One of the biggest points of contention in the Smite community is the jungle. Like the new Kanye West record, some people like it, most people HATE it. Also like the new Kanye record, it’s because they’re thirsty for a time that has already passed. By itself it doesn’t sound so bad. The jungle. Pretty innocuous at first, right? Nothing more than introducing another way to gain XP, an alternative to the arguably boring gameplay that is early laning.

WRONG. (apparently.)

#Haters

Initially, it was just Bumba’s Mask that was fueling the fire. People were saying that the mask was way too powerful, and that it created a really passive game. Having a person in the jungle getting similar xp gains to that of a side laner was TOO MUCH! If you listen to the internet, playing with a jungler forces everyone to stay on their towers because the threat of a jungle gank is too scary. Can’t Handle It Incorporated.

2-1-2 is a very safe metagame that most players are comfortable with, as its been the meta for as long as the game has been around. The keyboard warriors that speak against adding a dedicated jungler to the metagame don’t have much to say beyond “But that’s Smite!” and “Stop trying to make Smite like LoL!”. League of Legends is a tremendously popular game, and while I can understand the sentiment that Smite should stay its own entity, did anyone stop to think that the jungle meta is in both games because its fun?

I have a feeling that a lot of the issues people are having with the new meta is just frustration. People haven’t adapted yet and are tired of being jumped by Loki’s (to be fair, I’m totally sick of being jumped by Loki’s but I’ll admit that’s my own bad). I think the best way to de-demonize the jungle is to show how I’ve been dealing with it, and having a lot of fun in the process.

How do I Fun?

Where I’m from, we don’t skip the booze because we might get sick. We drink responsibly, know our limits, and have a good time. I”m no pro, but from what I’ve seen the same rules transfer pretty nicely when talking about playing the lane.

Be responsible: Know what your opponents are doing, and be able to do things to your opponent. Look at your minipmap, you should generally be able to see 4 gods at all times (assuming there’s a jungler at all). If you see your matchup leave the lane, tell your team. That’s your responsibility. Expect the same from everyone else. If you see a lane with an opportunity (less players, low HP, too far ahead in the lane) it might be your responsibility to take advantage and kill someone. As a support, it might be your responsilibity to buy wards. Everyone’s gotta take care of their own stuff.

Know your Limits: Know how far out into the lane you can afford to push. If all people are accounted for, you can afford to push a little bit. Once someone from a lane leaves in your direction, or the jungler is just unaccounted for, you might want to fall back. Of course if you have escapes or something, this becomes more of a relaxed thing. Different gods have different abilities to run away (and charge!). Responding to surprise attacks also differs from god to god. Know the limitations of all the gods in your current game, and be aware of people looming the corner.

Have a Good Time: Remember that you can still push! After all’s said and done, all of this is just to make sure you can push without getting owned, right? So do it! Even something as small as knowing what side of the jungle the jungler is on is enough information to stage a push. Make sure you stay vocal with your team and shout out incs and MIAs. that’s the stuff that wins games.

The Future

While the jungle game might not be 100% perfect at the moment, it’s a step in the right direction for sure. Smite is a high-octane, action oriented game, and the fact that there’s a free safety at any point in time waiting to wreck you behind each corner adds a certain level of edge-0f-your-seatitutde that was missing previously. In a perfect world I’d love to see a Smite meta where different teams can have different comps depending on their own skillset. It’d be cool to see SK roll out with 2 junglers, curse with one, and someone else sporting the 2-1-2 strat. Building a game with intricate strategy like this doesn’t happen over night, though, which is why it’s one step at a time.

HiRez did a lot of work on the 2-1-2 game until they considered it somewhat stable, and then tossed in a jungle item to force a second layer of strategy on us. With teleports to wards this seems like phase 2 of that second layer. What could they add to give us more stuff to deal with? I’d be interested in the future at a split item with the mask, or something that forces more and more change and variability in the game. I love that NFL and NBA teams can have multiple approaches to the same game, and sometimes the meta of the sport AS WELL as the meta of the other team influences how your game draws out. Lets see more of this, instead of begging HiRez to keep their game stale. Smite is exciting as hell, lets keep it that way.