New League of Legends Character: Draven

Ranged AD carries are by no means short in quantity, but Draven, League of Legend‘s newest hero, employs high skill abilities and upkeep with Spinning Axe that define his placement in ranked matches.

Draven’s passive and first two active abilities work in conjunction with each other to provide most of the damage of this champion.  Wicked Blades, Draven’s passive, adds a bleed effect to his standard attack when using Spinning Axe or upon critical hit.  Because of this, Spinning Axe’s uptime should be maximized.  Spinning Axe is a buff on Draven which causes attacks to do extra damage to minions and champions.  The power of Spinning Axe is that it may be refreshed by positioning the champion inside the axe’s drop location.  If the player can keep the Spinning Axe buff for ten seconds, a second Spinning Axe can be summoned to ensure that every auto-attack gains extra damage and a bleed effect.  Blood Rush provides a short term attack speed and movement speed bonus upon activation, and can be recast immediately after catching a Spinning Axe.

The key to successfully continuing your Spinning Axes as Draven is to actively think about the movement you want to take as you use your attack.  The drop circle of Spinning Axes is based off of the active motion of the champion.  That is, if your champion is moving in a direction, the location of the circle will be placed forward in that direction.  Because of this, Draven will have troubles keeping damage up and finishing any ganks that juke in the jungle or take advantage of creep to make a getaway.

Draven’s E and ultimate abilities help curb some of this weakness, however.  Stand Aside cancels channeled skills, slows, and moves enemies to either side of this targeted skill. By getting enemy minions out of the way, finishing off a target in lane becomes far easier, being able to continue Spinning Axe more easily.  If your attempted kill jukes the opposite direction, is too far ahead of you, or you’re in the absolute wrong position to assist during a team fight, Whirling Death provides.  The attack clears through every opponent (reducing with each hit) to its target location anywhere on the map, and then returns back to Draven for a second round of damage.  The damage is not particularly high on its own, but Whirling Death provides a great kill opportunity when you’re in a pinch or your opponent believes they are safely protected under their tower.

 

So far, Draven is looking like a solid ranged AD carry, requiring a bit of technical skill and strategy to maximize the incredible damage potential available in the character.  What has your experience with Draven looked like so far?  Let us know in the comments below!