Thuong Long is one of the strongest squads currently, from the main mainstay Aurelion Sol to its extremely annoying mechanics.
In the current 12.14 version, Thuong Long is one of the most hegemonic Tribes. Not only its main staple – Aurelion Sol is heavily buffed, so the 9 Upper Dragon effect also increases the drop rate of component equipment to a lot from 30%->75%:
Because of being strong (which means having fun) like that, Thuong Long is one of the most contested lineups. Of course, part of it is mandatory to use pretty bad units in the squad (such as Vladimir, Nidalee, Skarner …) – despite 3 stars, 1-2 money champions are difficult to fight against super late squads. – also causes the pure squad of Thuong Long to reduce its dominance a bit.
However, what if we find a way to still farm equipment with Thuong Long without using the “waste” champions mentioned above?
It is known that this tip comes from the fact that you only need to have 9 active Upper Dragons on the board and no other conditions are needed to roll out the Upper Long box and still have the usual piece of equipment.
Maybe you want to see more: Truth Arena 12.14: Aurelion Sol turns into a “god” with the Sorcerer Seal
That means you just need to leave the bad Upper Dragon generals on the queue, then throw them in the 9th Thuong Long to roll for equipment, before the fight starts, pull them down and use a stronger formation with 4 units. -5 money as usual. This will ensure that you farm equipment very easily while still ensuring the overall strength of the squad.
For example, here is the normal 9 Upper Long squad and a 4-5 money Bill Gate squad with the main Aurelion Sol, if the strength is calculated, it is clear that the Bill Gate squad is stronger overall. Applying the above tips, you can take advantage of 9 Thuong Long to farm items for Bill Gate to suppress the opponent (as long as there are enough slots on the queue):
Because this strategy is quite annoying and easy to do (just keep all 9 Upper Dragons on the queue, no need to upgrade), it has been banned in many current Tactics Arena tournaments.
It is not clear if Riot Games intends to make any changes to Thuong Long in the near future, but indeed this buff is “too underground” with one of the strongest squads currently.