Jungle looks different this season, but not only for the reasons you might be thinking. It’s not just the festive map skin, showing off its Noxian flare, but also through the inclusion of extra pressures on early game plays and new objectives.

This season has put a major focus on momentum and allowing teams to snowball small wins into a major step towards victory. Most of the recent additions focus on gaining quick advantages. The early game has become important as ever. Even though some points mentioned are not role-specific, these updates can alter your usual jungle strategy, so stay tuned!

Feats of Strength - New Early Game Objectives

This season, a new battle takes place on top of the regular fights over objective control. Now, each team must aim for three small objectives: getting the first three kills, claiming the first turret, and slaying three epic monsters. Once either side has completed two of the three quests, what is often called their “tier two boots” (any purchasable upgrades to the regular 300 gold boots) receives a boost to the stat that their chosen boots provide. They also gain the opportunity to upgrade to a third level of boot, granting unique passives or even more significantly improved stats.

Losing a kill or two early does not have to signal the end of the game! Being aware that more teams are going to be gunning for blood is important, though. Keeping vision on your jungle camps through wards and spacing strategically with your allies is crucial. Traveling carefully, especially to your first camp, can help prevent accidental losses early into the feat battle.

Try to complete these buffs early in the game but maintain your mental composure. Laners can often feel very frustrated by this extra sense of punishment added to losing lane or early objectives. The newly minted third tier of boots is a great asset, but they will not solely decide the outcome of the game. Losing two of the three quests towards the early game may show that your team is struggling, though, so make sure to plan your strategy for the rest of the game around the difficulties your side has faced.

Blood Roses - Scaling Experience and Adaptive Force

Blood Roses are a new map mechanic that allows teams to gain permanent Adaptive Force (Ability Power or Attack Damage, depending on how each champion builds) and experience through collecting petals.

These beautiful flowers appear on the map near where champions die, where Atakhan, the new epic jungle monster spawns, and where Atakhan is slain. Most Blood Roses will not spawn before 20:00, and they act like most other plants you see in the jungle (Blast Cones, Scryer’s Bloom, and Honeyfruit), taking only one hit to be collected.

Each petal collected will give every member of your team a small boost of experience, along with the Adaptive Force mentioned previously, allowing your team to deny the enemy team of infinitely scaling, no-cost damage resources. Taking the chance to grab some of these petals while you travel from camp to camp can quickly add up, giving your team an advantage before heading into the next skirmish. The patch notes mention that experience each individual player gains from these flowers scales depending on their K/D/A ratio, giving a boost to players who need it most.

Atakhan - Two Game-Changing Forms

Atakhan is a brand-new inclusion on the Rift, putting a new twist on what we would normally expect from an Epic Monster. It has two forms and can spawn in one of two locations on the map, depending on how the game has been unfolding until the demon appears.

That’s right, the amount of damage and kills obtained in either the top or bottom half of the map affects where and how the objective spawns. The side with a more intense lane phase will spawn a new pit at 14:00, where the small bush in the river (commonly called “pixel bush/brush”) appears on either side, respectively.

The barriers in the pit create a near-circular shape with the river walls, providing nearby laners with a feeling of safety against junglers without wall-jumping or wall-walking skills. The removal of the pixel brush near Atakhan’s spawn limits the paths available to most junglers, making some gank pathing more difficult and giving laners a sense of ease. Make sure that you plan your gank paths around this pit spawning, or you might find yourself cornered!

There are two forms of Atakhan that can appear, and the side of the map it appears on is not what decides his form. His form depends on whether the game is high or low action. Although the exact kill or damage thresholds are yet to be disclosed, a game’s flow is usually a solid indicator of the form you will see.

High-damage or high-kill games trigger his Ruinous form, giving the winning team a 25% stat boost/reward increase from Epic monster kills and a large Blood Flower field. This allows a team that has been ahead in damage and objectives to capitalize on the spoils they have earned. This surge of experience and raw damage is bound to lead to more combat!

If a game has fewer kills or lower damage, Voracious Atakhan spawns. Slaying him gives the triumphant team a Guardian Angel-like effect, negating their next death within 150 seconds and granting forty extra gold per kill for the rest of the game. Rather than reviving where they died, they enter a “Withdraw” status. Defeating someone with this buff is not in vain, though, as you will still get one hundred gold and a blood petal when they go back to base.

Note that Atakhan’s inclusion has resulted in a later Baron Nashor spawn time (25:00 instead of 20:00), according to the recent patch notes. Keep Atakhan and the now fashionably late Baron Nashor in mind during your late-game objective pushes.

Let’s Wrap Up!

Fundamentally, Jungle is the same in the new season, despite its fresh additions. Having a solid plan for traveling across the map and strategically executing ganks will still hold many of the role’s responsibilities.

Recently added features can snowball, renewing focus on the early game and smart plays, but late-game objectives remain crucial for ultimate victory. Keeping your head up and your mental solid can help steer your team through difficult early games. Junglers should focus on learning how the new objectives and key points of contention affect their overall game plan.

Whether you’re playing 3D chess in the early game or coming in clutch with a last-second smite, you can have the jungle in the palm of your hand. Embrace all the highs and lows that come with the new season, grab all the picks you can, and leave your mark on every match.