You askin' why? (you probably aren't) Well, it's quite easy. I was playing Rakan and was going pretty good with my duo on botlane, but I thought: Does Rakan actually have to be this team dependent and only having support and full AP builds? I saw no one trying to do an off-tank/bruiser Rakan build, so I started playing with Fleet Footwork with my duo on botlane and then got confident enough to play Lethal Tempo (which didn't go well in botlane), so continued with Fleet Footwork. Then got once again confident enough to play alone on toplane, first again with Fleet Footwork and, after a few games, with Lethal Tempo. Now I have to try Conqueror, one of my favorite runes overall and I'll check if it's really worth over Lethal Tempo.

While I was thinking about it, I arrived with the conclusion of Rod of Ages being one of the best Mythics a kind of bruiser AP Rakan would like. It gives you healing, HP, Mana, AP, everything but ability haste, and even tho Liandry's Torment gives you a lot of it, it doesn't give you any healing or HP as said before with RoA.


After that, I thought of Archangel's Staff, as it gives you even more AP and Mana (and AP based on your mana, allowing you to build items like Frozen Heart and still squizzing a bit of AP out of it, plus a shield when 30% HP or lower, being perfect for even more sustain in fight and possibilities of outplay (Which are a lot with your Q healing and E kiting on teamfights plus W cc).


Then I thought about Lich Bane because it gives you ability haste and an important Sheen proc 'cause I noticed Rakan's damage pretty much fell off after he used his abilities and was useless after it and the plan on this build is making him able to do decent damage even after that. I tried Nashor's Tooth before Lich Bane, but it just wasn't good enough and the DPS after the abilities burst didn't increase that much, also tried Cosmic Drive but it just didn't fit in that much, leaving you without defensive stats and a lot of movement speed which wasn't that good.


The rest are pretty much self explanatory.


I will explain the AD ones below.

Fleet Footwork is pretty good on its own, and Rakan can take full advantage of it because of being melee now, it helps Rakan during laning phase with its sustain (plus his Q ) and during combat and doesn't need to get stacked up to help you completely. You can take advantage even if you go in and go back quickly. I would recommend this both on botlane and trying this the first few times on toplane until you get used to its damage and less tankiness than usual. After you get control of the laning, you'll be fine with Q and Doran's Shield.


Lethal Tempo was an idea I had after I saw how good this build actually was. Lethal Tempo allows you to get so much autoattacks off and rip your enemies faster than you would think. The problem with this rune is you actually need to stack it up and it's quite difficult to get in range on botlane (more if they have two ranged) since pretty much any ADC or marksman in general outranges Rakan with ease. I would recommend this ONLY ON TOP since most of the matchups are melee and most of them will understimate this build a lot. You'll rip them a lot faster if going AD (I will explain this soon).


[Conqueror]] is a kind of solid choice, giving you pretty good AP or AD over the fight, depending on what you go. Even tho, I would recommend it for AD build, since the lack of that extra attack speed from Lethal Tempo actually does take a tax on your DPS and AP I feel like does not provide enought DPS.
Legend: Alacrity will also help a lot with the AS problem, but I still have to test it.


I don't think Grasp of the Undying is that good actually. Maybe Aftershock, but I don't think you'll get a lot of grasp procs out of it and you'll have to see how to get advantage out of that extra HP with items too.

I feel like AD is better on toplane, against melee champs and not that much CC, as you can't deal that much damage with your abilities to burst the enemy team. The DPS with the AD build is quite high on comparison with the AP one, but AP provides more healing with your Q, shield from your passive and shield from your E and overall more damage with abilities, but less DPS ( Nashor's Tooth didn't help, but Lich Bane helped a little more with the AP build damage). Conqueror is a scaling rune both AP and AD builds

While I was trying an off-tank/Bruiser build, I encountered that maybe with all the popularity the Trinity Force has gotten lately, being used with characters like Kindred or even Sett, maybe Rakan could make use of it as well, and he does, as well as he does take advantage of lich, he does take advantage of all this stats. CDR, attack speed, AD, HP. Valuable stats for Rakan (mostly CDR, since we need to have low CDs if we want to be really independent and capable of long fights), I do think I understand AD items better than AP, since I main mostly AD champs, so I thougth of it.
It was better with Lethal Tempo because each autoattack hits harder and faster every time, but I will try it with Conqueror soon, sice some items on this build gives you attack speed on their own. You kinda need to kite, but it does go pretty well.


Manamune because is quite obvious you'll run out of mana pretty soon even with Presence of Mind as secondary. Also because Muramana does appy bonus damage on damaging abilities based on our bonus AD and that allows our abilities to still be kinda useful without building much to none AP. It also allows you to build Frozen Heart and get a bit of an extra stat for free


Wit's End I think was a good idea because it gives you on-hit damage, attack speed, AD and magic resist. Pretty much everything you need against heavy AP or if there's a fed AP threat. I didn't find Maw of Malmortius that useful since it doesn't give ability haste anymore and Rakan can't take much advantage of pure lifesteal, since his kit even with AD is still based on be throwing abilities most of the time.


Death's Dance is just too good to not build it, AD, armor, ability haste, allowing Rakan to heal even more during teamfights like having Triumph with its passive and getting to survive even if its a little more because of the damage not being completely bursted all at once, letting you have time to shield it (and more because of the ability haste)


I didn't have time to buy Ravenous Hydra most games, but I think it might be good, since it gives you AoE dmg with your Q and you AAs and with stacks you get a lot of AD. Plus, Tiamat's AoE damage does apply lifesteal, making Rakan a bit able to take at least a bit of advantage. Still, I'm considering if this could be a good option over Titanic Hydra.

I don't think so, since, as I said before, Rakan is not that much of an AA based champion. I mean, characters like Shen are a bit more able to have crit builds with things like Navori Quickblades and Lethal Tempo since they do empower their autoattacks(following the Shen example with his Q: Twilight Assault) and are based on those.


Either way, you are welcome to try it and tell me your experience, I will be open to listen to it.

Probably not, but I had fun making it, I'll try to keep this up to date with big patches or changes to the items used in its build or if other item gets some change that could get it in here.


Thanks for readin' and lookin' this guide.