- Draven Axe Landing Bug When Right-On Enemy Targets [Gameplay] -

Hey Guys,

Finally reporting a bug after a long time of not using forums or playing LoL (Pre-S1, Different/Lost Account, just got back into things), it's good to be back. This bug relates to Draven and how the game engine perceives or predicts the Axe Landing zone when right-up next to an enemy minion or even enemy character. Let me be clear, this isn't about how Axes Land onto an enemy minion or a targetable object, as that can be solved by running across the path or Target Champions Only Hotkey in conjunction with Normal Move Click. I will cover in-depth the main issue/isolation, additional info or caveats, implications, and the expected behavior in this post. TLDR at bottom.

Since 5.18 or so, I noticed something very odd with Draven, as now he has been my exclusive main character. Any long-term Draven player will know exactly where Axes will land without even thinking about it, let alone looking. However, after a lot of Custom Game testing, I have found out the issue:

_// If Draven is standing next to an enemy minion or enemy character (Right on-top to less than one Teemo-size) and completes the fastest half AA animation w/ Hit-Confirm onto that said target, and then immediately moves backwards for example (as per usual micro movement), the Axe Prediction zone will remain right on the target instead of landing farther backwards/side-to-side/forward as any player would normally expect. _ Key Points:

1. This bug isn't due to pathing/direction as I might of thought. If you're by yourself with that one enemy minion and repeat the quickest AA possible with Hit-Confirm and move backwards or side-to-side, etc, that doesn't allow your character to be automatically path around any objects, the said bug will still repeat.
2. Even with Phantom Dancer (which doesn't path perfectly) or Draven's temporary unblockable movement, W, the issue is still repeatable. The possibility of bad pathing, atleast visually, doesn't seem to be an issue. It could make sense if it was forcing you a different direction and thus threw off the prediction landing zone, but don't think this is the issue.
3. AA frame Speed and the very small 'Window of time to move in a direction', because the enemy minion is so close to you (so Axe will land at a predicted spot) is not a factor as previously thought. With Attack-Move Click + Movement super quick, right after each other, at the fastest discernible time possible, completing only the necessary AA frames to get a hit but not have to sit through full AA cycle, issue still remains. Far minion vs. Close minion, you definitely have more time to move backwards before the axe predicts the landing zone, but this issue never was notable before 5.18~ or so. I tried as fast as I can to see if axe landing zone will grab the movement/direction prediction, nope.
4. Same setup as before, 120FPS, 60hz Monitor (1ms GTG/11ms Total, Low), 1000hz G502 Mouse 500dpi-50 In-Game, 67 Ping (West Coast)/Low Net Jitter, etc. Issue isn't on my end or some change in setup. Issue has been replicated on my friends computer that I built recently. Same deal.

This has quite a lot of fatal implications. Any enemy melee character that goes onto you, say Nocturne Ult, Yi, Irelia, Jarvan, Malph, 20+ more, you would normally pop all relevant skills and hit Nocturne with Axe as you back-up and kite. Now instead, you immediately drop an axe, pretty much killing any kiting potential and W repeating procs. I've actually been dying quite a bit in games due to this issue where-as before you could easily kite them as you juggled 2-3 axes and backed up with relative ease. Now if they land onto you, you're finished because axes literally do NOT move or follow your predictions/movement as they should be doing, then no damage, then no W's, then GG boyz. It's actually a pretty low-key but detrimental to Adc as a role and Draven's ego. No Draven isn't going to sit there and wait for the axe to drop back onto the same spot the enemy melee character is attacking you from, then even if you do, the next axe WILL NOT change, it'll drop in the same spot. Only way is to create fair distance then resume the kiting, which defeats the whole point. I've had quite a few dropped axes during farm lane, as you push up to minions, or one aggro's you, etc) and you instantly Click Move backwards from your position after attacking the close enemy minion right split middle of AA frame (where it registers but not full cycle), and instead you run back, the axe drops onto that minion, and you sit there without an axe, looking confused/dumb, because you swear it should of landed where you are actually at/close by. Now, farming lane isn't the worse because you can mitigate the distance and you aren't right on the enemy minions all the time (otherwise you have issues), but the few times you have to run up to them or whatever situation, the dropped axes as you need to move backwards or where the engine should be placing them is incorrect or not registering them properly. Team-fights are even worse as explained above. **You're relegated to sit there and trade/die or move back with no axes and have no damage impact. **

Expected Behavior: When attacking enemy minions/characters, no matter if close or not, Axe's should pick up on your direction and movement, even if the Window to complete a movement command after the Axe leaves animation is smaller when close-up to an enemy target. I believe that the game-engine somehow doesn't even pick up on this movement command when right near the enemy target and thus causing an improper Axe Landing zone that goes nowhere but onto the said target causing dropped axes. There are few more speculations, but that doesn't matter, **the bug is that Draven, which is super important to the ADC role and to his progressive snowball nature needs to have this bug fixed so that at any distance you throw an axe and follow up with the usual movement command, the Axe's will land appropriately backwards, side-to-side, forward, etc, instead of falling at the exact same spot over and over again. **

**DICE PLISSSS. **

TLDR: _// If Draven is standing next to an enemy minion or enemy character (Right on-top to less than one Teemo-size) and completes the half AA animation w/ Hit-Confirm onto that said target, and then immediately moves backwards for example (as per usual micro movement), the Axe Prediction zone will remain right on the target instead of landing farther backwards/side-to-side/forward as any player would normally expect. _

This is easily repeatable for anyone that has even little experience with Draven and how axes normally will predict one's movement. I can provide videos if necessary, but should be very self-explanatory.