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Rek’Sai – Get Rekt or dig trying!

Kazelrov

Kazelrov

Mon 12th Jan 2015 - 6:01pm

Rek’Sai – Get Rekt or dig trying!

The Void Burrower of Shurima is here; popping up in all the worst places as she moves up in the world from killing nomads and traders in the desert. Now she has a taste for champions, and Summoner’s Rift is in for a shock…

Rek’Sai? Never heard of her? Rek’Sai is the newest champion released by Riot Games for League of Legends. She is a subterranean predator type champion from the void realm who is written into lore as residing in Shurima beneath the desert sands. She’s best described as similar to Lee Sin and Pantheon in terms of mix of mobility, burst damage, and generally being obstructive. Rek’Sai’s abilities have no cost, instead generating Fury on hit. She best suits attack damage and attack speed, with some degree of ability power scaling from her ‘Prey Seeker’ underground missile ability.


Rek’Sai Abilities:

Below are Rek’Sai’s abilities, listed in some substantial detail as to their purpose. The priority pick order is Q, W, E, putting points into the R ultimate as soon as possible and stacking points in Q, E, and finally W.

Passive: Fury of the Xer’Sai

Rek’Sai stacks her Fury bar off attacking minions, monsters, and enemy champions. Five points of Fury are generated from landing a basic attack and 10 Fury (plus 2.5 for every additional enemy) when landing a casted ability. This Fury is a core strength and with that in mind it decays 20 Fury per second if Rek’Sai has been out of combat for 5 seconds. This means that 5 seconds after that she will be on zero Fury points. These points can be used two ways and, generally, the first is best. For sustain Rek’Sai’s Fury can be consumed for the ‘Fury of the Xer’Sai’ which will heal Rek’Sai.

The idea is that she consumes 25 times her current level in HP regeneration per second, at a rate of 20% of her Fury stack per second. The buff also offers 15 bonus Fury on the next attack. The Fury pool won’t deplete though if she is at full health and it stops depleting once she reaches full health. The second option is to stack 100% Fury for using ‘Furious Bite’. This attack ordinarily deals physical damage, but with full Fury it becomes true damage and thus negates all armour resistance for a serious chunk of damage.


Q: Queen’s Wrath/Prey Seeker

‘Queen’s Wrath’ is a self-targeted sort of AOE damage attack. It deals physical damage with bonus attack damage to nearby enemies (range: 325) for 3 attacks. These enemies are marked with a purple void effect. This is fantastic for jungle clearing but also handy in a duel situation or when trying to kill somebody in a teamfight situation. When burrowed this becomes ‘Prey Seeker’; a pulse skill shot (range: 1500) that detonates on the first enemy it hits. This deals magic damage and also reveals all non-stealthed enemies within range of the detonation for 2.5 seconds. Due to the nature of detonation being AOE, it also applies spell effects such as Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, but these are diminished in terms of effectiveness.

Below you can see a video of popular YouTube and LoL streamer Siv HD playing AP Rek’Sai. Be warned though, as sweet and dorky as he is there is a bit of swearing!


W: Burrow/Unburrow

‘Burrow’ is the primary talent behind Rek’Sai. The benefit is increased movement speed and Rek ignores unit collision. When burrowed she gains ‘Tremor Sense’; an ability that compensates for the massive shrouding of player vision by revealing movement splash dots. These dots, which can be differentiated between ally and foe, are on a fractional delay to not make things too easy. ‘Unburrow’ is Rek’Sai popping out of the ground to knock up the enemy and deal physical damage. Pressing ‘W’ or performing a basic attack will trigger her to appear. Rek’Sai can ‘Burrow’ four seconds after appearing from ‘Unburrow’, but ‘Unburrow’ is on a much shorter one second cooldown to keep her in the action as much as possible. Rek’Sai is also still targetable underground.

E: Furious Bite/Tunnel

‘Furious Bite’ is a nasty bite, in case you didn’t believe the name. The physical damage scales up by 1% for every 1% of Fury that Rek’Sai has. If she hits full Fury this attack then deals true damage, that is to say it negates armour and magic resist. This will chunk an enemy so it’s on a 12 second cooldown. ‘Tunnel’ is a new mechanic, specifically for Rek’Sai. The ability is used when she is underground and creates two tunnel openings for a faster movement from location to location. This negates terrain objects like walls but does not pass certain obstructions, like Azir’s ultimate ‘Emperor’s Divide’. The trick with these is to tunnel once they’re cast; if the wall/obstruction is cast as you tunnel you stop dead in your tracks.

Abilities cannot be used in ‘Tunnel’ like ‘Burrow’ but Smite can be used because it’s a cheeky mechanical addition and Riot love players cheesing each other for those highlight reel moments. Another point of note is that tunnels can’t collapse while Rek’Sai is inside but, from personal experience, there are fractional delays where a tunnel collapses just as it has been clicked and the void burrower appears despite the tunnel being destroyed momentarily before. This will no doubt be patched. Rek’Sai can support up to 8 tunnels at any one time and they last 10 minutes. Tunnels have a reset period so they can’t be used and abused instantly.

R: Void Rush

‘Void Rush’ is Rek’Sai’s ultimate ability and a global travelling tool. This will, after a 1.5 second channel, whizz her across the map to any tunnel entrance of choice. Damage from champions, turrets, or an interrupting effect will stop the channel and put the ultimate onto an 8 second cooldown. The idea behind this is that the ability is to move towards ganks/fights rather than be used as a clutch (last gasp) escape. The passive is a remarkable strong point, giving Rek’Sai 20%, 40%, and 60% bonus attack speed. In other words, don’t bother building any attack speed item just go for a bruiser mix of damage and resistance.


reksai eternumPhoto courtesy of League of Legends official website

 

Rek’sai Build: Jungle

Ranger’s Trailblazer/Stalker’s Blade

Warrior Enchant

Mercury Treads

The majority of players are starting Rek’Sai in the jungle and obviously that means Hunter’s Machete moving in to Ranger’s Trailblazer for comfort or Stalker’s Blade for those with a grasp on jungling. The reasoning behind the Trailblazer is the solid clear speed it has, which in turn allows good farm and gold income to build a Ravenous Hydra and Mercury Treads – two generally core items on Rek’Sai. Of course, if you’re adept at jungling you’re confident you will get the farm and the income then you can go for the predatory advantage of the Stalker’s Blade smite, which slows the enemy down so they can’t escape your punishment – a far more beneficial assault option.

'Warrior’ enchant should be taken for the armour pen and cooldown reduction, and this will stack nicely with items like Black Cleaver, Frozen Heart, and Spirit Visage to get close to the 40% cooldown cap to really rattle out damage casts. The key thing with this champion is that she can dish out damage in a heavy burst. She suits sustained fights similarly to a Trundle, so items like Spirit Visage/Banshee’s Veil, Randuin’s Omen, Trinity Force, Frozen Heart, and Frozen Mallet are all excellent choices. That said, we could see top lane becoming more of her favoured position…

Rek’sai Build: Top Lane

Ravenous Hydra/Blade of the Ruined King

Mercury Treads

Last Whisper/Black Cleaver

Trinity Force/Bloodthirster

In the top lane there will be no need for Machete, so instead opt for Long Sword and 3 health potions and work towards that early Hydra like a Renekton would or a BOTRK like Trundle; Hydra for burst or Blade for sustain. The Q s


If you can farm you can earn, and then you can join in with the teamfights and be a major pain in the backside – especially if you pop out behind the enemy! DPS (Damage per Second) is high, so Rek’Sai does favour a burst approach but it depends on how tanky you are and if you’re intending to drag fights out.

Due to the true damage that ‘Furious Bite’ can dish out you will find opponents will armour up to stop you. Items like Black Cleaver and Last Whisper are very helpful for negating this damage. Youmuu’s Ghostblade is an option early if you’re winning and want to blow someone up even quicker but I find it lacks both the attack damage and armour pen that the other two give. After this (and this applies to jungle too) you should decide the latter half of your build. Tanky is good so I’d definitely utilise items mentioned for bulking out as a jungler but if you’re winning and not struggling for HP, or in need of niche items, then you should consider things like Bloodthirster, Maw of Malmortius, and maybe even Wit’s End.


Runes and Masteries:

The rune page setups for Rek’Sai vary quite a bit, especially in the jungle, but I’d say the best player to check out is SK Telecom’s Bengi, who opts for a nice and simple page of attack damage, magic resist, and armour. Of course, you can deviate from this depending on your play style and opposing team picks. Gambit substitute Darien plays a very successful top lane with magic resist, armour, magic pen and armour pen, getting in some early game cruelty while working towards that first big item.

A quick browse of the internet will throw up builds for pro players and streamers though and from this you can tailor your own pages. For example, Nightblue (TSM) opts for a mix of damage and armour with critical damage chance and that beneficial cooldown reduction. TheOddOne (TSM) also goes for cooldown reduction, armour, and crit chance, but instead he subs out the damage for attack speed. I Will Dominate (Curse) builds a mix of AD and AS to fill the gap between both. Across in Europe you have recently-retired Cyanide (Fnatic) and newly-signed Amazing (Origen)both playing a mix of damage, MR, cooldown reduction, armour, scaling armour, and attack speed. SK Gaming’s Svenskeren has a similar page, but factoring in health runes too. It’ll be a while before the ‘most successful’ loadout is discovered but roughly the idea is there; a broad mix of damage and toughness will tee up Rek’Sai to dominate.

Masteries are a lot easier with ALL pro players going 21-9-0 on Rek’Sai. Unfortunately there is no set pattern to what people tick for the 21, rather it’s a case of do you want bonus damage or spell triggered damage , attack speed or cooldown reduction. The 9 is a little easier but again versatile; Tough Skin, Block, Recovery, Veteran Scars, Unyielding, and Juggernaut are the best talents to tick. Mechanics: Rek’Sai is quite similar to Lee Sin and Pantheon in terms of mechanics. She is a difficult opponent for many players and a lot of people are citing her as classically ‘overpowered’ on the basis that Riot Games always overpower new releases for a patch or two.

The Fury stacks very rapidly so Rek’Sai wants to be played aggressively. As a jungler this is easy because enemy engages are intermittent but in top lane this is a bit more difficult as some opponents can last out the burst and sustain DPS on you for an even or even negative trade. Set up a series of tunnels to help with the Fury converting into healing. It won’t be loads, but done regularly enough it’ll equal the likes of Irelia and Garen to keep you in lane and relatively happy. There are a multitude of neat tricks that can be used in conjunction with Rek’Sai. Orianna’s ball stays on the champion as she is targetable, and so do Zilean’s bombs. Below is a set-up video that demonstrates Rek’Sai’s ability to do a drive-by attack on an opponent, resulting in a kill.


Video courtesy of LMS

Players should be aware that Rek’Sai is probably in her strongest ever state right now and should be abused. Her jungling isn’t exceptional compared to some champions because she isn’t as tanky as Jarvan IV or Vi, but she is solid. Her Fury stacks so rapidly that he damage output is able to sustain her clear, and even with tunnelling to heal up the Fury isn’t missed – it easily fills back up.

The other point of “OP” is the passive chunks of attack speed to Rek’Sai’s ultimate. The complaint is that not only does she have the benefit of being able to duck underground and pop up, but she can burst damage onto champions, dish out AOE melee damage, and utilise great attack speed without having built for it. This is where I disagree with Foxdrop slightly about her being a ‘meh’ jungler. Rek’Sai isn’t too much of an overpowered jungler because people can move away from her and they can bring her down and her items are all very expensive, but she still has strong abilities and a positive impact on a lot of matches - similar to that of Warwick when the smite top lane trick was about a couple of weeks ago. Don’t be surprised not to see her in LCS immediately come the New Year but given the impact she’s having on solo queue we should expect nerfs in Patch 4.22.

In the same breath the potential in top lane is definitely there, especially considering how Gnar is being played to grow into a mid/late game bruiser, but this then also brings that into question; champions that have range like Gnar and Jayce or are tanky like Maokai and Mundo can just chip away or outlast her impact, not to mention the popularity of scaling behemoths like Irelia or Jax. Of course, everything is subject to player skill matchups, but these are the obvious flaws with her top lane and she lacks a power spike at level 6. Good comparisons would be to Shen or Nocturne; viable but specific matchup picks with the ults. It’s a risky pick to play to farm and aim for mid to late game, neglecting team opportunities before that.

Other tricks and mechanics with Rek’Sai include the ability for all champions to teleport to her tunnels akin to wards. Again we have a video to demonstrate this action to make it easier to follow.


Video courtesy of LoLeaks


Tactics & Gameplay:

Rek’Sai is quite straightforward; stroll around underground and pop out when it’s the least convenient for an enemy player. Your lack of vision will be an issue but the increased movement speed is handy for ganks so make sure to use it to catch out champions as quick as possible. The quicker you appear, the more damage you can dish out to them. This poses a problem, similarly to Pantheon, that after early game it’s less easy to abuse the potential. Sure, they can fight, but neither are classic tanks and to hit an acceptable sustain point they either have to be very successful early or forego their early damage.

The general tactic for Rek’Sai is to get tunnels set up and harass though. You can have 8 up at a time so your main four should be top, either side of mid lane, and bot. Sneaky tunnels further into lanes or the enemy jungle would be nice, but given the nature of jungle pathing or lane warding it’s tricky to get away with this. Top lane is perhaps the easiest option because build is often preferred to wards and that will be the downfall of many lower ELO players, but additionally a smart jungle excursion during an enemy jungler’s gank will help place a deep tunnel for counter-jungle access via your ultimate.

Rek’Sai is potentially viable mid due to her ganking potential but be wary of the match ups; someone like Xerath with poke is okay to heal versus. Someone like LeBlanc or Zed who will poke and out-manoeuvre you is not. Don’t try and be too clever to show off. Below is a VERY thorough video about Rek’Sai covering all the little tricks with regards her integration with other champion abilities. Particularly interesting to note is ulting past enemy towers does not cause you to take any damage and when Rek’Sai is underground her Tremor Sense still picks up movement from the likes of Evelynn and Shaco.


Video courtesy of Holyarme Min


Counter Play:

Rek’Sai is a beefy champion with irritating mechanics and the ability to burst so play smart; whittle her down from distance and kite her or bulk up and ride out the storm. Watch the Fury bar carefully to avoid her ‘Furious Bite’ and try your best to destroy her tunnels – especially if she’s jungling.

Items like Banshee’s Veil will help against the knock up, as will any armour. Thornmail and Sunfire Cape are good options because of the magic damage returned, but beware the lifesteal and any magic resistance. So, Rek’sai. She’s a bit powerful isn’t she? The end. P.S. why not watch Foxdrop or Team SoloMid’s ‘TheOddOne’ (jungler turned streamer) play on Rek’Sai to get a real feel for how to use the void predator to her full potential.

Video courtesy of Foxdroplol

Video courtesy of TheOddOne