In January 2022, Riot Games made the decision to disable Chemtech Drake entirely in League of Legends, including its Soul and Terrain, because it was “too frustrating to play with, especially if you’re on the losing team.”
Nearly a year later, the game developers are reintroducing the green dragon for Preseason 2023, with a new-and-improved design.
Besides getting a new drake, new buffs, and new terrain, this particular drake goes as far as altering the plants in the jungle with different effects. One particular class of champions will benefit a lot from the dragon’s buff and altered plants — supports.
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Chemtech Drake returns with new buffs and terrain effects
Chemtech Drake
- Chemtech Drake: When the Chemtech Drake is below half health it gains 33% damage resistance and deals 50% more damage. This drake will deal 100% total AD + 4% of its target’s health as physical damage with each attack.
- Chemtech Buff: When your team kills a Chemtech Drake they will gain a stacking buff that grants 5% Tenacity and 5% Healing and Shielding power
- Chemtech Soul: Upon receiving the Chemtech Soul, players will receive a buff that gives them 10% damage resistance and 10% more damage while below 50% health
Chemtech Rift
- Stim Fruits: Honeyfruits will upgrade into Stim Fruits and provide the usual heal plus a bonus shield in addition to no longer slowing champions that consume it
- Blast Cones: Blast Cones will now blast units within their range twice as far when they explode
- Firelight Bloom: Scryer’s Bloom will upgrade into Firelight’s Bloom which will reveal a small area around the plant when broken in addition to the usual cone in the opposite direction it was broken from. Allies tagged will also gain movement speed towards that direction for a short duration, and enemy wards revealed will be taken to 1 health.
The most valuable aspect is the Chemtech Buff, which grants 5% healing and shielding power, and makes all enchanter supports sit up.
“This is basically Infernal Soul for enchanters,” Nick “LS” De Cesare said in his patch 12.22 rundown. “Enchanters that go Redemption, Mikael’s… This is a massive steroid for them.”
He also added that because enchanters like Soraka, Karma, Lulu, and Janna don’t get high AP ratios, Infernal Drake doesn’t bolster them as much compared to the new Chemtech Drake.
In the most ideal scenario, enchanter supports would benefit the most from a combination of Infernal Drake, Ocean Drake, and finally, Chemtech Drake.
Infernal grants a percentage of ability power, which bolsters their shields and heals that scale off AP. Ocean Drake restores a percentage of missing health every five seconds to all teammates, increasing everyone’s survivability, and alleviating the support’s job slightly.
Finally, Chemtech Drake would boost their heals and shields, making this the best dragon combination for enchanters.
Supports in general would also appreciate the upgraded Scryer’s Bloom, called Firelight’s Bloom, which reveals an additional area around it on top of the cone. It grants allies hit extra movement speed and all wards in the area to drop to one health, which makes vision control a little more convenient.
Learn more about ARAM 2023 changes that affect how you play this game mode.
READ MORE: You’ll have to completely change the way you play ARAM in 2023
