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Kassadin Build Guide by xblademojo

Middle [13.6] Rank 1 Kassadin Complete Guide | By Coach xblademojo

Middle [13.6] Rank 1 Kassadin Complete Guide | By Coach xblademojo

Updated on March 22, 2023
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League of Legends Build Guide Author xblademojo Build Guide By xblademojo 737 45 1,314,119 Views 35 Comments
737 45 1,314,119 Views 35 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author xblademojo Kassadin Build Guide By xblademojo Updated on March 22, 2023
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xblademojo's Featured Video
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Runes: 2# Power Spikes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Domination
Electrocute
Taste of Blood
Eyeball Collection
Treasure Hunter

Inspiration
Magical Footwear
Future's Market
Bonus:

+8 ability haste
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+8 Magic Resist

Spells:

1 2 3
Survival & Map Pressure
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Teleport

Teleport

Items

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None


XBLADEMOJO


Hi! I started my adventure in season 3 and pushed my way towards the goals in the game.

Started as top lane main and transitioned to Mid and Jungle to carry my games easier.
Currently, I enjoy playing mid and support the most.

I played a lot of Kassadin and was Rank 1 with him, and
Rank 1 Annie World.

I have peaked at Challenger EUNE and after that, I focused on growing my coaching services, because I find myself passionate about helping others and being their Mentor.

Currently, I’m playing on EUW in my free-time aiming to get Challenger and help people achieve their goals in the game ❤️
I also create free content to help others with the game on my youtube and Twitch. Feel free to join my discord to become part of my community, a friendly corner for all of us!


I have always wanted to become a player that did not have to depend on my team to win games and be able to impact the game even in 4v5 situations where a team mate is trolling or AFK. Kassadin is the perfect choice. Playing him forces me to go through a flawless early game in order to make an impact in the game. I always used to say my champion counts as Two at Level 16.



Please remember that a guide can only help you understand Kassadin and give you a nudge towards achieving your goals but the final decisions you make, your playstyle and what you like the most from runes and items is up to you! To become the best you try everything here, test it and then try to see what feels the best for you. That’s how you can become a complete Kassadin player with good game sense. Good Luck!



Get To Diamond! Book your 30MIN Free Consultation with me right now

CLICK ME: Here!



Coaching Profile: Here! (Click)

PRESEASON NOTES

Season 13 HOTLINE INFO



They are 2 ways of playing Kassadin right now

Everything depends on your Playstyle

11.01.2023

A.) Playstyle with Teleport with Doran's Shield is really reasonable. Against difficult lanes or if you want to be just more consistent and less "flippy" on the lane. Doran's Shield helps me survive most of the matchups combined with Teleport

B.) Dark Seal + Ignite for full early game pressure and trying to snowball with Electrocute. I don't really like since it's so jungle dependent in many cases.

11.011.2023 Rod of Ages got buffed which made the item more tankier and gave you so more mana regen. - Still Item itself needs time to scale and during this time a lot of bad things can happen. Generally it's way easier to scale on lower elos because people tend to make more mistakes which makes the games way longer. Can I play only with ROA? You can, but I don't recommend.

Crown of the Shattered Queen is great consistent item in current meta. It will give you more impact earlier in the game and 20 Ability haste. You can use it to snowball in games and to have more impact.

The conclusion is if you want to be slower with your impact go ROA if you wanna close the game fast and need more DMG go Crown.

We are not going to skip Tear of the Goddess due to the Seraph's Embrace buffs! Enjoy free wins, this is Kassadin patch.
I will update the Hot Line once I stream and get some data for you guys, stay tuned!

11.02.2023

Kassadin Nerfed. Big Nerf for Base dmg, pro-longed Conqueror fights way weaker. Electrocute One-Shot builds more of a thing again. Need more Data still.
I'm playing every day Kassadin on stream lately so feel free to come by any chance to test pre-season stuff!


23.03.2023

Play Electrocute with Luden's Tempest or Crown of the Shattered Queen depending on the enemy Comp and Your Team.

Ignite into any Melee Matchup with Resolve and Dark Seal and 3 Health Potion

Into Ranged with a Lot of Skill-Shots Fleet Footwork + Treasure Hunter and Dark Seal + Refillable Potion Watch my New 2 Latest Video on Youtube, they are free cheat codes that I charge people 35 an Hour :)

Rod of Ages Into Crazy Tanky / Bulky Enemy Team. - I don't play this for months so far. Blessed :)
Videos
Educational Materials by xblademojo

MUST KNOW!
How To play Kassadin Educational:

Matchups from Stream:
Coachings:

1. Conqueror + Kassadin Coaching + Gameplay.

2. Current Gameplay with Electrocute + Kassadin Coaching

2. How to Build Kassadin Runes and Items

3. Electrocute Gameplay Season 11
PROS


+Amazing Scaling, Power Spikes Pre 16
+Insanely High Mobile Mage-Assasin
+Great against Heavy Ap Team-comps
+Good Splitpush, Insane Map Pressure
+Huge Carry Potential
+Forces you to play better
+Flexible with many builds


Currently, Kassadin allows you to get your power spikes way earlier and snowball through the game. You don’t have to necessarily go for Tear of the Goddess and scale until level 16.
You can survive most of the matchups without a problem by utilizing Second Wind, Doran's Shield, and Cloth Armor. You can start getting an advantage in some matchups starting from level 1 with your Nether Blade trades. The game starts quite early thanks to all of that.
In Mid-game you always have a chance of pressuring the sidelines and crossing the map if team fights 5 vs 5 are hard.
CONS


-Easly Punished early, divable
-Weak early game pressure
-Squishy
-Hard to play without frontlane
-1 mistake and might be GG for you
-Unplayable against some team comps
-Lack of CC


As you probably know, one of the biggest problems is early game. Making just one mistake can cost you the game. The biggest problem for your jungler is usually your lack of priority for the river fights and scuttler → always make your jungler aware of the midlane standing otherwise you might end up getting blamed for playing your champ. Luden's Tempest became the hardest mythic to play with as Kassadin, you will be a glass cannon most of the time, which requires insanely good game sense.

Flash and Teleport


Flash is one of the best summoners spells in the game and Kassadin’s interactions with it are amazing. You can increase your Riftwalk range by using Flash right after it which can land you a kill. You can use your Force Pulse and Flash right after to finish your opponent. It's a core summoner spell to help you survive the early laning phase, get a chance for an outplay possibility and game-changer plays.

Teleport is going to help you go through the early game, allowing you to fix your laning mistakes since you can Teleport back to lane. You will also be able to match the enemy roam with your Teleport if necessary to save the game. In midgame or late will allow you to stay on sidelane being ready to get back to your teammates whenever.



Ignite


Why? Kassadin has many matchups where starting Nether Blade works insanely well, and can help you snowball pre-6; same with connecting it with Resolve for the best early game potential and Dark Seal with 3 Health Potion's for early sustain. Ignite counts as 1 stack for Electrocute which makes it easier to proc it in combat.

Ignite helps your jungler get early priority and offers the both of you a stronger 2 vs 2 potential. Moreover, in some hard matchups like Lucian, Tristana etc. if they were about to dive you with your Fleet Footwork they would do that without a problem. However, they would probably be more careful about diving you if you had Electrocute + Ignite. Keep in mind that the higher the rank tier, the better the players are at punishing you, that’s why you won’t see Ignite that often in higher divisions compared to Teleport.

Barrier


Sometimes running Barrier with Conqueror and Last Stand will allow you to playmore aggressively and even 1v2 at times. People don’t expect this summoner spell much and I would only play it if you are worried about getting one-shotted and planning on going a tanky build like Frozen Heart.
I hate Zed so some juicy Cloth Armor, 4 Health Potion's with Conqueror and Barrier would make me unkillable.
Personally, I highly recommend Keystone which offers the highest potential of carrying a game, an abnormal amount of damage even when you’re behind → huge chances of a comeback. Make sure to always press auto-attack before your Nether Blade in order to get 2 stacks from it, then follow it up with Null Sphere or Force Pulse. It’s quite hard to proc it in the early game that’s why auto attack into Nether Blade is going to help a lot. In case of early kill potential, remember that Ignite counts as 1 stack for Electrocute
Another choice from Domination would be Taste of Blood for the laning phase sustain, as you know our early game isn’t too great. If you are brave boy, sure go for the Sudden Impact for even more damage
Your next decision is between Eyeball Collection and Zombie Ward.
If you feel like you can stack your eyeball fast enough, then go for it but if you feel like the game is going to be slow and you won’t be able to snowball, then go for Zombie Ward, since starting Level 6 OR EARLIER, I recommend swapping your Stealth Ward to Oracle Lens in order to start collecting stacks for it
Treausre Hunter - Increase your snowball chances by getting more gold per assist and kill. That's my personal choice for my aggressive playstyle. Ultimate Hunter - Go if you wanna be more consistent.

Magical Footwear is a great choice in terms of saving 300 gold for your power spikes. Additionally, you are going to get +10 Movement Speed
Future's Market is one of the most broken runes in-game and allows you to get your power spike items as soon as possible which allows you to snowball faster. Use this rune to buy
Blasting Wand or Lost Chapter on your first base, then rush Luden's Tempest
into Rabadon's Deathcap.
Legally cheating in a video game!

Conqueror is a good choice against bulky/tanky opponents like Sylas, Swain, Galio etc. or the champs who are about to stack Magic Resist against you. Allows you to force over-extended go-ins on them without getting out damaged. Currently, It's an excellent choice for most games. Not only against tanks. You can abuse more bulky builds like Roa and still deal a great amount of damage.
Arcane Comet Good for early Pressure with Ignite take only against champions that are squishy and don't have sustain like; Doran's Shield. Second Wind. Example would be against Syndra, Cassiopeia, Qiyana etc. I'm still testing it but it works actually!
Resolve - This is one of the most comfortable laning phase options if you struggle or want to fight for early snowball pre 6. Go for Bone Plating in most of melee matchups since you have a chance of outrading them thanks to trading around it cooldown, and you have good amount of decent anty-burst. Second Wind is a great choice connected with Doran's Shield in most of heavy poke matchups against ranged champs. Unflinching if opponents have a lot of cc and slows, Overgrowth if they don’t. Conditioning amazing choice that helps you in the midgame and late game due to its scaling armor and magic resistance connected with Overgrowth, if you dont want to invest in early game consider going for it, i like it.
Sorcery If Inspiration wasn’t that much of an op choice I would go sorcery instead in most of free matchups, to get the highest damage value possible. Manaflow Band gives you 250 mana which connected with Seraph's Embraceis going to give you even more ap,
Gathering Storm even more scaling on lower Divisions people are struggling with closing the games so its a great choice which aswell secures your game in late game.
Precision These are good but not combined with Electrocute in my opinion. If you are planning on going fleet or conqueror then that's one of the best choices, but with Domination I don't really like it since I can't that much benefit from it in early game nor I get faster power spikes or damage compared to Resolve, Inspiration or Sorcery
Fleet Footwork In current meta works really good with Crown of the Shattered Queen or Rod of Ages and Seraph's Embrace. You are way tankier and have more sustain, however I go for Fleet Footwork only when enemies are tanky Camille, Riven, Darius which makes them impossible to oneshot. Aswell against heavy poke lanes like Syndra, Viktor. If you decide to go for this kind of setup your power spikes start from level 11 to 16, takes more time.
First Strike Take against champions you can't one shot or trade heavily early.
Vladimir, Galio, Irelia, Swain, It's a free gold jackpot starting from level 6 with Riftwalk. Keep in mind they don't offer you that much kill potential early and damage as Electrocute would. Aswell Conqueror works way better since it actually allow you to kill those bulky champs. First Strike out of meta.


Most of the time take atleast one Diamond and one Time since Kassadin likes Ability haste.

Other Options

VS Easy AP matchups.
Take one Circle against magic damage opponents in easy matchups, like; Veigar, Vladimir, Malzahar since they are not that strong early or auto attack you a lot
VS Hard AP matchups.
Double Circle in hard matchups or if the enemy jungler is AP aswell. Azir, Sejuani, Syndra
VS Hard AP Poke matchups.
One Shield and one Circle where opponent deals magic damage but aswell his autoattack are powerful; Twisted Fate. Anivia, Annie
VS Heavy AD matchups.
Shield Against physical damage opponents or double Shield depending on how hard is the matchup, or if they are heavy AD for example mid/jungle. Talon, Rek'Sai

Void Stone


Void Stone is Kassadin’s passive, which allows him to take 15% reduced magic damage and ignore unit collision.

This is one of the reasons why the enemy team would dodge when they have double/triple magic damage in their team against Kassadin. Avoiding unit collision means you can walk through your enemies, minions, and allies → that means excuses like “Oh, I was creep blocked” is something you cannot use anymore.



Null Sphere


Null Sphere shouldn’t be considered as a poke ability in the beginning of the game. It’s Kassadin’s main ability to survive through the early game. You will use it in order to last hit minions at times. You can also utilize it when you walk in to get a minion and use it against the opponent to reduce damage from their abilities as it provides a small shield magic damage.

As Kassadin, you can’t really walk in near the enemy whenever you please when farming, because he is vulnerable to being punished and receiving a lot of poke, which is why Null Sphere is an essential ability to use at the right time. In the early game, it’s more efficient to use this ability to farm rather than poking the enemy with it.

Remember that Taste of Blood in Domination works with Null Sphere perfectly so when you use it against the enemy, it will heal you as well. The only problem is that it is a targeted spell which means you won’t be able to cast it if the opponent enters the fog of war.

The most broken thing about Null Sphere is that it can cancel the channeling of opponents’ abilities like that of Katarina Death Lotus, Fiddlesticks Crowstorm, etc. Because of that, make sure to use it wisely and save it for game-changing situations as a clutch to prevent enemies from casting their core abilities.


Nether Blade


Nether Blade in the early game will help you last hit minions in the lane, under the tower, and give you mana sustain.

Nether Blade gives you a longer range of attack and resets your auto-attack, which means if timed correctly after an attack, it can offer you more damage at the same time. Sometimes it’s impossible to last hit a minion if you don’t fluidly auto attack into Nether Blade.

Since it offers abnormal amounts of damage early game, there are instances when you should start this ability at Level 1 (in some melee matchups) in order to out-trade your opponent using the Auto Attack → Nether Blade Combo.

Kassadin with Nether Blade isn’t as weak an early game champion if you are able to utilize it depending on the matchup.

Most importantly, it is a nice finisher. You can Flash → Nether Blade when the opponent Flashes away because it will end up applying the damage anyway. You can cast your W while in stasis using Zhonya’s, which goes to show how unstoppable Kassadin can be when it comes to securing kills. Moreover, Nether Blade counts as 1 stack for Electrocute so by pressing Autoattack → Nether Blade, you will need only 1 more Ability or Attack to proc Electrocute.


Force Pulse


Force Pulse is one of Kassadin’s main abilities which will help you wave clear since it has an AOE (Area of effect) damage in the early game. Without this ability, the game would be too hard for Kassadin. Thanks to this ability, wave management is a bit easier which allows you to set up timely recalls and roam around the map.


During the laning phase, if the opponent’s positioning is suboptimal, look for a chance to poke them with this ability → slow from Force Pulse allows you to reach him right after

It gives you possibilities of engaging or disengaging against opponents, peeling for your teammates since you can slow down the ones that chase them. Moreover, in terms of teamfights it offers you so much of value due to its Area of Effect.
You can cast Force Pulse → Flash to surprise your opponent as a finisher, since it works faster way than Flash → Force Pulse

Always pay attention to the cooldown of it, since most of the time you can go in on the opponent without having it ready. Getting 4 more missing seconds is not a problem. You can load it during your rotation of the spells, the opponent’s spells count too.


Riftwalk


Riftwalk An ability that gives Kassadin so much mobility in the game! It allows you to teleport through walls, roam the map way faster and secure kills. If used wisely, you will be mostly ungankable. It allows you to dodge many abilities and survive most situations on the map. It offers you an amazing advantage in terms of avoiding enemy vision, since you can bypass warded areas by jumping from bush to bush without being seen by your opponents.

Riftwalk can be used with Flash which will result in increasing its range. I recommend trying this maneuver out in the Practice Tool in order to get used to it. Moreover, there is one thing that many players are not aware of and that is by casting Riftwalk, you can cancel the CC of certain opponents’ like Blitzcrank’s Rocket Grab, Poppy Keeper's Verdict , Qiyana Supreme Display of Talent. It will only take a matter of time until you get used to it and then you can even help peel for your team by catching for example blitz grab.


Here I will explain some fundamental combos starting from the laning phase to teamfights.
Everything is going to be on the video below the description of combinations.

A.) Your first basic combo is Auto Attack (AA) → Nether Blade. This is used the most in the early game and whenever you have time to execute it with other spells.


B.) Force Pulse → AA → Nether Blade → Null Sphere. You can use this combo prior to Level 6 if the enemies have already used their crucial spells and they are out of position. Usually, when the enemy laner is attempting to siege under my tower, it gives me an opening to use this combo. Try to be mindful and have an end-goal when using this. For example, Lux win condition is her Light Binding and the chance of making this combo worth executing is basically impossible unless she wastes it. However, if Tristana used her Explosive Charge on the turret instead of me then, I would use that as a chance to harass her. After level 6, you can combine it with Riftwalk to disengage in the end.

C.) Riftwalk → Force Pulse → AA → Nether Blade. This is Kassadin’s full engage combo if you are concerned about winning the trade and not getting one-shotted. Sometimes, even just an equal trade might benefit you if your jungler is coming or if the enemy laner is about to roam which knocking off some HP from their health bar is essential.

Null Sphere is the ability you usually would use in the beginning of a combo before fully committing in a fight. You could also opt to use it in certain scenarios like when you are recalling and want to reduce incoming magic damage from the enemy.

Combat


While in combat, you should know your burst potential. Most of the time, I “dance” with the opponents slowly while preparing to combo them to death. I never fully commit to a fight unless I’m sure that I can kill the enemy. Kassadin is combo-dependent so that means if you can’t one-shot the enemy, you have to wait for another set of cooldowns on your abilities. Take it easy, generate pressure and slowly stalk your prey. A good Kassadin player is defined by how well he can sense what he can and cannot do in those terms--knowing your potential as well as your limits.

A.) Fastest and highest damage combo is:
Riftwalk → Flash → Nether Blade → Null Sphere → Force Pulse
If you are able too, add an AA before Nether Blade.
Towards late game, consider using Zhonya's Hourglass if there are powerful enemies while waiting for cooldowns like
Riftwalk to escape or turning around and killing the enemy
Kassadin doesn’t have many combos and most of them should be thought out well depending on the state of the game, how powerful you are and what your opponents will allow you to do. What I wrote above is a fundamental base that you could try to memorize but most importantly feel because once you get used to it, then it’s over for the enemy.

Currently, Kassadin offers a few options and I will do my best to explain them in the easiest way possible!

Most of the time you want to max Force Pulse for the fastest cooldown and good AOE wave clear and damage. However, in some matchups where the opponent is often walking up to poke and you can’t really trade with them, get 3 points on Null Sphere. First, it will help you generate some early pressure and give you a stronger magic shield, which is good against some matchups like Vladimir against his Transfusion

I wouldn’t really max Null Sphere fully due to the high cooldown and lack of waveclear and is also weaker against 2 vs 2 fights.

It’s okay to max Null Sphere second but in my personal experience, maxing Nether Blade second is more advantageous since it doesn’t have a cast time, has a faster cooldown and scales better with 80% AP compared to the 70% AP with Null Sphere.
In some situations you need to save your Null Sphere in order to stop an opponent's ability like Katarina’s Death Lotus etc. so you can't really waste it to poke.

Dark Seal

Dark Seal doesn’t offer much sustain in lane but the statistics are comparable to Doran’s ring and since Kassadin’s mana sustain is not that bad, you can save a lot of gold getting this item because it’s efficient when you get it with Refillable Potion.

Doran's Shield

Doran's Shield Insanely strong item that gives you sustain against harder lane matchups due to its passive working well with melee champions. Moreover, it helps with last-hitting minions. It does, however, delay your burst potential.

Cloth Armor

Cloth Armor Great choice against heavy physical damage matchups. It can be considered aggressive due to the amount of sustain that 4 Health Potion will give you since usually your opponents only have up to 3 max. Using this with a Nether Blade start is good for trading against melees. It can also help you survive against AD ranged matchups like Lucian


Here I will explain some of Kassadin item choices--when and why you need them.

Luden's Tempest

Luden's Tempest currently the highest burst damage item due to the early flat magic penetration and mythic passive it offers. Compared to Everfrost, which gives ability power and Liandry's Anguish, which gives cooldown reduction in mythic bonuses. Magic penetration works insanely great when opponents are not buying Magic Resist so when you are the sole magic damage source in your team. Movement speed from Luden's Tempest isn’t that important but might be helpful at times. Right now Luden's Tempest is one of the hardest mythics to play with. I would recommend choosing between ROA or Crown in the current meta.

Rod Of Ages

Rod of Ages Item shouldn't be overhyped. An additional level is a bonus, not a win-conditon. Yes it does feel great to be 16 sooner, HOWEVER. ROA is a way slower item in terms of snowball. Damage and Impact is worse early than any other Kassadin Mythic. Roa Takes 10 minutes to fully scale and the abnormal amount it gives is Mana, once fully scaled. It is making you a BULKY champion. Conclusion and my thoughts process ROA IS gonna be good and synergize with Conqueror Kassadin who doesn't need more damage. He is Melee and gets more benefits from conq than rangeds. Conq Heals from abilities, + Roa heals from abilities. ROA gives an abnormal amount of Mana and Conq Kassa is the bulky/tankier build path so he NEEDS TO SPAM R. ROA --> More Scaling, Slower --> Great with Conqueror.

Crown of the Shattered Queen

Crown of the Shattered Queen Gives you a barrier that reduces incoming damage for 1.5 second and it's cheaper 400 gold. In current meta works great against heavy burst champions and assasins like Talon, Rengar, Qiyana and Evelynn. Currently, I'm deciding always between Rod of Ages and this item. It prevents every Assasins of fully commiting on you before the damage reduction from the barrier expires. If they fully commit there is a chance they will lose against you. Item basically makes you way tankier for the first 1.5 second of going in on opponents. One of most consistent mythic for Kassadin and way easier to play with compared to Luden's Tempest

Zhonya's Hourglass

Zhonya's Hourglass is definitely one of the core items that you should consider building second or third in most games. As I mentioned before, you are glass cannon so going in and having a 2.5-second buffer to load another Riftwalk can be a gamechanger. This item doesn’t offer great statistics but might counter many champions like Zed Death Mark, Fizz Chum the Waters, Karthus Requiem.

Seraph's Embrace

Seraph's Embrace is one of the core Kassadin items in terms of mana sustain and powerful scaling. Currently, it gives you ability power the more mana you have. Moreoever it gives you a Active that you can use to get a huge shield depending on how much current mana you have. - Old Kassadin is back.
Reminds me of old Rod of Ages.

Void Staff

Void Staff In most games, every mage should consider getting it as the fourth or fifth item once opponents start building magic resist from items. Why not too early? Because Void Staff Magic Penetration is % which means the more magic resist the enemy stacks, the higher value it gives. For example, if the opponent has 200 Magic resist, 40% is -80 Magic resist. If the opponent has 50 magic resist then it only penetrates an additional 20 Magic resist.

Rabadon's Deathcap

Rabadon's Deathcap In High Tempo Kassadin, I build it as the second item which scales great with Electrocute value and still gives me the highest Ability Power value. However, in standard Kassadin builds, keep in mind Rabadon's Deathcap is a really raw item that only offers you additional Ability Power, so its highest value is at the 5th or 6th item when you actually have a good amount of Ability Power.

Everfrost

Everfrost in terms of utility is a great choice if you feel like your opponents are dangerous in terms of mobility and burst or if your team lacks CC. It’s a great item that can change many situations by getting a pick thanks to engage/disengage possiblity. Moreover, in some matchups against like Talon or Akali, this can help with their stealth. Evelynn can’t even fully combo you because of the pressure this item brings. Keep that in mind that Everfrost mythic bonus offers Ability Power which isn't too great in terms of scaling compared to Luden's Tempest.

Liandry’s Anguish

Liandry's Anguish offers you a lot of damage per second and cooldown reduction. Flat magic penetration loses value when opponents are stacking magic resist and that’s when Liandry's Anguish and Cooldown Reduction is better than Flat Magic Penetration. However, I would only build it against extremely tanky team comps and, considering running Conqueror and utilizing a more tanky build myself.

Shadowflame

Shadowflame Great item against squishies and champions that shield others or themselves. The item gives you flat magic penetration for the amount of 10 to 20 depending on the opponents health and if they got recently shielded. Flat magic penetration works great against champions who barely buy magic resists so most of the Marksman's and Midlanders. I would buy it the most if you are the only one Ability power damage in your team, and if you are skipping tear for fastest power spike in terms of bursting them.

Frozen Heart

Frozen Heart An amazing item against heavy AD team comps. You can rush it straight as the first item which will lead to out-trading opponents and still have decent damage. It offers greater statistics than Zhonya's Hourglass for the amount of 2500 Gold, mana, and cooldown which are all beneficial to Kassadin’s kit. It works amazingly well with Seraph's Embrace.

Mejai's Soulstealer

Mejai's Soulstealer you will start Dark Seal in most games, it is an efficient upgrade. Mejai’s forces you to play better and offers you an even stronger snowball potential. I would look for a Mejai on the 2nd or 3th Item depending on how many stacks you have on Dark Seal (10 the best) and how much gold you need to complete another legendary item etc. Think wisely.

Morellonomicon

Morellonomicon Sometimes you will need to get Oblivion Orb mid-game which will builds into Morello’s, however, I would l prefer to sell this item late game because it doesn’t offer great statistics. So let's hope for Mortal Reminder or Chemtech Putrifier on your teammates. This item obviously works great against Kayn, Sylas, Vladimir and many more champions

Cosmic Drive

Cosmic Drive Quite a mobile item with decent statistics. What I like about this item the most is the value of 30 ability haste especially when you don’t have much of it. However, I wouldn’t buy this item unless it’s my 5th or last one. I only see a potential of buying it if you are not planning on playing with Seraph's Embrace at all, so you have one last slot open. Keep in mind that the more Ability Haste you have the less cooldown reduction you will get out of it.

Lich Bane

Lich Bane Currently doesn't offer mana at all and gives poor statistics that’s why it’s no longer a core item of Kassadin. Late game, you depend on how many times you can smack Riftwalk on opponents than to proc an additional bonus auto. However, as I said before, if you are not playing Seraph's Embrace and you have one slot open, you can opt for this item. If the game is really free, you can build this instead of Zhonya's Hourglass while maxing Nether Blade as your second ability.

Abyssal Mask

Abyssal Mask This item works great with Conqueror or Fleet Footwork builds (more tanky builds). Rush into against Magic damage mid laner and jungler, so 2 double ap damage sources.

Sorcerer's Shoes

Sorcerer's Shoes Currently one of the best choices due to its flat Magic Penetration especially combined with Luden's Tempest Burst and Electrocute. Kill the enemy before they kill you. The more offensive the build, the more pressure Kassadin offers.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Ionian Boots of Lucidity I would go Ionian’s if the opponents are planning on building a lot of magic resistance in the game and are quite tanky. As I mentioned, the Cooldown Reduction value is better when opponents are stacking Magic Resist. It offers us way more utility. It’s a good purchase when your summoners are still up. Works great with Rod of Ages since it have 0 Ability haste at the start.

Mercury's Treads

Mercury's Treads If opponents have a lot of CC like Malzahar, Sejuani, or Leona then it’s an amazing counter item especially if the enemy mid laner and jungler damage are double AP.

Plated Steelcaps

Plated Steelcaps A great choice but I wouldn’t really rush it unless at least 4 of the enemy team’s damage are auto-attack based. Frozen Heart and Zhonya's Hourglass are better choices. Don’t underestimate the potential of full aggressive Kassadin builds!

Before start, I want to mention to you that league of legends is as well a mental game. Without a proper mindset to climb and get better, you might become easily frustrated, depressed, and pressured. there are many factors to it. Like: comparing yourself to friends and social pressure, not seeing any results within a certain period of time, people flaming and judging you and way more.
- There is nothing wrong with comparing yourself if you can use it as Motivation and energy, but not to feel even more down.


That's one of the biggest demons many players are struggling with. Letting go of those emotions and working on it is the key.

It's your quality time, your own journey, goals and story. Don't compare yourself to others to feel even worse about your rank or anything. Everyone progresses in their own time. Never blame other teammates, because it won't help you at all.

The only thing you can truly do to improve as a player is to become open-minded and to fall in love with the process of changing what you can control → Yourself.

I have been doing a lot of motivational speeches about league the in past and during my coachings. I have to admit it, without the proper mental you might not enjoy the game to the fullest, but instead feel bad about it.

It's only you who can change yourself for the better. Focus on it and spend your energy on it. There is no such thing as "My Teammates are keeping me in this elo" that's an illusion. Because if that was the case, there wouldn't be any challenger, master, or grandmaster players.

Would you really be happy with just accepting something like "yeah I'm just unlucky with teams" ? Because I would never. Don't quit, just take it all on your chest and MOVE ON my Friend.

COMING UP WITH CONCLUSIONS FROM YOUR GAME IS THE KEY!!!

Here I'm gonna insert the link for a small Mindset document I made back in 2021 for my Students.

CLICK ME TO HER REDIRECT TO THE GOOGLE DOCUMENT :D

If any of you ever feel mentally lost in this game, don't hesitate to text me with your case on my discord; xblademojo#9742 for free. We all been there before ;)
Here I will tell you about some of the stuff I always share with my students in order to improve their fundamental knowledge for the Mid-Lane.

I always recommend these following 3 rules:



This is the base that will help you become a more consistent player in your games. That doesn't mean you always have to follow these rules, because League of Legends is a way too dynamic game for a single game pattern. Of course in future you want to limit-test what your champion is capable of, trying out different playstyles and coming up with new conclusions.


Students often ask me what I have to do in order to climb? You can climb without amazing mechanics as long as you can improve your Map Awareness and Laning Phase. The ability to analyze your map dynamically connected to your decisions is one of the keys to start winning more. Being proactive means: noticing opportunities on the map and analyzing what’s the best decision to make with current circumstances. Chances like: Roams, Priority to join your jungler, Invading, Efficent Recalls, helping team and way more.
The more you see, the more you are capable of doing. League is not only about beating your opponent 1 vs 1. I recommend making your map slightly bigger in HUD.


For everyone with a locked screen.

I can already tell you this is the thing we gotta work on. You don’t need the whole vision around you while playing with locked camera. For example you don’t need to know what’s happening behind you when you move forward towards your opponent. This sometimes even makes you lose track of what’s happening right in front of you like what spells were used in a teamfight, just simply because your camera is centred around your Champion instead (I know even worse cases from coaching experiences). My recommendation here is to unlock your camera completely and start using your thumb on the spacebar to hold and direct the camera on you. Whenever you wanna see some more, just let go of the spacebar and expand your vision of the camera with mouse. Trust me on this and Good Luck.



You want to know where the enemy jungler is starting, same goes for your jungler.

Which scuttler on the map are they gonna path towards and contest? Are they going to meet on the same side river?

Every good Jungler is going to be on the river at around 3:15 mins into the game, which is the spawn time of the Scuttlers. Gank is going to have a place before or after this timer. The optimal ward time is around 2:40.

Before that time you should ward the side he is pathing towards. Trying to get priority for the river around 3:15 timer for your jungler sounds great, but don’t force it if you can’t.

Most importantly = be rational.

4:20 is the time where the jungle camps again. If the enemy jungler did Blue Sentinel into Gromp at the beginning, then Gromp is gonna spawn at 4:20. This means, starting from 4:15/20 both junglers are going to start the pathing and clearing from the same side on which they started their jungle clear on. The whole conclusion is that they are going to recall and come back to the side they started at, because that’s the order of the camps spawning after their first clear.


What is Mid-lane? Mid-lane is one of the most impactful and the hardest role to play. You have many ways of impacting the game in your favour thanks to the possible rotations it offers. Keep in mind the lane is hard to play because of the many angles you can get ganked from.

Winning doesn’t necessarily mean killing your opponent 1 vs 1 on the lane. There are way more possibilities to get a lead on the Mid-Lane:


1. Wave Management
2. Proper Lane Warding
3. Rotations aka Roaming
4. Trading


First of all, I would like you to get in touch with the basics of waves management like:
My video :)

-Slow Pushing (Building up the wave to achieve something: dive, recall, longer rotations / roam, or to feel safer against the opponent inside of your huge wave)

-Fast Pushing (Getting priority for X reason like a dragon / fight,roam, setting up a fast recall, making opponent stuck under the turret)

-Freezing (Zoning opponent from resources and keeping wave away from him, denying his cs, forcing him to walk to you; Aswell used while you are behind)

-Handshake Wave / Equal Wave (Using equal waves esp. Cannon ones to recall or rotate when the wave is literally on the middle of the lane)

Being aware of those basics will help you. The Video on top of the guide includes further explanations which will help you to understand those principles.


People are overthinking too much about how warding around Mid-Lane works. What you need to know is Jungle Tracking (Chapter Above). It will make you more capable of working on a solid and safe vision around your lane. How and where you ward depends on your goal, priority, vision and the state of the map. Sometimes you might die trying to put a ward somewhere without any other priority or clue where the opponents might possibly be. In my opinion warding should come naturally to you, but there are a few great places to ward around the Mid that I put in the screenshot below.

Green = Good Warding Spots
Red = Not Enough Vision
Purple = Ways the Enemy Jungler could path towards you


After you push the wave and gain some time, it’s recommended to think about what you can do right now. And here comes Map Awareness. I often see people standing and doing circles on the lane, without even seeing an opportunity to go for vision / rotation / efficient recall or helping your teammates by making a play with your jungler for example – fundamentally missing out on those.

Roaming is basically the meaning of using your time efficiently to impact the map while still being rational - seeing a chance doesn’t mean you have to take it.
You really need to consider:

-What is my wave state? How much would I lose if I roamed?
-Is it efficient to still roam while I have so much gold?
-Maybe opponents are too strong and I could die while roaming?

Most importantly I can tell you to be rational and don’t force things. Be open-minded about possibilities and don’t be tunnelled vision on your lane only. The safest and longest roams are while the cannon wave is coming to lane or when the wave already crashed and plenty of allied minions are under your opponent’s turret.


Basically, that’s called fighting with your opponent on the lane- making trades. A lot of this stuff should come naturally with experience, and I’m not a fan of making people a “zombie” of following patterns, but I will share some tips with you on what to look for.

How to trade well and what to consider? (This is general knowledge, for more Kassadin info check Laning Phase Chapter)

Usually you can easily look for a trade when an opponent is busy executing a minion. That’s the time his moves are usually easier to predict and he won’t be able to answer back due to his auto-attack/spell animation on the minion. You can also get punished that way while getting a minion. How well you can punish and trade with your opponent depends mostly on how well or how bad you guys are clicking. Positioning and dynamically adjusting clicks for the best results is the golden key.

In “League of Legends”-Language it’s called spacing: to either achieve the most comfortable position for you to be in or causing the biggest discomfort to the opponent. Pay attention to how you click and position yourself. Minions are as well a huge factor to consider, the amount of them could simply give you an advantage or disadvantage.

That’s why the one who is able to push early and gets priority in the number of their allied minions is usually the one who can trade more freely without worrying about getting too much aggro from the enemy. To put it simply, the more minions you have compared to the opponent, the safer and stronger you are. If your opponent is pushing into you with a bigger minion wave, that's his moment to win trades most of the time.

Another trading pattern is when the opponent uses his important spell on the wave. For example Syndra uses Dark Sphere on the wave which causes her to become vulnerable to the opponent, forcing a trade on her. Another example would be Orianna Command: Attack the wave, leaving Yasuo or Irelia a chance to jump on her. Look for those simple factors to use them in your advantage.

Firstly, they are few types of Kassadin Laning Phase depending on an enemy champion.


Even matchups would be against Veigar, Vladimir, Annie, Malzahar
What do I mean by even? Matchup where I can stay as much efficient as possible, having free farm since usually their champions can't punish me that well. They don’t have huge kill potential early if you play well enough, additionally there is always an option for more sustain thanks to Resolve and Second Wind + Doran's Shield if needed.

Basically, those matchups simply focus on getting your items as soon as possible, don’t force too much. Starting from Level 6 you can do more aggressive trades.
Be rational, if you are Kassadin Level 3 who can’t really kill opponent champion, then be happy with getting the cs, time is ticking for them not for you.
Play around their bad lane positioning and mistakes!


Passive lane in my eyes is, where you can’t really contest all minions, you have to be especially careful while your opponent is getting Level 2 and that’s happening after the first minion of the Second wave they kill. Respect opponent’s damage, don’t greed for all minions, be rational once again. Survive, and find your strong advantage points against them. Examples would be Tristana, Lucian, Talon. Orianna, Azir.

Basically, the lane with way too much poke and sustain against you, or insane physical damage with easier punishments which usually costs you half of your hp once you walk up for a minion. What to do? Do I need jungle pressure to win? For sure you can easily abuse Resolve considering between Bone Plating and Second Wind , itemization abuse against heavy ad champion Cloth Armor, rushing Frozen Heart if you have to become independent then going full Ap against some Ad Ranged champions is impossible unless there is a good early game jungler for you. Against Orianna, Azir etc. it’s enough to just get Doran's Shield and survive till 6, then your game gets better and better.

In melee matchups, don’t hesitate to try Nether Blade level 1 when trading with the opponent. You will notice how powerful your champion can be. However, it always depends on the matchup and your items. If you have Cloth Armor with 4 Health Potion, it’s good against champions like Yasuo, Qiyana, Talon, Irelia but doesn’t happen to be as effective against Fizz, Galio etc. Against AP opponents, feel free to go with Dark Seal + 3 Health Potion or Doran's Shield instead.
Always compare enemy sustain to yours before making the decision of what spell to level up at level 1. This is your personal decision if you want to feel like an early game champion or you would rather stick to just getting minions with Null Sphere.
This is just face-punching gameplay.

Please keep in mind that the amount of things that can be done pre-6 depends on how good/bad the opposing laner is, as each player’s skill-level differs


The worst thing you can do is to force too much, because your champion is way too weak to contest most of the early fights together. Especially on the river around the 3:15 timer which is scuttler spawn and that’s usually the time your jungler would like to contest it. Your champion is not meant to be kind-hearted in the early game, your goal is to survive while avoiding too many forced situations. If laning is going well, nothing bad is happening then you should be the happiest person → often times I even ping my jungler to avoid ganking for me if I’m doing well or when I’m worried about enemy jungler countering the gank and making us lose the 2 vs 2 fight,

Since the enemy team knows and loves to punish Kassadin early game, developing tracking skills for the enemy jungler is the key for wave management. Connecting the knowledge and awareness of these two and adapting properly will save you from many deaths.
How to? Check who is helping the jungler with the first buff, either enemy top or botlane is going to be late on the lane due to the leash. Jungler is gonna end-up being at river of the opposite side he started around 3:15 because that’s when scuttler spawns.

Whenever you want to walk up for a minion, try to use Null Sphere against the opponent’s ability damage to prevent receiving too much poke. In early game, you can use it to last hit minions or to prevent additional damage when it’s needed when walking up to last hit.

The hardest Kassadin burden is to crash the wave and finally recall for the first time. You can always ask your jungler to help you if you are worried about getting ganked while doing so. Don’t hesitate to use your Teleport to go back to the lane with items in order to fix the wave. It’s okay if you have to Teleport back to lane before Level 6 since the important part of the game usually starts once you get Riftwalk.

Level 6 finally allows you to initiate trades to your advantage. There are 2 ways of doing that--reaching your opponent by using Force Pulse in melee range and doing your damage and then jumping away with Riftwalk (if you are worried about getting out-damaged or ganked in a prolonged trade). Another way is to simply jump in on the opponent while making sure to know your limits. Sometimes there won't be any trades and the lane will become “Stay Efficient” State where you want to get as much as possible while playing for your teammates around Teleport and objectives.
(Check Combos in Abilities category)

Starting at this point, you should be looking for chances around the map taking into consideration your roam timers and trying to pressure other lanes/jungle if your opponent is playing too defensively. If possible, try to keep your teleport for more game-impacting situations or to match an enemy roam that you couldn’t follow. Moreover since you are Assasin your champion works great with Oracle Lens in terms of invading and looking for kills.

Starting from midgame, you’d want to implement pressure on the side lanes while keeping your Teleport up. You are one of the most mobile champions in the game capable of generating amazing pressure and crossing the map right after.

Once Tier 1 Turret on bot lane is taken, consider swapping with your bot laners. They will be more impactful in terms of sieging and pressuring mid-lane closer to the jungle than staying and overextending in bot lane. Since you will be rotating to bot lane, it’s easier for you to look for picks and punish your opponents’ mistakes. Moreover, you will be able to cover map and objectives with Teleport if you find it will change the course of the game. This is basically you consuming as many resources as possible to scale and add pressure.

Think about yourself like about the Hunter, looking for prey and enemy openings. You are a mastermind of abusing fog of war, flanks etc. Don’t forget about Oracle Lens in order to become complete abuser.

Generate Pressure on the side lane → Rotate, look for the chances or flanks. If nothing happens then stay and keep track of the enemy.

Obviously, I do group with the team for the dragon fights, baron fights, mostly looking for the best flank. You need to analyze if it’s worth grouping with the team before making a decision because here we are already implementing a lot of macro game and every game is different.

That’s why I highly recommend watching the video at the Top of Guide of how I played and adapted to the game.


When you reach late-game, it’s when Kassadin Fullest Potential comes to shine because of Riftwalk’s damage and cooldown. During this time, you will be able to almost one-shot enemy carries using Riftwalk → Flash Combo.

At this point of the game, you’re still like a Predator looking for prey around the map, but the game is way more dynamic compared to the mid-game.

Starting from now, one wrong decision might cost you the game; being on the other side of the map at the wrong time, rotating somewhere on your own without Teleport to cover for your team or objectives, forcing etc,

During this game phase don’t forget about the strong sides of your champion like;
insane mobility thanks to Riftwalk, ability to avoid enemy vision in order to set up good flanks, amazing performance on the side lanes and instane damage.

There are 2 types of games for the late game Kassadin.

Ones where you can impact 5 vs 5 fights and actually carry them with your burst.
When I can’t impact those fights?

When opponents have a lot of crowd control, for example; Malzahar Nether Grasp, Leona Shield of Daybreak, Morgana Dark Binding and way more! We are struggling a lot against tanky bruiser champions like Camille, Olaf, Lee Sin since they are hard to kill and usually can outsustain your damage. A combination of off-tanky champions with a lot of damage and crowd control is the biggest struggle for us, much more if they are overfed. Your champion is burst dependent, if they survive it might be a problem, especially if you don’t have your Zhonya's Hourglass to wait for your next spell rotation. An important factor is to keep track of what’s happening around you - checking who’s having an advantage at the moment, because if you and the others are winning from the beginning its gonna be way easier, as opposed to when the game is even or enemies are in the lead then you will need to do your best to win.

Kassadin feels comfortable against more squishy team-comps due to his heavy burst and having a lot of opportunities to catch them around the map. You are able to kill them, before they kill you! Your champion can surprise them, do a sudden ambush, and before they react everyone is dead. If you fail, they gonna simply kill you because you are a glass cannon too! There are going to be situations when you can just use Riftwalk followed by the rest of your spells and they die, but the better the opponents you face against, the harder it might be. In most of the teamfights im not the first one to jump into the fray, I’m waiting for my teammates to engage, playing around opponents’ mistakes and bad positioning in team fights, waiting for their spells to go on a cooldown.
Finding the best momentum to shine!

The other type of game is

When once you group with your teammates, there’s no chance of winning and you need to consider split-pushing for an increased chance of the enemy making mistakes and giving your teammates space to breathe and progress in the game.
Split-pushing is basically pushing side lanes on your own, where opponents need to split themselves in order to outpush the lane you are pushing. It opens way more opportunities for your team, they can look for opponents’ mistakes while they are re-grouping between lanes, opponents’ pressure is becoming worse due to your impact on the map.

This kind of game is usually forcing you to do sacrifices, where you need to be rational and really analyze if you were about to join your team then would it change something? That’s why split push, splitting the map and allowing yourself to find a chance to win is important. However, please don’t overdo it - if you are strong enough with your team to finish the game, go ahead and close it together. They are human as well and everyone can make mistakes, so whenever you leave them they might commit one and die by mistake while you are away doing your thing.

In terms of team-fighting, one good Riftwalk → Flash Combo into opponents followed by Zhonya's Hourglass might change the game for your team.

I sometimes engage as a first-person in if I can land a good Riftwalk / Flash combo on opponents, lets say 4 or 5 of their team. Meanwhile killing 1 or 2 squishies and going into Zhonya's Hourglass will do a lot in even games. The chance of you surviving is low, but the final result might result in a won game, free objective(baron, soul or elder dragon) and the like. As I mentioned previously in different situations I’m always waiting for opponents to use their spells first, to deliver final combination of the insane burst. If the enemy back lane is too far, im trying to help my team kill the enemy tank in front first.

In terms of split-pushing I usually get free kills, because they can’t expect you from everywhere, but they should! That’s why I use the word “Hunter”



Thank you for taking the time to read my guide. I believe all of you can achieve what you want if you stay truly dedicated to the knowledge from the guide. Believe in yourself, don’t give up, and always push! Remember that growing as a better player is a marathon not a sprint. It takes time and practice.

If you would like to see me playing Kassadin or want to learn useful game tips, feel free to follow me on Twitch Channel and join my Discord Server !

Big thanks to the Maniouz for the amazing graphics and VOD edits! Elora for checking my grammar and fixing mistakes! Katasandra for a lot of help with bbcode :)

League of Legends Champions:

Teamfight Tactics Guide