Your casual Drogoz build for newcomers
by iamdrogoz
Fusillade
Damage dealt when hitting an enemy directly with Rocket Launcher or Salvo is increased by 25%.
Weapon
Apex Predator
Increase your maximum Health by 50-250.
Armor
4
Propel
Increase the forward distance of Thrust by 25-125%.
Thrust
5
Survival
Reduce the Cooldown of Thrust by 100% after dropping to or below 10-50% Health.
Thrust
4
Hot Swap
Increase your Reload Speed by 10-50% for 3s after hitting an enemy with your weapon.
Weapon
1
Rain of Fire
Consume 15-75% less Booster fuel for 5s after using Thrust.
Thrust
1
Guide
I find this deck kind of universal in terms of Drogoz capabilities. It's simple and easy to use. By default Drogoz kicks ass. All you need is being able to utilise him properly. That's what are going to try to accomplish here. Forget about trying to concentrate on spitting in everyone's face (that is, trying to use Fire Spit). There's the other way. Here we go.
A little on the deck.
"APEX PREDATOR" -- LVL4
It adds to our survivability and lets us attack and escape with more chances of survival. This just can't be ignored.
"PROPEL" -- LVL4/5
After quite a few matches I'm going with a LVL5 card instead of LVL4 (as most Drogoz players probably do, keeping it at LVL4). This is the ability that makes Drogoz a Drogoz: change your position, chase the enemy, escape what seems a certain death. This is a must. // Can go LVL 4 instead and save an extra point.
"SURVIVAL" -- LVL4
Drogoz without "SURVIVAL" is dead meat. First, it's next-to-impossible to survive hitscanners/mobile champions/backstabbers without this. Second, not only this lets you surive after diving in with "PROPEL" but it adds a little Drogoz flavor to the game: whenever you are in trouble and your Thrust is reset, you can choose not to escape but to change your Thrust direction in a way most unexpected and become the trouble!
Filler cards
"HOT SWAP" -- LVL1
It's a very useful filler card. As Drogoz you'll encounter numerous situations where you wished you had had an extra rocket in your pocket. But alas. If you experiment and make it a LVL4 you'll see how much of an impact it has. But we'll be on the safer side and have it a filler card and assume you are buying LVL2 deft hands to compensate. I wouldn't ignore Deft Hands and get it to lvl1 (2 if possible) and leave it at that and go for other items. You need Deft Hands to be aggressive and compensate for the rockets that missed their targets.
"RAIN OF FIRE" --LVL1
This is a good filler cards and will let you do the minumum acrobatics Drogoz needs while being able to hover here and there at high speed. Very useful. I'm talking about "high speed" specifically since the moment Thrust propells you forward you are at your highest flying speed possible, just shortly after using the ability, and this card gives us as much as we can get out of it.
In general,
You don't fly a lot as Drogoz. Even more so, you don't really fly. Drogoz can do some very good flying with a proper deck -- and can probably make much use of it on very rare occasions -- but going aerial is just too dangerous to risk it and you'll probably miss all your rockets anyway along with giving away your position and leaving your team mates 4v5 while staying somewhere behind. You are likely to have 0 impact if you are flying because that'll be all that you'll be trying to do "because iamDrogoz" and Drogoz can fly. Flying just doesnt make much sense in this game. You should forget about flying if you are starting out as Drogoz. It's just not viable. Instead, think in terms of acrobatics: you can't fly but you can thrust foward with decent hovering to one side or another, which is really more than enough. This might seem vague, but as you are starting out, your routine should be learning to hold down that LMB to spam those rockets to deal damage. You don't even have to try to aim since it'll come natural as you play. Just hold down that LMB and see what happens, whether those rockets be sent wherever the enemy is or are shot as pre-fire. Just don't stop shooting. Lots of damage comes from pre-fired rockets while the enemy is still somewhere on the way (to your rockets ☺).
While doing a rocket spam, your what's to be come a routine, there are a few things you shouldn't forget that are probably applicable to any champion:
1. stay alert for where everyone is: you can't let yourself die to a flank because that's a lot of damage missed and is just lame. Hitting them on their way with a direct rocket hit might fend them off. This deck shall help you survive should you be backstabbed.
2. stay alert for any opportunity to finish off a viable enemy champion even at the cost of your life (you'll probably know it it'll be worth it or not in a situation given but still comes with experience). This also means that you'll position yourself properly.
3. Forget about Salvo barrage and Fire Spit for some time. Just play with your regular rockets a bit to see how Drogoz feels. The problem is players in general assosiate something like a rocket barrage with lots of damage. There's not that much damage. Your regular rocket is way better. Use Salvo if it can hit a group of enemies or to finish off someone with very little HP (while Salvo is a few rockets, they deal much less damage than a regular rocket but their area of impact is higher). Spit. Only use Spit to literally Spit in someone's face (a lonely enemy tank). Then they get increased damage from all source. You can try using Spit as a way to deal damage to the enemy behind a corner but that's likely to be a waste of time (you are just sitting there waiting for your Spit to reach the enemy and can even miss a chance to explode it with a rocket). It's likely not worth.
Instead, combile Salvo and Spit. These 2 are a deadly combination. Try this in Practice mode and see how these work together and separately. In general, you regualar Salvo and Spit combination is as follows:
-enemies are all together, the more the better;
-I feel kinda safe using Thrust to engage;
-I get ready: Activate Salvo, wait for the best opportunity (they enemy is busy with my team) while getting close enough;
-Thrust in while sending Spit somewhere below. Release your Salvo barrage with LBM. Try to be careful as not to shoot your spit since it's a rocket gone to waste and you can explode your Spit before it reaches the enemy. Your Spit shall explode anyway, without you hitting it directly with a rocket, since Salvo has a decent explosion radius. Boom! That'd be a lot of damage. You are likely to mess this Salvo + Spit opportunity and will probably die while attempting but try it out on Viktors in practice first to see how this should work.
-A successfull Thrust with Salvo and Spit will likely result in half the enemy team dead.
4. Spamming rocket means giving away your position. The enemy team will definitely notice that. Make sure you are actually being usefull to the team and not just spam rockets into oblivion.
I'm sure there's a few players who would disagree with some of the aforementioned, being more experience and better in any aspect of Paladins than I am. But I'd say that with time and practice you'll get to feel a champion you are playing. You'll become more alert to the surroundings and this alone will make you a better player and a valuable asset to your team... And this deck should provide you with capaiblities to do so!
That's a lot of words. Just practice your deck and abilities in Practice mode. Try different cards perhaps. And bear in mind that a watchful team mate is the best team mate.
Good luck!
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