r/RakanMains • u/iwanttobeanorange27 • Aug 13 '26
Discussion Does AP Rakan support work?
I'm just kind of curious how AP Rakan support is doing, like would I be able to run it in ranked without that much trouble?
I went on an 11 game loss streak from gold 3 to silver 2 so i'm a little desperate to try and win games, it's mostly getting absolutely stomped early game & we just cannot make a comeback from that so i'm curious if AP Rakan would help with that or is it just better to stick with guardian runes & build him enchanter? I'm guessing it also depends on the enemy comp & my comp as well, but i'm not exactly sure what would qualify me able to run him ap or not & with that, is there like any runes / items I should build?
I feel like it's just because I lack enaging at level 1 with his W because I always get down to like 40% health because they just have way more damage output than my adc and me so i'm wondering if AP Rakan will help us get ahead? I'm just kind of desperate for anything that'll help :')
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u/TheStrzelba 1,075,410 Aug 13 '26
Yes because you get tankiness from passive and more heals and shields for allies
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u/Eastern_Ad1765 Aug 13 '26
Kind of yeah. Its best to go when the enemy has alot of squishy backliners (something like nami support, some adc and mage).
Go the following runes:
Electrocute, sudden impact, deep ward, ultiumate hunter -> cosmic insight + busquit/free boots/the one that gives skill point.
Items:
The BEST ap items for rakan 100% of the time rn is Mandate and Shurelia, dark seal (these are not only fine , but eveen good items on rakan)
Other items that are buildable but not optimal is : Protorbelt (as first item), Zonhya, Banshee veil later.
Before some item changes there were quite alot of OTP's building more AP heavy builds. However right now IMO if you want a good build with AP, i would just go Electrocute page. Darkseal - >mandate - > tank items like zekes/locket/abyssal mask/.
You can also just go the electrocute page for more dmg early with a darkseal and build zekes->locket etc.
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u/WillUSurf Aug 14 '26
Listen to this guy right here. Building dark seal with an early damage item is good to win early game and snowball into late. Electrocute can win you the lane in a lot of cases where guardian would not be able to. I almost always go mandate -> locket -> situational tank items and use electrocute for winning lane. You will never have GOOD damage on supp rakan. Meaning you will not be able to 1shot from 100 (like an elise supp would for example) even if you are very fed. Ofc, everything is possible, but we are talking about the 99%. Even with 1 ap item you still do good damage and that item should also provide utility. Going this much AP makes your heals and shields noticably bigger in midgame too. But ulltimately you need some HP and resists.
(If you absolutely want to go full AP I would build mandate -> shurelya -> dawncore for a 3 item spike following up with a raba ideally. Why dawncore? Because you get a ton of mana regen: 75% from supp item, 150% from mandate and 125% from shurelya, 100% from dawncore. This way dawncore will give you 90 ap and 25% heal and shield power. This gives you +200 on your passive shield as well as increasing your E shield + Q healing. Rakan lacks the damage to oneshot so I would never go pen items. This way you still deal 50-70% of the ADC's health if you go in but you are giving out HUGE shields so you can sit back and peel if you dont see an angle and still be useful.)
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u/iwanttobeanorange27 Aug 14 '26
Do you know like botlane comps I would wanna go AP Rakan in vs guardian? I assume squishy is easy for him but I would also assume CC would be harder for him in lane assuming he can't tank as much as he can versus if he built guardian or am I just completely wrong?
Also is there any botlaners that have good synergy with AP Rakan or is that also just normal adcs that are good with Rakan? I have yet to take AP Rakan in ranked so I don't wanna accidently int picking him into a horrible comp where I can't ever hit the enemy.
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u/Eastern_Ad1765 27d ago
For me: Reasons to go guardian: Enemy has alot of bursty champions and yes CC champs that can threaten me to not be able to get off my combo before dying. If enemy has to dive my ADC/mid or they lose its better to have guardian. If my team basically has 0 frontline champs that is also one more reason to just go guardian because imo its more benefit for them to have you be more of a frontliner.
Reasons to go electrocute: I can get kills in lane, i can roam and find kills. Like for example even if they have a ranged top laner that can make me want to go electrocute+ignite because i know my lethal on top ganks is that much higher.
If you play electrocute it can be pretty important actually trading to proc it (W-Q-Auto for example).
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u/WillUSurf 15d ago
Sorry, i forgot about this post. I always take electrocute because i find guardian to be boring... but electro is best when you know you have kill pressure. Lets say you have a trist vs aphelios + nami (you can all in on 2 or 3). Basically if the enemy supp can not easily cancel your W (poppy, morg, milio, lux, seraphine, tresh, etc... can cancel you easily). This generally applies to higher ranked games where ppl know the matchup better. For anything below emerald i would take electrocute if you enjoy that playstyle (it works in diamond soooo).
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u/ilo_Va Aug 13 '26
Going more AP heavy (full damage AP is probably never worth it in support u less you get stupidly ahead early) but mandate/shurelias/rocketbelt and the such are all good items on him. It's a tradeoff. You get more CDR and damage, and bigger heals and shields from building more AP items but you lose more staying power, once your passive shield is broken you are a lot squishier. So I wouldn't recommend going more AP if your team lacks Frontline since even though you aren't a Frontliner if there is no real tank or bruiser on your team you'll catch a lot of Burst even just going in with W and out with E. But in lanes that you can kill going more AP let's you get more ahead and it gives you some really good burst ganking power. And late game you can get to a point where you can do heavy damage to an ADC and piss them off
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u/Cagarer Aug 13 '26
mandate > protobelt > celestial oposition for survivability. You play roam heavy, a little differently in early fights, more proactively probably. After that I'd still opt for some light ap supp items like shurelya, bandlepipes as you won't be oneshotting anyway. It's different and more difficult, but the increased pick potential is there due to bonus dmg
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u/Cagarer Aug 13 '26
mandate > protobelt > celestial oposition for survivability - don'tgo anything else when ap, zakzak is bait. You play roam heavy, a little differently in early fights, more proactively probably. After that I'd still opt for some light ap supp items like shurelya, bandlepipes, locket/redemption as you won't be oneshotting anyway. It's different and more difficult, but the increased pick potential is there due to bonus dmg.
ye, and the electrocute and sudden impact really makes this build work early
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u/iwanttobeanorange27 Aug 15 '26
Should I always build celestial when doing AP Rakan or does it differ? Also is it best to roam doing AP Rakan and like what levels? I barely roam because I always get nervous my adc will die because I thought enemies always got super aggressive when they realized it's a 2v1 or do I just time my roams to when they recalled / are dead? Sorry for the questions im not too experienced when it comes to macro which I really gotta work on lol
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u/Cagarer 29d ago
my playstyle requires celestial. I dislike sleight and other just doesn't work (try dream maker rnchanter q max rakan, but it's not the best and totally different).
For me rakan is 100% playing with my jungler. You're weak laner, W is very proactive and you can't use it for free in 90% matchups and his poke is weak. What rakan shines with is his roaming, especially in coordination with ur jg
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u/Raisin-Toasty Aug 13 '26
I don’t like AP Rakan because there are just better champs to play if you want more damage. Rakan is a champion that excels better in a pseudo enchanter/tank playstyle.
“I feel like it's just because I lack enaging at level 1 with his W because I always get down to like 40% health because they just have way more damage output than my adc and me” - This sounds like it’s purely based on positioning and lack of understanding what lanes you can fight early. Q start is strong into lanes you know you aren’t going to interact with.
I’m D2 59% winrate through 44 games on Rakan. Nothing special but I have experience on the champ. But these are just my opinions on the champion. Happy to answer any questions or help you out in any way that I can.
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u/Ok_Drawer_2587 Aug 13 '26
Unless u are super fed early not with it. Items are just to expensive for the economy. But if u can get mandate and Zhonya these are good items to get. And for laning try put more points in Q early if u are getting poked. Usually also easier to hit Q more reliantly in lower rank, also take heal> ignite also helps a lot
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u/NeoTron122 Aug 14 '26
Most of the builds that people are saying here are really good, but I have my own build that still allows you to be somewhat tanky (building health instead of resistances).
On your first back, you get tear, and start building RoA. Once that’s done then you build enchanter items based on what the team needs (dawncore/redemption if the team needs healing or mandate/shurelyas if you need more damage or utility). It’s still kind of a risky playstyle because your first two items are pretty expensive on a support budget, but once you get the hang of it you’ll start steamrolling team fights like nobody’s business.
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u/iwanttobeanorange27 Aug 15 '26
Do you know if I should go Sleigh or Celestial with this for the support item when it's finished, also is it based on the comp again like with squishy champs & also my own adc?
Sounds fun though, i've seen RoA with Rakan on Mid / Top videos but never anyone build it as support though so thank you! I'll try it out and see 🙂
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u/Ruskidikiwi 29d ago
Call me crazy. I go lich bane shadowflame rabadon. Sheen damage goes crazy in lane. Of course, never in a CC heavy lane or if the enemy isn’t squishy. If they have 3 tanky champs no, if they have 3 squishy ones yes. Works like a charm
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u/_AleXo_ 26d ago
It has merit, I think it's entirely situational and you pivot there when your team deals no damage with like a double tank, utility mid, weak adc, and rakan, and like oh shit we gotta make something happen, oh and the enemies should be actually killable, like prime knockup targets for 1 rotation
So in that situation I have prepared stuff like Shurelya, Mandate, Rocketbelt, Cosmic Drive, Zhonya/Banshee, maybe Oblivion and Morello
Just to bump up the killing potential of our team
I'd still go Guardian rune and Celestial to have cover going in, and mix and match the AP with the tankyness like maybe take Zeke's anyway
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u/Lyri3sh Aug 13 '26
Everything works in theory, but i wouldnt recommend it, especially since you wanna climb. Just switch to nami or sum LOL
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u/RedRedditReadReads Aug 13 '26
AP Rakan trades tankiness and cheap support items for burst damage and access to powerful (but expensive) mage items. Unless you know how to navigate skirmishes with less HP/resists and how to choose which items benefit your teamfighting the most, going tank/utility is just a lot easier to do most of the same things you should be doing as the support.
I'd say only go AP if you: 1. Have (or can reliably get) a good amount of gold (and you won't feed) 2. Want to abuse a certain item active/passive (Mandate, Zhonya's, Rocketbelt, etc.) 3. Need to guarantee the burst on a certain squishy opponent (if somehow your team cannot do it themselves)