I really like this guide for the most part some things I change but that's mainly due to mesh with my play style a bit more. Some things are a bit odd like selling fairly expensive items and ghost in general (it's nice but you aren't going to be doing any amazing dodges with it. The text chunks where you describe the laning phase could be all in one part and less confusing looking due to the constant separation (It may be worse for me because I think some title images were lost due to my connection , i'll check later)the abilities could be updated since his nerf/rework as of late , I dislike the random champs on the banners (makes me almost want to go play them and not Kassadin),some of the counters are a bit off in my opinion and lastly just too many colors , tis a rainbow of distraction

I upvoted because I like what you're doing here and you are approving upon it , I would like to see this build become one of my favorites in the long run because it really makes me want to play more Kassadin and I see lots potential in this guide

Thanks!

Nice design on the guide.

but you miss something. Can you add a section ''how to be able to play kassadin in ranked'' ?
This 94% Ban ratio in ranked matches is a bit to high.

easily one of the best guides ive seen on the site, you can see alot of forethought and time has been put into it. good job bro

+1 from me

Sweet guide! Upvoted! XD

i do. the image at the end of the item section isn't working :)

gets better and better man. don't have any complaints about formatting and such. looks as clean as it can. and reads fairly well. interested in the move quints and masteries...haven't run kass like that. will have to try. keep up the good work.

Going to address this in the same order you chose. There are some things subject to change and some things that are not. For the things that are not subject to change, I will be revealing my logic behind said recommendations; for the things that are subject to change, you have my thanks.

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Flash as mentioned in the Mastery notes, is also an option that the masteries support. However both have their pros and cons on Kassadin. I will be sure to have this as an addition in the Season 4 update of the guide should it still apply:

SPELL

INFO

PROS

CONS

Ghost

Your Champion ignores unit collision and moves 35% faster for 10 seconds (210 second CD).

Superb Duration which will assist in tying up loose ends of a team fight or if the need arises, escape from several enemy champions. Works better with Riftwalk rather than without. Truly shines during the later portion of the match. Not as fast as Teleport, but does allow you to quickly travel all the while avoiding enemy wards.

Leaves you vulnerable prior to level six, due to lack of any gap closing capabilities. Does not necessarily permit you to attack without receiving punishment.

Flash

Teleports your Champion to target nearby location (285 second CD).

Provides an early game gap closer. Works with Riftwalk, also works just as well without Riftwalk. Great advantage in a 1v1 setup.

LONG cooldown. Instant usage and requires practice and precision. Half as reliable as Riftwalk. Not so advantageous in team fights. Not too beneficial for travelling (due to its duration/range as well as its cooldown).

I believe the later portion of the game is more important for a Kassadin so I prefer Ghost usually. There are however some opponents in "Kassadin Countered" where I do recommend grabbing Flash over Ghost.

Not subject to change.

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A big thing I like about Move Speed Quints is that once you have built Sorcerer's Shoes or Mercury's Treads, you would have the same amount of additional movement speed that Boots of Swiftness provide, without even buying Alacrity. This improves a Kassadin's ganking presence, although it does reduce his early game damage by a bit.

As for replacing CDR glyphs with magic resistance, that is just overboard on MR. Kassadin has Void Stone, which fairly nerfs magic damage right from the get go. I do not see how having an additional 13 MR at the very start of the game would have any game changing effects on a champion that is designed to not have it as a weakness.

Now maybe you are suggesting MR simply because they stack more strongly than CDR does, for that I offer the following information.

SKILL

0% CDR

7.5% CDR

Null Sphere

9 Second CD

8.325 Second CD

Nether Blade

12 Second CD

11.1 Second CD

Force Pulse

6 Second CD

5.55 Second CD

Riftwalk

7|6|5 Second CD

6.475|5.55|4.625 Second CD

The runes alone shave off nearly half a second of Riftwalk's cool down, which is Kassadin's smallest CD skill.

Perhaps it is merely preference or perhaps I am incompetent, but I cannot help but think:
14 Move Speed > 14.85 AP
and
7.5% cd > 13 MR

Not subject to change.

EDIT:

I do use MR glyphs on champions that use high CDR items like Frozen Heart or Athene's Unholy Grail, but on an AP Middle lane champions there are better ways to deal with MR IMO.

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Doran's Ring has been removed. I would never advise against building boots at the start if your lane opponent is aim based like Zed or Ziggs. Flask on the other hand is a risky item, as it becomes a waste of money should your opponent in mid lack in either sustain or be a push over. I will test out its legitimacy in team ranked one of these days but for now I am more focused on solo/duo queues. Boots starter set not subject to change, and are the first suggested set simply due to the abundance of aim based middle lane champions.

Changed

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I think we both can agree that when it comes to items that scale into LATE GAME, both Lich Bane as well as Rod of Ages lose their luster. I can concur that Rod of Ages does maintain its luster longer, however neither have a real place in Kassadin's build late game BUT they do function extremely well with him in early as well as mid game.

Being items that work so well early and mid game, a Kassadin can easily earn back all the money spent, and when being sold back to store the amount of money lost in making either item is 800-900 gold, an amount which is also easily earned back during the time that Kassadin had been utilizing them.Based on these facts you definitely should sell both LB or ROA eventually.

It is no mystery that most who prefer Rod of Ages think of Lich Bane as being useless, and this goes for vice versa as well. I on the other hand believe both have their merits depending on the situation.

Option 1:

Lich Bane contributes ap while you are building it, as well as when you are done building it, and can be used to secure many kills as well as increase your harass damage in an exchange. It also increases your mana pool considerably, making mana regen masteries needless.

Its great downside is its range, and even with Riftwalk, if your opponent(s) have the right crowd control or gap closing capabilities, Lich Bane's unique effects can become quite useless. This item however is first in the list of temp items simply because most middle lane champions that would even have such skills are aim based, making LB a more usual item to purchase.

Option 2:

Rod of Ages allows Kassadin some much needed survivability as well as intimidation towards those who would avoid attacking a champion that seems tanky. Rod of Ages is much more generous when it comes to its contribution to your mana pool, perhaps even a little needlessly one might say. After this item is finished, there are no more hurdles to go through, and its usefulness does outlast that of LB.

Its great downside is its components, none of which offer inexpensive damage. In other words, if you do not save for Blasting Wand before catalyst the protector you will have slightly nerfed your Kassadin's early/mid game damage. On the other hand if you do not rush catalyst the protector not only do you squander its uniqe passive, but you also lack the beneficial survivability that you would likely be needing if you want a Rod of Ages.

Not subject to change.

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Rushing of movement speed in the build was re-adjusted. The intent was not to rush move speed but to rush Magic penetration from Sorc. shoes.

Changed

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Not sure whose side to take on this.
Another who has given me verbal feedback on this guide has advised that Abyssal Mask is far superior. Your statement suggests that Void Staff is far superior.

So you do not question their legitimacy they are Plat 2 and their MMR is above their division according to OP.GG, they likely won't mind me pming their name.

I kind of feel like both penetration items have their uses.

Abyssal against teams that overlook Kassadin's damage (good game).
Void against teams that build to avoid death at Kassadin's hands (better game).
Liandry's against a mid that is plain tanky - Kassadin's Counters - (hard game).

So from my stand point this portion of the build seems optimal but if you want to hold it against me for having my build cater to a variety of match-ups and scenarios then that is a narrow analysis that goes against benefiting the majority of players.

Semi-old stats
Challenger top 50
Diamond+ 1384 (0.19%)
Plat+ 9894 (2%)
Gold+ 60068 (9%)
Silver+ 409783 (56%)

Silver - Plat is 67% of ranked players. Since there are people in Plat 1 who actually intent feed for things like not getting blue as mid, then I find it also easy to believe that Kassadin's damage may be overlooked, and opposing mid laners may build a lot of hp in the matches that those 67% of players participate in.

Not subject to change.

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Your mastery suggestions are not poor with the exception of Meditation . As the build has 2 Mana items, really powerful ones at that (rod of ages, tear of the goddess) I find it hard to see why you would be having mana issues even if Kassadin is nether able to use the passive of his Nether Blade.

As opposed to Mastermind I have chosen to use Artificer since 15%>10% and 3 activated items are more than 2 activated spells.

I stayed away from Runic Affinity because I rather let my jungler or support have crest of the ancient golem , since this build makes the mana regen and the CDR needless (no MR glyphs right).

Not subject to change.

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Maybe the lore doesn't like you either :P

Joking aside, it is changed to a video now.

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I avoid smartcast due to the consequences of a misclick, and I do not recommend its usage nor do I recommend the avoidance of it, that is a pure preference feature and I am more than capable of casting faster without it provided there was no slow in the fps.
As for the combo video, I am sure you noticed since you mentioned the lag, but for a brief second or two the game freezes when I start recording. Everything I did I was not necessarily prepared to do, so it was pretty much a sloppy 20 minute job.

Most definately subject to change. I am still getting a feel for recording using bandicam but if you have any recommendations on recording please do pm.

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It is no longer named chapter 1, chapter 2, etc.
Now it is named "Gameplay Chapter 1", etc.
It is not the first chapter of the guide, but merely the first chapter to gameplay recommendations/instructions/advice.

Changed.

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About the Zed and Fizz matchups, they are both listed as counters. I understand you think they should have a higher difficulty, but I have yet to personally see otherwise, and the current difficulties assigned were reviewed already by a Plat 2.

Subject to change pending...

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Colors :D

Started changing, not yet done

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Other video was not meant to be special, or impressive but merely shows Kassadin's functionality MID GAME, which is why it is in the mid game chapter. Also as you previously noted, there is lag, and it is quite hard to penta while I am recording thanks to this :(

Again very much subject to change.

EDIT:
To elaborate, my FPS went from 50s to 20s when I started recording.

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Thanks for the extra comprehensive review this time, was really helpful.

PS. Sounds like you went through most of it considering how Zed himself is at the very end of "Kassadin's Counters" which is one of the last chapters so I'd say you weren't too shabby with your coverage.

Allright, so I promised you a second(or is it third, fourth already? :p) look on your guide after you updated it. I will just write down everything that comes to mind while reading through the guide instead of following a certain format

Flash > Ghost. Ghost doesn't help much because you have gap closers. Ghost is really good on champions without gap closers (like olaf, nasus). Kassadin doesn't need the extra movement speed, but an extra blink to R in and flash out after 1-shotting someone is nice.

Still disagree with cdr glyhps (especially after removing kassadin's magic resist scaling per level) and movespeed quints (for the same reason I dislike ghost as well).

Boots/doran's start is not recommended. I would go with flask+pot+ward, cloth+4pot+1manapot or faery charm+4pots+2manapots+ward.

You shouldn't buy major (2.5k+) items that you will sell later. Kassadin is a mid/late game carry through mobility and buying items that don't scale into that phase are quite meh.

While I consider RoA to be core, some people might disagree and I won't go hard on you for that one. However, if you get it, you should not sell it.

Still not fond of rushing movement speed, same argument again.

You really need Void Staff in a 6 item-build.

If you decide to put points in utility, spec it 21/0/9 with Meditation , Mastermind and Runic Affinity .

Still don't like the lore.

Your combo video is super laggy and actually a quite poor execution because you're not using smartcast. I could cast these 3 spells in less than a second. Besides, if 5 ap is the only reason you're recommending ignite, you should use Teleport.

Woah, wait. Chapter 1 starts halfway into the guide? That's kinda messed-up structuring.

Fizz and zed should still be hard matchups.

Tune down the amount of colors a bit. It's really messy like this. Doesn't add up to readability (which is what colors/coding are useful for) at all.

Your other video (in which you got a triple kill) is nothing special as well. It's just a mop-up made possible by your team's damage and the enemy being too stupid to actually recall to heal up.

Well, this is still too much for me to change my downvote, so I'll let it rest here. I don't think I even covered everything yet tbh.

^ yeah

wow this has improved significantly since last i looked. well done. keep at it.

+1 for the hard work.