Build Guide by gulag

Introduction

People often say "Cassiopeia is a waste of IP, she can't do nothing, her ulti is hard to hit, bla bla".

Those people are horribly wrong.

Pros / Cons

Cassiopeia is the champion with the most APMs (actions per minute) in the game.
Late game she is popping 600-700 damage every 1,5-2 seconds, just with her Q.

She can harass and chase like mad, deny, scout bushes, scout for stealthed units, jungle, solo lane, gank, get double kill on being tower dived...you get the idea.

Runes

These runes are pretty much what you will need: flat cdr and magic pen, so you can make an awesome harass at level 1, and mana regen per 5, so you don't need to get stupid summoner skills like Clarity on her.

Her mana pool will be huge enough, and with golem at level 3-4 it's like child's play.

If you don't want to pick the Doran's Ring at lv 1 then consider getting 3 Quintessences of Fortitude instead.

Masteries

Masteries are pretty standard for a mage, with improved Ghost, Flash and buff duration (you wan't to have the golem at EVERY TIME!).

This masteries assume you are, like me, a fan of full mobility summoner spells.

Once I was an Ignite and Flash user, and usually went like this.

That improved Ignite really gives a nice AP kick at level 1.

Summoner Spells

Took Ghost and Flash as I love to go full mobility: facilitates ganking, either using ghost or flashing + ulti through a wall.

Teleport is one of my prefered summoner spells in nukes..so it's pretty viable too.

Ignite, for the reasons I stated above - also, don't forget to swap masteries accordingly.

Exhaust may be useful if they have like 3 AD dps (I'm talking about draft pick here).

Others: just don't, please. You're doing it wrong.

Skill Sequence

Max Noxious Blast, ASAP!
Follow Twin Fang right away. Cassiopeia is meant to be played Q+E+E+Q+E+E.

Sometimes I don't even put that point in Miasma (only at lv 8 or so).
It DRINKS MANA LIKE HELL and doesn't give that much profit.

Late game is a must though, it's a GREAT zoning tool, so get it, by any means, if they tower hug and won't come from behind him.

Just W behind their minions, parallel to their turret, and don't even auto-attack. Let their minions die. If they start coming to XP range just Q on them: deny has a great psychological impact, making people act impulsively rather than consciently.

True story bros.

Just don't get overconfident.

Ah, point in Petrifying Gaze whenever available.

Items

F*** YEAH! The Items!

Quoting my comment on Cassiopeia:Generic AP Build(up to date) by Th3Em0Sl4yer:

This covers in fact, almost everything.
His build kinda inspired me to publish this one...as I've seen many, many fail builds in MOBAfire. <- not saying mine is better, just a bit more well thought.

Anyway, this is how it goes:
1- YOU DON'T WANT MID! Don't be silly, where do you get more kills? In a lane with only one guy? Obviously not. Go to bottom or top, with someone with a stun or a taunt ( Rammus, Shen, Sion and Taric are examples of great friends).

G + Click the most squishy, have your lane partner to taunt/stun him, Noxious Blast him to death. Be advised that they usually Flash out...be ready to catch up.

2- Doran's Ring - for your HP and mana regen needs. Also, that bit of AP usually makes a difference in getting first blood.

3- Recall when you have 935 gold and buy Boots of Speed, Amplifying Tome and 2x Sight Wards to place in the bushes at the beggining of the river.

4- Build your Amplifying Tome into a Mejai's Soulstealer and grab the Sorcerer's Boots. As I said above, you get a big load of ***its, usually finish with a Kill:Assist ratio of 1...so stack up that Mejai.

5- Time to think: is there anyone that scares the sh*t out of you?
5.1- If not: proceed with Rabadon's Deathcap, starting with the monstruous Abyssal Scepter, ofc.

5.2- Yes, and it is AD: get Zhonya's Hourglass. If it's more than one (like, a Nocturne and a Master Yi, you might wan't to get Thornmail <- yes, it makes an HUGE difference when they are dying of your DoT (damage over time), Twin Fang and by attacking you.

5.3- Yes, and it is AP: Abyssal Scepter ftw! And it even has an OMGWTF aura that pwns.

Anyway, you are probably getting these 3 items if they have a well balanced team, so the question here is just the order in which you get them <- that also makes an huge difference.

If their team is IMBA (like, full AD or full AP), don't be afraid to stack items like Abyssal Scepter or Zhonya's Hourglass.

Once I had Sorcerer's Boots, Rylai's Crystal Scepter and 3x Abyssal Scepters against a full AP team and that completely shut them off.

It's all about thinking.

6- If you are feeling OP just sell that Zhonya's Hourglass or Abyssal Scepter and get the Void Staff - you will now be facerolling.

Summary

I guess that covers everything.

Haven't played Cass lately, so when I do I'll be sure to provide some prints to show that this isn't BS.

If I get the time, maybe also a vid or two.

Any doubts/suggestions will be gladly answered in the meantime.