An expert guide to climbing with Draconic in TFT: Reckoning

With the release of Teamfight Tactics: Reckoning, players have quickly found the new “fun” comp of the set. Many players loved the gift giving Space-Pirates and Fortune comps from previous sets. But, in TFT: Reckoning, instead of getting bags, the Draconic trait gives eggs. This comp isn’t just for fun, however. It’s one of the strongest comps in the entire game. In fact, the comp not only gives free units; it also gives free wins.

In this guide, Upcomer’s TFT expert and 12-time Master ranked player Warren Younger gives players everything they need to know to climb up the ranked ladder with the most fun comp in the game.

Overview: Win Condition and how to play

The idea behind this comp is very simple: get as many Draconic units to three-star as possible and carry through Ashe and Heimerdinger. These two, if itemized properly, do the heavy lifting while the rest of the three-star Draconic units create a strong supporting cast of walls and CC. This buys enough time for Ashe and Heimerdinger to ramp up. This comp has a lot of flexibility outside of the Draconic unit core, so late game players can throw in ample strong four and five cost units to overwhelm opponents. Thanks to the Draconic trait, getting to this point is fairly easy.

Due to the eggs that are given to a player after each round, the amount of gold generated off of the eggs through units allows a player to snowball out of control. Instead of rolling for upgrades, the game simply gives players the upgrades for free over time. Reaching Level 8 or 9 with high econ and high HP allows Draconic players to coast to free wins by simply having more gold to spend in the late game than everyone else.

The real game ender comes in the form of having all five Draconic champions on a player’s team at the same time. This turns the regular Draconic eggs into golden eggs. These “hatch rare loot” and some of the loot includes item components, Neeko’s Helps and a lot of gold. If players can get this online early, the game is over as no other player will be able to match the tempo. 

It is not recommended that players pursue this comp without getting at least three different Draconic units in Stage 2. The earlier a player gets the Draconic bonus active, the better. If a player cant get three Draconic units by the end of the Stage 2 carousel, they should play a different comp. If a player does get three different Draconic units by this time, its a good idea to force the comp.

Early game

When it comes to item priority on the carousel, players should look at starting with a Bow or a Sword. Bow and Sword are vital to both Heimerdinger and Ashe. Ashe ideally wants a combination of damage and attack speed. Items like Deathblade, Bloodthirster, Giantslayer and Infinity Edge are all good sword items on Ashe. Items like Rageblade and Hurricane are also ideal on Ashe. Heimerdinger already comes packed with high attack damage; he needs attack speed and mana generation so that he can cast his very powerful AoE nuke, which also doubles as a pseudo morellos. Items like Spear of Shojin and Rageblade are strong items for Heimerdinger. Because of these, Sword and Bows are priority but other components, like Tear and Glove, are not bad resources either. 

After the opening carousel, players should obviously pick up any Udyr’s that show up in their opening shop. Udyr is the lone Tier 1 Draconic unit and will be needed to activate the trait early on. Sett, a two-cost Draconic Brawler, is the other unit that will be needed to play the comp, as he is the second most likely unit after Udyr to show up in the shop.

The biggest indicator that the Draconic comp can be played is whether a player receives a blue orb, during the PvE minion round, that contains an Ashe or a Zyra. Without this orb, players will rarely be able to play this comp effectively. By the time Ashe or Zyra appear in a players shop, it would already be too late to take advantage. Unless a player gets lucky with a Zyra or an Ashe, in the Level 5 shop post stage two carousel, they are going to need one to appear sooner.

Luckily, if a player has the trinity of Udyr, Sett and Ashe/Zyra at Stage 2-1, the game becomes much easier. If a player finds Zyra instead of Ashe for their three-cost Draconic carry, she can hold the Heimerdinger items. Spear of Shojin and Rageblade are fantastic on her as well. Zyra pairs well with another spellweaver like Brand, Viktor or Ziggs early on. Ashe can pair well with another ranger, like Varus or Vayne. 

Udyr and Sett provide a good front line. However, putting in another brawler to beef up the front line can be beneficial. Units like Gragas and Warwick complement Sett well.

A Level 4 board should consist of three Draconic units and any two-star unit a player finds, whether it be a tank like Gragas or a damage dealer like Vayne. The goal here is to simply play the strongest board. Players should level aggressively to hit Level 7 and 8 as fast as possible and push win streaks. Leveling to four on Stage 2-1 and leveling to five on Stage 2-5 are optimal.

Mid-game

After the Krugs PvE round, players should look to push their advantage through leveling. At Stage 3-2, players should level to six and start filling in gaps. At this point in the game, a player may have two-star versions of Zyra, Ashe, Sett and Udyr. It’s not necessary to keep all four of them to keep the bonus active. At this point in the game, players should probably drop Udyr and run the Zyra/Ashe/Sett trinity. This is when players will start to become stronger. Ashe should have an item or two already, so it’s important to maximize her safety, as well as enable her to deal out the damage she needs to carry fights.

For the safety aspect, players can go deep into the Brawler trait to build a wall around Ashe. A core of Warwick, Gragas, Nunu and Sett, along with Ashe and Zyra, makes a formidable Level 6 board. If Ashe isn’t dealing damage fast enough, consider adding in the ranger bonus. A Level 6 board of Ashe, Zyra, Vayne, Sett and two tanks is also strong at this point in the game.

If a player started with Zyra, they should look to start building around Ashe. Zyra can still be a major part of the comp, especially if she is itemized. However, Ashe is the star of the show. If Zyra’s spellweaver partner is an upgraded two star like Brand or Viktor, it’s fine to keep them in the comp. 

After the Stage 3 carousel, players should consider leveling to seven for the possibility of high rolling a Heimerdinger. The Draconic eggs will only hatch into units that can be obtained based on a player’s level. This means that a Heimerdinger will never hatch from an egg while at Level 6. But, he can hatch one at Level 7, as five cost units can’t be obtained until that point. If players are still win streaking, or can hit Level 7 and maintain 30 or more gold, they should level to seven at Stage 3-5.

At Level 7, players should start to look towards their end game comp. Units like Ivern, or any strong front line unit like Taric or Rell, could be thrown at this time. If none of those units are showing up, throwing in an additional copy of a draconic unit is also okay. At this stage, it’s important to remain strong enough to not get blown out. It’s fine to lose rounds as long as they are not complete stomps. 

Late game

Stage four is the beginning of the end. If a player leveled to seven at Stage 3-5, they should look to level to eight sometime during Stage 4. Once a player hits Level 8, the Draconic comp hits an insane power spike. Typically, players will level to eight at Stage 4-5. But, they should level to eight when they have around 30 gold to spend after leveling up. At this point, players should roll down their gold until they hit Heimerdinger.  Also, they should stay at Level 8 until they hit important upgrades like Ashe three-star and Ivern two-star. Players should also look to pick up a Volibear as well.

Player should add Ivern and Volibear into the comp due to their synergy with Heimerdinger. In addition to being a Draconic, Heimerdinger comes with the Renewer trait. This gives Heimer additional health and mana regen, but he needs another unit with the trait to get this bonus. Ivern is also a renewer and doubles as an additional tank and CC unit. Ivern has the Revenant trait, which revives him if he dies in combat. Volibear is also a Revenant, making the Heimerdinger/Ivern/Volibear combo the best in the game.

Players should stay at Level 8 until they hit all of their four cost and lower units. It’s perfectly fine to only have a single Heimerdinger and Volibear at Level 8, however. In fact, if the only non-upgraded units a player has is their five-cost, they should stop rolling and look to push to Level 9. Rolling at Level 8 for two-star five cost units is a waste of gold. Its unlikely that they will find the upgrades at such a low chance. However, a player shouldn’t save gold to level to nine without the rest of the comp being upgraded. In the late game, every player is extremely strong. Playing greedy for Level 9, without having strong upgrades, will turn a free top two into a bottom four. 

If players are having trouble finding the five cost units like Kindred, Volibear and Heimerdinger, they should look to find replacements that can do their jobs. Vel Koz can hold Heimerdinger items well. If a Zyra was previously holding the Heimerdinger items, players can sell it and put in a new Zyra. Ploayers should not three star a Zyra while she is holding Heimer items. Kindred can be replaced by another ranger like Aphelios. Volibear can be replaced by any front line tank. Rell and Taric are fantastic options.

Similar to the start of the game, the quicker a player hits the five Draconic bonus, the better they are. The golden Draconic eggs are extremely strong but take a couple rounds to hatch. This means that if a player gets a golden egg when the game is about to end, the egg will never hatch and the Draconic trait is pointless at that stage. 

Typically, this will happen at Level 9. There, players should consider dropping the Draconic trait altogether — except Ashe and Heimerdinger. At that point, players can simply play a mismatch of legendary units and strong frontline. Or, they can enable Heimer and Ashe to be more rangers or more invokers. If players still want more Draconic eggs at Level 9, they should look to add another strong unit from the list above.

Finally, all the tools are there to win. Players should keep Ashe away from enemy assassins like Viego and Diana. Also, they should position Zyra diagonally across the enemy carry and ensure that Kindred will cast her ability around key carries to keep them alive.

Ultimately, it’t about having fun. Congrats on the wins and happy climbing!