Why does Rakan need to be ranged?

The Ecdysiast·Apr 20, 2017·8 votes·3,011 views

Rakan has 300 range, and his animation is very clearly not a projectile. Unmounted, Kled has 250. With Massacre active, Aatrox matches Rakan's 300. Rakan's is a full 100 lower than the next-lowest range ranged champion, mini Gnar.

It's kind of bogus to give him the lowest attack range in the game (for a "ranged" champion) just to lock him out of buying Relic Shield.

And being locked into Ancient Coin also means the champion is more vulnerable than he should be against mage supports.

13 Comments

Mysticman89Apr 20, 20173 votes

He could still go relic if he really wanted to, as thresh often does.

I feel like coin is probably the right choice though. Particularly frisky rakans could probably even use spellthiefs.

The EcdysiastApr 20, 20173 votes

Thresh can because he was designed specifically with that in mind. Flay's added damage and Thresh's greater attack range is to compensate for the lack of Relic's execute passive. Rakan doesn't have something like that.

Mysticman89Apr 20, 20172 votes

I don't think he was designed so relic would be viable for him, but more he was independently designed and people happened to find that people could use relic shield if they wanted. Pretty sure coin is/was the recommended support item for him, the community just found relic more useful on thresh as he often built tanky anyway.

You don't need to last hit with an auto, so you could use his q or w if desired.

I don't think relic shield would be a good fit on him though, even if he was classified as melee. He's super mobile and has a passive shield that scales really well with AP (90% is like the highest shield scaling in the game, and it even works in combat), so the idea would be to dodge most things instead of tank most things, and rely on your passive shield for the unavoidable stuff, which makes me feel like spellthiefs may be a better choice than I first thought now that I think about it.

Sightless66Apr 20, 20171 votes

Rakan starts 62 base damage. That's the fourth highest value in the game, and that's more than enough for most players to easily last-hit with. Besides, the execute's primary function isn't to make last-hitting easier, it's to make pushing quicker. Given that Rakan is still ranged and can do that just by autoing, he doesn't need the execute to benefit from relic shield. Having to last-hit is not that big of a problem.

Titanium70Apr 20, 20172 votes

Thresh can because he was designed specifically with that in mind.

That would be interesting... Relic didn't exist when Thresh was released.

The Lost MarblesApr 20, 20172 votes

{quoted}

He could still go relic if he really wanted to, as thresh often does.

I feel like coin is probably the right choice though. Particularly frisky rakans could probably even use spellthiefs.

Thresh's Flay passive gives him a small bit of synergy with Relic Shield.

Rakan has no such mechanic, so you're relying on his extremely weak basic attack damage alone to try and last-hit consistently. Which is harder than normal in a duo lane, naturally.

Sightless66Apr 20, 20171 votes

so you're relying on his extremely weak basic attack damage

At 62, it's the fourth highest base ad in the game at level 1, and the 3.5 scaling is damn respectable. It's not hard to score last-hits with that.

GyrielApr 20, 20172 votes

I feel as Rakan is currently, he works best slightly tankier and I would have preferred him to be melee rather than ranged to help with relic shield. I've tried him with similar builds to Lulu and Karma but going in with 300 range and an ancient coin doesn't feel terribly safe or effective.

He feels somewhat in an awkward place where he's expected to itemise like a mage but without the range to compensate for the squishyness.

Sightless66Apr 20, 20171 votes

Just build relic shield anyway. You don't need the extra pushing power the execute gives you because you can already autoattack to help push.

SpecterVonBarenApr 21, 20171 votes

Uh... you don't take relic for pushing...

Sightless66Apr 22, 20171 votes

Even if you don't take relic for pushing, you do only need the execute for pushing. It has no other function. The item as a whole does, but the execute is the only thing ranged laners do without, and it's also the part they don't need.

A huge part of the reason why relic shield is actually good for melees is because it lets them get a quick push on at early levels. A big weakness of melee supports in the past was that ranged duos could always win a quick push for level 2, and would usually be in a position to more freely determine wave balance for pushing to level 3. Relic's execute design was made specifically to give melee supports the opportunity to respond to it.

Since Rakan actually has ranged autos to push with, not having the execute doesn't significantly hurt him. It isn't a reason to avoid building relic shield if relic shield is the best starting item option.