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Last week saw the first professional play on League of Legends Patch 7.12, the first patch that gave new Rek’Sai some significant buffs. While not everyone in professional play picked the void monster back up, the regions that did saw mixed success, and now with yet another buff we’re about to see a lot more of the Void Queen.
The region where Rek’Sai made the largest charge back into the meta was North America, where she was picked or banned in 20 of the 25 games last week. Despite this high presence, it’s clear that most of the teams picking her had no idea what purpose she serves in her newest iteration.
Of the players that lost with her, most built her like a traditional tanky jungler. A hydrid Warrior Enchantment build with a variety of Smites with compositions that would have been far better suited for Gragas or Lee Sin. The successful uses, however, built her like a more traditional jungle assassin, putting her into team compositions like a more team-focused Rengar that was capable of engaging fights.
The only problem Rek’Sai consistently faced in these kinds of compositions, which worked out very well for Counter Logic Gaming when they ran it twice against Team EnVyUs, was that she couldn’t quite finish kills on her own.
That’s about to change thanks to the Void Rush buffs in Patch 7.13.
R - Void Rush
RATIO :: 1.6 bonus attack damage >>> 1.85 bonus attack damage
With this change it’s hard to imagine anyone building Rek’Sai as a damage hybrid, or really anything other than an assassin. But it should also give teams a better idea of where she fits in team compositions. After these buffs, along with the success of Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett and CLG — and the failure of almost everyone else — this should be the perfect time for Rek’Sai to reappear as one of competitive League of Legends’ very best junglers.
Her brief downtime so far this Summer Split has marked the first time since her release that Rek’Sai wasn’t a dominant force in the competitive meta. She was the most-played jungler in competitive play in 2015 and 2016, as well as the fifth-most played jungler in the 2017 Spring Split.