Another patch, another champion revealed. This time Riot has introduced Ivern, the Greenfather. At a glance, Ivern is seen as the first ever “pure support jungler”, but how would he stack up against other junglers? Through this article, the abilities of Ivern will be analyzed in the hopes of determining if Ivern will have a place in the meta or if he’ll simply be too weak to be relevant.

Friend of the Forest (Passive)

- Ivern will not attack non-epic monsters. Clicking on a jungle monster creates a grove which grows over X [40 - 6 based on lvl] seconds. Each grove costs X health and X mana.
- When a grove is fully grown, clicking on the monsters will set them free, giving gold and experience.
- Smiting a grove instantly frees monsters. At level 5 and higher, if Ivern frees a buff monster an extra buff is created for Ivern's allies.
- If an ally kills a buff monster, a buff is left for Ivern
- CD Value = 42 - 2 per level = 40 at level 1 down to 6 at level 18.
- HP value: 174/183/190/197/203/208/212/215/216/217/216/213/209/203/196/186/175/161
- Mana cost: 135/141/146/150/153/155/156/156/154/151/147/141/133/124/113/99/84/67"

Opinion: This passive allows for a lot of interesting pathing in the early game. It allows Ivern to set up camps on the way to a lane for a gank followed by destroying the camps. Along with that, the fact you’re able to create another buff for your allies is very powerful, as it means that while you have blue and red buff, your mid laner will still have blue and your ADC can have a red buff as well. With the importance of the first blood on turrets the additional power given to your mid and bot lane will provide a huge boost.

Pathing: So far the best pathing I have discovered is to start on the opposite side of the enemy jungler (if they start bot side, you start top side) and create a grove on the Gromp/Krugs camp (depends on which side you start) and one on the buff. Right after that, you go to the enemy’s buff and smite it away, and on the way back to your side to take your two camps you put a grove on Scuttle Crab. After you take your two camps, put a grove on your Wolf/Raptor camp and go take the Scuttle Crab. This general pathing allows you to deny the enemy jungler a buff, provides vision in the river, and be at a good point to start ganking as well.

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Rootcaller (Q)

-Mana cost: 60
-Cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12 sec
-Ivern conjures a vine dealing 80/125/170/215/260 (+70% AP) magic damage and rooting the first enemy hit for 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2 second(s). Allies can click on rooted enemies to dash into attack range.

Opinion: A skill that provides solid initiation, good CC and deals a decent amount of damage at the same time. The dash that everyone on your team can use is also great since it also allows you to dash into attack range. But an issue that was noticed when playing around with this champion on PBE was that if Ivern is in the bush, he will dash based on his bonus attack range. This can become an issue when you want to actually go in for a teamfight. But overall this ability is great for setting up allies that would usually have to rely on flash to properly hit their skills (Sona ult, Kennen ult, etc.). Along with that, it’s also a great skill to guarantee a successful gank in the early game.

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Brushmaker (W)

-Mana cost: 30
-Cooldown: 40/36/32/28/24
-Passive: In brush, Ivern's attacks are ranged and deal 20/30/40/50/60 (+30% AP) bonus magic damage.
-Active: Ivern grows a patch of brush for 30 seconds. For 3 seconds, the area in and around the brush is revealed.

Opinion: Every Rengar main’s dream, Ivren’s W gives him a small damage buff in the bush along with range as well as the ability to create bushes as well. While the use is limited, it could be used to play mind games on the enemy, as placing the bushes in a line to block out a path may cause the enemy to play much safer in fear that your team could be setting up a pick. During teamfights, you'll likely be saving your W for some initial harass due to the increased range. Outside that, it won't be doing much during teamfights. Overall, while the damage boost and the increase in range is nice, this skill has limited uses so it’ll most likely be left at rank one and maxed last.

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Triggerseed (E)

-Mana cost: 50
-Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 sec
-Ivern shields an ally, absorbing up to 80/120/160/200/240 (+80% AP) damage. After 2 seconds, the shield bursts dealing 60/90/120/150/180 (+70% AP) magic damage and slowing enemies by 70% for 3 seconds.

Opinion: A weaker version of Sion’s shield, but you’re able to give it to allies. The shield will give Ivern an increase to his tankiness and damage output in teamfights. It's also another solid tool for ganking, as it can either be used in conjunction with his Q and enable a clean gank with a root followed by a slow. Along with this, he also has the option to shield his ally to allow him to continue the gank without risking an ally's death. Overall, it’s just a solid skill that allows Ivern to live longer during teamfights. You'll most likely be maxing this second after your Q, but depending on future changes, E could also be a solid skill to max out first.

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Daisy! (R)

-Mana cost: 100
-Cooldown: 160/140/120 sec
-Ivern summons his sentinel friend Daisy. If Daisy attacks the same champion three times in a row, she will create a shockwave knocking enemies up for 1 second (3s cooldown). Daisy gains additional damage and defenses based on Ivern's Ability Power.
-Recasting this ability will direct Daisy to a new target or position.
-Daisy's stats increase each rank:
-Health - 1250/2000/3500
-Resistances - 30/50/70
-Bonus Attack Speed - 30/50/070%
-Daisy lasts 60 seconds, cooldown starts on ability cast.

Opinion: Daisy will be a force to be reckoned with during teamfights as a continuous source of knockups. Because of the possible CC Daisy can continuously dish out, the enemy team has to decide to either continuously kite Daisy or focus her down before your team can capitalize on a knockup. During the late game, Ivern has the ability to chain his CC as he can root an opponent which allows Daisy to get her three hits in to cause the knock up. Overall, Daisy will serve as a mini tank during teamfights that can be used to either disrupt the enemy or to peel for the ADC. Because of this, Daisy could potentially be a huge game changing ability.

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Conclusion

Due to Ivern’s unique way of jungling and his ability to gank with ease, I believe that he’ll definitely see some play in ranked and pro play. In general, he has a great way to gank or start teamfights thanks to his Q and his R can be game changing due to its potential to cause constant knockups. But he still has some glaring flaws. In the early game, he’s at a high risk of being counter-jungled due to the cost of creating the groves and the long time it takes of the grove to grow. But if players are able to work with their team to work around this, Ivern has the potential to becoming a powerful and tanky threat in the later stages of the game. In general, Ivern will likely have a constant presence in ranked when he's released and it'll be interesting to watch pros experiment with this champion.

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