About a year and a half ago I stopped playing LoL because my computer broke. Recently I started playing again, and one of the biggest changes I've seen is what Dragon gives. (Back in my day Dragon have 300 gold to everyone) I'd like to hear your rankings on each dragon's usefulness. My ranking looks like this: Cloud, for movement around the map Infernal, for raw damage Mountain, Objective control Ocean, You heal from skirmishes?
An ocean dragon is helpful but If I had to rank them on usefulness of winning games it would go like this.
I personally favor infernal dragon as the most important, but honestly it could be mountain. extra damage to dragon/baron and turrets late game is huge, especially if you can get two of the dragon and get the 20%. Infernal is noticeably really good when you get 2 of them. In rare cases where my team gets 3 infernal, the game is pretty much an automatic win. You just do so much extra damage its crazy. With recent buffs to cloud drake and nerf to ocean in some prior patches I believe cloud is better than ocean. Ocean is ok early game but is not a huge deal late game unless you have 2-3 of them. And since its out of combat Regen its not a huge disadvantage like playing verse an enemy who has multiple infernal or mountain drakes. I personally think ocean needs to be buffed a little.
Personally, I value them in the order of:
Mountain Drake wins games very quickly when you've stacked them. A team with 2-3 of them can easily split push to win even if they're behind in kills.
If I'm jungle and I cannot secure the dragons then I am pressed to convince my team to take Baron as often as possible for a win because when and if both teams reach final builds, the dragon buffs will help in determining the winner.
Most people will call you insane for saying cloud is best, I personally think, Infernal, Mountain, Ocean, Cloud
People are silly when it comes to cloud. Winrate shows that cloud used to be just as good as the other Dragons. Everyone felt like it was weak so Riot generously buffed it. Statistically it is well above any other dragon in the game but everyone calls it meh.
My rating goes: Cloud (crazy stats on it) Infernal (kill shit) / Mountain (take objectives)
And Ocean varies by team.
Infernal and Mountain both do very similar things in different ways. Infernal is for winning the fights then taking structures.
Mountain is for taking the safer but slower route of chipping away at towers.
I personally love what ocean does but it's usefulness varies by team. If your team doesn't have much lifesteal it is nice, if your team want to stick around and siege it is very good.
It is best on poke and tank comps due to the mana regen and %restore respectively.
Wind is just broken though.
As an aspiring Soraka one trick, low elo support main I rank them like this:
Wind - because I can come and heal my team mates before they die Wet - since heals use both hp and mana regeneratkon is very important Dirt - because if I can make my team control objectives by pinging like retarded, we may actually take it Fire- i dont give a single fck about this one
PS - wet dragon doesnt regen you in combat. It did before but that was so OP Riot changed it into out of combat regen.
I think you should contest every drag, as you never know what the next one will be. Just because they stack 3 times, it makes each one very valuable. Though id say that cloud drake is the less valuable, it depends wich champion youre playing. Cloud drake can be very good on some champs. Still, its always nice to have it.
Unpopular Opinion: Cloud is my favorite dragon.
I play immobile squishy mages (
Zyra being my fave) and that movement speed boost you get from cloud drake helps her in ways I can't even explain. Zyra has the lowest MS in the game, and giving her even a little bit more can tip her map presence into dangerously unsafe roaming levels. My favorite thing is to play Cassiopeia and get at least two cloud drakes, you're SO FAST without your passive build up.
is the best dragon, what kind of question is that!?
After the changes, it's now Cloud>Mountain>Ocean>Infernal. You'll be surprised how much cloud helps you escape/catch up. It's just so good. And since I splitpush a lot, it helps me get to the enemy turrets faster.
I prefer water, healing during laning when you backoff is nice, the mana regen is nice for spammy mages
and for junglers it doesn't stop the regen after fighting large monsters so it helps your jg sustain.
Ocean is great on people like Jace and EZ
Mountain dragon is the strongest by far. No excuse to lose a game if you have two of them.
Ocean is really strong early (especially for junglers with sustain issues), for/against poke comps, and strong for teams with 
.
Mountain + Cloud is great for reaching a objective before the other team and being gone before they arrive to contest it.
Inferno + Mountain is great for winning fights and taking advantage of wins before the other team respawns.
Ocean + Mountain is great for sieges and Baron baits (ocean keeps your HP and mana up while doing Baron so turning to fight is less punishing).
Ocean and mountain best early
cloud infernal best late
The best dragon is undoubtedly
He'll tell you himself XD
It depends on your team composition a lot of the time. I'd say the best dragon would be mountain or infernal. Especially if you stack a couple of them. Infernal is especially good when you're snowballing, and mountain is good for shredding baron or turrets when you siege. Cloud drakes are fine for roaming and rotations I guess, but it really doesn't compare to infernal or mountain. Ocean drake really doesn't feel like it makes an impact unless you're up against a poke composition.
In order of effectiveness, I'd say:
Fire dragon, gives raw power. Nothing like a free rabadons/ AD rabadons for your whole team with three of these. This was the the most desired since release, and damage/ap scalings are always stronger than anything else in comparison unless the numbers are wack.
Air dragon. Before the buffs, it was easily the worst by far, but now it's actually quite strong, maybe even overpowered, although many don't feel the impactfulness of it (but it's there, I can assure you).
Earth dragon. It has its niche of taking objectives faster, but it doesn't actually help you get the upper hand to take them in the first place, so it's really just a win-harder dragon, yet the power it gives is only marginally better than the fire dragon, leaving it lower on the chart.
Water dragon. On release, it was absolutely retarded; entire teams would get +100 heals in the middle of teamfights, easily turning the tides in an unfair way. Since then, it's been reduced to very shitty out-of-combat regen, making it all but worthless in the midgame when early sieges and mana regen are still wanted.
I consider Cloud the least desirable dragon because it has no in-combat benefits. I like Mountain best because you can crush the game win easier, then Infernal for smashing up fights. Ocean is good for defensive play, turtling or protracted poke wars.
As a Shyvana main:
Inferno Mountain Cloud Ocean
For team fight heavy games.
Mountain Cloud Inferno Ocean
For split push heavy games.
Ocean is blegh...
