RNG with Dragon Spawns

To start, I am a huge fan of the changes to Dragon creating new opportunities and making every game different. But, it also seems a bit too random which doesn't help gameplay and strategy so I wanted to suggest possible ways of modifying dragon to make it more along the lines of "player-choice" instead of straight RNG.

Currently, whenever dragon is slain (before 35 minutes), a random dragon elemental type will spawn next. But if you ask any player which of the 4 types they'd prefer to spawn, most likely everyone would say Fire Dragon because the amount of damage it gives is quite high for each time you slay it. So, before we can do anything, Fire Dragon bonus might have to be nerfed to make all 4 dragon types more balanced choice-wise.

Now, I thought of 4 possible ways of making dragon more of a player-choice instead of RNG.

Option 1: When Dragon is slain, 4 buffs pop up in the dragon pit similar to that from Rift Herald and then whichever one is picked up first determines the next dragon elemental type.

This option allows for anyone to decide the dragon type, regardless of team or position. So just because you couldn't get that dragon doesn't mean you have to go away empty-handed.

Option 2: When Dragon is slain, whoever slays dragon (jungler or otherwise) will be given the option of which dragon elemental type is next (similar to Kindred picking her next target). So, whoever slays dragon has the choice.

--> This option can so be changed to "Whoever does the most damage to dragon" instead of "Whoever slays dragon", just so, if dragon gets smite stolen away from your team, you still have a chance to reclaim the buff you wanted in 6 minutes.

Option 3: When Dragon is slain, the opposing jungler / just randomly someone on the other team (if no one on the opposing team has smite) (the team who didn't get dragon) is given the choice of the next dragon type (similar to option 2 (once again, similar to Kindred-marking choice system)

If the other team just got a fire dragon and my team is really behind and cant contest next dragon, we might want them to not get another fire dragon just so we have a chance at winning the next fight.

Option 4: When Dragon is slain, similar to Rift Herald, a buff will appear at Dragon pit. Depending on the role of the person who picks it up determines the next element typing when the concurrent dragon spawns.

With this approach, if you want a specific dragon typing, you'd need for that laner / jungler to be there which encourages more people to go to dragon pit if you wish to have a specific buff given to your team.

The way this could be done is by Position on your team.

Say, ADC roles who grab the buff will spawn the Fire Dragon next time (because adcs are damage dealing carries) Supports make Air Dragon spawn next (because supports roam) Mid roles spawn Water Dragon ( because they usually want blue buff / they want the regen) Top roles spawn Earth Dragon (because top lanes usually focus on pushing, either alone or with their team)

But what about junglers? If junglers take the dragon buff that spawned / if no one takes the buff after 30 seconds, the next dragon elemental type will be random (similar to how it currently works)

I chose this approach so when you sneak a dragon alone as a jungler (like level 3 fiddlesticks or pantheon or something similar), you may have gotten a free dragon but you shouldn't get a say in what dragon spawns next UNLESS you work with your team and get the appropriate role to get near dragon pit to take the buff.

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

Let me know what you think in the comments!