Greetings fellow support players, welcome to my Rakan guide! My summoner name is Aerenax on EUW. Since Rakan came out I fell in love with the champion as he has a very versatile and unique playstyle. At the moment I have around 1M mastery points in Rakan and I would like to share my knowledge and experience with you guys! I really appreciate some constructive feedback as this is my first guide and I do want to know what you guys think of the information or the guide layout itself. If you have any personal questions feel free to ask them aswell! This guide has been written and checked by me. If you have any additions feel free to contact me. I am planning to update the guide every patch to keep you guys up to date on the newest builds, strategies and matchups. This guide is still work in progress and I am also looking for someone that can help me make some fancy banners for the headers for the guide, if you are or know someone who wants to help me upgrade the guide, please send me a message! For other Rakan questions check out the RakanMains reddit or join the RakanMains discord at: https://discord.gg/QFXHtxMzFn I hope this guide will make you play Rakan with the same enthusiasm as me, so let’s Battle Dance right into it!

PROS + High mobility + Great AP scaling + Great teamfighting potential + A lot of roaming potential + Special synergy with Xayah + Versatile playstyle Rakan is a champion with endless ways to play him. His mobility makes you a great engage tool for your team while you have the safety to dash back to your team using your E – Battle Dance. Furthermore your peeling potential is ginormous with your Q – Gleaming Quill and your E – Battle Dance in combination with Guardian. If you choose to go for the full AP Rakan build, you will notice that you have great burst potential and you are a real backline threat to the enemy team. Rakan is a champion that can win or lose a game with the right engage so don’t underestimate your importance!

CONS - Squishy in lane - High cooldowns early game - Weak if CC’ed - Reliant on teammates. Laning as Rakan can feel a little rough into high engage champions like Rell and Leona as they can lock you down and one-shot you. Furthermore Rakan has high base cooldowns on his abilities which require some Ability haste to compensate. Rakan is very reliant on teammates to make full use of his mobility of his E Battledance and especially when not playing with a Xayah it can feel like your E - Battle Dance has a really short range. Lastly Rakan requires a lot of games to fully master so I do recommend not giving up after one game and also look into pro vods to see how they position in lane, etc.

Every (40.0 - 14.5) seconds, Rakan gains a (33 - 254-+90% AP) Shield. Rakan's Attacks and Abilities against enemy champions reduce this Cooldown by 1 second. This is a pretty strong passive in my opinion. It has some good AP scalings for later on in the game and it will always help you in harder lanes.

Recall together and save some time. If either Rakan or Xayah is recalling, the other may move nearby and activate their own recall to join them. Both reach base at the time of which the initiator's recall ends. This is one of the reason why the pearing of Xayah and Rakan is so strong. This duo recall can be used to maintain tempo, which means Xayah can push out the last minions while Rakan already initiates the recall to be more efficient.

Rakan flings a magical feather that deals (70 - 250 +75% AP) magic damage to the first enemy hit. If the feather hits a champion or epic jungle monster, restore (18 - 120-+70% AP) Health to Rakan and surrounding allies after 3 seconds or immediately if he touches an allied champion. Rakan's Q will help him sustain in lane or increase damage in trades. When you hit your Q you can just walk towards an ally to "hug" them or you can use your E Battle Dance to instantly proc the heal aswell.

Rakan dashes, then spirals into the air. All enemies in it's radius are Knocked Up for 1 second and dealt (70 - 290-+70% AP) magic damage. His main form of engage. Can be used offensive, but don't underestimate the defensive value of it either! Can also be used to get over most walls, so look for creative escape routes with it.

Rakan dashes to an allied champion, granting them (40 - 140-+80% AP) Shield for 3 seconds. Rakan can Recast this Ability once within 5 seconds. This ability is best used as a mobility tool rather than a shielding tool. Battle Dance will proc Guardian so play around that. The best use is to catapult yourself into a teamfight or get yourself out as quick as possible.

Gain 75% Move Speed for 4 seconds. Rakan deals (100 - 300-+50%AP) magic damage and Charms enemies for 1/1.25/1.5 second(s) the first time he touches them. The first champion touched grants Rakan 150% decaying Move Speed. The ability that ties all your skills together. While in your ultimate you can use all your other abilities and summoner spells. Try to use your ultimate to have some extra movement speed and start a teamfight OR use it to peel for your carry by charming the enemies on top of him!

The most common levelling sequence for Rakan is the one I am using in this guide which follow R>W>E>Q. There are some variants to this skill sequence such as people getting 3 points in Q for lane pressure and maxing W after. The leveling of your abilities can change from time to time and is dependent on your needs in game.

Your needs in game can also be dependant on what you level in the first 3 levels of the game. In matchups where you need more sustain, such as a Xerath matchup you can choose to start Q level 1 or take it level 2. Some players also like to start E level 1, take Q level 2 and start levelling W from level 3 onwards. Look at what you need in a matchup to survive/win laning phase!

- FLASH: You take Flash in all your games as you can use it to surprise the enemy by a Flash >> Grand Entrance or get in range to use your Battle Dance on one of your allies. Be careful as you cannot flash (and W) in the first 0.5 seconds after ulting. IGNITE: You take Ignite in about 95% of your games to add some all in threat at level 2. Furthermore it’s a good tool to use in early fights when up versus some healing supports to reduce healing. EXHAUST: You only take exhaust if the enemy team is stacked with assassins and one-shot potential. You want to peel your ADC from all this damage and you can reduce their damage by 40%. It also works to slow down enemies to catch them when they are alone, because Exhaust also applies a 30% slow. HEAL: The only reason you want to take Heal is that your ADC decides to take Cleanse, Ignite or Exhaust and you feel like you do need heal in a certain matchup. I personally think that you only require heal when your ADC asks you to take it.

RESOLVE

Guardian is the go to rune for the traditional Rakan support playstyle. Guardian is great for trading and it grants you that extra bit of shield when dashing out with your E to soak some damage. This rune is important as you will be soaking a lot of damage with small trades in lane because laning phase is not your best time of the game. I would not recommend Grasp of the Undying in any scenario, however Aftershock can be in certain matchups where you are the only frontline for example.

This row has 3 good options. I find myself having the most succes playing with Font of Life. As Rakan you have some ways to proc Font of Life and when an ally procs it your Shurelya's Battlesong passive will also activate. Demolish is also a good option in melee matchups as you have a range advantage which makes it easier to push towers. The only downside is that you are not building tank, so you will deal less damage than an actual tank. The last rune in this row is Shield Bash. This rune can be extremely viable into melee matchups when playing around your passive shield.

Bone Plating is also one of 3 runes in its row that depends on your lane a lot. Bone Plating is overall just a solid rune when surviving lane, as champions such as Caitlyn and Seraphine are in the meta. If you are looking into a more teamfight/skirmish oriented rune Conditioning is a solid rune. Second Wind is great into heavy poke lanes, but I feel like it's not as strong as Bone Plating.

Unflinching is a great rune for Rakan as heavy CC supports are in the meta right now. Another great option is Revitalize. The extra healing and shielding helps you peel your ADC a lot better and provides more survivability in lane and teamfights. I would only recommend taking Overgrowth as Rakan in combination with aftershock as you will be acting as the main frontline for your team.

Domination

If you want to play AP Rakan I highly recommend using Electrocute, because you can easily proc it doing W>Q>Auto Attack and you can dash out again. Predator is the new hype since preseason 12. It gives you a lot of roaming potential since Predator received some buffs. Hail of Blades and Dark Harvest are a no go.

In this row I would advise Sudden Impact or Cheap Shot. Sudden Impact synergizes with your W and E and will increase your damage with the Electrocute combo (This is my personal preference). Cheap Shot, on the other side, does synergize with your W and R and will deal a lot of damage if you find a multi man engage. I do not recommend taking Taste of Blood.

In this row the best option you have is Zombie Ward. This rune will stack slower early game due to you not having an Oracle Lens early. Later into the game you will experience that denying vision helps you establish vision which leads you to have control over larger portions of the map. Another option in this row is Eyeball Collection. I recommend this rune if you love to play the roaming game and get your other lanes, and especially yourself ahead. The last option in this row is Ghost Poro. This also helps in creating vision, but this does not require you to kill enemy wards but place your own wards.

The bottom row of domination has a lot of viable options, but the one I prefer is Ultimate Hunter. This rune gives you more cooldown on your R - The Quickness which leaves you with more windows to create engages for you team or peel for you ADC. Relentless Hunter is also a good rune if you look for roaming early and get it stacking. This can result in quick flank setups in late game and provides more safety playing the vision game as you have more movement speed to work with. Ingenious Hunter also works well with Rakan. It lowers the cooldown of items and wards/ Oracle Lens which leads to more power in the vision game and more usage of your activatable items such as Shurelya's Battlesong and Redemption. I do not recommend using Treasure Hunter as you won’t get the same value as from the other runes in this row.

Inspiration

Glacial Augment has been reworked in the preseason of season 12 and it has some good synergy with our boy Rakan. When using CC on an enemy you will shoot frost bolts around you which slow enemies and reduce their damage. This tool is pretty huge in teamfighting. Unsealed Spellbook is also a favourite of some Rakan players and is pretty fun if you know how to use it. First Strike is also new in season 12, but I do not recommend going for this keystone.

In this row there is only one viable choice really. Perfect Timing will give you a free Stopwatch that will help you survive for 1 teamfight or dive that is risky. I would ot recommend Magical Footwear as you want to get your Ionian Boots of Lucidity as fast as possible. I also do not recommend going Hextech Flashtraption. Just do not take Hextech Flashtraption on Rakan.

This row has 3 valid options. I recommend taking Biscuit Delivery which will result in some sustain in laning phase. Laning phase can be difficult as Rakan so this is a pretty helpful tool. Minion Dematerializer can also be a good option when going into an adc that has difficulties with wave clearing. You can hard shove some waves early and get out of lane to impact other places of the map. The last option, Future's Market can be useful when trying to hit item spikes early. Radiant Virtue is a pretty expensive item, so hitting it earlier will increase your teamfight potential and make you win your game easier.

Cosmic Insight is the best option in this row as the item haste benefits your Radiant Virtue/ Shurelya's Battlesong and the summoner spell haste will lower the cooldown of your Flash which results in more playmaking potential. Approach Velocity is not worth it as you already dash in and cc your targets, so you don’t need the extra movement speed. Time Warp Tonic is also not ideal as you are not looking into buying a lot of potions.

To start of the item section, let's dive into the starting items. There are 4 different support starting items, but only 2 are favoured by Rakan.

Relic Shield Relic Shield is the item you take in almost all your games. It provides safety in lane and it scales with some good AP and Health when completing your support quest. You take Relic Shield over Steel Shoulderguards because of the AP you get from Relic Shield. This is the go to support item when in matchup you can’t punish or you get punished easily (Mostly poke mages and aggressive melee supports). Since season 13 Rakan finally became classified as a melee champion which makes it easier to last hit minions!

Spellthief's Edge Spellthief's Edge is the other support item you can consider taking. It gives more AP then Relic Shield but less Health. You take Spellthief's Edge over Spectral Sickle, because Spectral Sickle gives AD and you won’t benefit from this a lot. You can take Spellthief's Edge in matchups you can punish. These matchups include champions like Alistar and Braum as they are close range, and for the daredevils among you also Blitzcrank and Pyke. Becareful though, because you might get hooked!

Since the beginning of season 11 Mythic items have become an important part of your build and bring some extra passive stats to the table. Therefor it’s very important to choose wisely and build around your goal for a certain game. I do recommend going for your mythic as your first core item (not including boots).

Shurelya's Battlesong In most cases you want to play with Shurelya's Battlesong. It provides great utility to your team and it helps them following you into fights or disengaging fights. This item is great for games where you are ahead as Shurelya's Battlesong will help you snowball your games easier.

Locket of the Iron Solari Locket of the Iron Solari is a solid item option when playing a more defensive variant of Rakan. Definetly look into this item when you are the only frontline on your team or the enemy team has lots of AoE damage or a wombo combo. Think of enemy teams with a Karthus or Vladimir

Radiant Virtue Radiant Virtue is a great item choice for Rakan. When in hard matchup or you are not sure if you want to build a Shurelya's Battlesong, this is a great item with some good stats. You get more tankiness and when you ult, you also gain extra HP and start healing your allies around you for 9 seconds. Definetly a strong item choice!

The following section will describe the viable boots options for Rakan. Right now Ionian Boots of Lucidity feel like the strongest option as they give you a lot of ability haste and reduced cooldown on summoner spells.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity Ionian Boots of Lucidity are the way to go. They give you 20 Ability haste which equals approximately 17% Cooldown reduction when it’s your first 20 ability haste of the game. On a 10 second ability that means a reduction of 1.7 seconds which is huge early game.

Plated Steelcaps Plated Steelcaps are the obvious choice versus a full AD comp. Also if the enemy composition has a lot of champions that are auto attack heavy (Vayne top, Kindred jungle and an ADC for example).

Mercury's Treads If you are losing lane or the enemy team has a lot of CC, Mercury's Treads are the ideal boots for Rakan as they provide tenacity. Also a valid option when you are playing versus an AP heavy composition.

The following section will describe the other items you might want to include into your build. These are my commonly used items and are the best in my opinion:

Imperial Mandate As of patch 13.10 Imperial Mandate became a legendary item instead of a mythic, so we can now pair Imperial Mandate and Shurelya's Battlesong in one build! This is ideal as both passives work really well with Rakan's kit.

Staff of Flowing Water Staff of Flowing Water is a strong item on Rakan in combination with a Radiant Virtue. I recommend going this item after your Radiant Virtue only, as the healing of Radiant Virtue procs the item passive, which is really good in teamfights!

Vigilant Wardstone Vigilant Wardstone is a must have last item every game. In the later stages of the game, games are won by doing either Baron or Elder dragon and this item helps by controlling them. The extra HP and ability this item adds to your build is also very high for the low price this item has!

Zeke's Convergence Zeke's Convergence is a solid item in your build as it will help out during teamfights a lot. It increases the damage output of the ally you bind it with on both auto attacks and abilities. Use this on your strongest ally! This item is a tankier variant of Imperial Mandate with a slightly different way of working, but defintely a good pick up in games where you are part of the main frontline.

Mikael's Blessing Mikael's Blessing is a matchup dependant item. If the enemy team has tons, and I mean TONS of CC, you really want to get this item to buy some space for your team. It removes CC and allows your team member to reposition and continue the fight, or let’s them disengage when they got chunked out for a huge amount. Look to buy this item when you think you need it, because there is no certain timing.

Chemtech Putrifier Chemtech Putrifier is the go to anti-heal option for Rakan. I favor this item over Morellonomicon as Rakan does benefit more from the antiheal on the shielding then from the AP. Definitely look to build this early as it gives some ability haste aswell.

Knight's Vow Knight's Vow is a good item choice if you need to be a little more tanky and you want to increase peeling for your carry. Binding a Knight's Vow with one of your allies redirects some damage they get and heals you for some damage they do. Good option when you have one really fed member on your team.

Abyssal Mask Abyssal Mask is one of the few solid item choices when itemizing into an AP heavy comp. You should go for an Abyssal Mask when your team also has a lot of AP damage. Otherwise go for a Force of Nature if you really need the magic resistance.

Force of nature Force of Nature is the other solid item choice when itemizing into an AP heavy comp. You should go for a Force of Nature when your team does not have a lot of AP damage and the enemy team does. Otherwise go for an Abyssal Mask if your team is AP heavy.

Randuin's Omen A good option going into AD heavy comps is Randuin's Omen. It provides a lot of armor and the reduced critical strike damage is also very strong versus a lot of team comps. Teams with not only an AD carry but also teams with for example Yasuo mid or Kindred jungle, this item will prove it's value against.

Easy ALISTAR Alistar shouldn’t be the hardest of matchups as he is eager to engage on you. Play around his W Q combo cooldown and you should be fine. Don’t dive too deep behind him as he can bump you into the tower.

Hard AMUMU Amumu’s early aggression can be a real struggle in lane. Try to play safe in the early levels as he has some great all in potential at lvl 1 and 2.

Hard ASHE Imperial mandate Ashe is a pain in the Ashe with her constant slows and her R that can stun you in place which makes engaging a lot harder. She will try to run you down in lane if she has the opportunity. Try to avoid getting poked down and maybe buy boots of swiftness to reduce the slow.

Hard BARD Bard is a champion that is pretty difficult to play against. You can’t keep up with his roaming potential so try to make plays in lane if he is missing. Also play around his Q and carefully place your W so he can’t immediately stun you after you go in.

Very Easy BLITZCRANK Blitzcrank is one of the easiest matchups for you. If he pulls in your ADC, you follow with your E. If he pulls you in, you can decide to dash out with your E or look for an engage with your W and R. Play around Blitzcranks Q and his R and you shouldn’t face too many problems.

Very Hard BRAND Brand is a matchup that I call a big yikes. The champion is obnoxious to play against and deals tons of damage. In this lane you have to avoid his W and play around his passive, otherwise it’s doomed.

Easy BRAUM Braum is not a difficult matchup. Try to play around his passive and identify how aggressive the Braum actually is. If he is really aggressive play a with a little care and you will be fine. His ult can stop your engage so be careful for that.

Hard FIDDLESTICKS Fiddlesticks is annoying to play against as he claims bush control and won’t let go. He is constantly looking to fear you which interrupts your mobility and makes you vulnerable for the enemy ADC. It’s important to establish good vision versus a fiddlesticks to avoid getting feared, ulted out of vision or ganked. Fiddlestick will have the upper hand in the vision wars as his passive Scarecrow Effigy is really strong for this.

Moderate GALIO Galio is a matchup that can go both ways. He either CC’s you to death or you dodge around his E and blow him up afterwards.

Very Easy GRAGAS Gragas shouldn’t be the hardest matchup. If you play around his E you won’t find any difficulty dealing with him.

Very Hard HEIMERDINGER Heimerdinger is maybe the most annoying champion to lane against. He has enormous kill pressure and with his turrets he can take full bush control and you have to play around them. Killing his turrets will be hard with your short range, so definetly a matchup to avoid.

Moderate JANNA Janna can be annoying as she pokes a lot with her W in lane and she can avoid your engages by using her Q or R at the right time. If you are very patient in this matchup you should be fine.

Moderate KARMA Karma is a hard lane as she offers a lot of utility and damage. Avoid her R + Q and you should be fine. If you play around this the lane is winnable.

Hard LEONA Leona is one of those hard engage supports that create some difficulties in laning phase. Play around her E and R and be very patient in lane, because you will outshine her in teamfights if you play it correctly.

Moderate LULU The moonstone meta does favour Lulu a lot and her sustain and buffing for her ADC is annoying. Her W and R can interrupt your engage but once on top of Lulu she can’t do much.

Moderate LUX Lux is not as annoying as the other mages in the botlane as she is easy to play around if she misses her Q. The only problem is when you get hit by her full combo and your HP bar is deleted.

Hard MAOKAI Maokai is annoying as he gets on top of you easily and he can CC you long enough with his W and Q to avoid you from dashing or running away from him. Also have to be careful on face checking bushes as the sampling brigade is waiting to blow up in your face.

Hard MILIO Milio can be an annoying little kid when playing against him in botlane. Your W animation is slow and he can cancel it by using his Q - Ultra Mega Fire Kick. In teamfights he has the ability to cleanse everyone with Breath of Life, so if you find a charm on 4 people that can easily be undone by him. He can't cleanse knockups, so keep that in mind!

Very Hard MORGANA Morgana is the worst matchup you can get. Her Q roots you for a long time, her E mitigates your engages and she deals tons of damage. I permaban this champion.

Moderate NAMI Nami is another enchanter with some disengage built into her kit to make your life difficult. Her E is slowing you and her Q stuns you for a second or so. Her ult is the perfect tool to stop you from engaging on her team so definitely try to dance around this.

Moderate NAUTILUS Nautilus has tons of cc but to land the most of it he has to get close to you by, for example, hitting a hook. His ult is something different but in most games he won’t use it on you. A great tip to find a kill in lane is to stick next to walls. If he throws his Q at you, dodge it (for example with your E). When his Q connects he will follow it into the wall and you can re-engage on him with your W or R to secure a free kill.

Hard PANTHEON Pantheon is a champion that can one shot either you or your ADC and is considered a hard matchup. Try to stay out of his W range, and if he jumps on your ADC try to W him immediately.

Very Hard POPPY Poppy is niche support pocket pick that is really bad to play against. Her W cancels your W and E so when you dash in you can’t get out, which will result in you dying. She will also ult you away if you do find a window to engage. Poppy is not worth banning but do consider dodging if the enemy plays poppy support.

Very Easy PYKE Pyke is an easy matchup as you can match his mobility. Same as for Blitzcrank, if your ADC gets pulled in follow him and look for a counter engage.

Very Hard RELL Rell is a champion that can make you stop moving. Play around her W and try to punish her if possible, but she will have the better time during laning phase. Her ult is also annoying if you try to engage.

Hard RENATA GLASC Playing against Renata Glasc feels like playing against a Lux. Dodge her Q and E and you are good to go. The only annoying part in this is the W of Renata. This will make a 2 vs 2 way harder than it needs to be. Her ult will not really effect you if you don't get oneshot by your adc. I haven't found out what the interaction is when you are in your ult and you go berserk.

Hard SENNA Senna, especially fasting Senna or Senna with glacial augment, is a really bad matchup as she outranges you by a mile and deals tons of damage. Also her W is really annoying in lane as it is pretty hard cc.

Hard SERAPHINE Seraphine is a poke heavy champ and as we know that’s annoying if you are short range or melee. Seraphine can poke from miles away with her Q and E and has some good sustain with her W. If she misses the root on her passive empowered E or her ult you can all in her. Play around her passive and her ult.

Easy SETT Sett in not a hard matchup. If you stay at a distance so he can’t use his E, the Sett support pick is pretty useless. When you engage you have to be careful of his R that he does not one-shot your team with you as his victim.

Hard SHACO Shaco’s boxes can be annoying in laning phase, but in teamfights he does not have a lot to offer. Play around him going invisible and punish him outside of his comfort zone, which are his boxes.

Easy SONA Sona is an annoying poke champion but laning against her should be fine as she has no CC. Play around her ability cooldowns and care for her ult. If you do this you should win lane 9/10 times.

Very Easy SORAKA I consider Soraka one of the most easy matchups as she does not have a lot to offer. If you dodge her Q she is pretty useless. The only thing that can interrupt your engage is her E.

Hard SWAIN Swain is really painful to play against. He pulls you in with his E or any CC that is in your lane, after that he one-shots you.

Easy TAHM KENCH Tahm Kench is an easy lane if he can’t get near you to stack his passive. Stay at a good distance of the from so he can’t unbench himself in lane

Moderate TARIC Taric has a lot of sustain and will fight back at you when you all in him. Dodge out on his E otherwise he will chunk you really low. His ult will mitigate your all in potential so back of when he pops the ult and go back in when it has timed out.

Moderate THRESH Thresh is another hook champ which makes this matchup look easy. However, you have to be careful of his E that can cancel your W and makes you vulnerable for his hook.

Hard VEL'KOZ Vel'Koz pokes you down in lane which will probably force you under tower with half HP. Get used to his Q and how it angles and play around his E.

Very Hard VEX Vex is good against dashing champs, as her passive allows to deal bonus damage to them. Our boy Rakan doesn't do anything but dashing in and out of fights, so Vex is really likely to win every trade. Also the high burst in her kit is really annoying, which leads to a lot of lane pressure.

Hard XERATH Xerath is annoying as he can keep refreshing his mana with his passive and keep throwing tons of damage at you. Dodge around his abilities and look for engage windows when he oversteps.

Easy YUUMI Yuumi is not having loads of laning pressure which means you can put a lot of pressure onto the enemy ADC. Yuumi has a lot of sustain, but once your ADC or you get anti-heal lane is winnable.

Hard ZILEAN Zilean’s bombs are annoying as he can stun you using the minions. His E can slow you and makes your life difficult unless you can dash on your allies. Play away from your own minions and look for him to overstep.

Moderate ZYRA Zyra her plants can be annoying and she has some steady poke with her Q. Play around her E and punish her when she misplaces her plants or E.

Rakan’s early game can be tricky to play. How you play your early game is really matchup dependant. When the enemy runs a kill lane or poke mage, your objective is to survive lane and secure your ADC as much farm as possible. When in a matchup you can punish look to position aggressively to deny as much farm from the enemy ADC as possible. Remember that bushes are your best friend and you can put pressure onto the enemy by playing in these bushes.

You have to be wary of lane state no matter the matchup you are in. There are 3 important wave states that you should acknowledge:

Freeze – Freezing is manipulating your minion wave to stay in the same place for a given amount of time. This is the hardest form of wave management, especially in the botlane as you are dependent on your ADC and your own ability of wave management. Freezing is done by only last hitting the minions and matching minions damage with your opponent. The way you setup a freeze is linked to how close you are to your tower. The closer to your tower the more ranged minions you need, this is because your minions arrive quicker to lane then the enemy minions. The picture shows in what area you need a certain amount of ranged minions to freeze. Learning to freeze effectively requires some practice so don’t give up after the first one doesn’t work out. You want to freeze your wave when you are ahead or when you are in a difficult matchup and your ADC can farm safely so you can roam.

Slow push – Slow pushing already says what is does, it slowly pushes the wave. This one is easier than a Freeze as you don’t have to be focussing on what the enemy does. All you want to do is killing the caster minions in the wave and there you have it, a slow push. Slow pushing is something you want to avoid during laning phase in botlane. When you leave lane and the enemies have based you almost always want to be fast pushing the wave. The only time slow pushing is applied is in the later stages of the game where you want to prepare waves by slow pushing them in the side lane. This either draws attention of at least one enemy so you can make a play across the map or it builds towards a massive minion wave which helps you siege or denies your opponents a lot of experience and gold.

Fast push – Fast pushing is important during the laning phase. Fast pushing is done by killing all the melee minions of a wave and even clearing a complete wave in such a way that the wave crashes into the tower and starts slow pushing back to you. Fast pushing when the enemy botlane has backed denies them a lot of gold and experience while you get a good timing to base and get some items and catch the wave that bounced back from the tower. Another viable reason to do so, is to roam. While the wave is under the enemy tower try to get some deep vision in the enemy jungle or look for a roam midlane. The last thing you can do with a fast push is setting up a dive. If the enemy botlane decides to stay you can have a free kill, if they back off they lose gold and experience. I only recommend diving when you know you can get a free kill and don’t risk the fact that you can fall behind because of a misplayed dive. Another important part of the laning phase is to help out your jungler when he is invading or fighting for scuttle crab. Try to fast push the wave and follow him into the jungle to help him fight. By fast pushing you will force the enemy botlane to either miss the wave or leave their jungler for dead.

For Rakan it is super important to push for level 2 fast. From level 2 onwards you can start trading aggresively or start peeling your carry efficiently. Pushing for level 2 is done by hitting minions to increase the tempo at which they die. Do not last hit minions unless you have stacks from Relic Shield, because your ADC would like to secure the farm himself/herself. Gaining this advantage is not only for trading, but if you can control the bushes you can also threaten to trade. This will lead the enemy ADC to fall back a bit. When the ADC walks up again for farm you can start trading with them. In the video you can see Rakan is helping his Twitch to secure level 2 faster than his opponents. After that he takes control over the bushes and looks for an opportunity to punish the Miss Fortune. When she walks up for a lasthit Rakan looks for a Grand Entrance on Miss Fortune and dash out with Battle Dance again. Looking for these quick trades will secure you advantages in lane and from there on you can start transferring your lead over the map by roaming.

Positioning might be one of the hardest aspects of Rakan. There are 2 different positiong aspects in the game: laning phase and teamfighting. Both have the same core idea which is staying out of vision and use your mobility to be quick in and out of fights. Below I will shortly describe both phases of the game and give a video example. For Laning Phase you will be playing around the bushes a lot. By hiding yourself in the bushes you can put pressure on the enemy adc when he/she tries to last hit minions. In the two videos below you will see a small part of laning phase where Rakan will be walking in and out of bushes to pressure the enemy. On the left you will see the full vision aspect and on the right you will see what the enemy team sees.

This is a pretty effective way of playing a lane. Be careful though, because when your opponent is able to gain control over the bushes AND the enemy has more range than you, please DO NOT contest bush prio! For Teamfighting you have to create the engage, but are not tanky at all. As Rakan you want to hang around your backline and use your mobility to go in and out of fight really fast. In the video below you can see the difference where Rakan gets caught at first, but he is able to start off the fight by using his mobility right. Later on you can also see Rakan catch the Ryze because of Rakan's mobility.

Recalling is an important aspect of laning in general, but especially in botlane you have to time it correctly. As a support you always want to try and synchronize your recall with your ADC. When you want to Recall you are looking to push the minion wave under the enemy tower, as this gives you enough time to recall and come back to lane to catch the enemy wave pushing in. In the example on the right you see Kalista and Rakan pushing the wave, getting 2 towerplates and recalling after that.

As said earlier, Rakan has a second passive ( Lover's Leap) which helps by synchronizing recalls when playing with Xayah. Use this to your full power as it will help you out a lot when laning.

During the Mid-Game you want to group up with your teammates and try to collapse on 2v1 or 2v2 situations and get them ahead of their opponent. Rakan gets his level 6 and 11 power spikes during this time of the game which makes him a real teamfighting threat around objectives such as Dragon , Rift Herald and Baron . Make full use of this and try to get your game up to a fast tempo to start snowballing your advantages. Tempo is a term used to indicate the pace of the game. A high tempo is a tempo that will snowball your leads into bigger leads and closing out the game. This is a tempo you want to adopt into your playstyle when ahead. A slower tempo on the other hand can be important when your team composition is behind or looking to scale into the late game. Champions like Kassadin and Sivir enjoy low tempo games as they can farm up and reach their respective power spikes. Tempo control and knowledge is important as support and it should impact your decision making. Tempo is dependent on your vision on the map and your team’s power spikes. You want to manage the tempo of a game in such a way that champion power spikes can be achieved faster and they can start snowballing their power. During the Late Game it’s your time to shine as you can find the game winning engage and play around your own created vision to find picks that can result into objectives. Being patient is of importance during this time of the game, because one mistake can result in your team losing the fight and even losing the game. Setup your vision correctly around objectives and play according to what your team needs you to do. In the video below you will see a teamfight where the Rakan is very patient and finds the right opportunity to engage.

Rakan is an exceptional teamfighter who remains useful how behind he is. When playing Rakan you can make or break teamfights with good positioning and target selection. The best tip I can give is to be confident because you have a lot of tools to get in and out of fights. You can also pull off some sick combos with teammates like Miss Fortune, Diana or even Aatrox. Below will be 2 videos of teamfights with some nice combos, but these aren't the only ways to teamfight. You need a lot of Creativity to find an unexpected window and collapse.

As Rakan you can do a lot of roaming and get a lot of value out of this by putting teammates other than your ADC ahead. With runes such as Water Walking and Celerity or items such as Mobility Boots your roaming becomes a threat as you will quickly move around the map. There are some rules linked to roaming:

1. Only roam when your minion wave is under the enemy tower or your ADC can farm safely in botlane.
2. Only roam when the enemy midlaner isn’t pushed under his tower so you can make something happen.

If one of these requirements is not met do NOT roam as this will put you or your ADC in a bad spot. You can roam from two different situations; you either roam from botlane after pushing in the wave or when you pushed the wave and come back from base instantly look to make something happen in the river area. The following pictures are coming from the site of mobalytics. For any further information on roaming have a look here.

Roaming from base The first situation we are looking at is roaming from base. On the right is shown with roam pathings when coming from base. Alistar and his adc pushed the wave on botlane and based. Now he is looking for a roam on mid. He will use the blue dotted path to get behind the enemy midlaner. The same case for Blitzcrank on red side, he will follow the red dotted line to get behind the enemy midlaner. You don't necessarily have to go for a mid gank, as you can also look for a gank top or vision control in the river (check out the warding chapters).

Roaming from botlane (Blue side) The second situation is when you are roaming from botlane. In this example we look at Alistar again. First you take one of the green paths, when you are pushed under enemy tower you take the path through the river, when your adc is farming under your tower you take the other path. From there on you can choose each of the purple paths. You decide to go through the enemy jungle when the enemy controls rift scutler, otherwise path straight to midlane. From there on you have to choose the best angle for a gank and that totally depends on the position of the enemy midlaner. I always favor wrapping around the longest route as you get more value out of this.

Roaming from botlane (red side) The same goes for mr. Blitzcrank on the otherside of the map. When your wave is pushed in look to path through the river, if the wave is under your tower and there is no threat of a dive, path through your own jungle following the green paths. As for Alistar in the other example you can also choose the purple path you like from here. I do favor the longest route as this gives the highest reward most of the times as the enemy has to walk into you. When pathing through the enemy jungle beware of the possibility of a jungler that is clearing one of his camps, so be sure you are safe to go there!

In these examples I only talk about setting up a gank on midlane. When following these green and purple paths it can also just be as valuable to place down wards so you can see the opposing team path along these routes! See the warding chapters for more info on that.

Vision is one of the key things a support player has to do within his team. You are responsible for vison setup around objectives; this means clearing enemy vision and establishing your own. Not only around objectives but also inside the enemy jungle to spot enemies walking around or around your lane to spot out ganks or roams from enemies. In the examples below the red circles indicate Control Wards and the green circles indicate Stealth Wards, these are interchangeable but I personally mostly use them this way. When using your Oracle Lens you also want to sweep these spots as they are commonly used warding spots. If you want to know how to setup vision in the topside of the map just flip the images, because Summoners Rift is mirrored in midlane. Early Game

1. This ward is a standard ward when you are on your side of the lane. It spots out jungle ganks and it gives your jungler a free option to gank when you have been pushed under tower. 2. This ward is a standard ward when you are on the enemy side of the lane. This gives you as Rakan windows to roam or create deep vision because the enemy won’t know where you go. The difference with ward 1 has to do with your line of vision. On this side of the map it’s important to keep spot 1 warded aswell as midlaners can still roam through the river as it is the most common route for midlane roams. 3. This ward is good when someone else used his Control Ward in the botside so you can spot out enemy invades or tower dives.

4. This ward is a strong ward around minute 3. It gives a lot of information on the position of the enemy jungler. You can spot him doing Scuttler or you can see in which direction he is pathing. 5. This ward is good to see when the enemy jungler moves into the river and you can maybe collapse on him with your mid/jungler. It also gives midlane information if the enemy jungler is ganking mid. 6. This ward can spot out the enemy jungler when he is clearing his Raptors . This ward gives information on the enemy jungler moving into the river or continues clearing his jungle towards Krugs . 7. This ward can spot out the enemy jungler doing his red buff and pathing either botside, towards Krugs or towards raptors. 8. This ward will spot out the enemy jungler doing Krugs and if he is pathing towards the botlane through lane, through tribush or he is heading towards his Red buff / Raptors . 9. This ward is useful to spot out lane ganks or for an ally to tp on as it perfectly cuts off the escape path of the enemy botlane. 10. You can ward the lane bushes when you think you need a ward in here. Fiddlesticks is a matchup in which these wards are of high importance. Mid Game

1. This ward is the standard ward when you have just destroyed the first botlane tower and start pushing towards the second tower. It spots out midlane roams and creates safety for your jungler to invade the botside. 2. This ward is a good ward when sieging either botlane or midlane as it will spot out enemy flanks when sieging mid or roams towards botlane when sieging there. 3. This ward is good when you are pushing onto the second botlane tower. It spots out enemies coming from the enemy base through the jungle and it gives you enough time to react according to the situation.

4. This ward is good when pushing the wave from your midlane tower and try to scout for flanks being setup here. 5. This ward is generally good when you have destroyed either the first midlane tower or the first botlane tower. It shows everyone entering and leaving this part of the jungle and you can setup a play with a numbers advantage with this information. 6. This ward shows everyone entering the jungle straight out of the enemy base. Off the back of this you can setup a play with a numbers advantage. 7. When you have removed ward 1, I highly recommend placing this ward as it can spot midlane roams and people trying to walk around to attack you from behind when you have pushed your botlane wave. 8. This ward is mostly used when you have just destroyed the first botlane tower and want to spot out enemies waiting to collapse on you if you overextend to crash the wave. Dragon Setup

1. This ward is a good ward to deny enemy vision inside the Dragon pit. Be sure to place it inside the pit so it covers the full area of the pit. 2. If there is already a ward in the pit, this ward is very helpful because it shows the enemy pathing from midlane towards you if that is the case and it gives your carries time to position correctly in fights. This can either be a Control Ward or just a normal ward. 3. A ward behind the pit will give you a lot of information. It shows potential long range engages or a steal attempt by your enemies.

4. This ward comes in handy when the enemy just pushed out their wave from the first botlane tower or closer to their base. This way you can see them coming your way when they take the safe route. Try to have either this ward, ward 3 or ward 5 in position (can be a Control Ward). 5. This ward has the same effect as ward 3. The difference is that is positioned more towards the midlane and it shows enemies entering the river. 6. This ward is good when your opponent is pushing in mid and you try to sneak a dragon. Placing this ward will give you enough space to adept according to the situation. Try to have either this ward or ward 2 in position (can be a Stealth Ward). 7. This ward is good when your opponent just pushed/are trying to push the wave away from their first botlane tower. You can see if they want to check the Dragon pit and it allows your team to adapt to the situation. 8. This ward is good when your opponent just pushed botlane past the midway point. If you notice an enemy is pushing botlane try to have this ward in place so you know if they join the fight or not. 9. This ward is worth it when the enemy is hard pushing botlane and you try to sneak a Dragon attempt. This way you will see the enemy botlane coming your way and your carries can adapt accordingly. Baron setup

1. This ward is a good ward to deny enemy vision inside the Baron pit. Be sure to place it inside the pit so it covers the full area of the pit. 2. If there is already a ward in the pit, this ward is very helpful because it shows the enemy pathing from midlane towards you if that is the case and it gives your carries time to position correctly in fights. 3. If there is already a ward in the pit, this ward is very helpful because it shows the enemy pathing from base/toplane towards you if that is the case and it gives your carries time to position correctly in fights.

4. This ward shows the enemy entering the river and it fulfils the same function as ward 2, it only gives your team more time to adapt. Have either ward 2 or ward 4 placed when doing baron. 5. This ward is good when your opponent just resets from a cross map play and you try to rush/sneak a Baron . Placing this ward will give you enough space to adept according to the situation. Try to have either this ward or ward 3 in position. 6. This ward is good when your opponent is pushing toplane and you try to rush/sneak a dragon. Placing this ward will give you enough space to adept according to the situation. Try to have either this ward or ward 3 in position. 7. This ward comes in handy when the enemy just pushed out their wave from the first toplane tower towards your first toplane tower. Warding this spot is beneficial when you do not have a hard pushed toplane wave. 8. This ward is worth it when the enemy is hard pushing toplane and you try to sneak a Baron attempt. This way you will see the enemy coming your way and your carries can adapt accordingly. 9. This ward shows enemies that try to sneak around your vision line and attempt a steal from the back of the pit. This ward does not have to be in the bush and only needs to be placed when afraid of an enemy hiding in your jungle.

Vision is one of the key things a support player has to do within his team. You are responsible for vison setup around objectives; this means clearing enemy vision and establishing your own. Not only around objectives but also inside the enemy jungle to spot enemies walking around or around your lane to spot out ganks or roams from enemies. In the examples below the red circles indicate Control Wards and the green circles indicate Stealth Wards, these are interchangeable but I personally mostly use them this way. When using your Oracle Lens you also want to sweep these spots as they are commonly used warding spots. If you want to know how to setup vision in the topside of the map just flip the images, because Summoners Rift is mirrored in midlane. Early Game

1. This ward is a standard ward when you are on your side of the lane. It spots out jungle ganks and it gives your jungler safety to roam into the river to gank or go for an invade. 2. This ward is a standard ward when you are on the enemy side of the lane. This gives you as Rakan windows to roam or create deep vision because the enemy won’t know where you go. The difference with ward 1 has to do with your line of vision. The enemy won’t path around to tribush (location of ward 1) when you are under the enemy tower, the jungler takes the shortest route through the river bush. 3. This ward is good when someone else used his Control Ward in the botside so you can spot out enemy invades or midlane ganks.

4. This ward is a strong ward around minute 3. It gives a lot of information on the position of the enemy jungler. You can spot him doing scuttle or you can see in which direction he is pathing. 5. This ward is good to see when the enemy jungler moves into the river and you can maybe collapse on him with your mid/jungler. This ward can also be a Control Ward 6. This ward can spot out the enemy jungler when he is clearing his botside. If placed correctly it spots all 4 entrances of this point. 7. This ward can spot out the enemy jungler entering or leaving the river and if he ganks midlane, this ward is helpful for you midlaner. 8. This ward is useful to spot out lane ganks or for an ally to Teleport on as it perfectly cuts of the escape path of the enemy botlane. 9. You can ward the lane bushes when you think you need a ward in here. Fiddlesticks is a matchup in which these wards are of high importance. Mid Game

1. This ward is useful when you are sieging botlane. When you are not attacking the second botlane tower this ward can spot out enemies looking for a flank through tribush (location ward 4). 2. This ward is useful when you are sieging botlane aswell. The difference is that you have pushed your wave under the enemy tower and you want to see enemies coming through the jungle from their base or midlane. The difference with ward 1 is that you are moving up your line of vision because enemies will take the shortest route towards you as you are in a vulnerable position. 3. This ward is strong when sieging the first midlane tower. It shows potential flanks and, when placed correctly, who enters or leaves the jungle. This spot can also be used for a Stealth Ward.

4. When you have pushed your botlane wave, this ward comes in handy in combination with ward 2. It shows if enemies are approaching from the tribush and it effects your decision making on what to do. 5. This ward is an all round solid choice as it provides the information of who is pathing where through the jungle. You can also create flanks yourself by closing in enemies in the jungle, based on the information gathered from this ward. 6. This is a good ward to spot out enemies leaving their base or pathing the safe way from bot to midlane. This ward comes in handy when trying to setup a dive and decide if you want to go for it or not. 7. This ward does have the same effect as ward number 3, I recommend using this ward when you did not place ward 3. 8. This ward comes in handy when pushing your midlane wave around the middle of the lane to spot out possible flank setups from your enemies. 9. This ward is a good ward to spot out enemies in the river or spot out a sneaky Dragon attempt by your enemies. Dragon Setup

1. This ward is a good ward to deny enemy vision inside the Dragon pit. Be sure to place it inside the pit so it covers the full area of the pit. 2. If there is already a ward in the pit, this ward is very helpful because it shows the enemy pathing from midlane towards you if that is the case and it gives your carries time to position correctly in fights. 3. If there is already a ward in the pit, this ward is very helpful because it shows the enemy pathing from base/botlane towards you if that is the case and it gives your carries time to position correctly in fights. Having a Stealth Ward here is very helpful aswell!

4. This ward is good when your opponent is pushing in mid and you try to sneak a Dragon . Placing this ward will give you enough space to adept according to the situation. Try to have either this ward or ward 2 in position. 5. This ward is good when your opponent just resets from a cross map play and you try to rush/sneak a dragon. Placing this ward will give you enough space to adept according to the situation. Try to have either this ward or ward 2 in position (can be a Control Ward). 6. This ward is good when your opponent just resets from a cross map play and you try to rush/sneak a dragon. Placing this ward will give you enough space to adept according to the situation. Try to have either this ward or ward 3 in position (can be a Control Ward). 7. This ward comes in handy when the enemy just pushed out their wave from the first botlane tower or closer to their base. This way you can see them coming your way and if they attempt to use a Blast Cone when present. Try to have either this ward or ward 3 in position. 8. This ward is worth it when the enemy is hard pushing botlane and you try to sneak a Dragon attempt. This way you will see the enemy botlane coming your way and your carries can adapt accordingly. Baron setup

1. This ward is a good ward to deny enemy vision inside the Baron pit. Be sure to place it inside the pit so it covers the full area of the pit. 2. When there is a Control Ward in the baron pit already, this bush is a good alternative to place a control ward in. You will spot out enemies trying to fight you in the pit and your allies can react accordingly. 3. This ward is good because it can show you enemies trying to flank you from your own jungle. This ward will also help your carries to position accordingly. You either have to place ward 2 or 3.

4. This ward comes in handy when the enemy just pushed out midlane and are taking the safe route from midlane. This alerts your carries and gives them a lot of time to reposition. 5. This ward is important as it spots out enemies trying to steal the Baron or enemies setting up a long range engage. Your jungler will benefit from this ward a lot as he can focus on his Smite timing. 6. This ward will spot out enemies that just came from base and are pathing through topside (can also be a Control Ward). 7. This ward will help your carries position correctly if the enemy decides to engage from the topside if they just pushed out their toplane wave from their first tower or closer to their base. 8. This ward is important when trying to sneak a Baron attempt when they are hard pushing your toplane wave. This occurs rarely as you want to have a pushing wave toplane when attempting a Baron .

Thank you for reaching the end of my Rakan guide! I hope I gave you some insights and new knowledge to apply in your games and become a Rakan fanatic just like me. Don’t forget to leave a comment with some feedback so I can update the guide! The best way to learn Rakan is by playing and applying tips you found in guides. Below you will find the Changelog and I will be updating it so you can see what changed in my guide without completely reading it over again every patch. I hope you enjoy your time playing Rakan and hopefully I will see you on the rift sometime!