Insightful Draven Guide [s3]

Introduction

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Hey guys, this is my first guide ^__^. My name is Keith 'CyniX' Harrison. I come from a Starcraft 2 background and I live in Australia, I also like Senjougahara from the anime Bakemonogatari. I hope I can provide an enjoyable, high quality and helpful guide for anyone reading. Just a quick note, because I'm Australian, some of the words here have different spelling, i.e. armor is armour, etc. :)

This guide is on whom I feel is quite a unique ADC in LoL. The reason for this is because his iconic ability replaces his auto attacks and dictates so much of the positioning and decision making through the whole game. It's a skill that requires constant attention and is half the learning curve of .

I started playing him almost exclusively about a month or so ago from watching Destiny's stream, don't hate. He is unique due to his . How people use this very positional and powerful ability is a big factor in what separates the good from the bad Dravens.

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Pros / Cons

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Pros

+ Insane damage from which can crit!
+ Can be caught and reused for no mana
+ attack/movement speed buff, catching an axe resets its cooldown
+ slow/knock-aside which can cancel abilities
+ Has a semi- effect from his passive
+ Fun to use global Ultimate

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Cons

- He's squishy
- no instant escape ability like or
- Short Range auto-attacks compared with ADCs like
- Higher learning curve
- can be vulnerable when catching axes
- A lot of effort goes into catching axes and can distract you from looking at the minimap
- Movement speed duration of is short
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Masteries

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Standard... all I have to say is, if you run instead of , put a point in instead of .

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Runes

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Greater mark of armor penetration These tend to scale a lot better than however you can switch between the two if it is your style or you only have 1 set.
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standard... you're usually going to be up against an ADC as well so it helps a lot to reduce their damage plus minion damage.
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These are standard, however I've recently been experimenting with for more aggressive capabilities if I'm not worried about magic damage. The reason you get these is to help to make dealing with poke supports like and her or roaming mid lanes more bareable. However if you feel you don't need the magic resist till later levels go with the which become cost effective at level 8-9 where they start to surpass the MR of the flat MR runes.
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Great for early game damage for harassing and CS'ing, However you can use Greater quintessence of Armor Penetration, they are worse early game but scale better late game

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Summoner Spells

Recommended Summoner Spells

Can often secure kills and has a useful health reduction effect

I usually choose this, esp in a lane with stuns, but good for clearing exhaust/ignite

Absolutely necessary. Good for securing kills or escaping

Not recommended Summoner Spells.

is not recommended because of how effective the healing reduction the enemy's occurs and especially not recommended against a due to . also has a 90 second greater cooldown than or
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isn't better in most cases instead of an or , I'm assuming is 100% necessary due to its unrivalled utility. This is because if you give up then you're going to take the damage from an and the effects of which means you're killing the other ADC slower and will take more shots if you're fleeing due to slower move speed and on top of that, there isn't a unique 'bonus' for yet in the masteries. 's duration is also only 2 seconds meaning some of the ticks of the will eat into your real HP. also has very little utility late game due to the nature of the damage output of everyone at that stage. The ability to remove a stun or other disable late game using is much more useful.
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isn't terrible however you already have a ghost-like ability with your and if you're diligent on catching axes you will be able to continually refresh in a lot of instances. The defensive capabilities of , especially late game and the damage + healing reduction of just tend to exceed the utility and consistency of

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Items

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Before I start listing the items and talking about why I get them I want to say, the mentality you should have for the early game is 'how can I get as fast as appropriately possible. This is because if you get your 1st 'big' item before the other adc, it is an enormous advantage due to the sheer jump in power.

Because of this, I don't get any unless absolutely necessary which is almost never with Draven because it can critically delay . I also delay T1 or T2 boots if I can get a on my 1st trip back. Just to keep things in perspective a fully fed Bloodthirster is equivalent in just its AD as two B. F. Sword and a Long Sword. so if you are ever in an instance where the enemy adc only has stacked and you do sooooo much more damage to them and you'll wreck them

Because of the Season 3 patch. Boots are no longer a huge priority due to the -25 movespeed nerf and now starts at +70AD instead of +60AD and only requires 30 creeps to fully charge.

Now to the items...
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: Starting with this gives around 20% more damage in the early game and some sustain. This makes CS easier and makes your harassment more brutal. However start with 3x and in an instance if you really need the sustain/mobility such as needing to dodge a 's .

: This item builds from the into and gives a lot of sustain. In a lot of cases on your 1st trip home you wont be able to afford a but will have enough for either and + some 's or if you're unlucky you wont be able to afford the and only pots + scepter

: This is your first big item and is a huge damage boost in the early game, especially when fully charged. You lose half of your stacks if you die. If you get this before your enemy gets his first big item you're usually in a very good spot.

: These boots are the best choice for giving much needed attack speed and mobility. Get after since the movement speed and attack speed from your W is enough to harass in lane you really don't want to be set back $900 for your BF/BT.

: I was tossing up between and for a long time, due to the movement speed nerf, however I still feel this is better after a lot of experimentation. The reason is the critical chance exceeds the utility you get from the greater movement speed and tenacity from and it has better synergy with .

The reason you wait till after Infinity Edge to get Phantom Dancer is because Draven's damage doesn't come so much from Attack Speed but rather the juggling of his Spinning Axe and because of this juggling, you wont be able to have much of a sustained Auto-Attack fighting than like the traditional ADC's. You get the Zeal 1st for the initial attack speed and movement speed you need. But having your Spinning Axe's hit like a brick is the priority over spamming a lot of non-spinning axe's.

Get a Quicksilver Sash after this if the team has CC which is going to be really hard to deal with even if you kite; especially if you're not running Cleanse. You can build this into a Mercurial Scimitar later into the game.

: This builds out of the early Zeal we got and supplements the passive of the Infinity Edge by making Crits more consistent and less importantly buffing attack speed.

: relatively cheap compared to IE and BT, this item is necessary to continue doing insane amounts of damage even when the enemy team gets armour. It also gives a nice +40AD. You can opt to get this after Zeal if the enemy team has particularly high armour at that point in the game.

: The fact that Draven's Spinning Axe can crit makes the passive of Infinity Edge extremely powerful. Along with the huge spike in AD and critical chance create another big spike in damage output for Draven.

: This item makes kiting quite easier/effective and if the enemy team has a lot of slow/cc which you foresee will give you trouble or you just really like to emphasise your boss like kiting skillz. I typically wouldn't get this till at the very end because your Blood Rush is basically the same thing as every Spinning Axe caught can refresh your movement speed steroid and the money is better spent somewhere else.

: This is another viable boot enchantment, more relevent if your team is under siege and you need to get to your inner turrets quickly.

: I've opted to choose this over Guardian Angel because the defensive aspect of the greatly increased health and the ability to slow down the enemies from the slow proc outweigh the armour/mr from GA. GA can be better in some niche cases where the revive buys you enough time to escape however I find it's more common to be able to survive with the Frozen Mallet over Guardian Angel. The 30AD damage obviously helps in offensive aspects aswell. Warmog's Armor is also viable however the health regen isn't too relevent to ADCs that die really fast and regain most of their HP from lifesteal anyways so I find the slow proc on the Frozen Mallet to make it more desirable than Warmog's Armor

Too be quite honest I haven't experimented too much with the final item of this build. But I feel this final slot can be changed to the Mercurial Scimitar or a Statikk Shiv depending on the situation.

sight ward: Remeber to buy 1-4 health pots depending on your situation with spare gold, especially in the early game and if you have an uncooperative support you also may need to buy wards.

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Ability Sequence

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This will seem obvious after you play for a while. We want to max first while getting a point in at level 4 for the handy utility/escape mechanism. Getting a point in whenever you can for it's damage and maxing 2nd because of its importance in champion fighting and for its movement speed utility.

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Ability Explanation

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I will soon be making a video which I feel will be able to make it more clear how the mechanics of Draven's abilities work and also some tips and tricks with them. Once it's done I'll edit it into this guide

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: This ability as said before acts like a mini- doing damage over time upon either dealing a critical strike, or hitting something with a . It can secure you an otherwise lost kill and sometimes you'll get lucky and not miss a CS because of it.

: Your source of damage. This ability has a lot to talk about which is why I'll be mainly making a video but I'll try to describe the main parts of it in this section. This ability makes your next attack a spinning axe instead of a regular auto-attack.

Two axes can be readied making your next two auto-attacks spinning axes. Once thrown the axe will ricochet off the target and will land in a spot determined by your movement. Everyone, including the enemy will see where the axe will land. If you're standing still as you threw the axe it will land close to you and you often won't need to move to catch it, if you're moving as you throw it, it will land in a spot in front of your direction such that you can catch it if you continue moving at that speed in that direction.

: This is an attack speed and movement speed steroid. It has a fairly low mana cost and its cooldown is reset upon catching an axe meaning you can spam it when killing enemy champs or drag/baron. Use it to get to lane faster, escape an enemy, or as a gap closer to an enemy.

: This isn't used as much as your Q or W however it still has its usefulness. This ability has a knock-aside and slows them briefly. Use this to slow an enemy if they're CC'd or in range to make sure they can't escape. Can also be used to escape from chasers or disrupt an ability with the knock-aside, I don't have a full list of abilities it disrupts but it will cancel (I think) all channelling abilities such as 's and 's and also cancel a lot of jump or charge abilities like 's if used at the right time or 's . I haven't been able to find a comprehensive list of what it cancels/disrupts but if someone is using an ability to gap close you or use some kind of big scary channelling ability that sh1t!

: This is a global ultimate where you send two blades out and once you press R again or until it makes contact with an enemy champion it'll slowly reverse direction and come back and damage enemies again if they don't dodge it. The direction that it comes back can be slightly changed, if you move somewhere else, it comes back to your direction meaning you can curve it's trajectory back to you which can sometimes secure a kill. This also damages minions/monsters.
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Gameplay

In the early game you want to be last hitting as much as possible as per usual. If you spawned on the blue side or if you're jungler started at red on the purple side it can be useful to kill Golems or Wolves for a quicker level 2 than your opponent. I often like to do this and do a big all-in at lvl 2 or 3 if it's suitable which means you should also have good communication with your support.

Supports that have great synergy with are ones with a stun such as , or because he can go to town on them with a lot of 's.

When laning, you can harass the enemy by having 1 or 2 's up and using to quickly rush to them and deal big damage. Catching an axe refreshes the cooldown to continue the aggression or run away.

When doing an all in you want to include a to make dodging your and escaping harder.

In team fights if feasible harass with and wait to use your when they're clumped up, such as being in a choke. Try not to be a tryhard with your and aim for across the map kills... it's often not worth it because you'll obviously miss 19 times out of 20. Remember to keep kiting and keep an eye on the ground to get your axes, your axes are a very important source of your damage.

Using at the right time in a team fight to cancel an ability is advised, don't use it as a damage source, only use it for it's utility to knock-aside or slow. You can sometimes save a team mate with it as well.

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Support Synergy (in progress)

8/10

This used to be one of the best supports with and a lot of other ADCs. However with his consecutive nerfs I can't recommend him as one of the top (but still quite good) supports for . The reason is because the stun duration and the huge armour aura nerf really stunt 's early-ish laning phase.
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5/10

This support can be okay. 's can make your harass even better whilst minimising the damage you take however there are better choices out there. This is because you really want someone with Stuns or some other kind of CC like a heavy slow to really give the kill threat in lane. is also a higher skill cap champion so it's hard to trust her in the hands of a lot of people.
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8/10

I actually believe that is a fantastic support for because the early game damage you can both dish out is insane. 's s are going be doing decent damage and help to zone your opponent; but most of all his has amazing synergy with . This is because it lets you get two of your s off and retreat and it's so hard for any other ADC to trade well if is allowed to get two axes off repeatedly. Not to mention his passive is helping the whole team get lvl 6 before your opponents and his ult can be used to make huge plays. Take care though to be aggressive and set the tempo for your lane as early as possible because sustained trading is not good if you have (or any non-sustain support) vs a sustain support like because they eventually just get all their mana and health back overtime.
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8/10

In some ways outshines , especially at level 6 because her into followed up by a will almost always kill the ADC or support if they all land and you aren't behind. I would recommend with a . However beware that is quite the "all-in" champ meaning a bad can ruin your day.
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5/10

The utility of can help you be more swift in landing your harass then getting out however I feel the synergy with isn't the best. doesn't really need the boost from since he has his and I find that 's tend to get poked a lot until higher levels when their is at an adequate level and if he can't provide the presence in the lane you can be zoned from CSing and fall behind in trades.
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8.5/10

Cow works well with . As with most ADCs the CC from cow gives a high amount of presence in the lane and provides a high amount of kill potential, and unlike , cow also gives a nice amount of sustain in the lane along with his amazing CC kit.
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5/10

is a bit hit or miss. Although she provides high damage with her harass and some sustain she is one of the squishiest supports in the game and overextending with this champ, ESPECIALLY against a CC intensive opposition means you will punished very hard. I don't really recommend unless you know you can harass effectively against the enemy team bot lane and not get punished for it.
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6/10

This champ can't be strongly recommended because works well with CC supports that can provide kill potential. However if you are up against an enemy support that provides no sustain for the ADC, you can wear them down with / harass and regain mana and health whilst they gradually are bullied out of lane.
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7.5/10

This support can provide a really nice snare/slow CC with her and the plants. She is quite squishy and her are hard to land otherwise she'd be higher rated however, still a firmly recommended support. If you do have a support make sure he buys extra health pots to sustain her presence in the lane and mitigate the fact that she's squishy.
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8/10

's and combo provide great utility for giving kill potential and presence in the lane for . He lacks a sustain but can still mitigate some damage with his .
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7/10

's / combo is almost a guaranteed kill for however he is very situational. Tanky supports with CC can stand in the way of his grab and sometimes ADCs like and his completely shut down . The recent nerf for makes him less preferred than a .
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8/10

in the right hands is a great support. Her damage output and heavy slow with her / combo are deadly. is another great tool to win fights by either destroying the damage output of the ADC or preventing an enemy support from using their CC if it's more deadly. Her ultimate is also another way to help you tower dive, survive from enemy tower dives or just win trades in general. just provides a very solid balance of offensive and defensive utility however does require a certain degree of skill to use properly and provide presence in the lane unlike .

Summary

has proven to be a fun challenge to learn and makes you feel rewarded for having good mechanics. This is my first guide on Mobafire, I was almost tempted to make one on but I lost a bit of motivation with him when he got nerf'd again. In any case I hope you all find This guide helpful and enjoyable and I'd like any feedback you could give ^____^. Please comment/rate.

Have fun with !

Insightful Draven Guide [s3]

Insightful Draven Guide [s3]

Recommended Items

Spells:

Cleanse

Flash

Items

Ability Order

League of Draven (PASSIVE)

Spinning Axe (Q)

Blood Rush (W)

Stand Aside (E)

Whirling Death (R)

Introduction

Pros / Cons

Pros

Cons

Masteries

Runes

Summoner Spells

Recommended Summoner Spells

Not recommended Summoner Spells.

Items

Ability Sequence

Ability Explanation

Gameplay

Support Synergy (in progress)

8/10

5/10

8/10

8/10

5/10

8.5/10

5/10

6/10

7.5/10

8/10

7/10

8/10

Summary

League of Legends Champions: