League of Legends: looking at the pro player’s runes and builds for Senna
By Josh Tyler
Senna has only been out for a few days so finding the right build is tough. Here’s how are the pros playing the newest League of Legends champion!
Senna was released on Sunday to great anticipation (well, to be honest, it was the third-most anticipated League of Legends related topic on that day after the Worlds Finals and the debut of True Damage). Pro players have had a few days to get their hands on her, play around with builds, runes, and the like. Per U.GG, here is how the best players in the world have been playing and building Senna!
Role/Position
One of the biggest questions regarding Senna, when she was released, is where she would be played. Billed as a marksman/support hybrid, there was a split as to where she would end up on Summoner’s Rift. Obviously, support and ADC are the big contenders but some people speculated that she might be a mid laner like her lover Lucian.
In reality, the split has been quite heavily skewed towards the support role, with 78% of the Senna games in Patch 9.22 were on the support role, with just 17% of games in the ADC role, and the remaining 5% in the mid lane. As a new champion she does, of course, have a weak win rate out the game (36%). Her win rate in the support role (31%) is far lower than in the ADC role (67%) so it’s possible that she is a stronger pick as an AD Carry.
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While this could be due to the quality of players taking her in each role, one good case study for Senna’s strength by position is in 100T Academy support William “Stunt” Chen, who has played Senna in both roles. Stunt is 3-0 with Senna in the ADC role, but 0-3 as a support, so it looks like she may be slightly stronger in the ADC role.
Runes
The most common runes to take on Senna in the support role at the moment appears to be Summon Aery with Inspiration as the secondary tree. Famed support Hong “MadLife” Min-gi has taken to running Aery with Manaflow Band, Celerity, and Scorch on his Sorcery tree with Biscuit Delivery and Approach Velocity on his Inspiration tree.
However, there is also a growing trend to run Precision as a secondary tree. For instance, Splyce support Tore “Norskeren” Hoel Eilertsen runs Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Scorch in the Sorcery tree with Presence of Mind and Legend: Tenacity in the Precision tree. BeryL runs basically the same set-up, but swaps Legend: Tenacity for Coup de Grace in his secondary tree.
In the AD Carry role, though, it’s a different story as most players are running Kleptomancy and Resolve tree as their secondary. Stunt, for instance, runs Kleptomancy with Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery, and Cosmic Insight with Bone Plating and Revitalize in his Resolve tree. While Sneaky runs the same setup in the Inspiration tree, he runs Precision as his secondary with Triumph and Legend: Bloodline.
In short, there seem to be a lot of Rune setups that work for Senna but generally, pros seem to agree that Inspiration should be one of the rune trees players take. From the Inspiration Tree, Biscuit Delivery appears to be the most common. Sorcery would be the second-most common tree with Manaflow Band and Scorch being the most-picked options. In short, there’s a lot of flexibility for how players are building Senna with three possible trees that they will take runes from.
Builds
There is almost zero consensus regarding Senna builds amongst pros, with her most-picked item – Remnant of the Watchers – only being built in 26% of her matches. Players have built everything from Duskblade of Drakthar to Athene’s Unholy Grail to Rapidfire Cannon, but there are at least a few constants that we can glean.
First, among ADCs, the build is fairly set. 56% of Senna ADC builds have Infinity Edge built, her most popular item. Duskblade of Drakthar, Essence Reaver, and Manamune are among Senna’s most picked items in this role, with a 33% pick rate.
Second, even in the support role, you will almost always go a mana item second. Many players, including in the support role will build a Manamune and upgrade it to a Muramana. If they elect to go a more defensive/support build, the second item is usually Athene’s Unholy Grail. This applies even in the support role.
Finally, for the support role, there is a split between either the pure supportive build (Athene’s into Ardent Censer into Redemption) or a Lethality build like what Pyke would build. While these builds are still being fleshed out, Senna seems to have a very diverse build.
Skill Order
Almost every single player will max Senna’s Q – Piercing Darkness first, then her W – Last Embrace. However, some players like Madlife have experimented with maxing her E – Curse of the Black Mist second, but generally W max second seems to be favored. In terms of starting skills, it’s almost uniformly Q at Level 1, W at Level 2 for the all-in/cc potential, and E at Level 3.
Next. How to carry with Miss Fortune in Patch 9.22. dark
Future
While these are the builds on Senna following her release, it is important to note that these builds might change thanks to the big systemic item and rune changes that are coming in Patch 9.23. For instance, Kleptomancy is being completely reworked which could fundamentally change her build in the ADC role. For now, though, you have some intel as to the best builds and set-ups to play Senna in Patch 9.22.