Hello there, I am Hawaiianshirtadmin, and today I'm here how to teach you how to play Rakan. Or at least play him better and smarter! Rakan is a champion dear to my heart because he was easily my WORST champion when I first picked him up, I was god-awful and looking back now it's because I wasn't truly teaching myself how to improve with him. You could read all the strategy guides you want and still hit a dead end if you don't learn how to grow, and that's what I'm here for. If you are looking for a guide that explains technicalities and other stuff like that, this isn't the guide for you, but if you want a winning mentality that will only strengthen as you climb the ranks as Rakan. Think of this as a guide that will build a mindset of champions, and reinforce it! In this guide I'll be going over "The Art of Poke" and how you can use those concepts to become a better Rakan. "Now what might this art entail?" you might be asking dear reader, and here it is. I will be separating this guide into three different main points, each with their own merits.


1. Your placement matters, and why you should always be in the perfect spot.

2. Taking charge in situations you know can guarantee a kill.

3. All should fear Rakan, and if they aren't, you aren't doing this right.

"Your placement matters, and why you should always be in the perfect spot." This is essential to playing Rakan and with your dash you have arguably some of the best placement options in the game. Time for a hypothetical to see what I am talking about then I'll explain.

You are sitting with your adc near tower, the enemy bot lane is more pushed up than you and your jungler comes in for a gank, even though the enemies didn't ward they still see him in time and can retreat. Although your jungler inflicted minor injuries you just lost a gank you could have gotten much more out of, but it wasn't your fault right?

WRONG!

From the moment a gank is established you should be in position to support and cc your enemy, if you are pressed up against a tower leave and reposition yourself with the jungler. If they are that extended try to knock them up while they are retreating then dash to your jungler to follow them if you don't kill them immediatly, at worst you get both flashes, at best you just cleaned house.

This situation is but a fraction of the overall game time but regardless it has a huge impact on your team, if your adc just got two kills ahead bot lane could be as good as ahead. Really what I'm trying to get at is that were you are standing impacts how an entire situation can go down, and once you start your path to subconsciously placing yourself it will become habit and you can make more scenarios go down the way you want. In theory and practice it would just become a stepping stone on your way to personal growth, and once it goes like clockwork it will sync with the others sections of this text.

"Taking charge in situations you know can guarantee a kill." You are the real shot caller in bot lane, your adc is just there to back you up when you decide to go in. Using what you learned about position should also be used in this point, you should know exactly when a safe engage or trade can be made. Using this gauge should allow more in-depth thinking behind a simple trade. Roll hypothetical!

You and your adc are in a stand off with the enemy bot lane, both are csing equally and nobody dares to make a first move, however you see an opening. It's a small one but you know it's a calculated risk and you are in the best position to do so. Without your adc even knowing what happened you W in launch your Q and then dash back to them before they finally register it, that took 1/3 of their health and you just got them on their feet. That's a proper poke.

Although this section is the most self explanatory of them all it shows how you can poke safely and without the need of your adc, that's not saying never go in with them. On the contrary, be sure to go in when they do, just always be one step ahead and know when is the best time to support them. Whether it be a straight forward knock up or maybe a well placed shield, it all adds up in the end, and that sort of poke is what helps in the long run. This next section will tell you what the next step in poke is and using this newfound idea to instill fear in your lane and get a mental grasp on your opponents.

"All should fear Rakan, and if they aren't, you aren't doing this right." You know the drill hypothetical time.

You and your adc just hit level 6, the enemy adc just backed and now it's just you guys and a Thresh who is taking potshots at you, but you as the intelligent Rakan player you are know something. That Thresh wants a quick all in kill, and he is looking at a squishy looking Rakan he could beat in a 1v1, and you aren't going to back out of that. You purposely let yourself get hooked only for you to dash when he right before uses his ult, now while he is confused you W in and knock him up allowing your adc to get free damage on him, in a panic he flashes to escape but you follow suit flashing and ulting and allowing your adc a kill. In short what you did was putting your lane ahead a kill, but it's much more than that, you just instilled fear into the enemy support, next time he will hesitate before engaging you even with his adc next to him. Those crucial moments mean everything in a all in and it will result in what will hopefully be your victory and now both the adc and support will be scared just as you want.

As I established earlier you are the shot caller bot lane despite what your adc might think, and in this segment I will teach you the mentality behind crushing your opponents and building your own. You are the King, and your team is your court. Although the enemy team doesn't realize it yet they are on borrowed time because you are going to demolish them. Sure your court might be made out of inting 13 year olds, but that is outside of your control. Really what this overly long hypothetical is getting at is just one way of getting into your opponents head, maybe warding before them, taking a dragon, or just good ol' poke damage. Everything takes a toll on them until eventually they are checking for your Rakan support under their beds every night, or something like that. What you want most is to draw out that hesitation as long as you can then spread it to other lanes as well. The nature of Rakan allows for high movement around the map, get bot lane pushed as far as you can then go visit the other lanes in your kingdom. Get them ahead, make their laners fear you as well. Also if you see a jungler coming in for a gank make sure to poke them before dashing off, you would be surprised at how much less they will gank if they know you will get damage off AND still escape. From then on they will be more afraid and you will be sitting on your throne, after all, the enemy team knows not to mess with you snd that means more than kill or two could ever mean in the long run.

I just want to say that this is the first edition of this guide, it will grow and evolve as I grow in my own Rakan experience. I will be sure to update this as frequently as I can write new sections, I already have two more planed points in the very near future. Please be sure to rate the guide, I genuinely want to know whether or not this was helpful to my readers, also leave a comment and tell me if it worked for you. Also I have more of these "self help" types of guides for other champions on the horizon, but my main priority will be making sure "The Art of Poke" is as complete as it can be before even starting on my next ones. Once again a big thank you for reading and stick with me as I update! If you feel inclined to share please do, how much support I get really influences how much time I put into writing more and updating more often.

Hawaiianshirtadmin is a League player who enjoys movies, books, Hawaiian-shirts and stock trading. Having a deep knowledge of studying patterns and analytics, he is usually surrounded by open books, his trusty record player, and late nights with the help of caffeine every once in a while. He loves his Hawaiian-shirts, he owns a different one for everyday of the month and his preferred clothing item. He is a firm believer that a problem with League is the negative mentality around it, instead he works on educating people on how to instead build a positive attitude towards how they play, and how using basic principles can improve themselves and spread that mentality. Everything he writes has been simplified to be understood by everyone, while not losing any of the meaning behind the text, and therefore making it as easy to understand and apply as it can be.