Rafaela Build Guide 2021: Best Items For MLBB

Hey guys! Today we're diving deep into the ultimate Rafaela build for 2021 in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. If you're looking to become an indispensable support, healing your allies and dishing out decent damage, then this guide is for you. Rafaela is a fantastic choice for players who love to control the flow of the game, offering mobility, crowd control, and crucial sustain. We'll break down the best item builds, emblems, and battle spells to make sure your Rafaela is always ready to turn the tide of any match. So grab your coffee, settle in, and let's get your Rafaela build optimized for 2021 dominance!

Understanding Rafaela's Role and Strengths

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of items, it's super important to understand what Rafaela brings to the table. She's primarily a Support hero with amazing healing capabilities and surprisingly good poke damage for a healer. Her first skill, Smash, deals magic damage and slows enemies, which is great for initiating fights or peeling for your carries. Her second skill, Holy Healing, is where the magic happens – she sprints forward, leaving behind a healing zone that restores HP for allies within its radius. This skill also grants her a movement speed boost, making her incredibly mobile and slippery. Her ultimate, Light of Retribution, is a global damage ability that also slows enemies, perfect for finishing off low-HP enemies or assisting teammates in distant lanes. Optimizing Rafaela's build in 2021 means focusing on items that amplify her healing, boost her mana regeneration, and provide survivability without sacrificing too much of her supportive capabilities. Remember, a dead support can't heal! So, balancing offense and defense is key. Her kit allows her to be everywhere on the map, providing crucial heals and disruption, which is why building her correctly is vital for victory. We want to maximize her utility, ensuring she can keep her team alive while also contributing to the offensive pressure. Think of yourself as the team's lifeline – you need to be tough enough to stay in the fight and potent enough to make a real difference. This guide will ensure you're well-equipped for any situation the Land of Dawn throws at you.

Core Items for Rafaela: The Foundation of Your Build

When we talk about the best Rafaela build in 2021, certain items just stand out. These are the core components that will form the backbone of your itemization, no matter the enemy composition. The first item you'll almost always want to rush is Demon Shoes. Why? Rafaela is quite mana-hungry, especially in the early game. Demon Shoes provide much-needed mana regeneration and movement speed, allowing you to roam effectively and cast spells more frequently. Next up, we have Arcane Boots. While Demon Shoes are great for mana sustain, Arcane Boots offer magic penetration, which significantly boosts Rafaela's damage output from her skills. This can be crucial for poking down enemies in the laning phase or securing kills. However, if you find yourself constantly running out of mana, stick with Demon Shoes. The choice depends on your team's needs and your personal playstyle. After your boots, the most crucial item is Fleeting Time. This item is an absolute game-changer for support heroes like Rafaela. It drastically reduces the cooldown of her ultimate, Light of Retribution, allowing you to use it much more often. Being able to cast your global ultimate multiple times in a single team fight can easily turn the tables. It also provides an assist cooldown reduction, which is fantastic for a support. Following Fleeting Time, Necklace of Durance is often a must-buy, especially against heroes with high HP regeneration like fighters and tanks. It applies a healing reduction effect to enemies, significantly weakening their sustain and making them easier to take down. This item is invaluable in the current meta where sustain is king. These core items synergize incredibly well, ensuring Rafaela has the mana, cooldown reduction, and utility to be a constant threat and a reliable healer throughout the game. Building these early will set you up for success, allowing you to adapt your later item choices based on the enemy team's strengths and weaknesses. Always remember to assess the battlefield and adjust your build accordingly, guys!

Situational Items: Adapting Your Build for Victory

While the core items are essential, the real magic of a Rafaela build in 2021 lies in its adaptability. To truly excel, you need to know which situational items to pick up based on the enemy lineup and the flow of the game. Let's break down some excellent choices. If the enemy team is stacking magic damage, Athena's Shield is your best friend. This item provides a substantial magic defense boost and a shield that absorbs magic damage, making you incredibly tanky against mages. It's a lifesaver against bursty magic threats. On the flip side, if they're loaded with physical damage dealers, Brute Force Breastplate or Antique Cuirass are fantastic options. Brute Force Breastplate offers physical defense and HP, and its passive grants movement speed and physical defense stacks with every skill use, which synergizes wonderfully with Rafaela's kit. Antique Cuirass offers a mix of HP, physical defense, and HP regeneration, with a passive that reduces enemy physical attack after being hit, perfect for tanking sustained physical damage. For more aggressive support plays or if your team needs extra magic damage, Genius Wand is a solid choice. It provides magic power, movement speed, and a passive that reduces the magic defense of enemies hit by your skills, making both your and your allies' magic damage more effective. If you find yourself needing more healing output or want to provide buffs to your allies, Concentrated Energy can be a good pick, especially if you're building some magic power. It provides spell vamp, allowing you to heal yourself by dealing damage, and also boosts your overall magic power. Lastly, Immortality is almost always a good late-game pick. The revive passive gives you a second chance in crucial team fights, allowing your team to potentially clean up or disengage safely. Remember, optimizing Rafaela's build isn't just about following a template; it's about understanding the threats on the battlefield and countering them effectively. Don't be afraid to experiment and adapt, guys. Your ability to build situationally will often be the difference between a win and a loss!

Emblems and Battle Spells: Enhancing Rafaela's Capabilities

Beyond items, the right emblems and battle spells can significantly amplify Rafaela's effectiveness. For emblems, the Support Emblem is generally the go-to choice for Rafaela. This emblem set provides bonuses like Movement Speed, HP, and CDR, all of which are beneficial for a support. Talents within the Support Emblem tree that you should consider include Agility for extra movement speed, Wilderness Blessing for faster jungle movement speed (useful for rotating), and for the main talent, Focus or Healing are excellent. Focus provides damage reduction, making you tankier, while Healing directly enhances your healing output. If you find yourself needing more mana, the Custom Mage Emblem with talents like Master of Energy or Coagulate can also be viable, focusing on Magic Power and Cooldown Reduction. However, the Support Emblem usually offers a more rounded set of benefits for Rafaela. When it comes to battle spells, Flicker is almost universally the best choice for Rafaela. Its versatility is unmatched – you can use it to escape dangerous situations, reposition yourself to heal allies, chase down fleeing enemies, or even dodge crucial enemy ultimates. Purify can be considered if the enemy team has a lot of hard crowd control that can lock you down, but Flicker's mobility and escape potential are usually more valuable for Rafaela. Flameshot can be an aggressive option for securing kills or poking from a distance, but it sacrifices the crucial escape utility that Flicker provides. Aegis can be useful for granting a shield to yourself or a key ally, but again, Flicker often offers more overall utility. Optimizing Rafaela's setup in 2021 involves picking the emblems and spells that best complement her kit and cover her weaknesses, allowing her to fulfill her role as a mobile, healing powerhouse. Don't underestimate the impact of these choices, guys; they are just as important as your item build!

Gameplay Tips for Rafaela Mastery

Now that we've covered the best Rafaela build for 2021, let's talk about how to play her effectively. Rafaela thrives on map awareness and positioning. As a support, your primary job is to keep your allies alive and provide utility. Always try to stay behind your frontline heroes, but close enough to cast your heals and skills. Use your Holy Healing strategically. Don't just spam it; save it for when your allies are taking significant damage or when you need to reposition quickly. The movement speed boost from Holy Healing is crucial for dodging skill shots and staying alive. Your Smash skill is great for poking enemies in the laning phase, slowing them down, and setting up for your allies. Don't underestimate its damage potential, especially when combined with magic penetration items. Your ultimate, Light of Retribution, has global range. Keep an eye on the minimap and use it to assist teammates in other lanes, secure objectives like Lord or Turtle, or finish off fleeing enemies. The cooldown reduction from Fleeting Time makes this even more potent. Communicate with your team. Let them know when your ultimate is up, call out enemy rotations, and coordinate engages. A good Rafaela is an active participant in the game, not just a passive healer. Remember to utilize your mobility to its fullest. Dodge skill shots, reposition constantly, and be a slippery target. Building items like Fleeting Time and potentially Brute Force Breastplate enhances this mobility. Finally, know your matchups. Against heavy dive compositions, focus on peeling for your carries and using your CC to disrupt their attempts. Against poke compositions, try to sustain your team and look for opportunities to counter-engage. Mastering Rafaela in 2021 is all about smart decision-making, excellent positioning, and maximizing the utility of her kit. Keep practicing, guys, and you'll be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield!

Conclusion: Become the Ultimate Rafaela Support

So there you have it, guys! A comprehensive look at how to build and play Rafaela effectively in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang for 2021. By focusing on core items like Demon Shoes, Fleeting Time, and Necklace of Durance, while adapting with situational picks based on the enemy lineup, you'll be well-equipped to handle any challenge. Remember the importance of the Support Emblem and the utility of Flicker. Most importantly, practice your positioning, map awareness, and strategic skill usage. Rafaela is a hero who rewards smart play and good decision-making. With the right build and approach, you can become the backbone of your team, providing crucial heals and game-changing utility. Keep these tips in mind, put them into practice, and you'll be well on your way to mastering Rafaela and climbing those ranks. Good luck out there on the battlefield!