'League Of Legends': Riot Removes Chemtech Drake Due To Player Feedback

After five grueling months filled with invisible 5-man ganks, grassless jungles and useless Rengars, Riot has finally opted to remove the Chemtech Drake, Soul and Terrain from “League of Legends.”

The decision to remove the recently introduced Elder Dragon was backed up by community feedback gathered over time, according to Riot’s latest dev blog. While the Chemtech dragon idea was interesting, it was ultimately deemed to be too frustrating to play against, which violates Riot’s own rules regarding gameplay balance.

For those who are unaware, the Chemtech Drake passively amplifies the damage players deal against enemies with more health than them. This is enough to turn the tide against tanky champions or a team with a significant level advantage. Meanwhile, the Chemtech Dragon Soul grants all team members a Sion-style zombie revival passive.

These passives are the least of the fanbase’s worries. The Chemtech terrain effect covers chunks of the map with thick gas that grants all players inside Camouflage, making them invisible to normal wards. This effect drastically changed how cross-map plays are made, and since the gas zones removed grass, the Chemtech map essentially made Rengar useless in the jungle.

At the same time, the gas zones made certain junglers like Kayn, Zac and Lee Sin as well as other champions with wall-hopping mechanics even more oppressive in the mid-game stage.

In the blog post, Riot acknowledged how game-breaking the Chemtech Drake and all of its subsequent effects were in actual matches. The dragon’s passive effect not only skewed the battle’s favor heavily against high-health champions, but the way the dragon changed the map was also much too difficult to deal with.

The current iteration of the Chemtech Drake will be removed from the game, but the Summoner’s Rift team will work on a new version of the dragon that isn’t as obnoxious to play against.

The team didn’t mention when this new dragon will be released, but based on release patterns from the past few years, it’s likely that the dragon will be implemented by the mid-season patch at the earliest or by the start of the next season at the latest.