League of Legends reveals upcoming changes to Elemental Drakes, more

Earlier today, Riot Games released a broadcast diving deep into the future of League of Legends. With sneak peeks of a new champion, trading card game, mobile game, and much more, fans had plenty to get excited about. One highlight of the tenth-anniversary announcements includes a revamped map and upgraded Elemental Drakes.

The drakes are neutral enemies that spawn every five minutes at the southern part of Summoner’s Rift. Both teams fight to win over the buffs these drakes give off, which represent four elements – fire, water, earth, and wind. Defeating these drakes grants your entire team an elemental advantage, which could grant you extra strength, speed, or other boons.

Riot has decided that playing League Of Legends would be more interesting if these drakes were given a bigger role in the game. As described on the official Riot website:

Rise of the Elements will bring [Summoner’s Rift] to life as the primal magic of the Elemental Drakes changes the landscape each game.

Lead Gameplay Producer Jessica Nam gave in-depth details as to how they plan to execute these changes:

Infernal Drake

The Infernal Drake is a firey, red dragon considered by most players to be the most powerful of the bunch. It currently provides a raw power boost that gives every player on the team 8/16/24% increased ability power and attack damage. The update will allow Infernal to create new pathways by burning through buff camps and burning brushes. The Infernal Drake’s dragon pit will also be visually updated to match the firey experience.

Ocean Drake

Next is the Ocean Drake, known to be a favorite drake amongst mages due to its mana regeneration buff. This dragon restores missing health and mana over 5 seconds, as long as an enemy has not damaged it in the last 8 seconds. The new Ocean Drake brings life to the map as it grows fresh brush around the dragon pit. These extra brushes can give Junglers an easier time. Another add-on is the sprouting of Honeyfruit plants being available in each jungle quadrant. This edible plant is currently seen in between rivers and is known for its healing properties.

Cloud Drake

The Cloud Drake is another useful drake, as it gives bonus movement speed while out of combat. The new changes will spawn air currents through jungle pathways and the dragon pit. This will give the buffed team a speed boost. This will act as a fight or a flight advantage.

Mountain Drake

The Mountain Drake grants additional and true damage to epic monsters and turrets. The buffed team also has an easier time defeating Baron. Riot explains the new Mountain Drake will cause a seismic shift throughout the map, creating new rocks and walls. This gives players a chance to explore new pathways and challenge enemies in ways they haven’t been able to in the past.

Elder Dragon

Additionally, Riot has changed the Elder Dragon. This dragon is considered one of the most important objectives in late-game. It currently gives an immense buff to the team that defeats it. This dragon can be tough to face, and it is recommended that teams consider this as an important, game-saving objective. Riot went into detail on the update regarding Elder Dragon:

“If Elder’s burn damage affects a low-health enemy champion, they’ll be consumed by a searing Elder Immolation—killing them instantly!”

Elemental Buffs and Dragon Souls

Aside from the Elemental Dragon map changes, Riot decided to give them all separate buffs and “Dragon Souls.” Their buffs are known as Infernal Might, Oceanic Will, Cloudbringer’s Grace, and Mountainous Vigor. Each one offers different features such as percentage increase of AD and AP, missing health regeneration, cooldown reduction, and armor increase.

The Dragon Souls addition came along with the buff update: “When a team kills their fourth Elemental Drake, instead of stacking their elemental buff, they’ll gain a powerful Dragon Soul from the dominant dragon. Dragon Souls persist through death and last the remainder of the game.”

All of these changes arrive hand-in-hand with other fun and exciting features. Stay in touch with Daily Esports as we continue to update you on the details of the League of Legends anniversary broadcast.