League Of Legends Plans To Optimize Jungling During Preseason 2023

It’s been a while since Riot Games revealed the last Jungle-focused update. Now with 2023 fast approaching, Season 2022 will soon come to an end. But what can players expect as Riot Games once again adjusts League of Legends heading into Preseason 2023?

On 12th August 2022, the developers discussed their plans to reshape Jungling and optimize the role to make it more accessible and flatten the learning curve for newcomers.

In a fifteen-minute developer update video led by Ryan “Reave3” Mireles, the dev team hinted at upcoming Champions, cosmetic lines, and general model and gameplay updates affecting Aurelion Sol and Ahri. But one of the more eye-catching discussions was the changes hitting Junglers. 

Riot Games Adjusts Jungling In League Of Legends

Riot Games developer update unveiled many wonderful things, some a little more problematic than most considering the outcome of past integrations. One of the more interesting adjustments League of Legends developers are bringing into the game is a change to Jungling.

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In the latest developer update, Jungling will be less complicated overall and only challenging in the “right places.” The goal isn’t to make the role “dumb downed” but to accentuate accessibility and flexibility and make it easier for new players to grasp.

New Ping Signals

First off, Riot Games will introduce a new pinging system to make communication much clearer. There’ll be various signals to ping teammates, including “Freeze" and other more commonly used notifications when playing. This feature will allow Junglers to plan more intuitively and efficiently with others when ganking.

Adjustments For Jungle Camps

Following pinging, newer Junglers will experience a new recommended pathing system, similar to items recommended when scrolling the in-game shop. This addition should help newcomers adapt to Jungling more quickly and efficiently.

Subsequently, Riot Games are still experimenting with Jungle camp leashing, including leashing and reset rules. They’ve implemented slight patches regarding this aspect in the past. Still, they’re supposedly emboldening the element that the “Jungle itself shouldn’t be the deciding factor as to whether a champion is viable.”

A 'Pet' Feature Helping Junglers

One of the more flashy implementations Riot Games is experimenting with is pets. Because the role features some more outdated items compared to other lanes like Top or ADC, revitalizing Jungling can be difficult.

League of Legends will receive a new “pet” feature for Junglers, helping players clear camps and do all sorts of things. For now, the pet system is still in its experimental phase and will look much different upon launch. But it’s supposedly going to be a game-changer that evolves Jungling from culling camps for items to raising a pet and focusing on other things besides farming just gold.

Making Jungling Less Daunting

Jungling will look quite different in 2023 as Riot Games aims to reshape the Jungle role. “Some amount of the skill expression around clearing” Jungle camps will be lost with the following changes. 

In return, it means League of Legends' complexity and skill requirement steer away but becomes more accessible and optimal. It also allows the developers to focus on other integrations making the game more robust.

For what feels like eons in the community, Riot Games haven’t always hit the mark with changing things involving the Jungle. Some may agree or disagree that the most striking changes were when the development team altered the gold and level experience change.

It was terrific, allowing players to gank much more quickly, changing the game's rhythm. But of course, a new Jungling meta started emerging, including an extremely busted Diana composition ruining players’ games for a short while (until Riot Games patched it).

Will Jungling during Preseason 2023 be as chaotic or out of shape as it once was in past years? Only time will tell, but these supposed changes should improve the role. That's for sure. You can watch the full dev update in the video embedded above.

And that's all. For more on the game, check our section dedicated to League of Legends news, guides, updates, tips, and more.

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games.