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Rakan Counters: Who Beats Rakan

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Rakan counters are supports who can stop his dash-in combo, cleanse the charm, or punish him at short range. He’s a 300 range enchanter-engager with a self-shield, a feather that heals allies after hitting a champion, a dash that knocks up, a free hop to allies that shields them, and an ultimate that charms everyone he touches. The picks that beat him knock him back mid-combo or simply out-range his short attacks.

Here are five supports, each matched to him through abilities you can read in the client yourself, with nothing taken from win-rate tables.

Rakan counters: Rakan, The Charmer, splash art

Why is Rakan hard to counter?

  • Fey Feathers (passive): a shield that comes back periodically.
  • Gleaming Quill (Q): a feather dealing magic damage; hitting a champion or epic monster lets Rakan heal his allies. Cooldown 11/10/9/8/7.
  • Grand Entrance (W): a dash to a location that knocks up nearby enemies on arrival. Cooldown 14/13/12/11/10.
  • Battle Dance (E): he flies to an allied champion and shields them, with a free recast for a short time.
  • The Quickness (R): Move Speed, plus a charm and magic damage on every enemy he touches. Cooldown 130/110/90.

Rakan moves faster than anyone in bot lane, and that’s the whole problem. The Quickness speeds him up, Grand Entrance knocks up everyone where he lands, and Battle Dance flies him straight back to his carry before you can retaliate. Real talk, the combo is fast enough that most supports don’t get to react. Still, think about the shape of it: he has to run into you, and his attack range is 300. A support who interrupts that approach, or who hits from much further out, takes away the whole plan.

Which champions are the best Rakan counters?

Thresh

Flay (E) sweeps Thresh’s chain, knocking every enemy hit in the direction of the blow. Swing it toward Rakan as he arrives. Away he goes. Death Sentence (Q) binds an enemy and drags them in, which turns Rakan’s dash into a trip back to Thresh. Dark Passage (W) throws a lantern that shields allies, and your carry can click it to dash to Thresh, escaping the charm zone. The Box (R) walls off an area, slowing and damaging anyone who breaks through. Damnation (passive) grants permanent Armor and Ability Power from every soul he collects, so a Thresh who has been harvesting all lane grows tankier with each wave (and Rakan’s poke matters even less). Honestly, a good Flay is the single best answer to Grand Entrance.

Nautilus

Every piece of Rakan’s engage is movement, and Nautilus has a way to stop it at each step. Dredge Line (Q) pulls them together, Staggering Blow (passive) roots on Nautilus’s first attack against each target, and Riptide (E) slows in three waves. Depth Charge (R) chases its target, knocking up anyone along the way and stunning on arrival, and since it follows Rakan, his speed doesn’t help. Titan’s Wrath (W) shields Nautilus and adds area damage to his attacks. Rakan has a periodic shield of his own. No cleanse, though.

Janna

Monsoon (R) throws nearby enemies back and heals allies while it lasts. A Rakan who just charmed your team gets thrown back out of the fight, and the heal undoes his damage. Howling Gale (Q) knocks away enemies in its path, which can catch him on the way in. Eye Of The Storm (E) shields an ally and boosts their Attack Damage, and Zephyr (W) slows and lets Janna pass through units. To be fair, her 550 range also out-pokes him in lane. Tailwind (passive) speeds up allies moving toward her, which helps your team regroup after a charm.

Alistar

Alistar’s ultimate, Unbreakable Will (R), wipes any disable off him on the spot and then trims incoming damage for its duration. Rakan’s charm and knock-up land on him, and a moment later they’re gone. Pulverize (Q) knocks up nearby enemies, Headbutt (W) knocks one back, and together they shove Rakan away from your carry. A fully stacked Trample (E) turns his next attack on a champion into a stun. Triumphant Roar (passive) charges from stuns and displacements, then heals him and nearby allies. In practice, Alistar can step in front of The Quickness, take the charm, cleanse it and still have his own combo ready.

Zyra

Zyra fights from 575 range, nearly double his. Grasping Roots (E) roots every enemy it passes through, which stops a running Rakan cold, and Deadly Spines (Q) damages an area. Garden of Thorns (passive) spawns seeds around her that grow into plants when her spells land near them, and The Quickness only charms enemies, not plants. Rampant Growth (W) stores extra seeds. Her ultimate thicket, Stranglethorns (R), throws everyone inside into the air when it snaps shut. Can Rakan get to her? Only through a field of plants and a root.

How do you play the lane against Rakan?

  • Track Grand Entrance. It’s his engage, and the cooldown is 14 seconds at rank 1.
  • Don’t clump with your ADC when The Quickness is up. It charms every enemy he touches.
  • Punish him on the way out. Battle Dance flies him to an ally champion, so watch which ally he can reach.
  • Trade when Fey Feathers’ shield is down. It returns periodically, not instantly.
  • Stay out of his 300 attack range if you’re a ranged support.

Which items counter Rakan?

He relies on a charm and a knock-up, so cleanses and Tenacity matter most. Mikael’s Blessing’s Purify removes crowd control from an ally, excluding Airborne and Suppression, so it can lift the charm off your carry. Quicksilver Sash does the same for yourself, excluding Airborne, and the 30% Tenacity on Mercury’s Treads cuts every charm short (a cheap fix for any laner who keeps getting caught). Locket of the Iron Solari’s Devotion shields allies after he lands. For carries, Zhonya’s Hourglass offers 2.5 seconds of Stasis against the follow-up. Prices and stats are in the League item database, and supports who want to escape faster can use Shurelya’s Battlesong.

When is Rakan at his weakest?

After Grand Entrance. Without it he has no knock-up and no way to engage except running at you with his ultimate, and The Quickness has a 130 second cooldown at rank 1. Push then (his ADC knows it too).

The other weak point is his range. 300 is short for a support, and a poke support who keeps hitting him in lane makes him waste Gleaming Quill and Fey Feathers just to stay healthy. Funny enough, a Rakan with no shield and no feather is the easiest kill in bot lane.

New to support? What a support actually does is spelled out in our guide to LoL roles. His cosmetics? The Rakan skins page. Everyone else is in our collection of guides, and his five-on-five side gets its own page, the Rakan ARAM guide. Long story short, Rakan counters knock him back, cleanse his charm and out-range his short attacks.

FAQ

Who counters Rakan the most?

Thresh and Janna, who knock him back; Nautilus, who locks him down; Alistar, who cleanses his crowd control; and Zyra, who out-ranges him and roots him.

Can Mikael’s Blessing remove Rakan’s charm?

Yes. Purify removes crowd control debuffs except Airborne and Suppression, so the charm from The Quickness can be removed. The knock-up from Grand Entrance can’t.

What is Rakan’s attack range?

300, which is short for a support.

How long is The Quickness cooldown?

130 seconds at rank 1, 110 at rank 2 and 90 at rank 3.

How were these Rakan counters picked?

Rakan’s patch 26.21 abilities were laid next to every support’s kit, and these five gave the clearest answers. No win-rate data was used.