Welp, Riot removed a game flow change I was really looking forward to for S5.

Shinjusuke·Dec 8, 2014·3 votes·1,009 views

[PBE] Dragon's attacks can no longer be blocked, dodged, or juggled. * /r/leagueoflegends

Ya can't block/dodge/whatever Dragon any more.

There goes all the fun I was having doing more than watching everyone farm with tons of safety for the first few minutes :( Guess we can't have bot lane doing anything unsafe though, like having to ward Dragon earlier.

"OMG RIOT WTF" attitude aside, I hope it gets changed back. It was a good thing. sigh

10 Comments

CenturosDec 8, 20145 votes

It let a few people easily solo dragon especially early, while everyone else was super left-out. Not a healthy interaction.

FiendOfOneDec 8, 20142 votes

It just wasn't good for the game, because people like Panth were soloing dragon at early levels, making him WAY too good.

ShinjusukeDec 8, 20144 votes

which is why you ward dragon, or see a panth/fiora/wukong jungle and think "oh, they might attempt a lvl 3 dragon" like when you see a Jarvan and think "oh, they might gank at lvl 2" and DO something about it instead of afk farming.

It's not making those champions better, its forcing people to learn how to play the game differently, which is good.

I'm speaking as a primarily Kha'zix/Master Yi jungler here: I liked expecting the pantheon to solo dragon and going to get a free kill cuz he didn't ward first.

The mechanic wasn't making those champions OP, it was giving them an aspect that you can expect to potentially see. It was both changing the incredibly stale earlygame and giving a niche to some champions. The only thing making those champions "OP" was the fact that there are people who think a solution to an incoming problem is to totally ignore it and then whine about it later.

You don't whine about Nasus being at a billion stacks when you let him freefarm for an hour (unless you're a moron), because that means you just decided he was unimportant even though you know what he can do. This is the same situation: Only a couple champions can viably pull off the level 3 dragon solo, if you see that champion in the game, you ward dragon and pick up a free kill (and some buffs). It's not like they clear the thing in 10 seconds.

FiendOfOneDec 8, 20144 votes

You misunderstand. I'm not whining. I agree, and have long been a proponent of 'ward dragon, win game.' However, I don't believe that a level 1-3 dragon is healthy for the game.

If the first dragon didn't have as much of an impact as it does (And, yes, I am well aware of how little 8% is, but you can't argue with a 74% winrate), I would be totally fine with it. Well, not really, because this was clearly unintentional. Dragon and Baron were meant to feel like epic bosses in the jungle. I really like the concept of the two river badasses actually being badasses. Anything that reinforces that makes me happy.

ShinjusukeDec 8, 20142 votes

Artistically, the "River badasses" is pretty cool, I agree. But gameplay-wise, it hasn't been a reality, like, ever. Dragon would have to take some serious 'roids for that to happen, and I don't think it makes sense to limit gameplay for the minor artistic enjoyment.

Granted, dragon buff is pretty strong for a level 3 kill, but that's my point: It shouldn't BE a free level 3 kill, people are letting it be one because of their own selfish inaction. Doesn't matter what champion is solo'ing it, they're not doing it without burning all the power they have on it. If you catch them doing it, they're pretty much fucked.

But people aren't willing to change how they play. Bot lane isn't willing to go ward it. The enemy junglers aren't warding/checking it. People are literally just letting the solos, which take upwards of 45 seconds, happen without ANY punishment. If people would stop pretending their own 60 gold is more important than stopping the dragon solo and getting a free kill off the enemy jungler, it would open up a lot of earlygame gameplay that plain doesn't exist because they'res nothing forcing that sort of early interaction.

Like I said, I've had my fun with Panth/Fiora dragon solos, but it's not really my thing. I'm speaking as the OTHER junglers in this, the ones who CAN'T solo it: It's a good thing for the early game, not just for those champions who can solo it. People are just too selfish/stupid/stubborn to actually do anything about someone soloing an important objective for a minute straight.

If nothing else, I think they should wait longer (since they're willing to "wait longer" for every other thing they think is OP in the game) to find out what people start doing about it when they expect a level 3 dragon solo. Right now, it's viewed as a fluke and people are totally ignoring it and wondering why the side that solo'd it is suddenly more powerful.

I'm also not against making it harder. The most common suggestion is raise his attackspeed and lower his damage slightly, so it's riskier to do. I'm also a supporter of making the first dragon buff less impactful as well, as a solution. I'm not saying "OMG DON'T CHANGE IT WTF", I'm saying the idea of it is vastly better that what we've had for seasons, and removing it outright is a bad choice that just reinforces a boring earlygame and a stagnant game flow.

FyshinaTuxDec 8, 20142 votes

They should change it back, lower Dragon's damage a bit, and increase its attack speed... This would prevent most peoples ability to solo him, while keeping him largely the same. -_- (or her, it's a dragon, and I am not heroic enough to glance betwixt its legs to see...)

EliteGunm4nDec 8, 20142 votes

Couple things: The attacks should be dodge-able i feel but wukong jumped into the attack area anyways. After a certain point the attack area should be fixed and dodgeable via dashes. Zyra did a terrible job trying to juggle those attacks, and walked into the attacks as well. And his attacks should be blockable as long they can make it so Panth (and maybe some others) don't have an overbearing strength.

Maybe increase Dragons attack speed, or give him periodic attacks like baron that will ignore block abilities. This would make dragon more interesting in the long run i believe.

WooBeeWooDec 8, 20142 votes

If the ranged adc is in danger Riot will nerf that shit.....

RebonackDec 8, 20141 votes

Can't Shacho, Heimer, and Fiddles still solo Dragon at absurdly low levels? All this is doing is making a cool niche jungling ability even more niche.

MrSlowDieDec 8, 20141 votes

Community : OMGGGWTF panth fio solo, dargon indecisive, ezy to dodge. Riot : buffed Community : OMG dargon can't soloed, dodged, juggled, blocked. GG rito, y buff dargon when players can ward pit.