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Choose Champion Build:
- Bruiser
- Tank'Sai
Recommended Items
Spells:
Smite
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Fury of the Xer'Sai (PASSIVE)
Rek'Sai Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
Show All
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Intro (please read this)
..Hello, and welcome to my Rek'Sai guide, aka Wreck'Sai. Note that I'm neither a high elo player nor an expert on Rek'Sai. This is just my opinion on how Rek'Sai should be played.
..By the way, I've coded this guide in such a manner that in some cases, info about a certain Item / Ability / Champion will be displayed only after hovering your cursor above its icon and not the linked text.
..Lastly, I suggest you read the whole guide (The End included) instead of picking what to read and ignoring some potentially important things, item build notes included. It's not that long anyway... That being said, go ahead.
Rek'Sai Champion Spotlight
Rek'Sai - Did You Know?
Rek'Sai is a very intersting champion. She's a good sustain damage bruiser/tank with the ability to disrupt quite heavily in teamfights and a unique mechanic in the form of her Tremor Sense. Her biggest drawbacks as a champion, however, is that she really does lack any form of reliable CC considering the small size and big immunity timer on her only ability with CC, Unburrow.
Pros
+ Nice jungle clear
+ Great sustain
+ Great utility provided by her passive
+ Built-in AoE
+ Mobile
+ Manaless
+ Potential True Damage
+ Can fill both the Bruiser and Tank archetypes
Cons
- Lack of reliable CC
- Long CD on Ult
- Kind of item dependent
- Squishy early game
- Tunnels are easily found
Pros
+ Nice jungle clear
+ Great sustain
+ Great utility provided by her passive
+ Built-in AoE
+ Mobile
+ Manaless
+ Potential True Damage
+ Can fill both the Bruiser and Tank archetypes
Cons
- Lack of reliable CC
- Long CD on Ult
- Kind of item dependent
- Squishy early game
- Tunnels are easily found
*NOTE: Some items are only explained in the notes above.*
Your Item Build on Rek'Sai is where things start getting a little bit interesting. It's fairly flexible and there are quite a few decisions you can make that will reflect on your personal preferences and your playstyle. Overall you want to focus on being an Offtank. What that means is I like to get my Jungle Enchantment plus one damage item and the go full tank. The first decision you're going to have to make is with your Hunter's Machete Jungle upgrade; whether you you'll go for Tracker's Knife or Stalker's Blade.
Stalker's Blade is really good to help you gank and be aggresive. I'd suggest pairing this with a Stealth Ward.
Tracker's Knife will help you a lot when it comes to warding since Green Wards are now no more. I'd suggest pairing this with a Sweeping Lens (remember to upgrade).
Your next item decision will be with your Jungle Enchantment; whether you want to go Enchantment: Warrior, Enchantment: Devourer or Enchantment: Cinderhulk.
Warrior is better for more burst damage as well as early game aggression.
Devourer is better for the sustain damage especially later on into the game and for a more farming playstyle.
Cinderhulk is a nice choice for going super tanky and it helps you quite a lot with your clears. Pretty nice to pick up when you're behind too.
Having tested all of these I can't say there really is a wrong choice here. However, I do find myself leaning more towards Devourer for a few reasons. Firstly I found that the Early Game power spike Warrior gives isn't really used too much on Rek'Sai cos (proper abbreviation of "because" - spread the word people, literally) she doesn't exactly have the kit to be extremely aggressive in the Early Game, especially compared to other Junglers. Recent buffs and nerfs to Warrior and Devourer respectively have changed things up though, not to mention the cost increase on Devourer, meaning that you'll be unable to stack it up as early as before. I still consider Devourer to be superior though.
As for Cinderhulk I think that it might be better than Warrior since it helps you clear your jungle faster and make you significantly beefier but it doesn't offer much damage outside of the jungle since its multiple nerfs and I think the extra tankiness isn't really needed--unless you don't have a dedicated tank Top/Support--because full tank isn't really Rek'Sai's thing. Still, after so many % Max HP damage to counter the Cinderhulk META and the recent Warrior buffs, Warrior might as well be equally as good now.
However:
The final big decision you'll have to make regarding your Item Build is whether to go for Ravenous Hydra, BOTRK, Black Cleaver or Titanic Hydra next. You should choose Hydra or BOTRK if you bought Devourer / Warrior (not respectively) and Black Cleaver or/and Titanic Hydra if you bought Cinderhulk / Warrior. Got it? Great, cos this is about as confusing/complicated as it gets throughout the whole guide. :P
These two DPS items aren't necessary and, in fact, if you're behind I suggest either skipping them completely or building as last items.
Life Steal won't be necessary because of the extra tankiness provided by the Cinderhulk Build.
Finally, you usually want to fill the holes in you inventory with Tank Items. What you want to buy here will depend on:
Core
Your Item Build on Rek'Sai is where things start getting a little bit interesting. It's fairly flexible and there are quite a few decisions you can make that will reflect on your personal preferences and your playstyle. Overall you want to focus on being an Offtank. What that means is I like to get my Jungle Enchantment plus one damage item and the go full tank. The first decision you're going to have to make is with your Hunter's Machete Jungle upgrade; whether you you'll go for Tracker's Knife or Stalker's Blade.
Stalker's Blade is really good to help you gank and be aggresive. I'd suggest pairing this with a Stealth Ward.
Tracker's Knife will help you a lot when it comes to warding since Green Wards are now no more. I'd suggest pairing this with a Sweeping Lens (remember to upgrade).
Your next item decision will be with your Jungle Enchantment; whether you want to go Enchantment: Warrior, Enchantment: Devourer or Enchantment: Cinderhulk.
Warrior is better for more burst damage as well as early game aggression.
Devourer is better for the sustain damage especially later on into the game and for a more farming playstyle.
Cinderhulk is a nice choice for going super tanky and it helps you quite a lot with your clears. Pretty nice to pick up when you're behind too.
Having tested all of these I can't say there really is a wrong choice here. However, I do find myself leaning more towards Devourer for a few reasons. Firstly I found that the Early Game power spike Warrior gives isn't really used too much on Rek'Sai cos (proper abbreviation of "because" - spread the word people, literally) she doesn't exactly have the kit to be extremely aggressive in the Early Game, especially compared to other Junglers. Recent buffs and nerfs to Warrior and Devourer respectively have changed things up though, not to mention the cost increase on Devourer, meaning that you'll be unable to stack it up as early as before. I still consider Devourer to be superior though.
As for Cinderhulk I think that it might be better than Warrior since it helps you clear your jungle faster and make you significantly beefier but it doesn't offer much damage outside of the jungle since its multiple nerfs and I think the extra tankiness isn't really needed--unless you don't have a dedicated tank Top/Support--because full tank isn't really Rek'Sai's thing. Still, after so many % Max HP damage to counter the Cinderhulk META and the recent Warrior buffs, Warrior might as well be equally as good now.
However:
- She's good at farming the Jungle and stacking Devourer
- AtkSpd boosts fury generation cos you generate a flat amount of fury per AA and once you stack it up, Sated Devourer's passive helps you even more with that
- AtkSpd makes your Q finish faster, making it more reliable to hit all 3
- AtkSpd putting Q on CD faster means more Qs in a fight
- The only ability that actually scales well with AD is her E
- The extra DPS help her much more in dueling and even Split Pushing than Cinderhulk's tankiness will in teamfights, in my opinion at least
The final big decision you'll have to make regarding your Item Build is whether to go for Ravenous Hydra, BOTRK, Black Cleaver or Titanic Hydra next. You should choose Hydra or BOTRK if you bought Devourer / Warrior (not respectively) and Black Cleaver or/and Titanic Hydra if you bought Cinderhulk / Warrior. Got it? Great, cos this is about as confusing/complicated as it gets throughout the whole guide. :P
- TONS OF (attack) DAMAGE
- Splash synergy with Q
- Health Regen (You: "w8 wha-" Me: "Yeah, this item doubles your health regeneration.")
- Previously mentioned AtkSpd benefits
- Active targeted CC which Rek'Sai needs, especially if you bought Tracker's Knife
- Synergy with Sated Devourer since it has an OhE passive to be applied by its UNIQUE Passive - Phantom Hit (ahhh, phantom hit... HueHueHueHueHueHue)
These two DPS items aren't necessary and, in fact, if you're behind I suggest either skipping them completely or building as last items.
- 300 HP which synergizes with Cinderhulk's Passive
- 55 AD and 30% Armor reduction
- 20% CDR
- Putting the Armor reduction stacks on the enemy shouldn't really be much of a problem because of the AtkSpd your Ult, Runes and Masteries give you.
- 450 HP which synergizes with Cinderhulk's Passive
- 50 AD
- A Ravenous Hydra-like passive and active which scales off of max HP
- And yet again, doubles you HP regeneration
Life Steal won't be necessary because of the extra tankiness provided by the Cinderhulk Build.
Merc Treads used to be the best option for boots in S5 for me. Recently, however, they got nerfed so 35% Tenacity was reduced to 20%. Still good to grab if the enemies have a lot of CC (not including slows). |
These are great to have if the enemys have an auto-attack oriented team composition, or even just a fed ADC. |
OK, so Swifties have been getting really popular lately. First of all they're a nice counter to those Spooky Ghosts that have been flying around everywhere lately. They're also really cheap and offer 65 MS. Get Alacrity and you have permanent Mobility Boots. Buy these if you're uncertain of what to get or the enemies have tons of... slows. |
Finally, you usually want to fill the holes in you inventory with Tank Items. What you want to buy here will depend on:
- Who's fed on the enemy team
- Which kind of damage (Physical / Magic) is dominant in their composition
- If they have % health damage or a lot of penetration / True Damage
- Who is going to help both sides in team fights
etc.
Bruiser
- Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed x3: You scale well with AtkSpd.
- Greater Mark of Attack Damage x9: You also scale well with AD.
- Greater Seal of Armor x9: A must for (almost) any jungler. Jungle creeps pack quite a punch early in the game.
- Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction x6: For faster early clears.
- Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist x3: Some MR never hurt anyone. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
Alternatively you can take Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage x3 and Greater Mark of Attack Speed x9, which gives you a bit less AD and a bit more AtkSpd, or you can just go for a full AD page, especially if you'll go for Devourer & BOTRK since they give you plenty of AtkSpd and some more AD will be nice. The Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist x3 can be replaced by Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction x3 if you want to.
Ferocity
- Fury : AtkSpd FTW.
- Double Edged Sword : You're melee.
- Vampirism : For the sustain. Honestly, I think 15 AD and AP at level 18 is kinda wasted too.
- Oppressor : Certainly better than Bounty Hunter for Rek'Sai. You won't be getting that many kills, much less kill all 5 of your foes.
- Battering Blows : Except for your Prey Seeker, you deal Physical Damage.
- Fervor of Battle : You won't be building Crit Chance or that much AD, leaving with this on-hit mastery which also works nicely with AtkSpd, a stat that's amazingly high on Rek'Sai without even any items. Also got buffed! ^_^
Resolve
- Unyielding : Flat Regeneration? No, no that ain't right. Get 'em outta here!
- Explorer : 4 dem roamz. nuff said
- Runic Armor : Since you will be building Life Steal I think amplifying it and your Passive's heal using this is better than 45 HP.
- Insight : Decreases Smite's CD by 11 and Flash's CD by a flippin' 45 secs! Now that's powahful! Some people prefer wiki mastery=Perseverance but Rek'Sai has just an average HP Regen of ~7 (@lv18) and if you want it for better early sustain then 11 secs off of Smite has got you covered; especially early in the game when your Regen's even worse.
Tank
- Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage x3: You scale well with AD.
- Greater Mark of Attack Speed x9: You also scale well with AtkSpd.
- Greater Seal of Armor x9: A must for (almost) any jungler. Jungle creeps pack quite a punch early in the game.
- Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction x6: For faster early clears.
- Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction x3: To fill in the 5% CDR gap you'll probably have.
Alternatively you can take Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed x3 and Greater Mark of Attack Damage x9, which gives you a bit less AtkSpd and a bit more AD. I wouldn't do that since you'll build no AtkSpd but maybe you don't have the runes or something. Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction x3 can be replaced by Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist x3 if you want to.
Resolve
- Unyielding : Flat Regeneration? No, no that ain't right. Get 'em outta here!
- Explorer : 4 dem roamz. nuff said
- Veteran's Scars : Moar HP to become even moar with Cinderhulk. Or it can replace Cinderhulk along with Strength of the Ages in case you'd like to purchase Warrior.
- Insight : Decreases Smite's CD by 11 and Flash's CD by a flippin' 45 secs! Now that's powahful! Some people prefer wiki mastery=Perseverance but Rek'Sai has just an average HP Regen of ~7 (@lv18) and if you want it for better early sustain then 11 secs off of Smite has got you covered; especially early in the game when your Regen's even worse.
- Swiftness : Ah... Tenacity. God do I love this stat? The answer is yes. Yes, I do. I feel like it's pretty underrated. TBH though it's a really close call between this and Legendary Guardian . I guess it depends on whether the enemies have lots of CC and whether you're going to split push or not. If you're in a dilemma just pick Swiftness since Merc Treads recently got nerfed too.
- Strength of the Ages : You're great at clearing making it easy to stack. It also works nicely with Cinderhulk as an added bonus. Even without it though it's still pretty neat. It can also act as a substitute for Cinderhulk if you wanna go Warrior.
Ferocity
- Fury : AtkSpd FTW.
- Double Edged Sword : You're melee.
- Vampirism : For the sustain. Honestly, I think 15 AD and AP at level 18 is kinda wasted too.
- Oppressor : Certainly better than Bounty Hunter for Rek'Sai. You won't be getting that many kills, much less kill all 5 of your foes.
Jungling
As far as Jungle routes go you can start pretty much wherever but I'd always recommend that you get a good leash because you do tend to fall kind of low on your first clear unless you're running a gimmicky Mastery Page. My standard route is the following:
Krugs => Red Brambleback => Rift Scuttler (near Blue Sentinel) => Blue Sentinel => continue clearing / gank (recommended) or B
Visual Illustration
TIP: In early clears, try Burrowing ~2 secs before the knockup timer is up (I hope you've been knocking dem monsters up) and move away to heal and then knock 'em up again.
The reason you want to start at Krugs is your inherently high AtkSpd which, in combination with your Q's AA reset, allows you to truly utilize their buff. You can also try double jungling, although that may require you to mirror the route if Gromp's on the Top side. After finishing this route you could probably recall but I like continuing the clear or ganking. Also I suggest you don't go back before having 930g to upgrade Hunter's Machete and buy Boots. Oh, and remember to place Tunnels as often as possible, trust me, it helps more than you think.
Double Jungle
Early Game
So, early game you want to do your first Jungle clear and then recall for your upgraded Jungle item. Rek'Sai's level 3 ganking is pretty bad unless someone is really overextended so sticking around may not be the best choice. Once you've got that upgraded Jungle item your playstyle will shift depending on which one you've bought. If you went for Stalker's Blade you can look to force some ganks. If you went Tracker's Knife you should focus more on strategic warding and maybe counterjungling but also keep your eyes out for the free kills in lanes.
*EASTER EGG*
Mid Game
Mid Game you want to mostly extend and expand upon your start from the early game cos Rek'Sai's level 6 doesn't really give her any power spikes as far as it goes with ganking so you're still reliant on that Stalker's Blade for catching people off guard. Also, in this point of the game you must have finished your Jungle Enchantment which is your first significant boost in power, so try and pick some fights when you can. Rek'Sai is a pretty good duelist as well so try to take advantage of that. And despite me saying that her level 6 isn't really a big power spike as far as her ganking goes, you should still be aware if enemies are close to any of your Tunnels so you can Ult onto one and catch them off guard.
Late Game
Late Game you'll be focusing mostly on teamfights and facilitating those fights. Buying wards is crucial at this point in the game to not only set up your own plays, but also to be aware of your enemies. In teamfights how you'll play them will depend heavily on how you've built Rek'Sai:
Devourer specifically means that you're going have high damage at this stage of the game, when you'll want to try and sit on the enemy squishies and destroy them.
Tunneling near enemy carries is often enough to zone them and even your Tunnels alone provide some threat level as you have the potential to travel through them and onto the enemies. You shouldn't be afraid to hit the Tanks a few times to build some fury too but Rek'Sai's overall lacking CC doesn't really make her the best peeler. Still, her damage on Tanks can be fairly decent with some good sustain DPS and potential true damage on her E.
Misc. Advice
-.- *sigh...* I'm here here to teach you the art of playing Rek'Sai, not Jungle or--heck--even League in general but these tend to be overlooked so here we go:
Be aware of the game!! Check your minimap, ward the jungle, pay attention to the lanes and take objectives! Estimate the possibilities and their value, then act accordingly. These are all keys for the gate leading to that sweet, oh so sweet Victory screen but in spite of that, people often don't apply these rules to their games even if they know of them, including me, myself and I... and you too (I think).
Use your Queen's Wrath to reset your AA. Execution: Auto, Q immediately after the damage registers, auto, auto, auto.
Use your Void Rush sparingly and wisely. Examples: joining a teamfight / taking jungle objectives / escaping.
To be able to use your Ult though you need to have well placed Tunnels on the map. Thus, Tunnels at your Base, near the Epic Monster pits and one at each quarter of the jungle are pretty important.
A lot of players don't realise that after being out of combat (not dealing or receiving any damage) for 5 secs or so your Fury starts rapidly decaying so do use it to heal up after ganks. Saving it for another gank or jungle clear isn't worth it cos you simply won't be able to. Also, I know it's pretty obvious, but Burrow between jungle camps to move faster and regenerate HP, as well as for the reason I just mentioned.
Unburrow by pressing W, not right-clicking. Ever noticed how Rek'Sai has that long-a*s animation after Unburrowing before she can attack again? Yeah... That only happens if you Unburrow using right-click. You should instead press W, wait for our voidling landshark to be in midst of that little front flip she does after coming out of the ground and then right-click to attack.
Try using your Furious Bite like an executioner. Its AD scaling is raised by 1% for every 1% of her current Fury meaning a whopping 240% of your total AD at max rank and Fury. Not to mention it deals True Damage when your Fury is maxed out. This is the reason people don't play full OHE Rek'Sai.
Please remember to use your Prey Seeker when farming; it costs nothing, literally.
Congratulations! \(^_^)/ You finished reading the whole guide (I hope). Please vote and comment to tell me your opinion on the guide. If you downvoted please tell me why and how I can improve it. Don't hesitate to ask any questions that I've left unanswered no matter how stupid they might seem either, and I'll try including it in my guide as well if it's needed. All feedback is appreciated. Oh, and sorry for the inconsistency with the UPPERCASE. Thanks for reading and GL & HF at the fields of justice! ;) mm'kay bye
You should keep in mind that where I come from, "coming soon" means... well... "coming not as soon as you'd like". (.-.) Welp, 'tleast you really did completely finish the actual whole guide. I'm proud of ya buddy. \('ω')/ ...Unless you skipped something you sneaky lil cheaty cheater. Thought I wouldn't notice you? HAH, as if! >:D Also, you do realize this is a pointless paragraph, right? So to make it less pointless...
Also, there's an wellhidden secret in this guide (not gonna specify precisely what). Yup. Good luck finding that one. :/ But if you do... I've got an extra special prize for you! That's right; The Butt!
Special Thanks To:
- jhoijhoi for Making a Guide about Making a Guide and because you can't have a guide without special thanks to her. Everybody knows that.
- Laggermeister for the Ten Commandments of Writing a Guide.
- The four people that upvoted my guide! thx guyz... (;~;) (or gurls, *cough* gender equality *cough*)
You should keep in mind that where I come from, "coming soon" means... well... "coming not as soon as you'd like". (.-.) Welp, 'tleast you really did completely finish the actual whole guide. I'm proud of ya buddy. \('ω')/ ...Unless you skipped something you sneaky lil cheaty cheater. Thought I wouldn't notice you? HAH, as if! >:D Also, you do realize this is a pointless paragraph, right? So to make it less pointless...
here's a little bonus for ya
Also, there's an wellhidden secret in this guide (not gonna specify precisely what). Yup. Good luck finding that one. :/ But if you do... I've got an extra special prize for you! That's right; The Butt!
click here *only* if you found the secret and wanna find out What exactly butt means
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