Ok, so, Renekton has been free this week, and I've been looking to learn some new roles, so I decided to try him. I top Mundo sometimes, but wanted to try someone with a lil more damage output. So I gave Renekton a try, and I really enjoy him. Thing is, I'm not great with him. I know that some of it is I need to play him more. I just seem to keep getting top lane matchups that, well, eat me. One game, I was against Singed and Nidalee. Another, it was Nautalus, with Lee Sin ganking. Later in the game, towords the end of my build, I'll start doing better, but always after an entirely unacceptable amount of deaths.

I have a half decent build, with bloodthirster and frozen mallet being pretty central to it, try to go guardian angel, and choose which boots I build based on enemy team comp and build. I just keep getting owned early game.

So, basically, and advice for a new Ranekton player besides "practice more" (which I'm already doing)?

Renekton is a decent champ. What you are going to find you suffer from however is champions with either CC that counter you kit (singed tossing you back when you slice and dice in), and good range (AD Bruiser/AP Nid).

As he is a Melee AD Caster, what this means is much of his damage comes from his abilities. In Season 3 they will be adding multible items that will Improve AD caster's game.

You have a decent build at the moment, you just need to practice a bit more. Once you know your weaknesses you'll be able to play a little safer.

Practice more.

Just kidding, haha. Yeah the important thing to note here is that renekton is an AD caster. As KingSilas mentioned, itemization for AD casters is a bit weak right now, but should be getting better soon. Brutalizer, Hexdrinker (and Maw of Malmortius) are also pretty good items on him, especially if you face up against an AP. The important thing about Renek is getting his combo down. Once you get to lvl 3, you want to get your rage up at least halfway and then E in, then hit W for the full stun, hit Q, and then E out. If you get the combo right you can get really good harrass that way without taking any in return. Renekton is also really good at baiting deaths at his tower because of his ult, stun, and dashes. Just know that if you don't do well early game, you're going to struggle late game with the croc. He's designed to be a bully early/mid game.

^THIS.

His combo is very hard to counter and can leave a lot of champions near half health after a bit of poke with Q. Brings wards ALWAYS because you will generally find yourself pushing with him to keep sustained with Q.

Full ad renek...so much dmg....

Thanks guys. This honestly helps a lot. And Skyhawk, thanks for breaking down his harass combo for me. You guys rock.

How do you get his rage halfway up? By constantly attacking?

Skyhawk- can you elaborate on this "Renekton is also really good at baiting deaths at his tower because of his ult, stun, and dashes" ?

What does his ult do that allows baiting at tower?

So sorry to hijack a thread.

I have one other question. I see that zraven has his build order set. Do you buy these items as pieces throughout the match or do you just save up gold and buy them once you have gold for them?

His ult (like Nasus') gives you an instant boost to HP, and as it isn't effected by healing redution, is great at keeping alive

If someone tries to dive you, you pop his ult and stun them under the tower, while dashing around and avoiding damage.