League of Legends lead gameplay designer Mark “Scruffy” Yetter highlighted some changes coming in Patch 10.8 in a dev post today.
One important change is aimed at improving jungle satisfaction. The two key elements of this target junglers’ early-game ganking power and overall personal power.
Junglers have been extremely strong this season. The preseason changes gave them more power by allowing them to farm camps more often and funneling a lot of power into the new elemental drakes.
A lot of junglers received significant nerfs because they were deciding games by themselves, such as Karthus, Lee Sin, Ekko, and Sejuani. Even after numerous nerfs, though, these champions still find themselves dominating the game without help from teammates.
The lower ganking power change will reduce the experience gained for non-solo kills early on. Summoners who die early on will also receive a small homeguard-type buff to get back into lane faster. When the homeguard buff was purchasable, most players bought it as soon as possible. This change might reflect negatively by removing the punishing aspect of late-game champions.
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Riot’s higher jungler personal power goal is aimed at increasing the experience gained from farming and improving sustain when low on health.
These changes will transfer power from the aggressive jungle playstyle of ganking to a more passive playstyle of farming. This will most likely shake up the meta and bring more passive farmers into the meta. We might see Shyvana resurge as a result of these changes, for example.
Patch 10.8 should come out by mid-April.
