Draven Build Guide by Mykingbadguy

Introduction

READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH BEFORE YOU READ THIS GUIDE!
This is the way I play Draven. Is it right? I don't know, and in a lot of ways, I don't really care. I have a lot of fun with it and I hope you learn something from this guide if nothing else. This guide is currently INCOMPLETE and I will be working on it periodically to try and finish it and keep it up to date.

So to give you an idea as to the goals this guide has I'll explain a little bit of my theory as to how I think Draven works. Since his Blood Rush gives him the Attack Speed he needs, all you need to build is high Attack Damage. This style does come at a cost though. You have to catch your axes as much as possible, which is something I will write on how I do it without getting punished. I also think he works well with several different item builds that make him adapt well. I will get into these things and more in the coming chapters!

Runes and Masteries

There are a lot of guide out there on what Runes and Masteries to take. I, personally, am not an expert in either field and have just taken what feels right. Feel free to give me suggestions with reasoning.

So for runes I take AD Quints and Marks, though I can't say that taking Armor Penetration Marks would be a bad idea. I take AD over Armor Pen because I feel by the time you need the Armor Pen I am already getting Last Whisper. I like the defense of Magic Resist Seals and Armor Glyphs. This is not the only option for Runes, but it's the one I like the most and the one I use.

So I take a 21-9-0 but I flip flop on this a lot. This really comes down to team comp. If for any reason you will not be taking heal, I would switch Summoner's Resolve with Resistance . If you are taking Exhaust or Ignite, I would also suggest taking Summoner's Wrath instead of Butcher . Finally, I sometimes take Summoner's Insight over Veteran's Scars for the cool down on Flash.

Items

Boots of Speed and 3x Health Potions is the standard. In odd situations I would say take Doran's Blade, like you know you are going to have a very strong level 1 invade and the extra damage will help carry it, but for the most part, Boots of Speed and 3x Health Potions is the way to go.

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Doran's Blade: This is the standard. I would suggest this in almost every situation. The early health and minor life steal coupled with the Attack Damage help during Early to Mid game.

B. F. Sword: You are dominating your lane. You have no trouble taking over the farm and harassing your opponent out of XP and last hits. This is a strong opening but you don't have the most sustain and you might be more susceptible to ganks.

Vampiric Scepter: You are loosing your lane. You are going to be forced to farm from afar and use the life steal to help keep you in your lane just to farm. Don't worry about poking or catching axes at all any more, just try and get back into the game.

A note on early boots: If you go back for some reason and can't afford anything, I can suggest buying boots or starting to build them. The only warning is if you are against a heavy CC team, always build Merc Treds.

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Sheen: This is where you will star getting a lot of damage. You want to get this before you start completing any other items. The damage this adds is predictable and massive. A rule of thumb is if you have one throwing axes, every other axe you catch activate Sheen with either W or E if you need to. Don't use this for farming, save your mana for fights and harass.

Infinity Edge: This is going to be where a lot of damage comes from. I would, however, suggest that you wait till after Sheen to buy. While this is going to give you crit and extra crit damage, sheen does the same thing without the crit and is much more reliable.

Trinity Force: This is going to make Infinity Edge much stronger and turn Sheen into some sort of slaughter machine. The slow and health from Phage help you catch opponents and escape easier. The Attack Speed and crit from Zeal will help you keep your damage going. The added 50% to Sheen is what really wins me over here though. The +150% will turn your enemies to butter. After Trinity, you will find that you can focus down almost anyone in seconds. You just have to remember to proc every time you can.

The Bloodthirster: Sustain and damage. That's pretty much the only reason this is here and it's a great reason. Even if you die while you have this, the base damage and life steal are aggressive and threatening. You will find you will win crazy odds because of the sustain from this.

Berserker's Greaves: If you haven't gotten your boots yet, get them now. If you ever B without enough gold to buy anything else, buy these. I put this at the end of the build because the timing for getting these always changes.

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Last Whisper: Armor Pen and Damage. Standard AD Carry item. This will help to make you never have to look at the tab menu while still giving you a good amount of damage.

Guardian Angel: You will die. But then you will be alive again! Good armor and magic res. This is honestly a good item, and I do recommend it for very late game situations.

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Last Whisper: Damage and good Armor Penetration are something worth having late to very late game. I would suggest this as a standard and I would also take it before armor in most cases.

Guardian Angel: Magic Resistance and Armor make this item very attractive. It's passive, while it can be seen, will help to keep you in the fight for that little bit longer. I suggest keeping your Heal off cool down till you pop back up from the resurrection.

The Black Cleaver: Punish them for not getting enough armor. More damage then Last Whisper with enough armor pen to help get through a team that isn't stacking any.

Maw of Malmortius: A lot of casters on their team? Need a little more sustain? I would take this instead of Last Whisper if you are focusing casters and they have no armor or very little. I would very rarely take this over GA.

Banshee's Veil: I prefer Maw of Malmortius, but this is still a great item to cancel out a caster from ruining your day. The health and the Magic Resist are good and the passive is great, but the mana on Draven is useless.

Quicksilver Sash: Have to deal with an Alistar a Blitzcrank a Zyra a Lux and a Morgana? Not anymore! But honestly, against heavy CC I can say taking this over boots or maybe even Last Whisper can be a great way to stay alive. The only thing I have to put here, is if you are getting CC'ed, you might not be in the right place.

Atma's Impaler: I can suggest this over Last Whisper if you really need that armor, but in most cases I would stick to something else.

Phantom Dancer: No. I don't think Attack Speed helps Draven. His damage comes from his Spinning Axes and I think this would be a waist.

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You will kill all the things. You will die in every fight.

Skill Sequence and Explination

Spinning Axe

This is the key part of this build and should be maxed first. With out it, this build is worthless. Spinning axes will give you all your damage. Do your best to keep this up while farming or near enemies.

Blood Rush

You want this maxed second because this is where your attack speed and burst move speed is coming from. This is also what you are going to be using most to activate Sheen or Trinity Force.

Stand Aside

I think this is a very underrated skill shot, but it still should not be your priority. In a lot of cases I would say save this for when either someone is trying to run away or you, yourself, are trying to get away. I wouldn't use this as a poke but I can say it makes a nice initiation early and mid game.

Whirling Death

An awesome global ult that does a very nice amount of damage. In team fights, do not lead with this unless everyone is focusing or you have a nice line of enemies to throw this at. This is a great tool for picking up low health runners and "Securing Kills" from across the map.

The Art of Spinning Axes

So a few notes first on things you need to know about the Spinning Axe ability before I explain how I farm and engage with them.


(☼) The yellow landing beacon can be seen by both teams

(☼) The way you are facing and the whether you are moving or not determines where the next axe will land AFTER it bounces off an opponent

(☼) Axes are in the air for 1 second, or very close to, 1 second

(☼) Catching axes refreshes the buff and keeps the axe spinning to be bounced again

(☼) Some abilities cover up the landing beacon, such as Morgana's pool

(☼) Catching Axes refreshes Blood Rush from cool down

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When you start last hitting, activate Spinning Axe. When you throw your axe move away from the farm, either toward river or your tower. The amount of damage you do will make farming easy, even from level 1. While farming you should only use 1 spinning axe so that when you engage you can activate the 2nd and take advantage of sheen.


Stand behind your line of mage minions and look for low health minions on your side. When you see a minion that is low, move to throw an axe at the enemy champion, and as it is flying at them, move back to catch the axe away from him/her. Do not activate your second Spinning Axe unless you are going to be committing. If the enemy is a skill shot champion, you can still have time to juke before you catch your axe if you have your Blood Rush up before the axe lands. (in the future I will have video for this)

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When you go to commit to an engage, move to where you will be hitting your opponent AFTER the CC. For example, if Blitzcrank is going to grab the an enemy, move to about the full distance of an axe throw away from blitz. If you are the one engaging, try and hit with just the end of your Stand Aside to create as much distance between you and them. (in the future I will have video for this)

Once the fight begins there are more factors to take into consideration. If the opposing champion is using a lot of skill shots, try and move your axes to land in either a line parallel of the enemy, or so they land in a circle going around the enemy. Do everything you can to try and catch your axes as this is where your damage will be coming from. If they do NOT use a lot of skill shots, try and make as much distance between them and you. Running and kiting if you can. (in the future I will have video for this)

There will be times when you or your enemy decide that they are pretty well screwed. In the case of you being on the bad end of the stick you only have a few options, but they are really good.

The best way to leave a fight is to use your Stand Aside to slow and spread your enemies. You will then run using your Blood Rush and hopefully catch an axe on the way out. This is much easier to make happen then you might think and is why escaping with Draven is an option.

In the situation that your opponent has decided to disengage, pursue within reason. Catch your axes every throw since there is no punishment for it. Activate your 'W' when ever you loose your speed buff. Use your Stand Aside if he is closer then the last 1/5 or so of the skill shot, just inside of the actual column. Finally, if he gets away and you have nothing to catch him with, use Whirling Death if you think you can take the kill. (in the future I will have video for this)

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Keep behind EVERYONE! You are very squishy and should never be the one to start the engage. Don't bait and don't run in to look for the enemy. If your team is engaged while you are out of position, Blood Rush yourself to a safe place if you can. This sounds easy, but being in the right place takes time to find. Don't be afraid to back off and enter the team fight as it begins or even a second late. Just remember, though, you are the AD carry, and if you don't help, your team will loose.(in the future I will have video for this)

Stay out of the giant blob and try to focus on low health, high damage characters first. In general I would say try to kill the enemy AD carry, then the enemy AB champs. Off tanks and Tanks should be avoided and melee characters in general should not be near you. This is of course the ideal and will not happen every fight.

Use Whirling Death to hit as many people as you can. Remember that catching your axes is of the utmost importance now more then in lane. Every time you catch your axe you can activate your Blood Rush to enable Sheen or Trinity Force. This will be the hardest part of any battle since visibility will probably be low.(in the future I will have video for this)

In the result of you winning, do your best to pursue and kill any stragglers. This is the best time to push turrets and take other global objectives. If you are winning in kills/towers or this is the first team fight, you probably are at a bigger advantage and now the enemy team will be out to gank you harder but will also be afraid to engage your team. Take this as a good sign.

In the result of you loosing, try and disengage if you are still alive, or think about what you will being doing next if you are dead.

Keep in mind of what YOU could have done to help the fight and ask these questions:
Were you out of position? Did you target wrong? Was there some sort of miscommunication? Was there someone on the other team that focused you and killed you? Did you have a bad engage? Did you come in too late or even too early?
Always look at what you could have done better for the last team fight so that the next one you will excel!(in the future I will have video for this)

Conclusion

This guide is probably awful, but I just wanted to put out the way I play Draven because it's very fun for me. I hope you got something out of this and please read the whole thing before you comment or rate. Thank you :)

Hopefully I will have videos up and clean up these scarey walls of text....