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Air dragon is extremely underwhelming and needs a change

Backup4now·5/10/2016, 7:34:07 PM·1 votes·602 views

There have been too many time where, even as a Mordekaiser main, I decide against taking dragon far too often when it's an air dragon. The only time I decide to take it is when it's absolutely free, like when the enemy botlaners are dead or have just started recalling with 100 hp, and their jungler is top. It's just not worth any risk taking, and I could care less if the enemy took it; I wouldn't even contest it unless it was a free kill on the person taking it (like an evelynn soloing it or something).

This feeling isn't just my own, either; the diamond players I often play with also don't give it that much importance, the diamond players I randomly get paired up with don't give it that much importance, and even players as low as bronze on my friends list that I occasionally play with also don't give a damn. We all consider it to only be used as a method to spawn the next dragon, which is hopefully a better element.

What's wrong with the dragon, in my opinion? It's insanely underwhelming in comparison to the other dragons. I mean, free stats are free stats, but If you're stomping and you get three air dragons, it feels like absolutely nothing was gained in comparison to three water or fire, or even earth (which many people I found also agree is underwhelming due to how paperlike towers are already, but they do feel impactful). The first air dragon feels about as impactful as the t1 cunning mastery called 'wanderer' or whatever that gives 3% ms out of combat. Even at 3 air dragons, the movement speed is unnoticeable because it doesn't transfer over to combat, where movement speed is most valuable. Even on team comps that like the roaming power it gives, it STILL feels insanely underwhelming.

My suggestion to fix it would be simply raising its power level to match those of the other dragons. For example, it is widely believed the fire and water dragons are the best ones on all team comps, and are always contested when possible. What does 3 stacks of every element + elder give? Let's compare: Air- 68 movement speed out of combat. Earth- 45% bonus damage to towers and monsters Water- 15% missing hp and mana restored every 6 seconds (this is up for changes in upcoming patches) Fire- **36% **bonus AD and AP

It seems blatantly obvious that almost every champ would either prefer water or fire over the other two, no matter what. Even assassins, which really like roaming potential, would still prefer 36% bonus ad/ap over 68 ms out of combat. Let's be very real here: 68 ms out of combat is completely worthless in comparison to 36% ad/ap, and having an enemy with that buff is almost never scary unless they're already very far ahead of you. However, having an enemy with 36% ad/ap is an instant spook; you've got to take them seriously.

So how do we make 68 out of combat ms compare to 36% ad/ap? We could talk in terms of value: the 68 ms out of combat is less than the out of combat bonus you get from mobi boots, which costs 600 g. 36% ad/ap is more than a deathcap passive which costs 1265 g, and is also an AD version of deathcap, which could skyrocket the price even more since no such item exists, but would presumably be very costly. However, maybe making the movement speed 180 or so to bring the prices in line wouldn't be the best idea, since movement speed becomes extremely powerful extremely quickly when there's a large amount of it.

We could talk in terms of impact: Moving 68 ms faster feels nice while it's happening, but then you come to the realization that it's hardly helping you since it goes away once you start the fight. Water dragon (currently) can save your life extremely hard in combat, healing squishies with sudden +100s that could be the difference that lets them escape with 1 hp or even win the fight. Fire dragon makes you deal more damage in a fight, making you need to do 25% less damage than usual to kill your opponent. Earth doesn't help in fights, but 45% bonus damage to towers makes them even less of a threat, especially if you have a comp that already deals heavy tower damage, making it so that if you win fights you can take down towers without minions more easily. This helps you push a lead after winning a fight. So, moving 68 ms faster should help in fights, too; maybe make the bonus halved while in a fight instead of removed.

I could keep typing about this, but I just realized it's getting way too long. TL;DR: Air dragon feels worthless in comparison to the other dragons and should be buffed to be worth fighting over. A team that gets ahead and takes all objectives will almost always benefit more from 3 fire or water dragons or even 3 earth dragons than 3 air dragons, no matter the team comp because of how bad it is.

4 Comments

redniwediS5/10/2016, 7:42:53 PM1 votes

It might not feel great in comparison, but in a live match you're not comparing dragons. You're deciding whether or not to get a dragon buff or to not get a dragon buff. You can compare out of combat movement speed to percentage boosts to your offensive abilities all you like, but that comparison has no effect on the game.

The real comparison you should be making is whether or not a buff is worth while to have over your opponent.

If you're playing with a fast, rotation based team maybe Air dragon isn't exactly the best, because that little boost of speed doesn't mean as much, and the only reason you would get it is to keep your opponents from having it. If you're playing against a team like that, however, the movement speed boost could mean the difference between victory and a slow defeat.

My point is you're making a bad comparison. Only one dragon can be up at a time, so it might be better to argue that you should take the dragon you don't want faster than one you do, that way there is more time for one you want to spawn.