Kassadin has been my favorite character of all time in League of Legends and I've taken the time to master the champion, so I thought I would share my experience with you all in this build guide! Its my very first guide, but I tried my best to be as thorough as possible without boring you all to death. Enjoy and feel free to give any input in the comment section, they are always welcome! :)

Also want to give major recognition to killraven, who was my main inspiration in making this guide and honing my kassadin playing ability.

This guide is also currently work in progress and is no where near finished so updates will be frequent! Feel free to comment and rate!

Kassadin. This guy is the bee's knees of burst damage and survivability. For those that are just starting kassadin, there are a few key aspects to master early on in order to be a successful player. Understand kass is a squishy little girly man when it comes to taking damage, so number 1:

DO NOT INTENTIONALLY TAKE MELEE DAMAGE. His melee attack makes this hard to avoid; riftwalking to a melee champ for damage and then a smack in the face is fancy and satisfying, but ill-advised. This is the number one way to get killed, which is never a good plan when playing any champ. The second key aspect to understand is:

KASSADIN ROYALLY SUCKS EARLY GAME. I have seen countless champs play kass with IGNIGHT and FLASH in hopes of snagging a few early game kills. This can be used effectively in the right professional hands, although I feel in regards to playing Kassadin in the deadliest and most efficient way, it falls short. In sum, beefing Kassadin for early game action is counter-productive, because Kass truely stinks before level 8. Lastly, is the final and the most important aspect to understand:

kassadin is a FEARLESS BADASS. Once you've achieved the desireable amount of health, ap and minion kills, kassadin should be a harass master with supreme tower diving skills. He should also not be afraid to teleport to a lone champ mid to late game for an easy kill and gold boost. Along with this, kassadin is a terrific team fighter, who dumps a load of damage to most enemy champs, and follows the sissy fleeing champs to snag kills while escaping unscathed. While all this is easy to say, and most definitely hard to master, if these three aspects of the rift-walker are achieved, winning streaks will come as often as fat kids eat cake.


Which is VERY often btw... :)

Overpowering Runes

Kassadin benefits spendidly from the proper runes, and after doing a good deal amount of research myself, I believe I've mastered the perfect set.

Marks

9 Greater Mark of Insight (+0.95 Magic Penetration)

These bad boys are for early game penetration which is great for Void Sphere harrass and can lead to an easy kill after Rift Walk is trained at level 6

Seals

9 Greater seal of replenishment (+0.41 Mana Regen/ 5 sec.)

These Seals allow for a constant pool of mana if a smart harrass technique is used.

Glyphs

9 Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power (+0.17 Ability power per level, 28 total at level 18)

This is the meat of the build, which keep Kassadin powerful as he levels up, and natually as an AP carry, you will out-level champs by mid-game.

Quintessences

3 Greater Quintessence of Ability Power (15 flat ability power)

This flat boost of AP will allows kassadin's harrass to take generous chuncks of life away after level 3.

Masteries

Offense:9

Utility:21

Predominately utility build for:

Increased mana and mana regen

Increased Experience gain

Longer Neutral monster buff

Cooldown reduction

Summoner spell CD reduction

Also!
Tne 9 points in Offense allow for:
Increased Ap

Cooldown Reduction

AP Penetration like a BOSS

Summoner Spells

This is where a lot of kassadin players, skilled and unskilled go wrong.

As a starting Kassadin player, please please please please DO NOT make the mistake of chosing Ignight as one of your skills. Making a habit of leaning on this skill to aquire kills is a great way to practice the wrong method to kassadin's extreme power. He should easily be able to kill champions twice over. Relying on half-*** ganks with the hope that ignight will finish you enemy works in most cases, but limits your playing protential.

My top two skills I use almost every game successfully are:






Clease allows kassadin to teleport into a team fight, dump his
HEAFTY LOAD onto enemy champs, and break through any stuns, snares or slows that may have been applied

Teleport is a fantasticly illusive skill that will grant you one of one gank kills, as well as give you an early expereience boost early on. Instead of doing the tradition walk back to lane, kassadin is so powerful, he can just TELEPORT straight into the fray after his first purchase, giving him a first chance to gank, and eliminating any precious time wasted taking a leasurly stroll.

Other useful skills on Kassadin:


This skill makes kassadin even more unkillable and gives him huge escaping and chasing potential; more so than he already has with Riftwalk. The only downside is kassadin already has a blink that he can use continually, and it does damage, making this skill somewhat of a ineffective choice for Kassadin.


Always great to have unlimited mana while laning which greatly boosts the harass game. Again though not the best choice because A: Kassadin has Nether Blade which restores mana, and B: Greater Seal of Replenishment which should be more than enough mana regen. Clarity is over-kill mana regeneration for kassadin, and a better spell could be used in this slot.


Well since Kassadin is very well the master of transporting himself across the map in quite the timely fashion, selecting this spell easily sends cause for alarm. Please think twice before you do. If it works for you, fantastic, but its not my cup-o-tea.


In retrospect, this spell is not too bad for kassadin. It allows him to duel heavy melee champs such as Xin or Yi, and is also great for chasing speedy champs that have popped ghost. Again I feel that Riftwalk makes this skill obsolete, but if your making a AD kass, it'd be a great choice.


You are the AP carry, although the map control is fantastic, leave this spell to the supports.


Terrible terrible choice, there's no way around it. Kassadin should not be in a combat situation that requires heal. If he is, he's probably being ganked by the entire team which is insta death unless you have Cleanse :)

Skills

is your TOP priority and main source of damage with a nifty little silence. It is also great for hitting champions with low life who are running from a team fight. This guy can be spammed at a rate that desolates enemy champion's Hp within a very short amount of time and makes their potions a waste of cash. Use it to harass and also for ranged last hits on minions that are zoned.

A great 1-2-3-4 combo can be used against casters when capitalizing on the Null-sphere silence. First, allow yourself to be hit by an enemy spell, increasing your attack speed by 15%. Next, toss a Null-sphere at a lone caster in range, then (while its flying in the air) Rift walk within melee range and VOID SMACK THEM Twice. This will deal a fantastic amount of damage, and casters who are silenced typically panic and retreat, allowing you to hit them twice, then run to a safe distance away without being counter-attacked.

This skill is first to be aquired, and first to max out.

is your second to level and is vital to your ganking game and anti-melee abilities. This skill is charged after 6 spells are cast around or by Kassadin which makes fighting spell casters an easy feat. Not only does it have a low CD and Mana cost, it slows and does damage in a large cone, making it great AOE in team fights and for kiting melee champions.

This is your second skill to max out, selecting on levels when your Null-sphere or Rift walk are not up.

This is a very controversial skill that many Kassadin builds include in their line-up. For me, it is the last skill point aquired and maxed out after level 13. I feel this skill is made obsolete with mana regen Seals and should only be used when making a hybrid AD damage kassadin which is very expensive and tremendously hard to pull off.

If this thought tickles your fancy, check out sevreal's guide called: DPS Hybrid Kassa - ArPen FTW He has a fantastic template for a Melee kass build.

For my build however, avoid this skill if you have a sufficient mana regen runes to keep a solid harass going.

This passive reduces ability damage by 15 percent and turns that into melee attack speed.

This gives a great advantage against casters, and, when used in conjunction with Null-sphere, makes Kassadin a bonified anti-mage.

is aquired when at levels 6, 11 and 16 and is kassadin's trade mark. It is an amazing ultimate that allows for effective chasing, escaping, burst damaging, ganking from bushes, dodging pesky ultimates or skill shots, hopping walls and any number of other things. The only downside, is that if this skill is continually used before the Rift-walk de-buff is finished (which is around 5-10 seconds) it costs an increasingly greater amount of mana and does more damage, which can easily drain the entire pool in just a few uses. Because of this, the blue buff is the pea to Kassadin's Rift-walking pod, and should nearly always be on Kassadin.

However, the Rift-walking stacks are a nusance and should be avoided, a little creativiy in single ganking can come into play using this negative and turning it into a positive. If a player can time and efficiently stack Rift-walking de-buffs when traveling to an enemy, (while using the blue buff and during late-game with a large mana pool) they can get the stacking damage high enough to kill a champion in one burst with the massive amounts of damage accumulated with the stacks. At 5-7 or so stacks with 500+ AP, Rift walk can easily hit for over 1000 damage, and when used with a Null-sphere and Force-pulse, it can be extremely deadly. This tactic is quite experimental and will completely drain your mana pool, but is definitely food for thought.

Rift-walk makes Kassadin the great assasin and escape artist that he is, so use it intellegently and closely watch how many times it has been consecutively used.

The main items I build with as Kassadin are:



These items stay consistant for me every game, but the path to get there changes with the game that I am playing. I'll start off by breaking down my original path, and then consider other possible items to counter differing enemy champions and their item builds.


My very first first purchase- and 2
My second trip back after aquiring 925 gold is completing catalyst the protector and buying another few . After the purchase either: teleport directly back to your lane to surprise your enemy who hopefully has mid to low Hp from your harass, or teleport to another lane for an attempt to gank an enemy who has engadged your allies.

My third trip to the store is for , and more

This far you can see I rely heavily on potions with this build. Ganking is terribly dangerous business, so potions are a must because the potential to be hurt below 50% Hp is high and going back to heal is a very big waste of time that can be used farming and leveling up.

At this point there is split in the potential build. If your owning your lane LIKE A BOSS and have picked up a kill or two, follow the original path. If your laning with a partner, or not playing too hot, buy a before the mejai's, to get an easy health, mana regen, and AP boost that'll help you get back on track.

Next, I complete and start building my Tear of the goddess with another along with a

The next purchase trip includes finishing: and

At this point in the build, you should have 100+ AP with Mejai's stacks, Elixirs and Runes which definitely give you the power to strong arm your enemies and get kills. The next items give a HUGE boost in AP and open up the door for hunting down lone enemy champs.


The next purchase will take a bit, but wait to buy

Here is another fork in the road. If the enemy team is AP heavy and are locking you down via stuns or snares and WHOPPING THAT *** which is taking away your precious mejai's stacks, buy your next before completing your Deathcap.

Next, wait until you have enough to finish .

Your AP now should be formitable and a quick damage rotation: and a NETHER SMACK should take a squishies life well below half if not downright killing them in the process.

Feel the power of kassadin as your DAMAGE DOMINACE is MADE KNOWN

Because of this however, the enemy champions will target you first and foremost, (more so than usual) so be extra cautious of your positioning in team fights. Stay away from ranged carry's or AD's because they can easily shred you as fast as you can them.

Second to lastly, I finish my if I haven't previously done so.

My last item I buy straight up is for the extra ApPen. This part of my build differs from many others (they build because I feel the extra penetration is a must due to the enemy champions more than likely building MR from getting owned so many times.

This concludes my main and basic item build for kassadin. One important aspect about building a character, is to build creatively to adjust to any variables that the enemy team might throw at you. Don't stick to just one build. Experiment with crazy item combos and see what works and what doesn't.

Build intellegently and in a way that contributes to your play style most efficiently.

Farming

Beyond important for any centralized economy or kassadin player!

I'm going to break this up into three stages: Early game, Mid game, and End game.

Early game: when playing mid, (which you should) roam close to your troops and wait until a creep gets low enough to SMACK WITH YOUR NETHER BLADE . If at all possible save your void sphere for harrassing your opposing champion. You should constantly be Zoning them if possible to deny last hits and experience. If your being punked by an aggresive champ such as le blanc or vayne, stay far enough away to still get experience and last hit with your sphere. This stays consistant until around level 8.

Mid game: You should be sticking close to your lane and using the previously mentioned strategy to farm until a ganking opportunity arrises. This is where kassadin shines. Travel to the lane via teleport or by running to get into position and attempt a gank using all of your skills (I will cover ganking procedure in another section). After the excitement has ended go to the closest un-manned lane and continue to last hit.

End game: In the lulls between team fights and baroning attempts and dragon adventures, keep an eye on massing creeps in lonely lanes. This is where kassadin MAKES IT RAIN. Preforably teleport to the lane and use your Force Pulse to instantly kill the mobs grouped together. At this level you should have enough AP to do the job in one shot.

Kassadin's main priority

This delicate and beautiful act takes even more thought than the complicated item process. The most important aspect of ganking is KNOWING THE SITUATION!

Are you ganking one champ or two?
What summoner spells do they have? If so, are they on cooldown?
What abilities do they have? Ultimates up? Do they have a stun?
What abilites do your allies have (if present) and is it even possible to get a kill?

All of these questions and countless others must be ***esed before initiating a gank. If not, there is a good possibility you will die because kassadin is a SQUISHY DESTROYER OF WORLDS! His damage output is tremendous, but ability to take damage is lacking.

When considering a Teleport Gank, gauge how much damage your current AP is dealing and compare it to the enemy champions Magic Resist and life. If the Pros outweigh the cons, get in there and BEAT THAT ***! More than likely you will get the kill if the champion is truely alone and away from the shelter of towers.

Kassadin plays dirty when faced with a one on one battle.

Of course with everthing else in this guide, it is situational so use common sense:

If the enemy champ is melee, stay out of his smacking range!
Kite the enemy around with Force Pulse and Riftwalk to compensate for ability cooldowns until they are low enough to Riftwalk back in to give them the FINAL VOID SMACK

If they are a mage, use your Null Sphere to silence, and stay right in there face smacking away at their girly robes. Casters usually have low armor and Hp so this technique is quite effective. Remember to Force Pulse when their futile spells have sufficiently charged it to give extra damage and movement slow. ALSO! kassadin's passive turns ability damage into attack speed! Making a fight with an enemy mage a breeze in the park with your silence and CONTINUAL VOID SMACKS

I feel this is one of the hardest aspects of kassadin to master.

The main urge in any team fight is to Rift walk in and focus on a squishy to get an insta-kill.

DONT This will lead to a death.

Enemy champs will be focusing you even before you get within their range so giving them your SQUISHY GALACTIC BODY on a platter is a mistake.

Instead, play with your enemy. When one of them over extends, Riftwalk close enough to Force Pulse and follow with a Null Sphere. You'll still be safely out of range, but the unfortunate champ will be down at least half health. CAUTION DO NOT waste your mana or a Force Pulse on a beafy Magic Resist tank. Their job is to absorb your damage, your job is to avoid them.

Always always always focus your damage on champions that have low resistance and hp and they will wilt under your burst damage.

Another part of kassadin's team fighting responsibility is to chase down low Hp champs who are too sissy to die an honerable death. Keep an eye out for squishies that are taking a lot of damage and time your Riftwalk to chase without being seen by the enemy team. If you can get close enough to Null Sphere, which has a generous range, you can get an easy kill and Riftwalk across walls or safely away. Using this technique with Cleanse is very effective in chasing and escaping.

To end the guide, I will review the important aspects of Kassadin again and mention the last and EXREMELY important part of his character.

The blue buff is ESSENTIAL to kassadin's ganking game. If you plan on teleport ganking or playing aggresively in a lane, you WILL NEED THE BLUE BUFF. If your solo queing, kindly let your teammates know that you will need the buff for the majortiy of the game, and regularly ask for help when getting it.


Review:

Three aspects: Kassadin should never be in melee champion's range if possible, Kassadin royally sucks early game, so wait until mid-game to make any aggressive moves, and kassadin is fearless and powerful with tremendous ganking and tower diving abilities


Build your items to match the enemy team and your own playing ability and success.


Assess every ganking situation thoroughly; never blindly gank without information or a major advantage.


Farm intellegently and diligently.


Fight with your team efficently by looking for over-extended champs to burst or escaping champs with low hp.

Have fun :)

Thank you for taking the time to read my guide! This is actually my first here with mobafire so any comments or ideas would be greatly appreciated! Again props to Killraven for being this guide's inspiration!