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Elemental dragons were a project condemned to fail

An Undead brat··6 votes·456 views

It's been a year and something now that we have them. The goal was to force players to change their strategy depending on what dragons they get OR take dragons only if they fit to your strategy (teamcomp mainly -> splitpush heavy teams would take Cloud, Infernal for teamfighting, Mountain for sieging and Ocean for poking - which actually overlap a bit anyway).

And for this period of time, did any of you ever take the dragon for one of these reasons? I personally didn't and nor my teammates ever. It still stayed the same: Can we get the drake? Let's take it. Can we not? Let's not. Is the enemy doing the drake? Stop them.

Now why did I say it was condemned to fail? Simply because it's a free benefit when you can take it and it's nonsence to ignore it when it doesn't fit into your teamcomp because you would be just providing the advantage to the enemies.

Then we have the second, more realistic goal: So each game is different from the other. Do elemental drakes deliver this feeling though? The games are already different based on enemy picks, which, although people spam meta picks, still affect the diversity way more - hell there are 130+ champions! And they can appear in 5 roles (although most cases never happen - like Nunu ADC)! Are 4 types of dragons (+ the Elder one which always spawns, so no diversity here) capable of matching that? No way!

I don't say I hate elemental dragons. Yes, I'm not fan either, I don't care mostly - and that's the issue, not counting the release of them (balance problems, as usually), noone really cares. And the main problem Riot had with the dragon was that people didn't really care except the fact that having the most is the best option, which is completely identical.

I just share this opinion. I have no real solution to this problem, mainly because I don't feel like there was a problem with dragons. I would like to know if anyone else feels different about this topic.

12 Comments

HalcyonDweller3 votes

I feel like the elemental dragons were good in theory, but when put into practice they flopped.

Technically speaking, the drakes do offer strategies that can be adapted to. In games where seiging and poking is going on, Mountain and Ocean drakes are very good to get. In games where roaming and split pushing is common, Air and Mountain are good. The problem arises when you have an overarching one that is too powerful, like infernal.

Infernal is useful no matter what sort of team comp you have or what the game situation is, and it's very bad for your team if the enemy team gets it, so people are practically forced to contest it, which goes against the design goals that Riot set when they created elemental drakes.

The problems with current iterations of elemental drakes (IMO):

  • The benefits gained by the drakes are too passive in nature, passive stat boosts aren't visible or skill-expressive to use. Its the same problem old Sona had, and the same problem old Taric's ultimate had. It's just a team-wide aura that people don't really think twice about.
  • Infernal drake is irrefutably the best of the 4, it's good for every team, and works under every circumstance. You know there is a problem if streamers are saying, "Meh we don't need to fight them for this dragon because it's just mountain or air. If it were Infernal I might be worried, but it's not worth fighting them over another mountain drake"

_ _

Because of this I think that the benefits of drakes should be crystalized into moments of power.

  • Mountain should offer a significant chunk of damage each time your team damages a structure or epic monster, or increased range when targeting towers and epic monsters.
  • Air should offer a shorter duration boost of movement speed when out of combat for X amount of time. Or if you stand still for a second or two.
  • Ocean should offer sustain in a way that is stronger specifically for sieging (perhaps grant regen only when near structures?).
  • Infernal should offer power that encourages teamfights and skirmishes, like a stacking increase to damage as you repeatedly damage enemies over time, or momentary burst by way of additional damage the first time an enemy is damaged by someone on your team.

Additionally I believe that the buffs should either have long cooldowns, or disappear entirely after a duration (like blue, red, and baron buff currently do). This will make people play around the buffs while they have them, trying to utilize their benefits in the time that they can.

An Undead brat1 votes

Agreed.

HalcyonDweller1 votes

Tried to post about it on Meddler's Gameplay thoughts, but somebody is going around killing comments with downvote fairies again. If you want to help out the link is below:

{quoted}

Kevin7112 votes

Agree 100%. Just take dragon if u can is my strategy. I only even notice if it's infernal.

FatedSaviour2 votes

i only notice if its infern or mountain

Variks the Loyal2 votes

I disagree. I adapt to the dragons.

Recent game I jungled - we gave up the Ocean Drake and myself and the Garen dove top lane with Rift Herald, and took two towers. It was a decision when we saw the jungler bot side towards dragon, and we took it.

Either way, Dragon is still a much more interesting objective than it has been in the past, which actually makes it a guaranteed success.

CaptainSeto2 votes

As other Junglers have pointed out, I adapt my strat and my priority for Dragons. I also take into account how useful the current dragon would be to the enemy. Ocean and Infernal are the highest on my list at all times, because they can completely turn the tide of a game. Getting a Karthus or other Mana hungry mage a Ocean is massively important because it'll keep them stocked on mana a good bit, while the health regen is great for Zac and other tanks who have a lot of health that they need to regain after a team fight, but backing isn't an option. Infernals give a power spike to ADC, Assassin, and Burst Mage champs so it's always a "Get ASAP".

The two dragon's who are slightly lower on my list are Mountain and Cloud. If my team comp has a lot of high mobility champs, Cloud is not high on my list of objectives. If we have a good amount of Immobile Champs, I'll grab it ASAP because having them keep up with everyone else, or have an easier escape is pretty important. Mountain has dropped on my list, and is normally just a "try to grab before they do" with the addition of Herald, who I put above most other objectives.

SwiftKitten882 votes

i disagree, i like the new dragons a lot.. well i don't like the elder. but the elemental ones are great.

cloud is clearly the weakest but the others are pretty balanced depending on your team.

there is certainly some RNG to it. but they really do make up for it.

the only elemental one i dislike is "infernal" adding flat damage is not the proper way to do things

the other ones give your disticnt advatanges in certain areas

cloud helps bruiser get in range and helps you escape or roam the map

mountain helps with taking objectives

ocean (my personal fav) is TREMENDOUS in the jungle and as support (my two roles)when you are not usually in combat with enemy champions

infernal just flat out makes you better. i woudl honestly rather it be the OTHER way... instead of infernal making you do MAKE damage... it makes you TAKE LESS.

granted they would need to rename it.. but i would much rather it do the reverse of what it currently does

Rewt1 votes

As a jungler I have different priorities on dragons. if the first dragon is an ocean or infernal im dead set on getting it because that alone can swing the tide of a lane.

Im happy to wait for an easy dragon take with the other 2.

Air I usually just ignore. Ill take it if i have nothing else better to do..... like push towers.

The Bearded Bard1 votes

I think dragons now have a variety of impact that I either hate or love depending on what I'm playing. If I'm Jhin or Veigar, inferno is a blessing that far surpasses the 195 gold we used to get. On the otherhand, mountain doesn't do much for me on Veigar so it's hard to notice.

So I guess what I'm saying is, yes I do adapt based on which dragon.

Sohleks1 votes

You still mostly take dragon as a bonus treat after winning other things. But there's one reason it's still better.

They're still [mostly] relevant that you took them well into the game once people start approaching item limits.

Especially if Elder dragon becomes a variable.

The only drake that doesn't frequently seem make a difference is Ocean Drake but I've seen it can still help in the very rare close end game with baron resets and final pushes or if chaos just plain happens. Earth just works better for baron and pushes though.

Vigopl1 votes

Ignore the infernal drake by all means. If you are ignoring the infernal drake then you are missing something very important to every team.

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