His shield, spawning minions, and ultimate lockdown can be difficult to play around. Try to pop his shield with Q poke before engaging.
Kayle
Kayle can be a difficult matchup, especially post 6. Once she can start hitting you with autos and chasing after an engage, you are likely to take more damage than you dealt. Pressure with minions to get cheeky backs to buy items to put your damage above hers in the early game. If you go all in, make sure you have enough health or she dies.
Cassiopeia
I don't care what discovery channel might say, this bird does not eat snakes. She has a lot of poke and poison will often break your shield. Play safely and try to bait her ultimate before engaging when at all possible.
Zoe
Zoe poke can be devastating, and sleep after engaging can ruin your trades. Post 6 you need to bait her ultimate before doing anything or you will be slammed by the collective 4000 years. Bait sleep AND ult, then engage.
Vladimir
Don't bother. Anything you try can be negated and his healing beats yours. Try to hold back your tears and wait for an emergency gank to maybe help you win a fight whenever possible.
Diana
Rakan actually wins these fights early, I've found. Your engages tend to do better than hers, and if she jumps to you, just W on the spot for some free damage. She becomes more threatening late, but you should be able to beat her in lane without too much difficulty.
Akshan
hahahahahahaha swing zoom hahahahahahaha oops he's 6 counties over and he bought a new car with all of the extra gold he got in lane over you.
Annie
Annie can be difficult with her stun and Tibbers waiting for you at the end of your W, but they aren't the hardest to play around if you time your engages. Try to avoid her poke, her AA range is longer than you may think.
Ziggs
Annoying with his poke, but you should be able to dodge most of his abilities by engaging when he uses them, or bait them out and go in after.
Sylas
He's a tough matchup, his re-engage after you W can be hard to escape from without a teammate, and he can dodge your W if he wants to with his plethora of unnecessary dashes. Your ultimate is a pretty good one for him to have too, so be wary of when he has it so you don't get reverse Rakan'd when you engage.
Ahri
Ahri can pop her ultimate to get out of your W engage, and her charm can get you into a lot of trouble very quickly or chunk you for a lot before or after a W. Try to avoid her charms, and engage when she doesn't have one. Don't be worried when she pops ult, take it slow.
Akali
Nope. Beat her early (before 3 preferably) or get used to getting beaten. Not a fun lane.
Rakan
Pretty even matchup. You win most of the time if you're better but look out for the time that they know what they are doing more than you.
Xayah
You have to kind of dodge her feathers, but once you get enough AP for your shield to not break from her poke the only thing she can really do is pop ultimate and pray if you engage. I don't think people should play her mid anyway, but if you see her prepare for a messy divorce.
Anivia
Most of the Annivia players that I have fought against don't know enough about how to counter Rakan, and while a really great Annivia player can destroy a Rakan, you should be able to avoid her most powerful abilities with a W or E. Mostly a skill matchup in lower ELO but more in her favor.
Fizz
If he gets ahead, you probably won't be playing much. That being said, either W away when he engages, or engage him after he uses his untargetability, and you should be able to win most engages. By all means, you should avoid his ultimate when it is possible, it is devastating for a fight.
Seraphine
While her poke is really great for laning phase, you should be able to fairly easily farm enough cs under tower when she inevitably pushes to you and then kill her when you have enough AP and can engage. She might be able to use her ultimate to charm you when you engage, but if you bait it out she's usually done for. Not too hard of a lane once you get used to her.
Nasus
Worth noting, despite not typically being a midlaner. Nasus' slow is immensely crippling after you engage, so do anything in your power to have one of your teammates take the fall for it, or poke him with Q instead. if you can't get away from him, you are toasted and stacked.
Pantheon
Pantheon can be difficult depending on the player, but you actually do win a lot of the engages that either he or you starts, especially early on in laning phase. If he pops his jump on you, just W him in return and do your combo.
Ryze
The blue man group has seen better days. Dodge his dumb shit and jump him, repeat until dead. As long as you avoid his poke you should be fine and can take more than he can damage wise. Never seen a great Ryze player in action, especially one that knows how to deal with Rakan engage, and you probably wont either.
Brand
Brand can do a lot of burn, but you can engage on him fairly safely, unless you are already ablaze. As long as you can engage and have a means of extracting yourself from the situation or confirming a kill, he shouldn't be too difficult.
Zed
Now granted, I've never fought a Zed as Rakan, as I have a perma-ban I am perfectly happy sticking to. You should be able to get land a W on him most of the time, unless he does a well timed W or R.
Yasuo
As long as you dodge his tornadoes and can predict his dashing at least to a certain degree, you should be good. Remember to break his passive shield with an AA or Q before engaging him for maximum effect.
Vel'Koz
Really not challenging from my experience. As long as you dodge his abilities (which may take a little practice, but not much) he can't do much against your engage. His laser hurts a bit, but you should be fine.
Corki
He can do substantial enough damage if he chases you after your engage, but if you have someone to jump to with E or can charm him as you leave with R that fear is mitigated (or you could just kill him). Jumping him with low mana is especially free.
Qiyana
Just dashes a bunch of the time and fucks around, often without finding out because engaging is difficult. Stay away from walls and you probably won't die, but good luck landing a W against her.
Irelia
Fuck this champion. She has more MR now so good luck doing more than 1 or 2 damage on your engage. If she has less health than IQ (around 70 or so) you should be able to engage and kill, if she doesn't dash a hundred miles away before you land.
Kassadin
Can teleport out of your engage, typically deals more damage than you. Only engage if you know he can't get out of it.
Heimerdinger
Just stay back, you're good at taking little amounts of CS and going in when necessary. As long as you jump him with W you can hit or even kill his turrets in the process. Avoid his stun and you're golden.
Xerath
Stun is scary, and his range is long, but he's a sitting duck when he walks up for CS or tower plates. easy if they aren't great, and not too bad when they are.
Veigar
Not terribly difficult if you bait his cage. He does deal a lot of damage, but you should be able to outdamage him on engages if you play it right. Just don't jump when his ultimate can one shot you.
LeBlanc
Nah fuck that. Predict or die.
Ekko
His ultimate can be annoying, but you can emergency W out of his stun if necessary and engages on him can kill if you jump in when he's low. He can chase you well after an engage, so just make sure he's dead or you are very healthy before you fully commit.
Talon
If he is losing in lane somehow, his ganks are monumentally faster than yours and probably more effective against your presumably inting botlane. You probably can't respond if he ganks elsewhere, try your best to be a couple steps ahead of him when at all possible.
Sivir
Her spell shield can block your W, but her poke becomes less noticeable and often won't break shield at the later stages of laning if you dodge well enough. Either bait shield or don't engage.
Lux
fuck off fuck off fuck off. A good Lux will kick your teeth in and put them back in to do it again. Her abilities are free in terms of hitting and cooldown, you don't have much of a chance to deal with her. Go elsewhere.
Yone
Avoid his shit, possibly wait to combo him on the other end of his spirit-thread plot armor bullshit. Best you can do is exploit any inexperience with the Rakan matchup or life experience he may have. They have notoriously weak mental game.
Neeko
Dodge her E, engage if she misses, get stomped and recall if you do. Repeat until win or loss.
Pyke
Haven't seen much Pyke recently, just dodge his pike or engage on him if he hits it and its a 1v1. Pretty even lane if you avoid his stun/ultimate.
Zyra
Good Christ fuck that.
Twisted Fate
His roams are really strong, but you should win the 1v1 in lane if he doesn't have gold card when or directly after you engage. Decently fair lane but watch out for map pressure.
Azir
He can get a lot of poke off after one of your engages if he's good, and poke you off wave from his crusty ass pokey-soldiers. Most of the time, you're probably fine. Watch for engages where he can ultimate push you under tower or into an enemy.
Rell
She engages, pulls enemies in for you, and you can engage and do the dirty work. Excellent teamwork.
Xayah
The woman of all time. If she's in the game, it's just free bonuses for you. Especially good for your roams.
Orianna
She pulls in, you destroy. Robot girl got moves.
Yone
The world is bowling pins with a Yone ultimate in a teamfight.
Yorick
His cage can benefit your W greatly, and people that are distracted by his minions or his thick wife are probably a good target for your next bouncy castle adventure.
Amumu
Great jungler to play with, his engage can enable you to engage well, gives you a lot to work around. Chaining CC never ends poorly.
Quinn
Great target for using your E for extra mobility in roaming, can kick targets into neat zones for you to W. Not a bad pick.
Kayle
Kayle ultimates can be great to target you before you engage, getting extra damage and safeguarding you on your travels.
Zac
Really fun jungler to play around, letting you follow along with his jumps with your E and stopping people from killing him in passive with your wide range W. Bounce house strats all the way.
Nasus
Nasus slow on a particularly elusive enemy can almost guarantee a kill on them, though an effective Nasus can probably already use their slow themselves to more consistent effect.
Volibear
BIG BOYS TOWER DIVE. Put your enemies in a bear market with your tower engage.
Jarvan IV
His ultimate is your winning hand. Read 'em and weep. Fat Rakan plays happen here.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Rell
She engages, pulls enemies in for you, and you can engage and do the dirty work. Excellent teamwork.
Xayah
The woman of all time. If she's in the game, it's just free bonuses for you. Especially good for your roams.
Orianna
She pulls in, you destroy. Robot girl got moves.
Yone
The world is bowling pins with a Yone ultimate in a teamfight.
Yorick
His cage can benefit your W greatly, and people that are distracted by his minions or his thick wife are probably a good target for your next bouncy castle adventure.
Amumu
Great jungler to play with, his engage can enable you to engage well, gives you a lot to work around. Chaining CC never ends poorly.
Quinn
Great target for using your E for extra mobility in roaming, can kick targets into neat zones for you to W. Not a bad pick.
Kayle
Kayle ultimates can be great to target you before you engage, getting extra damage and safeguarding you on your travels.
Zac
Really fun jungler to play around, letting you follow along with his jumps with your E and stopping people from killing him in passive with your wide range W. Bounce house strats all the way.
Nasus
Nasus slow on a particularly elusive enemy can almost guarantee a kill on them, though an effective Nasus can probably already use their slow themselves to more consistent effect.
Volibear
BIG BOYS TOWER DIVE. Put your enemies in a bear market with your tower engage.
Jarvan IV
His ultimate is your winning hand. Read 'em and weep. Fat Rakan plays happen here.
Yup. You heard that right, and theres no Xayah to save us where we're going. But first, some history. I understand that the 'shock' value of this is played up a bit, as Rakan has seen play in mid for a little bit, but he's certainly fallen out of favor over the years. However, we're going to try to bring him back into the limelight. For those of you hearing about this for the first time or wanting to give it a first try, this is the guide for you, but you may learn something even regardless. In this guide, we focus on his high AP ratios to guarentee insane damage in quick bursts.
Rakan is a mobility support, known for several things throughout the community:
Having significantAP Ratios on his abilities and Fey Feathers.
For the uninitiated, midlane AP Rakan has an in-and-out strategy emphasized by high, quick, surprising engage burst that builds quickly. He is surprisingly adept in early fights, especially when utilizing Ignite, and can take out strong duelists after a low number of rotations in the early levels of laning phase, usually between levels 1-3.
Pros and Cons
PROS
+ Uncommon Matchup + Very high mobility + Good AOE setup potential + Quick roams and jungler peeling + Wonderful AP Ratios + Good health sustainability
Most players you run into will be unaware of the range or damage of Grand Entrance before you use it, which you can use to get a free strong trade early on. If you aren't using your abilities for getting last hits, you should be using it to trade whenever possible, should you be in range to do so. Gleaming Quill is a substantial boon for your sustain, so try to avoid spending all your mana on the wave and try to keep poking to get the other laner away from the lane if they step up for it.
CONS
- squishy without shield - may rely on jungler in several matchups - long cooldowns in early laning - Deadweight Battle Dance in solo lane
Rakan can have difficulty into matchups with large amounts of CC or difficult CC to avoid, such as Lux, and can suffer from being poked early by champions that don't need to walk up, such as ranged champs or champs that can avoid CC, such as Sivir, Malzahar, and Zoe. Avoid putting yourself close to champions that can poke you out of lane before you get good trades in, and wait for them to push the wave toward you to collect your CS. If a champion does well at blocking off your escape after an engage, make sure your jungler is close by for a Battle Dance jump if you need an escape button. Rakan's matchups can be difficult, but patience is rewarding!
Ability Rundown
PASSIVE ABILITY
Fey Feathers
✦ Every 40 - 14.5 seconds, Rakan gains 30 - 225 (+95% of ability power) Shield. Rakan's Attacks and Abilities against enemy champions reduce this Cooldown by 1 second.
PASSIVE ABILITY
Lover's Leap
✦If Rakan and Xayah are on the same team, they can recall together by moving nearby when one of them is recalling.
Q
Gleaming Quill
✦ Rakan flings a magical feather that deals 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to the first enemy hit. If the feather hits a champion or epic jungle monster, Rakan restores 30 - 115 (depending on level) (+55% of ability power) health to himself and nearby allies after 3 seconds or when he touches an allied champion.
W
Grand Entrance
✦ Rakan dashes, then spirals into the air, knocking up for 1 second and dealing 70 / 125 / 180 / 235 / 290 (+80% of ability power) magic damage.
E
Battle Dance
✦ Rakan dashes to an allied champion, granting them 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+70% of ability power) shield for 3 seconds. Rakan can recast this ability once within 5 seconds.
R
The Quickness
✦ Rakan gains 75% bonus movement speed for the next 4 seconds, dealing 100 / 200 / 300 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to each enemy he touches and charming them for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 seconds. Enemies can only be affected once. The first champion charmed grants Rakan 150% decaying movement speed.
Tools of the Trade
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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W
Q
W
E
W
R
W
Q
W
Q
R
Q
Q
E
E
R
E
E
Generally speaking, this is the path you'll go most of your games, following R>W>Q>E. You may decide to put your level 3 into Battle Dance to assist your jungler when the first Rift Scuttler spawns, but otherwise this is the path you should take. If your team composition requires more shielding, you can choose to level up your Battle Dance before Gleaming Quill, but this may impact your damage for earlier fights, so choose carefully.
Summoner Spells
SUMMONER SPELLS -
FLASH: Flash is an incredibly useful tool in lane, as you are probably well aware. Flashing before Grand Entrance can catch opponents off guard, and flashing afterward in the opposite direction can cancel your animation, putting you in a safer place faster, or back over a wall.
IGNITE: While Rakan has fantastic AP ratios, his damage isn't the most incredible in the early game. Ignite adds some padding to your early lane damage, potentially netting you a kill earlier than you would have been able to. More than 90% of your games, you will run ignite.
SMITE: Smite is a peculiar choice that you'll want to avoid most of the time, but the value it can grant to your jungler is substantial. Also, if you're a corrupted individual like myself, sometimes you thrive off the joy of taking your enemy's early camps OR confirming cannons in a difficult ranged matchup. Usually, you'll want to take Ignite.
A Note About Runes
EYEBALL COLLECTION
✦ Eyeball Collection
While there are several reasons for why you may either want to pick up this or Ghost Poro, it tends to be up to personal preference. However, I would recommend you stick with Eyeball Collection while you're learning how to play Rakan mid, as getting credit in takedowns aligns with his playstyle.
ATTACK SPEED
✦ Attack Speed
Your first rune shard should almost always be attack speed. Rakan benefits greatly from this attack speed bonus for his trades and his attempts at CS'ing effectively. This is not something you should go without.
GATHERING STORM
✦ Gathering Storm
This is one of the best runes you can run for a game you know will go late, in a game where your teammates are aiming to scale, or literally any opportunity you can. If you are running sorcery, there is practically no reason you should not have this, as extra AP is just an all around boon for your entire kit.
Justifying Keystones
BIG BURST KEYSTONE
Electrocute: Rakan benefits greatly from electrocute, as most burst champions do, adding a good bonus to your damage on top of your typical engage combo can make or break a trade in lane. Play around your cooldown, and try W>Q>AA to activate it on most of your engages. If you miss Q, do another AA before disengaging.
MOBILITY KEYSTONE
Predator: Some people will be inclined to run predator, giving even more mobility in his roaming potential and letting you stick your engage more easily. I recommend using Ultimate Hunter whenever you take this, so you can stack your movement speed from The Quickness for a faster engage.
IN-AND-OUT KEYSTONE
Phase Rush: I won't be going into detail about Rakan's usage of Phase Rush in this guide, mostly because I don't use it, but it can be a powerful tool at your disposal for the experienced duelists who enjoy a bit of extra mobility. Just know it is an option.
Justifying Items
Every item suggested is in favor of magic damage, shredding magic resist, increasing burst damage, or (in Malignance's case) doing most everything you need. The only significant game-changer is with Lich Bane making your auto's more relevant to your combo. I would usually recommend getting it, due to both the ease of getting an auto or two into each of your combos, as well as aiding the occasional loose minion.
Justifying Boots Path
-OR-
Sorcerer's Shoes > MAGIC PENETRATION
This item is great for any builds where you don't need extra ability speed, most likely because your other items do it for you, or if you're ahead by a lot. Increasing the damage of your abilities a noticeable amount for a relatively cheap price. Ionian Boots of Lucidity > ABILITY HASTE
For any builds you aren't going for that juicy extra magic pen, you'll be going ability haste. While Rakan's abilities don't have very long cooldowns later in the game, they do get in the way of using abilities multiple times a fight, which can be necessary. If you don't get enough ability haste from your other items, take these.
A Conclusion
Hey all, thanks for reading through my guide. I am inexperienced in the way of making guides, so criticism is appreciated. I am a fairly casual player, but I've gotten a lot of information and different perspectives from experience and others who have tried similar things. I tend to play midlane and jungle mages with mobility, and I've had an absolute blast playing Rakan. Even if you don't end up using this guide much, I hope it made you think about AP Rakan and his potential. I'm not the first, but I am proud if it helped just one person. Thanks! Chao.
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