League of Legends next champion revealed: Rek’Sai, the Void Burrower

Riot Games continues to churn out new champions in League of Legends, revealing today the next in line: Rek'Sai, the Void Burrower.

Described as a "powerful and mobile monster," Rek'Sai is best suited for the jungle of Summoner's Rift. "Clever use of her tunnels gives Rek'Sai unparalleled mobility through her jungle and into the enemy's domain," Riot teases. "Once there, she works best counter-jungling her opponent into obscuirty before ganking enemy laners from the unconventional angles her tunnels provide."

With a tremendous amount of changes to the jungle in the 2015 preseason, and an emphasis on strategic diversity, I envision Rek'Sai causing all sorts of chaos and mayhem on Summoner's Rift. To do so, we must first understand her abilities, which Riot also revealed.

Passive: Fury of the Xer'Sai

Rek’Sai gains fury whenever she attacks her enemies. Burrowing consumes her fury, briefly regenerating her health.

Q: Queen’s Wrath/Prey Seeker

Unburrowed – Queen’s Wrath

Rek’Sai lashes out, dealing damage to all enemies around her with her next three basic attacks.

Burrowed – Prey Seeker

Rek’Sai fires out a pulse of void energy in a straight line skillshot that detonates on the first enemy struck, damaging, and revealing the target and all nearby enemies also hit by the missile’s explosion.

W: Burrow/Unburrow

Unburrowed – Burrow

Rek’Sai burrows underground, gaining Tremor Sense (a unique mechanic that shows Rek’Sai all enemy movement in a wide area around her) and increased movement speed at the expense of vision range and access to her basic attacks. She ignores unit collision as she moves around.

Burrowed – Unburrow

Rek’Sai bursts out into the open, knocking up and damaging all surrounding enemies.

E: Furious Bite/Tunnel

Unburrowed – Furious Bite

Rek’Sai bites her target, dealing increasing damage based on her fury, or true damage if she has a full fury bar.

Burrowed – Tunnel

Rek’Sai digs toward a target location, creating a pair of long-lasting tunnels at the two ends of her path.

R: Void Rush

Passive: Rek’Sai gains attack speed.

Active: Rek’Sai channels briefly before burrowing and dashing towards any of her tunnels, briefly gaining significant movement speed once she emerges.

As for Rek'Sai's gameplay, here's how Riot suggests you handle her on the battlefield in all phases of the game.

Jungling

Rek’Sai is a mobile menace at all stages of the game, creating tunnels throughout her own jungle to help her dart from camp to camp. But she doesn’t just burrow quickly; she kills at speed, too. Queen's Wrath brings mass carnage to each camp’s monsters, dealing solid area of effect damage to every enemy around her, while Furious Bite deals powerful single target damage. Monsters will fight back, but Rek’Sai – once she’s generated enough fury – can sustain through the slaughter by burrowing, which restores her health and speeds her toward the next camp. And once her jungle’s empty, it’s time for Rek’Sai to turn toward the enemy jungle.

Tremor Sense is central to Rek’Sai’s counter-jungling runs, which focus on killing enemy camps while her counterpart’s away rather than dueling directly. By checking for movement in her intended direction, Rek’Sai can at least understand where her opposing jungler isn’t, then use that knowledge to burrow in and steal camps, effectively starving her opponent out of their jungle and forcing them into premature ganks, or worse yet, into Rek’Sai’s lair. Pity those who dare stray too deep into the burrower’s home: her tunnels offer incredible mobility, and with good vision control, Rek’Sai can easily coordinate her allies as she hunts down wandering targets.

Then there are her ganks. Rek’Sai’s relative lack of burst damage means she thrives best when she ganks for her high-damage allies, using her considerable utility to slow and stop her target’s escape. Most crucially, Rek’Sai’s tunnels give her unique angles of attack into enemy lanes, from which she can damage her mark with Prey Seeker before unburrowing beneath them. The knock-up provides a strong enough window for most assassins to secure their kill, but even if her enemy’s still alive, Rek’Sai can turn to her own abilities – Queen's Wrath and Furious Bite in particular – to add extra damage into the mix.

Teamfights

Come mid-game, Rek’Sai operates best when she takes advantage of her unique vision and tunnels, using her knowledge of the enemy’s movements to split push or pick lone targets. In split-push situations, she makes short work of minion waves with Queen's Wrath, shoving her own minions into towers and forcing the enemy team to react. Tremor Sense ensures she’s always aware of her enemy’s whereabouts, too, allowing her to dive through the myriad tunnels she’s already created and skirt around those who come to stop the shove. But her mobility doesn’t end there. Void Rush gives Rek’Sai the ability to burrow to any of her tunnels, potentially crossing over the entirety of Summoner’s Rift in seconds.

But when to ult? If she’s attracted enemy attention with her split pushes, Rek’Sai can quickly relocate to join her waiting allies in another lane, using their newfound numbers advantage to force down towers or claim other objectives. Alternatively, a sneaky tunnel in the enemy base sets up a perfect late game backdoor attempt, while tunnels near her own base give Rek’Sai the opportunity to dash back and help defend when the enemy forces come knocking. During the early and mid game, Void Rush gives Rek’Sai instant access back into her jungle whenever she recalls, meaning she can carry on clearing camps and gaining experience and gold while her counterpart heads back to their jungle.

In large-scale teamfights, Rek’Sai works best when she can follow up on a solid initiation, following in and locking up priority targets with the knock up from Unburrow. Once she’s engaged, Rek’Sai has to work fast, generating fury as quickly as she can before crippling her enemy with Furious Bite. The ability scales in damage depending on how much she’s filled her fury bar, and deals true damage when full. Once she’s laid down her punishment, Rek’Sai needs to focus on survival. Burrow gives her both the movement speed and health regen she needs to dodge and recover from the enemy’s retaliation, and gives her opportunity to peel for her damage dealers by Unburrowing beneath their would-be killers.

Rek'Sai is said to work best with Lux, Malphite and Kassadin, while struggling against the newly released Kalista, Lee Sin, and Ziggs.

What do you think of the upcoming champion, Rek'Sai, the Void Burrower?