After the launch of Teamfight Tactics season 7, the Dragonmancer trait has quickly become incredibly popular thanks to its effect that allows players to level their carries to 3 stars rapidly. As a result, many compositions leveraging the Dragonmancer effect have emerged and become extremely dominant in the current meta. Notably, the Marksman – Brawler team with Varus as the carry boasts a 66% top 4 placement rate. So how can you play this composition effectively? Let’s find out!
The basic playstyle of this composition will be to utilize the Dragonmancer effect to save gold and quickly level up the two key units, Varus and Illaoi, to 3 stars. With Illaoi’s ability to steal armor and magic resistance from opponents, Varus can deal widespread damage through both abilities and auto-attacks (utilizing Runaan’s Hurricane) to easily wipe out the enemy frontline. You can even push Xayah to become the carry in the later stages if you have enough items.
For the early game, you should start with a strong yet easy-to-upgrade combo of 2 Marksmen and 2 Brawlers. Ezreal is a very strong unit in the early game, so players can immediately assemble items for this champion to have a powerful carry early on. If you’re lucky, Shen is an excellent unit; if not, Skarner and Tahm Kench at 1 gold are decent tank options in the early game.
Moving into the mid-game, you should keep an eye out for and purchase Dragonmancer units like Illaoi and Varus. If you’re having bad luck, you can use Nami at level 7 to activate the Dragonmancer effect to find Varus more easily. With both Varus and Illaoi costing 3 gold, you’ll likely need to stay at level 7 for a while to reroll and upgrade these units to 3 stars.
In the late game, the most valuable upgrades for this composition will be Xayah and Twitch to complete the 4 Marksman threshold and gain some additional attack speed from the Guild trait. Ornn is also a champion you need to purchase in the later stages, as this unit has great crowd control capabilities, activating the Stormborn trait with Ezreal to gain some additional true damage and stun. This will give Varus more time to cast spells and deal damage.
Regarding technology core choices, upgrades that help the composition survive better are the optimal selection. For example, the Rejuvenation core offers healing, while the Super Technology core provides decent health and AD, and the Divine Blessing core with total lifesteal are strong choices for this composition. Additionally, you should choose cores that provide items since the Marksman – Brawler team requires many items for their carries and frontline tanks.
In terms of item builds, Varus will utilize Runaan’s Hurricane, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, and Death’s Blade to take advantage of reaching 3 stars. Infinity Edge is not a good choice for Varus as it only provides 10 AD, while this unit’s ability interacts with total AD, making Death’s Blade the optimal choice.
