In a recently played tournament match in the OGN, pro team MiG decided to go for a pre-3 minute dragon. They obviously practiced said strategy and thought it was a good idea. In this post, I will attempt to calculate the cost and benefit of said strategy and come to a conclusion on whether it should be attempted more often. 
   
  What they did: 
   
  •Mundo (Jungle) got wraiths and red, and then went to dragon. 
   
  •Janna (support) and Shyvana (top) got wolves and gave blue to Janna. The exp was given to Shyvana (level 2). They then started dragon by having Shyvana pull. Some say that Janna was supposed to pull because she shielded herself. 
   
  •When Mundo gets to dragon, he takes aggro and tanks it with Janna’s shield on CD until it dies (@2:50). 
   
  Top Lane: 
   
  Benefit: 
   
  •Gold from Wolves, Blue’s lizards, and Dragon = (40+5x2) + 5x2 + 190 = 250g 
   
  •Exp from Wolves, Blue’s lizards, and Dragon = (128+10x2) + 40x2 + (400/3) = 361.3 
   
  Cost to Top lane: 
   
 http://imgur.com/501Zs 
   
  Who is ahead? Doing dragon nets you 22 gold at the cost of 168.6 exp, if you get back to lane as quickly as possible. This is of course assuming 100% CS rate, which is implausible under most in game circumstances. The worse they are at last hitting, the larger that gold cap is going to be. Trading your teleport, and half a wave of exp for a health potion’s worth of gold does not sound worth it to me. Of course the lane will be pushed towards your side, opening up them to ganks. Your teammates’ skill will be the determining factor of whether you can leverage that positioning into an advantage. This lane favors them. 
   
  Mid Lane: 
   
  Benefit: 
   
  •Gold from Dragon: 190g 
   
  Cost: 
   
  •N/A 
   
  Who is ahead? The team that gets dragon 
   
  Bottom Lane AD: 
   
  Benefit: 
   
  •Gold from Dragon: 190g 
   
  •Solo Exp: 3 waves = 529.94 as opposed to 345.5 with a support = 175.4 exp advantage over the other AD 
   
  Cost: 
   
  •Zoned from CS for 2 waves = variable (min = 0, max = 228g) 
   
  Who is ahead? Which AD comes out ahead varies greatly based on a number of unaccounted variables. Some ADs are able to farm quite well 1v2 for a while, while others can’t do anything 1v2. Some supports and ADs will play extremely aggressively if they know the support isn’t there, while others will be more passive. If you pick an AD with long range farming ability early game, such as cait or kog, then you can probably come out ahead in lane. 
   
  Jungle: 
   
  Benefit: 
   
  •Gold from Dragon (+last hit), Wraiths and Red/little lizards: (190 +25) + (33+4x3) + (66 + 5x2) = 336g 
   
  •Exp from Dragon, Wraiths and Red/little lizards: (400/3) + (105+11x3) + (220 + 40x2) = 611.9 exp 
   
  Cost (Relative to what a Mundo could farm in 2:50 according to Stonewall): 
   
  •Gold from Wraiths, Red, Double golems, Wraiths: (33+4x3) + (66+ 5x2) + (45+15) + (33+4x3) = 242g 
   
  •Exp from Wraiths, Red, Double golems, Wraiths: (105+11x3) + (210 + 32x2) + (117+38) + (105+11x3) = 705 exp 
   
  •Possible opportunity to gank mid or top: Undefined 
   
  Who is ahead? You come out 94 gold ahead and 93 exp behind. Obviously these are estimates based on an equally fast jungler, and could change depending on who you are matched up against. These numbers ignores ganks due to the extreme number of variables involved (success rate, player style, etc.), but the importance of said ganks should not be underestimated. This lane is fairly close and all the variables make it hard to judge who is ahead. 
   
  Support: 
   
  Benefit: 
   
  •Gold from Blue golem and Dragon: 66 + 190 = 256g 
   
  •Exp from Blue golem and Dragon: 220 + (400/3) = 353.3 exp 
   
  •Blue buff for ~90 seconds after dragon is dead 
   
  Cost: 
   
  •Exp from lane: 2 waves = 529.94 exp x .5 x 1.304 = 345.5 (this is the amount the other support has) 
   
  Who is ahead? The support is up gold and experience on the opposing support. This is a win-win situation. 
   
  Conclusion: Top lane will be down half a level on their top lane, while being up a marginal amount of gold. The jungler will vary depending on success of ganks, route, counterjungle, etc. but on average it seems fairly even. Your mid will enjoy a nice gold lead. Your bottom lane, if properly prepared, will also enjoy a nice gold lead and about half a level extra on the AD carry. All summed up, your team comes out 752 gold ahead and 80 experience behind. Of course all of this analysis ignores the enemy team’s reaction to what you are doing. Whether they can stop it and whether they should even attempt to try can be the topic of another lengthy analysis piece in the future. 
   
  Special thanks to Joel Miliskas for testing all the monster exp and gold gains. Interestingly enough he found that the 30% bonus to sharing exp only applies to lane minions and not to jungle minions or dragon. 
   
  Edit: Glad you guys like my post. I'm currently looking for a website to write for regularly and publish more content like this. PM me if you have an opening.