win.gg
Win.gg League of Legends How the jungle has changed in the 2021 preseason patch 10.23

How the jungle has changed in the 2021 preseason patch 10.23

Author Icon
William Davis Published 13/11/2020

It wouldn’t be a League of Legends preseason without changes to the jungle. 

With the introduction of the 2021 preseason in patch 10.23, the jungle has seen some changes for both the monsters and items. The primary changes have been made to the jungle items, as Riot has aimed to remove the mandatory jungle items while still keeping different Smites in the game. 

Riot has also introduced some adjustments to all jungle camps, primarily to nerf ranged junglers from kiting the monsters around. This strategy has been very effective throughout the 2020 season and enabled ranged junglers to clear camps without taking that much damage. 

Let’s take a look at how the jungle has changed for the 2021 preseason.  

Jungle items have changed for 2021 preseason

The most notable jungle change for the 2021 preseason is the jungle items. Previously, players could choose from different jungle items that would empower the Smite, while giving necessary stats for clearing the jungle camps. 

This will change in the 2021 season, as Riot has removed those items and made it possible for junglers to build completely normal items like any other role on the map. The only items that remain are Hailblade and Emberknife, which are both possible to purchase from level 1. 

Both items will have the necessary stats to clear the jungle in the early game and will consume itself after the player has used Smite five times. After consumption, the player’s Smite will be turned into either Chilling Smite or Challenging Smite. 

Hailblade is the new item that turns a player’s Smite into the Chilling Smite. This Smite can be cast on champions, which will apply a 20% slow and deal 20-156 true damage. 

The item itself costs 350 gold and provides Omnivamp against monsters, a burn to monsters, mana regen when in the jungle or river, and an experience bonus for each large monster kill. The item is perfect as a jungler’s first purchase in the game. 

Hailblade is the best option for junglers that want a bit of extra utility. The Chilling Smite is great for a bit of damage, but the slow is also very valuable to keep a target in place. 

Emberknife is similar to Hailblade in stats, except that it turns into Challenging Smite instead. The Challenging Smite is great for champions that want to deal a lot of damage. 

When using Challenging Smite on an enemy champion, it is marked for four seconds. In that time, attacks and abilities deal 48-125 bonus true damage over 2.5 seconds and the damage dealer takes 20% reduced damage from the Smites enemy. 

The Smite is therefore ideal for assassin champions such as Rengar and Kha’Zix, as they want to dish out a lot of damage in a short amount of time. 

The changes to the jungle items will likely make it easier for junglers to create alternative build paths, as they don’t rely on getting an expensive jungle item at the start of every game. 

Jungle monsters adjusted on patch LoL patch 10.23

All neutral jungle monsters have also gotten some slight adjustments on patch 10.23 to hopefully make the jungle a more balanced role. Riot has mainly been focusing on increasing the movement speed of all camps, to prevent players from kiting monsters around without taking much damage. 

Furthermore, the armor and magic resist has been adjusted on most camps by removing the armor and magic resist scaling. Many camps have also seen some slight adjustments to health and gold values. 

For some of the bigger changes, Riot has made it so the Rift Scuttler spawns with a 60% max health shield. This shield can be broken if the Scuttler is immobilized. To balance it out, the Scuttler no longer restores health and mana when killed.

The healing from killing Rift Scuttler has instead been added to Gromp, to make it easier for both sides of the jungle to take advantage of this. Gromp now restored both health and mana when killed and doesn’t have increased damage on its first three attacks. The changes have made it way easier and valuable for players to kill Gromp. 

Riot will be monitoring and adjusting the preseason changes until season 11 starts in the beginning of 2021. 

William Davis
About William Davis

View full profile
Read Also
Team Secret Whales stun Top Esports as LCP finally breaks the East’s Bo5 wall Esports Betting
Team Secret Whales stun Top Esports as LCP finally breaks the East’s Bo5 wall Wasif Ahmed In the first massive upset of the tournament, Team Secret Whales beat Top Esports to kick them out of the lower bracket of MSI 2026. This is Asia-Pacific’s first ever Bo5 win against the East since the creation of the leagues in 2013. Now, only Bilibili Gaming is left for the LPL and the power rankings are all mixed up. TSW didn’t just beat TES, they completely outclassed them. Kicking ...
Karmine Corp is the third LEC team to go winless against major regions at MSI Esports Betting
Karmine Corp is the third LEC team to go winless against major regions at MSI Wasif Ahmed With their 0-3 defeat against Team Liquid, Karmine Corp is now the third LEC team to bomb out of the Mid-Season Invitational without taking a single game off of the top four regions. Before them were MAD Lions in 2023 and G2 Esports’ infamous debut run in 2016. NA, on the other hand, has only once gone winless against major regions. Karmine Corp's MSI 2026 run included taking down the ...
G2 Esports reverse sweeps Top Esports at MSI 2026 Esports Betting
G2 Esports reverse sweeps Top Esports at MSI 2026 Wasif Ahmed It starts with success, and Fnatic is now avenged. G2 Esports started the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational by beating Top Esports 3-2. After starting the series 0-2, they managed to pull off the first reverse sweep in main stage MSI history. The 2026 Mid-Season Invitational started with seven back-to-back 3-0 series. G2 finally broke that streak by beating TES in five games. In doing so, they also broke a much longer-standing ...
Why are ranged top laners so common in League of Legends? Esports Betting
Why are ranged top laners so common in League of Legends? Wasif Ahmed In League of Legends Season 2026, top lane has been filled with ranged champions. Outside of the usual few, marksmen and even control mages have found a new home in top. This change in meta is much to the displeasure of players who prefer facing tanks and bruisers. Why did ranged top laners become so frequent and how does one beat them? LoL has always had a few ranged characters ...
Bilibili Gaming beats T1 at MSI 2026 Esports Betting
Bilibili Gaming beats T1 at MSI 2026 Wasif Ahmed Bilibili Gaming faced T1 in round 1 of the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational. In five games, BLG took down the World champion. The LPL first seed now moves on to face LYON in round 2, while T1 goes to the lower bracket. BLG went up against the LCK’s second seed, and the match turned into a brawl, a rare sight for this tournament. That said, even though T1 won two games, ...
BLG vs T1: Best betting odds and picks for MSI 2026 Esports Betting
BLG vs T1: Best betting odds and picks for MSI 2026 Hannan Mundia BLG and T1 are among the favorites to win the 2026 MSI tournament, which is why so many fans are anticipating their match in the bracket stage’s first round. After BLG’s performance at last year’s World Championship, those who haven’t kept up with the team’s performance may not expect much from it. However, with the LPL team’s revamped roster and strategic approach to League of Legends, there’s a good chance ...
G2 Esports vs Top Esports: Best betting odds and picks for MSI 2026 Esports Betting
G2 Esports vs Top Esports: Best betting odds and picks for MSI 2026 Wasif Ahmed After Karmine Corp’s crushing defeat, the hopes of Europe turn to G2 Esports as they face Top Esports. For the LPL, this is their debut match as they seek to defend their current title of best region. The last time, TES won 3-1, while G2 went 3-0 the year before. For this year, here’s our G2 vs TES MSI 2026 prediction. Tournament: Mid-Season Invitational 2026 Stage: Bracket Stage Game: League ...