Treatz and Bwipo – How is their roleswap going so far?

After week one in the LEC as junglers, how do Bwipo and Treatz stacked up to their competition?

The biggest news of the offseason did not revolve around any external roster changes, but rather internal roleswaps. Gabriel “Bwipo” Rau and Erik “Treatz” Wessen have been under the microscope ever since their move to the jungle. Though not conclusive on their performances, the first week of the LEC was insightful as to how these two are adjusting to their new role.

Bwipo – a familiar aggressive play, and familiar mistakes

Despite the 1-2 finish on Fnatic’s record, Bwipo had a fairly impressive showing in his new role. Bwipo largely maintained his rather aggressive identity that he forged for himself in the toplane. After only his three games, Bwipo has ended with the highest kills among junglers (13) and has been an integral part of Fnatic’s successes, making up their highest portion of the team’s kill share (26.5%).

At the same time, Bwipo has one of the lowest KDAs among junglers (2.8) and the most deaths (12). Over aggression and a tendency to take fights in losing situations was Fnatic’s Achilles’ heel in Spring, and was primarily perpetuated by by the team’s top and support duo. It seems as though, at least in the early part of the season, Bwipo has carried his biggest assets along with his major drawback into the jungle.

Bwipo’s first game against Misfits emphasized the double-edged sword. Bwipo managed to have incredible early game impact, showing incredible influence over his laners while also out farming his jungle opponent. At fifteen minutes, Bwipo held a 5/0/0 scoreline and had secured first drake, though this lead quickly fell apart.

Where Bwipo stands to improve – Neutral objectives

Neutral objectives seem to be where Bwipo has the most room to improve. Considering that neutral objective control is unique to the position and where the jungler role differs from the solo lane, an initial struggle to maintain positive control percentages is certainly understandable. Bwipo’s previously stated early game proactivity lends him to excellent early neutral objective control rates, with first dragon (100%) emphasizing this the most.

Seen in game two versus MAD Lions, while Bwipo may have shown an excellent ability to capitalize in the early game, these control rates tend to fall off. Though Fnatic managed to secure the first dragon, MAD Lions took the other three along with two barons. The ability to contest neutral objectives, even when behind, is invaluable in matches. Bwipo may seem far away from his first baron steal, however maintaining his excellent early control percentages into the mid and late game would be a good start.

Treatz – is going from support to jungler easier?

SK Gaming had a poor first week the LEC, dropping into last place as the only 0-3 team. SK’s performance largely doesn’t reflect in their current winless scoreline. SK entered this split with several unfortunate circumstances, firstly having to replace Kristian “Tynx” Ostragaard, onboard head coach Jesse “Jesiz” Le as the starting support, and replacing Ersin “Blue” Goren after a medical emergency.

Treatz had quite the task in front of him, as his success as the new starting jungler being integral to the ‘new’ iteration of SK Gaming. In some aspects, Treatz roleswap was quite a positive. Though with relatively low kills and the lowest KDA among junglers, Treatz tops the leaderboard in DPM (535) and damage percentage (26.8%).

Treatz lacks in a very similar area to Bwipo, neutral objective control. Unlike Bwipo, SK Gaming has largely failed to secure these objectives in the early or late game. SK, at best, have found middling results. In dragon control (43%), baron control (20%), and herald (50%) all leave room to improve.

What we’ve learned

One big takeaway from this week was that playstyle from one’s old position is far more important than the position itself. Bwipo’s aggressive playstyle which transitioned over to the new role with him provided some level of familiarity to the jungle. This resulted in a massive upside for Fnatic, even if the drawbacks followed. Though support typically has more macro play, a proactive toplaner can ultimately be more effective when roleswapping.

Ultimately, while early lane influence and overall team fight or skirmish presence was easily picked up by both Treatz and Bwipo, both had varying degrees of success at securing neutral objectives. Undoubtedly, pathing and securing priority at the two major neutral objective pits is the hardest aspect of the position to learn. With many weeks to go, both junglers have plenty to build upon but both have shown some level of aptitude for the role.

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Image Credits: Riot Games (Michal Konkel)