Bang the drums of death (5.18)

I feel Raijin is an underplayed yet very powerful God. He has a lot of usefulness both early, mid and late game. His escape is useful to move over walls, putting an object between you and that pesky chacer, as well as being great late game for killing off the fleeing enemy god. If played well you'll have no problem destroying the enemy ADC age with one use of your ult.

Pros
Great line damage
Good penetration
Easy escape
Passive means ult isn't offline for too long
Easy minion wipe
Tic damage (nothing like killing an enemy that got away)
Not too mana hungry

Cons
Squishy (does this even need to be said?)
Weak early game
Skills can be hard to hit.
No real crowd control (other than a minor slow)
Slow moving

On reflection I do not recommend this anymore. Raijin isn't that manor starved and rushing thoth means that you get that power online so much faster.


I think that Thoth is the right stack item for Raijin, the reason I personally feel its the better option is the escape is usually good enough to get away, if you can't get away with the escape it is unlikely the little bit of life Warlocks staff offers will keep you alive. But the extra damage from Thoth will put your enemies down.


Gives life and mana, as a mage this is needed. If your going against a harder god take 2, if its easier take one. Fill up with these and 2 wards every time you come back.


Keeps your firing abilities and allows your escape if needed. Take these on first exit.


There is always an argument to be made for either focus or magi (shoes of). For Raijin I feel that the extra mana helps him early game to stay out for longer, meaning the xp from minions is better and the cooldown helps better than the extra pen. Especially from the amount taken. The only time I swap focus for magi is if the team is extra tanky, or someone is doing a guardian mid.

spear of the
All your abilities causes several hits. Every time you hit, you get extra pen (up to 5) you'll get that 5, and hit again before it runs out. Pen=more damage. Take this, shred through the natural defence of the ADC and mage and scare the warrior and guardian.


This is an interesting item I don't think I see enough people take. For a god that requires several moves to hit it seems idea. Buying it now means it evolves quick. This means all you have to do is hit once, then all your abilities further get a damage increase. Full build this does add up to be a nice bit of damage.
On top of that it has extra movement meaning; if your still in laning phase it helps you get back a bit faster. If you're starting to rotate it helps you move around faster helping any ganks.


Massive damage, a mage must have


This item is somewhat situational. Almost always I will go spear, as the extra penetration is always nice. The cooldown is a great help and the extra power is icing on the cake. However, if the team is running crazy growd control I'd go magi's cloak if they have crazy defence I'd build obsidian shard really change this one as needed. But I find its the best overall.

This is very useful for stopping the crazy damage you will get being the mage. Hopefully by the time its worn off your escape is ready and you can get out of there. If not, don't waste it as you aren't getting away anyway.


Useful for chasing down or escaping, and for helping the team in there. I personally don't go for it.


This is useful for getting out the control of a sneaky guardian or that annoying little jungle and then you can make your big and heroic escape and flee. I feel this is the best option after aegis.

This is your bread and butter. Hit the drums 4 times. This chains well with spear of magus. This is your main wave clear and poke. It can wipe waves quite early, useful for clearing the two side xp camps (use it to finish or steal) and has a nice range. Level this first.


This is mainly useful for sitting on a minion early game ( I usually go for one away from an enemy god) and using it to clear the minions. This with percussive storm clear minions early and quick.
It can also be placed on further minions to poke the enemy god.
The next use is to hit enemy god with it, slowing them meaning your other moves are easier to hit (great for combo with the ult) as well as adding some nice tic damage.
The last use of it is a last resort use. If you are running but just can't escape it can be added on to a pursuer, sometimes this works enough to slow them down, though is risky and escape with thunder crash should be the first port of call.



This is mainly your escape, use it to run. You can go over walls, do this if you can. Or just use this in a line to get away, can be effective against a jungle.
It is also a very effective attack and chance down. You can kill if landing on someone. Or if a low/ mid life warrior decides to try their luck, you can use it to go up and land on the same spot, after attaching Raiju, to do some good damage.


taiko
This is your ult. It can do a ton of damage if hit properly. there are three different ways to his and use this. The ideal is to hit all 4 with the highest damage. 3 will usually do to kill an ADC or mage. There are two other ways of hitting this. One makes the enemy run (useful if a jungle is trying to kill you) and one that makes them run towards you. Use this to stop a fleeing enemy, mainly useful if your team is there to back you up.