Elder Dragon
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Excellent (8.5/10)
High Investment Required
Epic Relics
Paid Relics
Elder Dragon is considered one of the most powerful and entertaining champions currently available, effectively capturing the fantasy of a dominant, late-game threat. While his base power level at 3 stars is robust enough to handle most standard adventures, he requires significant investment in constellations and specific epic relics to remain competitive in higher-difficulty nightmare content.
Titanic Core Build
Provides an additional starting mana gem and allows for high-stat champion pulls, which is vital for accelerating the play of expensive units.
Generates high-cost units upon summoning Elder Dragon, providing immediate board pressure and further cost reduction for subsequent plays.
Enables immediate offensive pressure on play, allowing Elder Dragon to impact the board even on defensive rounds.
Strategy
This build focuses on mana acceleration and high-cost unit generation. By using the extra mana gem and drafting 6+ cost units, you consistently discount Elder Dragon, allowing for a reliable drop between rounds 2 and 4. The interaction between high-cost units and the Dragon Souls ensures a dominant board state that outscales even nightmare-level enemies.
Unstoppable Scout Build
- Essential for the mana required to reach high-cost threshold quickly.
Provides Scout. Leveled Elder Dragon is immune to the negative Round End recall effect, allowing for permanent double attacks.- Forces a free attack on play, which often levels Elder Dragon instantly due to his high power after Soul buffs.
Strategy
This build leverages the unique immunity of the leveled-up Elder Dragon. Once flipped, Elder Dragon cannot be stopped or recalled, nullifying the downside of Galeforce. The combination of Cease and Desist with Scout allows for devastating multiple-attack turns that close out games immediately upon the champion's arrival.
Budget Ramp Build
Creates Redoubled Valor in hand to rapidly increase unit power for level-up progress.
Refills spell mana on play to ensure the created Redoubled Valor can be cast immediately.
Doubles the impact of stat-buffing spells like Redoubled Valor once 6 mana gems are reached.
Strategy
For players lacking epic relics, this build utilizes spell mana and duplication to artificially inflate unit power. By doubling the effects of Redoubled Valor, you can quickly reach the 75+ power requirement for Elder Dragon's level-up, effectively turning early blockers into significant threats.
Other Relic Options
Provides Overwhelm to the entire board, ensuring that high-stat units can always push damage even if the Inferno Soul is not rolled.
Accelerates the summoning of Elder Dragon by sacrificing early game blockers, though this requires careful hand management.
Protects the board from high-impact enemy spells during the setup turns before Elder Dragon arrives.
Guarantees the arrival of Elder Dragon on turn 4, providing a reliable timer for his entry.
Elder Dragon is highly reliant on epic-tier relics because rare and common options provide minimal synergy with his high-cost, late-entry playstyle. Passive auras and mana-generating relics are preferred over strike-on-summon effects, as the latter do not contribute to his attack-based level-up condition.
Constellation
The constellation path focuses heavily on mana generation and unit sustain. The inclusion of mana gems and post-battle health regeneration through minor nodes makes the champion extremely resilient across long adventures. Progressing through the support-focused nodes is recommended to increase the frequency of high-cost champion offers in draft pools.
Dragonsire
Allies with base cost 6+ cost 1 less.
Aspect of the Dragon
+1 Starting Mana. When you play a base 6+ cost ally, play a random Dragon Boon on it.
Dragonsire II
Allies with base cost 6+ cost 2 less.
Early Bird
Game Start: Summon your weakest follower from deck.Review
Early Bird provides early-game stabilization by pulling low-cost units from the deck. While consistent, its value is maximized only when the deck is heavily thinned of low-utility cards like Ruby-Eyed Conjurer to ensure high-impact blockers or mana-generating units are pulled instead.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.
Souls of Dragons
Your Dragon Boons are replaced with Dragon Souls.Review
Souls of Dragons is a transformative upgrade that significantly increases board presence. Upgrading Boons to Souls provides massive stat buffs and essential keywords like Barrier, Spellshield, and Revive. This power effectively covers all defensive weaknesses and provides enough sustain to handle the attrition found in 6.5-star adventures.
Gameplay Tips
- Drafting High-Cost Synergy
Unlike most champions, Elder Dragon thrives on high-cost drafts. Prioritize units with a base cost of 6+ to trigger cost-reduction and stat-buffing passives. Support champions like Jarvan IV, Nasus, or Sion are optimal as they provide immediate board impact through high-stat bodies that synergize with Dragon Souls.
- Strategic Card Cutting
To optimize the 4-star power, aggressively cut low-utility followers. Removing cards such as Ruby-Eyed Conjurer or Wounded Whiteflame ensures that the 4-star effect pulls more valuable units like Blue Buff, providing necessary mana cheating for early-game tempo.
- Utilizing Leveled-Up Immunity
Understanding the 'Cannot Be Stopped' mechanic is essential. Once leveled, Elder Dragon is immune to all negative status effects and removal, including Obliterate, Freeze, and Bounces. Use this to your advantage by attacking without fear of disruption, and pair him with relics like Galeforce that would normally have significant drawbacks.
- Nexus Sustain through Ocean Soul
At 6 stars, the Ocean Soul provides significant healing to both the Nexus and units. In adventures with chip damage modifiers like puffcaps or burn, prioritize playing units that can trigger this soul to maintain high health totals without relying on health-restoring nodes.
- Mana Management over Speed
Elder Dragon is inherently a mid-to-late game finisher. Focus on board control and stabilizing your health in the early turns. Relics that generate mana or refill spell mana are higher priority than those focused on turn-1 kills, as the champion is designed to dominate once the 5-6 mana gem threshold is reached.