On the third day of the opening week of the LPL Spring Split 2022, Rare Atom went up against Top Esports.
Before this match, Rek’Sai did not have any presence in the Chinese League of Legends Pro League meta, and was neither picked nor banned.
Rare Atom’s jungler Lu “Leyan” Jue, might have single-handedly changed that.
In game one of the best-of-three series, after Jarvan and Xin Zhao were banned, Rare Atom locked in Rek’Sai as their last pick on blue side, and went on to sweep the star-studded Top Esports lineup 2-0.
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Leyan’s early game ganks on Rek’Sai were painfully hard to deal with thanks to this lethality build
Rek’Sai started to become a meta jungler in solo queue after multiple buffs
Out of the meta for many years, Rek’Sai recently made a resurgence in League of Legends patch 12.1 during the preseason.
The burrowed queen was first buffed in patch 11.14, increasing the base damage of Queen’s Wrath and Prey Seeker (Q). Furious Bite’s (E) base damage was later adjusted on patch 12.1 to deal more in the early game and less in the late game.
On top of that, lethality Mythic item Prowler’s Claw, which is used to close gaps, was buffed on League of Legends patch 11.23. Its total cost was reduced, while its base damage and bonus damage were both increased.
League of Legends players put the two and two together, and realized just how much early game burst this champion can do on a pure lethality build. Solo queue players went on to pioneer this new Rek’Sai build to rank up, garnering a positive 52.11% win rate in high ELO, with a 3.7% pick rate as of writing.
Leyan’s Rek’Sai wrecked havoc against Top Esports in the early game
During the laning phase seven minutes in, the moment Leyan found the perfect angle on Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo’s Jhin and Wang “Zhuo” Xu-Zhuo’s Karma, he Burrowed and flashed in.
Armed with just a Serrated Dirk, his burst combined with Yang “Zorah” Chong-Jiang’s Lux ate a large chunk of their health. Together, they secured their AD carry two kills.
After Leyan completed Prowler’s Claw, the first item in this build, his single target burst damage became sizeable. Utilizing the Mythic item and her basic combo, Zhang “Zoom” Xing-Ran’s Kennen was obliterated.
Ahead in the early game, it became a back-and-forth affair as Top Esports attempted to crawl their way back from the deficit. But a final dragon fight at the 27-minute mark saw success for Rare Atom, who wiped out their opponents for the game one victory.
Rare Atom Leyan’s Rek’Sai build
- Mercury Treads
- Prowler’s Claw (Mythic)
- Serpent’s Fang
- Edge of Night
- Executioner’s Calling (likely into Mortal Reminder or Chempunk Chainsword)
- Control Ward
Catch the LPL Spring Split 2022 live on YouTube and Twitch daily starting from 5 p.m. GMT+8 | 1 a.m. PT | 9 a.m. GMT on weekdays, and 3 p.m. GMT+8 | 11 a.m. PT | 7 a.m. GMT on weekends.
READ MORE: LPL Spring Split 2022: Schedule, results, format, where to watch
