Learning Solo Lane's third feature is here, and the subject is the tanky menace, Chaac, the rain god. High lane pressure with very heavy base damage, healing, CC and a tank buff means that Chaac is one of the top picks for players that want to stay relevant early, mid and late game. Make it rain with Chaac.

Why pick Chaac?
Chaac, a top tier solo laner is picked simply due to the early pressure he brings while not falling off late game, he's an amazing pick if you need early game dominance from outside the jungle. High burst compliments any mage to utterly devastate teams in an AoE fashion.

Pros:
-Amazing early game, unrivalled by almost all solo laners.
-Heavy push, can instaclear waves with a single spell for most of mid game.
-Versatile build path, can alter builds very quickly, dipping heavier into damage some games, or going almost pure tank the others.
-Free mana and health sustain inbuilt into his kit.
-Tons of tank steroids and innate tankiness.

Cons:
-If you fall behind early it's very hard to stay relevant against a proficient enemy team.
-Fairly long channel time on his ult; Storm Call.
-Risky engage, gets very deep in teamfights and disengage is very hard.
-No true escape, his 1-2 combo takes a very long time.
-Complex to use his 1 with other skills, you will need to learn which skill to consume the Axe with.

As a tanky caster Chaac needs to rely on his skills as his primary source of damage, utility and tanking. As such it is crucial that you know the skills in and out before playing Chaac.

Passive: Overflow
After 5 successful basic attacks, the next ability Chaac uses costs no mana.

Very simple passive that sustains you in lane. Don't only rely on your passive, as you do have a moderately large mana pool, but Chaac needs this passive and abusing it to its maximum potential will help your laning massively.

1: Thunder Strike
Chaac throws his axe forward, damaging all enemies in a radius around its landing location. The axe remains idle in the ground for 5s or until another ability is used.
Damage: 80/140/200/260/320(60% Physical Power)
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Mana Cost: 50/55/60/65/70

Your core skill, the skill that deals almost all of your early damage and still stays relevant later on in the game. This skill can instantly clear a wave and has interactions with every one of your other skills. The cooldown is moderately low at 10 seconds meaning that extending a trade to 10 seconds will allow 2 axes and a very efficient trade. The 320 base damage is exactly why Chaac is so good early game, gaining a whopping 60 damage per level means this is a first max.

2: Torrent
Chaac spins his axe around him, damaging all enemies, and gaining protections for each enemy hit (max 5). If his axe is out from Thunder Strike, he will first dash to the axe location, doing 50% base damage to enemies he passes through and then executing his spin attack.
Damage: 100/150/200/250/300(+70% Physical Power)
Protections(For 4 seconds): 4/8/12/16/20 (Per target hit)
Cooldown: 15 seconds
Mana Cost: 60/65/70/75/80

Gapcloser, tank buff and damage, what's not to like? The 50% base damage isn't anything to write home about, but it can lead to some funny kills as you're running away. Using this to escape can be done, but it must be done through a wall or you will not go much quicker than just walking there.

The tank steroid is 20 protections per target hit at max rank( up to 100 total). Using this to initiate into teamfights can be very strong, using your axe and then this should provide you with the 100 protections with which you can ult safely. Bringing almost only utility, this is maxed last.

3: Rain Dance
Chaac summons a rainstorm around his current location for 6s. While it rains, he regains health, and enemies are caught in the mud and slowed. If his axe is out from Thunder Strike, a rainstorm will also spawn at that location.
Slow: 5/10/15/20/25%
Heal: 10/15/20/25/30 (+15% Physical power) Per half second
Cooldown: 18 seconds
Mana Cost: 75/80/85/90/95}

Rain dance is what makes Chaac so immovable in lane, it provides him with 120 health at just rank 1. This should be maxed second in order to get as much healing as possible, the slow is nice and as it's a persistent slow it allows you to stick to targets (e.g. a carry in a teamfight) very easily. You should almost never consume your 1 with this skill unless necessary.

4: Storm Call
Chaac charges his lighting axe and unleashes a blast, silencing and damaging all enemies around him. While in the air, Chaac has 50% damage mitigation and is immune to CC effects. If triggered within range of Chaac's axe from Thunder Strike, Storm Call will super-charge, dealing additional damage and also knocking up enemies.
Damage: 150/200/250/300/350(100% PP) - 200/275/350/425/500(120% PP) (With Axe)
Silence duration: 3 seconds
Mana Cost: 80/90/100/110/120

An insane teamfight ultimate, giving Chaac the insane burst he needs, casting your entire skill combo on a back line will easily deal around 1000 damage and then silence them for three seconds. Three seconds is a very long time for any mage, and with a competent team is likely a dead enemy if they do not have purification beads. The knockup is only a small one but it's enough to disrupt most auto attack based characters. Using this in lane will give you a large amount of burst. Remember you can deal around 600 damage (without physical power) at level 10, and 400 at level 6. ( Rank 3 Axe, rank 1 ult). This will surprise most people. The 50% damage reduction is great and should be used when you think a nuke is coming your way. Easy to predict nukes that would kill you are reduced greatly when using Storm Call.

Chaac has a very versatile build and can make use of almost any item in the store. However his early game purchases aren't going to be changeable in any way, the build will be the same for almost all matchups.

Death's Toll is a core item for good reason, the HP, physical power and attack speed are all great stats that Chaac can utilise to the fullest. The sustain that it provides allows you to last in lane for a very long time, and will rectify most mana issues you may encounter, using Death's Toll and Rain Dance will make you one of the hardest solo laners to shift.

Hand of the Gods: Unlike most solo warriors, Chaac only requires Hand of the Gods 1, not Rage of the Gods. This is due to his very strong early clear, freeing up 300 gold that will allow you to get Boots, getting you to your core items slightly earlier and to have a movement speed advantage on your opposing laner.

Core Items:

Finish your boots into Warrior Tabi, the physical power and penetration it provides means that your early base damage will skyrocket, permitting you to bully out even the strongest of laners.

Then get one situational defensive item depending on your matchup. Runeforged Hammer is core against other physical enemies, giving you physical protection and health, a composite defense. It provides both defensive stats that are strong against physical damage and enables it to be a better tank item rather than a pure HP or a pure physical protection item. The 15% Physical protection that's converted into physical power is very handy and works with your Torrent also.

If you are against a mage or guardian then picking up Stone of Gaia is suggested, bolstering your lane sustain even further with Hp5 and Mp5. It gives you straight up magical protection, and a lot of it, that will also buff the health you gain back from healing, either from Stone of Gaia itself or Rain Dance.

Mid Game items:

After finishing off your two core items, consider how the game is going, if you're ahead consider dipping into damage, either a Jotunn's Wrath or a Qin's Sais depending on your needs and preferences. A Qin's Sais will give you a lot of sustained damage, and is my preferred purchase, but a Jotunn's Wrath allows you to burst targets easier, and provides you with CDR. Purchasing Qin's Sais means you almost always need to purchase Sprint but Jotunn's does not have such a requirement.

If behind, then you should purchase more tankyness. The optimal tank item at this stage is Hide of the Urchin, bolstering your already tanky build with 45- 65 Physical/magical protection and 250 health. This means that you will be nigh on unkillable for most targets. The next item you should buy is the one you did not earlier, If you bought Qin's/Jotunn's then buy Hide of the Urchin and vice versa.

Finishing the build:

You now have a solid tank build with a dash of damage, getting further tank items should be your priority at this stage, If you require physical protection then pick up Witchblade. Witchblade gives you more auto attack based damage with the increased attack speed and also weakens the enemy based auto attacks, even a mage relies on auto attacks for some damage. If further magical protection is needed then Bulwark of Hope is the answer, a whopping 450 HP and 60 magical protection, on top of a 50% reduction in damage for one second(after dropping below 25% HP) means that even the strongest nukes won't hurt you that much. Winged Blade is what you want to buy if their physical and magical damage is about even or you are doing well, giving you a little attack speed, some cooldown reduction and a lot of movement speed and health, with a very good anti slow passive.

Finishing off your build you have 3 options; Finish with the item you didn't purchase against your laner at the start (Runeforged/Stone of Gaia), finish with a Magi's Blessing or acquire further damage. The two damage options are Titan's Bane or Shifter's Shield. Most of the time I will get a Magi's blessing or a Runeforged/Stone, but if I'm feeling confident or my team needs more damage then a Titan's Bane gives me pure damage while a Shifter's Shield gives some more damage without compromising on too much tankyness.

In terms of actives I'd heavily suggest getting Fist of The Gods and Sprint. However if the enemy has a significant amount of crowd control then Sprint can be substituted for Purification Beads or Aegis Amulet. If you bought Qin's Sais then you'll almost always need Sprint.