One of the most recent changes to the conquest meta within Smite is how the various camps around the map functioned. These changes meant that junglers would become much more busy and have much more potential to gain higher levels of gold and experience than before.

What changes brought this around?

The main change to the jungle which created the opportunity to become far more fed than before were the changes that regarded the back harpy camps in the map. The back camps had their respawn timers reduced to a quick 80 seconds and this now means that by the time a jungler has rotated to the various lanes and other camps in the map, the back camps will have respawned and would likely respawn even before the jungler had time to clear everything on their own side of the map. Not only would this allow higher levels of farming for the jungler but the creeps of the camps were changed also, the small harpies had their health and damage reduced but had experience values increased and though the elder harpy was nerfed in terms of experience values this still allows the jungler to gain higher amounts of experience due to the revised respawn timers.

This wasn’t the only change that was made though, the buff and mid camps in the map were also altered. The purple and blue camps in the game had their respawn timers reduced by a minute to both come to a 3 minute respawn timer, not only this but the cyclops creeps within these camps all had their health and damage reduced also. This change allows junglers to start off far earlier and stay out in the map for longer as they can sustain themselves at a much easier rate than before with the use of Bumba’s Mask also increasing that survivability further.

What is considered a ‘meta’ play style of jungling now?

Nothing is really solid at the moment within the game as the new routes through the jungle are being tried and tested. No route has become the distinct best and each jungler should choose a route that fits their style of playing best. An example would be a jungler who likes a quick start to throw off the enemy jungler may clear the orange and blue camps and then progress straight over to the mid and back camps rather than leaching from the solo lane that some other junglers choose to do at the start.

For once nobody can rage at a jungler for not going in the ‘right’ direction as there isn’t really one. Players are now much more free to choose to play into scenarios that they like rather than that of the general meta of the game, a meta which barely exists at the current time due to everyone having their own ways of starting the game.

Towards the middle stages of the game junglers can then begin to play as if there were no changes to the camps, rotating to various lanes and then clearing the odd camp. This would be due to the much quicker clear and built stages of the game as the jungler’s team will now begin to start working around the map too.

In the late stages jungling is effectively non-existent (as per usual) and the once jungler should now be playing toward teamfights, destroying the backline of enemy teams to then win the game and the changes made to the camps should not even be considered in the slightest at this point onward to the end of the game.

What junglers are good with these changes?

With the decreased respawn timers the junglers that have a higher level of mobility compared to other will begin to excel far more than others though the choices of characters are still based on what players prefer and this can still bring around the guardian junglers being used. In my opinion the jungler that benefits most from these changes was Serqet, as this character has a very high level of mobility which allows her to keep ahead of the reduced respawn timers of the camps, not only this but Serqet is a character who benefits from high levels of farm and will easily hypercarry a game once she develops crit and cooldown in her build. These changes allow her to develop herself much quicker and can therefore make her a much more formidable enemy in the early stages of the game compared to the previous relationship between her and clearing the jungle.

Do any junglers fall off with these changes?

I personally feel that junglers with a potent early game presence are likely to fall off most with these changes as enemies are much more likely to be able to keep up in levels of gold and experience compared to the previous state of the game where early game based junglers could push teams ahead to the point of a no return snowball which would easily result in a victory for that team no matter how hard the other team tried to make a comeback.

Overall points of the changes to the jungle role from this patch

- Junglers that require large amounts of farming have become much better.

-Early game junglers have much less impact on the game.

-Mobility will be valued much higher than before.

-Junglers will no longer have the ability to snowball teams.

-Back camps are now the priority camp over the mid camps.

Good luck with future jungling, it’s yours to play as you see fit with no distinct style locking you into playing what you might not be comfortable with! For more guides and insights on Smite and its characters follow me on Twitter here to know when the next article is released.

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