I’m actually not surprised to see so few Renekton players, but I’m wondering if you’ve seen the same thing. For the first couple days, as with most patches, he was picked pretty quickly. He’s fallen off the radar, though. In fact, I’ve had a couple games without a Renketon on my team or the other.

Part of that is probably the IP cost. I know I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t mind the IP cost – I think it’s a good way for Riot to encourage financial support for the game. I am surprised that it has taken so long for people to run out of IP.

The other part is no doubt that his playstyle is a bit underwhelming in lane. He’s great 1v1, he’s a solid ganker, but his heal is really lackluster in lane. Yes, he can be a strong lane partner, but without that he loses a lot of the survivability he needs to stay in lane. Think about Pantheon as a counter example. His primary harass combo is Spear Toss -> Aegis -> HSS -> Spear Toss. It’s targeted, reliable, and best of all, he builds up a shield when he does it so he doesn’t take too much return damage. He can even do that on a turret and soak two hits free of penalty. It’s kind of a sweet deal.

Renekton, by contrast, is wide open to return fire when he dashes in. Even if he dashes back out he has still been in range for quite some time, and his heal definitely won’t save him.

For now, the skill ceiling is probably high enough on Renekton that you won’t see him in many games. That is, of course, unless he gets buffed.

One of the readers here pointed me toward some very interesting information regarding the Renekton release. Apparently he was nerfed after the Champion Spotlight was recorded, but they still posted the video without mentioning the changes. Now I understand why he doesn’t feel quite right.

When I was watching the Spotlight, I was initially shocked by how much Renekton could heal with his Q. If you watch the video at the 3:30 counter, you’ll see Phreak hit level four, dash into a pack of minions, hit Cull the Meek to heal for something like 250 hp, and dash out. I’ve tried that same move probably 40 times in my games with him, and it has never healed for that much. Well, that’s because they nerfed it.

Here’s what Xypherous, an Associate Technical Designer, had to say about the change:

What happened was that, very late in development, we decided to take a gamble to make his kit more cohesive. It paid off, because his abilities are now better, but the normal process of balancing took a major hit so his numbers were in a state of super flux. 😡

So yeah, we decided to sacrifice a lot of things to make a solid champion a better one. I think I lost something like 40 hours of sleep the last week due to it. ~.~

While I don’t think the nerf killed Renekton – he seems okay for melee, but definitely not the beast he could be – I do think it bred some bad blood between Riot and a lot of the community. Obviously I play the game a decent bit, so I usually have enough IP to buy whatever champ releases without spending real cash. For a lot of players, though, that’s not an option, so they wait on what information Riot gives prior to the champion release to make a decision about spending Riot points. There’s a big difference between the way Renekton looks like he’ll play and how he actually plays. He requires a very cautious touch, or a strong lanemate to be successful. Without those things, he’s going to struggle to stay on top of a game. That’s definitely not a champion I would spend $8 on.

I’m not saying he should have been released as some crazy whirlwind of doom, rather that Riot should have either taken the time to change the Champion Spotlight, or delayed his release by a week in order to balance the champion. It would have been really easy to add a note to the YouTube video describing the changes in the appropriate place. Would it have looked as nice as the current video? Probably not, but it would have been an accurate representation of a product that people will spend money on. That’s really not so much to ask.

I wrote that title as 75 percent joke, and to be fair, most of his problems are melee related, not champion related. Let’s forget all that and talk about the good stuff for a minute, shall we?

Renekton has the hyperactive playstyle that I love. He’s regularly casting, has a fun little dash, and he flourishes his blade when he swings. Also, he’s a damn crocodile, in case you didn’t notice. Renekton also brings a decent stun to your team, and once the skill is at max rank, he can use the stun pretty often. His ult isn’t bad, and if you couple him with a stunner, you could have a decent lane.

That said, I am just now having my first runaway game with him, and I don’t really feel like I’m dominating all that hard. A big part of the problem is his cooldowns. They are long, to the point that you better have some cooldown reduction items with you. I understand they sort of have to be this way because of the fury system – too short and he’s constantly using furious abilities – but it limits the regularity with which you get to use his skills, which are all pretty cool. No doubt, part of the issue is that the resource system is new, and it’s still tough to know what the best use of all that fury is in the moment.

The other problem is that Renekton seems to be balanced around 1v1 fights where he is at or above his opponent’s level. In that situation he is very strong, much like Xin Zhao. His stun really cuts people up, especially if you’ve used a furious Dice, and a furious heal can be enough to keep you up against one target. Against multiple targets, though, you’re taking too much damage to even notice that heal.

It’s as though he was designed specifically to take second solo, which, when he can get it, is great. In the six or seven games I’ve played with him, though, I haven’t been solo. More often than not, I’ve been against strong ranged harass with another melee. When you’re the same level as multiple opponents and lower than the people ganking you, Renekton suffers like every melee toon. He’s easily kited despite his dash (the range is very short because he can do it twice if he hits someone) and often subjected to chain CC before he can even reach a target (or safety).

As for build, I’ve tried several things, but the thing I liked most so far is a Bloodthirster -> Trinity. Trinity is a little strange on him, but the added movespeed, health, and slow proc make a big difference for his gameplay. His cooldowns are long enough that you usually aren’t wasting the bonus damage procs, either.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say about him in a few days. I’ve been pretty busy with work and starting up a Minecraft server so I haven’t put quite as much time into studying him. This weekend I should be able to get a few more games and let you know how he feels.