Greetings, this is my first time making a guide so im not trying to say mine is the best but I've been having a lot of fun and success with this Kassadin build on Dominion so I though I would give it a shot. Kassadin was the first champion I bought and I prefer to play him as an AP nuker with some survivability. This is a basic guide on how I do so.

Pros

-Great Damage with silence/slow
-Master at Escaping / Chasing
-Amazing at Tower diving
-Can get across the map pretty quickly
-Strong endgame champ
-Very fun to play

Cons

-Weak early game
-Can be Crowd Controlled
-On the Squishy side
-Hard to Master

Your standard magic penetration marks are going to be your best choice

Greater Seal of Vitality
For seals I go for a little bit more defense. The extra hp gives you a bit more survivability and since you level up much faster in Dominion I go with the health per lvl ones. Greater Seal of Health are also viable.

Greater Seal of Defense
These armor per lvl runes are also a good choice if you prefer the extra defense against physical attack. Greater Seal of Armorare also viable.


I believe that cooldown reduction glyphs are the most beneficial for Kassadin and im currently using flat ones Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction are just as viable if not slightly better.


Ability power per lvl runes are also a nice choice to give your nukes that extra punch. Greater Glyph of Ability Power are also viable.


Magic resist glyphs are also a good choice if your looking for the extra defense. Greater Glyph of Magic Resist are also viable and go well with amor seals.


I like the early game dmg these give you but there other good choices. Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration Greater Quintessence of Cooldown Reduction Greater Quintessence of Scaling Cooldown Reduction

Feel free to change your runes to fit your play style.

With the release of the new mastery trees I believe 21/0/9 is the best way to go. Adding alot of extra dps with some movement speed and increased buff duration.

Core Items

Catalyst the Protector


Catalyst the Protector This is a wonderful starting item for Kassadin, nice amount of needed health/mana with a great passive of restoring health/mana upon leveling. It really helps you stay in the fight for awhile at the beginning and since you build into Odyn's Veil I find it best to buy it early on. I also buy either a Mana Potion or Health Potion preferring the mana since you can already grab the health pots around the map.

Next I get sorc shoes for the movement/magic penetration.

In my opinion this the best item for an ap nuker so I grab it right after boots.

This is a great item for cooldown reduction with 75 ap and 12 mana per 5sec at a reasonable price its my next choice. If you are having mana trouble you can grab this before Rabadon's Deathcap

Finishing the Build

Best item to build your Catalyst the Protector into. Gives good magic resisit and health/mana plus the 10% magic damage reduction, much like your passive Void Stone is nice. Remember to use the active for the aoe nuke.

If I get this far into the game this is the next item I grab. Gives you some armor and a large chuck on ap and the active, makes you invulnerable for 2 seconds, works well for escaping combined with Riftwalk.

Rarely you will get to this point in Dominion but, if the game goes on this long this is the last item in my build. All of the stats are beneficial to Kassadin but the passive is its largest benefit, making your basic attacks do some good damage.

Situational

If your going against a heavy AD or AP team I recommend grabbing one of these for some nice defense at a very low price. You can buy it after your Catalyst the Protector or Boots and then build it into the upgrade later on.

This is a great item when going against a team stacking magic resist. Usually not needed with Greater Mark of Magic Penetration Sorcerer's Shoes.

If you feel you don't need the magic resist or want to use the active spell on Odyn's Veil you can choose to build your Catalyst the Protector into this. If you do I recommend that you do it early, either before or after boots. The passive takes awhile to stack which why I usually avoid it in Dominion.

If you going against a team with a lot of CC's this is a cheap item with nice AP and tenacity.

An amazing item for mana but personally I think its unnecessary. I usually don't have much problems with mana on Dominion so I never really get this but, if your having mana issues you can get Tear of the Goddess after Sorcerer's Shoes and finish it up later on.

This is a replacement for Morello's Evil Tome with slighty worse stats but with an active nuke. I prefer the tome but its a viable choice as well.

Point Spending

1 - Null Sphere
2 - Force Pulse
3 - Force Pulse
4 - Null Sphere
5 - Null Sphere
6 - Riftwalk
7 - Null Sphere
8 - Force Pulse
9 - Null Sphere
10 - Force Pulse
11 - Riftwalk
12 - Force Pulse
13 - Nether Blade
14 - Nether Blade
15 - Nether Blade
16 - Riftwalk
17 - Nether Blade
18 - Nether Blade

I choose to put 2 points in Force Pulse at the beginning instead on Null Sphere because of the initial fight for the top allowing you to do more dmg in aoe rather than just one enemy plus it has a lower cooldown so I find it more useful at the start. If your going bottom Grab 2 points in Null Sphere first

If you prefer you can spend a point in Nether Blade around lvl 10 to help with mana and charging Force Pulse put I think its better to max your slow first for the extra damage usually you shouldn't have a problem with charging/mana.

Description

Use

Weapon Mastery-Kassadin takes 10% reduced magic damage and transforms this damage into bonus attack speed. This effect lasts up to 4 seconds.

Kassadin's Passive- The 10% magic damage reduction is a nice bit of defense. Along with your silence skill(q) it makes you a very effective against other AP champs especially when you build your Odyn's Veil.


Null Sphere(Q)-Kassadin fires a void bolt dealing 80/130/180/230/280 (+70% of ability power) magic damage and silencing the target for 1/1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6 seconds.

Kassadin's main harassment skill, good damage plus a wonderful silence.I choose max this skill first after the initial 2 points into Force Pulse depending on the start. You shouldn't have much trouble being able to spam this. Try to keep in mind who the most important character to silence is its not always the one your focusing down.


Nether Blade(W)-Passive: Kassadin's melee attacks draw energy from the void, restoring 8/11/14/17/20 mana each hit. If this effect is triggered from attacking a champion the amount of mana restored is tripled.

Active: Kassadin's normal attacks become charged, dealing 20/30/40/50/60 (+15% of ability power) bonus magic damage for 5 seconds.

When using an AP build this skill is most useful for charging Force Pulse so keep spamming it if your not fully charged. If you are low on mana you can go kill a few minions. If I am diving someone with Riftwalk I will use this right after Force Pulse to get that first charge plus, maybe some extra damage and mana. I max this last.


Force Pulse(E)- Kassadin draws energy from spells cast in his vicinity, gaining a charge whenever a spell is cast near him. Upon reaching 6 charges, Kassadin can use Force Pulse to deal 60/115/170/225/280 (+70% of ability power) magic damage and slow enemies by 30/35/40/45/50% in a cone in front of him for 3 seconds.

A great AOE damage spell this time with a really nice slow, 50% when maxed! Keep in mind you cant always spam this because of the 6 charges needed for use. Try to get as many champs in the AOE damage/slow as possible to be most effective. I max this second.


Riftwalk(R)- Kassadin teleports to a nearby location dealing 60/90/120 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to surrounding enemy units. Additionally, each subsequent Riftwalk in the next 7 seconds costs 100 additional mana and deals 60/90/120 additional damage. The cost and damage can stack up to 10 times.

Kassadin's ultimate and character defining ability. This allows you to get around of Dominion very fast and choose when you want to engage or retreat.Remember you can teleport over almost all the walls on the map to make traveling/escaping more efficient. If your diving someone to nuke them don't forget to charge up a couple of stacks but keep track of them so you don't eat through all your mana because it can happen fast.I take a point in it at available levels 6/11/16.

Good Choice

Exhaust Great overall spell,damage reduction/slow, very useful in 1v1s. With Riftwalk makes running useless.

Cleanse Crowd Conrtols are very effective against Kassadin so I use this counter that, when combined with Riftwalk you can escape almost any gank.

Ghost Good overall spell,especially for dominion, to help movement speed/chasing/fleeing. I usually prefer this to exhaust on many champs but I think its just not as needed on Kassadin. I still thinks its a very viable choice and even more so if you go 9/0/21 mastery with improved ghost.

Ignite Also a good choice to give you some extra burst dmg and the healing prevention is nice. Just not my preferred spell on Kassadin.

Garrison I think this is a great overall spell on Dominion. Can really come in handy when tower diving which kass does alot, teams fights, or trying to defend your point form 1+ enemies. I Just think there are better options and hopefully someone else on you team will grab it.

Decent Choice

Heal Eh not a horrible spell, it can certainly can come in handy at times. There are just many better choices.

Clarity This isn't a bad choice, Kass can be pretty mana intensive at times with Riftwalk but if managed correctly you shouldn't need it. Remember to get the improved version if your are using a 9/0/21 mastery.

Flash This is much more viable in normal mode and unneeded with your ult but, can still be useful just many better choices.

Promote Decent spell for Dominion, other support champs should really be getting this.There are many better choices.

Never A good choice

Revive Defiantly not...

Smite Even worse then revive...

Clairvoyance Uh its better then smite? You can see most of the map.

I believe Kassadin is top tier champion on Dominion and is very enjoyable to play. Not saying this is the best or the only way to build him but its how i prefer to. Hopefully this has been somewhat helpful and you can find some success with this guide.

Would love to hear your feedback/criticism!

-_Tussefray_-