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Vision Shard just for conquest!
ALL of these are viable! Check below for more information!
this is my personal priority/preference order. Vision Shard just for conquest!
Wing Shard
Horn Shard
Carapace Shard
Claw Shard
Vision Shard
Pendulum of Ages
Spear of Desolation
Spear of the Magus
Staff of Myrddin
Soul Reaver
Obsidian Shard
Y
B
A
X
Tap each threat level to view Raijin’s threats
Tap each synergy level to view Raijin’s synergies
Purification Beads and 
Aegis Amulet.You start with Purification Beads and Aegis Amulet.
You will later upgrade both once you finish off the build!
Temporal Beads
Aegis of Acceleration
Soul Gem can be a replacement for Spear of Desolation to be more healthy while losing some flat pen (and also a passive you most likely need. So consider this ONLY for dangerous situations). Still very solid if you need also a bit of lifesteal early game.
Pythagorem's Piece is a solid item and can be bought over Spear of the Magus in case you want extra sustain for you and your team: the aura is strong! (consider it especially in Assault!)
Ethereal Staff are always solid items if you can make use of their passive and you want some health.
Doom Orb is a solid power item if you can make use of the passive and you also need movement speed. Soul Reaver in case enemies doenst have a double tank comp!
Gem of Focus can be a great starter as well in case enemies arent really tanky. You can get this instead of Pendulum of Ages and swap Staff of Myrddin for 
Chronos' Pendant in case you want to retain mroe CDR. You can also just keep Staff of Myrddin if you prefer the extra %pen! Soul Gem can be a replacement for Spear of Desolation to be more healthy while losing some flat pen (and also a passive you most likely need. So consider this ONLY for dangerous situations). Still very solid if you need also a bit of lifesteal early game.
Pythagorem's Piece is a solid item and can be bought over Spear of the Magus in case you want extra sustain for you and your team: the aura is strong! (consider it especially in Assault!)
[gem of isolation]] Ethereal Staff are always solid items if you can make use of their passive and you want some health.
Doom Orb is a solid power item if you can make use of the passive and you also need movement speed.
It's quite costy so you can consider it over Soul Reaver in case enemies doenst have a double tank comp!
Gem of Focus can be a great starter as well in case enemies arent really tanky. You can get this instead of Pendulum of Ages and swap Staff of Myrddin for Chronos' Pendant in case you want to retain mroe CDR. You can also just keep Staff of Myrddin if you prefer the extra %pen!
Note: for extra information you can check down below for more depth on items!
Soul Gem
Pythagorem's Piece
Doom Orb
Gem of Focus
Divine Ruin instead of Spear of the Magus! This applies to ALL builds! Ethereal Staff can be a replacement for Soul Reaver in case you want some extra health.
Polynomicon and 
Cyclopean Ring are a very situational items for a fast burst. Usually it is just for fun but absolutely work in some specific situations.
If you want to get anti-heal (and you most likely want it in the early stage of the game) get Divine Ruin instead of Spear of the Magus! This applies to ALL builds!
Ethereal Staff can be a replacement for Soul Reaver in case you want some extra health.
Polynomicon and Cyclopean Ring are a very situational items for a fast burst. Usually it is just for fun but absolutely work in some specific situations.
Divine Ruin
Ethereal Staff
Polynomicon
Cyclopean Ring
Buy only 1 mana pot if you can get access to mana buff.
You con also consider buying 2 health and 1 mana potion. depend from each game mode!
dont get any potions in Arena!
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Potion of Power
Elixir of Power
Chalice of the Oracle
Pendulum of Ages
Tablet of Destinies
Book of Thoth
Charon's Coin
Soul Reaver
Obsidian Shard
Chronos' Pendant you can get this instead of Pendulum of Ages in case you want a bit more CDR (due to the passive). In this scenario, buy this after the 2 initial stacking items! Ethereal Staff are always solid items if you can make use of their passive and you want some health. You can consider this instead of Soul Reaver Divine Ruin buy this instead of Charon's Coin
Chronos' Pendant you can get this instead of Pendulum of Ages in case you want a bit more CDR (due to the passive). In this scenario, buy this after the 2 initial stacking items!
[gem of isolation]] Ethereal Staff are always solid items if you can make use of their passive and you want some health. You can consider this instead of Soul Reaver
Divine Ruin buy this instead of Charon's Coin
Chronos' Pendant
Ethereal Staff
Divine Ruin
Sundering Axe
Prophetic Cloak
Tablet of Destinies
Gladiator's Shield
Genji's Guard
Soul Reaver
Lono's Mask or 
Blood-Soaked Shroud instead of Sundering Axe in case you want more protections (first case) or more sustain ONLY if enemies has no antihealing (second case)
Shogun's Kusari or 
Talisman of Energy to help ADC and/or mana regen instead of Genji's Guard Ethereal Staff isntead of Soul Reaver if you want more health!
Contagion or 
Pestilence for antihealing instead of Genji's Guard
Lono's Mask or Blood-Soaked Shroud instead of Sundering Axe in case you want more protections (first case) or more sustain ONLY if enemies has no antihealing (second case)
Shogun's Kusari or Talisman of Energy to help ADC and/or mana regen instead of Genji's Guard
Ethereal Staff isntead of Soul Reaver if you want more health!
in case of need, you can get Contagion or Pestilence for antihealing instead of Genji's Guard
Lono's Mask
Blood-Soaked Shroud
Shogun's Kusari
Talisman of Energy
Ethereal Staff
Pestilence
Contagion
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Cons:
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Spear of the Magus so just dont overextend if you are low health! The sustain is still decent enough to at least recover some health by killing minions' waves. Divine Ruin instead of Spear of the Magus! Potion of Power for the last 10% CDR! Pendulum of Ages once you hit lv20. In MANY games you wont be able to finish it off. The damage output of this build still makes it worth going for it but if you really want to spam abilities consider going for the build below that allows you gain access to more CDR without the need to finish your starter item at lv20. Obsidian Shard and Soul Reaver might be swapped! in case enemies are more tanky and have many prot auras you may want to get extra %pen before getting Soul Reaver! Also you should go for Obsidian Shard in case enemies just have 1 tank (that might also go for defensive protection aura items and make allies bulkier) cause it's more effective against squishies compared to Soul Reaver!|
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Percussive Storm and/or Raiju, so i suggest this build only when you are confident with the god. Divine Ruin instead of Charon's Coin. you might wonder why swapping it for Charon's Coin instead of Obsidian Shard. The answer is simple: Obsidian Shard passive is just better than Charon's Coin! You just Charon's Coin before Obsidian Shard cause you need to stack it... otherwise it would just be a very bad Obsidian Shard! Chronos' Pendant instead of Pendulum of Ages since, thanks to its passive, it gives you an extra 10% CDR (not exactly like this but more or less yes. cause your abilities has less than 10 seconds CDS so it's like having a bit more than 10% CDR)! If you wanna make this swap, you can considering getting Chronos' Pendant right after the 2 stacking items! In this way you also start stacking earlier since you arent getting the starter item!|
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Pestilence or Contagion instead of Genji's Guard. You can consider the latter only in case enemies lack magical damage cause otherwise you just lose magical protections over extra physical ones! Contagion will actually help with dealing damage! Lono's Mask isntead of Sundering Axe. You will lose some damage and sustain but you get HUGE amount of protections even as an aura for allies! Ethereal Staff instead of Soul Reaver in case you wanna be more healthy. You sacrifice some damage in this way but still very solid and does the job! Shogun's Kusari over Genji's Guard in case you want to help the ADC with atk speed aura!
Items
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Wing Shard: usually that's what i buy in Arena or Slash. It got me out of troubles many times thanks to the movement speed burst!
Horn Shard: this is the best one in case you wanna cycle your ability. It's quite great on Raijin!
Carapace Shard: insane in early game against tanks IF you can efficiently land an AA against them. Also makes you tankier during the effect!
Claw Shard: the shard you should go when u just want some extra power and you wanna stay away from trouble. No effort shard!
Vision Shard: useful if you are afraid of getting ganked in the mid lane!
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ItemsKit & Tips
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AbilitiesCombos
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CombosGameplay
gameplay
Thanks to the following people:
Kriega1 For adding clarity with some items! (discussion in the comments)
Branmuffin17 For adding clarity with some items! (discussion in the comments)
ThePerfectPrism For suggestions on a better presentation!
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Breastplate of Valor
Gem of Isolation
Sands of Time
Warlock's Staff
Chaotic Beads
Aegis of Judgement
Perfected Rod of Tahuti
Rod of Tahuti
Calamitous Rod of Tahuti
Conduit Gem
The Alternate Timeline
Charged Tempo
Ward
Sentry Ward
He shouldnt really struggle much in late game tbh. (you can also make a great use of the passive + desolation + chronos by cycling your rotation A LOT when you manage to get a couple of assist during a fight).
said that... surely the 20% scaling nerf hurt a lot... and i get that in some game modes outside of conquest (actually all game modes beside siege), many other mages, can shine a lot more (...and tbh the list is long). Raijin is still fairly decent in good hands tho.
As a suggestion... i can tell you that if you are in a good matchmaking game (so with everyone at the same level), try to focus more on melt their tanks cause Raijin can really shine there cause they cant threat you that much (especially when u build ethereal staff... and if you think that s the best way... get Soul Reaver after the obsidian shard).
DONT try to melt enemies squishy if all of them are up and are keeping an eye on you... cause you are gonna most likely get interrupted out of your 1 and/or 3 (when you try to escape): keep the distance, hit those tanks hard, and after the jungler/assassin or other bursty team mates nuke 1 squishy you can move more freely and, after you reset your abilities with spear of desolation/chronos pendant and your own passive, you can even jump in and delete 1/2 squishies yourself.
P.S. the tank build is not bad if you know what you are doing and have some experience as a bruiser (you are not fully a tank... lets say you are bruiser... something around a "solo" laner in terms of survivability). I personally played some high elo clash/arena as Raijin tanks (5man premade vs 5man premade) where i knew they could shut me down pretty easily... and i could have done a lot more by surviving their burst and spreading divine ruin and gem of isolation effects with my 2. The main issues is that your team mates need to know what you are going for ... otherwise they are just gonna blame you! ^^
hope this insight can help you a bit :D
Just saying solid guide overall, though I'm only really commenting on the standard build rather than the fun ones.
I do want to say that I agree with Kriega that situationally at least I think that Ob Shard is mentioned a bit late. I get your reasoning and you explained your side so that's fine, but Ob/Charon is going to be fairly functional by the 4th/5th item in most cases...squishies that build 0 prots and aren't affected by auras will have 48 at level 20, and that's good enough for the equivalent of ~10 flat pen, which isn't awful. And for tanks that have built at least 1 prot item, their prots will usually be over 100 at that point, so at least ~20 flat pen equivalence.
One thing I find weird, and I'm guessing you just made an error, is that
Another thing that I think is an oversight is that you have
I also think you're missing
Anyway, besides those, this seems pretty good overall. In the future, if you're looking to add more info, you might want to talk more about the combos you state, and you might add usage info to the item explanations (like where/when to buy them in the context of build order). And if talking about the contest, one major missing component here is gameplay.
in my opinion obsidian shard / charon coin is better as 5th/6th item (so actually after Chronos Pendant. i am gonna fix the fact that is shown as replacement for boots. i am gonna swap the position with tahuti). you really lose much damage on squishy and the pressure on tanks is usually enough before the late game (where you actually get the obsidian shard for). talking about enemy squishy: you have 15 pen from spear of desolation and 10% from SR, which is not bad. I think Raijin shines better with this kind of build where you prefer the utility of some items (like ethereal staff and SR ... or even gem of isolation later on) over early obsidian shard. (also you are talking about 4th/5th.... i d say 5th/6th so we are not diverging that much from it :P)
note: in S6 i used to get obsidian shard in all game modes as 4th items (and i was getting spear of the magus for extra pen even earlier). so i can definitely see your point. BUT in the current state of the game where many items lost their pen (shard got nerfed, magus got nerfed) and SR got buffed... i d rather go for a more healthy build (basically building around the ethereal staff, which trust me, IS GREAT) and getting the obsidian shard a bit later than i used to... to counter tanks even more while remaining safer in early stages of the game where raijin doesnt shine. (especially with warriors and assassin that harass you).
I actually thought about saying this in the guide itself... but if someone just started playing... it s kinda pointless to talk about other itemization and why i changed it. simply cause they dont know (and prob they dont care) about what happened before they started playing the game! :D
about the charons coin.... ye that s kinda a mistake xD or well... i expressed myself in a bad way. i remember why i said it but it s definitely something that can get wrong so i am going to fix it and change the words i used! (spoiler: basically i wanted to say that obsidian shard is a bit better cause provide a bit more % pen. while charons coin lose a bit of % pen and you get 10 more power. so charons coin is a bit better against squishy and obsidian shard is a bit better against tanks. so i definitely need to change that)
about overcapping the CDR. as you said at the end you are gonna sell back mage blessing. (well... if you bought it. i said it s kinda mandatory in most of games mode but in arena or clash you may skip it. i personally dont skip it but ... you know... maybe someone prefer to get booots).
If i have to be honest i also dont like much the fact that you wont make usage of the 10% CDR of the potion of power till you sell boots as well (which is basically the same reason you were talking about) BUT those 2 passive are just too strong. you can definitely waste 10% of overcap for those 2 passives. (yes... when you get chronos pendant you are gonna sell mage blessing VERY soon if not just selling it when you complete it, as you mentioned)
... And yes.... in MANY situations you get divine ruin instead of spear of desolation for the anti-healing so in that case you wont overcap! :D (i am not sure if i mentioned that you should get divine ruin specifically instead of spear of desolation... i am gonna check it!)
about phytagoream: i dont like it anymore. it was a cool item to build around and change a bit your itemization with the 10% CDR it used to have. now i didnt mention it cause i find it underwhelming over many many many other items. i d rather mention typhoon fang with bancroft if someone really want lifesteal ... or even book of the dead for an extra shield in game modes where maybe it can make a difference. but overall i dont suggest building these super niche items.
about gameplay: i think i basically talked about it in all the tips. that was my idea at least! infact i think there maaaany tips compared to other guides but that s cause i used them to also explain how to efficiently use raijin kit and so the gameplay!
about things like positioning (which is the other aspect of the gameplay) i said multiple times during the guide that Raijin is squishy and a safer placement is better (even in the tip for thunder crash). so... there s much of the gameplay in the tips and all along the guide! (also, as i said, it s general guide... not only for conquest. I didnt want to go for a game-mode specific guide. and i dont kinda want to add a part like that cause it would be redundant with tips. i dont want to repeat myself too much!)
About combos, same as above, i used tips for that :D (infact the combos was in the same chapter actually... but then an admin suggested not to use spoilers inside a spoiler.... so i moved it out of that chapter). (as an other example... you can see that i explained the combos about the ult itself ONLY in the tips... cause sadly there wasnt an icon for the multiple projectiles of the ult!)
About item order: well.. yes... i think i could be more direct about the order actually. even if as i mentioned in the guide... you can chose the order yourself and nothing is supermandatory cause all games are different. (i mean... if they have 5 tanks... you are gonna get that osbdian shard far earlier xD)
so... in conclusion... i try to fix all the things i said as soon as possible! (which is probabily now... gonna add more clearance and swap a couple of item position!)
happy you kinda liked it tho! :D was my first guide and already making it looking colorful was hard and took a lot of time xD (was totally new to the BBC code)
EDIT: i edited the guide: added more clarity and added 1 other build more damage oriented (same itemization but different order)!
I do feel if you clarify a combo section then it's always good to have at least some quick discussions on it, rather than just the list. I did note you talking about combining abilities and how to do so in your skills writeup (really liked your explanations in that section), but even just a one-liner or brief paragraph under each combo would be good reference.
sometimes is cool... maybe you are low health and want to heal a bit up... you clear 1 wave with it + bancroft and you can do another fight. sadly, if you go for it it means you are gonna lose either CDR/passives or Health/SR ... which is not helpful. You prob gain more health with 1 ethereal staff proc than a 2+1 combo with lifesteal in teamfight (and count that you are gonna most likely have 2 ethereal proc even in a conquest)... so it s nice to discuss with you about lifesteal usage ... but i wouldnt suggest it in the guide itself xD (but well... maybe someone read the comments!)
note: there would also be Spear of the Magus that i also mention in the guide... but i highlighted it in red. like "ye it s not bad... but not worth it". I think i played it in like 1/2 games... it s prob as niche item as typhon... (basically if u build spear of the magus, you are snowballing and you dont need nor ethereal staff or SR or Doom Orb or Lifesteal and other items i mentioned xD) (and snowballing with Raijin is actually nearly impossible in good high elo match ups. you can still be lucky with kills tho :P)
about combo: well... later today i am gonna add some lines for it!
...and prob 1 small chapter about gameplay (even just positioning, and minion clear.. things like that). cause sadly Raijin is not very popular... and having a guide that i can update each patch to keep it fresh can be cool for everyone :D
Also... btw... i edited guide again and added lines for the combos... and most of all i added the gameplay chapter! :D (i would take a loot at it... there is a super secret ward usage for ARENA! U.U ... super worth reading!)
ofc if the enemy team has 3 tanks that has over 200 magical prot quite fast... well... you have no other choice by building
Also don't build Estaff right after boots, please...
for the vast majority of the games modes you want it after desolation tho
basically in that case, with physical harassers, you want more sustain than damage itself: extra health, extra physical protection are what you need in order to survive and being more tanky.
Book of thoth can be a good call but it requires time to fully stacks it. while it gives you lot of power i wouldnt buy it over soulreaver and gem of isolation.
i think you can go for it in a couple of situations like : you know you can easily stacks it (conquest, even if it requires time; arena but you gotta be sure that people will let you stack, prob a bit faster); they dont have 2 tanky targets (outside of conquest and arena, enemies may only have 1 tank. which makes soulreaver less effective. it still gives you some pen tho. so be careful if you want to pick book instead of SR); enemies have plenty way to escape... jumps... leap... and so on, which makes gem of isolation less useful (especially with less than 2 tank)
i think i may add a paragraph there saying these things actually... may be something useful!
about mantle. it s not bad item and i was thinking about adding it in the fun support build. then i thought: "do u usually buy it?" ... no. even in the support build i chose the spirit robe cause you most likely gonna soak CCs and you dont use much the mantle of discord passive cause you are very tanky and not many things can nuke you with that build.
BUT i digressed a bit. lets go back to the "physical prot build". In that case you want to prevent assassin to kill you which makes mantle passive great. Still breastplate gives you 10% more CDR which is definitely worth over the mantle. in late game, once you bought the 500gold flask that gives you 10% extra CDR (so you ll still cap CDR which is really important!), you may consider buying mantle of discord especially in game modes without many many team fights like conquest and even siege (basically... you wont die much and you ll keep the effect of the potion without buying it again! :P)
P.s. even this things about mantle of discord can be added there i guess... i think they can help others as well ^^ interesting discussion :D
I wish you the best and good luck! :)
... i am not sure where i could add more organization tbh but i ll take a look again and try to improve it again ^^
about the paragraphs of the "leveling skills" well... that actually makes sense. I ll add it for sure :D
i added: spoilers to clean up that "big wall"! i added extra info about leveling order an abilities themself (as suggested above) and i added a section for combos always in the last chapter :D
if u have other suggestions i ll do my best to make it better :D
As for other suggestions, I see you've explained to Kriega your use of Ethereal Staff right after boots in a physical defense build. It would be nice if you could also add information like that to your guide. Add any detail of information you think is worth sharing to both players who are completely new to the character, and information that could benefit people who are looking to improve their Raijin. Maybe positioning tips, when and who to focus with Raijin, Raijin's Threats and Synergies. There's a tab in the God Builder specifically for threats, that would improve your guide a lot.
Thank you for listening to our feedback! It's heart warming when a creator listens to our insights instead of just bashing us. <3
i think now you should see all the things i modified! i pressed it! :D
if you have more suggestions now that you can see the whole changes (hopefully xD).... i still listen to them :D
For some final considerations, never put a spoiler inside another spoiler, like you did with the combos. When you open a spoiler, the spoiler inside it automatically opens as well. I would suggest you open another tab for the combos alone.
In your threats, you mention other gods in the description (Like in
Aside from that, your guide looks amazing and I'm so grateful you're so responsive and eager to take our insights in. Good luck!
and yes... i was raelly looking forward for insights... when a guy asked me on reddit to post a guide here i was sceptical. when i noticed there actually wasnt a single guide for Raijin i wanted to contribute to it! i know he is not popular... but maybe someone will need some help :D