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5.22 Draven Nerf

Snuff Said··8 votes·981 views

For those needing a reminder of the changes to Draven: _> > Draven > > Attack frame increased, but missile speed lower. > > Though a bit odd on paper, these changes together give Draven greater control of the trajectory and positioning necessary to his flashy style of looking good while laying down axes. > > General > ATTACK FRAME 0.32 ⇒ 0.23 > BASIC ATTACK MISSILE SPEED 1700 ⇒ 1600

These changes were seemingly implemented to try and make it easier for players unfamiliar with the mechanics to play a inherently difficult champion. However, these changes have made the champion unplayable in both laning and teamfight scenarios.

The reason for this is the shorter attack frame no longer allows minute changes to be made which will completely alter where Draven's spinning axe lands. This absolutely essential for making reactions based on how the enemy plays. At the same time, the slower missile speed, while making it "easier" to catch axes, has made it so easy for enemies to stun Draven that a toddler could do it.

Initially I suspected that the decreased missile attack speed may make it easier to balance 2-3 spinning axes in teamfights. However, this isn't feasible due again to just how easy he is to stun now, as well as mana consumption necessitating frequently backing.

There's been no statistical evidence to show that Draven's pick rate or win rate has changed in any meaningful way. I have seen if anything a decrease. At the moment I no longer see Draven being a feasible pick, and this is from someone who's played in excess of 1300 games and reached Plat 4 playing exclusively Draven, often with a winrate of ~60%.

If the changes made in 5.22 aren't going to have any meaningful impact for most players, then I think it's fair to ask that the champion changes are reversed so that those who can take advantage of his skillset are no longer punished. Thanks.

7 Comments

Transgressor3 votes

As a player on the opposite side of the spectrum:

You're having a hard time hitting me for 1850 alpha damage with a Q crit? Boe hoe.

Declined1 votes

1470 before defenses and penetration mind you. Used to anyway....

Declined1 votes

Greetings fellow Draven player

By itself I don't feel these Draven changes were inherently bad. Faster attack animation makes up for one of his biggest problems in the pre-preseason, namely his ridiculously slow animation, which meant that getting exhausted before level 6 was equivalent to prenerf Nasus' Wither.

Now if you're getting caught because of it, I suggest you consider dropping axes instead, or place the drop point appropriately. He just doesn't hit as hard, so you have to play harder (take more risks) to achieve the same, with the mana changes you'll burn your W more often to compensate.

My problem with Draven this preseason is mostly the item changes. Draven is one of the few champions with no AP scaling, yet incredible AD scaling, and only mediocre usefulness off AS (W) but across the board AD items have been nerfed and AS items buffed. Crit is now a larger factor but tied with the AS items and overall AD nerf, it turns into a net nerf for Draven.

Draven BASE ATTACK DAMAGE 50.38 ⇒ 55.8 ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH STAT 3.5 ⇒ 2.91

In regards to scaling, Draven is an early game monster and lane bully, who relies on his snowball passive to outscale his opponents. Or rather he used to be, the 5.42 increased starting AD but overall decreased starting AD (mastery changes) and decreased AD per level means he's losing his early game advantage required for his passive, the changes to penetration and items overall means he can't snowball as hard to compensate and therefore almost every other adc outscale him between level 6-13.

Draven BASE MANA 310.56 ⇒ 360.56 MANA GROWTH STAT 42 ⇒ 39 (No regen changes)

Mana is also a problem, and even as a superb juggler the cost on W is just too high, when used in sucession he risk running out immediately. (Making plays) If I drop one axe the added mana is now spent. I would increase his base mana regen now that there are no more blue pots, and I have to make bigger flashier plays to achieve the same level of performance that I did last season. It would also be nice if some of the mana cost was refunded when you have 2 axes spinning and catch an additional axe or activate Q again.

I would argue that Draven is in a far worse position now and the decreased animation and missile speed is only a fraction of the problems he's facing.

From one Draven main to another. (Minimum 2k games as Draven, stopped counting last summer)

MrWasjig1 votes

Wait, you're expecting Riot to revert a change? Yeah and maybe I'll eat an entire mahogany dining table and shit out a whole tree.

As much as it would be nice to see worthless changes reverted (like say, the majority of the preseason) it's simply not going to happen.

MrWasjig1 votes

Who the hell downvoted me? You know i'm right. When was the last time Riot reverted a change related to champions?

Silents4291 votes

Well I mean, there needs to be some larger risk for him (assuming you hold any merit saying he is more vulnerable catching axes) if he is going to typically destroy health bars with 1 auto attack come mid/late game.

I doubt these changes will do much of anything, but Draven needs some added risk if he is going to be able to essentially win every duel bot lane.

Nunya Bezwacks1 votes

Im fine with it since he still can crit for 2500 damage.

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