50% of its damage is dealt as AoE damage to other nearby monsters.
• Players will receive buffs, dependent on their chosen jungle pets.
• The jungle item will be removed from the player's inventory.
• Smite's icon will receive a final upgrade, and the companion will visually evolve.

Jungle Companion: Mosstomper

The Mosstomper is a strong jungle pet for any Junglers that prefer to be on the frontlines, tanking damage for their team.

• Mosstomper's Courage: Gain a 75-330 health shield after being out of combat for 10 seconds or after killing a jungle monster camp. This shield will remain indefinitely until damaged. Junglers gain 20% tenacity and slow resist while the shield is active.
• Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while 2 allies are within 1,300 units.

Jungle Companion: Gustwalker

Gustwalker is an excellent jungle pet for any jungle players looking to rotate around the map because as its name suggests, Gustwalker grants bonus movement speed.

• Gustwalker's Gait: Junglers gain 45% movement speed when entering brush. This decays over 2 seconds after leaving the cover of the undergrowth. This bonus movement speed buff is increased to 60% after killing a large monster.
• Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while 2 allies are within 1,300 units.

Jungle Companion: Scorchclaw

This is the perfect jungle pet for any Jungler looking to play more aggressively with their ganks and engage in more teamfights.

• Scorchclaw's Slash: Scorchclaw will accumulate Ember stacks at a rate of 3 stacks per 0.5 seconds, or 100 stacks killing a large monster. With 100 Ember stacks, the player's damage against an enemy champion will slow all enemy champions in a 250-unit radius. Scorchclaw will also deal burn damage equal to 5% of the target's maximum health as true damage for 4 seconds to the primary target.
• Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while 2 allies are within 1,300 units.

Jungle Monster Camp Changes

Blue Sentinel

• Health increased to 2,300
• Attack damage reduced from 78 to 66
• On-hit Damage - Blue Sentinel deals 5% of the target's current health on hit.

Gromp

• Health increased from 1,650 to 2,200.
• Attack damage was reduced from 74 to 70.
• Attack range was reduced from 200 to 175.
• On-hit Damage - Gromp now deals 5% of its target's current health on hit.

Krugs

• Ancient Krug Health increased from 1050 - 1350.
• Ancient Krug attack damage decreased from 74 to 57.
• Ancient Krug now counts as 2 CS.
• On-hit Damage - Ancient Krug deals 3% of its target's current health on hit.
• Krug Health - increased from 500 to 650.

Murk Wolves

• Greater Murk Wolf Health increased from 1,200 to 1,600.
• Greater Murk Wolf attack damage decreased from 35 to 30.
• On-hit Damage: Greater Murk wolves deal 3% of its target's current health on hit.
• Murk wolves health increased from 480 to 630.

Raptors

• Crimson Raptor health increased from 800 to 1,100.
• Crimson Raptor attack damage decreased from 20 to 17.
• On-hit Damage: Crimson Raptor deals 3% of its target's current health on hit.
• Raptor health increased from 425 to 500.
• Raptor attack damage decreased from 10 to 7.

Red Brambleback

• Attack damage decreased from 78 to 66.
• Health increased from 1,850 to 2,300.
• On-hit Damage: Red Brambleback deals 5% of its target's current health on hit.

Rift Herald

• Experience rewarded to nearby champions increased from 200 to 300.
• First spawned Rift Herald charge decreased from 2,000 to 1,500.

Rift Scuttler

• Rift Scuttler spawn time increased from 3:15 to 3:30.
• Health at Level 1 increased from 1,050 to 1,550.

Chemtech Drake

The Chemtech Drake was introduced in the 2022 Preseason alongside the Hextech Drake but was swiftly removed from the game due to being too "broken." Returning with new stats and terrain changes, the Chemtech Drake is back for round two in 2023.

• When the Chemtech Drake is below half health, it gains 33% damage resistance and deals 50% more damage.
• With Chemtech Soul, players gain 10% damage resistance and deal 10% more damage when below 50% health.
• The Chemtech Buff grants a stacking 5% Tenacity and 5% Healing and Shielding power buff per Chemtech Drake kill.

The Chemtech Map alters the terrain of Summoner's Rift, mostly upgrading the jungle plants. 

• Blast Cones blast those in range twice as far. 
• Honey Fruits become Stim Fruits and no longer slow champions when consumed. They also grant a small decaying bonus shield. 
• Scryer's Blooms are upgraded to Stalker's Bloom. When hit, these jungle plants reveal a small circular area and a cone opposite of the direction hit. This grants movement speed in that direction towards enemy champions and placed wards. All wards revealed will also be destroyed in 1 hit. 

New Jungle Camp Mechanics

• Marked for Death: When large jungle monsters die, all monsters in the jungle camp are marked for death. They will die after not being in combat with a champion after 10 seconds.
• Own-side Jungle Clearing Strength: Junglers deal 20% more damage to monsters on their side of the map.
• Parting Gifts: Large monsters will now heal 27+3/level and restore 15+2/level mana upon takedown if the player has a jungle companion, allowing for more sustain while farming.

Beginner-Friendly Jungle Changes

The Jungle role is considered the most complicated role in the game to master, purely due to jungle pathing and monster camps. With that in mind, Riot Games are trying to make the jungle role beginner-friendly and easier to understand by lowering the skill floor.

• Leash Range Changes: Riot Games have added new leashing indicators, so players can see the range of the jungle camps they are attacking while reducing double camping. They have also added a soft reset timer that delays the full reset of jungle monsters.
• Soft Reset: After losing their patience, jungle monsters will soft reset for 6 seconds. The monster will move towards its camp center, regenerate 6% of its max health per second, and ignore attackers outside its leash range. After 6 seconds, the monster will hard reset and ignore all attacks, rapidly heal, and return to its original position in its jungle camp.
• Pathing Recommendations: Many players use external apps like Blitz to decide which jungle path to take. As such, Riot Games have now included their own pathing route recommendations, based on which routes often lead to a victory. These will be updated with every patch.
• Experience Changes: Junglers only receive 75% experience from lane minions before their first pet evolution. While having a jungle companion, all large monsters give an extra 15 experience.
• Camp Gold: These changes are targeted towards champions taking a junglers neutral monster camp. Non-junglers will get 15 gold and 15 experience less from large monsters.

League of Legends Jungle Champion Tier List

With the introduction of jungle pets and all these other new jungle changes in mind, here is the tier list for the current strongest four jungle champions. The jungle role offers a variety of champion options for players looking to make an impact and climb the ranks in solo queue, so it can be difficult to know who to pick. We will also list the four weakest junglers to know who to avoid playing.

God Tier

• Maokai - Maokai is back in the jungle where he belongs, due to his rework in Season 12. Maokai's passive has also been adjusted, empowering his next basic attack while healing him for a percentage of his max health. Getting hit by large jungle monsters also reduces his passive's cooldown per attack, giving him a healthy clear speed for monster camps.
• Sylas - Sylas is a popular option for the jungle role as he can easily challenge the enemy Jungler in the early game and provide early ganks for his team. Sylas also has the opportunity for early invades, thanks to his knocking-up E ability.
• Elise - Elise has had no notable nerfs to her kit lately. She is an aggressive early-game ganking Jungler with diving potential. She can become extremely fed and snowball, eventually being able to one-shot the enemy AD carries.
• Udyr - Udyr is a versatile choice, especially following his recent rework. He has high base damage and can be played as a full-on bruiser or a tank, making him a flexible Jungler. He can stun enemies with his Bear Stance and chase them using Pheonix Stance, making him a strong ganker.

Weakest Tier

If you want to avoid losing LP in your ranked matches, we suggest you avoid these Jungler picks. Although some players can make these jungle champions work, they have the lowest win rates in Season 13 so far, below 49%.

• Twitch - Although traditionally an ADC, Twitch could be played as a Jungler with his stealth ability. He used to be perfect for harassing and ganking the enemy due to the element of surprise on his side. He now pales in comparison to other Junglers, like Sejuani and Maokai.
• Zed - As an assassin, Zed lacks significant crowd-control abilities, making him a bad early ganker. It is too easy for the enemy Jungler to gain an advantage over him due to his lacklustre early game.
• Trundle - Like his name suggests, the Troll King himself Trundle remains a troll pick for the first half of this season, despite a hefty round of buffs. Although a strong character in his own right in Top lane, there is no denying there are stronger Jungle champions available.
• Poppy - Poppy is a tricky champion with no definitive role or class, leading her to be played in the Jungle. She is neither a tank nor a damage dealer, meaning if she chooses to go down this route, she will be heavily relying on her team for support and back-up. If Poppy goes full Tank, she must rely on her team to deal the bulk of the damage.

The Preseason 2023 patch is the biggest changes made to the Jungle role in a while, revitalizing the role. Hopefully, these new jungle changes will see some new Junglers testing their luck in League of Legends ranked modes and see some improvements to the Jungle gameplay experience, but only time will tell. Stay up-to-date with all the latest League of Legends news with us at Rivalry.