Nautilus vs Rakan - Matchup Guide | Patch 26.16

YouNautilus

EnemyRakan

Win Condition

Win the lane by using your point-and-click CC ( and ) to bypass Rakan's mobility. Focus the enemy ADC during all-ins and use your body to block from hitting your carry.

Overview

This is a battle of 'Hook vs. Mobility.' You have the advantage in raw lockdown and tankiness, but Rakan is significantly more elusive and can easily dodge your skillshots. If you catch him or his ADC, they die, but if you miss, you'll be kited to death.

Difficulty

Medium

Rakan's high mobility with and makes landing extremely difficult against a competent player.

You (Nautilus)

•Point-and-click lockdown with and
•Massive frontline tankiness using shield
•Ability to hook terrain with for mobility
•Single target pick potential

Them (Rakan)

•High mobility and slippery escapes with and
•High sustain and poke through and
•Ability to dash to allies with for safety
•Massive AOE disruption with and

Rakan's Abilities

Ability	Threat	What It Means For You
	Low	A regenerating shield. Don't waste your mana on short trades if is up.
	Low	Linear poke that heals allies. Sidestep it and don't let him touch his ADC to proc the heal.
	High	A dash/knockup. If he starts the animation, you can cancel it with or hook him with mid-air.
	Med	A dash to allies with a shield. He has two charges; wait for him to use both before committing your .
	High	Charm and move speed boost. Use immediately to stop his momentum and prevent the full charm chain.

Lane Phase

Lvl 1-5

→Do not lead with unless Rakan has already used or .
→Focus on walking up and applying to the enemy ADC to force a trade.
→Use to reset your auto-attack animation for a faster proc.
→Stand slightly apart from your ADC so cannot knock up both of you at once.

Lvl 6+Power spike

→Your is your most reliable tool because it is point-and-click; use it to shut down Rakan's engage.
→In all-ins, aim at the enemy ADC; the shockwave can knock up Rakan if he tries to to them.
→Track Rakan's cooldown; without it, his engage is much more predictable and easier to hook.

Trading Patterns

Safe Poke

Walk up to the enemy ADC -> auto -> to slow -> to block return damage -> walk away.

Punish

When Rakan misses , he has no hard CC or engage for ~18 seconds. Immediately look for a on him or his ADC.

All-in

the target -> walk up for -> -> save for after they Flash or try to dash away -> Ignite.

Respect

•
Engage — If it hits you and your ADC, you will lose the trade before you can even react.
•
Mobility — He can bait your and then dash to an ally, leaving you overextended.
•
Charm — It can interrupt your dash if he touches you while you are traveling.
•
Tower Diving — Rakan is the king of baiting under tower with his mobility; don't chase too deep.

Punish

•
is on cooldown — Aggressively walk up and look for a pick.
•
Rakan is isolated from allies — He cannot use to escape if no allies are nearby; this is your best hook window.
•
Level 1 Strength — You are much tankier; try to force a level 1 bush cheese with .
•
is down — Focus your poke on him as he becomes much squishier without his shield.

Wave Management

Early

Let the wave push toward you. This gives you more lane space to chase Rakan down after he burns his mobility spells.

Post-6

Keep the wave neutral or slightly pushed to enable your jungler. Your is world-class gank setup.

AI analysis • Patch 16.3.1 • CachedView Rakan vs Nautilus

YouNautilus

EnemyRakan

Generating matchup guide for Nautilus vs Rakan...

Analyzing champion abilities and cooldowns...

Ability

Threat

What It Means For You

Low

A regenerating shield. Don't waste your mana on short trades if is up.

Low

Linear poke that heals allies. Sidestep it and don't let him touch his ADC to proc the heal.

High

A dash/knockup. If he starts the animation, you can cancel it with or hook him with mid-air.

Med

A dash to allies with a shield. He has two charges; wait for him to use both before committing your .

High

Charm and move speed boost. Use immediately to stop his momentum and prevent the full charm chain.