Overview
Beginner guide for Rakshasa
Introduction
Hi, welcome to my Rakshasa guide.
I’m Shomei, Rakshasa lover extraordinaire. I played Rakshasa on NA kritika for a long time and am now playing Rakshasa again in Kritika Reboot.
Rakshasa is a very fluid, mobile class with almost too many iframes. It is capable of doing top tier damage and the only weakness is subpar grouping.
It’s my opinion that Rakshasa is one of the most difficult classes to both learn and master, given her unique and rather unintuitive mechanics. This guide thus serves the purpose of providing you a general idea of how the class works and how to better play it.
Skill Breakdowns
Wake Up!
This is the first of three main damage skills. A low cooldown combined with rather absurd damage makes it a must have for any valk that wants to efficiently do damage.
Play for You provides a buff that makes this skill hit three times and thus do three times as much damage. You can also hold down this skill to charge it and do twice as much damage. This is generally recommended as almost no other skill does comparable damage.
In Violate Stance charging this skill will put you in the air.
In Voluptuous Figure the skill has decent range.
Lay Down~
Filler, mobility, and utility.
In Violate stance this skill sends you forward a good distance. It can also be used in midair and is decent for grouping.
In Voluptuous Figure you swing in a circle, so it’s a good skill for hitting enemies that aren’t in front of you.
It’s a good filler skill in both stances though in Violate Stance it can unintentionally push enemies if used while midair.
Play with Me
Also filler, mobility, and utility.
In Violate Stance it’s an ok filler if you use just the first hit. The second is only good for mobility and getting behind an enemy. Left click after casting to use the second hit.
In Voluptuous Figure it’s much better suited as a filler skill since it’s faster, turns enemies around, and groups in a small area.
Play for You
One of the skills that makes Rakshasa so special.
Upon casting this skill, all cooldowns except Stay! are reduced by 15 seconds (Prime 4 can boost this to 20 seconds), and you receive a 20 second buff that increases attack speed, critical rate, and, as mentioned above, boosts Wake Up!
The way this skill works is as follows:
Every Rakshasa skill casted will provide one “stack.” You will also receive one “stack” every 7 seconds. Upon reaching 10 “stacks,” the skill can be casted. The “stacks” are tracked by a little chain scythe above your skill bar if you’re using the default UI.
The idea is to get these “stacks” quickly and to use this skill almost always as soon as it’s available. There are fringe cases where you may want to hold it however, as will be discussed in the Skill priority section.
This skill is also an iframe and can be specced to have a longer iframe duration with awakening points.
Send You to Heaven
More filler, utility, and mobility.
In Violate Stance this skill is decent mobility and can be used while in the air. You can either left click or right click after using this skill. Left click will send you down and take any enemies that you hit with you. Right click will put you behind enemies and lift you up slightly.
In Voluptuous Figure the skill does more damage and is one of the best fillers pre A2. It also has decent range, so don’t be fooled.
On Your Knees
Filler and utility.
In Violate Stance this skill is an iframe, hits behind enemies, and can bring you behind. Usually this is the skill to use if you want to get behind an enemy.
In Voluptuous figure it’s slower, but ultra-breaks and also pulls any enemy behind you to the front.
Execution!
The second of Rakshasa’s main damage skills. The damage comes from its usage in Voluptuous Figure.
In Violate Stance this skill is an ultrabreak and iframe. I’d advise against using it in this stance since this skill does so much damage in Voluptuous Figure. But it can be used in Violate Stance in some scenarios. It also has a lock on feature, so aim carefully or else you may end up missing and wasting the skill.
In Voluptuous Figure you unleash a barrage of slashes in a small field in front of you. Repeatedly pressing LMB after using this skill will extend the duration of the barrage. I recommend always spamming LMB when using this skill.
Voluptuous Figure does about 2.5x as much damage as Violate Stance if you spam LMB.
Make you Crazy
Utility and occasional filler
The main use of this skill will be to group enemies in Voluptuous Figure.
In Violate Stance never use this skill unless you have no other iframes available and have an enemy that can be hit. Its damage output compared to casting time is pitiful, and the iframe also does not cover the full animation.
In Voluptuous Figure this skill swings in a circle to catch enemies around you and slam them down in front. This is your best grouping skill.
You may sometimes use this skill in Voluptuous Figure as a filler, though it has a relatively long animation and doesn’t do much damage.
It’s my Grace~
Utility and potential filler.
Unlike Make you Crazy, this skill has less grouping potential but a much better iframe.
In Violate Stance this skill will move you through the enemy while also turning them. (If you’re behind them then you’ll still be behind after).
In Voluptuous Figure your scythe gets sent out in a small line, catching any enemy that it hits and bringing them closer to you.
It’s a long iframe in both stances, but it only really groups in Voluptuous Figure. You can use awakening points to increase its damage and grouping capability.
As with Make you Crazy, this can be used as a filler in rare cases.
Get Down!
The third main damage skill. This is Rakshasa’s strongest skill.
In Violate Stance you latch on to an enemy and hit them three times. Sometimes the last hit may glitch and not register.
In Voluptuous Figure the skill does about 25% more damage. In most cases you want to use it in this stance. It’s also decent grouping since it’s a small aoe.
Depending on what imprints you run, this skill is potentially your largest damage contributor.
In both stances the skill will stun.
This is Getting Exciting!
This is what gives the “dancing” to Rakshasa stances.
Every Rakshasa skill you use in one stance will provide one charge to the other stance. Each stance can hold a maximum of three charges. Using a skill will consume a charge from the stance you’re in if available and cause an explosion that deals decent damage.
Each charge in Violate Stance grants 5% critical damage and 3% attack speed. The charges in Voluptuous Figure grant 5% critical damage and 3% movement speed each.
The idea is to change stances frequently to alternate charge stacking and charge consumption.
By nature of this skill, you will always have a 15% critical damage buff up once you use at least three skills.
If you use bottom row imprints, this skill will be a larger portion of your damage. Otherwise, it is still a good chunk, but not enough to really compete with the main damage dealers. Not yet, at least.
Stay!
Rakshasa’s ultimate. Unfortunately not very practical.
This skill is a long iframe, and it momentarily freezes enemies as soon as you cast it. Also has a cool animation.
Skill Breakdowns Cont.
EX Skills
Rakshasa also has EX versions of Reap, Execution!, and Play with You.
EX Reap
Don’t ever use this skill seriously. Sexy animation, cool voiceline, and meme potential, but otherwise completely useless.
EX Execution!
In Violate Stance this skill is an iframe and a large circular AOE, good for clearing out weak enemies.
Don’t use this in Voluptuous Figure, it’s a waste of EX and weaker than normal Execution.
EX Play for You
The skill that lets Rakshasa laugh at all mechanics. When casted it provides 5 seconds of iframe, slows time, and buffs your movement speed, attack speed, critical rate, and bonus damage.
Second Awakening Skills
Arrest of Dreaming
Rakshasa’s Second Awakening Ultimate. Casting it will put you into a cutscene for a few seconds with an iframe that lingers for a second after finishing (can be cancelled if you use it at the same time as entering a portal).
Using this skill provides a 60 second buff that changes auto attacks (left mouse click) as follows:
Voluptuous Figure auto attacks become a three hit combo that do a total of 100k%.
Only the first hit will apply a stack of Play for You, and it also consumes 5% of your max mana.
The last hit is an ultra break and applies a 10 second debuff that can be consumed in Violate Stance for more damage.
Violate Stance auto attacks also become a three hit combo that do a total of 100k%.
Like in Voluptuous Figure, only the first hit applies a stack of Play for You, but it will consume 10% of your max mana instead.
The last hit is also an ultra break, and will trigger an additional attack that does 200k% if the enemy has the debuff from the Voluptuous Figure last attack.
The proper way to use this skill is to alternate stances between every three hit combo to take advantage of the extra 200k% attack.
Hitting 0% mana while this skill is active will remove it.
Taming Time!
This skill is another high damage filler skill, similar to Wake Up!. It has a longer cooldown but is faster and does more damage.
In Violate Stance it gives a short iframe and is one of the fastest skills Rakshasa has.
In Voluptuous Figure it gives ultra and has a decently large AoE.
Embrace me~
Decent damage filler with grouping capabilities.
In Violate Stance it gives an iframe, ultrabreaks, and groups in a small area. It also triggers two explosions of This is Getting Exciting if available, but is also somewhat slow.
In Voluptuous Figure it gives ultra, ultrabreaks, and groups in a moderately sized cone infront of you. It’s also much faster than in Violate Stance.
Tighten up!
Basically a mini EX – Play for You. This skill gives 12% bonus damage and slows enemies in a 5m radius by 70%. The cooldown cannot be reset by Play for You.
Do you like this posture?
Passive that provides a 10 second buff when swapping stances.
When you swap to Violate Stance, back attacks gain 90% Damage Rate.
When you swap to Voluptuous Figure, Critical Damage increases by 45%.
Going to Explode
Passive that allows Play for You to reset the cooldowns of all A2 skills aside from Tighten up!.
Skill Builds
Before Second Awakening
The only skills that are required to max are Wake Up!, Execution!, Get Down!, and This is Getting Exciting!. I personally max Send you to Heaven as well because it’s currently one of the best fillers.
For Awakening points, put at least one point into the stance swapping passive. Max Wake Up!, Execution!, and Get Down!. Other points are up to you. I personally like to have the Play for You awakening because it provides a lingering iframe after using the skill.
After Second Awakening
All second awakening skills except the ultimate should be maxxed; you can max the ultimate if it suits your playstyle.
For awakening skill points, level It’s my Grace~ and awaken it for grouping. Alternatively, if you don’t use the ult then you can also level Send you to Heaven and awaken that instead.
Imprints
The imprint descriptions were almost entirely wrong because Kritika Reboot launched with Rakshasa rework, but for whatever reason didn’t have the proper translations.
No Pain, No Gain (Top Row)
-1st Effect
[Send you to Heaven] has two casts
[On Your Knees] has two casts
– 2nd effect
[Execution!] Has two casts
– 3rd Effect
[This is getting exciting!] gives a buff that adds 10% damage rate for 20 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
Gain (Middle Row)
-1st effect
When you cast [Execution!], its skill damage increases by 50% up to 200%. (So Execution! Does 3x as much damage at max stacks) If you die, the effect disappears
– 2nd effect
Every Rakshasa skill grants a buff that increases [Wake Up!] damage by 50%. The buff is consumed once you use [Wake Up!]
– 3rd effect
When you cast [Get Down!], its skill damage increases by 100% up to 400%. If you die, the effect disappears.
If you successfully hit an enemy with [Wake Up!], the skill’s cooldown is reduced by 40% (5 second cooldown on the effect).
Pain (Bottom Row)
– 1st effect
[Play for You] applies the [Reaper’s Seal] de-buff to enemies hit. When attacking debuffed enemies, damage is increased by 10%
– 2nd effect
[This is Getting Exciting!] damage is increased by 150%.
[This is Getting Exciting!] decreases enemy slashing resistance by 50
– 3rd effect
When you cast [Play for You], a buff [Maximum Destruction] is applied for 12 seconds with the following effects:
All rakshasa skills apply [This is Getting Exciting!]
Critical Damage +30%, Attack & Movement Speed +9%
Gain has the most damage potential, but it’s not too newbie friendly. Pain is much easier to use if you’re new.
Minor imprints are usually some variant of Get Down! damage/cdr, or Execution! damage/cdr.
Skill Priority
Before Second Awakening
The four main skills to prioritize above all others are shown below in terms of highest to lowest priority from left to right:
Get Down! > Execution > Play for You* > Wake Up!
*Play for You may be prioritized less than Wake Up! If you are not using middle row imprints.
Wake Up! Is unique in that it has the cooldown of a filler skill, but it does enough damage to make it a top priority.
You will notice here that Get Down! And Execution! are a higher priority than Play for You. These are the main exceptions I was talking about in Play for You’s skill breakdown. Generally if the two skills are off cooldown or almost off cooldown (1-2 seconds), then you want to hold Play for You if it’s available.
Other skills are relatively low damage filler mainly used to stack Play for You and This is Getting Exciting. What filler gets used depends on the situation and what stance you are in. There is no easy way to explain filler rotations, as they are fluid and best played by intuition.
After Second Awakening
The first thing to determine is whether you want to use the second awakening ultimate. Playing without it is viable and in some cases more optimal, but using it typically provides the potential of doing more damage. It’s also very easy to use.
The easiest way to play Rakshasa is to put on Pain imprints, cast Arrest of Dreaming, and spam three auto attacks + stance swap while chugging mana potions. Not the most optimal way to play, but it gets the job done up to a point.
Otherwise, the best way to use the ult is to weave auto attacks into the rotation. You won’t be able to spam auto attack because you’ll run out of mana, nor would it be optimal because of the interaction between Get Down! and Play for You. As from before, Get Down! and Execution are the top priorities, but now the rest are auto attacking, Taming Time!, Wake Up!, and Embrace me~ in chain.
If you don’t use the ult, then the playstyle and skill priorities will largely be the same as before A2, but now Taming Time! will take priority over Wake Up! and Embrace me~ will be behind Wake Up!.
Some general tips
-You want to stack Play for You quickly, so try not to use long skills like Stay!, Make you Crazy, or It’s my Grace~ as filler (unless they’re the only skills available).
-Try not to stay in one stance. It may seem easier and faster, but you’re actually just losing seed damage and stance swapping buffs, which typically add up to be more than the damage you get from extra usage of filler. You also may find yourself running out of skills to use if you stay in one stance, which also effectively makes you lose damage.
-Swapping stances every three skills is the norm, but this is a very general rule. Rakshasa is a fluid class not well suited to static decision making.
-Wake Up! Puts you in the air in Violate Stance if you charge it and this can lead to some awkward situations depending on the situation and what enemy you’re fighting. You have a few options:
- Lay Down~ can be used right after as an instant combo
- Stance swap
- Use Send you to Heaven
- Or just wait until you’re on the ground again.
Ideally you don’t want to wait and do nothing, and Send you to Heaven is a rather poor option as well. Typically the best option is to use Lay Down~ if Wake Up! Was your first skill in violate stance, but sometimes you may have to just stance swap.
Alternatively you can just use Wake Up! Without charging it, though it may end up doing less damage overall since other skills can’t make up for the extra DPS a charged Wake Up! has.
-Embrace me~ is a better filler in chain stance due to how fast it is.
-Remember that Play for You will reset most of your filler cooldowns.
Gear
There is already a general gear guide, so I’m only going to briefly go over some of the gear interactions with Rakshasa.
Spiritual Liberation will give a reset to Send you to Heaven (and Execution! if you use the weapon). It’s otherwise a decent set since it gives Master Skill and damage type bonus.
Elemental Tuner is a viable option for Rakshasa since she has lots of passive stat buffs already.
The rest of the sets are pretty mediocre, especially so for Rakshasa since she doesn’t have many multihits, so only go for them if you like memes.
The best weapon to use is the Mythic if you can get it.