Bingo Bango Bongo Bish Bash Bosh! - A look at Raijin

Heyas, FerrumSlash here.

Out of everyone here, i'd say i'm the least qualified person to be making a guide, honestly. But still, i'm confident enough that what i'm writing here would benefit you, the reader.

I truly hope that i can flesh out the guide even more, but at the moment, i'll settle for whatever knowledge i can share regarding Raijin

Get this song running in another tab. Do it!

At the time of writing, Raijin is a very strong pick.

When we decide on a build for a god, we would like to see the god's strengths and weaknesses. (Other mainstream guides call this the "Pros" and "Cons").

So, let's breakdown what Raijin brings to the table:

• Huge damage -> huge waveclear: Raijin should have no difficulties bursting down squishy targets like Hunters, Assassins, and Mages with his damage output
• Great mobility -> Raijin's Thunder Crash is useful for closing the distance with another god or escape sticky situations.
• Decent crowd control -> Raijin's ultimate, Taiko Drums has options to inflict taunt or fear to enemy gods.
• Spinal Tap Raijin

On the other hand:

• High skill floor: Raijin takes a good deal of practice since most (if not all) of his abilities require skillshots in some way.
• Easily juked: Skilled players will have relatively easier times evading Raijin's skillshots in comparison to other gods.
• Dicey crowd control: His crowd control comes from his Thunder Crash and Taiko Drums. For the former, it means that if you would like to mesmerize an enemy god for whatever reason (interrupting skills, etc.), you would have to spend a potent ability, placing you near said enemy god, and burning out your escape option. For the latter, using your ultimate for the crowd control means skimping out on the damage potential that his non-crowd control option brings.

Raijin is overall, a high risk, high reward god, rewarding skillful aiming and play with huge damage and versatile options.

The essence here, then, is to minimize the risk a Raijin player has to take in order to take advantage of the huge reward potential.

With that being said, what gamemodes then do Raijin excel in?

Looking at his strengths and weaknesses, Raijin benefits most in maps that provides plenty of narrow passageways and ambush-escape opportunities. Given the chance, a skilled Raijin can and will break down opponents unlucky enough to encounter him. These gamemodes include siege, joust, clash, and conquest.

Why did i omit arena and assault? Arena provides good teamfight opportunities. However, there is a lack of narrow passageways and walls to keep enemies easy to target and provide Raijin with escape opportunities. Assault provides team support for Raijin, but otherwise it makes him difficult to keep his attacks fluid and controlled.

Raijin also benefits from lane partners with adequate crowd control and lockdown capabilities to keep enemy gods easily targetable for Raijin's attacks. These lane partners include guardians like Athena, Ares, Ymir, or Kumbhakarna, or warriors like Hercules and Odin.

Passive: Static Crescendo

This passive is pretty straightforward; 30% increase in magical damage after 4 basic attacks or abilities. The abilities' input on the passive can be read on each skill's description.

Keep in mind that at the moment, basic attacks do not need to hit a target to charge up this passive, so feel free to do basic attacks before launching a desired skill.

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Ability #1: Percussive Storm

This ability is Raijin's bread and butter. Most of the waveclear (and damage) will come from this ability.

While it does get wider as it travels, it is still a projectile skillshot that needs aiming in order to land it on enemy gods.

Because this ability does so much damage, it is best to use it in conjunction with the passive. Level this ability first.

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Ability #2: Raiju

Raiju is somewhat like Hou Yi's Mark of the Golden Crow, that it also marks enemies on the minimap. Instead of providing a percentage-based damage increase, it deals damage in-tune to magical power percentage and flat base damage.

What makes the skill so handy, however, is that while Raiju makes his way out, he will seek out 5 other enemies in the vicinity. This also makes it a handy tool for waveclearing and poking enemies behind, like archer minions. Keep in mind that in order to do this, you need to hit the marked enemy god/minion marked by Raiju with a basic attack or skill. Thunder Crash works quite well for this.

Raiju will mostly prioritize enemy gods, so if you want to take advantage of the above strategy, try to not include the enemy god in the targeting aid. Targeting enemy gods, in normal circumstances, makes it more difficult to proc Raiju's excellent damage and area-seek capabilities, so care must be taken.

Level this ability once Percussive Storm is maxed out.

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Ability #3: Thunder Crash

This ability is very versatile. It can be used as a gap closer, an escape tool, to keep enemies in place with the mesmerize, to interrupt abilities, or plain stealing securing kills

Mind that there is a little short delay in channeling the ability where you will be vulnerable to prior attacks.

This ability is last in leveling priority because the essential part of this ability is the mesmerize and mobility potential.

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Ability #4: Taiko Drums

This ultimate ability is a fun one. It allows Raijin to fire a full-powered projectile or a half-powered one with crowd control of choice added.

Depending on the situation, it is preferable to make use of the available crowd control options over damage.

The taunt option can be used to aggro enemies into tower range or to keep them in line for the next shot.

The fear option also allows you to push enemies into range or save teammates.

The damage is game-changing and it has a wide projectile, but since it is a projectile, great aim and care must be paid attention to when firing each one. Also be wary since Raijin moves at a slower speed while channeling his ultimate, making it easier to opponents to land skillshots.

Level this ability when you can.

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Overall, as you can see on the short explanations above, Raijin has a lot of skills that need precise aiming to land on the enemy. When they do land, however, the damage potential is devastating.

Instead of linear builds, i try to provide a selection of items that is beneficial to Raijin's strengths and potentials: a damage dealer. Therefore, i skipped out a little on utility items and focus on building in order to deal as much damage as possible.

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Starters :

• Vampiric Shroud: A great choice for sustain in maps like conquest.
• Soul Stone: This starter item provides excellent sustain and works well together with Raijin's passive.
• Shoes of Focus: Shoes are generally interchangeable, but i usually prefer the cooldown reduction boots over penetration boots for the extra mana and cooldown reduction.

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Stacking items:

• warlock's sash: A general purpose stacking item, warlock's sash also provides Raijin some extra sustain from extra health, providing relative safety in chase and escape scenarios.
• Book of Thoth: This item provides a large boost to magical power, and provides Raijin with more mana.

In gamemodes like joust, sometimes it is possible to build 2 stacking items (double stacking). Raijin's abilities should provide relative ease in minion clearing to provide stacks for the items.

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Option: Lifesteal:

• Bancroft's Talon: This is the general purpose lifesteal item. It provides nice flat damage boost and its' passive allows for more damage. This item works well in conjunction with warlock's sash which provides extra health.
• Polynomicon: This item is also a fun pick. Enemies can be marked with Raiju, which activates this item's passive, and land a basic attack on the marked enemy to proc both Raiju's damage and this item's passive.

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Penetration:

• Spear of the Magus: This item works well for its' low cost. Instead of providing heavy damage, it provides viable penetration and protection reductions on enemy gods.
• Spear of Desolation: This is a late-game item with some penetration that provides a heavy power boost and a passive that reduces cooldown times. Recommended to take late-game where teamfights are likely to happen.
• Obsidian Shard: Another solid pick for penetration, it provides percentage-based penetration and a good amount of extra power.

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Rod of Tahuti

This is the quintessential damage item for mages. This item solely exists for mages to get as close to the power cap as possible.

Really. It's that good, it deserves its' own section.

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Situationals:

• Gem of Isolation: Slows opponents on ability hits. This item might help Raijin land more skills after the enemy is slowed.
• magi's blessing: Eliminates crowd control effects after certain intervals. Great failsafe against crowd control-heavy teams.
• Divine Ruin: Reduces enemy healing on ability hits. Effective against healers and heal-heavy teams
• chronos pendant: Reduces cooldown times for skills.
• Void Stone: Provides additional magical protection and protection-reducing aura. Works well with Raijin since he can get close to enemies with this Thunder Crash.
• Breastplate of Valor: Provides additional physical protection and cooldown reduction. The additional mana also contributes to magical damage if you also build
  Book of Thoth.
• Soul Reaver: A nice passive to damage enemies or to burn off some tanky gods' health. If you happen to be building Book of Thoth as well, the extra mana helps contribute to your magical damage. The flat damage increase is nice, too.

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Actives

• Aegis Amulet: Provides invulnerability to damage. Great for waiting down Thunder Crash's cooldown to get out of dangerous situations. (About time they renamed it to Aegis again, too.)
• Purification Beads: Cleanses cc and provides short length cc immunity.
• Heavenly Wings: Increases movement speed. Useful for chasing.
• Horrific Emblem: Reduces enemies' movement speed and healing. Useful against healers

- Feel free to make up ways to use Thunder Crash. The mesmerize and the damage is quite useful. Interrupt enemy abilities, mesmerize diving enemies, and do much more with this versatile ability.

- It is generally a good idea to open up Taiko Drums' volley with a cc effect, to ensure follow-up hits.

-I cannot emphasise enough that Raijin is a high risk, high reward god. Keep in mind that proper positioning and knowing when to use Thunder Crash can make or break Raijin's game.

Raijin is a very risky but terrifying damage dealer, and at the same time exciting to play as. Mastering Raijin requires aiming practice in order to make full use of his damaging potential. Of course, building the right items can make a difference in the game as well.

That's all for Bingo Bango Bongo Bish Bash Bosh! - A look at Raijin. Thank you for taking the time to read, and feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Zilby, BranMuffin17, and DucksRock for pre-release feedback.

FerrumSlash out.

2/15/2017: S4 update. New relics.
2/22/2017: Bits and pieces of information added in.