How to Play Dryad — TFT Set 11: Inkborn Fables
Welcome to our TFT trait guide series, where I’ll be covering the Dryad trait and how to play it. I’ll be covering how Dryad works, analyzing each champion, and go through some potential team comps.
Dryad is a fairly straight forward trait that grants stat bonuses. With a smaller and more simple trait, there isn’t too much detail to cover, but I’ll try to cover any tips that come to mind.
Let’s get right into the guide.
If you haven’t checked out all of the Set 11 information yet, check out out Set 11 Reveal Page!
How Dryad Works
Dryad Trait Bonus
Dryads gain Ability Power and 250 Health. Each enemy death grants additional Health.
- (2) 15 AP; 3 HP per enemy death
- (4) 20 AP; 7 HP per enemy death
- (6) 55 AP; 10 HP per enemy death
Champions: Rek’Sai (1), Gnar (2), Kindred (2), Ornn (4), Azir (5)
Overall, the Dryad trait grants an AP and Health bonus to it’s champions. As enemies die, Dryad units will gain additional HP permanently.
This makes Dryad a strong comp if you’re able to scale up this bonus over the course of the game. With that same logic, Dryad isn’t a great comp to pivot toward in the late game. Instead, it’s better to start with Dryad early to build up Dryad stacks.
Let’s assume you’re able to assemble Dryad (2) by at least Stage 3. Now let’s give a conservative estimate of 3-4 units killed per round. By the time you reach Stage 4, you will have taken down around 15-20 units, resulting in an extra 45-60 Health per Dryad at (2).
At (4), this more than doubles to to 105-140. It gets even higher at (6) and the more units you take down. Maybe you’re able to hit Dryad (2) at 2-1 and just start stacking Health from the get go.
By the time you reach the endgame, your units will have a ton of extra Health.
Dryad Synergy
Here’s a list of the traits you can branch into from the Dryad units:
- Bruiser (Rek’Sai)
- Warden (Gnar)
- Fated (Kindred)
- Reaper (Kindred)
- Behemoth (Ornn)
- Invoker (Azir)
As expected with a small trait, there isn’t any Class overlap. It’s quite awkward having 3 frontline units without any overlap, so I doubt many comps will look to go for (6) Dryad without Emblems/Augments.
Kindred and Azir are the most interesting units of the trait. Kindred having 3 traits lets her scale with more sources, while Azir has a flexible Invoker trait, making him a likely inclusion in “Bill Gates” comps.
Dryad Champions
Let’s briefly go over each Champion in the Dryad trait and what you can do with them. To check the updated stats and ability values, be sure to check each Champion Page.
Rek’Sai (1) – Dryad + Bruiser
[Link to Champion Page]
Rek’Sai is a simple and straight forward frontline unit. His ability does have a single target stun along with granting Armor/MR, so that’s nice for a 1-cost.
Most notably, Rek’Sai’s Bruiser trait synergizes with the bonus Health he receives from Dryad stacks by scaling the Health further.
Gnar (2) – Dryad + Warden
[Link to Champion Page]
Gnar is the next Dryad unit, and his ability is like Titan’s Resolve. He will gain stacks of Attack Damage upon attacking or being hit, making him a potential carry unit.
While Warden doesn’t necessarily scale the Health of Gnar, the damage reduction will scale his effective HP when combined with the bonus Health he’s getting.
Kindred (2) – Dryad + Fated + Reaper
[Link to Champion Page]
Kindred is the other 2-cost unit, and as mentioned, she has carry potential to her 3 traits. Fated and Dryad both buff up her stats, while Reaper lets her ability crit.
Since Gnar and Kindred are both 2-cost Dryads, there’s potential for a reroll comp to include both of them.
Ornn (4) – Dryad + Behemoth
[Link to Champion Page]
Ornn is the only 4-cost of the Dryad trait, and he’s a dedicated frontline unit. During the fight, Ornn will craft items with his ability, passing the item to an ally.
For extended fights, Ornn will grant a lot of value through the extra item strength. Because of this, you want him to stay alive as long as possible, but his role is still to soak damage.
Azir (5) – Dryad + Invoker
[Link to Champion Page]
Azir is the last Dryad unit, and his design is quite flexible overall. He deals magic damage while also summoning a Guardian to soak up more damage. His Invoker trait is also a flexible one that can fit into many comps.
As such, I expect Azir to be included in Fast 9 or Bill Gates comps. Dryad comps will likely also use Azir in the late game as another strong inclusion to hit Dryad (4) or (6).
Dryad Best Augments
For this section, I’ll be covering some Augments that particularly synergize with the trait. Lots of Augments are universal, like economy based Augments or item Augments, but I’ll try to cover particular synergies to look out for.
The set has yet to come out on PBE yet, so I’ll only take a look at the trait specific Augments. I’ll definitely be back to add more as we learn more.
You can check out the full list of Augments here.
Dryad Crest
Gain a Dryad Emblem and a Gnar.
Firstly, a Dryad Emblem will be needed to reach Dryad (6), which grants a ton of extra Health through the Dryad stacks. By putting this Emblem on a frontline unit, you’re giving them a ton of bonus Health.
You can even put this on a backline unit or melee carry to give them some extra bulk and a little bit of AP.
Mulched
Every round, gain 2 Dryad stacks. If a Dryad kills an enemy, gain 1 additional stack. Gain a Rek’Sai and a Gnar.
Mulched is an Augment that further scales the Dryad stacks you generate from the trait. You’re guaranteed to get 2 per round even if you don’t kill an enemy. Furthermore, Dryad kills will result in 2 stacks instead of 1, ramping the bonus Health very quickly.
Overall, it’s a great Augment, especially if you find it early and commit to Dryads.
Dryad Team Comps
With the meta settled for the most part, here are some of the standout Dryad comps.
As the player base plays more and more games, stronger meta comps will definitely rise up or old comps may be nerfed. Be sure to stay up to date on the current meta at our TFT Team Comp Tier List.
Kindred Gnar Reroll
[Link to Full Guide]
For the Dryad comps, the best ones seem to utilize Gnar and/or Kindred in a reroll comp. For this first comp, Gnar and Kindred are the two reroll carries with the rest of the comp activating traits to buff up Kindred.
Dryad 4 with Ghostly 4 provide a lot of trait power, and there’s a lot of flexibility as well. You can drop down in Ghostly to try and reach Dryad 6 with Azir.
Reaching level 9 will also give you some more flexibility in your traits as well.
Warden Gnar Senna Reroll
[Link to Full Guide]
This second comp doesn’t lean as much into the Dryad trait, but still focuses on Gnar as one of the main carrys. Instead of Dryad, the comp utilizes the Warden trait to make Gnar very tanky, allowing his passive to scale his Attack Damage.
Senna will be the main backline carry, filling out traits like Inkshadow with other early game Wardens like Jax.
Fated Dryad Flex
[Link to Full Guide]
Azir is an extremely potent late game carry, and because of that, you’ll often see Dryad splashed into many comps. Ornn is also a powerful frontline unit, making it easy to splash even just (2) Dryad into any board.
This comp uses 4 Dryad along with the Fated trait to have multiple strong carrys.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out our meta team comps page, or head to our Team Builder to try and come up with your own comps.
