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Choose Champion Build:
- Rakan utility (Main)
- Rakan Tank
- Rakan AP
Runes: Utility Rakan
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Ability Order Core ability order
Fey Feathers (PASSIVE)
Rakan Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Galio
Galio is quite a difficult matchup for you, he has an AP shield every certain time, he can taunt you, and dash into you, same as counter-roam you after level 6 So this will be your way of playing against Galio: Build yourself Full Tank (check the runes and build upper on the guide) and constantly roam before level 6, after level 6 you won't be able to roam at least Galio is dead because of his R Other from that, try engaging into the enemy ADC and ignore Galio, when you see he's charging E against you, cast E back to your ADC
Samira
Samira is an ideal ADC to pick with Rakan, she can chain CC your Grand Entrance, and in general Samira needs an engage support to exploit all her potential. In a fight when you use your level 6 combo it will be really easy for her to follow you, thanks to Wild Rush, furthermore, when she throws her Inferno Trigger make sure you peel her with Gleaming Quill and Battle Dance
Samira
Samira is an ideal ADC to pick with Rakan, she can chain CC your Grand Entrance, and in general Samira needs an engage support to exploit all her potential. In a fight when you use your level 6 combo it will be really easy for her to follow you, thanks to Wild Rush, furthermore, when she throws her Inferno Trigger make sure you peel her with Gleaming Quill and Battle Dance
Hello summoner! If you are here is because you are looking forward to learning how to play Rakan, in this guide you will find the best way of playing him, and master his gameplay in the most efficient way. All this guide information has been checked and proven several times by me, and I will continue updating this guide over the following patches, so whenever you read this you can trust this guide information. I can tell you for sure Rakan is a very fun champion to play, his incredible mobility makes him incredibly entertaining and fun to learn, if you are not a support main this is a great champion to get to know in-depth the support role since he's mobility will make him as fun as other non support champions |
Note: If you are in champion selection I recommend you just looking at the top part of the guide, after the game you can check the entire guide for better results
PROS
✦High mobility✦ ✦Incredible survivability✦ ✦Flexible ways of playing✦ ✦Teamfight winner✦ ✦Huge peel potential✦ Rakan is a champion with incredible mobility, he got 3 dashes without counting Flash and a good amount of items that will let him move as fast as light over the map. Even though being really fast, he is not squishy at all, pairing him with Guardian and making use of his heals and shields correctly will make him almost unkillable, even if you don't like this type of playstyle you can adapt him to whatever you like the most, you can go for damage , roaming or just aim to peel your teamamtes and sit back waiting for opportunities. Also, if you get unlucky in early-game, you shouldn't worry much about it, since this guy scales perfectly into teamfights and can win them by himself |
CONS
✦Low damage✦ ✦Not that easy to master✦ ✦Teammate dependant✦ ✦Weak if CCed✦ ✦Weak if solo✦ As all champions have that bad part, and Rakan also has his weaknesses, I can proudly say they are much less than his strengths. At least you go for an AP Rakan build your damage will be quite low, this will make you quite team dependant since you are not likely to kill anyone by yourself, making you especially weak at 1v1s. Also, to know this guy capacities at 100% you will need a lot of practice, especially learning all the builds, runes, tips, and tricks available for Rakan, in a way it makes it more entertaining to learn, but if you are a guy who just likes winning and doesn't care much about having fun, this may affect you |
Knowing how to play Rakan and knowing how to build him is great, but you also need to know when to pick him, since he does his job great especially against some team compositions, and you can also squeeze his potential with some certain team compositions. If you are planning to be an OTP Rakan player then you can dismiss this part of the guide
Signals of when to pick Rakan
✦Immobile enemy midlaner✦
✦Hook enemy support ✦
✦Scaling ally ADC ✦
✦No engage champions on ally team✦
-If at least 1 of these rules is fulfilled, then picking Rakan is an OK option, if 2 or more of these are fulfilled then you should definitely pick Rakan.
1.If the enemy midlaner is immobile then you should really look forward to roaming over there since this means your ganks will be more efficient
2.A good sign that indicates you when to pick Rakan is when you are facing a hook enemy support since this guy counters this champions thanks to all his dashes
3.If you see your ADC is going to play a scaling champion, then Rakan will be a perfect couple for him since both of you will scale great and usually late-game ADCs need your Battle Dance shield and Gleaming Quill heal in order to carry. I have to say you won't have much damage in early-game
4.If you see your team has no engage, then you should be considering taking Rakan since this guy has a lot of engage potential and will make it easier for your teammates to win a good teamfight that could lead you to victory.
A champion with no engage means a champion that is not likely to start fights, some examples of engage champions are Neeko with Pop Blossom and Leona with Zenith Blade since these two abilities are very good for starting fights
Signals of when not to pick Rakan
✦No damage-dealers on ally team✦
✦Hard matchup enemy support ✦
✦Out-scaling enemy bot lane✦
✦No teamfight champions on ally team✦
1. Since Rakan is not a champion with high points of damage, instead, your role in the game is to make your best try on getting your team fed, shielding them, and CCing the enemy team in order to add kill potential to your allies. And if you get paired up with ally champions that barely do damage your team won't be able to kill many enemies. If this happens and you still decide to play Rakan I recommend you building the AP Rakan build
2. I also need to mention that if the enemy support is a hard matchup for Rakan you will probably need to avoid this situation, this seems obvious but I sometimes find people desperate because they don't know why they lost the game, and it is as simple as the matchup type which made you lose
3. Rakan will be looking forward to scaling until teamfights arrive, so if the enemy team has better scaling champions you will have to risk in early-game, in this situations I also recommend building AP Rakan so that you can get some extra early-game kill pressure and try to stomp the enemy bot lane
4. This is similar to the 3rd point. As Rakan is a teamfight champion you will be trying to do everything you can in order to win teamfights, but if the enemy team for some reason has an even better teamfight than your team, you will be wanting to look for skirmishes so you will have to be all-game stuck to one of your allies in order to force 2v1s. In this situations is better to pick another support
Ability power or Attack damage?
To know what to build with Rakan you will need to know if the enemy team is mainly dominated by AP or AD damage, against AP damage you will be always looking forward to building Magic resist and against AD damage you will be looking forward to building Armor , you can check Armor and Magic resist items on the Items section
If death, you can look at the top part of your screen the main damage type that was dealt to you before dying,
Ability power is mainly dominated by champions which damage main source is abilities, mostly mages , here you have a chart where you can check what champions deal AP damage, in order to know how you should build in-game
Attack damage is mainly dominated by champions main source of damage are basic attacks, like bruisers , here you have a chart where you can check what champions deal AD damage, in order to know how you should build in-game
When should i take each keystone?
Guardian
✦ When you get matchmaked with an hypercarry ADC ✦ ✦ Against an early-game aggressive botlane ✦ ✦ If you like having a safe playstyle ✦ ✦ Wanting to tank some damage and still living ✦
While running Guardian you are having a really safe early-game, this will be a second shield
to you, since you already have Fey Feathers, making your early-game especially safe, and at least you get really unlucky you are not likely to die. Of course this rune works great when you are playing beside an hyper carry like Kog'Maw, Jinx or Vayne since this champions will really need that extra shield
to survive and continue dealing incredible amounts of damage, also good if you are facing a bot lane which early-game is quite strong, like a Lucian ADC
and a Blitzcrank support
|
Aftershock
✦ When there are no tanks in your team ✦ ✦ If the enemy support counters you ✦ ✦ If your team already has a bunch of damage ✦ ✦ Wanting to scale into late-game ✦
When running Aftershock you are for sure building full tank, this comes good when there are no tanks in your team, as in a teamfight you will be the front-lane, in this way you will have to constantly CC the enemy team with Grand Entrance and The Quickness. This comes also good when the enemy support counters you, so when you are playing against a Galio or Rell support you should take this rune
, finishing, since you are going to build full tank you will scale really good into late-game so if your team out-scales the enemy team you can also take Aftershock
|
Electrocute
✦ When your team doesn't have much damage ✦ ✦ If the enemy botlane is weak early-game ✦ ✦ If your ADC has a strong early-game ✦ ✦ When you are the only AP user in your team ✦
If you are running Electrocute is because you want a lot of damage, so you should build AP Rakan. This is also really good when you are paired with an ADC
with strong early-game such as Varus or facing an ADC
with weak early-game such as Jinx in order to try to kill them with that extra damage Electrocute provides you. This is also a good rune when there are no AP champions in your team, so you will have to be the APC in the game, in this way you should build AP Rakan running Electrocute
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You can run Shield Bash only when you really need that extra damage, and you think you are able to kill any of their botlane before level 6, for example when you get matched with a Lucian in your side, and you are facing a Jinx as with this rune you will get an earlier source of damage |
Second Wind is also a really good choice but only if you are facing at least 2 poke abusers in the enemy bot lane, for example against a Varus + Karma, of course this rune has synergy with Guardian. Furthermore, Bone Plating is something you would like to run only when the enemy botlane has a great all-in such as a Tristana + Pyke botlane or a Yasuo + Blitzcrank |
Revitalize is really good and synergizes with Guardian, makes your Fey Feathers and Battle Dance shields stronger, also good when you are playing with a hyper carry ADC in your team like Master Yi, Lucian or Twitch Unflinching is a very good rune against a hard CC enemy botlane such as Leona, Nautilus, Blitzcrank, Nautilus, Jhin or Ashe |
Sudden Impact is an okay rune if you think you can kill at least one of the enemy botlane in early game, it has great synergy and you should run it with Shield Bash |
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Ultimate Hunter is something you will need in most games, you need that extra cooldown on your The Quickness as a teamfight may occur at any moment and you need it to be ready to use |
Celerity is a great rune in order to roam much faster, this has synergy with Shurelya's Battlesong, Knight's Vow and Turbo Chemtank and also gives you a +7 MS in all stages of the game which is really OP Gathering Storm will help you scale a lot, if the games go for 30m+ this rune gives you free 48 AP, really good rune if your team needs to scale for example a team composition such as Top: Cho'Gath Jungle: Master Yi Mid: Veigar ADC: Vayne. Also, this rune is great at low elos because games tend to get really long |
Biscuit Delivery is a very good rune, it fits perfectly if you feel like missing mana, since it will give you +50 mana when consumed and another +50 maximum mana. You will get one of these every 2 minutes, until minute 6, for a total of 3 cookies, yummy! Approach Velocity is a rune that works especially well in teamfights, since whenever you use Grand Entrance or The Quickness on an enemy you will be gaining 15% movement speed for the time your enemy is CCed. This also gives you an additional 7'5% movement speed if any of your allies slow an enemy close to you. If you really like that extra movement speed when engaging then this rune is for you |
This should be your main shards, 2 AP shards and 1 armor shard, since in the botlane there should always be an AD user. If are you facing a double AD botlane like Miss Fortune and Pyke or Jinx and Pantheon then you should take 2 armor shards, and if you are facing a double AP botlane (not very common) like a Ziggs and Brand, Karthus and Vel'Koz or Veigar and Xerath then you should run double magic resist shards |
Flash
Flash is a mandatory summoner with Rakan, this guy already has an incredible amount of dashes, but you will still need this when your Grand Entrance and Battle Dance are on cooldown . A great way of using Flash is after casting The Quickness and flashing into your enemies, so you can get to charm them. Of course this summoner isn't useful only for that, you can catch enemies, escape from difficult situations or steal objectives, all with Flash
This will be your main summoner with Rakan, this will give you more kill pressure. You should always take this against peel supports such as Soraka or Yuumi. Also good if you are playing AP Rakan | Barrier is a good option versus a lane you don't fell sure against, in order to get extra survivability, Rakan already is not likely to die much but if you are new to him you can take this just to start learning him |
Exhaust is a great summoner when wanting to play defensive, it is very good paired with a full tank build since you may suffer in the early-game and this will help you get off from dives and all-ins | This is a very situational summoner, if your ADC doesn't take Heal with them, like a Yasuo ADC, you may take this since this summoner will be even more effective with you, thanks for all the extra healing power you've got |
Note: All the summoner spells that don't appear in this section are simply not viable and you shouldn't use them
Game start |
Relic shield 400 Gold |
Relic Shield is the best option at the start of the game for Rakan as it gives you a lot of HP and 5 AP that will highly increase the ratio of your shields
as they scale with your AP. Not to mention the wave-clear potential this item gives you, you can take out a cannon minion
when it's at half of its full health, which will help you to roam and back in more effective ways Once this item upgrades to Targon's Buckler you should purchase Oracle Lens And once you get the final form of this item, Bulwark of the Mountain, you get a solid 250 HP |
Spellthief's edge 400 Gold |
Spellthief's Edge is a very niche item on Rakan you can barely proc it, the only way you could is with your Gleaming Quill, but it is really hard since you have to find a way to hit it through the minion wave. Even though this item stats seem really good it will last forever for you to upgrade it to Frostfang If for some reason you decided to build this, after you upgrade it to Frostfang you should purchase Oracle Lens |
Health potion 50 Gold |
You should always buy Health Potion this along with your support item. In the early stages of the game it will grant an incredible amount of sustain , you don't need to waste it if you did a bad trade, only when you really think its necessary, since you will be only having 2 of this at first |
First back |
Boots 300 Gold |
Boots are a great item for a first back, when you get an inefficient recall with little gold and you need to get back to lane ASAP this item is of great use. Also good if you want to roam to midlane in the early stages of the game since 25 movement speed for 300 gold is insane Finally, if you are facing a poke support like Vel'Koz, Xerath, Lux, or Seraphine this item helps you a lot for dodging their skillshots. Also works against poke ADCs like Caitlyn or Varus |
Sapphire crystal 350 Gold |
You can buy this item in your first back if you feel you need some extra mana, since this will be giving you 250 mana. After buying this you should build as normal and then continue building Glacial Buckler into Zeke's Convergence or Frozen Heart. You can buy this against easy matchups, in order to spam more your abilities and look for a kill on them |
Dark seal 350 Gold |
Dark Seal is an extremely OP item with Rakan it grants you 15 AP + 40HP for only 350 gold, and for every assist you get it will give you an additional 5 AP. I don't recommend upgrading this into Mejai's Soulstealer unless you are going for an AP Rakan build, instead, you can also sell it for 140 gold once you finished building your second or third item. Even if you are not snowballing that hard, this item works great, without any stacks this item has an incredible gold efficiency |
Kindlegem 800 Gold |
Kindlegem is probably the best option after a first back it will grant you 200 extra health points in order to survive in lane, in addition of 10 ability haste that will make Grand Entrance and Battle Dance cooldowns much lower and you really need this. Of course this item is great if you are looking forward to building Shurelya's Battlesong, if you are going a full AP build then this is not a good item. This item also builds into Imperial Mandate and Moonstone Renewer so if you get this for first back you can still adapt your build at what the games needs the most |
Bandleglass mirror 950 Gold |
Bandleglass Mirror is probably the best AP item you could buy in your first recall it gives you all you need, AP, Ability haste
and some mana regeneration which is pretty nice. Of course this item is only viable when you are looking forward to building Imperial Mandate or Moonstone Renewer |
Hextech Alternator 1050 Gold |
Hextech Alternator is definitely not the best item for Rakan, it will grant you tons of damage but Rakan's is not a damage champion. This item costs 1050 gold which is fairly expensive, an advantage is that you could build it into Hextech Rocketbelt or Night Harvester so depending on how the game is going you can decide. Summing up, this item is also good if you are really feed, and you got at least 2 assists on your first back |
Bami's cinder 1100 Gold |
Bami's Cinder its the best tank option, this will make you really tanky since it will give you 300HP and you will passively deal damage to enemies close to you, which makes it great for clearing waves or dealing some extra damage to an enemy when trading. This item builds into Turbo Chemtank which is the main reason of why you should build this. A disadvantage of this item is its high cost since in order to get 1100 gold before backing you will need to wait a lot or get lucky and get an assist |
Mythic Items |
Shurelya's Battlesong 2500 Gold |
Shurelya's Battlesong is a wonderful item for Rakan it grants you 200 health , 20 ability haste and it gives you 5 ability haste for each legendary item. This item's active is great for teamfights engaging or disengaging, all this for 2500 gold. Remember using this item's active before engaging, and around your teammates, this item will also give you and your allies some ms whenever you Battle Dance giving you even more engage or disengage potential |
x Incredible teamfights |
x Useless if caught by CC |
Moonstone renewer 2500 Gold |
Moonstone Renewer is the best peel item with Rakan, it grants only 40 AP, but that's enough. The greatest strength of this item is the huge amount of peel it gives your allies, this item grants you a charge for every 2 seconds in combat for a max of 4, when fully stacked it will give you +20% extra shield/heal power. This item works great with hypercarry ADCs like Jinx, Twitch, Kog'Maw and Vayne as these champions want to be buffed as much as possible. This item is not so good in teamfights though, but it is great in a 2v2 or 2v1 situation |
x Incredible 2v2 |
x Hard to stack passive |
Imperial mandate 2500 Gold |
Imperial Mandate gives you quite more damage than Moonstone Renewer but you won't get that much ability haste in order to spam abilities in a teamfight and that really feels in-game. Since you will get more AP your shields will be a little bit stronger and you can deal more damage by yourself. If the enemy team has better teamfights than your team and you will look for skirmishes then this is a good item, this item will give you AP for every legendary item you have, which is the main reason why it is so valuable |
x Increased carry potential |
x Quite squishy |
Turbo Chemtank 2800 Gold |
Turbo Chemtank is a really OP item right now, it is similar to Shurelya's Battlesong since its active will give you increased movement speed. This item makes you incredibly tank, plus giving you engage/disengage potential, you should always build this when running a full tank build, but you can even build it with Guardian when your team needs an engage, and you don't like building Shurelya's Battlesong. This also lets you spam your abilities sooner thanks to the huge amount of ability haste it grants you |
x Much tankier |
x Bad item components |
Hextech rocketbelt 3200 Gold |
Hextech Rocketbelt is like an Imperial Mandate but better, it gives you increased mobility, more damage, and more HP. A disadvantage of this item is that it is quite expensive, since its 3200 gold, to compensate for this you can run Future's Market. I have to mention this item gives you no mana either, but in exchange you will have even more mobility, since you will get an extra dash every 40 seconds, you can also make use of this dash to get closer to your enemies once you use The Quickness |
x Much tankier |
x Bad item components |
Boots |
Boots of swiftness 900 Gold |
Boots of Swiftness are a very good option when you are facing champions with slow abilities like Ashe with Volley and Frost Shot or Miss Fortune and Make it Rain since this boots will reduce those slows by 25%. Additionally, boots of swiftnesss gives you 60 points of movement speed for 900 gold, making them the cheapest and fastest boots of the game when in-combat |
Ionian boots of lucidity 950 Gold |
These boots are a very good option if you like spamming abilities, since it will give you 20 Ability haste , apart from 12 summoner spells ability haste that will let you use Flash and Ignite sooner than expected, this boots only costs 900 gold making them a great option when you are behind. If you are the kind of person who likes being in constant movement and spamming combos such as I am, these boots are great for you |
Mercury's treads 1100 Gold |
Mercury's Treads are only viable when building full tank and the enemy team has a lot of AP damage or CC, this gives you an exceptional 30% tenacity, I don't recommend building this when going Guardian or Electrocute, since if the enemy team has a lot of CC you can go Unflinching instead. These boots can be bought for 1100 gold so they aren't that cheap and you should think at least 2 times before building them |
Mobility boots 1000 Gold |
These boots are awesome, when out of combat this will give you 115 extra points of movement speed which is insane, these boots work great for roaming, splitpushing, or chasing an enemy. I do have to say these boots are completely useless in combat, since they won't grant you any damage or tankiness and they will be giving you only 25 movement speed points, these boots cost 1000 gold so it's a good price to pay |
Plated steelcaps 1100 Gold |
Plated Steelcaps is a situational item, and you should only buy this when you are going for a full tank build and the enemy team is full of AD users, or even if there is any on-hit AP champion like a Kayle or AP Twitch since this item will lower the damage from auto-attacks on a 12%. This item costs 1100 gold so remember to purchase this only when necessary |
Sorcerer's shoes 1100 Gold |
This item is the way to go when building AP Rakan since it will give you some magic penetration that would help you deal some extra damage, also great if you are the only AP user in your team since the enemy team won't be building any magic resist . I have to say this item cost 1100 gold, so you should only build it only when building an AP build |
Legendary items |
I will be dividing all these items between Utility, Magic resistance, Armor and AP items.
-Utility will be more effective, but you depend on your team, which is riskier in lower elos.
-Magic resistance and Armor items are things you will want to buy when building full tank, depending on if the enemy team is mainly AP/AD.
-Finally, AP items will increase your damage and the power of your shields/heal
Ardent censer 2300 Gold |
Ardent Censer is a really good item with Rakan, it's pretty similar to Staff of Flowing Water, but when you shield/heal an ally it gives you attack speed instead of AP, this makes your shield a bit weaker and you deal some less damage but makes your ADC stronger, if you are running Electrocute this item is great since you will make your combo faster. This item also synergizes greatly with hypercarrys as you are buffing their attack speed too, and you should build it whenever there are at least 3 champions in your team whose its main damage source are auto-attacks |
Chemtech putrifier 2300 Gold |
This item is incredibly good with Rakan it gives you AP and AH which is what you most want with him, Morellonomicon instead, will give you an extra 250 HP and 25 AP for only 200 gold, but you won't have access to the Ability haste
, The main job of this 2 items is to apply grievous wounds to enemies in order to stop from healing
You should always build this item on a Utility build, even if the enemy team doesn't heal much, if you are facing a good amount of champions that heal on the enemy team and you are going for a full tank build, then Morellonomicon is a better option |
Morellonomicon 2500 Gold |
Morellonomicon is not as good as Chemtech Putrifier for utility Rakan it gives the extra 250 HP which feels nice, but it doesn't give you any AH. When building Morellonomicon make an effort to take at least half of your enemy's health since your grievous wounds will transform into 60%, this item will apply grievous wounds for 3 seconds, so consider dealing damage at least every 3 seconds in order to stop their healing , however, unless you are going for a full tank or full AP build, or you just personally prefer the HP more than the AH, you should build Chemtech Putrifier |
Knight's vow 2300 Gold |
Knight's Vow is a great item with Rakan you should only build it when building full tank tough, its 2300 gold for 400 health so even if you are not getting assists this item will give you a lot of tank potential. With this item passive you can choose any ally, considering you chose your ADC, this will mitigate 15% damage taken by your ADC and instead you will take it, and if your ADC is below 50% of his max HP you gain 35% movement speed, you don't really need to use this passive always, but I do recommend it using it when any of your allies are below 50% of their max health, for the extra movement speed. Make sure building this in a full tank build with Aftershock against an enemy team with splitted damage between AP/AD |
Redemption 2300 Gold |
Redemption is a very good item to build, it makes your heals
and shields
20% more stronger which is pretty nice, also gives you 15 ability haste
letting you spam your abilities more often, same as 200 of health making you tankier. This item is extremely strong for teamfights, and you don't really need to throw it alive, once you are dead you can use it anyways, so you can still heal your allies from heaven >:D Remember this item active gives vision so it's also perfect to seek on an objective , it also takes 10% of the enemies HP, making it great against tanks. Buy Redemption instead of Chemtech Putrifier when your team needs an extra buff to win teamfights |
Staff of flowing water 2300 Gold |
Staff of Flowing Water is a nice item with Rakan, it makes your shields and heals 10% stronger, passively you gain 50 ability power and when you shield with Battle Dance or heal with Gleaming Quill an ally, this item will give you 25 to 45 extra AP (based on level) plus 20 Ability haste for 4 seconds which is insane, this item also gives you some mana regeneration which feels quite good in-game. For 2300 gold that's incredible, consider buying this on an AP Rakan build as a second item, or on any build if your team is mainly dominated by AP users or your team lacks damage. The high con of this item is that it gives no ability haste |
Vigilant wardstone 1100 Gold |
Vigilant Wardstone is a great item on any support but it works even better on Rakan since he will need that extra stats, this item increases your bonus health, AP and AH by 12. Vigilant Wardstone may confuse some at first, but it's as easy as buying Watchful Wardstone and in order to upgrade it to Vigilant Wardstone you need to complete bulwar of the mountain and be level 13, once its upgraded you'll be able to place one more control ward and stealth ward . This works perfect as a fifth item, once you are level 13, and is especially nice in higher elos |
Dead man's plate 2900 Gold |
Dead Man's Plate is a very good item if you are looking forward to building full tank and the enemy team are mainly AD users. This item has incredible mobility, passively you will get an additional 5% movement speed, and when moving this item gain stacks, once you reach 100 stacks you will gain an additional 40 movement speed which is pretty nice, this item has synergy with Mobility Boots but as you are building full tank you should attach this item with Plated Steelcaps. Additionally, when you get to 100 stacks your next attack will deal additional physical damage, at the cost of losing the stacks |
Frozen Heart 2500 Gold |
This item is really simmilar to Zeke's Convergence, but it gives you more Armor and Mana, but less health and a different passive. You should build this item instead of Zeke's Convergence when the enemy team has at least 3 AD users or 2 champions which main damage comes from auto-attacks like Yasuo, Yone, Master Yi, Azir and almost every ADC . This is because this item's passive lowers the auto-attack speed from anyone close to you for 15%, this also makes the damage from auto-attacks decreased if dealt to you |
Zeke's convergence 2400 Gold |
This item is core with Rakan since it will make you tanky and giving you mana at the same time. This item has everything you need, just remember clicking its passive on your ADC before engaging, this item works especially well with your ADC since he will be dealing extra damage for every auto-attack . This item main job is to increase your mana, so if you don't like wasting your gold in an item that gives no AP, you can just buy Glacial Buckler and continue with your usual build since this single item will give you the essential parts Zeke's Convergence gives you |
Zhonya's hourglass 2600 Gold |
Zhonya's Hourglass is a very good item with Rakan, especially if you are building AP Rakan and the enemy team is full of AD dealers, as this item will give you AP and AD at the same time. Zhonya's Hourglass active will make you invulnerable for seconds, incredible for teamfights, after you engaged in a teamfight and thrown your main combo, you can activate this item in order to get your team to follow you and wait for your cooldowns this item also gives you 10 ability haste so it will help you get your abilities sooner |
Abyssal mask 2700 Gold |
Abyssal Mask is a very situational item, its ok if you are building full tank , and if the enemy team are full AP users. Even though this item gives no damage, this item is great for teamfights as all the enemies affected with Grand Entrance or The Quickness will receive 15% more damage from all sources which is pretty good, it's also quite cheap but Abyssal Mask itself costs 900 gold, making it quite difficult to finish |
Banshee's veil 2600 Gold |
Banshee's Veil is a good option on full AP Rakan especially when there is a lot of AP users in the enemy team, this item also gives you some ability haste
which is pretty cool. Banshee's Veil passive gives you a shield
that blocks any enemy spell (40 out of combat seconds cooldown) this means this item is great against enemies with 1 outstanding ability. This means its great against Blitzcrank and Rocket Grab, Nautilus and Dredge Line, Nocturne and Paranoia and Ashe with Enchanted Crystal Arrow. This are some examples of abilities that can be blocked with Banshee's Veil |
Mikael's blessing 2300 Gold |
Mikael's Blessing is probably one of the best magic resist
items in the game, and it fits great to Rakan. This item is 126% gold efficient without its active which is INSANE, for only 2300 gold you get 50 magic resist
, +20% shield and heal power, and 15 ability haste
letting you spam more often your abilities. This item active will let you remove some CC once you or an ally of yours get CCed, the same as healing them, this means this item works great against Zoe and Sleepy Trouble Bubble, Lillia and Lilting Lullaby and Morgana with Dark Binding |
Spirit visage 2900 Gold |
Spirit Visage is a very good item when you are building full tank Rakan and the enemy team is full AP. Even though this item grants you only 40 magic resist it also gives you 450 health points which is great in order to tank damage. The best part of this item is its passive, it increases all shields and heals received by 25% this will increase your healing from Gleaming Quill and your shield obtained from Fey Feathers. This item is very good, but Abyssal Mask is slightly better, at least you would personally need to get an extra 10 ability haste I would recommend building Abyssal Mask and of course Mikael's Blessing which is much better than this 2 items |
Cosmic drive 3000 Gold |
Cosmic Drive is a great option with Rakan it gives you, passively, 20 ability haste
and if you get to 85 AP before building this item you will get an extra 20 AH and 10 to 30 extra movement speed. As many other AH items this works great, making you able to spam abilities sooner and the movement speed will make you better on roaming, enganging or escaping. Since you will need at least 85 AP before building this item, you should build this as 6th item on a utility build or as 5th item on an AP build |
Demonic embrace 3000 Gold |
Demonic Embrace is very good item with Rakan it gives you an incredible amount of stats, making you tanky and giving you more damage. Passively, when you attack an enemy you get 10 bonus armor and 10 magic resist , making your trades better. This item also works great against tanks, as when you hit them with an ability they will burn for a percentage % of their maximum HP . In general, this is a great item, if you are looking to be tankier in-game without losing any damage feel free to build it |
Horizon focus 3000 Gold |
Horizon Focus is not a good option with Rakan, it will give you tons of damage, but no utility, I don't recommend going this item almost never. If you really like playing Rakan with tons of damage and it will improve your playstyle then you can build it, but consider you will be weaker in general. Horizon Focus increases your damage after you use Grand Entrance and since this is your main source of damage it's passive is kinda useless, if you've built this item, use first The Quickness and then Grand Entrance in order to make the best use of it's passive, this item passive makes you deal more damage to an enemy once they get hit by Grand Entrance or The Quickness |
Lich bane 3000 Gold |
Lich Bane is a good item with Rakan it gives you 10% movement speed which is really good on many different tasks, you should only build this when you are building an AP Rakan since it fits perfectly with Electrocute. This item passive will make your next auto attack stronger whenever you cast an ability, so you will be using this with your main combo, especially a good second item so you can build it instead of Staff of Flowing Water if you are snowballing really hard. Build Lich Bane when fed on a full AP build with Rakan or when looking forward to splitpushing |
Rabadon's deathcap 3600 Gold |
Rabadon's Deathcap is a very powerful item, a single item that gives you 120 AP, and increases all your AP by 35% seems great, but its high price makes it hard to build, if you are really feed then this is a very good item, since will make your Fey Feathers and Battle Dance shields
incredibly stronger, and of course you will deal much more damage. Also, a very good item if you are the only AP user in your team, since the enemy team will build full armor, and you will be the main damage dealer on your team |
Rylai's crystal scepter 3000 Gold |
Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a nice item to build, it gives you 90 AP and 350 health points, this seems like the perfect item at first, but its passive is almost useless with Rakan, once you hit an enemy with an ability you will slow him for 30% for 1 second, this is useless with Grand Entrance and The Quickness since you are already CCing them Rylai's Crystal Scepter won't take effect. It does work with Gleaming Quill though, but as Rakan is not a mage this is not a great passive. If you build this item just make it for the stats |
Void staff 2700 Gold |
Void Staff is a good item when going AP Rakan, as this will give you a lot of AP, and mainly because it grants you 40% magic penetration, this means this item works great against tanks since you will be ignoring a big part of their magic resist
. Of course this comes good with other anti-tanks items like Demonic Embrace A good strength about this item is the whole item composition, since Blighting Jewel will be giving you 25 AP and 15% magic penetration, for only 1200 gold |
Note: All the items that don't appear in this section are simply not viable and you shouldn't buy them
Great for sustain and will save you some health if you make use of it before an all-in. If you go full AP, this shield can get you as high as 1000 points of shield, making you really hard to kill, items like Staff of Flowing Water or any type of AP source will increase this shield power by a lot. Remember trading just before this shield activates since your enemies won't expect this
Q. Flings a magical feather that deals magic damage. Striking a champion or epic monster with Gleaming Quill will heal you and your allies after some time. If you get to melee-range to one of your allies you will heal you and your teammate instantly, so after you hit an enemy with Gleaming Quill you can dash to an ally for an instant heal. Great synergy with Taste of Blood since you will receive healing from both of these at a time, you can also pair this up with Spirit Visage when building full tank, for some extra healing
W.Dashes to a location, knocking up nearby enemies on arrival. Great synergy with Imperial Mandate and Font of Life as you will need a CC to activate them, also good with Last Breath. This ability can go over walls so you can also make use of this to escape or engage in a fight far from you, or even steal objectives
Remember this will be your main ability to engage/disengage from a fight, you can also dash over enemies with Grand Entrance + your ultimate in order to create a CC chain and dealing high amounts of damage to several enemies
E. Flies to an allied champion granting them a shield . Can be re-cast for free for a short duration. Great ability for peeling and dodging abilities, also great against hook champions like Pyke, Nautilus, or Blitzcrank. You can bait enemies to waste abilities on you and then just cast this to your ADC, then you can trade since they will have one less ability
Whenever you want to get off from an engage after throwing your Grand Entrance casting Battle Dance back to your teammate is something you will be looking forward to doing. If your ADC is about to die you can also shield him with this, and try reverting the situation or at least tanking some damage letting him survive
R. Gains movement speed, charming and dealing magic damage to enemies touched. Use you R when you want to all-in, or in teamfights along with your Shurelya's Battlesong or Turbo Chemtank for extra movement speed and damage
You can also use your The Quickness for escaping from a difficult situation or before casting your Battle Dance in order to save one of your teammates and getting faster to a teamfight. The Quickness also has synergy with Imperial Mandate and Font of Life as your charm counts as a CC, and when you run this with Celerity or Approach Velocity you get even more movement speed.
Main combo in lane phase
> > > >
Note: stands for auto attack
In this combo you will Battle Dance from behind to forward to your ally ADC, then Grand Entrance to the enemy ADC/support, then auto-attacking him , then hit Gleaming Quill and finally Battle Dance back to your ADC
This will be your main combo with Rakan all along the game, only with this combo you shield your ADC and heal both of you apart from obviously dealing damage to your enemy ADC/support.
It is just brilliant how this combo heals, shields, CC, and damage
This combo fits perfectly with both Guardian and electrocute since you will damage 3 times the enemy, enough for electrocute to proc
Main combo in lane with Aftershock
> > > > >
This combo is pretty similar to your main combo when running Guardian or electrocute, but with Aftershock you will be auto-attacking one more time, letting Aftershock explode, and dealing even more damage as its explosion will active after 2'5 seconds, this is also great as while the explosion is charging you will gain 35 armor and magic resist letting you over-extend that extra auto-attack
Main combo level 6
> > > > > >
In this combo you will first cast The Quickness in order to get better mobility, then Battle Dance to one of your allies for a free shield , Grand Entrance to the enemy, in this way you will charm and airborne them at the same time, then you should hit Gleaming Quill to the enemy you want to kill, and auto-attacking them to death, once your enemy's HP is low enough in order to your ally to kill them you should Battle Dance back to them, instantly healing you and your ally, same as shielding them. You can also add Ignite to this combo if you need more damage
This combo is great in teamfights, and you should look forward to saving its cooldowns whenever you think there could be a teamfight in the future, mainly when there is an objective about to spawn . This combo is viable with all Guardian, Aftershock and electrocute
In this section I will introduce one or more tricks for EVERY one of Rakan abilities (except passive ), some of these tricks are hard to pull when you are starting, but once you get to master him without this tricks you'll be able to learn and apply this tricks into your own game
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This combo is very situational, its main use is to finish off an enemy of yours which is escaping, mainly when your Grand Entrance and The Quickness are on cooldown since you can usually catch any enemy with this 2 abilities
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This combo has a great engage potential, you can use it after casting The Quickness in order to get faster to your enemies, or even without The Quickness you can still do this when you are out of range to hit your enemies, so you can combine flash and apply Grand Entrance to engage a teamfight and hit enemies who are unaware of this
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This combo will make it easier for you to get into a fight, you can also use it once in lane just to get in a better position, if after your second ally there are enemies you can use your ult and chase them to death. I have to say this trick is also viable without re-casting Battle Dance so you can just do Grand Entrance > Battle Dance
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this combo is great in a 2v2 fight, in when you want to shield your ally and damage your opponents at the same time, with this even if you don't get to touch your ally the shield will still proc and you can combine this with Grand Entrance for more damage once you already canceled the animation
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This combo is great for engaging a teamfight, usually you add Grand Entrance to this combo, in order to deal massive amounts of damage, CC and surprise your enemy, as you will always use Hextech Rocketbelt building AP Rakan
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Roaming is a really good advantage about Rakan thanks to his high mobility , but be careful, you don't have to roam whenever you like, if you see a roaming opportunity, 2 laws must be fulfilled (Check Roaming section)
Don't over-extend early fights, your only source of damage is your Grand Entrance and you won't be able to kill anyone by yourself, if you get paired up with an aggressive ADC early-game like Lucian or Miss Fortune then you can play a little bit more aggressive, but know your limits, your Grand Entrance and Battle Dance have around a 20-second cooldwon after being cast, so after you hit your Battle Dance + Grand Entrance + Gleaming Quill + AA + Battle Dance combo, you are almost useless, the only thing you can contribute to your ADC is tanking some damage and dealing some extra AA damage
+ Great Peel to ADC + Unkillable + Level 3 Huge powerspike + Good wave clear + Incredible roaming potential With Rakan you will have an incredible survival early-game, there is no way the enemy jungle gets to kill you thanks to your Grand Entrance and if you are in a 2v2 or 3v2 fight your Battle Dance will be of great use. At level 3 you get a huge power spike as you get to have your full combo (combos section) Moving forward, you have a great wave clear thanks to Relic Shield for the melee/canon minion/s and Grand Entrance in order to get the casters ready for your ADC to last-hit them |
- Low kill potential - Weak at level 1 and 2 - Enemy plates are hard to take - Very high cooldowns - Low damage Rakan is not the best damage-dealer early game tbh, you will just look to peel your ADC and hit some safe combos, you will be really weak the first 2 levels, as only Gleaming Quill + Grand Entrance are not enough for you to win trades. Furthermore, your cooldowns are extremely high , once you hit your normal combo you won't be able to hit it until 20 seconds already had been passed. As you aren't likely to kill the enemy botlane, you won't really take any plate from the enemy turret, that's why I don't take Demolish |
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Once in mid-game you should already have Targon's Buckler and after having this item you should get Oracle Lens and buy Control Wards as much as you can, in order to take vision from the enemy team, also Chemtech Putrifier will grant you all the AP you need for damage + ability haste
Dont forget about your experience!!
This happens a lot of times as a support, you start helping all your team, leashing camps for your jungle and then you realize you are 2 levels behind the enemy support. You can fix this problem by once finishing flanking toplane or helping a teammate get a kill, staying over the lane helping to push the wave, in order to get the experience to continuing snowballing.You should always help to push the wave once finished helping a lane
+ Great teamfighting + Good disengaging and escape + Level 6 and 11 powerspike + Good flankig potential + Incredible 2v1 With Rakan mid-game you will be helping your teammates as much as possible, with The Quickness and Grand Entrance your 2v1 is great, in that way you should be looking to visit other lanes like top or mid, especially taking over the midlane turret. Also you have a great disengage and escape, when you are getting vision over the river/jungle and you get caught, you can easily escape with Grand Entrance or Battle Dance if there is an ally nearby. Remember using your Oracle Lens as much as you can |
- Bad 1v1 - Experience may cause problems - Mid/Top dependant - Still high cooldowns - Low damage Rakan mid game gets stronger, but still you can't 1v1 any champion, that's why you are kind of dependant on your mid/top whenever you want to help them. Your cooldowns will still be high so after throwing your: Grand Entrance + Gleaming Quill + AA + The Quickness + Battle Dance combo, you should still wait some time after getting it back again. You should also take care if the enemy support is counter-roaming you, but this will only happen in high elos |
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At this point of the game, you also have access to Cosmic Drive which gives you free AH and grants you the chance of getting even more movement speed when engaging. Remember not to try to kill champs on your own, don't be greedy, as you won't have the damage needed for that
+ Great teamfighting + Cooldowns get lowered + Level 16 Powerspike + Incredible mobility with + Huge escape potential In late-game with Rakan you will be the win-condition in teamfights, your mobility around the map will be increased and your ability cooldowns will be lowered thanks to Vigilant Wardstone, in order to roam faster around the map, helping your allies in 2v1 or pushing waves in order to get priority for objectives. Furthermore, The Quickness will be teamfight-changing later on the game as it can easily make the difference between losing or winning a teamfight, so don't waste it on small fights |
- Ally dependent - Weak if your combo gets dodged - Can get one-shot if caught alone - Weak against hard CC - Still low damage Rakan late game has not much of weaknesses, maybe the lack of damage could feel hard to take but is the price you have to pay for all the utility. With Rakan you are kind of team dependant, as you can peel quite a lot and almost win teamfights by yourself, but if your allies won't follow you, then you have nothing much to do. However, you should not tilt and try to do everything by yourself |
Teamfights are Rakan's speciality, he's whole kit is made for them. You should always look to save your cooldowns
for Teamfights, if you see there is a Dragon
spawning soon. Around the third or fourth+ dragon, you should wait for the Dragon to spawn in 1 minute 20 seconds, then recall, buy whatever you have to buy (especially Control Wards) get vision around the dragon. Of course, you can't do this in all situations, if a teamfight is held before dragon then you should help your team with it. You should be in every teamfight of the game as your team is likely to win the teamfights when you are helping Even though, if you see your team is fighting an impossible teamfight, For example, a 5v2 teamfight or 4v2 teamfight, then don't help them, I know it sounds cruel but is their fault if they make bad decisions and you don't have to follow every call from them if it's completely useless. And if you get spam-pinged, just mute them. |
HOW TO WIN A TEAMFIGHT
With Rakan you have 3 main tools in order to win a teamfight this are your active items, your W Grand Entrance and your R The Quickness
ITEM ACTIVES
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Example of a simple and good teamfight
Roaming is one of Rakan's best way to carry games, helping other teammates apart from your ADC is a great way of winning the game.
Also, a great way to not get surprised by a fed enemy when laning phase is over!
When roaming with Rakan 2 laws must be fulfilled
Celerity is a great rune when wanting to roam, it gives you an additional 3 Movement speed at all times, and makes The Quickness go even faster, same with Staff of Flowing Water whenever you shield an ally
So when you make use of Battle Dance you get a bunch of free movement speed
Waterwalking is probably the best rune for roaming, it gives a free 25 movement speed when in the river, so you will get faster to midlane and get back to bot lane faster too
It also gives you more AP when in the river, which makes your shields stronger and of course you deal more damage, great for objectives
Relentless Hunter is also a great rune for roaming, it gives you 5 out of combat movement speed and every time you get an assist/kill (on a certain champion) you gain an extra 8 out of combat movement speed. So you can get up to 45 in late-game. This rune has great synergy with Mobility Boots
You should take this runes whenever you feel like you are not likley to kill the enemy botlane, mainly when there is a peel support that synergizes with the ADC, for example if you are faing against an Ezreal and Yuumi
Ezreal has Arcane Shift which makes it really difficult to kill
Yuumi can get over Ezreal and heal him plus giving him movement speed in order to escape
This also works with other difficult to kill botlanes like the following:
Vayne + Lulu
Twitch + Yuumi
Ezreal + Soraka
Mobility Boots is probably the best item in order to roam, it costs 1000 gold and gives the incredible amount of 115 out of combat movement speed. With this you will go from mid to botlane at speed of light!
The only con of this item is that when you are in a fight it gets completely useless as it will be granting you only 25 solid movement speed. In a situation where you are constantly fighting in botlane and the enemy team has a lot of slows like an Ashe, Olaf, Soraka or Fizz feel free to purchase Boots of Swiftness
Shurelya's Battlesong is also a very good item for roaming. It passively gives 5 movement speed and it adds 2'5% for every legendary item, you should not use the active for roaming as its cooldown its pretty big, but you may use it once in the 2v1 situation for more damage and movement speed, so the enemy midlaner can't escape. Bulwark of the Mountain also counts as a mythic item so once you get it you get an additional 2'5% movement speed
Splitpushing is a very good way of making use of the great mobility of Rakan, as you get a free dash with Grand Entrance and a high increase of your movement speed with The Quickness you will easily escape from any enemy flank into the lane you are splitpushing. Okay okay, Rakan doesn't have the best wave clear in the game, but it isn't that bad either, with Grand Entrance and 3 auto-attacks you can take down the caster minions and some more auto-attacks + Gleaming Quill should clear the rest of the minions Why should I splitpush? Well, splitpushing is a way of taking out turrets, making the enemy team lose experience and gold from minions, and most importantly, they will lose time, and you can make use of that time in order to fight for an objective or force a 4v5 teamfight |
Of course you are not doing all the splitpushing job by yourself, if you want to splitpush you need to have the tools, there will be some items/runes helping you making this faster and cleaner, of course this will cost you gold and you will be sacrificing other items in order to buy these ones, so make use of them. Furthermore, I will explain some of the best runes/items in order to splitpush: |
Items/Runes to take in order to splitpush
Lich bane(Damage + Mobility)
Lich Bane is one of the best items for splitpushing, it will give you 80 AP for a higher wave-clear and 10% movement speed in order to escape and get to the enemy turret faster. Its passive is also useful since after using any ability your next auto-attack will deal more damage , this also works with turrets, so it won't only helping you clearing out the wave but also the turret which is insane |
Nashor tooth(Damage)
Nashor's Tooth is a very niche item on almost everything with Rakan as he doesn't really need auto-attack speed , but i if you really like playing with that extra auto-attack speed, i need to tell you this item is quite good when we talk about splitpush, as you will constantly be autoing the wave, and cleaning it faster, this will also give you 100 AP which gives you even more wave-clear potential |
Vigilant wardstone(Mobility + Vision)
Vigilant Wardstone is a very good item overall, but it is also very good for splitpushing, since you can get even more vision from the jungle and predict an enemy flanks, in that way escape before. This will also give you a 10% movement speed buff which makes it easier for you to escape and get into the lane faster, it also gives you an additional 45 ability haste which is really good to spam abilities and clear the minion wave faster. |
Demolish(Damage)
Demolish is really not necessary for splitpushing, you can take it if you really like this rune though. When attacking the turret after a time you will deal extra damage which is pretty good, but remember sometimes you are just wanting to splitpushing to push your wave into the enemy's turret and not taking out the turret |
Note: Mobility Boots and Shurelya's Battlesong are also great items for splitpushing, but you will build them normally so you don't have to make an exception
When should i build in order to splitpush?
There are 2 indicators that you will need to follow so you can know when you should build splitpush items or runes, you can get to know them before the game starts so you can change your runes before it starts
As simple as that, if you see the enemy champions are very slow then you should start thinking in splitpush since they will last ages to get to you and most important they won't be able to catch you, this is an example of a slow team composition: Urgot, Amumu, Vel'Koz, Jhin, Alistar. Junglers are commonly fast champions so don't bother much if the enemy jungler is fast but not their other teammates
In a short definition, bruisers are champions with an exceptional 1v1, a good example of this are Fiora, Jax, Tryndamere and Mordekaiser as you can see these champions are mainly toplaners, but there are bruisers in more roles too. Bruisers normally have a very good splitpush, and if you don't see any of this in your team then you can take the responsibility, and splitpush by yourself
Alistar, Difficulty:4/5 Alistar is a quite difficult matchup as he will make everything difficult for you to kill the enemy ADC, when you get to Alistar melee range with Grand Entrance he can use Pulverize on you, so don't do this. In lane against Alistar you should ignore him completely, try hitting your combo against the enemy ADC and not him, your level 6 is quite better than his, so make use of this and all-in his ADC (along with your ADC) when you get this power spike Remember Alistar is a quite immobile so make use of your roaming potential Against Alistar you should build as usual |
Ashe, Difficulty:4/5 Yes, Ashe is not 100% support, but she is geting a lot of pickrate lately, so i decided to bring her over the matchup section if you dont mind. Ashe on the support role is quite annoying, she will constantly poke you and slow you, to stop the slow you will buy Boots of Swiftness and if the enemy team has a lot of extra CC, don't bother taking Unflinching And against an Ashe support you shall take Second Wind in order to avoid the poke Just play as usual, if you see the opportunity to kill her, do it, as she is a squishy champion |
Bard, Difficulty:1/5 Bard is a very easy matchup, you out-roam him so much. Whenever you see he wants to go out of botlane for chimes or roaming mid just go over him and zone him Get Waterwalking + Transcendence in secondaries, in order to out-roam him Just play as usual, just dont get behind minions at Bard's Cosmic Binding range because he will get you stunned, also, you can dodge Bard's Tempered Fate with your Grand Entrance easily |
Blitzcrank, Difficulty:2/5 Blitzcrank highly depends on his Rocket Grab but don't bother with this, whenever he throws he's hook to you dodge it whit your Battle Dance, or Grand Entrance if your ADC is not close to you Just build and play as usual, but remember saving your Grand Entrance cooldown in order to dodge Blitzcrank's hook. When engaging, focus the enemy ADC and ignore him completely |
Brand, Difficulty:3/5 Brand is a skilled matchup, but as he is so broken right now you are likely to have problems. Try dodging his Pillar of Flame with your Battle Dance or Grand Entrance if your ADC is not close to you, furthermore, when Brand throws Pyroclasm to you or your ADC NEVER use Battle Dance as it will bounce between you and your ADC When you are facing a brand run Second Wind because of he's incredible poke, then just play as usual |
Braum, Difficulty:2/5 Braum is a pretty easy matchup, when engaging you should ignore him and focus the enemy ADC When you proc Grand Entrance to the enemy ADC he is likely to use Stand Behind Me on you, for protecting the ADC, when this happens, cast Battle Dance back to your ADC Build Boots of Swiftness, and if there is much more CC in the enemy team, feel free runing Unflinching Just play as usual and dont focus him as he is really tanky |
Galio, Difficulty:5/5 Galio is quite a difficult matchup for you, he has an AP shield every certain time, he can taunt you, and dash into you, same as counter-roam you after level 6 So this will be your way of playing against Galio: Build yourself Full Tank (check the runes and build upper on the guide) and constantly roam before level 6, after level 6 you won't be able to roam at least Galio is dead because of Hero's Entrance Other from that, try engaging into the enemy ADC and ignore Galio, when you see he's charging Justice Punch against you, cast Battle Dance back to your ADC |
Janna, Difficulty:1/5 Janna is a very easy matchup, just be aware of her tornado's you don't even need to cast abilities to dodge that, but you can use them if you feel better. Janna is a roaming support and you out-roam her so much, whenever you see she gets out of lane, follow her and zone her, also when you see she's in a bad position you can engage on her as she is really squishy Build as usual, she won't cause you much problems, also play as usual, counter-roaming her Also when you get to a teamfight focus her, because she may cause problems if she throws a good Monsoon |
Karma, Difficulty:3/5 Karma is quite a skilled matchup, no one of you have a clear chance of winning, she's got her Inspire which makes it difficult for you to trade, but you can easily counter her Focused Resolve by dashing back to your ADC with Battle Dance You should build as usual, but on the rune section you should run Second Wind in order to get rid of some poke. Focus on making short trades and dealing the most amount of damage before Karma casts Inspire |
Leona, Difficulty:2/5 Leona is kinda useless against you, you can easily dodge Zenith Blade with Grand Entrance, or Battle Dance if your ADC is close enough to you, same with Solar Flare, so be careful in wasting your cooldowns , and play safe if you are waiting for cooldowns Against Leona go your normal build, and take Unflinching in your runes, just in case, but if you like going Revitalize then there is no problem |
Lulu, Difficulty:3/5 Not much to talk about Lulu she has a lot of shields and healings so you are not likely to kill the enemy ADC in lane phase. Against Lulu you will constantly roam to mid, as you don't have kill pressure on the enemy botlane Build as usual, but in the rune section you should choose as secondary Waterwalking for more roaming potential, as she is a peel support In teamfights, focus Lulu and force her to cast all her shields, healings and Wild Growth onto herself, in order to make her completely useless |
Lux, Difficulty:1/5 Lux, as a skillshot champion can get easily countered by Rakan, you can dodge her spells once you buy your first Boots and before that you can dodge her spells with your own ability's, like Grand Entrance and Battle Dance if your ADC is close to you. You can also dodge Lux's Final Spark easily In your first back, buy Boots in order to dodge her skillshots, you can run Second Wind if you feel uncomfortale against Lux but its not really necessary, in teamfights, get close to her and bait her spells, then dodging with Grand Entrance |
Malphite, Difficulty:4/5 Malphite is hard to play against, he will constantly poke you with Seismic Shard and Arcane Comet in addition, Malphite's teamfight is even better than yours, mainly because of he's Unstoppable Force, in lane you should ignore him as much as possible, roam to mid whenever you can. When trading, you should focus your enemy ADC and not Malphite Against Malphite, build as usual, however, in the rune section you should pick Second Wind in order to get rid of some of his poke. Then just play as usual |
Maokai, Difficulty:5/5 Maokai hard counters you so hard, he's Twisted Advance counters your combo as he can stop you and root you mid-air, and in teamfights he's Nature's Grasp is really difficult to escape from Against Maokai you should build as usual, but in the rune section you should take Unflinching in order to counter some of Maokai CC. You should also roam as much as possible since you have 0 kill pressure against him |
Morgana, Difficulty:3/5 Morgana should be a skilled matchup, she's got a very long root Dark Binding do everything in your hands to dodge this skillshot, if she hits you, you are practically dead, so save your Grand Entrance and Battle Dance cooldowns for dodging this skillshot (same with Soul Shackles), she also has a shield that will make it hard to trade against, as soon as she casts Black Shield, go back to your ADC with Battle Dance Build as usual, in the rune section go Unflinching just in case she gets you rooted/stunned |
Nami, Difficulty:2/5 Nami is not a hard matchup for Rakan, once you get to buy your Boots you can easily dodge her Aqua Prison, if she gets miss-positioned you can combo her as she is a very squishy and immobile champion. Even though, short trades are not as effective against her because of her Ebb and Flow which heals allies. Once in a teamfight, take care, Tidal Wave may cause problems to your team Against Nami build as usual, you should also play as always, but be aware of her Aqua Prison if she catches you with this... you are screwed. However, it's an easy to dodge ability |
Nautilus, Difficulty:2/5 Nautilus, as a hook champion is an easy matchup for Rakan you can dodge his Dredge Line with your Grand Entrance or Battle Dance preferently Your only problem against Nautilus will be he's Riptide, so when you are attacking the enemy ADC and he cast this ability you will Battle Dance back to your ADC Against Nautilus build as usual, the only exception will be Unflinching in the runes because of all the CC this champion has, in lane phase ignore him and focus the enemy ADC when wanting to trade |
Neeko, Difficulty:3/5 Neeko is not an easy champion to face, she can't hit her Blooming Burst withouth hitting she's Tangle-Barbs so try dodging this skillshot with your incredible amount of dashes and look forward to engage when her Tangle-Barbs is on cooldown Neeko's Pop Blossom is also easy to dodge for you, just use Grand Entrance or Battle Dance out from she's ultimate. Also take care about her passive Inherent Glamour, she can transform into a low-health champion to bait you Against Neeko build as usual, in the rune section take Unflinching just in case you get rooted by her, also play as usual |
Pantheon, Difficulty:2/5 Pantheon abilities are not so tough into you, he can stun you with his Shield Vault so keep away from this ability range, other from that he won't cause you many problems, just try to stay away from his Shield Vault range, but he's Grand Starfall is a global ultimate, and after level 6 counters your roaming, so abuse your roaming before level 6 Against Pantheon you should build as usual, same with the runes, try roaming as much as possible before level 6 and when you get your ultimate, you can all-in into the enemy ADC as you get a nice powerspike |
Pyke, Difficulty:1/5 Pyke as a hook champion is really easy to counter, mainly because of all the amount of dashes you have, save your Grand Entrance and Battle Dance cooldowns on dodging Pyke's Bone Skewer and Phantom Undertow and be aware of Pyke invisibility with Ghostwater Dive when you get to level 6 don't risk too much playing at low health because he can execute you with Death from Below Against Pyke build as usual, you can build steelcaps if you dont feel comfortable against him, in the rune section you should take double armor, and play as usual Pyke roams a lot so remember counter-roaming him when he gets out of lane |
Rell, Difficulty:5/5 Rell is a really hard matchup because one ability of her, Shattering Strike counters all your shields, including your Fey Feathers and Battle Dance shields Against this champion you should roam a lot, and when engaging, you should focus the enemy ADC as Rell is very tanky, try getting out of her Shattering Strike range Against Rell you will build full Tank (check the build section upwards) and in rune section go Overgrowth, more than that, just roam a lot |
Senna, Difficulty:2/5 Senna is another skilled matchup, she can hit Piercing Darkness on you while you are trading, but it wont cause you much problems and if she hits Last Embrace on you don't use Battle Dance into your ADC because it will root him too. At level 6 you are much powerful than her, so make use of this to all-in her with your The Quickness Against Senna build as usual, and in runes take Second Wind in order to get rid of her poke |
Seraphine, Difficulty:3/5 Your lane against Seraphine its a skilled matchup she's Beat Drop has an insane range, and will slow you for 99% making you really slow, to counter this you can buy Boots of Swiftness. Furthermore, when engaging you should always focus her, as she is an immobile champion and has very low health Against Seraphine you should build as usual, and play a little bit more safier than usual when you are waiting for cooldowns source of her long range |
Sett, Difficulty:3/5 If you are facing an enemy Sett, you are facing a skilled matchup, there is one ability of him that can counter your combo, Facebreaker, so don't ever engage on him, engage on the enemy ADC and if you see Sett is running at you then Battle Dance back to your ADC as soon as possible Against Sett you should build as usual, but if you really dont like playing against him you can go Boots of Swiftness and Bone Plating in order to get rid of the slows and Sett's full combo |
Shaco, Difficulty:2/5 Shaco is not that of a hard matchup as a support against him you can take Oracle Lens at level 1, since he has Deceive and can get invisible to you, apart from checking the possible Jack In The Box around you. Also dont risk much yourself at low health since he's Two-Shiv Poison will deal you extra damage Against Shaco build as usual, just remember constantly buying Control Wards and buying Oracle Lens play as usual and remember that the shaco clone Hallucinate takes more damage than the real Shaco |
Sona, Difficulty:2/5 Sona is not that difficult to play against either, she can cure allies after trades with Aria of Perseverance which screws some of your trades, but taking away that, she won't cause you much problems When engaging, you can focus her, as she is pretty immobile and has low health so you may be able to kill her When you are playing against Sona build as usual, and if there are more champions that heal in the enemy team feel free to build Morellonomicon also play as usual |
Soraka, Difficulty:3/5 Soraka is not a difficult champion to play against, you just need to roam, roam and roam. As she will be healing a lot your enemy ADC and you are not likely to kill him. That's why you will be looking for kills in midlane When engaging, always focus her, as if you don't kill her the first one, she will be healing her allies and you won't be able to kill anyone Against a Soraka you should build as second or third item Morellonomicon because of all the healing she will be granting, in the rune section you can take Waterwalking in order to roam even faster |
Swain, Difficulty:3/5 Swain played in the support role shouldn't cause you much problems, just be aware of don't getting rooted, if you get rooted its possible for you to get one-shoted. You can focus Swain when trading, but once he gets level 6 you shouldn't focus him anymore, unless his Demonic Ascension is on cooldown Against Swain you should build Morellonomicon around third or fourth item, since once late-game reaches he cures himself a lot. In the runes go as usual, but if there are more champions with CC in the enemy team you can take Unflinching |
Tahm kench, Difficulty:3/5 On a normal meta Tahm Kench should be a difficult matchup, bet he's winrate is so low actually that he won't cause you much problems, roam as much as possible before level 6, because once on level 6 he gets Devour which counter-roams you a lot, even though, this ability has 140 seconds of cooldown so you can make use of this. Against Tahm Kench you should build as usual, and in the rune section you could take Unflinching if the enemy team has even more CC than this gentleman frog |
Taric, Difficulty:3/5 Your matchup against Taric will be skilled, Taric is a very weak champion alone, and before level 6 he doesn't make a real difference, when engaging, focus your enemy ADC and not him. If Taric engages your ADC cast your Grand Entrance behind him, if not you may be hitted by Dazzle Other from that, roam a lot, since he can heal with his Starlight's Touch and takes off some of you kill pressure Against Taric you should build as usual, go the usual runes, also try making him wasting his Cosmic Radiance on small fights, as it has 180 seconds of cooldown and will cause you problems in 5v5 teamfights |
Thresh, Difficulty:1/5 Thresh is useless against you, he won't hit any Death Sentence since all the dashes you have, the same rule applies with The Box. A tip against Thresh is placing a Stealth Ward or Control Ward in the center of he's Dark Passage making it completely useless. When engaging, you should ignore him completely, focus your enemy ADC and as he will be knocked up by your Grand Entrance he won't be able to pick up Dark Passage Against Thresh build as usual, and if there are more champions with CC in the enemy team you can pick Unflinching |
Twitch, Difficulty:4/5 Playing against a Twitch in the support role is quite hard for Rakan he will poke you a lot with Venom Cask and Contaminate, also his invisibility is really annoying. Don't bother roaming much since it will poke you a lot if you keep in lane. When engaging you can focus him, as he is quite immobile and mainly because he has very low health Against Twitch you should take Oracle Lens after your first back, in order to predict he's invisibility, also take Second Wind in order to get rid of some of he's poke |
Vel'koz, Difficulty:3/5 Your matchup against Vel'Koz will be completely skilled, he has an incredible poke with Plasma Fission and Void Rift combined with Arcane Comet When engaging, focus him, as his major weakness is his low mobility and low health Against him, play safer than usual as he has an incredible long-range Against Vel'Koz you should build as usual, but on your first back you should buy Boots in order to dodge his skillshots more effectively. In the rune section you should pick Second Wind in order to get rid of some of he's poke |
Xerath, Difficulty:3/5 Xerath is a skilled matchup for you, he is pretty similar to Vel'Koz, as he will constantly poke you with Arcanopulse and Eye of Destruction and combined with Arcane Comet, makes it an awful poke to play against. As a counter-play, when engaging, focus Xerath, as he has very low mobility and has very low health Against Xerath you should buy Boots in your first back, in order to have better movement speed, and dodge his skillshots, also take Second Wind because of the huge amount of poke this guy haves |
Yuumi, Difficulty:2/5 What do i have to say about this? Yuumi can't do anything by herself, he will just heal and buff he's ally ADC , she can poke you with Prowling Projectile but this is not a big deal As she is a peel support, you should roam as much as possible Against Yuumi you should build as usual, but as a fourth or fifth item you can build Morellonomicon in order to get id of all her healing to allies , in the rune section you can run Waterwalking since you will be roaming a lot |
Zilean, Difficulty:2/5 Zilean is a quite easy matchup for Rakan, take Electrocute and play really aggressive early-game since he won't have time to escape from your combo with Time Warp. Don't let Zilean hit any Time Bomb into you, when you see he is about to hit you with one of this, dash backwards with Grand Entrance or Battle Dance. Once he gets to level 6, he gets access to Chronoshift and as you are not likely to kill him or he's ADC you should look roaming midlane Against Zilean you should buy Boots on your first back in order to dodge his Time Bombs without having to waste abilities. You can also buy Boots of Swiftness against this old man since his Time Warp will be slowing you by a lot (99% slow at level 5) |
Zyra, Difficulty:3/5 Zyra is another poke support and she has an incredible damage if she gets you miss-positioned, so play safer than normal and keep a long distance to her, so her abilities will get out of range and won't hit you at all When engaging, you can focus her, as she is really immobile, and really squishy Against Zyra you should build as usual, just get Second Wind in your runes section to get rid of some of her poke, and if there is more CC in the enemy team feel free to take Unflinching |
Information about wards:
Totem ward
Starting on the ward you start with, called "Totem Ward"
and is pretty similar to the "Stealth Ward". Once you get Targon's Buckler you should exchange this for Oracle Lens Totem Ward stats
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Control ward
This is the Control Ward, you should look forward to buying at least 1 one of this once you recall, it costs 75 gold This ward also reveals other stealth wards also reveals invisible champions like Twitch, Teemo, Kha'Zix and Evelynn as well as invisible traps as Noxious Trap or Captive Audience Control Ward stats
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Stealth ward
This is the Stealth Ward its similar to the "Totem ward" but this ward comes out from the support
item: Targon's Buckler, it is available once you upgrade you Stealth Ward stats
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Ghost poro
This is the Ghost Poro, if you go with Ghost Poro in your runes, when your Stealth Wards or totem wards expire the ghost poro spawns, giving you 2 AP. And whenever the ghost poro spots someone you gain another 2 AP up to 10 stacks Once you reach 10 stacks you gain 10 more AP, for a total of 30 AP This rune also increases the lifespan of your Stealth Ward by 60 seconds for an incredible total of 210 seconds (3'5 minutes) |
Note: You don't necessarily have to put these wards in all situations, don't risk your life just for a ward since it's not worth it.
If you haven't bought any control ward because of a bad recall then you can replace it for a normal ward
Defensive situations:
In this situations you dont have priority on your lane, generally caused as source of a very bad trade. When this happens you should place defensive wards , in order to avoid getting ganked and then dived by the enemy jungler.
Here is an example of a defensive situation on the blue side, and where you should ward:
Here is an example of a defensive situation on the red side, and where you should ward:
Common situations:
This are common situations were no one has a clear advantage.
You can apply these placements in any of both sides
Here is an example of a common situation, and where you should ward:
Aggressive situations:
This are offensive situations where you have priority on the lane, this is the perfect situation mainly because you can help your jungle with the crab or dragon.
This is also a good situation for roaming
Here is an example of an aggressive situation on the blue side, and where you should ward:
Here is an example of an aggressive situation on the red side, and where you should ward:
Objectives situations:
This are Objectives situations, here i explain where you should ward when an objective is about to be fought
Before placing all this wards you should make sure your jungler is available to take this objective and ping him for assistance, if he acceeds, then you should place the wards
Here is an example of a drake situation on the blue side, and where you should ward:
Here is an example of a drake situation on the red side, and where you should ward:
Here is an example of a baron nashor situation on the blue side, and where you should ward:
Here is an example of a baron nashor situation on the red side, and where you should ward:
This guide cost me around 40 hours, so I would really appreciate an upvote or a good comment that would just take you a couple of seconds, but you don't necessarily have to do this if you don't want to
I need to clear out that this guide will get you the best results with Rakan but to get even better you need to adapt it to your best playstyle, check out what skills you get best in-game and play around them, if you are good roaming, then focus your builds and runes into roaming, if you feel better with damage, focus your builds and runes into damage, if you prefer to sit back and peel your allies, focus your playstyle on doing that. |
Rakan is a great and fun champ to play and if you get to master it, your winrate and fun will be highly increased.
If you are reading this and you are a Mobafire moderator or administrator, I would appreciate any type of review in order to improve this guide
Finishing the guide I encourage you to play him and wish you good luck with your games, I also have guides for Neeko, Anivia, and Seraphine support if you want to check them go to my profile. uwu
Watch this stream!! https://www.twitch.tv/3mmydoesthings
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