Cassiopeia Build Guide by ilke994

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League of Legends Build Guide Author ilke994

Introducing Cassiopeia to Competitive Scene

ilke994 Last updated on August 23, 2012
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Build 1 (Cheat Sheet)

Champion Build: Cassiopeia

Health 3170
Health Regen 13.85
Mana 1450
Mana Regen 37.13
Armor 83.5
Magic Resist 115
Dodge 0
Tenacity 0
Movement Speed 405
Gold Bonus 0
Attack Damage 104.6
Attack Speed 0.828
Crit Chance 0%S
Crit Damage 0%
Ability Power 502.39
Life Steal 0%
Spell Vamp 20
Armor Penetration 0
Magic Penetration 22.83
Cooldown Reduction 0%


Recommended Runes



Ability Sequence

1
3
5
7
9
Ability Key Q
4
14
15
17
18
Ability Key W
2
8
10
12
13
Ability Key E
6
11
16
Ability Key R





Mastery Tree Is Outdated

WARNING: These masteries are still using the old tree and have not been updated to the new tree by the guide author. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.



Masteries

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sunder
4/
Archmage
 
 
 
 
 
 
1/
Executioner
 
 

Offense: 21

 
 
 
 
 
Durability
Vigor
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Honor Guard
Mercenary
 
 
 
 
 
 
Juggernaut
 
 

Defense: 0

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Strength of Spirit
Intelligence
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mastermind
 

Utility: 9

Guide Top

Introduction - Snake Tongue Edition

Hello there guys, my name is Ilke994 and obviously I am a LoL player like many of you. I started playing LoL back in October of 2010 (no Kitty Cat Katarina for me :( ) and I fell in love with game instantly. I kept playing and on magical day of 14'th of December, EU servers got serpentine beauty, Cassiopeia. I naturally in life love snakes and now I got one in my favorite game, I got her along both skins and I used her as my main ever since.

Many people found Cassiopeia underpowered and sucking back in the day, and we saw slight buffs, but not major one and there is a reason - she never sucked in the first place. Cassiopeia relies on quick hands and precision to being her potential on the Summoner's Rift and if you believe you have what's needed, with just a few weeks of practice you will discover the beauty of extremely powerful AP carry, with burst, AoE DPS, AoE slow and AoE stun - how awesome is that!


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Marvelous Pros / Poisonous Cons

Just like every (almost every >.>) champion, Cassiopeia has her good sides and bad sides, the main problem of Cassiopeia is that 3/4 skills are skill shots and 1/4 depends on well landed skill shot. So let us take a look.

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Marvelous Pros:

+Amazing mid laner, great harassment
damage, amazing farm, high range and
movement speed.

+Has great number of disables for a
single team member.

+Very hard to gank, even due to being
squishy, slow with Miasma and hit
with Noxious Blast to gain speed,
use Petrifying Gaze and Flash if
needed.
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Poisonous Cons

-Very squishy, this is a problem you
can quite easily get over with some
positioning, but until you do, you
will find Petrifying Gaze quite
hard to land.

-A lot of skill shots, meaning she
needs practice, but this is not so
much of a con for me, it's where the
fun is hidden.

-Un-reliable disables, needs skill.


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New Masteries

Masteries
1/1
3/4
4/4
1/1
3/2
4/1
4/3
1/4
1/1
3/3
1/1
3/3
1/1

As you can see yourself I went 21-0-9 masteries, these are quite simple masteries taking everything in offense for AP and everything for mana in Utility.With these newly introduced masteries going Utility in my opinion is not such a good idea as it is more support-oriented, while defensive masteries are just outclassed by offensive ones for your role.

You get cooldown reduction, penetration, mana, mana regeneration and ability power, what must be missing you might ask? Movement speed, we used to have it in utility, but we bring it right back through runes. Also your blue buff will last longer.

Update: Alright guys, I had done some testing with 9-0-21, and while it is viable, if you go this road you may want to take Greater Quintessence of Ability Power instead of Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed, you will need the extra AP early game. Now it is really down to people's preference - my advise is to try both and pick the one which fits your playstyle best.


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IP Biting Runes

Runes

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed
3

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
3

Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration
3

Greater Quintessence of Health
3

Q
u
i
n
t
s
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  • Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: Due to our new masteries we got a lot of additional AP buffs, although we lost MS buff that is very much needed and useful in our gameplay, these runes make up for it good.
  • Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: My most prefered runes lately, mainly because I found out I don't really need extra MS from Swiftness due to ability to hit off my Q and extra AP helps early. They give amazing early game harassment although you should be careful of ganks and try not to over-extend.
  • Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration: These are used in replacement of AP runes, it is really all about personal preference, but I think with masteries and insight marks, AP wins the match.
  • Greater Quintessence of Health: If you truly believe you need more HP or have no other rune option, these are viable, but have in mind all of above options are better. If you go for these, you might want to miss out on one Doran's Ring and go straight for more AP.
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Q
u
i
n
t
s
Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
9

M
a
r
k
s
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  • Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: These are your one and only option and I am not giving any other one, simply because you NEED these to deal DMG with any AP carry and most of you should have this and if you don't and are getting them because of this guide, trust me I did you an amazing favor there. The DMG boost they give early is great and I wouldn't trade them for anything else.
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M
a
r
k
s
Runes

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration
9

Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration
9

Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power
9

Greater Seal of Ability Power
9

Greater Seal of Scaling Health
9

Greater Seal of Armor
9

S
e
a
l
s
SPACE SPACE
S
e
a
l
s
Runes

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
9

Greater Glyph of Ability Power
9

Greater Glyph of Scaling Mana Regeneration
9

Greater Glyph of Mana Regeneration
9

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
9

Greater Glyph of Magic Penetration
9

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction
9

G
l
y
p
h
s
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G
l
y
p
h
s


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Viable Summoner Spells - Makes it all better


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SPACE Flash: Since the freaking beginning of time (Which for LoL would be 2009 :x) had been the most OP summoner spell ever. I do realize it was nerfed recently, also was hated upon for it's OPness, but really, this "nerf" did next to nothing to it and it is still extremely viable and OP. Cassiopeia uses to escape over walls, or to position herself for better attack. Please do note that doing + most of the times won't work, because it is predictable, you must either do it from bush or have a really, uhm, low intelligence (******ed -.-) enemy. SPACE

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SPACE Ignite: My 2nd favorite next to , it has a very viable role, most of the time this is the spell that will give me that one early kill or boost my DMG with strategies I use below and I can't live without it, it is such a great addition to your DoT spells. Although to make this useful you must be able to land these abilities so I don't recommend it to new Cassiopeias. SPACE

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SPACE Exhaust: This is quite viable spell for Cassiopeia, although it's main purpose for me is to reduce enemy damage on me and slow them just enough to land my skill shots on them. I used it back when I wasn't as secure in my skill shots as I am now, so if you are insecure in your landing, use this instead of until you are sure you can handle without it. SPACE

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SPACE Teleport: I am not a big fan of this summoner spell on Cassiopeia, although it is viable. It can be very good if you have no other option but going solo top or for new summoners who can't use flash effectively, but I doubt there are many of you with this problem. It depends on your play style if you prefer farming and pushing over killing, then do take this. SPACE


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Cassiopeia's Poisoned Skillset


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SPACE Deadly Cadence(Passive): I am not sure if there could be made a better and more fitting passive for . It helps so much with mana management from early to late game, along with mana runes, you practically can't lose mana if you use your mana correctly. When low on mana and have to attack or cast to defend yourself it can be a life saver, really amazing.

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SPACE Noxious Blast (Q): The core of are her posions, and this is primary one, the most damaging potion she has, the most spammable one and it even gives her bonus movement speed, it is not hard to land and with a bit of practice you'll get a hang of it, it is just like Karthus's Lay Waste, press Q and after a short delay (about 0.5 seconds) a poison will blow up and affect targets in small AoE.
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Tips and Tricks
  • Use it to spam in lane constantly, do note if you stack up to 5 Deadly Cadence stacks with this and keep spamming it just when Deadly Cadence is about to run out, along MP5 runes you will lose no mana, but be careful and don't push your lane too hard.
  • You can hardly make strategy above work if enemy has Boots of Speed, if that case just farm and when enemy comes in for the last hit, punish him with a Noxious Blast, it always works for me.
  • Next to being offensive, it is much of a defensive tool too. If you are escaping use this on enemies behind, it will give you MS and damage them and just in case they are unskilled (stupid :x) enough you can eventually turn and finish them off.
  • When you hit an enemy champion with it, you will see buff icon on you, this can be used to very well check bushes.

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SPACE Miasma (W): Let's go over the mechanics of this skill first, so basically you throw down the cloud of poison and it instantly slows and starts spreading to apply the same effect, it also gives vision. This is mainly your slowing and farming skill, while spreading circle is quite useful in team fights.
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Tips and Tricks
  • At level 5, much like Morgana you can use this skill in combination with Noxious Blast to clear whole ranged mob way in the back, amazing farming tool and I use this strategy all the time, while being careful of how pushed the lane is. Very effective against Malzahar and Brand.
  • If you have the blue buff, you can use this skill again before it's duration goes away, use this advantage and mana regeneration to scout bushes, never head in and face check, that is pretty much a death wish.
  • It is much easier to land than Noxious Blast so you might want to land it first and slow the target before hitting off your Q.

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SPACE Twin Fang (E): So how this skill works, you hit someone with your poison and then you use this skill on them and it's cooldown is refreshed to 0.5 seconds instead of 4. AD carry has auto attack, you have this, no better way to put it, of course don't use it to farm.
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Tips and Tricks
  • One of most often made mistakes, even by me would be hitting Twin Fang before proccing your Noxious Blast, and yes this can happen, due to Noxious Blast having delay on it, you might wanna wait for it to hit before instantly firing Twin Fang, you might end up on 4 seconds cooldown, which is not nice. ESPECIALLY watch this after you Petrifying Gaze someone, make sure your poison procs first.
  • Yes, this skill works with other poisons, not just your own, but don't rely on this. It is just a safety net for you, still aim your poisons because DoT deals amazing damage.
  • In early game while this is level 1, you don't really wanna spam it on enemies, use only Noxious Blast to harass, don't follow up with this UNLESS you are going in for kill, it will burn your mana down and distract you from much needed farm.
  • One thing I discovered is that, this skill eats Morgana's Black Shield alive, just spam it on her shield and it will be gone before you know it, laning against Morgana is not really a problem.
  • You can always smart cast this skill, even thorough I don't do it, it can be useful it really depends if you prefer it so or not.

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SPACE Petrifying Gaze (R): Ah, finally, my favorite thing about Cassiopeia, her ultimate. This amazing skill is high damage stun/slow with a "short" range. Actually range is not short at all, it is all question of positioning, if target is facing you he will be stunned, if not he will get a decent slow, both of these allowing you to easily follow up with your skills.
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Tips and Tricks
  • Think about position, think outside of box, no one said you are limited to being in front of target or close to them, this skill is actually most effective when used over walls or trees and you can see that in video below.
  • With Rylai's Crystal Scepter the slow will be very high and it might compensate for missed stuns, but remember stuns are better.
  • Try to use it from the bush, enemies won't see it coming and you have the highest chance of hitting the stun.
  • It is very effective for escaping, use it and then use Miasma and Noxious Blast on stunned target, you will be out in no time.
  • I love using it for mind games, when some cocky squishy (mostly Vayne) is chasing me, I just turn around, stun her and then burst her down with Miasma Noxious Blast Ignite Twin Fang combo.


Guide Top

Skill Sequence

Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
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>>>

So this is the build I most often use, please note you can have variations. I use it like this most of the time because I really love the harass and mana perseverance I get by harassing with Noxious Blast, I love it as farming tool, and I can escape and gank well with it. Second I max Twin Fang, it gives a lot of damage to you and can burst down several champions.

I wanna stop here for a moment because there is a debate if to max Noxious Blast or Twin Fang first, and that is completely up to you as both options are viable. I actually recommend Twin Fang in case you need burst of damage to take down some champions, max it for more aggressive play with a lot of ganking involved, I prefer it in normals. But in ranked gameplay, I prefer to max out Noxious Blast, I don't have the same burst but I do get kills here and there and I end up with a very high CS, it is the safest option and in ranked you really don't want to risk it with Twin Fang.

Obviously at level 4 I pick up Miasma mainly to farm in my lane and have a slow, although it is very handy to proc Twin Fang as well, and of course Petrifying Gaze whenever possible.


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Core Items - Miasma Blast!

The Miasma Blast Build
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Alright, we will go through each and every item of this build and explain it's use and the reason these items are better than some other items like rod of aegis. So your first question must be "Why Miasma Blast?", well the reason for this name is powerful mix of Noxious Blast and Rylai's Crystal Scepter, now your Q also slows just like Miasma.
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The Build Explanations:
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SPACE 20 Magic Penetration. These are my preferred boots, I get them 85% of the time because magic penetration adds damage to you and simply synergizes very well with your abilities early game, much better than cooldown reduction or dodge and armor.
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SPACE 15 Ability Power, 100 Health, 5 Mana Per 5 Sec. Two of these will solve all possible problems you might have in early and even maybe mid game. Let's see, you get additional HP to survive these nasty burst champions and last longer, you get bonus AP to strike harder so it is both offensive AND defensive, you get mana regeneration and combined with Deadly Cadence this is all you'll need.
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SPACE 140 Ability Power, 30% Increase of Ability Power. The best AP item and every respective AP carry should have it. A huge damage boost for you, and it's 30% increase won't be wasted since you will quite a bit of ability power already once you get it.
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SPACE 80 Ability Power, 500 Health, 15% Slow. Yes 15%, all your spells are either AoE or with cooldown lower than 3 seconds, but then again look at it. Noxious Blast gives you speed and this slows so that kind brings it back to 30$, Miasma has slow that stacks on this so it adds up. Twin Fang, well you must use two of above to use this one so slow will be already returned, Petrifying Gaze, if you miss your stun, this slow will in most cases make up to it and you will land your skills anyway. With that said, 500HP and additional AP are both offensive and defensive making it a perfect balance.
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Situational Replacements:
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SPACE 25 Magic Resist, 35 Tenacity. These are the only alternative I would take to Sorcerer's Shoes. Pick these up, not if they have a lot of stuns and disables, but if these disables are targeting specifically you, because mostly they go onto the AD carry from my experience.
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SPACE 50 Armor, 100 Ability Power, 2 second immunity. It goes in replacement of Rabadon's Deathcap although I doubt you will need it, if team happens to have ad both top and jungle, and you are being center of attention as a target, you can consider getting this.
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SPACE 430 HP. I suggest you buy one of these before Rabadon's Deathcap in case you feel squishy, are newer to Cassiopeia or just wanna be more secure. It is also great to do this if you play against burst champs like LeBlanc.
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SPACE 40 AP, 15% Spell Vamp.. I found this item to fit quite well into the core, although the problem is it delays it a bit, it your personal choice, but if you go for this item I suggest going for Rylai's Crystal Scepter afterward and then get Rabadon's Deathcap, make sure to eventually turn it into Will of the Ancients and let your team know you'll be getting it.


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Rod of Ages- My hate for you burns with power of thousand suns!

I feel like this item needs special mention, I see a lot of Cassiopeia's get this item and I will admit, I used to get this item, until I realized just how bad it is- ok I used a bad word, this item is not bad, it is good but thing is there are much better items for lesser price or better effects, and let's see these items.
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So, let's first compare the two. Both give HP, both give AP, one gives mana, other gives slow. One of these gives this instantly, other gives it over time. Now look, in ranked game I usually don't have time to charge up Rod of Ages and that is just first of the downsides, true it gives mana, but mana I don't need because I have my 2 Doran's Ring, while slow from Rylai, instant AP and HP gave me quite a lot of kills, which brings us to next comparison.
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SPACE Why not compare these two, first thing to notice is price, 2x Doran's Ring are 1k, while Rod of Ages is 3k. Now my point is, if you went Rod of Ages you'd trade these two for Catalyst the Protector. You would have more mana, but that is not needed, you have mana regen in rings and passive, you'd have more HP but, two rings give just enough for you. But rings also give bonus AP that is even increased when you get Rabadon's Deathcap and stack nice with your AP scaling runes. SPACE
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Conclusion:
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While Rod of Ages is a good item, it needs too much time to start working correctly for champion like Cassiopeia, she needs to dominate early game and ruin their mid fast with power, and the burst of two Doran's Ring and Rylai's Crystal Scepter allow her to do that much better for almost the same price.


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Items - Damage, fang their heads off

After your core in case you are not getting damage on yourself, which is not very likely if you have smart enemies, or maybe you are just freakishly amazing positioner, you may want an offensive item, here are few I recommend:

SPACE 140 AP, + 30% increase of AP. If you took Zhonya's Hourglassin your core for protection, now it's time to get this item, you can't avoid it, it is too good on any AP caster to be avoided.
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SPACE 70 AP, 40% Magic Penetration. Your enemies should have some built up MR, so this item is my usual offensive choice, although be careful, if they have more than 100 MR, then this item is good, if not, there is an alternative which will work better.
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SPACE 70 AP, 57 MR, 20 MR reduction aura. This is the alternative to Void Staff, never get both, if you enemies are below 100 MR, get this, if they are above 100 get the staff.
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SPACE 60 AP, 10 MP5, active that attacks 30% of enemy current HP (3.5% more per 100 AP}, 15% CDR. This item is very useful for Cassiopeia but there are better alternatives to it, so only time you should take this item is if some tanky DPS is giving you big trouble, like Shyvana.
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SPACE 75 AP, 12 MP5, 20% CDR. A solid choice, if enemies don't build up much MR and someone else in your team has Will of the Ancients, then this is 100% the item you will go to.
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SPACE 50 AP, +30 AP and 25% Spell Vamp aura. I find this item quite amazing on Cassiopeia as last pick item or so, if no one got it. AP is amazing and with your DoT and AoE burst of your ulti, AND spammability of your skills, this will grand your great sustain.
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SPACE 45 AP, 400 Mana, 25 MP5, 3% of mana converted into AP, each cast gives you more mana cooldown 3 sec (cap 1000 mana}. I will tell you right now, you will not get this item ever. You have your Deadly Cadence and in the late game if you sold the rings even, passive and blue are all you need, there are much better AP options.
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SPACE 80 AP, 350 Mana, 30 MR, 7 Movement Speed, passive deals your total AP in damage on your auto attack after cast. Stats are amazing on this item and great for you, but sadly you will never get it. It's passive is wasted on you, you spam skills all the time, you don't have time to auto attack and utilize your passive.
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SPACE 20 AP, 8 more per stack, kill is 2 stacks, assist is 1 stack, you lose 1/3 of stack when you die, 20 is stack cap, 15% CDR on 20 stacks. I am talking about ranked gameplay and if you get this, you are instantly focused. It COULD carry you in early and mid game but in late game a single death will be defeat of your team, so no. Although in normal, where organization is destroyed this item dominates and I recommend it right after your 2 Doran's Ring


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Items - Survivability, you don't turn to stone, you turn them into it

After your core, most of the times you are gonna go for a defensive item, simply because you are deadly after your core and will probably be the center of attention.

SPACE 375 HP, 375 Mana, 50 MR, blocks a spell every 40 sec. This is my first choice when it comes to MR, we can compare it to Force of Nature because many people do so. I simply like it better for HP it gives along spell block which can either be wasted or save your life, depends on positioning.
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SPACE 50 Armor, 100 AP, grants 2 sec immunity. Remember when I first said "You don't turn to stone"? Well I am sticking to it, you turn to freaking gold, this item is amazing against AD, it gives armor, HUGE AP boost and this passive which can turn their focus on you into their demise, my primary armor choice no question asked.
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SPACE 68 Armor, 38 MR, Revive every 5 minutes. This is primary item when you re focused really hard and your team can't do anything about it. It is very good item and balanced on lines of Armor and MR - so only get it if you are focused and your team can't help it.
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SPACE 56 MR, removes all debuffs every 90 seconds. If you have Malzahar or Warwick again you, this item is better than Banshee's Veil and you just have to pick it up so you are not surrpressed into oblivion.
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SPACE 18 Armor, 270 HP, 24 MR, 12 Armor + 15 MR + 8 DMG aura. Don't get it, this item is gotten by either support or tank, not you, so no don't ever get it there are better options.
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SPACE 40 HP per 5 Sec, 76 MR, 8 Movement Speed, restores 0.35% HP per second. This item is really solid MR choice, although I do prefer Banshee's Veil it is purely your preference.
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SPACE 99 armor, 500 mana, 20% CDR, Reduces AS of enemies by 20%. I don't think you should get this, this is item for tank mainly and Zhonya's Hourglass does a better job due to it's active and AP.
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SPACE 100 Armor, Returns 30% DMG on hit as magical DMG. This item is good for those rare situations when they pick Ashe bot and Ezrael mid and they both go AD, but if there are not two ad ranges, I wouldn't pick this.
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SPACE 45 Armor, 450 HP, deals 35 magic DMG per sec in 400 AoE. Ok i saw this item in a guide and I went like "Well I won't class item out until I try it", so I went for it, and well..********, why would anyone recommend this freaking **** on Cassiopeia I mean what the hell, I don't get too close, I am usually out of range for it to deal much DMG and when I come in range to get it's effect in team fights I am eaten out, and it deals DMG when I am 1v1 but..compare that and 100 AP of Zhonya's Hourglass, honestly, don't even try, that was probably the worst game I've had in a WHILE.


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Gameplay - Look out! There's a snake in the grass!

Early Game:

So, you had picked Cassiopeia in pick, make sure no one else goes mid, now I will explain what you do from top to the bottom so let's begin.

You are in loading screen, take a look at other champions and their summoners, you will almost -always- see CV. Once you enter the game wait about 20 secs before doing anything, make sure you don't get CV to reveal your items. This is important because Boots of Speed give powerful start if not expected and a lot of AP mids tend to start with Doran's Ring.

Now that you are in your lane, make sure to last hit your minions, the thing to remember is that you are harassment queen and no one can stand up to you there, so whenever they are in range remind them of your presence with a Noxious Blast, don't let them last hit, harass the enemy.

If enemy tries to harass back, your boots will let you avoid skill shots and you have 3 Health Potion so you should have no problem.

Don't use your skills to push, use them to harass or push back. Pushing back means if you have Brand or Malzahar against yourself you can use your skills to push back the minions since these two push quite hard. Request for a gank from jungler and try to score that first kill, if they kill you first, no big deal you will get back in there and continue fighting.

At level 5 or 6 you will have around 1000 gold, go back buy 2x Doran's Ring 2x Sight Ward and 2x Health Potion. Put a ward in ONE of the side bushes and stick to that bush, this will give you great escaping curve and you will practically be ungankable unless they have Shaco or Rammus in which case I suggest warding both bushes.

Keep on playing like this, try to score kills, farm and deny your enemy, until you are able to either go gank side lane or destroy the tower, this is what you early game is consisted of, more on specific laning opponents later.

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Blue buff:
Blue Buff Initial Spawn: 1:55
Blue Buff respawns in 5 minutes
Total XP: 280
Total Gold: 80

Being Cassiopeia you are naturally mana hungry and a spammer, blue buff here helps you a lot, but don't expect to get the first blue buff, you will hopefully get the second one. Once you have the blue buff start being a lot more aggressive, spam without stopping and harass enemy's mind out. Of course respect line between aggressive and reckless, don't overextend while harassing. If your jungler is Fiddlesticks or Nocturne make a sad face and forget about this buff completely..

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Mid Game:

You love this part of the game, you got your Twin Fang stronger and you can do some serious single target and AoE damage, mid and late game are pretty much the same, try to gather your team in one lane and push out the first set of turrets if you didn't already.

The most important part of mid game for you is positioning, you must work and practice on this, no guide can help you, but remember your spells are not restricted by walls, not even your ulti, do feel free to take a safe spot and spam your abilities.

Another good strategy is to get into bush and cast from there, always be behind a tank and don't stupidly rush in like I do sometimes, yes I get cocky...

Remember your goal is victory not an amazing K/D/A, so head towards pushes and always have a ward on dragon, you really wanna control dragon and take it every single time you can, also ward Baron Nashor because if enemies get it, it can be nasty. Due to your naturally long range you can harass enemies who pile up to try and steal him, but be careful and don't do this if there's Blitzcrank on the enemy team.

Rest of the game should be push for victory.

Here's the video made by pro Cassiopeia player who plays on 2000 elo, it is amazing and how just how viable Cassiopeia is, a really good watch so come and see:

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Snake in the grass:

The title must be confusing for you, but "snake in the grass" is name of a extremely powerful strategy Cassiopeia can use, this strategy requires quick hands, and amazing amount of map awareness to work, along with several wards.

The point of this is catching enemy unprepared while you are in the bush, you wanna know where you mid enemy went for gank, and once he starts returning, you enter the bush you believe he will pass, as soon as he is close to the bush, you do this combo:

Petrifying Gaze > Miasma > Noxious Blast > Ignite > Twin Fang

And you spam your fangs until enemy is dead, this combo is INSANE surprise burst and can catch unaware enemy off guard and net you a quick and easy kill, which is very useful, but it can't always be done as I said maybe your enemy has wards there and so, map awareness is the key of this strategy working.

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Team Fights(Late game):

This was requested part so here I am writing it up, how should Cassiopeia act in late game team fights.

First of all the biggest mistake by most Cassiopeia players is rushing in close range to get that Petrifying Gaze off. This may be alright if you have Zhonya's Hourglass and can do it properly while placing Miasma and Noxious Blast after and not getting stun on your head. It is really hard to do so I don't exactly recommend it.

What I do recommend is standing back on quite a range, let your tank and melee off-tank DPS initiate the fight, you should come in a bit later. Your range is very high on Miasma and Noxious Blast, use these two to attack the squishies, or well the target team is focused onto.

A bit later when their protection is gone, which you should judge, you should come closer and spam Twin Fang to finish them off. As for your ulti, it needs special mention. I suggest you to position yourself to try and use it over wall, or maybe you can flash into the fight suddenly and use it, but make sure your tank is always in front of you, chose the moment when you can catch most people into it.

I don't suggest you to look for moment when you can stun all 5 because you will never use it, use your ulti on most people possible for DMG + Slow and if someone is stunned then you are at luck - of course this only counts for team fights, in 1v1 or 1v2 or so, always try to make stun priority over DMG.

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Difficult Laning Opponents (Replay edition):

Laning is extremely important part of being a good Cassiopeia, so I decided to make this section with replays which show you how to lane against champions that may seem tougher for you to lane against, but first you must know how to use these replays:
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Your LoLReplay (Using this Guide) Here. You have to have LoLReplay to watch these replays. Download LoLReplay Here. The program, LoLReply, allows you to record your own games and replay them at any time. An hour of gameplay is about 7 MB; 100x smaller than an average quality video, so don't worry about the files taking up space :)

LoLReplay is great because it allows you to see how you could have handled a situation better, it allows you to analyze possible other routes or paths you could have taken. It also allows you to show off :P
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SPACE Kassadin is actually not such a difficult enemy for Cassiopeia as many may think. The main problem is that most of us when he shoots Null Sphere go back as if we can freaking dodge the spell or something, but we can't. Remember this, on early levels this one spell and Force Pulse are all he has after that he has nothing, so stand up to him, surprise him and fight right back into his face as he does to attack you just as silence fades use Noxious Blast and spam the **** out of him.

Replay.

Status: Permabanned. Since in ranked he is permabanned I had to play normals till I found one, this is normal game, not ranked.

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SPACE So called "classic counter" to Cassiopeia and other casters. I don't know for others but I beat the **** out of this *****, she has silence, true but it doesn't last forever, she has her one burst and after that she is done and down to you, you abuse this. I also recommend you take one Giant's Belt before Rabadon's Deathcap to survive her burst. Up to level 5 you can harass her hard down, don't stop harassing her, make her pay for existing, if she goes onto you, you go right back, you must make balance when it is good to attack and when not, let her come to you and once she is afraid, you go into her. At level 6 situation changes as she has her ulti and you should go more def and get your jungler to help you with her.

Replay.

Status: Rarely Banned. Since she is rarely banned she was picked as counter to me on mid. Yes this was ranked game, I handled her with balance between aggression and passive play, you can see for yourself.

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SPACE I myself take Sion to be harder than both of the above, just because his shield can get really big and strong and stun can interrupt you, but remember his stun range is shorter than your harass range. I don't suggest you to go right into him when his shield comes up, but try to take it down from semi-risky range using damage and then go right up against him in lane - ask your jungler for help.

Replay.

Status: Permabanned. This was normal game as in my elo and server this guy is permabanned. I won the lane but I lost the game due to my team being quite..idiotic, but oh well in the end I lost my will to play and it was morning and I'm not giving you more excuses, but we lost - still it is worth watching the laning phase because I handled Sion really well.

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SPACE This guy is very tricky, first thing first, you don't want him farming. Try to harass him quite aggressively, if he is one of these good Veigars he will probably stand up to you and make you back off, or if he is bad he will back off and you will dominate him, lvl 6 on you will need help to down him, good or bad Veigar, you must back away because burst is so hardcore, I suggest some HP before the Deathcap and maybe QSS to dispel the stun.

Replay.

Status: Available. This Veigar wasn’t bad, he was one of better Veigar's I've seen, I also made some stupid mistakes in this video, but you are supposed to see it so you don't make them yourself. In the end I end up with higher farm although he has decent farm himself, we win the game.

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SPACE Alright, I was people complain about Morgana who really isn't much of a big deal if I am honest, sure she has spell vamp, farm, shield, but you have spam and she stands no chance to your harassment, also you have farm power with Miasma and Noxious Blast, if she ulties you, try to flash away, you won't stun her or slow because she will probably have shield but know that your Twin Fang practically eats her shield up.

Replay.

Status: Permabanned. In this game Morgana did fine against me, we ended up with same score actually, although my farm was higher, we won in the end.
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These three are the most often mentioned ones, if you find ANY other champion that makes a lot of problems for you, post in comments and I will write up and make a replay of how to counter that champion in lane.


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Credits - People who helped me sharpen up my fangs

Many thanks to these amazing persons who made this guide even better:

  • jhoijhoi: I should make this girl co-author of the guide, she helped me a lot and this guide is based on her guide to make guides. If you like this guide along with +repping me, I suggest you +rep her as well and check out her amazing guides right here: Ashe, Vayne, Morgana, Nasus, Warwick, Guide about making Guides.
  • Nurok: Outright awesome Cassiopeia player, he is one responsible for high elo video above, I suggest everyone to go to his channel, watch LoL videos subscribe and leave a comment :)


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Summary - It had come to an end

All in all, that is all I can tell you about our beautiful snake Cassiopeia, rest of it is up to your practice, if you have any questions do make a comment and if you disagree with something don't downvote me right away, leave a comment and I'll either explain or agree with you and fix something within my guide.

Be quick on your fingers, and practice, her skills will soon become 2nd nature to you and then you will truly unlock beauty of this champion.

Hope I helped and have fun with Cassiopeia :D


-ilke994.


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Hall of Fame!