Understanding League of Legends Smite changes and their strategic impact on jungler gameplay in Patch 13.15
The Controversial Smite Adjustment
League’s development team continues to implement significant balance modifications in Patch 13.15, with the Smite summoner spell receiving particularly contentious adjustments that have sparked intense community debate.
Professional junglers and casual players alike are expressing confusion about the latest Smite modifications, questioning whether these changes introduce meaningful gameplay improvements or create unnecessary complications.
Riot’s enduring MOBA League of Legends maintains its competitive edge through continuous evolution. Each patch introduces systemic adjustments, character balancing, cosmetic enhancements, and fresh content to keep the aging title vibrant. These regular updates fine-tune game mechanics and champion capabilities, preserving stability while ensuring ongoing player engagement.
Understanding the Technical Changes
The current update cycle introduces particularly divisive alterations to League’s fundamental systems. Developers are modifying the Smite summoner ability, a tool that has defined jungle role functionality since the game’s inception. This spell enables players to inflict substantial true damage against neutral monsters or companion units, providing crucial secure potential for major objectives including Baron Nashor and Dragon.
Patch 13.15 implements dramatic changes as the design team seeks to enhance the combat effectiveness of champion-generated companions. Smite’s offensive capability against these pets undergoes severe reduction, now inflicting merely 20 to 160 true damage. This modification eliminates players’ capacity to instantly eliminate opposing pets through Smite usage, thereby increasing their battlefield persistence. This adjustment has generated substantial community skepticism, with numerous participants questioning its underlying purpose and implementation.
Many competitive players express confusion about why the development team didn’t completely remove pet targeting functionality, given the negligible damage output now associated with such actions.
Player Concerns and Alternative Solutions
“While I comprehend the reasoning behind reducing damage against companion units, this implementation appears simultaneously excessive and insufficient. If the objective involves preventing players from targeting pets with Smite, why not simply render them immune to the spell entirely?” one detailed Reddit analysis posits.
The commentator further explains how this modification could negatively affect certain players, who might unintentionally activate Smite on champion companions and essentially waste the cooldown.
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“Under the current adjustment, the primary outcome involves creating situations where players can misclick on the massive pet adjacent to an enemy champion. Inflicting approximately 100 damage against companions possessing 2000-3000 health points represents such minimal impact that it essentially constitutes resource mismanagement – so why provide this failure opportunity?”
Advanced Jungling Strategies Post-Update
Conversely, certain community members express apprehension about the substantial power elevation this provides to specific champion types.
“Has Riot employed an Ivern specialist on their balance team? Are they intentionally designing him to become overpowered?” another player exclaimed regarding the implications.
These modifications remain confined to the Public Beta Environment currently, indicating they might not progress to official servers, yet participants express significant concern about Riot’s design direction.
From a strategic perspective, junglers must now completely reconsider their approach when facing pet-heavy compositions. The negligible damage makes Smite usage on pets essentially wasted, requiring players to develop new targeting discipline. Champions like Yorick, Ivern, and Annie become significantly more potent in jungle skirmishes where their companions can operate with reduced counterplay.
Advanced players should note that while Smite becomes ineffective against pets, its objective-securing capability remains unchanged. This creates a strategic dichotomy where proper Smite usage becomes even more critical for securing Baron and Dragon, while its value in champion combat diminishes substantially against certain compositions.
Adapting Your Gameplay Approach
Successful adaptation to these changes requires both mechanical adjustment and strategic reevaluation. Begin by practicing precise cursor placement during intense teamfights to avoid accidental pet targeting. Consider adjusting your keybindings or sensitivity settings if you frequently misclick during high-pressure situations.
When facing champions with persistent pets, prioritize saving Smite exclusively for major objectives rather than using it for minor combat advantages. The 20-160 damage range represents less than 10% of most pets’ health pools, making it inefficient for elimination purposes.
Monitor your positioning relative to enemy pets during contested objective fights. Maintaining proper spacing reduces the likelihood of misclicks while ensuring your Smite remains available for securing Dragon, Herald, or Baron Nashor at critical health thresholds.
For players specializing in pet-based champions, this change represents a substantial power increase. Capitalize on the reduced counterplay by positioning your companions more aggressively during skirmishes, knowing they can no longer be instantly removed by opposing junglers’ Smite.
No reproduction without permission：SeeYouSoon Game Club » LoL players question Smite pet change: “Why give the option to fail?” Understanding League of Legends Smite changes and their strategic impact on jungler gameplay in Patch 13.15