Games have inevitably gotten lengthier ever since patch 12.10’s Durability Update went live and buffed up champions all over. Now, in patch 12.14, changes in Drakes will make the game may become even longer.
The early game has been greatly slowed down because assassins and mages can no longer one-shot weak champions on the opposing team. Zeri, Gangplank, Azir, and Corki, who scale aggressively into the late game, are some of the champions that are now most frequently chosen in pro play in the major regions.
Riot Games noted in the patch notes that players are “more comfortable relinquishing early objectives in order to fulfill their late game victory conditions,” indicating that they are aware of the meta effects of the game-changing patch.
The game’s creators raised drake prizes in this version to encourage players to challenge the early-game tasks and raise their priority. Every single dragon benefit has been increased by an average of 50%. In the same vein, the squad that killed Rift Herald will receive 200 local gold.
Contents
Changes to all dragons
- Percent current health damage on attacks decreased from 7% to 5%
- Health pre-rift transformation increased from 2650 (+240 per level) to 3450 (+380 per level)
- Health post-rift transformation increased from 4350 (+240 per level) to 6950 (+380 per level)
Cloud Drake
- Attack damage decreased from 50 to 35
- Cloud slayer buff increased from 3.5% Slow Resist and Out-of-Combat Movespeed to 7% Slow Resist and Out-of-Combat Movespeed
- Cloud Soul dragon slayer buff increased from 10% bonus move speed and 50% bonus move speed for 6 seconds after casting Ultimate to 15% bonus move speed and 50% bonus move speed for 6 seconds after casting Ultimate
Hextech Drake
- Attack damage decreased from 66.7 to 47
- Hextech dragon slayer buff increased from 6% attack speed and 6 Ability Haste to 9% attack speed and 9 Ability Haste
Infernal Drake
- Attack damage decreased from 100 to 70
- Infernal dragon slayer buff increased from 4% bonus attack damage and ability power to 6% bonus attack damage and ability power
Mountain Drake
- Attack damage decreased from 150 to 105
- Mountain dragon slayer buff increased from 6% bonus armor and magic resist to 9% bonus armor and magic resist
Ocean Drake
- Attack damage decreased from 100 to 70
- Ocean dragon slayer buff increased from 2% missing health per 5 seconds to 3% missing health per 5 seconds
Elder Dragon
Health increased from 6400 (+180 per minute) to 6400 (+290 per minute)
All elemental drakes’ attack damage and attack damage as a percentage of current health has been greatly decreased.
Additionally, their bonuses have been greatly increased. The most valuable item on the Rift, Infernal, now gives a six percent benefit to attack damage and ability power instead of a four percent bonus.
Tank-heavy team compositions may find it particularly difficult to kill due to Mountain’s boost, which now grants nine percent additional armor and magic resist instead of just six percent.
However, Cloud, who offers a staggering seven percent slow resist and out-of-combat move speed, is arguably the most powerful drake right now. The day when Cloud and Cloud Soul were disregarded is over. It is the only dragon whose soul received a buff as well, giving it a 15 percent move speed bonus and a 50 percent move speed bonus for six seconds after using your ultimate.
Riot increased the base health and health growth per level of all dragons to make them tankier in order to balance these benefits.
While Infernal and Mountain Drakes are undeniably helpful and boost to Cloud Drake are sufficient to transform Hecarim into a unicorn, their spawn is still random. There is no way to predict which drakes or Souls will be present on Summoner’s Rift in advance, making it impossible to put up a team composition that maximizes their use.
To effectively utilize these benefits, solo queue teams, ranked flex teams, and pro teams will all still require a little bit of luck.
Read the full patch 12.14 preview here.