The jungle pets mechanic added to League of Legends during the 2023 Preseason have been described as “broken” by junglers, and many players are calling for them to be changed or removed.
Jungle pets were added during preseason in order to shake up the meta, and streamline several of the complex mechanics that junglers needed to master. They were part of Riot Games’ plan to make jungling more beginner friendly, as the mechanic required no input from players other than to farm.
However, recent feedback from players has revealed that the jungle pets can lead to enemy players being able to predict your movement if they lose vision of you.
What is the problem with LoL’s jungle pets?
Jungle pets follow players around throughout the game and have a physical model to aid the junglers in clearing camps. The issue is, this model lags behind the player slightly, which means they can be followed by opponents to find the other jungler.
One player noted: “there are multiple other champions that have their fundamental mechanics broken by jungle pets and pet bugs: Shaco, Neeko, etc.
“I like jungle pets and I’ve heard the arguments for keeping them. Inherently, I don’t think they’re a bad idea, and in a perfect world I would love for them to stay without the glitches and issues.
“But realistically Riot Games is not going to fix these problems, and ultimately jungle pets are not even remotely important enough to be worth all the issues that come with them.
“Everything else can stay the same, but the physical models are not worth keeping around.”
Another player noted that Rek’Sai’s tremor sense passive also applies to pets, meaning that the pet tells Rek’Sai exactly which player they’re hunting down.
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“I love them as a Rek’Sai main as they have their own tremor. I know if it’s the jungler I’m stalking.”
This mechanic also works with Lulu’s pix and Kindred’s wolf models, as well as Yorick’s ghouls.
Another player suggested that this problem could be solved by removing the pets’ physical models for all players in the game except for the people using it.
“You could just make them only visible to the owner and it wouldn’t be a problem. There’s no need for anyone else to see them.
“You probably wouldn’t even need to restrict it to the owner. Make them visible to the friendly team and you’re fine. It’s the interactions between jungle pets and the enemy team that create all the issues.”
However, it was noted that this would create clarity issues for the Scorchclaw, or “red” pet, because it leaps at enemy players to deal bonus damage.
Riot has previously said that they are committed to keeping the jungle balanced after they removed and then re-added the Chemtech Drake, after it’s original stealth change led to unhealthy player interactions.
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