Big changes coming to the jungle for League’s 2021 MSI patch

League of Legends patch 11.9 is close to hitting the Public Beta Environment (PBE) and players have now gotten the first look at the expected changes. 

Patch 11.9 will be special because it will be the official 2021 Mid-Season Invitational patch, where the best teams from around the world will compete in the first international tournament of the year. To make the tournament as good as possible, Riot has put focus on creating diversity for the professional meta while still having solo queue outliers in mind. 

In the patch preview presented by gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter, the primary focus is on toning down Hecarim, Morgana, and Diana, while trying to bring back Kindred, Kayne, and Trundle to the meta. 

Jungle meta might completely change for MSI 2021

Hecarim is likely the champion that will run with most of the spotlight this patch, as he has been dominating the professional and solo queue scene during the past patches. For patch 11.9, Hecarim is nerfed directly by lowering his damage, healing, and stats across the board.

If that wasn’t enough, Hecarim will also receive indirect nerfs as two of his primary items will get toned down. Most notably is Turbo Chemtank which will take another hit as the absolute go-to item for Hecarim. Turbo Chemtank will get a 20% nerf on its active movement speed. Besides that, Riot will be nerfing the health on Deadman’s Plate, which is also one of Hecarim’s favorite items. 

With Hecarim taking an expected shift out of the meta, Riot is also looking to tone down a few champions that were buffed heavily for the jungle in patch 11.8. These are Morgana and Diana, who Riot clearly regrets giving this much power. Morgana will see deal less damage to monsters with her Tormented Shadow (W), which has allowed her to clear the jungle at record speeds over past weeks.  

To make sure that the jungle meta is shaken up for the upcoming MSI tournament, Riot will be buffing Kindred, Kayn, and Trundle to potentially take some priority in the jungle. The most likely to make a return might be Kindred, as carry junglers are still expected to make an impact going forward. Riot will be buffing the cooldown and damage on Kindred’s primary ability Dance of Arrows (Q). With these buffs, the jungle marksman might be back on Summoner’s Rift when the best junglers in the world hit the stage for the Mid-Season Invitational.

It’s still too early to tell if these buffs will be enough to change the jungle meta completely, but there is no doubt that Riot is trying. There will still be strong jungle picks like Udyr and Volibear who won’t be touched in the upcoming patch, either of whom could still top the priority list. 

The changes for patch 11.9 will be live on PBE very soon for testing.  

When is LoL patch 11.9 going live? 

After being tested on the PBE for a few weeks, patch 11.9 is expected to hit the live servers on April 28 according to the official patch schedule. MSI will start about a week later, with the first day of games being played on May 6. 

Check out our bet365 review if you are interested in betting on Esports now that the MSI is closing in.