[2.6a] Rakan Guide - Solo Climbing with Rakan _War is in the dance_
Solo Climbing with Rakan _War is in the dance_
Pros
- High Mobility
- Good Roamings
- Great AP Scalling
- Diversified Playstyle
- Crazy Teamfight Impact
- He is a good boyfriend :D
Cons
- Kinda Squishy
- High Cooldowns Early Game
- Not The Best Early Game Damage
- Works Better as a Secondary Engage
- His Engage Can Be Stopped By A LOT of Skills
- Isn't in Arcane :'(
Rakan Build
Best Build Guide for Rakan
Item Build Description
Additional information on the items
This will be long and I'll try to make myself as clear and helpful as possible.
You can play Rakan using different builds and playstyles:
You can go Full AP, building Rod of Ages
You can go for a supportive style, building only support and tank items (even though people sometimes build Rod of Ages and support items.
You can go full tank (wich I don't recommend)
Here I'm showing the two playstyles that I think are the best and more suitable for Rakan when you're playing SoloQ
1. The Supportive Build:
When going for this build you'll be usually starting with Boots of Speed so you can
- Upgrade them into Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads and then into [locket enchant] or Redeeming Enchant as soon as possible
- Lvl 1 Gank baron lane or mid lane and go to your dragon lane
- Leash for your jungler and get to lane before the first minion dies.
You'll be starting Cloth Armor if you're playing against a healing support like Nami , Sona or Soraka so you can rush Bramble Vest
And, the most surprising, you can start Sapphire Crystal if you're playing against a Malphite , so you can keep shielding your adc with Battle Dance anytime Malphite tries to poke him.
After that you'll usually go Ardent Censer to increase your ad teammates damage.
The rest you should adapt according to the game
Protector's Vow for extra peeling, really good when behind or when you can't build anything more optimal
Randuin's Omen against high atack speed and critical
Force of Nature against ap
Zeke's Convergence if you're really ahead
Athene's Unholy Grail if you want to peel more and facing ap champions
Thornmail against healing or ad comps
Archangel's Staff if you started Sapphire Crystal
If the enemy team is full ad and they have healing you can go Bramble Vest into Oblivion Orb , this way you'll be inflicting grievous wounds when taking and dealing damage
Hextech Megadrive if you go Bramble Vest into Oblivion Orb
2. The Full AP build
This is a really good build for lower elos cause it allows you to carry games by yourself, however I don't recommend it in higher elos (and by that I mean above Diamond II) since Rod of Ages takes a lot of time to stack. However, if your adc is a Xayah , abuse this build maxing Battle Dance
So, with this build you'll be starting Amplifying Tome against safe matchups or Ruby Crystal against hard engage (like Thresh and Draven ) so you can rush Rod of Ages . You can also go Sapphire Crystal against Malphite.
After finishing Rod of Ages IMMEDIATELY go Rabadon's Deathcap , only buy Boots of Speed if you can't afford a Needlessly Large Rod . The reason for that is because Rakan's skills scale really well with ap. Having these 2 items you heal a lot, shield a lot and take around 70% to 90% hp of any adc (except if they build mr or health)
After finishing your two items go for Protobelt Enchant , Redeeming Enchant or Shadows Enchant . From there you'll have two options: commit to a FULL DAMAGE BUILD or a Peeling Build
I recommend deciding based on your team's performance and if you're ahead or behind.
If you're behind you should probably peel more, if you're ahead go damage, if your team isn't going well go damage, or peel if you see that you can count on them.
Peeling
Ardent Censer to increase your carry's damage
Athene's Unholy Grail against ap and to heal more
Staff of Flowing Waters to help your ap champions
Crystalline Reflector so you can survive against heavy ad comps
Morellonomicon against healing
Archangel's Staff right after rabbadon if you started Sapphire Crystal
FULL DAMAGE >:D
Always go Infinity Orb , Lich Bane , Void Staff . Only delay Infinity Orb if you need Crystalline Reflector or Banshee's Veil to survive heavy ad or ap, or if you started Sapphire Crystal and wants to upgrade it into Archangel's Staff
Rakan Runes
Best Runes for Rakan
Take Electrocute , Weakness and Pathfinder if you're going full ap. Extra damage and mobility since you'll be delaying Boots of Speed
Take Bone Plating against engage and Adaptive Carapace against poke (since poke would always be breaking your Bone Plating
If you're trying to be a supporty boi take Aftershock or Font of Life . Aftershock will make you tankier and Font of Life will make you peel more.
Always take Weakness since it will increase your team's damage
Take Bone Plating against engage and Adaptive Carapace against poke (since poke would always be breaking your Bone Plating
You can take Pack Hunter for snowballing or Pathfinder for better roamings
THIS IS THE MADLAD FULL MOBILITY RUNE SET
ONLY PLAY THIS IF YOU WANT TO ROAM A LOT AND COMPLETELY KNOWS YOUR CHAMPIONS LIMITATIONS IN ENGAGES
That said, you'll take Phase Rush to proc it during the teamfight and charm more people using [rakan:ult]
Weakness since it will increase your team's damage
Take Bone Plating against engage and Adaptive Carapace against poke (since poke would always be breaking your Bone Plating
AND ALWAYS TAKE Pathfinder SINCE YOU'LL BE A ROAMING MACHINE
If you're going for this runepage and playstyle, take ghost instead of flash and rush Glorious Enchant first item
Skill Order
How to distribute skill points
Summoner Spells
When to take which summoners
Combos
Learn how to maximize the champions potential
Basic Combo
Same as before but dashing into an ally first
Same as Before but shielding your ally two times after finishing the combo.
Flash Engage
Highest Range Combo
For saving Allies
Flash R, best way to catch enemies off guard
Best combo for teamfighting
Rakan Matchups & Counters
Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters
If he catches your adc, you Battle Dance into him and Grand Entrance to disengage or reengage
Lvl 1 Strategy
If you're in a matchup where your adc won't be engaged you can wait in a bush in mid or baron lane and gank them.
You should only do this if:
You know that your adc won't be engaged
Your baron laner or mid laner is strong at level one, or at least has some crowd control and carry potential
If you know that the enemy laner you're ganking doesn't have a good escape and will waste flash, lose hp or die
If you started Boots of Speed
If you asked your laner in the champion select screen for it. He may think you're trolling and trying to steal his lane. You don't want a tilted teammate in SoloQ
If you don't have all the stuff checked, just don't do it
Laning Phase
You won't do anything at level 1, except for disengaging, you'll only engage if the enemy is out of position or if your adc is a Xayah with Deadly Plumage upgraded
At level 2 you can find windows to start small trades with Grand Entrance and Battle Dance
After level 4, try to use your Gleaming Quill as much as possible for sustain.
If you manage to get your enemy's hp low enough you may be able to get a kill at level 5 with your The Quickness
If you see your team needs help during a fight and you know that your adc won't be dived, just go help
Roaming
You should always roam as Rakan , but when to roam? The brazilian support player Daniel Marcon says:
"Você dá roaming quando você pode"
"You roam when you can"
This means that you should only roam when you have an opportunity to do it
Your adc is farming safe? Roam!
Your jg wants to invade and you're pressuring the lane? Roam!
You recalled, your adc recalled or is farming safe? Roam to baron lane or mid lane and try to catch someone out of position!
You can roam to pressure another lane, to get vision, to get a spell or a kill, to help your jungler.
Three important things to keep in mind:
1 - You don't have to go right back to dragon lane when you recall, try to go through the jungle close to the mid lane or even throught the mid lane, so if you can make any play or if your team makes any play, you're close enough to help them.
2 - Try to always roam with your jungler, he will be your best friend
3 - Don't forget about baron lane. They don't usually expect to be ganked by a support, so you can abuse that and gank whenever you find a window.
Objectives
Rakan is always good fighting for objectives, but try to advise your team on what objective you'd like to fight, they'll sometimes listen to you.
The order I usually follow is
Infernal Drake > Ocean Drake> Cloud Drake = Rift Herald > Mountain Drake
When fighting for an objective try to use your The Quickness and Grand Entrance on the most people possible and then get back to your team
You can always heal your entire team by using Gleaming Quill in any epic monster, try to use this trick even if not fighting for an objective. Just walk by, use your Gleaming Quill and Battle Dance back to heal your adc and get back to lane
Vision
Getting vision is a big part of a support's job, you can't make plays if you don't know where the enemy is
Try to always ward the enemy jungle, ward important bushes during objectives so you'll see any enemy coming, always clear enemy wards and as soon as possible move to gain vision.
Teamfight
Basically try to be a secondary engage if possible, if not, flash engage with your The Quickness and get back to your team.
After using The Quickness , just peel for your carry (and for your team, of course, but your job is to keep your carry alive, only reason you should forget him is if he's so weak that he can't deal significant damage)
Mid and Late Game Map
Try to be close to your allies, always gain vision, always think if they're safe or not and always try to help your allies that you know may be taking risks. The most common is the adcarry, since he's really squishy. If your adc is safe (wich usually happens if the jg helps him) try to protect your splitpusher.
And when I say help, I mean stick close and out of vision, if someone wants to engage your ally disengage or counterengage them and turn the fight.
MOST IMPORTANT
Don't tilt, if you're really stressed and tired just take your time. Go drink some water, listen to music, play something else, hug your father. No game is worth your mental health, always remember that.