@Meddler: Regarding the Infernal Drake.

Pyrodinium·5/16/2016, 8:33:22 PM·5 votes·3,920 views

Can we get some insight on the reasons you had to make the Infernal Drake's buff a % increase in Attack Damage and Ability Power? Right now, it benefits primarily autoattackers and champions with good offensive scaling.

Do you think the fuzziness of the buff (as it is effective against structures, minions and monsters rather than just for teamfighting) is in an acceptable level?

Were clarity concerns present around the fact that a +% damage against champions buff would be less visible, while AD/AP are displayed openly?

Did you think that affecting base damages on skills could have lead to less healthy gameplay?

Maybe there were balance concerns around champions that get damage from defensive stats, or a desire to make the buff attractive to champions with AP-based utility scaling?

6 Comments

RiotMeddler5/17/2016, 5:47:34 PM4 votes

Infernal Drake's % AD/AP scaling for a few reasons. The first is that it avoids pushing damage dealing champions (assassins and fighters especially) towards building tanky and relying on their base damage. We already see a number of cases where that's a bit too effective and don't want to exacerbate it. The second is that we want the dragon buffs to influence decision making somewhat. By not offering base damage scaling we can offer a significantly higher % on AP/AD, making it worth considering items that might normally be optimal when you've got multiple Infernal stacks (e.g. going an AD heavy build on some champs that might otherwise go on hit or tankier). Finally AP/AD scaling isn't as snowbally early game, since stats from items are contributing a smaller proportion of your total damage. Infernal Drake's already a strong indicator of success if you take it early, multiplying total damage instead would have increased the amount taking one first decides games noticeably too.

Dominick Destine5/16/2016, 8:48:37 PM1 votes

The Ocean Drake benefits tanks/mages more, what's your point?