Hello everybody, I'm JustFunPlay, an EUW support/top player.
Back when Rakan was released, he was one of my favorite champions to play, I even got mastery 5 with him relativly easily, but since he became weaker as a support (for me at least) I stopped playing him. Recently, I picked him up again, but with this new build as a top/mid laner instead of the usual support.

As an ap mid/top laner, Rakan is a safe champion with strong hit and run tactics

His innate, Fey Feathers, grants Rakan a shield for 33-254(based on level)+90% AP when destroyed, it comes back after 40-16(based on level) seconds(also affected by cdr), hitting an enemy champion with a basic attack or ability reduces the cooldown. Regenerates 10% of max value per second when out of combat.
It's basically a maplhite shield that can become active again mid-fight and becomes better as the game goes on.

His Q, Gleaming Quill, is a linear skillshot for 75/115/160/205/500 +60% APmagic damage that, upon hitting an enemy champion, grants an heals you and nearby allies for 18-120(based on level) +70% AP health after a short delay.
This is your bread and butter poke ability, deals some nice damage while also giving you decent sustain.

His W, Grand Entrance is a dash that, after a short delay, deals 70/120/170/220/270 +70% ap magic damage to nearby enemies and knocks the up for 1 second.
Once you have Luden's Tempest you one-shot all three caster minions with a singel W+echo, otherwise used for engage during trades.

His E, Battle Dance is a dash that shields target allied champion for 40/65/90/115/140 +80 AP. can be used a second time for free within 5 seconds(even on the same champion). Has increased range when using it on Xayah.
Basically useless in a solo lane such as mid or top, only level it up if you expect a gank from your jungler or when you want to gank.

His R, The Quickness grants 50% movespeed for 4 seconds, but reduces you AA range to 50. While active, Rakan deals 100/200/300 +50% ap magic damage to enemies he comes "in contact with" for the first time and charms them for 1/1.25/1.5 seconds while slowing them for 75%. Grants an additional 150% decaying movespeed for 1.5 seconds the first time Rakan comes in contact with an enemy champion.
A great tool to disrupt the enemy team, but don't be afraid to use it to get yourself out of a nasty situation, your life is worth more than your ult.

Core items

Luden's Tempest give you a lot of great stats, AP for both damage and sustain, cdr and mana. It's passive also grants some more poke and burst. Get this first!
Spirit Visage is the most importand item in this build, with it's passive granting increased healing, your Q starts healing for stupid amounts. It's stats are also nice though.
The type of boots you get depends on preferance and the enemy team. My personal preferance goes to Boots of Swiftness, whith which you can't really go wrong. Mercury's Treads are good agaist teams with stupendous ammounts of cc and Ninja Tabi are good against full-ad teams.

Additional items

Rod of Ages is a very beneficial item, granting a lot of AP, mana and health, with the HP granting a some nice survivability, AP granting both damage and sustain and the mana allowing you to cast more abilities before having to go back to base.
Rabadon's Deathcap is super usefull because of the stupendous ammounts of AP it gives.
Gargoyle Stoneplate gives a nice ammount of tankiness both through its base stats and its passive. The active is a nice bonus.

Optional items

Athene's Unholy Grail allows you to act more like a support if needed
Lich Bane grants some nice stats as well as a bit of burst trough its passive
Mejai's Soulstealer grants you a lot of ap if you get ahead for a cheap price
Hextech Rocketbelt makes you even more mobile, as well as giving you some nice stats
Zhonya's Hourglass is best used as a pause button, right after you hit a Q, to buy you some time in the middle of a teamfight

Keystones

Phase Rush will be your go-to keystone, profiding you with the movespeed you need to get out of a trade.
Aftershock grants some nice tankyness after you engage the enemy, allowing you to keep fighting a bit longer when you go in
Electrocute adds a lot of burst to your trades and engages, making it even harder for your enemies to return equal damage

Secondary runes

Sorcery

Tier 1

Nimbus Cloak is super usefull, granting you lightspeed during your ult
Nullifying Orb is better if you are up against ap assasins such as LeBlanc, Akali or Ahri

Tier 2

Transcendence allows you to reach the cdr cap super easily, it also allows you to get AP when you go over the cdr cap.
Celerity just grants you more movespeed, although I don't recommend it, combined with your ult, Nimbus Cloak and phase rush, you move at lightspeed.

Tier 3

Gathering Storm provides you with more AP the longer the game goes on, making you deal more damage while also making you harder to kill(because of your heal and shield)
Scorch could be usefull if you need to win early to get a win

Domination

Tier 1

Sudden Impact grants you lethality and magic pen, allowing you to deal more damage after you use your W or E
Taste of Blood grants you even more sustain

Tier 2

Both Ghost Poro and Eyeball Collection are strong runes because of their adaptive stats, take whichever suits your preferance/playstile

Tier 3

Ravenous Hunter grants a lot of sustain from your abilities, alowing you to survive a little bit longer in teamfights
Ultimate Hunter allows you to have your ult up more often, which allows you to get massive engages (or big escapes) more often

Resolve

Tier 1

Shield Bash has great synergie with Rakan's passive, making you pretty tanky while it's up and even allowing you to occasionally deal more damage when you go in on someone.

Tier 2

Conditioning makes you pretty tanky after 10 minutes, especially with Shield Bash while your passive's up and a Gargoyle Stoneplate
Second Wind allows you to survive very long against poke.
Bone Plating makes you more resistant to an all-in from an enemy

Tier 3

Revitalize makes your healing and shielding a little bit better, unfortunatly doesn't work on your passive beacause of RITO
Overgrowth just gives you more health the longer the game goes on, best used if you need to act a bit more like a tank

Early game/laning phase

In the early stages of the game you want to auto the waves as much as possible, since your abilities have a decently high cooldown and manna cost.
Only use your Q as poke when you are below 75% hp, otherwise the heal is unnecessary and only go in with Q>W>AA when you have your keystone up.
Since Rakan has pretty high base AD, your AA's hit less like a wet noodle then other mages, so don't forget to use them against your enemy laner!

Mid-game/Roaming

If you plan to roam you first need to have at least 1 point in Battle Dance so you can dash to allies to close the gap or to get out.

If you are going Electrocute you want to priorotise squishy champions without mobility, so you can easily kill them or force a back and/or summs.
If you already have a lead from laning phase, you want to get Lich Bane before you buy Spirit Visage since that gives you more burst.

With Phase Rush, you want to do the same as with Electrocute but more to annoy the enemy then to kill them, since you have less burst.
After getting your Spirit Visage you should propably get a Rod of Ages unless you are far ahead, in which case you should get Lich Bane, of far behind, in which case you should get Gargoyle Stoneplate

Aftershock makes you very tanky after your engage, so you dont want to back out immedialty but continue the fight.
I suggest getting Gargoyle Stoneplate after your Spirit Visage, followed up with a Nashor's Tooth for beter sustained damage

Although the mid-game is Rakans best time solo, it will be still be a bit lacking if behind since your reliance on items to be super strong.

Late-game/teamfighting

At the later stages of the game you want to keep doing what you're already doing, except now you also want to peel for your allies as well as set up kills and engages since you start to fall of without Gathering Storm stacks

This is the end of my guid to AP Rakan, I hope you enjoyed it.

if you have questions, sugestions or anything else related to this guide or rakan, feel free to leave a comment, I wil try to reply as soon as possible.