Is Rakan a little weak? Or at least held back? (TL:DR at the bottom)

I mean yeah he has a 44% winrate and we have seen that usually people either figure them out or they get over buffed in situations like this.

But just from playing Rakan (and i have a good few games on him now) he feels... held back.

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The basic idea on why Rakan is weak.

Okay so my opinions on his abilities stem from these basic ideas:

His build: All of his abilities are fairly weak on the base stat side because his scaling are good. Which WOULD make them matter if his build wasnt: (Riot planned this as his main support item) (which means this is mandatory, no Eye of the oasis) (Boots are always dependant on teamcomp and what you specifically want to do with them so ill just use boots of speed.) (These 2 items are damn near mandatory on all supports right now.)

So you have 1 item left. AP isnt gonna be too helpful as the scalings arent strong enough to give a valid effect late game from the 60-100AP from any item you build. So you end up going for another tank item because well what else are you gonna do? Personally i like . But this means his scalings are pretty much useless outside early game runes.

His Base Stats: So his base damages are low to make up for unobtainable scalings, and his base stats for TANKS as that is what he basically is forced to do, Is while above pretty much all enchanters, is lower than pretty much all tanks. Meaning Early game he will be squishy and blow up instantly until 5 items in. Which is a problem since his main job is to jump into the enemy team and dash out before they kill him.

His Range: He is out-ranged by pretty much every support in the game. Enchanters + ADC = always outside your W range, you will have a hell of a time getting close without being CCd and since his base tank stats are pretty damn low. And his Q is so shortranged, slow, unable to go through minions, you will only land it by either landing your W or at least getting close to them with it. His E's range when not to Xayah is also pretty low.

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Abilities

P: His passive is pretty alright, its pretty much a weaker malphite shield. I dont see the bonus of "the CD works EVEN IN COMBAT" when his main thing is dodging in and out of combat.

Q: On paper, this ability is really good, from its scalaing. In practice, it is the hardest thing to hit the opponent with. Its short range and speed means you pretty much CANT use it to poke, and FEELS like they made it as weak as possible. Low Bases that scale with champion level NOT ability level. Almost NO benefits to leveling whatsoever, at least compared to his other abilities. His Q just feels awful.

W: His W is REALLY hard to engage with, which is a problem since thats his main thing. The ability itself is pretty solid stat wise. But its range is so short most tanks have some form of CC to outrange you W and i think Combo both outrange you. As well as EVERY ENCHANTER IN THE GAME has some form of CC farther range than your W. If the opponent picks a semi long range ADC like (which also may do well against Xayah too as her range is fairly short) You will NEVER get to them. Well without a nice W of course. Its much more useful in teamfights, but in lane it is practically useless unless you surprise them.

AND if you dont land it, your are stuck for a solid second giving anyone with ranged CC the ability to get a free land. And if thats a or , especially with . You are basically dead. Miss CC do to range > Bubble > Trap > W away at like 10HP do to having 0 ability to tank.

E: My only problem with my E is it feels REALLY short range on people that arent Xayah. It makes roaming much harder as you are quite in vision by the time you can E > W to the opponent.

R: His R is pretty much fine, quite strong, but also has its downsides.

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Solo Lane

HE CAN NOT SOLO LANE.

His E is useless in solo, cant E to minions, cant shield himself, low enough range to make Eing to junglers to surprise an enemy not helpful as they are already in vision by the time you can. While this might make it more balanced in bot lane, it isnt helped by the fact that...

His Q delay was put in place so that you could still heal allies after hitting the skillshot, at the same time it makes trading a little harder.

His W is good in toplane as it can actually engage on people there. Same with his R

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Fixes

Itemization, His scalings are currently useless so either we need to find a way to make him build AP or lower his scaling increase his base damages, and increase his tank base stats.

Make his Q actually be able to poke, or at least land. Its slow travel time AND short range make it a very hard ability to land with almost no pay off. The fact that his heal scales so slowly and doesnt have any good use. And before people say "well thats to make sustain in lane better" Most supports have a decently spammable heal that takes no more than pressing a button. If Rakan has to land a hard to hit ability in ORDER to heal, then the heal should at least be decent. That or you could also make it travel through minions like other low range slow moving abilities.

W MAKE THIS THING COMPETE WITH OTHER CC. Its low range makes it really hard to engage with. I dont know how exactly as just flat increasing the range would feel wrong. But in lane he should be able to have the ability to actually get to his opponents. And if it misses hes screwed.

MAYBE increase his range to non xayah allies on his E. Or give it some form of anything really.

If you wanna tweak his Ult/P go for it, but in my eyes they are pretty decent.

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Synergy with Xayah

Ok i cant talk about Rakan without his synergy to Xayah, her W gives him some nice damage. And the E range to her is FANTASTIC, its a lifesaver out of a fight really. But this also means Rakan REALLY DOES need Xayah to be safe at all, as he cant get out of fights without it. The E range is too short to get out (well technically you can dash to frontline > dash to backline and be safe, but you die pretty damn fast.

Also Xayah comes NO WHERE NEAR being able to cover his weakness, as in my eyes his main weakness is his really short range and DIFFICULTY getting to the enemy in lane. And Xayah also has short range. As well as with Rakans current build he is currently an actives-bot until full build when he can actually do some tanking. Meaning they arent covering any weaknesses their either as they BOTH are pretty late game heavy champs.

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Leftover thoughts/TLDR

Rakan on paper is pretty good, but there are SO many little problems with him that leaves him to just not be great. He gets outranged/outtanked by pretty much every bot lane. As well as his Base Stats/damages and itemization have a hard time lining up.

I like Rakan, he is still fun despite this, and actually REALLY simple. Just look at those ability descriptions compared to other champs. But I cant help that Riot held back on making Rakan good to be extracareful he wasnt broken (which may be a cry of happiness for a lot of people). And he IS a support so he probably IS weak and will be overbuffed in a patch or 2 (>.> 's releases)

These were just my thought on the 10 or so games I have on him. Maybe this hour of writing was pointless and he actually is hidden OP and just not understood yet. But he doesnt look as mechanically difficult as most other low-winrate-on-release champs ( STILL had over 50% winrate, when she was BRAND NEW, and she is pretty damn difficult... mechanically)

Well im gonna go back to playing more Rakan. Need to get that mastery 5-7 soon.