Rift Pacing and Jungle Updates Coming in Patch 7.3

In Patch 7.3, we’re taking a look at the overall temp of the game and making some adjustments to the jungle. 

Creating more consistent Rift pacing

We noticed over the past few patches that some games currently enter a long mid-game stall before ending suddenly around a powerful late-game objective. The goal of our changes to this patch is to create a healthier tempo curve, where advantages grow progressively through towers, wave control, and objectives while defenders retain clear opportunities to respond.

Minion waves are central to that effort because they connect successful fights and objective control to actual tower pressure. 

So, in this update, super minions will gain movement speed, defenses, and attack damage as more inhibitors are destroyed, while siege minions will reach their full structure damage earlier.

Minions will also play a more meaningful role in combat. You will need to respect wave size and positioning, and if you’re on the attack, you can now use stacked waves to create space and your foes on the opposite end of your attack have more reason to clear them instead of allowing them to build indefinitely. Destroying towers, breaking inhibitors, building a level lead, and securing Baron will help create stronger wave pressure, but these advantages will not act as automatic win conditions. You and your team will still need to manage, escort, and push with your waves to close out the game.

Stronger tools for closing games

We also want to make winning fights, taking towers, controlling Dragons, securing Baron, and managing waves feel like one connected path toward victory, while preserving meaningful defensive and comeback play. Which is why we’re making some adjustments to those tools. 

Baron will now provide a clearer siege window, as empowered minions will be able to reach towers more reliably. However, Baron will not decide the game automatically: defenders can still contest vision, prevent the objective from being taken, clear unescorted waves, and punish poor siege positioning.

Dragon control will also provide more forward momentum before Elder Dragon appears. The intention is for early and mid-game investment to matter more, with power earned through repeated contests rather than a single sudden objective spike.

Making Jungle progression more stable

We also wanted to take a look at the jungle this patch. We know that it currently has significant influence but a low pick rate. Which is understandable. Junglers are expected to manage the map, support lanes, and secure major objectives, while uneven clear speeds, vulnerable camps, inconsistent income, and the pressure of a single missed Smite can make the role feel stressful.

To try and elevate some of the pains in the role, we’ll first be reworking Smite with a persistent burning True Damage effect that scales with the jungler’s attributes. We hope with this adjustment, that it will create more reliable objective control and reduce the feeling that one Smite contest can decide an entire game. Additionally, epic monsters will have increased resistances, making them more meaningful focal points for team fights. This will make vision, positioning, and coordinated setup around objectives matter more, while also making burst-combo objective steals more difficult.

The new burn mechanic on Smite will scale with both offensive and defensive stats, helping create more viable progression paths for fighters, mages, and tanks. We’re also working to equalize clear efficiency, improve baseline Jungle income, increase the cost for laners taking camps, and make it less punishing for junglers to cover a teammate’s lane.

Jungle will remain an influential role, but its impact should feel less concentrated in a few high-pressure moments. Junglers will still need to plan routes, time ganks, and control objectives, while having more stable progression and broader champion choices.

Watch the full gameplay breakdown

For more details on Rift pacing, minion changes, Baron and Dragon progression, Smite, and Jungle updates, watch John, Neo, and Will discuss them in our second Patch Preview.