Champion Guide

Draven Guide

By LoLSuggest

ADC

Draven is an aggressive lane-bully marksman built around catching his Spinning Axes, which keep his attacks empowered and reset Blood Rush. League of Draven stores Adoration from caught axes and kills, and he cashes it in as bonus gold when he scores a takedown, so every early kill snowballs. Stand Aside knocks enemies away and stops dashes, and Whirling Death is a global ultimate for finishing or starting fights.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Draven build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Start Doran's Bow and a Health Potion, or a Long Sword with three potions against poke-heavy lanes like Xerath or Ziggs; a Serrated Dirk is the ideal first back. Hubris is the first item every game for its AD and lifesteal, followed by Hexoptics C44 and Gluttonous Greaves. Your third item is Lord Dominik's Regards against armour or Mortal Reminder against heavy healing, and Infinity Edge comes once you reach 50 percent crit. Essence Reaver or Rapid Firecannon come next, with Guardian Angel against assassins, Edge of Night against single crowd-control spells, Mercurial Scimitar against heavy crowd control and Frozen Heart against other marksmen. Run Lethal Tempo with Triumph, Legend: Bloodline and Cut Down, plus Cash Back and Triple Tonic. Take Flash with Barrier, or Cleanse against hard crowd control. Max Q, then W, then E.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

One of the strongest early lanes among marksmen, with huge damage in all-ins.
League of Draven turns kills into bonus gold, so leads snowball quickly.
Stand Aside can interrupt dashes, such as Tristana's Rocket Jump, and slows enemies trying to escape.

Weaknesses

He needs to catch his axes to keep his damage up, which can pull him into bad positions.
Long-range lanes such as Caitlyn or Varus with crowd control can keep him from all-ins.
Falling behind early hurts more than on most marksmen, because his plan is to snowball.

Laning Phase

Draven wants to fight early: trade whenever you can keep catching axes, and all-in when key enemy cooldowns are down. Against Caitlyn, bait out her net and run her down while it is on cooldown; against Senna, wait until her shroud is down; against Tristana, play around her bomb and cancel her jump with Stand Aside. Do not auto into Yasuo's Wind Wall while you have axes spinning. Against poke lanes, avoid taking damage in the first three levels so you can trade properly later.

Mid & Late Game

Keep snowballing after laning: group with your support and jungler, take towers and dragons, and use Whirling Death to finish low targets anywhere on the map. Hubris and kills keep your damage climbing, but stay behind your frontline in teamfights, because catching axes in a dangerous spot is how Draven dies. Guardian Angel or Edge of Night let you play more aggressively once the enemy has assassins.

Key Tips

Each caught axe resets Blood Rush's cooldown, so keep catching them to stay fast.
Stand Aside interrupts dashes and slows, which makes it both an escape and a chase tool.
Whirling Death returns to you after hitting a champion, dealing damage twice on the way.
Cash in Adoration stacks with a takedown; dying while you hold a lot of them gives the enemy a bigger bounty.

Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.