FOTM Report: Ivern Jungle is Overpowered

The newest champion available on the rift started off weird and unusual, but not terribly successful. However, after patch of 6.22, Ivern's direct buff combined with the new Redemption item and jungle changes gifted him with perfect synergy and boosted him to new heights.

Introduction

The newest champion available on the rift started off weird and unusual, but not terribly successful. However, after patch of 6.22, Ivern's direct buff combined with the new Redemption item and jungle changes gifted him with perfect synergy and boosted him to new heights.

How to Play

Runes: 3x Movement Speed Quint, Attack Speed Reds, Scaling Health Yellows, 3x Flat Magic Resist Blues, 6x Scaling Cooldown Blues
Masteries: 0-18-12, Windspeaker Masteries
Abilities: Q, E, W then prioritize R > E > Q > W
Core Items: Ionian Boots, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Athene's Unholy Grail, Redemption, Skirmisher's Sabre - Runic Echoes, Locket of the Iron Solari

Why It Works

Insanely Easy Invade

By utilizing his passive and smiting, Ivern can instantly take out an enemy jungle camp. For some reason junglers at low to mid divisions haven't quite caught on yet, and this is generally a free steal, even without warding up.

Dragon/Baron Control
By utilizing his Brushmaker (W), Ivern can completely obscure vision of both the objective and of his allies attacking the objective. This allows your team to either bait the objective, or make it very difficult for the enemy team to time a steal if it's not warded directly on top of the objective.

Annoying Skillshot Blocking
When it comes to blocking skillshots, Daisy does extremely well as a result of her massive hitbox. People also tend to underestimate how annoying the knock-up is, and end up getting chain CC'ed as a result.

Excellent Rylai's Synergy
Not only does his Rootcaller (Q) proc the Rylai slow, but his AOE shield explosion on Triggerseed (E) and his empowered autos from bushes proc the slow as well. This allows him to lock down champions and be an extreme nuisance.

Not Reliant on Jungle Item
Since Ivern does not actually need to attack the camps to free them, a jungle item is relatively unnecessary on him. As a result, Ivern is free to build more powerful utility items early on and hold off on his jungle item until later (or not at all).

Potential Pitfalls

Low Damage
As a purely utilty-based support, Ivern is relatively reliant on his teammates to do the dirty work when it comes to winning the game and killing enemy threats.

Prone to Counter-Invades
Since Ivern's biggest benefit is his ability to invade for free, intelligent enemy teams may set up for the invade and quickly trap him in for a free first blood.

Conclusions

Ivern is currently very powerful in all divisions. However, he is certainly better the further up in the ladder you go. Although he can't solo carry games, he can certainly empower your teammates to win.

Suggested Rating: Tier 1/God Tier

What do you think about the Ivern Jungle? Comment below!