'League of Legends' Patch Removes Gold-Funneling Penalty on Jungle Items

League of Legends’ penalty placed on jungle items to prevent players from funneling gold into [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

League of Legends' penalty placed on jungle items to prevent players from funneling gold into junglers has been removed with the release of Patch 8.23.

Detailed within the patch notes for the game's latest update, the one that kicked off the series of preseason changes, Riot Games included a note that said the Monster Hunter gold penalty was no more. The penalty previously applied to the starting jungle items as well as Stalker's Blades and Skirmisher's Sabres that had not yet been upgraded.

"Owning Hunter's Machete, Hunter's Talisman, or an un-upgraded Stalker's Blade or Skirmisher's Sabre no longer reduces gold granted by lane minions if you have the highest minion kill score on your team," Riot Games' patch notes said.

Riot Games first added the penalty months ago when gold-funneling strategies were gaining popularity, a tactic where teams would let junglers or champions with high carry potential farm both the jungle and minions with the middle laner most commonly being the one to sacrifice their farm. The penalty reduced the gold players got from lane minions so that they couldn't have all the gold funneled into them, but Riot Games said other changes made in the preseason make it so that the penalty is no longer necessary.

"Other preseason changes increase the risks (farm bounties) and tradeoffs (turret plating) of the gold funneling strategy that originally caused us to introduce the Monster Hunter penalty, so we don't need it anymore," Riot Games said.

The "bounties" referenced in the explanation existed previously depending on how many champions players killed without dying themselves, but the released of the patch made it so that minions now also apply a bounty as they're farmed.

"If, since their last death, a champion has earned 250 more gold from minions and monsters than the enemy team's average during that time, their bounty increases by 50 gold, plus another 50 gold for each additional 150 gold their advantage grows by thereafter," the patch notes explained.

This means that a team that funnels gold into a jungler run the risk of racking up a sizeable bounty that can be claimed by enemies once the gold-funneled champion is eventually killed. The other part of the reasoning behind removing the gold penalty dealt with the new plating on turrets that gives players a way to peck away at outer turrets and earn gold as they pick them apart.

League of Legends' Patch 8.23 is now live with the gold-funneling penalty no longer in place.

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