League of Legends champions like Kai’Sa and Braum could be next on Riot’s list to add to the jungle in Season 11, after the patch 11.8 changes to Darius, Diana, Morgana and more proved to be a success.
Riot has been trying to freshen up League’s jungle with a new selection of champions to choose from. They pushed harder than ever before in patch 11.8, buffing five champions into the jungle: Darius, Diana, Mordekaiser, Morgana, and Zed.
That may not be the end of the experiment though. Riot wants to open up the jungle to more players “especially in lower MMRs.”
“We saw an opportunity to ease in players to the jungle with champions they’re already familiar with playing,” developer Jeevun ‘Jag’ Sidhu said in an April 16 blog post.
“By doing this, an unfamiliar jungle player can just focus on learning the specifics of the role, without also having to learn a new champion at the same time.”
Kai’Sa, Braum potential LoL jungle candidates
While systemic changes are on the cards, more champions could be shifted into the jungle. Two earmarked are Kai’Sa and Braum, although Riot are hesitant on a couple of fronts.
Regarding Kai’Sa, she was once able to jungle, but opening her up to the role could be detrimental given her power as an AD carry right now.
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“Her pro presence is high enough that adding flex potential would always be dangerous; in her case it would probably be disastrous, as most of her draft responses are oriented around her lane being vulnerable,” Sidhu added on Reddit.
Braum changes were also floated by players. Increasing his passive damage to monsters and removing its cooldown could see the support pushed into the jungle, and the idea got developers intrigued.
Riot careful to not buff “problematic” junglers Sylas, Camille
However, Riot are wary of buffing some “problematic” picks who once dominated the jungle. Sylas and Camille, two junglers that terrorized Season 8, were singled out.
“If we nerfed a champion out of the jungle it was probably on purpose. Maybe they were overly dominant in pro, or maybe they had an unhealthy pattern when in the jungle.
“Unless things have drastically changed — like updates to the kits/items/runes that were problematic — these picks are not likely to come back,” Sidhu admitted.
Currently, no new jungle changes are in testing on League patch 11.9, which is due for release on April 28.
