Gragas and Jarvan were once at the top of their League of Legends field—the jungle. Gragas spent a lot of time during the season seven tank meta as the go-to choice for junglers, and Jarvan took over a few months later, riding out most of the season as a great pick. Then, the preseason arrived, as well as specific nerfs to Jarvan early in season eight.
The highlight of the preseason, as any post-season eight player knows, was the introduction of a new runes system. The inability to focus on attack speed and damage together hurt the duo’s clear, and jungle camps were eating them apart. For a while, Jarvan could get away with running Electrocute, but for the most part, he was a shell of his former self.
Patch 8.13 arrives next week, and it might just be enough to bring them both back. They don’t need much help, thanks to the fact that the tools baked into their kit are extremely useful for any jungler. That being said, although the changes coming in 8.13 are small, they should still be enough.
Jarvan’s receiving the largest buff, as Gragas is in a slightly better position with the Aftershock rune and recent changes to the AP jungle item. His E, Demacian Standard (AKA the swag flag), is dropping its cooldown from 13-11 seconds depending on rank to a flat 11 seconds, and its base damage is going up at early ranks.
The base damage will help his jungle clear, sure, but the real buff is in the cooldown reduction. This ability boosts Jarvan’s attack speed significantly, and if it’s available by two whole seconds more while he’s clearing camps, he’ll be able to consistently clear them faster.
Gragas’ buff is also a cooldown reduction, and his comes for his W, Drunken Rage. Its cooldown is dropping from 8-4 seconds depending on rank to a flat five seconds. Again, having an ability up more often to deal damage will obviously help his clear, but just like Jarvan’s buff, there’s a slightly more hidden effect here.
His W doesn’t just boost the damage of his next basic attack, it also reduces incoming damage. Now, he’ll be able to mitigate damage much more often, making his clear significantly healthier.
Both of these buffs appear small at first glance, but they’re probably going to have a big impact. We expect both Jarvan and Gragas to make some appearances in the jungle starting next week, when Patch 8.13 should arrive.
