Rakan is a fun support, but how do you get plenty of assists on him without dying a lot? The only 2 choices seems to be to either play very passively and not die much but also not get many assists, or I can die a lot but also get a lot of assists.
: I'M A DISTRACTION!!!
You’re supposed to be dipping in and out of teamfights. You start them or follow up the main initiation, but you also make use of your E to keep you and your allies safe.
As first post suggests, Rakan is a distraction. Play like it.
Even with the shielding and healing he has, an important thing to remember is that he is NOT a tank by any means. While you want to dive in to get your knock ups in, you have to jump right back out after. Your E is not only a shield for your teammates, its also your escape tool.
In hindsight, the fact he doesn't use relic shield should've occurred to me the first time I played him myself. :|
Is it better to build him for durability + peel with items like 
Or build him so that he can nuke enemies with his Q with items like 
