League of Legends: How to play and master Rakan

Rakan made quite the grand entrance when he burst onto the Rift. Learning to play him has been one of the most fun experiences in my League of Legends career.

Rakan is a champion who has incredible outplay and engage potential. His skills let him get into and get out of team fights easily. Knowing how to engage and catch opponents in a bad position is his bread and butter.

Below are a couple videos where you can see yours truly outplay Jarvan IV with Rakan. Now, Jarvan IV underestimated Rakan’s heal from Gleaming Quill and didn’t account for Flash, but this is common with opponents who are unfamiliar with Rakan and how mobile he can be.

Seeing as how Rakan is a support, you want to build him with a mix of utility and tankiness. Well, take a look at what I mean below:

First of all, always build a Sightstone. One more time for those in the back. ALWAYS BUILD A SIGHTSTONE. Supports need to ward. Vision wins games.

Ardent Censer is a very strong item right now, especially on Rakan. I would consider it a core item on him. It increases the power of two of his skills, gives Ability Power, and increases the attack speed of anyone you shield. Combine this with a Knights Vow and the Locket of the Iron Solari and enjoy being successful. Usually, I finish off that build with Boots of Mobility, mainly because of his dash speed scales of speed, and a Warmog’s Armor.

For Masteries, it’s important to have the Courage of the Colossus keystone. This gives Rakan a shield for when he engages, keeping him alive so he can get out. Combine that with Armor, Magic Resist, and Ability Power Runes, and Rakan is a force to be reckoned with in the early game.

How to Execute Rakan’s Skills

Rakan hits his first power spike at Level 2. You can start either Grand Entrance or Battle Dance. Once you know both, you can go in and set up your ADC and then get out. I suggest maxing Battle Dance first to offer additional protection to your ADC.

Using Rakan’s Battle Dance to close a gap then Grand Entrance to knock up the enemies is key. It can catch your opponents off guard and give you the advantage in lane. Rakan’s abilities have very low cooldowns at higher ranks, allowing you to keep knocking up opponents while defending your allies.

Rakan’s Ultimate, The Quickness, charms enemies for a short time. You can activate it and then use all your abilities. Doing this allows you to stun enemies while Grand Entrance knocks them up. They have no escapes!

The below video can show you a number of great ways to utilize Rakan:

Obviously, Rakan’s synergy with Xayah is amazing and it’s the optimal way to use him but don’t let this stop you from playing him with other champs. Rakan is fantastic in the bottom lane and probably my favorite support to play.

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