Here’s how League of Legends’ preseason patch is changing dragons

League of Legends’ latest preseason is bringing all kinds of changes to the game, but nothing is changing quite as much as dragons. The way Elemental Drakes spawn, what Elder Dragon does, and even the way they change Summoner’s Rift have all changed completely this preseason.

To help you keep track of all the changes, we’ve put together a list of all the dragon-related information you need to know before you jump into a game.

Dragons aren’t quite as random anymore

During previous seasons, Elemental Drake spawns have been random. Any element could spawn at any time, but only three drakes of one single element could spawn in a game. After the preseason changes only the first three drake spawns in a game are random. After that, all future drake spawns will be the same as the element of the third drake. The drakes then keep spawning until one team reaches four drakes. Along with all these large scale changes, Riot also nerfed each of the Elemental Drake buffs slightly, just because you can now get more stacks of each buff.

Summoner’s Rift Drake Changes

After the third drake spawns, Summoner’s Rift itself also begins to change based on that drake’s element. Depending on the element of the third drake, changes happen around the Rift at the Dragon Pit, as well as near all four buffs in each section of the jungle.

Here’s what happens with each element:

• Infernal

JUNGLE — The brush nearest to Blue and Red buffs burn away, and new pathways open up through the Blue and Red buff pits

DRAGON PIT — The entrance to Dragon pit widens

• Mountain

JUNGLE — Two new bluffs of rock emerge in each jungle quadrant

DRAGON PIT — A rock formation rises in front of the Dragon pit

• Ocean

JUNGLE — Most of the brush in the jungle grows larger and new Honeyfruit spawns near the buff camps. Water pools into puddles throughout the jungle, which is mostly aesthetic unless you’re the Empress of the Elements (Qiyana) or running the Waterwalking rune.

DRAGON PIT — New brush patches sprout up around the Dragon pit

• Cloud

JUNGLE — Air currents flow throughout the area around Blue and Red buffs, granting speed boosts to everyone inside

DRAGON PIT — Dragon Pit also becomes a speed boosting wind tunnel

What’s a Dragon Soul?

A Dragon Soul is a special buff that a team can get for killing drakes. These buffs act like regular Elemental Drake buffs, meaning that they persist through death.

Here are the four buffs that the souls give:

• Infernal Soul

Every 3 seconds, your next damaging attack or ability on an enemy unit triggers a small explosion, dealing 90 (+0.25 bonus attack damage) (+0.15 ability power) (+0.03 bonus health) damage to the target and nearby enemies.

• Mountain Soul

After not taking damage for 5 seconds, gain a shield for 225 (+0.2 bonus attack damage) (+0.15 ability power) (+0.15 bonus health)

• Ocean Soul

Dealing damage to enemies heals you for 180 (+0.4 bonus attack damage) (+0.25 ability power) (+0.1 bonus health) and restores 90 (+0.04 maximum mana) mana over 3 seconds.

Damage to minions or monsters regenerates with 30% effectiveness.

• Cloud Soul

Passively gain 10% increased movement speed.

After casting your ultimate, gain an additional 30% movement speed for 3 seconds (30 second cooldown).

Elder Dragon Changes

The Elder Dragon no longer spawns after 35 minutes. Instead, the Elder Dragon can only spawn once one team has gain a Dragon Soul. The Elder Dragon also has a very different buff than it used to.

Instead of buffing the power of the Elemental Drakes one team has already acquired, Elder Dragon’s buff will now give players an execute. Anytime a player with the Elder Dragon buff will automatically execute any enemy player below 20% health if they deal damage to them. This buff seems incredibly powerful, and should help the team that gets it close out the game pretty quickly.

While these changes are on the live servers, they probably won’t stay in this same state for long. Since this is the preseason patch, there are likely to be some significant adjustments before season 10 officially starts sometime early next year.