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Draven Build Guide by GrandmasterD

AD Carry GrandmistressD's Draven - Hear That? Death's Knocking

AD Carry GrandmistressD's Draven - Hear That? Death's Knocking

Updated on June 6, 2014
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League of Legends Build Guide Author GrandmasterD Build Guide By GrandmasterD 402 33 3,252,557 Views 183 Comments
402 33 3,252,557 Views 183 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author GrandmasterD Draven Build Guide By GrandmasterD Updated on June 6, 2014
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Table of Contents


Quick Guide

Preface

Basic Information

Advanced Tactics

Wrapping Up

Items
Synergies and Counters
Summoner Spells
Runes
Masteries
|

About the Author
Introduction
Who is Draven?



|

Draven's Skillset
Skilling Order
Itemization



|

Laning
Teamfighting
Strategy and Tactics


|

Synergies
Counters
Epilogue



|

Starting Items


Core Build


Boots


Offensive Items


Defensive Items


Synergies and Counters

Draven is good against:


Draven is weak against:


Draven works well with:

Summoner Spells


__
+
__


or



or


Runes


A set of runes oriented around early-game tankiness to come out ahead easily in all-ins and major skirmishes. While the AS Quints are very strong as well at the moment, Draven doesn't benefit all that much from them and is better off with more resistances that make him come out ahead in small trades even easier.

Masteries

A solid mix of offence and defence. I think Frenzy is too weak to justify putting a point in it as 5-15% attack speed isn't all that much and you need to crit multiple times in a row for it. I now refrain from using Spell- and Blade Weaving because Feast is pretty much mandatory as Life Steal Quints are no longer worth it. Dangerous Game is generally stronger as well and adds to Draven's snowball potential. I personally prefer Warlord over Double-Edged Sword as you lose minimal damage but at least won't take more damage either. Put the remaining nine points in defence as those masteries are quite strong and utility isn't for Draven.

























































































































































































































About the Author

This Draven guide is written by GrandmistressD; a platinum rated mid-lane player at the Europe-West server. Draven is one of my most played AD Carries and I play him very well. I usually have full lane dominance and am able to extrapolate this to great teamfights where I'm a dominant factor. Even after the rework of his innate ability, Wicked Blades; I think he's still a great champion to pick up.

Introduction

Draven is a unique AD carry as his playstyle revolves around one of his abilities: Spinning Axe. His damage output is amongst the highest of the AD carries at all stages of the game as long he is on equal footing with the enemy AD carry. Draven excels at chasing down enemies with Blood Rush and Spinning Axe while also possessing the necessary burst with Spinning Axe, Stand Aside and Whirling Death, a global ultimate which can also be used to secure objectives and catching fleeing enemies.

Overall Draven can be described as a lane bully. His damage is incredible which makes him hard to trade with. A lot of short and fast-paced skirmishes with Draven can eventually mean the end. Generally, as of now, Draven is primarily known for his incredible snowball potential as it is indeed the League of Draven!

Who is Draven?

Pros

+ High Damage
+ Two Steroids
+ Good Burst
+ Global Ultimate
+ Very Consistent
+ Disruptive E
+ Is Draven

Draven's Strengths

Draven's overall strength is the massive damage he can deal with little items. Spinning Axe provides a high percentual increase of his standard attacks based on his total AD which means that it scales perfectly to late-game. Blood Rush is an AS and movement speed steroid that can be kept up constantly. Additionally, he holds high base damage values on both his Stand Aside and Whirling Death which creates good burst at all stages of the game.

Draven's Limitations

Draven's main strength is also his main weakness. Spinning Axe causes Draven to have predictable movement which is pretty much a bad thing. Crowd control is even more of an enemy to Draven as any other AD carry because it can cause him to drop his Spinning Axe which lowers his damage output dramatically. Additionally, he has no real escape moves which makes him easier to lock down.

Cons

- No Real Escape
- Tricky Playstyle
- Allergic to CC
- Situational Innate
- Predictable Movement
- Hard to Play
- Is Draven

Draven's Skillset


League of Draven
(Innate): Alright, first things first, I didn't like the change at all but after the buff this innate isn't the worst out there. An early kill, say around level five, grants about 300-400 bonus gold which, at that point in the game, is quite a lot. It also makes trading kills often worth. However, it eventually falls off and becomes insignificant. Hence, focus on forcing early kills and this will help you snowball. Additionally, that animation is totally Draven!



Spinning Axe
(Active): Your, overphrased, bread-and-butter ability. It's basically a weaker critical strike. However, if you catch it it's just a free reset which makes your damage output insane. Draven's playstyle revolves around this so you better master it.



Blood Rush
(Active): An attack- ánd movement speed steroid - great ability for an AD carry to have. The true power lies in the fact that catching a Spinning Axe will reset the cool down which results in the fact that it can be kept up constantly. This makes Draven good at chasing and contributes to his item-independentness.



Stand Aside
(Active): One of Draven's most underrated abilities. It does a fair amount of burst damage and has very nice utility to it. However, its true power lies in the timing. Properly timed it can interrupt abilities like Zenith Blade, Resonating Strike and Audacious Charge.



Whirling Death
(Active): Bit of a strange ultimate that doesn't really fit Draven's kit to be really honest. It's great in picking off stragglers, good AoE for teamfights, clearing creepwaves and stealing objectives like Baron Nashor and Dragon .

Skilling Order



1




Q
2




W
3




E
4




Q
5




Q
6




R
7




Q
8




E
9




Q
10




E
11




R
12




E
13




E
14




W
15




W
16




R
17




W
18




W

Draven's skilling order isn't too hard. Mine differs from a lot of other Draven players in the sense that I max Stand Aside second rather than last. The reason for this is that Blood Rush scales poorly with rank whereas Stand Aside deals 35 more damage per rank and lowers the cool down by one second which is useful since it's our primary disruption spell. The additional damage is a nice addition to Draven's burst and improves your waveclear.

Itemization


Starting Items

As of Patch 4.5, Life Steal Quints got nerfed and thus we do no longer have innate sustain. This makes Doran's Blade overall the most appealing starting item for Draven. The previous Elixir of Fortitude start is not really worth it anymore since the risks do not outweigh its benefits.



Early-Game

When doing well it is advised to rush a B. F. Sword as soon as possible. It simply makes your damage skyrocket and quickly puts you into a position where it becomes impossible for the enemy AD carry to trade properly.


When doing poorly, because of heavy pressure or simply bad plays, you might want to consider going 'Genja Style'. Three Doran's Blades and a Vampiric Scepter grants you high health, high sustain and a good amount of AD.



Core Build

These four items are just necessary to obtain every single game. I advise to grab Bloodthirster and follow up with Last Whisper. After that simply continue by building what you need. Generally that is a Phantom Dancer but sometimes you might be needing a defensive item such as Guardian Angel.




Situational Items

Build one of these during the game. As said, that could be right after the completion of Last Whisper but can also be in a later stage of the game. Guardian Angel works well against assassins like Zed or when the game draws to a conclusion with the final fight incoming. Mercurial Scimitar is a good mix of damage and works against strong debuffs; a must get against suppress or combo-based teams. Banshee's Veil is great against poke comps or AP assassins. However against burst champions such as Lux you're often better off with a Maw of Malmortius because that shield will be used solely for that burst, which is convenient. Frozen Mallet and Blade of the Ruined King provide self-peel and are useful against certain champs but overall very situational.

Infinity Edge

Best described as a luxury item when it comes to Draven. The reason for this is that Infinity Edge isn't as cost efficient on Draven as on other AD carries. The reason for that is that Spinning Axe's bonus damage can't crit. This means that your crits will go from 285% damage in total (200% = crit and 85% bonus damage from Spinning Axe) to 335% damage. This is an increase of 17.5%. On other AD's it's 25% so you are essentially paying the same amount of gold for less efficiency which isn't something we are fond of.

Laning

Draven has always been known for his great laning phase. Spinning Axe allows you to deal way more damage with your attacks than your opponent, even if they are ahead. This is what makes Draven such a hassle to deal with.

Overall, it's just important that you are farming with two Spinning Axes up. Not only does it improve your ability to last-hit but if you start a fight, you'll have a lot more damage output than without those. Try to land a Spinning Axe on your opponent whenever they go to last-hit creeps just so you can poke them low. Don't be afraid to trade blows because you're stronger. Use Blood Rush's movement speed increase to dodge potential skillshot abilities such as Piltover Peacemaker.

Whenever you go for an opponent; lead with Blood Rush into hitting a Spinning Axe and continue the chase. Use Stand Aside to catch up when needed. When going all-out, be sure to time Whirling Death properly, preferably in conjunction with Stand Aside so you hit it twice. Do not be afraid to play aggressive - Draven kills his opponents, or dies trying.

Teamfighting

Draven does very well in teamfights due to his strong utility on Stand Aside, which has a multitude of uses, but also because of his high mobility through Blood Rush and AoE damage through Whirling Death.

Positioning is, obviously, very important. Crowd control can lower your damage as it usually causes you to drop a Spinning Axe but it's universally fatal if you get caught out of position. Simply attack the enemy whom is closest to you and keep your distance from champions with high burst and/or crowd control unless, of course, you know it's currently not available to them.

Use Flash instantly whenever one of those champions gets to you, unless they have a method, that isn't Flash, of following up because the last thing you want is to be isolated with one of those champions. Stand Aside can also help you into creating distance between them and you.

Remember that Draven's damage is amongst the highest during all stages of the game, which means that a lot of bruisers can't actually fight you 1v1 whenever their ultimates aren't up.

Strategy and Tactics

Draven is probably the AD carry with the highest skill cap so he can feel a little tricky at first. It's important that you learn how to juggle the axes before moving on to harder aspects of his playstyle. However, once you've learned how to play his 'minigame' - you'll see it is very rewarding. His Spinning Axe makes him a powerful lane bully and almost impossible to properly trade with.

Harassment and Lane Dominance

Harassing with Draven is quite easy but the hard part is doing it right. This means you should do it in a way it's hard for your enemy to retaliate and, even more important, from a position such that the enemy support won't be able to lock you down with CC. A second part is to make sure you move that your axe will be easy to catch. You have to 'lead' them. This means that you should walk back before your Spinning Axe impacts so you can catch it on your way out.

To Catch or Not To Catch?

It's not always wise to go out there and catch an axe as the marker where your axe will land is also visible to the enemy team and basically means "Aim your skillshots here.". Spinning Axes which will put you in a bad position aren't worth catching it, especially if Spinning Axe isn't on cool down. When chasing with Blood Rush, however, it's often better to slow down a little to catch the axe rather than to rush past the marker as your Blood Rush will not refresh which means that you cannot use it to continue the pursuit or use it to quickly disengage in case you just overextended.

Proper Usage of Stand Aside

Stand Aside has multiple uses:
  • Slowing Enemies: Stop frantically chasing Udyrs, Dr. Mundos and Shyvanas in their tracks or use it to catch up to that Ashe or Vayne who are running for their lives.
  • Knocking Aside Enemies: Make sure Amumus and Blitzcranks miss their well-aimed skillshots.
  • Burst Damage: Additional damage when going all-out - it does decent burst damage.
  • Interrupt: Interrupt channeled abilities, gap-closers (e.g. Zenith Blade, Resonating Strike) and basic attacks with it. The latter one is very important when duelling.
Mastering the first two is of utmost importance as it allows you to save yourself from ganks and enemies closing in on you. You need to keep your enemies at a distance so you can actually defeat them. The last one is learnt through proper timing in duels with other AD carries and it is a trick that comes in handy.

Whirling Death

When you just start playing Draven, you'll probably not have much feeling for this ultimate. It doesn't feel as if it's part of his skillset and that probably leads to confusion. Whirling Death is basically used to burst at the start of a fight, picking off fleeing enemies or to steal objectives. When duelling it's often smart to save Whirling Death in case they Flash away when on low health though you might need it to actually win the duel. Also, keep in mind that the ability is global so you can use it to aid allies in a fight. The additional physical damage might just be what they are needing in order to win their skirmish.

Juggling Two Axes

Juggling two axes can be very tricky but is very rewarding and a necessary skill to possess if you want to play Draven at a higher level. Practicing on minion waves most certainly helps you with that and allows you to push quickly as well. Always use two axes when duelling or taking down objectives. Try to keep them up during teamfights.

Synergies

Draven fits best on teams that complement his playstyle. Champions who are mobile and have high dps are the champions you'd want to include. Also, Draven likes teammates who can peel for him. Examples of good allies are Orianna, Cassiopeia and Zac. Morgana has special synergy since she nullifies all crowd control; giving Draven a free pass.

Most supports go well with him but since Draven has enough damage output of his own, he rather wants to go with one who has crowd control and utility rather than damage. Thresh is a special case who combines the two, making him a very strong choice. Janna, Nami and Lulu are excellent as well. I'm personally very fond of Sona as well due to her high lane pressure and the fact she is in possession of a healing ability. Annie is very strong with Draven due to her high kill potential in lane and Yorick is strong due to high harass, lane control and, obviously, his Omen of Death.

Counters

Draven's biggest enemy is hard crowd control; something that prevents him from moving or taking any action whatsoever. Champions like Nautilus, Leona and Vi can be incredibly hard to play against. Also, assassins such as Zed and Kassadin can be tough to deal with.

In lane, the only AD carries Draven has issues with are Caitlyn and Varus. A flawlessly played Caitlyn will not ever lose to Draven as her range prevents trading. Varus simply packs trading power, damage and crowd control which makes it hard to lane against him. Other than that, supports with a ton of crowd control can be a nuisance.

Epilogue

That concludes my effective guide on Draven, The Glorious Executioner. I hope this guide brings all the knowledge you require on how to play this awesome champion. In case you have any questions or suggestions, just leave a comment at the discussion page and I'll get to it.

GrandmistressD is makin' an exit.

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