Built around a relationship
In an interesting turn, Riot Games has released two heroes at once this week in League of Legends, and they’re intrinsically connected. Billed as “birds of a feather,” Xayah and Rakan are lovers, and sport several promotions, like the ability to gift them to friends, or unlock an extra player icon if you play two games with them on the same team.
I’ve already heard a bunch of heartwarming stories of couples playing them together, but lets look at them individually.
Rakan “the charmer” is a support, who is built around his passive shield and his healing Q skillshot, Gleaming Quill. He has a certain amount of self protection due to the former, but to heal in an area around him he’ll need to hit his Q to trigger it. Rakan also has an AOE pop-up with his W, and an instant leap E that grants his ally a shield (and has added range if you use it on Xayah). His ultimate, The Quickness, is a boost chase/escape that also briefly charms his enemies.
As you can clearly tell, Rakan has an escape, several forms of crowd control, and multiple ways to mitigate or heal damage. He feels like a legitimate support character, but plays a lot like Lee Sin with his hyper aggressive mobility. None of his abilities feel particularly over-tuned, but he has an answer to just about every situation if you’re quick enough. I’m not big on his voice, but Rakan’s dialogue is silly enough to add a certain degree of charm to his kit (especially when he interacts with Xayah).
Interestingly, if you recall with Xayah nearby, you can go back to base together. League hasn’t done something this unique in a while, so it’s a refreshing little nod.
Xayah, the other half of the equation, is an ADC marksman built around pure damage. Her auto-attacks (and her skillshot Q) pierce as well as drop feathers for another ability, allowing her to deal out some decent poke damage in lane and provide some waveclear. Her W is basically a mark for extra single target damage (and works in tandem with Rakan), and her E recalls her feathers. Her ultimate, Featherstorm, lets her fly up in the air and avoid abilities instantly — it’s the very definition of a reactive skill, as you can dodge other ultimates.
Having played both for some time, I’m definitely more jazzed about Rakan. He’s really fun to zip around with, and although his taunts can get annoying sometimes, he has a lot more personality — that, and he shakes up the support meta quite a bit. That said, Xayah isn’t a bad Champion by any means, she just doesn’t break the mold. I’d pick up Rakan first, then ponder grabbing the couple later.
