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Recommended Items
Runes: Lethal Tempo
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
Flash
Heal
Items
Ability Order
League of Draven (PASSIVE)
Draven Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Caitlyn
Hard to deal with but is not impossible to win against. Do not let Caitlyn push you in under tower. Try to bait her E in lane, when her E is on CD that is an opportunity to all in
Thresh
Probably the best support for Draven, great cc and also allows you to play aggressive due to his W
Thresh
Probably the best support for Draven, great cc and also allows you to play aggressive due to his W
Champion Build Guide
My name is Dealersz, I've been playing league of legends since mid season 2
I started maining
Draven in season 7 up until now, and hit Challenger on 2 accounts in season 11, and peaking over 1000lp in Season 12
I have also been the #1
Draven in the world according to league of graphs



I have over 2000 ranked games and know the champions limits to the fullest, and in this guide I will show you how to play
Draven properly
I stream almost daily at Twitch so if you enjoy high quality
Draven gameplay you are always welcome to join in
Draven is a strong laner already but with
Hail of Blades he becomes even stronger.
Hail of Blades allows for better trades in lane than
Conqueror and also suprises enemies outside of lane with the short burst of attack speed it gives. How to utilize
Hail of Blades most effectively is by having 2
Spinning Axe's and activating a third once you proc it
Lethal Tempo on
Draven is a replacement for
Conqueror in my opinion, it's stronger in lane if you get to stack it and utilize the range and attack speed it gives, but
Conqueror is way stronger in late. I don't have too much experience with
Lethal Tempo but I am guessing it's good the same games
Conqueror is good, so basically vs tanks or melee champs where you can get in a lot of autos
As of latest patches, there has been a lot of discussions about what runes to use and I want to comment on it. Personally I would recommend going
Hail of Blades when you have an engage support. So for example something like
Nautilus or
Pyke, basically something that allows you to proc your
Hail of Blades several times. I would recommend going
Lethal Tempo if you have an enchanter as support, or anything that will make you go into extended fights so you can get more value of it. At the end of the day its up to YOU to decide which rune will give you the most value since every game is different.
Let's start of by saying that there is no item build that you should stick to every game.
Draven is very flexible when it comes to builds and he has a lot of options. However, I think there's only a handful of Mythic items that are viable. As of patch 13.1B, I would recommend building
Immortal Shieldbow or
Kraken Slayer as your mythic. These 2 items are what you should build most games, but there are exceptions. I still believe
Prowler's Claw can be viable and same for
Eclipse due to their Mythic passive, they both provide consistent damage on every auto and works against both tanks and squishy teams
Viable Mythics
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On patch 13.1B Riot decided to change
Infinity Edge unique passive from 60% to 40%. This was a pretty huge change and it now means that you can build it second item and make use of the passive. This opens up MANY different builds for
Draven and a lot of people are confused on what to build, so I thought I would make some rules you can follow to decide if your build is viable or not
1. You should always build lifesteal no matter what items you decide to buy. This means that either
Immortal Shieldbow or
Bloodthirster will be essential in your build path. However, do not build both in the same buildpath, you simply do not need that much lifesteal and it gets countered easily if enemy buys antiheal
2. You should always have a Mythic item in your build, and it should be either built first, second or third, never fourth.
Eclipse,
Prowler's Claw,
Immortal Shieldbow and
Kraken Slayer are the viable mythics as of patch 13.1B
3. You should always buy
Infinity Edge and
Lord Dominik's Regards every single game.
Infinity Edge can be bought second, third or fourth depending on what you built before, never fifth. As for
Lord Dominik's Regards, third or fourth
BONUS: I strongly believe
Essence Reaver is a very strong item for
Draven and can be built most games, however, it is not a necessity
As long as you follow these 3 simple rules above, you'll be good to go
So what are the different builds that are viable?
With this item path you build 3 core items after eachother, which means you have a lot of freedom to buy whatever you want after. it's usually weaker early because it's not the greatest buildpath but once you hit 3 items it spikes hard. Should be built if enemy has tanks but also assassins
Overall solid build. A lot of damage and lifesteal, not as good vs tanks early simply because you delay your
Lord Dominik's Regards fourth, but once you hit your 4 item powerspike it is really good
Also another solid build, provides damage early into the game with infinite mana. Good for snowballing and surviving
Now, as some people say, rules are made to be broken. This build does not provide any lifesteal anymore but it is the most consistent damage build throughout the game and used to work into any champion and teamcomp. now with the
Eclipse changes you no longer get omnivamp but I still believe it is viable as long as you have 0 poke champions on enemy team
These are just a few examples of some builds that are viable, it really all depends on your playstyle and what you feel comfortable with
There's been a lot of debate and confusion whether
The Collector or
Essence Reaver is better for
Draven as his second item, I can say that there is no real answer to that question because both items are good in their own ways, every game is situational and you should build accordingly.
What I can say though is
Essence Reaver is better in MOST games and here's why
Pros
- Cheaper
- Infinite mana
- More damage with unique passive
- Higher gold efficiency
- Insane spike early
Cons
- Bad build path
- Less damage without unique passive
- Loses value the longer the game goes
- Infinite mana
- More damage with unique passive
- Higher gold efficiency
- Insane spike early
- Less damage without unique passive
- Loses value the longer the game goes

Pros
- Better build path
- Stronger snowballing
- More damage on normal autos and R
Cons
- Overall bad item
- Expensive
- Very bad gold efficiency
- Bad into tanks
- Hard to utilize unique passive in some games
- Expensive
- Very bad gold efficiency
- Bad into tanks
- Hard to utilize unique passive in some games
IN CONCLUSION
Essence Reaver is of higher value for
Draven in most games, it gives you a really good early spike once you have completed the item, the damage output is higher than
The Collector throughout the game even with less AD due to the unique passive
Essence Reaver provides, with
Ingenious Hunter the unique passive is amplified, allowing you to proc it even more. However,
The Collector is useful if you are snowballing really hard, it allows you to gain more gold with the kills you're picking up. It's also a nice item to have vs squishy teams.
Essence Reaver falls of later on in the game, the mana it gives is no longer needed since you're high enough level to sustain without it, and
The Collector becomes stronger due to everyone in the game being high level with more hp, making you being able to utilize it's unique passive. So as a closure, I'd recommend buying
Essence Reaver in games where you're not insanely ahead, and at 6 items selling it for
The Collector
Flash should always be your first pick on
Draven. However, you should switch between
Heal
Exhaust and
Cleanse depending on what you need
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Draven's whole kit is based around his Q-
Spinning Axe and his auto attacks, this is is his main damage output so he doesn't really have a lot of combos, but there are a few things you should know about
The most important part of this guide: USE S when controlling your axes, do not click back to catch your axe if you ran past it, it's better to press S so
Draven stands still and catches it
When you are going to use
Stand Aside always auto attack in between to be as efficient as possible
AA-E
When you are going to use
Whirling Death always auto attack in between to be as efficient as possible
AA-R
Whenever
Draven catches a
Spinning Axe it refreshes the cooldown of
Blood Rush. This means that you can use
Blood Rush twice if you first do it right before catching
Spinning Axe and then using it again. You can cover a good distance to catch up with enemies with the extra movement speed that you get from using
Blood Rush twice
AA-W-W
Draven can use
Stand Aside
Flash which is a lot faster than using
Flash
Stand Aside. You can easily catch people off guard since it is very hard to react to
E-D
Draven can redirect
Whirling Death with
Flash to hit an enemy
Always when using
Whirling Death make sure to re-activate it right before it hits your opponent. This will make it harder to dodge
BONUS TIP: When
Draven uses
Blood Rush he becomes
Ghosted, this means that he ignores unit collision. Use this to your advantage
Everything you need to know about
Draven's abilities
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Q - Spinning Axe |
Draven's main ability, the axes always goes in the direction you are facing after auto attacking. The mana cost (45) stays the same at all levels. You can have 2
Spinning Axe's and activate a third to get 3 auto attacks of with
Hail of Blades. If your axes are running out and you are forced to take poke to keep them alive, do that.
Draven has more sustain than any other ADC with
Doran's Blade so when you are laning, value your mana more than your HP. With an X amount of ability haste, you can have infinite axes at Level 9 (Full maxed Q). For example building
Prowler's Claw and
Essence Reaver gives enough ability haste to keep them spinning infinitely
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W - Blood Rush |
When
Draven catches a
Spinning Axe,
Blood Rush cooldown is refreshed. The mana cost decreases (40-35-30-25-20) after leveling up this ability. Mana cost is high early so only use when necessary.
Blood Rush gives attack speed and movement speed so use when trading or catching up to enemies.
Blood Rush grants
Ghost which allows you to pass through other units
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E - Stand Aside |
Stand Aside First Knocks Back and then Slows for (20%-25%-30%-35%-40%) depending on level. Has high cooldown so only use when it's needed. If thrown and hit on the right side of your target, it will knock your target to the left and vice versa. Use this to position your target where you want it. When using
Stand Aside and hitting an enemy, it counts as an Airborne. During Airborne enemies can not move, attack or use abilities. You can use this this to your advantage. For example, if you're facing an
Ekko with low HP and he is ready to ult, you can use
Stand Aside and an auto attack to finish him of before he gets the chance to use his ultimate.
Stand Aside can also be used to cancel certain abilities, for example
Pantheon W or
LeBlanc W
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R - Whirling Death |
Whirling Death is a global ultimate. This means you can use it to kill people across the map. Always when ulting long distances, recast your ultimate right before it's about to hit an enemy to make it harder to dodge. Keep in mind that the axes deal 8% less damage for each enemy hit, down to a minimum of 40%, however, damage fall of resets after reversing direction. Also keep in mind that your ultimate is an execute, if the enemy targets HP is lower than your stacks, Draven will execute them
Draven is an early game champion and exceeds in the laning phase. There are many ways to play Draven but I am mostly going to be focusing on two of them. The first one is hard pushing the lane and shoving the minions to tower, constantly applying pressure to the enemy botlane and not giving them a second to breathe. The second one is freezing the wave near your tower, denying minions and xp while also drawing the enemy junglers attention. One of the most important parts of laning phase is tracking enemy jungler. If they are pathing topside you can play more aggressive, if they are pathing botside you need to play more passive
Aggressive Playstyle
This playstyle should be used when you're vs an easy matchup,
Ezreal,
Kai'Sa,
Vayne,
Sivir are all easy to deal with and you should apply as much pressure as you can. Look for trades at all times, push them into tower and punish them for every cs they take. Try to take as many plates as you can and also the tower as early as you can. If done successfully, you should have a huge gold lead due to the cs and plate advantage you got. Remember that you don't always have to kill your opponent to win lane. This playstyle is the hardest to pull of but the most rewarding. Keep in mind that you have to keep track of the enemy jungler at all times. Does the enemy toplaner have
Teleport? Does their midlaner have
Teleport? What does your team have to help you?
In this picture we can gather a lot information and draw conclusions by simpling pulling up the scoreboard.
Draven and
Nautilus have a stronger laning phase due to their good synergy,
Nautilus runs
Ignite and
Orianna runs
Exhaust in conclusion we have a kill pressure on them. However, they have 2
Teleport's while we only have one. The correct play is to play aggressive to an extent since we have more pressure in lane, but have to watch out for enemy ganks or
Teleport's

Passive playstyle
You should have a more passive playstyle if you're under threath. Such as facing
Samira and
Nautilus with
Elise as their jungle should be an indication to play safe. If you decide to play aggressive into a lane like this you are most likely going to fail, or die many times, which is probably the worst thing you can do on
Draven. however, just because enemy team has kill pressure on you does not mean you can't win lane. But if you still don't manage to get an advantage, and you can't seem to find openings to kill your opponent or gain a lead, try to go as even as possible. You can still be useful if you find a way to consume your adoration stacks
League of Draven later on in the game
Playing
Draven in winning matchup's doesn't always have to be aggressive. In this picture I am facing
Ezreal and decided to freeze the wave. There are many advantages to this, I am completely ungankable in this position, and the opposite for
Ezreal. I have full control of the lane and can permanently freeze, denying both XP and gold.
Draven is a champion that needs space to kill his opponent and from this position I have a lot of it. This also tilts the enemy and forces them to roam since they can't even lane anymore due to the kill pressure we have on them

Teamfighting with
Draven is pretty straight forward. It all comes down to kiting your axes the right way and not dropping them. You should also try to hit
Whirling Death on as many targets as possible or to finish someone low off. Also to identify threats in teamfights, who can CC you? Who can kill you instantly?
Here I'll be answering questions I get asked a lot and everything you need to know about
Draven
Q: Is Kraken Slayer good on Draven?
A: Yes it works. Personally I prefer building other mythic items since I do not like having too much attack speed on Draven, but the item is viable
Q: When should I take Lethal Tempo or HOB?
A: I usually take Lethal Tempo in all of my games due to it being very strong. HOB is still a viable option. I would recommend playing HOB if you have hook supports and can kill your opponent in lane, and Lethal Tempo if you have enchanter. In the end it is preference
Q: What supports works best with Draven?
A: Usually engage supports like Pyke/Thresh/Leona/Nautiuls works best simply because they allow you to get kills and snowball easier. Enchanters does not work so well with Draven
Q: What ADC's counters Draven?
A: Caitlyn and Varus are probably the toughest matchup you can have, Samira is also a hard matchup but not impossible to win against
Q: Is Duskblade or Prowler's viable on Draven?
A: Duskblade no, Prowlers and Eclipse are just better
Q: Collector or LDR?
A: If enemy has tanks, build LDR. If they have no tanks, build collector






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