As Set 7.5 continues to drag-on, thunderous new builds begin to emerge from the depths of the newest patch notes, with this comp flying high above all the rest if utilized correctly. In this guide, I will be breaking down each component of the comp, how to play the early, mid, and late game, BIS items and the pros and cons.
Final Board:
There are many different variations of a perfect final board, but generally, this comp will ALWAYS use these 3 units: Ao Shin, Shyvana, and Terra. Below are some examples of different final boards you can have based on which units you hit, what items or augments you have, etc.
Example Board 1:
This is the board you can usually default to when running this comp as it’s pretty cost-effective but still just as strong as the others. With Lee Sin and Yasuo in the comp, 4 Tempest and 2 Dragonmancer become active which could further stall the fight in time for Ao Shin to cast and wipe the board. Positioning Lee Sin at the back protects the hypercarry by kicking any threats away from the Ao Shin, while Yasuo acts as another carry and CC bot, slashing and dashing around doing Yasuo things.
Example Board 2:
Idas allows Shimmerscale and guardian to now be active and with Bard constantly collecting meeps with each round, it makes 2-star Ao Shin, Shyvana, and Terra much easier to hit later in the game. This variation of the comp is the best with augments like Stand United which omega buffs the whole board since so many different traits are active.
Example Board 3:
Soraka is here solely for the purpose of stalling and allowing Terra and the team to tank as much damage as they can before the duo carries can come online. Plus,If you hit Soraka 2 early she becomes a free Metabolic Accelerator, making sure we are healthy enough to go 9 and pivot comfortably.
Soraka can also be replaced with Bard if the lobby is more magic-heavy, as Bard counts as an additional mystic and boosts the entire board’s stats with Guild.
What makes the comp so strong?
So the question arises, what makes this comp so strong compared to the other, well-proven comps like Guild Xayah, or Cavalier Daeja? With the latest change in Set 7.5, you can now draft multiple dragons in a comp and actually get rewarded for it. With Ao Shin proving time and time again that he is one of the strongest units in the set, drafting him with other new legendary dragons that are able to stall and soak damage is a method for success.
With Terra’s passive increasing damage reduction to two other allies, Ao Shin and Shyvana are able to survive those pesky assassins and stray spells that manage to make it to the backline. Shyvana, with her reworks and changes, would now also be able to clean up any mess that Ao Shin leaves on the battlefield, making the perfect duo carry comp.
Early Game:
PLAY STRONGEST BOARD. I can’t stress this enough. The two main goals of the early game are to:
Get Rich: This comp requires a huge amount of gold with the final board using multiple of the most expensive units in the game. Streaks and making econ each round areyour best bet to have enough gold during the pivot so make sure to keep those win/loss streaks alive.
Stay Healthy: A million gold at level 9 is useless if you die sacing a few rounds trying to 2-star your units. Ensure that you do your best to play your strongest board when streaking by aggressively pumping levels and upgrading units if necessary.
Here are some examples of some strong early game boards that you can play that would help you win streak:
Example Board 1: Lagoon Opener
Playing a strong Lagoon board could be one of the openers you can hit in this comp for a couple of reasons. With early lagoon champs in, you can begin building and snowballing your economy in the early rounds, allowing you to pump levels and pivot.
Pairing this econ trait with a dragonmancered Kai’Sa 2 holding AP items, she is guaranteed to kill units and win rounds or at least get good enough losses to save HP. If you hit, Sett and Taliyah can be replaced by stronger champions like Zeri and Lee Sin
Example Board 2: 2 Star Mages/ Astral
Similar to Lagoon, Astrals can also be played as an econ trait that can guarantee a couple of extra $$ throughout the early rounds. Although this trait can be strong if you hit 2 stars early, the board falls off rather quickly as the Astral units rely on 3 stars to shine.
Sylas can be replaced with Taliyah early, and Zyra can be Jax or Malph for Bruiser. When building this comp you would want to itemize either Taliyah or Lux to hold AP items.
Example Board 3: Highroll 3 Cost early
There are some games where a random Lee Sin 2 or Nomsy 2 appears out of thin air, which is the best-case scenario for this comp. Building and playing around a 2-star 3 cost early will almost guarantee a win streak into the later rounds and save the hassle of pivoting early to keep up with the tempo of the lobby.
Mid Game:
During the mid-game, although a high roll Nomsy or Lee Sin 2 may be enough to win streak you until your pivot, your board is most likely going to fall off around 3-5/ 4-2 when players level to 8 and roll for some upgrades. Although this is most likely the case, it’s up to your judgement as a player to decide if your board is strong enough to sit.
The ideal mid-game carries that you pivot and transfer your items to would most likely be Daeja or Sohm depending on who you hit. (Preferably Daeja, as she uses Shojin better than Sohm). Here are some examples of each board and supporting units you can draft around:
Example Board 1: Daeja
One con of pivoting into this board however is the cost, and you run the risk of spending too much gold and being stuck with the board for the whole game. To avoid this, don’t get tilted and roll to 0 every turn and instead scout the lobby. Most of the time, 2 Star Daeja or a very solid front line is enough to stabilize so pay attention and set an econ boundary (ex. Rolling to 30 or 20 gold).
Example Board 2: Sohm
A con for this board is that Sohm relies heavily on strong itemization, actually getting worse with Shojin due to his low mana costs. This means that if you’re low rolling items, Sohm is going to be a mana generator for the enemy units resulting in you taking terrible losses.
Late Game:
If you were able to econ correctly, you should have around 50 gold and be level 9 by late stage 4 or early stage 5. If this is the case, use your player judgement to decide whether you are to pivot now and roll to 0 to look for your dragons, or to slow roll to one of the above-mentioned boards. Ideally, once you hit a solid 2-star carry dragon (either Ao Shin or Shyvana) and a strong front line, the board can be pivoted.
Items:
Best-In-Slot items is a term that should be used loosely when it comes to this comp as you would want to build whatever items that would spike your board in the early game.
If your three opening components are belt, tear, and chain, instead of greeding for morello, Shojin, and gargoyle, you'll just slam Sunfire and flex the tear. An early Seraphs or Shojin slam isn’t going to do much compared to a Shiv slam, so make sure to slam items that would increase your chances of winstreaking.
Ao Shin BIS: Shojin, Seraphs, JG
Good Items: Gunblade, GS, Rabadons
This is who you have any of your AP and mana items on. Spear of Shojin is highly recommended on Ao Shin but other than that, any AP Items will do the trick.
Shyvana BIS: Morello, Spark, JG
Good Items: Sunfire, Rabadons, TG
Shyvana is a unit that utilizes her huge AOE to deal damage and debuff the enemy's board. Morello is by far her best item as she can proc it on basically the whole board. Spark is also very good on her since when she casts, she's right in the middle of the enemy units and can proc spark super easily.
TLDR: If there are any leftover AP and damage items, slam them on her and call it a day.
Good Items: TG, Spark, Warmogs
With Terra being the solo-front line of the comp, Gargoyles on her basically max value as she gets the aggro of everyone.
TLDR: All your front line and tank items go on Terra or if you have a spare TG you can toss it on her and pray for tank items.
You can’t go wrong with aura Items like Zekes and Chalice on one of the backliners, helping Ao Shin and the other dragons cast faster and do more damage. Spark can be placed on Rakan and the other front liners for MR reduction and extra damage.
Augments:
Silver: Late-Game Specialist, Recombobulator, CB1, Thrill of the Hunt, Tiny Titans
Gold: Stand United, Thrill of the Hunt, CB2, Rich Get Richer, Cybernetic Shell/Uplink 2
Prismatic: Stand United, Thrill of the Hunt, CB3, Age of Dragons, High-End Shopping, Windfall, Level UpAugment choice is based on the tempo and strength of the lobby. A goodrule of thumb is to choose augments that will help you get to level 9 rich, healthy, or fast.
Tips and Tricks:
Scout and judge the lobby’s boards and make decisions based on board strength. This is not a comp you can hard force every game if you are not experienced with it, and it may take a couple of games to get used to. The trickiest part is by far the midgame, so make sure to try and stabilize with either a Daeja carry, Sohm carry, or a reliable AP 3 cost.
Good luck in the fields out there and I hope you soar above the competition.
