Let's talk about League of Legendsā resident land shark: Rek'Sai. The Void Burrower hit Summonerās Rift pretty strong a few years ago, and soon showed herself to be a dominant pick in professional play. Since then weāve had to trim power here and there from her kit, and by the time sheād stopped warping pro play, we hadnāt left her much in the way of an identity to express. We wanted to take some time to drill deep into what we wanted her identity to be and rebuild her kit around that. So weāre giving Rek'Sai an update which focuses her into a dangerous predator.
Ferocious Predator or Helpful Wingwoman?
RekāSai is a ferocious predator who should strikes fear into the hearts of her prey as she hunts them. The way RekāSai currently ends up getting playedāa vanguard who sets up plays for her teamājust doesnāt sync up with that promised fantasy.
Being a safe, consistent tank with high uptime around the map has allowed RekāSai to dominate pro play whenever sheās at all good in regular games. In the early game, her tunnels let her put a ton of pressure on the map, and once she hits level 6, her presence levels up from commanding to global. As the game progresses to skirmishes and teamfights, the heavy CC on her kit makes her a solid initiator.
We see a lot of potential for RekāSai, and have been viewing this update as an opportunity to really double down on RekāSaiās predatory instincts. To capture the feel of a ferocious hunter, itās critical that she be feared for her individual threat, not the followup of her team. This means a RekāSai who does more damage when sheās ahead, but is less consistent when behind.
A New Ultimate
A major way to trim that consistency is by toning down her map pressure. She currently threatens the whole map with her ultimate, and so the degree of that threat has to be kept somewhat lower. Weāre giving The Void Burrower a new ultimate that sacrifices her global pressure for higher impact in teamfights.
Void Rush (Click to expand)
RekāSai marks champions she damages as prey for 5 seconds. She can target a Prey-marked enemy, burrowing before emerging from underground and leaping at her target. RekāSai is unstoppable during both the cast and the leap, dealing more damage the lower her targetās health is.
Her new ultimate should help her feel more like a diver by giving her backline access that isnāt merely a product of her tankiness. Now, when RekāSai ults, she leaps at her targetāonly a target sheās damaged recentlyādoing damage if she hits them.
A New Ultimate
Outside of her ultimate, RekāSai has a lot of general strength and a simple combat pattern: tunnel in, knockup, attack until tunnel/knockup is available again. We wanted to give her a more dynamic combat pattern by making her strengths more specific. In particular, weāre hitting the amount of ambient crowd control RekāSai can put out. Instead of knocking up every target she unburrows under, RekāSai will now only knock up the closest enemy. If she wants to hit a specific target, basic attacks will prioritize the knockup on the attacked target.
With higher damage and less crowd control, we expect RekāSai to begin building more damage than she previously was, but we donāt want to leave her unable to safely teamfight. To help her out, weāre strengthening two of her iconic attributesāher tunnel dashing and her regeneration.
New RekāSai can re-enter her tunnels more quickly, allowing her to dance in and out of teamfights much more consistently. To make sure she has the health to go back in, her passive generates Fury far more quickly, giving her more regeneration and letting her get combat ready quickly.
Overall, weāre expecting a more threatening RekāSai, but one who doesnāt have the same consistency when she falls behind. We hope the end product is a ferocious shark who can go on a hunting frenzy when she smells blood, but isnāt always Queen of the Sea. Er...land.
[quote=PsiGuard][center][url=/league-of-legends/forum/news/get-rekt-putting-the-shark-back-into-land-shark-41286][img=/images/champion/skins/landscape/reksai-classic.jpg width=550][/url][/center]
[rule]
[center][size=5][url=http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/champions-skins/champion-update/get-rekt-putting-shark-back-land-shark]Come behind the scenes with the designer of Rek'Sai's update.[/url][/size][/center]
[rule]
[size=3]BY GENTLEMAN GUSTAF, RIOT SOTERE[/size]
Let's talk about League of Legendsā resident land shark: Rek'Sai. The Void Burrower hit Summonerās Rift pretty strong a few years ago, and soon showed herself to be a dominant pick in professional play. Since then weāve had to trim power here and there from her kit, and by the time sheād stopped warping pro play, we hadnāt left her much in the way of an identity to express. We wanted to take some time to drill deep into what we wanted her identity to be and rebuild her kit around that. So weāre giving Rek'Sai an update which focuses her into a dangerous predator.
[size=6][color=#ffffff]Ferocious Predator or Helpful Wingwoman?[/color][/size]
RekāSai is a ferocious predator who should strikes fear into the hearts of her prey as she hunts them. The way RekāSai currently ends up getting playedāa vanguard who sets up plays for her teamājust doesnāt sync up with that promised fantasy.
Being a safe, consistent tank with high uptime around the map has allowed RekāSai to dominate pro play whenever sheās at all good in regular games. In the early game, her tunnels let her put a ton of pressure on the map, and once she hits level 6, her presence levels up from commanding to global. As the game progresses to skirmishes and teamfights, the heavy CC on her kit makes her a solid initiator.
We see a lot of potential for RekāSai, and have been viewing this update as an opportunity to really double down on RekāSaiās predatory instincts. To capture the feel of a ferocious hunter, itās critical that she be feared for her individual threat, not the followup of her team. This means a RekāSai who does more damage when sheās ahead, but is less consistent when behind.
[size=6][color=#ffffff]A New Ultimate[/color][/size]
A major way to trim that consistency is by toning down her map pressure. She currently threatens the whole map with her ultimate, and so the degree of that threat has to be kept somewhat lower. Weāre giving The Void Burrower a new ultimate that sacrifices her global pressure for higher impact in teamfights.
[embed=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxwF9kHLIcU]
[spoiler=Void Rush (Click to expand)]RekāSai marks champions she damages as prey for 5 seconds. She can target a Prey-marked enemy, burrowing before emerging from underground and leaping at her target. RekāSai is unstoppable during both the cast and the leap, dealing more damage the lower her targetās health is.
Her new ultimate should help her feel more like a diver by giving her backline access that isnāt merely a product of her tankiness. Now, when RekāSai ults, she leaps at her targetāonly a target sheās damaged recentlyādoing damage if she hits them.[/spoiler]
[size=6][color=#ffffff]A New Ultimate[/color][/size]
Outside of her ultimate, RekāSai has a lot of general strength and a simple combat pattern: tunnel in, knockup, attack until tunnel/knockup is available again. We wanted to give her a more dynamic combat pattern by making her strengths more specific. In particular, weāre hitting the amount of ambient crowd control RekāSai can put out. Instead of knocking up every target she unburrows under, RekāSai will now only knock up the closest enemy. If she wants to hit a specific target, basic attacks will prioritize the knockup on the attacked target.
With higher damage and less crowd control, we expect RekāSai to begin building more damage than she previously was, but we donāt want to leave her unable to safely teamfight. To help her out, weāre strengthening two of her iconic attributesāher tunnel dashing and her regeneration.
New RekāSai can re-enter her tunnels more quickly, allowing her to dance in and out of teamfights much more consistently. To make sure she has the health to go back in, her passive generates Fury far more quickly, giving her more regeneration and letting her get combat ready quickly.
[embed=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN3wFU6jSp0]
Overall, weāre expecting a more threatening RekāSai, but one who doesnāt have the same consistency when she falls behind. We hope the end product is a ferocious shark who can go on a hunting frenzy when she smells blood, but isnāt always Queen of the Sea. Er...land.[/quote]
BY GENTLEMAN GUSTAF, RIOT SOTERE
Let's talk about League of Legendsā resident land shark: Rek'Sai. The Void Burrower hit Summonerās Rift pretty strong a few years ago, and soon showed herself to be a dominant pick in professional play. Since then weāve had to trim power here and there from her kit, and by the time sheād stopped warping pro play, we hadnāt left her much in the way of an identity to express. We wanted to take some time to drill deep into what we wanted her identity to be and rebuild her kit around that. So weāre giving Rek'Sai an update which focuses her into a dangerous predator.
Ferocious Predator or Helpful Wingwoman?
RekāSai is a ferocious predator who should strikes fear into the hearts of her prey as she hunts them. The way RekāSai currently ends up getting playedāa vanguard who sets up plays for her teamājust doesnāt sync up with that promised fantasy.
Being a safe, consistent tank with high uptime around the map has allowed RekāSai to dominate pro play whenever sheās at all good in regular games. In the early game, her tunnels let her put a ton of pressure on the map, and once she hits level 6, her presence levels up from commanding to global. As the game progresses to skirmishes and teamfights, the heavy CC on her kit makes her a solid initiator.
We see a lot of potential for RekāSai, and have been viewing this update as an opportunity to really double down on RekāSaiās predatory instincts. To capture the feel of a ferocious hunter, itās critical that she be feared for her individual threat, not the followup of her team. This means a RekāSai who does more damage when sheās ahead, but is less consistent when behind.
A New Ultimate
A major way to trim that consistency is by toning down her map pressure. She currently threatens the whole map with her ultimate, and so the degree of that threat has to be kept somewhat lower. Weāre giving The Void Burrower a new ultimate that sacrifices her global pressure for higher impact in teamfights.
A New Ultimate
Outside of her ultimate, RekāSai has a lot of general strength and a simple combat pattern: tunnel in, knockup, attack until tunnel/knockup is available again. We wanted to give her a more dynamic combat pattern by making her strengths more specific. In particular, weāre hitting the amount of ambient crowd control RekāSai can put out. Instead of knocking up every target she unburrows under, RekāSai will now only knock up the closest enemy. If she wants to hit a specific target, basic attacks will prioritize the knockup on the attacked target.
With higher damage and less crowd control, we expect RekāSai to begin building more damage than she previously was, but we donāt want to leave her unable to safely teamfight. To help her out, weāre strengthening two of her iconic attributesāher tunnel dashing and her regeneration.
New RekāSai can re-enter her tunnels more quickly, allowing her to dance in and out of teamfights much more consistently. To make sure she has the health to go back in, her passive generates Fury far more quickly, giving her more regeneration and letting her get combat ready quickly.
Overall, weāre expecting a more threatening RekāSai, but one who doesnāt have the same consistency when she falls behind. We hope the end product is a ferocious shark who can go on a hunting frenzy when she smells blood, but isnāt always Queen of the Sea. Er...land.