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Playing Against Rakan
SupportPatch 16.2.1
What They Do
Rakan is a high-mobility playmaking support who excels at 'in-and-out' trades. He uses and to disrupt the enemy team before dashing back to his allies with . He provides decent sustain and shielding but is extremely fragile if caught without an escape route.
Abilities (What to Watch For)
| Ability | What You'll See | What It Means For You |
|---|---|---|
| A shimmering golden shield appearing around Rakan's body. | Provides a periodic shield. Do not commit your big cooldowns until this is broken or down, as it absorbs a significant amount of poke. | |
| A golden feather projectile shot in a line. | If it hits a champion, Rakan heals himself and nearby allies after a short delay. Side-step this to deny his lane sustain and keep him low. | |
| A dash followed by a glowing circular zone on the ground. | His main engage and knockup. It has a slight delay before the lift; use a dash or high movement speed to exit the circle immediately. | |
| A rapid dash towards an allied champion, granting them a shield. | His primary escape. He can cast this twice within a short window. He is much easier to kill if his allies are not nearby to act as dash targets. | |
| Rakan glows brilliantly and gains a massive movement speed boost. | He charms every enemy he touches. This is often followed immediately by for a guaranteed CC chain. Stay spread out to avoid a multi-person charm. |
Respect
- !The Level 6 Engage→The combo of into is one of the fastest and most reliable CC chains in the game. If you are in range without Flash, you will get caught.
- !Bush Control→Rakan can cast from out of vision. If you don't have the bush warded, you won't see the dash start, making the knockup almost impossible to react to.
- !Follow-up Mobility→Even if you poke his ADC, Rakan can use to shield them twice, effectively nullifying short trades while looking for an opening to counter-engage.
- !Gank Setup→Rakan can use on his jungler to close distance instantly, then follow up with to lock you down for a long duration.
Punish
- +is on cooldown (18-12 seconds early)→This is his only proactive engage and his primary way to peel. Once he misses this, he is vulnerable to an all-in or heavy poke for the next 15 seconds.
- +Rakan is isolated from his ADC→Rakan cannot cast without an ally nearby. If he wanders into the river alone to ward, he has no easy escape other than burning his ultimate or Flash.
- +shield is down→Rakan has very low base tankiness. When his passive shield is recharging, a focused burst from you and your ADC can often kill him before he can dash away.
- +Missing →Rakan relies on hitting this to sustain through the laning phase. If he misses, he cannot heal his ADC, making your poke stick much more effectively.
Laning Tips
- •Stand away from your ADC; Rakan wants to hit both of you with one to maximize his impact.
- •If you have a displacement ability (like Thresh E or Poppy W), save it to interrupt his dash mid-air.
- •Bait out his shields by target-switching; he can only shield one person at a time before the recast.
- •Ward the lane bushes constantly; Rakan is significantly less dangerous when you can see his startup animation.
- •Punish him with auto-attacks every time he tries to proc his support item; he is melee-range and squishy.
- •If he hits a , stay away from his ADC so he cannot transfer the heal to them.
Teamfight Warning
- ⚠Do not clump in jungle chokepoints; a single can charm your entire team and lose you the fight instantly.
- ⚠Focus him immediately if he misses his engage; he is often the squishiest target on the enemy team.
- ⚠Keep deep vision on your flanks; Rakan loves to use his high MS from to wrap around and engage from behind.
- ⚠Save your Point-and-Click CC for his ultimate; stopping his movement during ruins his entire engage.
- ⚠Items like Banshee's Veil or Edge of Night are great because they block the initial charm from , letting you escape the follow-up knockup.
AI-generated counterplay guide • Patch 16.2.1 • Cached