League of Legends Is Testing a New All-in-one Jungle Item

A huge jungle change has been spotted on the League of Legends PBE in the form of a new item called Pathfinder's Knife, an item that combines elements of current jungle items into one.

What's even more notable is that this is apparently the only jungle item beyond the two starting options that's available at the moment. This means that Skirmisher's Sabre, Tracker's Knife, and Stalker's Blade are gone, though some of their effects are reflected in Pathfinder's Knife.

The knife was first noticed in Surrender@20's PBE update with other players quickly picking up on the change. An image of the new item with a lengthy tooltip shows that it contains the warding element of Tracker's Knife as well as the Chilling Smite from Stalker's Blade, though it appears that the Challenging Smite (Red Smite) is no longer an option at all.

Pathfinder's Knife is the first and only item that the Hunter's Machete and Hunter's Talisman can now be built into on the PBE, an item that gives players a Control Ward to help protect their jungle and scout out enemy junglers to counterjungle and prevent ganks. The ward charge refills upon returning to the base or killing large monsters, so while there won't be quite as many wards out like Tracker's Knife provided, junglers will still have a continuous source of vision while still getting to choose an appropriate trinket.

On Twitter, Riot Games' Rick "Ricklessabandon" Maher confirmed that the removal (or rework, whatever term fits) of the other jungle items that players currently have access is intended while adding that the current changes are "explorations" at the moment.

yeah, intended — @LoLSotere is doing explorations

— rick maher (@ricklessabandon) February 6, 2018

Also worth noting is the fact that Pathfinder's Knife includes a revealing effect when Smite is used on enemies, meaning that popular stealth-based champions like Evelynn, Rengar, and Kha'Zix won't be able to dip out of sight as easily after being spotted. It also contains changes to the mana regeneration rate, something that applies to Hunter's Talisman as well and looks to be the result of recent discussions centered around junglers and mana buffs.

The new item just hit the PBE which is still quite early in its cycle, so look for more changes and context updates on the item in the coming weeks.