How to Dominate Top Lane with League of Legends’ Renekton

Renekton is a rage-fueled Ascended from the deserts of Shurima. He was once his empire’s most respected warrior and led its armies to many victories. After Shurima fell, Renekton was entombed beneath the sands.

Time broke him. When he finally returned, he came back unstable and obsessed with a single goal: find and kill his brother, Nasus. In his madness, Renekton blames Nasus for the centuries he spent trapped in darkness.

This article explains Renekton’s story, how his kit works, and how to think about his strengths, weaknesses, items, and matchups.

Renekton’s story: the Ascended who lost himself

Renekton comes from Shurima, a harsh empire built in scorched deserts. He earned his status through war and leadership. He was not a minor soldier; he was the warrior the empire trusted to lead armies and win battles.

Then Shurima collapsed. Renekton ended up sealed away under the sands. That long imprisonment did not just remove him from the world. It changed him.

When Renekton returned, he did not return whole. He is now consumed by rage and fixation. He hunts Nasus because he believes Nasus caused his suffering. That belief drives everything about him now.

Renekton’s core mechanic: Fury and Reign of Anger

Renekton does not use mana. His kit revolves around Fury, controlled by his passive, Reign of Anger.

How Renekton generates and loses Fury

Renekton gains Fury mainly through basic attacks. His basic attacks generate 5 Fury. Many of his abilities also generate Fury when they hit targets.

If Renekton stays out of combat for 12 seconds, his Fury starts to drain. He then loses 1 Fury every 0.25 seconds, which clears the bar quickly if he stops fighting.

Renekton also generates 50% bonus Fury from all sources while he is below 50% of his maximum health. This matters because it changes what he can do while low. He can reach empowered casts more easily when he is hurt.

Empowered abilities at 50 Fury

When Renekton has at least 50 Fury, his next basic ability consumes 50 Fury and becomes empowered with an extra effect. Empowered abilities do not generate Fury.

This creates a clear pattern: build Fury, then spend it at the right moment. Bad timing wastes power. Good timing wins trades, saves you in fights, or locks down targets.

Abilities overview

Renekton’s kit is built around short fights, burst damage, and sustain. He has a heal, a stun, a two-part dash, and an ultimate that gives health, Fury, and area damage.

Cull the Meek: damage and healing in a circle

Cull the Meek is an area cleave around Renekton. It deals physical damage and heals him based on enemies hit, up to a cap.

It heals more when it hits champions. It also generates Fury based on what it hits: 2.5 Fury per non-champion and 10 Fury per champion, capped at 30 Fury per cast.

When empowered by Reign of Anger, Cull the Meek gets increased damage, triple total healing, and a larger healing cap. This is a main tool for lane sustain and for turning fights when Renekton is low.

There is a short lockout after casting: Renekton cannot basic attack or cast Slice, Dice, or Dominus for 0.25 seconds after activation. It is small, but it affects how clean your combos feel.

Ruthless Predator: on-hit stun and burst

Ruthless Predator empowers Renekton’s next basic attack within 7 seconds. It gains 50 bonus range, strikes twice, and stuns the target for 0.75 seconds. Each strike applies on-hit effects at full effectiveness and generates Fury. Hitting an enemy champion generates 10 bonus Fury.

When empowered, it strikes three times, increases the stun duration to 1.5 seconds, and destroys damage-mitigating shields on the first strike if the target is not a monster. This makes empowered W a serious lockdown tool and a way to cut through shields.

Ruthless Predator resets Renekton’s basic attack timer. That enables faster burst patterns. It also has a movement lockout after the cast time where Renekton cannot move or cast other abilities for a short window. Dominus can end that lockout early.

Slice and Dice: two-part dash with damage

Slice is a dash in a target direction that deals physical damage to enemies passed through. If Renekton hits an enemy with Slice, he can cast Dice within the next 4 seconds.

Dice is a second dash in a direction and deals the same physical damage to enemies passed through.

Both Slice and Dice generate Fury: 2 Fury per non-champion hit and 10 Fury per champion hit, capped at 30 Fury per dash.

When empowered, Dice gains bonus damage and applies an armor reduction debuff for 4 seconds. The armor reduction scales by rank, reducing 25% to 35% of the target’s armor.

A key detail: the empowered bonus applies to Dice, not Slice. If you want the armor reduction, plan to spend Fury on the second dash.

Dominus: health, Fury, and persistent area damage

Dominus empowers Renekton for 15 seconds. He gains bonus health, increased size, 25 bonus attack range, and 20 Fury on cast. It also increases Cull the Meek’s effect radius.

During Dominus, Renekton deals magic damage to nearby enemies every 0.5 seconds. He also generates 5 Fury per second, up to a maximum of 75 Fury.

Dominus does not refund its cooldown if Renekton dies during the cast animation. Its bonus health does not interact with healing modifiers or Grievous Wounds. When the duration ends, Renekton retains the bonus health if it does not push him above his normal maximum.

How Renekton plays: trading, sustain, and timing

Renekton’s play pattern starts with Fury control. He can cast spells without Fury, but the empowered effects are what swing fights.

Lane trading basics

Slice and Dice supports quick trades. Slice in, use another skill, then Dice out. This is a common harassment pattern because it gives damage without committing for long.

Cull the Meek is your sustain tool. It heals more when it hits champions, and empowered Cull the Meek triples the total healing. A common goal is to build Fury, then hit as many minions as possible with the empowered cleave to restore health.

Ruthless Predator is your control tool. It locks a target in place, and the empowered version lasts much longer. That stun window gives time for autos and other abilities.

Fury decisions that matter

Renekton’s Fury spend changes the outcome of a fight. You can spend Fury to:

• heal harder with empowered Cull the Meek,

• lock a target down longer and break shields with empowered Ruthless Predator,

• shred armor with empowered Dice.

These choices matter because you often do not get more than one empowered cast in a short trade. If you can reach 100 Fury, you can use two empowered skills. That opens stronger sequences, like empowered Dice to shred armor and then follow with empowered Cull the Meek for damage and sustain, or empowered Ruthless Predator plus empowered Cull the Meek to maximize burst and healing.

Items that fit Renekton’s kit

The item notes you shared describe Renekton as a tanky attack damage caster who relies on health and resistances to stay in fights. Cooldown reduction helps him build and spend Fury more often.

Common item path ideas

Starting options include Doran’s Blade, Health Potion, and Warding Totem. Early options include Tiamat, Phage, and Boots of Speed.

Core items listed include Ravenous Hydra, Black Cleaver, and Ninja Tabi. Boot choice changes by matchup, with Mercury’s Treads as a standard option when crowd control is a problem.

Why some items stand out

The Black Cleaver has strong synergy with Ruthless Predator because the multi-hit attack can apply stacks quickly. Using it early in a fight can shift the outcome.

Spirit Visage pairs well with Cull the Meek because it boosts healing effects and adds cooldown reduction. That supports Renekton’s sustain and Fury cycle.

Sunfire Cape synergizes with Dominus because Dominus already deals area magic damage, and Sunfire adds more damage while Renekton stays close to enemies.

If Renekton struggles to sustain with Cull the Meek alone, lifesteal items like The Bloodthirster or Blade of the Ruined King can work because their effects trigger on the hits of Ruthless Predator. Ravenous Hydra is also noted as an acceptable alternative and can help with area damage. It can also cancel the animation of Ruthless Predator using its active, which reduces time spent stuck in place.

Strengths: why Renekton wins early fights

Renekton has a strong laning phase and high early damage because his abilities have high base damage, especially when empowered.

He also has tools that cover multiple needs at once: a gap closer, a stun, and sustain. That combination makes careless opponents easy to punish.

At level 6, Dominus adds a large chunk of bonus health and extra Fury generation. This makes turret diving Renekton risky. The instant health gain acts like a large effective heal, and Ignite cannot reduce the bonus health gain the way it reduces healing.

Weaknesses: what makes Renekton easier to handle

Renekton can be poked down early. His main gap closer is relatively short. He also has windows where he cannot move, especially during Ruthless Predator’s lockout.

Kiting and crowd control are major problems for him. Ranged champions with strong kiting and control can keep distance and reduce his ability to fight and build Fury. If he cannot fight, he cannot access empowered casts as often.

Burst damage also punishes him. Outside of health, sustain, and Dominus, he can be fragile. Heavy burst from range can drop him before he finds a clean engage.

Renekton’s high health pool, plus Dominus adding even more health, makes him vulnerable to effects that deal percent health damage. Armor also matters because much of his damage is physical burst.

Playing against Renekton: practical counter ideas

The clearest tell is his Fury bar. Renekton often plays calmly until he builds Fury. When he reaches the threshold, he looks for Slice in, an empowered spell, and then Dice out.

Harass him to keep him from fighting and generating Fury. If Renekton cannot build Fury, his threat drops.

Try not to let Slice hit an enemy if you can help it. If Slice hits, it enables Dice. That gives him a much longer engage or escape path.

Respect level 6. Dominus gives Renekton deceptive power because it adds health, Fury, and damage at once. If you approach him while low and he has Dominus ready, he can flip the fight.

Combos and small mechanics that improve Renekton’s damage

Renekton’s kit rewards clean weaving between autos and spells. His abilities and autos generate Fury, and some of his spells reset his auto timer.

One example: Ruthless Predator resets the auto attack timer, which can lead to an extra fast attack in a burst. Cull the Meek and Slice/Dice also reset the auto timer, so weaving them between autos increases damage output.

Slice/Dice can also be used for mobility in the jungle and for escaping. If you Slice through a wall and hit a camp on the other side, you can unlock Dice and extend your reposition.

A strong engage pattern against ranged targets is using Slice/Dice to close distance and then using Ruthless Predator to stun on contact. There is also a mechanical trick: if you activate Ruthless Predator during a dash and select a champion as the next basic attack, Renekton can dash into the enemy and stun them immediately.

What Renekton rewards long-term

Renekton feels simple at first: build Fury, dash in, stun, heal, dash out. The depth comes from timing and choosing the right empowered cast.

If you track Fury well and treat Dominus as a fight timer instead of a panic button, Renekton becomes reliable. If you ignore Fury and take fights without a plan, he becomes inconsistent.

Renekton is at his best when he controls the pace of a skirmish. He forces short, decisive trades. He turns low health into more Fury. He punishes mistakes fast, then leaves before the opponent can answer.

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