In the latest announcement from Riot, we learned that the mid-season 7 major update will be version 12.17. Like previous similar updates, Season 7.5 will bring new champions, new traits – origins to Teamfight Tactics, and remove some existing characters. This is necessary as it will refresh the gameplay of Teamfight Tactics and eliminate imbalances.
Recently, the Project Director of Teamfight Tactics – Riot Mortdog also held a small contest to see who could guess the champions and traits – origins that will be removed in the upcoming Season 7.5. Many top-tier players ranked Challenger in North America participated, and a common point among them is that they want to remove either Aurelion Sol or the entire Dragonmancer trait. In fact, other champions from Dragonmancer like Nidalee or Nami are also on the removal list of many top players.
So why do top players want to remove Dragonmancer so badly? The answer probably lies in the volatility and the excessive reliance on luck of this trait. Typically, to own a 3-cost 3-star champion, you would need to spend a lot of gold, staying at level 7 for as long as possible to maximize the appearance rate. However, with the Dragonmancer shop effect, you can obtain many 3-cost champions as early as level 6, spending less gold to upgrade Illaoi or Varus to 3 stars.
This allows many compositions to exploit the power of Dragonmancer, activating just 3 champions, picking 3-cost 3-star champions to secure victories. Opponents of such compositions often have no way to stop Dragonmancer players from cycling the shop and upgrading. They may only hope that the player lacks luck.
Another issue with Dragonmancer is Aurelion Sol, as this character is absurdly powerful compared to other champions of the same cost. While Shyvana and Ao Shin only have strong ability damage, Aurelion Sol also possesses an effect that increases power over time, which is incredibly frustrating. As a result, the closer you get to the end of the round, the smaller your chances of winning against Aurelion Sol become.
Just with these factors alone, it shows that Dragonmancer is a rather imbalanced trait that needs adjustment from Riot Games in the upcoming Season 7.5. Even like the sharing from professional players, Riot should remove Dragonmancer and replace it with a more balanced trait.