Legendary Dragon Comp AD

This is a Fast 9 Legendary composition built around Elder Dragon as your main carry. The main idea is to play a very strong early and mid game, preserve as much HP and gold as possible, and rush Level 9 to build an expensive Legendary board.

Elder Dragon is your primary carry, while your second carry is highly flexible depending on your items and the units you find. With AD items, Draven is one of the strongest partners, while AP items can be used on champions such as Alune, Lux, or Soraka. This makes the composition very flexible during the Level 9 rolldown.

You should not think of this as a composition that has to be played exactly the same every game. Your Level 9 board should be built around the strongest 5-cost units you find, your completed items, and the traits you can activate.

Early Game

The most important thing is to play your strongest possible board and avoid unnecessary rerolls. If you have a strong opener, you want to play aggressively for a win streak, because every extra round you win gives you more resources to reach Level 9.

A Riftbeast opener is particularly strong for this line. You can use units such as Cinderling, Gromp, or Mama Beak as temporary carries while slamming your items early. Do not wait for perfect items — completed items can be transferred to your Legendary carries later.

For AD items, Guinsoo's Rageblade is an excellent early slam because it can eventually move onto Draven. For AP lines, Spear of Shojin or Blue Buff keeps your options open for units such as Alune or Lux. Tank items are also completely safe to build early because they can later be transferred to Maokai or Taric.

Mid Game

Your main objective during Stage 3 is to continue building your economy while maintaining enough board strength to avoid losing too much HP.

If you have an Economy or Leveling Augment, you can push your levels more aggressively. With a strong enough board, Level 7 around 3-5 can be considered, while weaker positions should prioritize economy and wait until Stage 4.

Do not spend large amounts of gold rerolling for temporary upgrades unless you are losing too much HP. Your gold is much more valuable when it is used to reach Level 9.

You can also take advantage of Wisps and other resource-generating units when they naturally fit your board. Wisps can provide XP, gold, rerolls, champions, or temporary combat power, which can significantly accelerate your Fast 9 plan. However, you should never destroy a strong board just to play a weaker unit for a potential resource reward.

Level 8

Once you reach Level 8, your priority is to stabilize without destroying your economy.

Add strong 4-cost units whenever you find them naturally. They can replace weaker units from your early game board and hold your final carry or tank items until you reach Level 9.

If your board is still strong, continue saving gold instead of rolling. If you start taking heavy damage, a small rolldown is completely fine — the goal is to preserve enough HP to safely reach Level 9 while keeping enough gold for the Legendary rolldown.

Late Game

Your main power spike comes from reaching Level 9 and immediately beginning your Legendary rolldown.

Ideally, you want to reach Level 9 around 5-2 with a meaningful amount of gold remaining. Depending on your economy and opener, having around 40–70+ gold for the rolldown is a strong target. Specifically recommends around 70+ gold for the rolldown when playing the dedicated Dragon 9 line.

Once you hit Level 9, start replacing the weakest units on your board with powerful Legendary champions. Your core can include Elder Dragon, Draven, Ivern, Kennen, Maokai, Taric, Amumu, and Sentinel, with the exact final board depending on your items and what you hit. Current data for the Riftbeast Elder Dragon board shows Elder Dragon and Draven as the main carries, with Maokai as a primary tank and several Legendary units filling out the board.

Elder Dragon wants strong AD and crit-based damage items. Current Set 18 data shows Infinity Edge and Deathblade performing particularly well, while Striker's Flail is also a strong Artifact option.

Draven is your preferred AD partner when you have physical damage items, with Guinsoo's Rageblade, Kraken's Fury, and Infinity Edge being a strong combination in the current data.

For your frontline, Maokai is an excellent holder for your tank items, with combinations such as Gargoyle Stoneplate, Warmog's Armor, and Spirit Visage performing well in current data.

The final board should always remain flexible. If your items are AP-oriented, you can replace the AD secondary carry with units such as Alune, Lux, or Soraka. If you have strong AD items, Draven, Ezreal, or Ashe can fill that role instead.