How hard is it to solo the new dragons?

Weathered·Apr 26, 2016·1 votes·1,211 views

To anyone who can get the chance to hop on the PBE or have already tested this, are the new dragons as easy or harder to solo than the last dragon? Are different types of dragons easier than others?

On live I can usually solo dragon as Kha'Zix soon after level 6 if I'm fed, and with one other person if I'm not fed. Is this still possible or is it necessary to have multiple people to take drag now? With the EXP changes to Talisman I still think it will be possible seeing that junglers will be a higher level than live.

Also, is soloing Rift Herald near impossible now?

5 Comments

MisterHealYoGirlApr 26, 20162 votes

The earth dragon has noticeably higher health and MR, but also has the slowest autoattacks; Air has the highest single-target DPS. Water slows (which doesn't matter if it's just you vs. the dragon), and Fire does AoE damage. Water and fire should be the easiest to solo, since their quirks only matter in larger scenarios. Air and earth depend more on who you are: Pantheon could deal well with the earth dragon (since his passive would so many of its slow autos and he can shred off its extra armor), while high-sustain champions like Udyr would be better suited to taking the Air dragon. We'll see more when we get to live, though.

xBushxApr 26, 20161 votes

Im assuming Lee could solo at 5-6 with his second Red and a Pot and 1/2 jg item. Still get out with about 50% hp.

Elite4RunnerApr 26, 20161 votes

Let me start by saying that I don't know the answer to your question.

However, I would guess that it may be slightly easier. I would bet that Riot wants the dragon buffs to be a commonly contested objective. Two reasons I think this. First, I would bet that they want it to be taken sooner, so then there is more opportunity for multiple different dragons to spawn before the Elder Dragon. The other reason is because it seems as if they are playing with the idea of making the Rift Herald spawn only once. Removing one objective will strongly shift focus onto the other.

As for evidence, the reworked Malzahar seems pretty broken, but he is able to solo dragon at level 3. I can't say that is clear evidence that dragon is weaker, but there are not many champions who can do that with the current dragon.

As for soloing the Rift Herald, .. Probably not impossible, but most likely more difficult. Keep in mind that the goal for the Rift Herald is to bring utility to the top lane. The idea is to have a top lane tank/bruiser absorb the damage while a DPS role attacks the Herald from behind. The new buff would then make the tank even more resistant to damage while alone in the top lane, and give him/her more offensive power.

xBushxApr 26, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Let me start by saying that I don't know the answer to your question.

However, I would guess that it may be slightly easier. I would bet that Riot wants the dragon buffs to be a commonly contested objective. Two reasons I think this. First, I would bet that they want it to be taken sooner, so then there is more opportunity for multiple different dragons to spawn before the Elder Dragon. The other reason is because it seems as if they are playing with the idea of making the Rift Herald spawn only once. Removing one objective will strongly shift focus onto the other.

As for evidence, the reworked Malzahar seems pretty broken, but he is able to solo dragon at level 3. I can't say that is clear evidence that dragon is weaker, but there are not many champions who can do that with the current dragon.

As for soloing the Rift Herald, .. Probably not impossible, but most likely more difficult. Keep in mind that the goal for the Rift Herald is to bring utility to the top lane. The idea is to have a top lane tank/bruiser absorb the damage while a DPS role attacks the Herald from behind. The new buff would then make the tank even more resistant to damage while alone in the top lane, and give him/her more offensive power.

On this note I feel as though the Rift Herald is the single bigest snowball mechanic ever put in the game. If this "One Time" buff thing goes through this will make the game unbearable to the Top Laner without. And cause an EVEN Bigger snowball in Top than what currently occurs.

Elite4RunnerApr 26, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=x Bush x,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=00ETFsZ0,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2016-04-26T14:31:56.261+0000)

On this note I feel as though the Rift Herald is the single bigest snowball mechanic ever put in the game. If this "One Time" buff thing goes through this will make the game unbearable to the Top Laner without. And cause an EVEN Bigger snowball in Top than what currently occurs.

I completely agree. I think the fact that it persists through death is just stupid. I think it could remain active for 20 minutes, but I feel that it should transfer upon death, same as red and blue.

Someone argued with me about this idea that this would make that player a huge target. .... I absolutely understand that, and I think that should be the case, just like with red and blue. You should want to take this buff from your enemy and claim it for your team. This game SHOULD be about a struggle for power.

My argument to this is if the buff remains through death, this would make that player a huge target because they will have a strong natural power. If I were in a game and my enemy top lane got this buff, and were guaranteed to keep it for the next 20 minutes, they should expect me to camp them and run them into the ground until they are worthless, even with the buff.