Grubs Split 2: Mission Failed

This is just a short post to update on Split 2’s grub vs drake balance. After split 1, grubs were changed to spawn only once (3) at 8 minutes while dragon spawn would be at 6 minutes. The goal was to discourage trading. The grub passive was also modified to spawn only 1 voidlet instead of 2. So here lets answer:
– Are grubs traded less?
– Is the value of first drake 1 equivalent to three grubs?

Are grubs traded less than in split 1?

So first lets compare how often one team got 3 grubs while the other got 1 dragon after first grub spawn. We will look at 10 minutes for spit 1 (4 minutes after grub spawn) and 12 minutes in split 2 (4 minutes after grub spawn).

As we can see, trading was only marginally decreased in split 2. This is because 71% of the time, dragon 1 is not done by 8 minutes, leading to a similar scenario as split 1 where first grub spawn and first dragon spawn are up at the same time. Riot’s did not accomplish their goal here.

3 Grubs vs. 1 Drake Value in Split 2

Grub passive decreased in power, so let’s look at how 3 grubs vs drake 1 affects win rate across gold leads at 9 minutes. The red dotted lined indicates the gold attained by taking grubs. This plot is in games where the gold lead is less than 500 and the opposing team takes drake 1 while you get 3 grubs.

The red line intersects 0 almost perfectly, indicating drake 1 and grubs are equivalent in value. Grubs and drake are actually more balanced than they were in split 1. In split 2, 3 grubs vs first drake is perfectly balanced. Of course, in certain games certain comps will favor one over the other. Maybe I’ll do a grub champ vs drake champ post sometime. For now though I’ll leave it here. Short post I know but I wanted to get it out!