man - I kind of suck at this game lately. Specifically when I go support, my IDGAF powers have been coming on line. But kind of bad in most places. Still able to jungle relatively well I suppose. Anyway, hopefully that will pass soon and I shall return to ass kickery of a sort.
OK - so I played a few games w/ elise jungle to get a feel for her again after the latest buffs. I choose some goofy itemization due to crap going on in game, but some interesting things came up.
1 - her spiderlings have some bugs now (hue). Perhaps its skin related, but I think its new SR map + new jungle creep related. Say you are coming from base and you choose to repel over the wall to gromp camp - when you land, its literally 2-4 seconds before your spiderlings start attacking. I also found that while they are in that state, they are difficult to get to tank for you. I think its something with gromps size + the wall, but it def seems bugged. It's fairly minor and only kind of painful when you do your 2nd gromp clear as you are still alittle bit squishy and are forced to tank a bit of gromp damage. Spiderlings do enable you to run scaling armor runes pretty safely, though, as you generally can have them tank like they used to. Its also QUITE difficult to get your spiderlings to tank (where they tank and you don't take dmg) if drag is in its default starting position. It's best to aa or use a spell in human form, back up to pull drag back a bit, then attack (especially if soloing).
random interjection - aatrox can start dorans blade or even long sword + pots when jungling. Not sure you'd want to do this, mind you, but he can sustain it out easily and have decent health after a clear.
back to elise. So, if the person you are ganking for does not have hard cc, its ideal, though not always possible, to gank in human form and try to land your line cc. IF you manage to land that, odds are you will get a kill with your damage combo. It's easier to hit now wit the missle speed increase, but it still is a skill shot and cocoon isn't a very wide ss... also its a line shot, so you have to have a window where there are no creeps blocking. Anyway, that's the ideal ganking pattern, but difficult because you don't use your gap closer until after you'll dished out some dmg.
The more probable ganking pattern is in spider form and closing gap either via q or her rappel ability - then changing forms and trying to land your cc + additional dmg. The downside here is that you don't have your gap closer post flash or dash, which means the odds of escape are higher.
Anyway, so she has the tool to clear the jungle fairly easily and in good health, but her cc isn't as good or reliable still. She's actually probably reasonably balanced and I can only imagine she'd start being pick up more in her current state if they gave her a bigger power spike. If they changed her cocoon to only hit champs, I think that would make a big enough difference and move her more towards OP but requiring skill still. Don't think that will happen. Anyway, it was fun to play another jungler, but she excels at ganking less mobile targets... in a time when mobility/dashes are still very common.... which often negates her cc. In short, I don't think she has a kit that fits this meta and instead belongs in a different toolbox when diff champs are used.
more jibba jabba soon...
