EPT![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120605203050/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/b/bd/Draven_SoulReaverSkin.jpg/763px-Draven_SoulReaverSkin.jpg)
Draven, The Glorious Executioner
Disclaimer:
Draven is currently by far the most difficult champion in the game. You aren't going to be able to master him in just a couple of matches.
Skills:
Passive:
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120601020113/leagueoflegends/images/3/34/WickedBlades.jpg)
Wicked Blades (Innate): Draven's critical strikes deal 30 + (4 × level) bonus physical damage over 4 seconds. Spinning Axe also causes this effect even if it does not critically strike.The passive is alright, but nothing spectacular. It's mainly going to boost your earlygame harrass with Spinning Axe. The proc by crit is fairly redundant because Spinning Axes should be able to keep is up 100% of the time anyway, but it's nice if you happen to land a crit while Spinning Axe is on cooldown, for instance. A built-in mini ignite, allows you to pick up kills that you thought you had missed.
An interesting thing to note is that this skill doesn't benefit from additional damage, so this means that Armor Penetration runes should be the most beneficial for Draven, as long as you can lasthit properly without the additional damage.
Q:
![[image loading]](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120601020127/leagueoflegends/images/c/cd/SpinningAxe.jpg)
Spinning Axe (Active): Draven's next attack will deal bonus physical damage. The bonus is equal to a percentage of his total attack damage.This axe will ricochet off the target high up into the air. So long as Draven catches it, Spinning Axe will keep applying to his next attack.
Cooldown permitting, Draven can have up to two Spinning Axes readied at once.
Cost: 45 mana
Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 seconds
Bonus Physical Damage: 45 / 55 / 65 / 75 / 85 % of attack damage
Draven's trademark skill. It just is an all around amazing skill. You are going to be able to harrass the opposition starting from level one, and along with your passive, you are one of the most damaging AD carries at level one. This is an auto attack enhancer, but it rather uniquely doesn't reset your auto attack timer. After this attack hits the enemy, the blade will bounce off them, and catching it gives you another axe to throw.
Mastering this skill is absolutely crucial to becoming a better Draven player. I'll get more in depth later on in the guide, but it's important to note that the axe will lead your movement, meaning that in most situations catching the axe is quite natural. Also, using this in conjunction with Blood Rush makes Draven an amazing chaser and kiter.
W:
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120601020141/leagueoflegends/images/d/d1/BloodRush.jpg)
Blood Rush (Active): Draven gains increased movement speed for 1.5 seconds and increased attack speed for 3 seconds. The movement speed bonus decreases rapidly over its duration.Catching a Spinning Axe will refresh Blood Rush's cooldown.
Cost: 40 mana
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Bonus Movement Speed: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%
Bonus Attack Speed: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
An important thing to note is that the movespeed isn't constant. It rapidly decreases over the 1.5 second duration. It only reaches the full movespeed bonus right at the beginning of the move, and rapidly decreases to your normal movespeed by the end of the duration.
By itself, this skill is rather lackluster. A mediocre attack speed bonus that lasts for a short time, and a movement speed bonus that lasts for an incredibly short time, even decreasing during the tiny duration. However, the main selling point of this skill is the fact that catching a Spinning Axe refreshes its cooldown. This enables a skilled Draven player to kite and chase seemingly endlessly, and is an absolutely crucial skill to master.
E:
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120601020151/leagueoflegends/images/a/ae/StandAside.jpgStand Aside (Active): Draven throws his axes, dealing physical damage to targets hit and knocking them aside. Targets hit are slowed for 2 seconds.
Cost: 70 mana
Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 seconds
Physical Damage: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+0.5 per bonus attack damage)
Slow: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
The last of the normal skills of Draven is certainly not the worst. Even though on the surface the skill looks rather mediocre, in reality it's an amazing skill and one of the best normal skills an AD carry has in the entire game.
Draven shoots out a blade that knocks enemies to the sides, effectively interrupting channels and stunning them for nearly a second, after which they are also slowed for 2 seconds. This is an amazing skill. You can use it to outrange a Galio ulti, to stop a Katarina ulti or a Nunu ulti, to check brushes, to slow down enemies for a chase, to save allies, and so on. The skill deals some damage, but that is definitely not the main point of the move. However, as Draven doesn't really use any mana during laning, this skill is very good to use to lasthit some minions if you are geting zoned. This skill, again, is very important to master and has a lot of potential.
R:
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120601020202/leagueoflegends/images/d/d9/WhirlingDeath.jpg)
Whirling Death (Active): Draven hurls two massive axes to deal physical damage to each unit struck.Whirling Death slowly reverses direction and returns to Draven after striking an enemy champions. Draven may also activate this ability while the axes are in flight to cause it to return early. Whirling Death deals 8% less damage for each unit hit, down to a minimum of 40%. The damage reduction resets when the axes reverse direction.
Cost: 120 mana
Range: Global
Cooldown: 110 / 100 / 90 seconds
Physical Damage (one hit): 175 / 275 / 375 (+1.1 per bonus attack damage)
Maximum Physical Damage (single target): 350 / 550 / 750 (+2.2 per bonus attack damage)
Minimum Physical Damage (one hit): 70 / 110 / 150 (+0.44 per bonus attack damage)
Minimum Phyiscal Damage (two hits): 140 / 220 / 300 (+0.88 per bonus attack damage)
Draven's ultimate. It's a global ultimate like Ezreal's, with a couple of differences. First off, after reaching its destination it returns to Draven, hitting enemies for a second time. Second, it's always going to return when it hits an enemy champion or the edge of the map, and Draven can also return it whenever he pleases by pressing the skill button again.
Even though on paper it doesn't seem all that great, and perhaps after trying it our for the first few times it still doesn't feel that great, it still is an awesome ultimate. First off, it has almost no cast time, which is a huge advantage in comparison to Ezreal's ultimate. Second, it deals quite a bit of damage, and can be used to snipe escaping foes. Third, it's amazing for farming and seems to clear entire waves far better than Ezreal's ultimate. Most importantly, though, the low cast time makes it usable as a finisher move in your normal killing combo, because the cast time is very low. Firing this after using Stand Aside's slow and reactivating it at the right time can easily guarantee an undodgeable double hit for a lot of burst damage.
Runes:
The runes are going to be rather standard for an AD carry:
You're going to want 9 flat armor Seals and 9 flat magic resist or 9 magic resist per level Glyphs(Depending on opposing lane). The marks and quints are slightly trickier, though. You can decide to go with flat AD marks and Quints for easier lasthitting, which is a fine choice. However, if you are confident in your ability to lasthit with a slightly lower damage, it might be worthwhile to go with APen marks and AD quints, or even APen quints as well. The reason for this is that your passive scales with APen but not AD, and the difference can be significant while harrassing in lane. Movespeed quints might also be worth considering for the easier chasing and kiting. It's not a huge deal either way, though.
Summoner Spells:
![[image loading]](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111115121118/leagueoflegends/images/7/74/Flash.png)
Flash:I believe that Flash is absolutely mandatory on Draven. He has no proper escape moves, and he's going to get dived. There is no alternative.
As for the second summoner spell, I'd go with one of:
![[image loading]](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111115121207/leagueoflegends/images/9/95/Cleanse.png)
Cleanse:My preferred summoner for Draven. He's got no real escape and hence being able to Cleanse and build some distance in between you and your foe is going to be incredibly useful. In addition, useful against Exhaust during laning, as nearly every support is carrying it.
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111115121117/leagueoflegends/images/6/6e/Heal.png)
Heal:Heal is very good in the laning, and also has added utility with healbaiting. Limited use in teambattles because of frequent ignites, but is probably the strongest summoner for laning and healbaits are just amazing.
![[image loading]](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111115121117/leagueoflegends/images/f/f4/Ignite.png)
Ignite:This is for laning with an offensive support like Alistar against someone like Soraka, where you want to go for the kills and want to also reduce the healing. However, your lategame is going to be more vulnerable and you really want to pick up a couple of early kills when going this route.
Masteries:
I personally use the standard 21-9-0 ranged AD mastery setup with all the left side offensive masteries and armor, improved defensive summoner, and the health masteries. 21-0-9 is also a good option, and it's up to your personal preference.
Skill Order
I have experimented with a lot of different variations, and this is what has worked the best for me. However, the Champion is still rather fresh, and it's possible that there is a better skill order to follow:
1. Q
2. W
3. E
-> R > Q > E > W
The reason for getting one of each skills at the beginning is simple. At level one, you want to harrass with your Q. At level 2, you want to be able to use your chasing abilities to dish out some heavy harrass. Finally, at level 3 you want your E because it really helps for last hitting and chasing and escaping and is far more crucial to get than an extra 10% of damage for your Q.
After that, you max out Q first because it's your primary source of damage, and E second. I feel that level 1 W is enough for most purposes, because again you don't need a ton of attack speed and because the increased damage and especially the increased slow and the decreased cooldown on E just are really nice. Ulti is taken whenever possible, obviously.
However, this might not be optimal, so feel free to experiment.
Items:
First of all:
Too much attack speed is a waste on Draven. In my opinion, you only need enough attack speed to comfortably throw two blades at a time. There's no time to fit in an attack in between or it's either going to slow the combo down or require you to double your attack speed, which just isn't possible. In my opinion, a Zeal and the buff from your W is enough.
With that said, the build I personally prefer most of the time is:
Boots + 3 hp pots
Doran, Berzerker Grieves (Doran, Vamp Scepter if cannot afford BF right away, but Zerkers before either of these), BF Sword (Vamp Scepter if not earlier), The Bloodthirster -> Zeal -> Infinity Edge -> Last Whisper -> Guardian Angel -> Trinity Force
The reasoning for this build: BT and IE add a lot of damage to your abilities and make Q hit like a truck, while with the Zeal you have the helpful movespeed, more crit for IE, and enough attack speed to use your Q as comfortably as possible. Last Whisper can be gotten before IE if people are stacking armor. GA can be replaced with QSS if there's only a single CC you absolutely must avoid at all costs(Urgot swap). Trinity Force vs PD comes down to a simple fact: After PD's MS nerf, they both give the same movespeed, and so the Trinity Force just offers far more than the Phantom Dancer. If the enemies aren't building any armor or you are completely stomping the enemy team, you can go Trinity Force before Last Whisper. However, Last Whisper is an extremely crucial item for Draven because of it affecting all of his abilities, and cannot be delayed for too long.
Mechanics and Control:
+ Show Spoiler +
Spinning Axe:
This is the most important mechanic to master. The axe is going to lead you to whatever direction you are going to at the moment you hit your target. If you are standing still, it will either bounce directly at you or very close to you. If you are walking forward, it will bounce forward so that if you continue walking forward continuously you are going to catch it.
Early harrassing:
The most simple harrass Draven can do with the Spinning Axe. First of all, you want to have your Spinning Axe ready to go. You can keep it up by using it to lasthit, or you can just activate it as you are about to attack. Then, you will attack the opponent and move backwards before hitting them, running to safety and catching the axe. After this you can continue to lasthit with it, or continue harrassing in the same way. Even at level one you will be dealing over 100 damage per hit, and everyone will be hard pressed to trade with you, so take advantage of it(Unless you're against something like Alistar that can just kill you).
Simple chasing:
So let's assume that your opposing support has went back to base, and the carry is alone. How to take advantage of the situation?
You want to first activate the Spinning Axe(It's usually a good idea to have it active beforehand by using it to lasthit), use Blood Rush if necessary to get close enough to the opponent, and then attack the opponent. Move forward before the attack hits the opponent and after it lands, click the indicator for where the blade will land. After you catch it, activate Blood Rush again and attack the enemy with another Spinning Axe. You can begin this starting from level 2, and if they have no means of disabling you or getting to the safety of a turret or building a large enough gap(Flash), then they are going to die to this simple combo.
Intermediate chasing:
In order to do this comfortably, you want at least 25% bonus attack speed(Berzerker's Greaves). This is basically the same thing as above, except after the first Spinning Axe, you run forward until your attack timer is up, auto attack once, then move forward to the indicator, pick the Spinning Axe up, and use it and Blood Rush and repeat. This allows you to fit in an additional attack in between the Spinning Axes, adding quite a bit of damage. It might take a while getting used to, but it's very important in order to grab some quick kills when the situation arises.
Advanced chasing:
This requires you to have two Spinning Axes active. A simple way to achieve this is to first use a Spinning Axe to assist with your last hitting, and as you are ready to begin the onslaught, activate the second Axe. You are going to be basically doing the exact same thing as with the intermediate chasing, except you will need to make absolutely sure that you are moving towards the enemy every time a Spinning Axe hits the enemy, and that you pick them all up. It should naturally go in such a way that you keep picking them up, and continuously attacking your opponent with Spinning Axes, activating Blood Rush after every other catch. The damage is surprisingly high, and you might kill the opposing ranged carry in as few as 5 attacks if you get the opportunity.
Whenever possible, you should always use the advanced method of chasing. However, sometimes you just don't have the possibility of having a second axe ready, so one of the otheres will have to do.
WORK IN PROGRESS
