Thanks to his mobility and wave clear, Renekton is one of the strongest lane bullies in the top lane. When ahead, he can even 1v9 against the enemy team. Here’s everything you need to know to get you started playing the Butcher of the Sands.

If you’re keeping up with the LCS or other top level professional tournaments in League of Legends, chances are you’re familiar with how powerful Renekton is as a pick in the top lane. Pro players like to use him because he can snowball out of control and can shut down his opponents before they can get ahead. In fact, Renekton already has a championship skin from 2016 when SKT’s Marin dominated with him during worlds. Despite being a strong pick, Renekton tends to fall off hard in the late game. But that shouldn’t matter because if you played him right, you can end the match before it even reaches the late game.

Champion Abilities

Renekton’s kit has a lot of mobility, some crowd control, a lot of sustain, and incredible burst damage. He has everything you want from a strong bruiser. The only drawback is that his abilities have very long cooldowns. It’s important to keep this in mind so that you can plan your attack wisely and play around this weakness.

Passive  –  Reign of Anger

Renekton gains 5 Fury for every basic attack he makes. This Fury can empower his abilities with bonus effects. While Renekton has less than 50% Health, Fury gains are increased by 50%

Thanks to this passive, Renekton doesn’t need mana to cast his abilities. The only problem is, he is very reliant on getting Fury to make the most out of his abilities. Depending on who you’re asking, Reign of Anger can be seen as either good or bad. Personally, we think it’s great as it synergizes well with Renekton’s entire kit. 

Q – Cull the Meek

Renekton swings his blade, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies and healing himself for each enemy hit. He generates 2.5 Fury for each non-champion hit and 10 Fury for each champion hit, up to a maximum of 30 Fury.

50 Fury Bonus: Damage and Heal is increased. No longer generates Fury.

This is Renekton’s primary source of damage and sustain. This ability is very powerful as it can take a chunk out of your opponent’s health while restoring your own. It’s also AoE so it’s great even in team fights.

W – Ruthless Predator

Renekton’s next basic attack strikes twice, stunning his target for 0.75 seconds and dealing physical damage per hit. Each strike applies on-hit effects and generates Fury. Hitting a champion generates an additional 10 Fury.

50 Fury Bonus: Renekton attacks three times, instantly destroying shields on the target before dealing damage and stunning his target for 1.5 seconds. No longer generates Fury.

Despite Renekton’s only form of crowd control, Ruthless Predator is very effective. Sure, it’s a single target ability but when empowered it stuns its target for an absurd 1.5 seconds. That’s enough time for Renekton or his teammates to burst down high priority, squishy targets like mages or ADCs.

E – Slice and Dice

Slice: Renekton dashes, dealing physical damage to enemies he passes through. Hitting an enemy grants the ability to use Dice.png Dice for 4 seconds.

Dice: Renekton dashes, dealing physical damage to enemies he passes through.

He generates 2 Fury for each non-champion hit and 10 Fury for each champion hit, up to a maximum of 30 Fury.

Dice – 50 Fury Bonus: Damage is increased by 75%. Enemies hit have reduced Armor for 4 seconds. No longer generates Fury.

Slice and Dice is Renekton’s mobility spell. It allows him to dash into an opponent and deal a chunk of burst damage then dash back out before they can retaliate. It’s also the reason why Renekton is great at diving the opposing team’s backline. A standard combo would be to Slice towards your opponent, then Ruthless Predator for the stun, followed by Cull the Meek, and then Dice away to safety. This combo is guaranteed to take a huge portion of your opponent’s life especially if they aren’t durable.

R – Dominus

Renekton surrounds himself with dark energies for 15 seconds, gaining Health and 20 Fury. While active, he deals magic damage to nearby enemies and gains 5 Fury per second.

Renekton’s ultimate works the same way as Nasus’ ultimate. Not surprising, given the fact that they are brothers. Dominus makes Renekton a very difficult opponent to take down. It increases his survivability a lot and when combined with his damage and sustain, you’ll see your opponents get frustrated as you heal back the damage that they deal.

Runes and Item Builds

For Renekton’s items, you should be focused on increasing three things: his damage, his survivability, and his sustain. Keep these three things in mind and you’ll have no problem deciding which item you should build regardless of the situation.

Starting Items

Most bruisers in the top lane start with a Corrupting Potion for the sustain and dueling power. But since Renekton doesn’t have any mana, he’ll be starting with a Doran’s Blade and some Health Potions instead. This gives him more than enough sustain and damage to carry him in the early parts of the game. If you play your cards right, you can even force a first blood against your lane opponent.

Mythic Items

For Renekton’s Mythic item, the best choice is Goredrinker. It has everything Renekton needs. Damage? Goredrinker gives +45 attack damage and grants a 1% attack damage increase for every 5% missing health that maxes out at 15% missing health. Survivability? Goredrinker gives 400 health and 150% base health regeneration. Sustain? Goredrinker’s active, Thirsting Slash, deals damage and restores health for each champion hit. So it goes without saying that you should take Goredrinker nearly 90% of the time. The other two choices would be Eclipse and Prowler’s Claw. While these items are pretty strong too, they don’t address everything Renekton needs to succeed. They make him more of a glass cannon which is fine for certain matchups but even then you’ll still be better off with Goredrinker.

Full Build

After buying your Mythic item, your next item should be Black Cleaver. It gives you both health and damage plus it helps you shred your opponent’s health faster. For boots, you can choose between Plated Steelcaps or Mercury’s Treads depending on your situation. Next go for Sterak’s Gage for even more survivability and damage plus a passive shield that goes off when you’re low on health. Your last two items should be Spirit Visage and Thornmail. Spirit Visage gives you health, magic resist, and enhances your healing while Thornmail gives you health, armor, and increases your overall DPS. This build path gives you a great balance of damage and tankiness that can make you strong in all stages of the game.

Other Viable Items

There are plenty of viable items that you can build on Renekton. If you need more survivability or you find yourself getting burst down, you can go for Guardian Angel for its resurrecting passive. If, for some reason, you need more wave clear and AoE damage you can purchase Ravenous Hydra or Titanic Hydra if you need to be tankier. Chempunk Chainsword is a great anti heal item for bruisers while Death’s Dance can increase both your survivability and your damage. Hullbreaker is a new item that can increase your pushing power. It’s great for when you fall behind and decide to stick with split pushing lanes to better help your team. If you need more shields, Gargoyle Stoneplate is a great pickup and can synergize well with the shield from Sterak’s Gage. Basically, you have a lot of options on what to build depending on the situation. Don’t be afraid to mix and match to see what works for you.

Runes

For runes, the same principles on items should be followed as well. Go with the Precision tree for your primaries and take Conqueror as your keystone. This will increase your damage, sustain, and by extension, your survivability the longer a fight goes on. Next take Triumph for more sustain, Legend: Alacrity for the attack speed, and Last Stand to help you win all in duels. For your secondaries go with the Resolve tree and take Demolish for the bonus damage against turrets, and Bone Plating to make you more durable. For rune shards, take double Adaptive Force and either Armor or Magic Resist depending on your matchup.

Useful Tips

1. A lot of people tend to use Dominus at the last minute in an effort to somehow stay alive. There are instances where it’s good to use it this way but you’re missing out on a ton of DPS potential. It’s better to activate Renekton’s ultimate the very moment that a fight breaks out since it lasts for 15 seconds.
2. Don’t be afraid to be aggressive when trading with your opponent. Never underestimate the damage and heal you get from Cull the Meek. You’ll find yourself winning most 1v1 scenarios if you play it right.
3. Renekton is strong against most duelists in the game but can be countered by champions who can outsustain him and deal more damage in a longer period of time. Champions like Gwen or Mordekaiser can easily counter Renekton when they match up. It’s best to ban these champions in champ select to make your life easier.
4. For summoner spells, always take Flash and Teleport. Flash is a given and a must have on most champions while Teleport opens up a lot of opportunities around the map and adds to your overall presence. Ignite is a good alternative for Teleport if you’re more focused on being a solo laner and plan on being aggressive in the laning phase.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Renekton in League of Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more awesome guides on your favorite games. Have fun and we’ll see you on the Rift!