Bot Lane Taking Level 1 Jungle Again...With SMITE?!

Never trust a yordle.

Introduction

With the introduction of Preseason 5's jungle, many junglers felt uncomfortable starting without a leash. However, now that everyone's getting the hang of things, bot lane is starting to take Gromp (purple side) or Golems (blue side) at level 1 more and more now rather than provide a leash.

As long as the jungler is okay with it and is either a high sustain jungler or starting at red buff, it seems like a decent strategy.

Pros:

• Instant level 2 for ADC, don't need to fight for level advantage in lane early on; and
• Reduces in-lane danger of being cheesed by level up or bush camping.

Cons:

• Can get ganked at the camp once enemy team doesn't see you in lane;
• Reduced health if done improperly; and
• No leash for jungler if they start on the same side as you.

ADC With Smite

Meanwhile, sometimes you even have some AD Carries carrying smite themselves:

In the game above, my teammate rushed the skirmisher's blade enchant, which gives them the following ability:

Challenging Smite: Smite can target enemy champions, marking them for 6 seconds. Marked enemies are revealed (does not reveal stealth) take (15 +3*level) bonus true damage fro you on-hit and deal 20% reduced damage to you.

Pros:

• Purple side lets you start with smiting Gromp, which deals damage to enemies who attack you (good vs harass lanes);
• Decent smite bonus that scales well into late game (20% damage reduction is no joke)

Cons:

• No impact on saving your support (in comparison to heal);
• Weak before you finish your jungle item; 
• Slow to pick up jungle item unless you don't start Doran's Blade; and
• Takes away jungler's farm.

Concluding Thoughts

I think that if you're starting on purple side then taking smite is on your AD carry is a decent strategy, as the jungle item does scale decently into late game and purple side gives you Gromp to start. However, make sure it's okay with your jungler first as most probably won't take kindly to an AD carry stealing their farm.

What do you guys think? Comment below!