Yup. You heard that right, and theres no Xayah to save us where we're going. But first, some history.

Rakan is a mobility support, known for several things throughout the community:

• Mobility (surprise) and follow up potential.
• Peeling for allies with your shield.
• Wide-scale AOE CC with his Grand Entrance and The Quickness.
• Having significant AP Ratios on his abilities and Fey Feathers.

For the uninitiated, midlane AP Rakan has been an in-and-out strategy since he was released, but as recently as 12.11, he got fairly significant buffs aimed at improving his abilities after the durability patch decreased the efficacy with his healing and shielding capabilities, as well as some ratio nerfs prior. As it turns out, not only does it balance out some of the more recent changes made, but goes above and beyond what he was capable of before the durability patch!

EDIT: As of 12.19, Rakan's AP ratios were buffed AGAIN, giving him an even higher damage ratio on his Gleaming Quill and bringing his passive shield to a staggering 95%. Incredible!

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PROS + Uncommon Matchup + Very high mobility + Good AOE setup potential + Quick roams and jungler peeling + Wonderful AP Ratios + Good health sustainability Early levels, typically between 1-3 can be a strong boon for Rakan to get in the enemies face and force a back before they hit their powerspikes. Most players you run into will be unaware of the range or damage of Grand Entrance before you use it, which you can use to get a free strong trade early on. If you aren't using your abilities for getting last hits, you should be using it to trade whenever possible, should you be in range to do so. Gleaming Quill is a substantial boon for your sustain, so try to avoid spending all your mana on the wave and try to keep poking to get the other laner away from the lane if they step up for it.

CONS - squishy without shield - may rely on jungler in several matchups - long cooldowns in early laning - Deadweight Battle Dance in solo lane Rakan can have difficulty into matchups with large amounts of CC or difficult CC to avoid, such as Lux, and can suffer from being poked early by champions that don't need to walk up, such as ranged champs or champs that can avoid CC, such as Sivir, Malzahar, and Zoe. Avoid putting yourself close to champions that can poke you out of lane before you get good trades in, and wait for them to push the wave toward you to collect your CS. If a champion does well at blocking off your escape after an engage, make sure your jungler is close by for a Battle Dance jump if you need an escape button. Rakan's matchups can be difficult, but patience is rewarding!

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PASSIVE ABILITY

Fey Feathers ✦ Every 40 - 14.5 seconds, Rakan gains 30 - 225 (+95% of ability power) Shield. Rakan's Attacks and Abilities against enemy champions reduce this Cooldown by 1 second.

PASSIVE ABILITY

Lover's Leap ✦If Rakan and Xayah are on the same team, they can recall together by moving nearby when one of them is recalling.

Q

Gleaming Quill ✦ Rakan flings a magical feather that deals 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to the first enemy hit. If the feather hits a champion or epic jungle monster, Rakan restores 30 - 115 (depending on level) (+55% of ability power) health to himself and nearby allies after 3 seconds or when he touches an allied champion.

W

Grand Entrance ✦ Rakan dashes, then spirals into the air, knocking up for 1 second and dealing 70 / 125 / 180 / 235 / 290 (+70% of ability power) magic damage.

E

Battle Dance ✦ Rakan dashes to an allied champion, granting them 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+70% of ability power) shield for 3 seconds. Rakan can recast this ability once within 5 seconds.

R

The Quickness ✦ Rakan gains 75% bonus movement speed for the next 4 seconds, dealing 100 / 200 / 300 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to each enemy he touches and charming them for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 seconds. Enemies can only be affected once. The first champion charmed grants Rakan 150% decaying movement speed.

Generally speaking, this is the path you'll go most of your games, following R>W>Q>E. You may decide to put your level 3 into Battle Dance to assist your jungler when the first Rift Scuttler spawns, but otherwise this is the path you should take. If your team composition requires more shielding, you can choose to level up your Battle Dance before Gleaming Quill, but this may impact your damage for earlier fights, so choose carefully.

SUMMONER SPELLS - FLASH: Flash is an incredibly useful tool in lane, as you are probably well aware. Flashing before Grand Entrance can catch opponents off guard, and flashing afterward in the opposite direction can cancel your animation, putting you in a safer place faster, or back over a wall. IGNITE: While Rakan has fantastic AP ratios, his damage isn't the most incredible in the early game. Ignite adds some padding to your early lane damage, potentially netting you a kill earlier than you would have been able to. More than 90% of your games, you will run ignite. EXHAUST: Exhaust is in a weird position. If you want to run your Rakan mid as a more teammate centric burst, or want to confirm kills on enemies that go too far up with aid from your jungler, it can work. Exhaust can work in situations of extreme synergy or lanes you need to play more passively, but usually you'll want to take Ignite.

BIG BURST KEYSTONE Electrocute: Rakan benefits greatly from electrocute, as most burst champions do, adding a good bonus to your damage on top of your typical engage combo can make or break a trade in lane. Play around your cooldown, and try W>Q>AA to activate it on most of your engages. If you miss Q, do another AA before disengaging. MOBILITY KEYSTONE Predator: Some people will be inclined to run predator, giving even more mobility in his roaming potential and letting you stick your engage more easily. I recommend using Ultimate Hunter whenever you take this, so you can stack your movement speed from The Quickness for a faster engage. IN-AND-OUT KEYSTONE Phase Rush: Now, this might honestly be a bit of a troll pick into some team compositions, but phase rush does noticeably benefit Rakan's disengage speed and close corners kiting. He does now count as a melee champion as of 12.22 (rito yes!) for the purposes of the ability, and the combat mobility is nothing to scoff at, and can help him navigate a fight more effectively.

EYEBALL COLLECTION ✦ Eyeball Collection Eyeball Collection is a great alternative for Ghost Poro in either higher ELO (due to lower ELO opponents typically being worse at clearing wards), or based on personal preference. You still get the scaling AP, but you do have the obligation to get more takedowns if you end up taking this.

ATTACK SPEED ✦ Attack Speed Your first rune shard should almost always be attack speed, and even moreso if you're running a more melee focused build with Nashor's Tooth (but more on that later). Rakan benefits greatly from this attack speed bonus for his trades and his attempts at CS'ing effectively. This is not something you should go without.

GATHERING STORM ✦ Gathering Storm This is one of the best runes you can run for a game you know will go late, in a game where your teammates are aiming to scale, or literally any opportunity you can. If you are running sorcery, there is practically no reason you should not have this. If you are going Phase Rush (or even an Arcane Comet build, (which admittedly, I haven't tried), use this.

Luden's Echo

Hextech Rocketbelt

Night Harvester

Choosing a mythic, or a build in general, can be difficult and is tailored to your playstyle as an AP Rakan. However, some general notes: Luden's Tempest is a great choice, both for it's passive that recovers on dealing ability damage (same as your Fey Feathers shield!) and for the extra damage it grants. This is a great choice to start with, and will often be a go to. Night Harvester can work well on more melee focused builds (see details below) and with Predator, allowing huge The Quickness potential and very high mobility. Hextech Rocketbelt also works for movement speed, and can give you an AA reset, but it grants a burst of speed rather than a more sustained and reliable damage bost + extra speed that Night Harvester does off of multiple target abilities. Ultimately, the choice comes down to playstyle and preference, but feel free to mix and match to see what sticks.

Lost Chapter for Luden's Tempest and Hextech Alternator for the other two mythics are the go-to first epic item to build into, allowing you to start pulling off some of your more major damage potential as early as you can get the AP to do so. It may be wise, however to start with Boots in certain matchups, such as for dodging Zoe sleeps. If you get ahead early, a Dark Seal grab is a smart start for scaling into the late game, if you didn't start with one. Rabadon's Deathcap is a strong 3rd or 4th item, and can be excellently paired with any of your other items for extra damage, such as Lich Bane AA, every AA after Nashor's Tooth, or simply your existing magic damage. Void Staff is a strong item into teams with more magic resistance, or for finishing off your build. I would also recommend Morellonomicon over Chemtech Putrifier for the most part, you won't generally have mana problems and if you are built well you can chunk many characters to below half health with your engage. Zhonya's Hourglass can be good into bursty team comps or when you need more armor.

Magic and Melee

★Now, one of my favorite twists on Rakan, one used more occasionally than as a standard, is Nashor's Tooth, in tandem of course with Lich Bane. Since you are prioritizing ability power in your items and abilities anyway, and since between your Gleaming Quill and Grand Entrance you can easily weave in AAs, it is a rather fun build to play. If you decide to build it, try going for Sorcerer's Shoes, Night Harvester, Nashor's Tooth, and then Lich Bane for a wonderfully devilish damage combo.

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Sorcerer's Shoes > MAGIC PENETRATION This item is great for any builds where you don't need extra attack speed, most likely because your other items do it for you, or if you're ahead by a lot. Increasing the damage of your abilities a noticeable amount for a relatively cheap price. Ionian Boots of Lucidity > ABILITY HASTE For any builds you aren't going for that juicy extra magic pen, you'll be going ability haste. While Rakan's abilities don't have very long cooldowns later in the game, they do get in the way of using abilities multiple times a fight, which can be necessary. If you don't get enough ability haste from your other items, take these.

Hey all, thanks for reading through my guide. I am inexperienced in the way of making guides, so criticism is appreciated. I am a fairly casual player, but I've gotten a lot of information and different perspectives from experience and others who have tried similar things. I tend to play midlane and jungle mages with mobility, and I've had an absolute blast playing Rakan. Even if you don't end up using this guide much, I hope it made you think about AP Rakan and his potential. I'm not the first, but I am proud if it helped just one person. Thanks! Chao.