Season 16 has significantly sped up the pace of Summoners’ Rift games in
League of Legends thanks to the
new season changes. The jungle too has been affected and players are discovering new strategies optimizing the clear in a way that gives them the unleashed smite in time for the second time scuttle crab spawn.
Unleashed Smite is the summoner spell’s first upgrade—with Primal Smite being the final one—the jungler gets, which deals more damage than the smite the jungler starts with. The first smite upgrade is unlocked when junglers have 20 treats left on the jungle pet. By taking advantage of the bonus treat you get every 60 seconds, you can get the unleashed smite just in time before the second time the scuttle spawn in the river. By doing so, junglers get a slight tempo advantage on the enemy jungler in case a fight starts after the second scuttle crab.
As pointed out by caster Adrian "
Jamada" Wharlton-Thorne on his
YouTube channel, veteran jungler Robert "
Blaber" Huang used this mechanic in a match between Cloud9 and Team Liquid ahead of the second scuttle crab. Unfortunately for him, in this one case, Cloud9 lost the scuttle fight. However the prep and idea of the strategy were perfect.
How To Get Early Unleashed Smite
The difficulty of using this mechanic lies in reaching this timing consistently, which requires a lot of pathing decisions to be made by both junglers, especially around the first scuttle crabs spawn on the map. If both junglers mirror each other and take opposite-side scuttles on the first spawn, this treat optimization strategy becomes impossible, as the second scuttle will spawn at around 5:30, leaving no time to get the passive treat and contest it.
We've tested this strategy with Your Saviors jungler's, RegnLoL, currently playing in the Norwegian Good Game-ligaen.
In games where jungler want to execute this strategy, they should first look to finish one full jungle clear and then do an almost full second clear. Leaving the last camp up and recalling first for an item lead gives the jungler enough time to go back to the camp and clear it right around the 5:30min mark. This gives junglers time to then head to the scuttle crab with the unleashed smite.
Getting the unlashed smite at this time is impactful because it provides an additional 400 damage to the summoner's spell. Also, the player will have an item advantage from the recall before clearing the last camp, which can be a decisive difference in case the enemy team wants to contest the scuttle crab.
Hit Level 6 Quicker
The second scuttle crab is also crucial for junglers because it gives junglers enough experience to hit level 6 before their opponents. This entire strategy creates a significant early game advantage which junglers can then use to snowball the rest of the game.
So far the 2026 Season has highlighted the value of early jungle optimization, with more precise timing now playing a major role in early advantages. Getting unleashed smite early is a reward from strong pathing, tempo, and game knowledge. As the season progresses, optimization like this will continue to shape how junglers approach the early game.
