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Kassadin Build Guide by

Kassadin - Just jump! [S3 Guide]

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46 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author DeDovla

Kassadin Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (46) More Kassadin Guides

Spells:

Ignite

Flash

Items

Name

Ability Order

Kassadin Passive Ability

Introduction

Welcome to my Kassadin - Just Jump! [Guide] incl. New Masteries!

This is my first guide on Mobafire so I wanted to share it with you guys.

Legend
(for any abbreviations you don't understand)

Mouse-over any items or abilities to see their tooltip.

Sorry for any spelling and/or grammar errors,because English is not my native language.

Hope you like it!

Pros / Cons

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Pros

+ Very fun to play!
+ An anti-mage character!
+ An anti-carry character!
+ Strong nuke!
+ Almost infinite Flash!
+ Easy to snowball with!

space

Cons

- Kinda squishy.
- Your W is almost useless.
- Meele.
- Can't do much in a team fight (because you're always targeted first).
- Not so easy to master him.
- If you snowball, and die, you lose many stacks on your items.

Runes

Main rune set

Greater Mark of Insight
These red runes (Marks) are by far the best on any mage and I can't think of a mark that can replace them.

Cost: 9*410= 3690 IP

Greater Seal of Clarity
These are good on Kassadin because he has a mana problem early game and you solve it by choosing these runes.But use them ONLY! if you go in a solo lane! Because you earn levels faster in a solo lane so they can reach their full potential.But if you're not going in a solo lane then look down below for other possible picks.

Cost: 9*205= 1845 IP

_____

Greater Glyph of Force
You are a mage,so you need AP to be good!But if you're not going in a solo lane then look down below for other possible picks.

Cost: 9*410= 3690 IP

Greater Quintessence of Potency
Provides better early game (adds around 15 AP),lets you harass your enemies easier,and makes your spells hit harder (early game)

Cost: 3*1025= 3075 IP

Other runes worth considering

So the runes above are the optimal runes on Kassadin (IMO),but you get these seals and glyphs only if:

1.) If you're not going in a solo lane.
2.) If you want a stronger early game.

And about the quints use them in these cases:

1.) If you prefer magic pen over AP.
2.) If you think you will be OK early game without the bonus AP,and would benefit more from the magic pen.

Greater Seal of Replenishment Greater Seal of Replenishment

Greater Seal of Replenishment Greater Seal of Replenishment is the only good replacement for Greater Seal of Clarity but ONLY! if you go in a duo lane or want a better early game (Levels 1-7 because in a solo lane , Greater Seal of Clarity , get better after Level 7!)

Cost: 9*205= 1845 IP

Greater Glyph of Potency
The same explanation as for the seals...

Cost: 9*410= 3690 IP

Greater Quintessence of Insight
After I thought about it,they are actually very good,combined with the 9x Greater Mark of Insight they provide more than 10 magic pen,so that combined with the Sorcerer's Shoes makes you deal almost like true damage (starting Magic Res for most champions is 30 and Magic pen is more than 30 so that makes you deal true damage)
You could also combine them with the Greater Quintessence of Potency (2x Greater Quintessence of Potency & 1x Greater Quintessence of Insight(IMO the better choice) or 2x Greater Quintessence of Insight and 1x Greater Quintessence of Potency).

Cost: 3*1025= 3075 IP

New Masteries!

Summoner Spells

Ignite
Great for finishing your enemies who are running away with 50-100 HP early game and it's also useful for the late game because of the reduction of your target's healing effects by 50% meaning you can counter supports with it (throw it on your target and laugh at the support champion as he can't do anything to help his/her precious AP/AD carry).

Flash
Very good for getting out of trouble when you don't have Riftwalk (levels 1-5) yet,and also there is a good combo when tower diving I figured out (when your Riftwalk has a longer CD):Riftwalk->Null Sphere->Force Pulse->They are killed->Flash out of there.

UPDATE: It has always been my main pick,and it always will be,so I still pick Flash as my second summoner spell.It now has a bigger CD,and it has less range,but it still is so good , it still can do you good,and I think the only other spell I would take would be Cleanse, it's op now! (it cleanses Ignite and Exhaust!!!)

_____

Exhaust
Very good for shutting down that pesky AD carry,and also slowing enemies allowing you to run away/catch up to them and kill them easier.But I don't like it on Kassadin as much as Ignite.
If you're gonna take it read the Masteries section again.

Teleport
A good spell for ganking enemies,especially when there is a ward in a bush and you Teleport to it and your enemy will be like:"WTF!? Where did he come from?!" and you say to him:"From the Void my friend :P".

Cleanse
Well never used it on Kassadin,and IMO it isn't that good,but I've seen people use it on him so I put it in.

UPDATE: I put it now as viable because it's op now (it now cleanses Ignite and Exhaust!!!),the only downside is it's CD,because you will be vulnerable without it.

Demon Cleaner wrote:
"In ranked you can see what you may need, for example against Veigar, Annie or Cassiopeia, Cleanse is a way better lifesaver than Flash ;)"

Well I'm kinda 50% with you on that one.If I see a high CC team I would buy Mercury's Treads. But,yeah Cleanse directly solves your problems with CC while Mercury's Treads just reduces them.So 50% with you on that one :)

Don't take under any circumstances

Anything else that isn't mentioned!

Abilities

Void Stone

-Kassadin takes 15% reduced magic damage and transforms this damage into bonus attack speed.

Not that bad actually,it makes mid lane easier because there is a 95% chance you will be facing an AP champion, but I think that AS bonus is useless.

Null Sphere

Kassadin fires a void bolt, dealing (80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280) (+(0.7 per ability power point)) magic damage and silencing the target for (1 / 1.4 / 1.8 / 2.2 / 2.6) second(s).

One of the longest lasting silences in game,and also a great poke!

Nether Blade

Passive: Kassadin's basic attacks draw energy from the void, restoring (8 / 11 / 14 / 17 / 20) Mana each hit. If the target is an enemy champion, the Mana restored is tripled to (24 / 33 / 42 / 51 / 60).

Active: Kassadin charges his nether blade for (5) seconds causing his basic attacks to deal an additional (30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90) (+(0.15 per ability power point)) magic damage.

Well this skill is almost useless. I say almost because it can only be used to charge your E,and also if you have Lich Bane you can activate it for the extra damage on the enemy,and that passive is good, but I feel that it is kinda hard to hit minions when facing a ranged champion (in 90% of cases).

Force Pulse

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 (80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280) (+(0.7 per ability power point)) magic damage and slow enemies by (30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50)% for 3 seconds in a cone in front of him.

It's a very awesome spell for chasing, and also a very good spell for your damage output, but the only problem is it is not always available because it needs 6 charges to be able to use it.

Riftwalk

Kassadin teleports to a nearby location dealing (60 / 90 / 120) (+(0.5 per ability power point)) magic damage to surrounding enemy units. Additionally, each subsequent Riftwalk within the next (7) seconds costs (100) additional Mana and deals (60 / 90 / 120) additional damage, stacks up to 10 times.

Last but not least we have this ability which makes Kassadin who he is! Being able to constantly Flash is awesome and it also deals a nice portion of damage.

Skill Sequence

You might be asking yourself:"DeDovla,why do you getNether Blade on level 5,it's a useless skill!"
Well my answer is that it's not that useless as you may think,it has a passive that regens 8 mana per autoattack (on first upgrade),and I can say the active is pretty much useless but IMO you can use it to last hit minions better,but the main use for it is:TO CHARGE YOUR Force Pulse!

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

If you think that the mana regen you have early game is not enough (you're constantly OOM) then go down with this skill sequence.

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

This is the "I'm confident that I can charge Force Pulse without it/I have enough mana regen and I don't need it for that" skilling sequence.
And I'm okay with that,but I prefer the first one over these two.

Items

OK,so I divided this section into 5 subsections for better readability.
For easier navigation:

1. Possible Builds
2. Starting Items
3. Legit Build Core Items
5. Rounding off your Build

Possible Builds

Build 1-The Legit Kassadin!

Recommended build 1 sequence:

Item Sequence

Build 2-The Forbidden Kassadin,The Snowball Kassadin

Recommended build 2 sequence:

Item Sequence

Back to Items

Starting Items

Boots of Speed

Health Potion

Health Potion

Health Potion

This is a pretty common start for Kassadin. Boots of Speed give you movement,and 3xHealth Potion give you the necessary lane sustain and good survivability.If you choose this start your first item is Catalyst the ProtectorCatalyst the Protector/Tear of the Goddess.

OR

Sapphire Crystal

Health Potion

Health Potion

This is also a very common start on Kassadin . Sapphire Crystal gives you more mana so you can spam spells more (harass enemies more),and 2xHealth Potion give you enough lane sustain and survivability.

If you choose this start your first item is:

1.) Catalyst the ProtectorCatalyst the Protector if you use the Legit Kassadin build

2.) Tear of the Goddess if you use the Forbidden Kassadin build

There is also the Doran's Ring start,but I prefer the 2 starts above more than this one because of the health potions.
The only case when you don't go straight for the 2nd item with the Boots of Speed/Sapphire Crystal start is when your enemy is owning you (your score 0/2/0 e.g.) then you can buy a Doran's Ring ,stack them if you feel the need to and then you may continue with your build.

Back to Items

Legit Build Core Items

Well these items represent the core of this build,they are very important because you can't do the build without them.

Catalyst the Protector
Catalyst the Protector
Gives some HP and Mana and also a nice passive that restores Mana and health every time you level up,in other words a necessary item for the early game!And also it builds into Rod of Ages,so it is a necessary item!

Sorcerer's Shoes
Your main boot choice,it gives you magic penetration which is very important for your spells.
Feel free to exchange them for Mercury's Treads if you feel that the other team is focusing you too much with CC.

_____

Rod of Ages
Gives you health (makes you less squishy),gives you mana (more harass/spaming skills),gives you AP (MORE POWER!!!) which is awesome and it also has a good passive to increase your HP,Mana,AP more.All in all,this is a must item on Kassadin!

Rabadon's Deathcap
This is a must for every mage,it greatly increases your AP and it gives you even more AP with it's passive!

Back to Items

Rounding off your Build

Legit Build:

So in this build you have 2-3 slots empty so this is the best way to fill them in:

Zhonya's Hourglass
Gives you Armor,AP and a very good active which can save your void *** in many ways.

Abyssal Scepter
Gives you MR and AP and reduces the enemies MR.A very good item,I use it very often on Kassadin.

_____

Void Staff
If the enemy team is heavily stacking MR,take this item and bursting them down will be easy.

Guardian Angel
Well I usually never get this item,but I added it because I guess I would take it if I'm having trouble surviving.

Lich Bane

I added this item in because it is actually very good.Sometimes I'm having a lot of trouble nuking the tank or any other high HP champion.So for example if you have 500 AP,after using an ability,your next auto-attack will hit for that same amount (500 AP).So you can just Riftwalk-> auto-attack-> Force Pulse-> auto attack->Null Sphere-> auto-attack-> Nether Blade-> auto-attack (And if that didn't kill him then repeat the process (but I think that they would be killed with all that). That's about (assuming you are level 18):

370+500+630+500+630+500+500 = 3630 damage!
(But I didn't include the enemy's mag res so you can say maybe about 2500-3000 damage depending on the target which is a lot)

Note: The underlined part can be done vice-verse!

Back to Items

Good Moments

Here are some of my scores using these two builds:

Summary

I hope you enjoyed my guide,and I hope that I gave enough information for you guys to start playing Kassadin/try my way of playing Kassadin.

Thanks to Searz for the awesome guide format! You can find it here.

Any feedback is welcome!

GL&HF!

Changelog

31.10.2011 - Guide released!

1.11.2011 - Done adding all reference pictures for runes and for Kassadin himself, items, abilities and summoner spells!
If I missed any of them please tell me in the comments!

Added the Good Moments section (featuring my scores with these two builds),I can also add your scores,just post the screenshot in comments.

Fixed as many grammar and spelling errors as I could find.

8.11.2011. Added prices for runes.

Added Lich Bane as a viable item (including some maths).

Fixed some more grammar and spelling errors...

16.11.2011 Added new masteries,and added an update about Cleanse and Flash

Changed the name of the guide because it's the first Kassadin guide with the new masteries!!!

18.12.2011 Added a chapter about abilities (it's a huge WiP),and changed the guide name back. Removed the summoner spell nerfs/buffs from the Changelog (taking to much space and it was very unorganized). Also I changed the picture in the introduction, hope you like it!

29.12.2011 Added a Pros / Cons chapter.

30.12.2011 My guide reached the top 10 on the Kassadin guide list, thank you all very much on your votes!

Happy Holidays!

18.1.2012 OMG my guide reached the top 5 THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR VOTES!

9.12.2012 S3 Updated.

19.1.2012 Updated the item builds for both, a little...

Upcoming update #1: I will probably add a chapter focusing on early game,mid game and late game! Stay tuned.