League of Legends Patch 10.4 is currently live on the PBE servers, and there are a significant amount of changes to champions, runes and items. Two buffs in particular stand out as being interesting changes that could open up some new avenues. Garen and Darius are receiving buffs that could potentially make them viable picks in the jungle.
Initial Problems
Garen and Darius have both been fairly mediocre picks in the jungle for several reasons. They both suffer from a tremendously low jungle camp clear speed. Due to this, they tend to fall behind in levels when compared to traditional junglers that can clear more efficiently. Darius has no abilities that help him sustain his health while fighting jungle camps. This leads to a dangerously low health bar that makes him an easy target for invades. Garen has weak ganks due to a lack of hard crowd control, and this issue isn’t being addressed with the new changes. Garen and Darius are potentially becoming junglers with buffs that address some of these issues.
The New Buffs
Darius is receiving two buffs that will make it much less difficult for him to clear jungle camps efficiently. His passive, Hemorrhage, will deal 120 percent damage to monsters. Since his passive is one of the strongest aspects of his kit in terms of damage, this will help his clear speed significantly. His Q, Decimate, will now heal on hits against large monsters. Having this sustain will allow Darius to finish his clears healthier and be better suited to perform ganks. An issue with this buff could arise when this heal is considered for top lane Darius. He will have the ability to walk down to scuttle or other jungle camps and Decimate to heal for free.
Garen is receiving three buffs that will significantly improve his viability in both top lane and the jungle. His Q, Decisive Strike, is receiving a buff to the damage scaling which will help him power spike harder when finishing items. His W, Courage is receiving buffs to the scaling of the shield, as well as a 10 percent increase to bonus armor and magic resist at maximum stacks. Garen’s E, Judgment, will now deal 150 percent damage to all monsters. This will significantly increase his clear speed and allow him to pressure the map faster. Garen already has built-in sustain, but his ability to gank is still lacking in comparison to some of the top jungle champions.
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