Hello and thank YOU for clicking on this guide. My name is RAPMONSTA2 and I create champion guides & stream on Twitch. I love League of Legends & also love to share my knowledge in the ever-changing world on the Summoner's Rift. I've been playing League of Legends since season 3. I am a Mid/ADC main and my favorite champions include: Ryze, Corki, Cassiopeia, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn and Sivir. I had a TON of fun making this guide for YOU. Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, feel free to tune into my Twitch stream and ask in the chat. Without further ado, let us get into the guide.

Pros + Insane single-target DPS + Great kiting potential + AoE slow/grounding spell from Miasma + Built-in sustain from Twin Fang + True 6 item slots, does not need boots Cassiopeia is a great pick in solo queue. She has one of the highest DPS numbers for any champions in the game. Cassiopeia is a great dueler/lane bully because of her low cooldowns. Late-game, she is able to get 6 complete items because she does not build boots. Overall, Cassiopeia is an ideal mid-laner that offers DPS along with unique-CC.

Cons - Can struggle with mana-sustain early game - Susceptible to CC - No major gap-closer - Single-target DPS, so you need to focus right targets - Skill-shot dependent (Q & R) As per all champions, Cassiopeia has her strengths, and her weaknesses. She has no major gap-closer other than her flash so she is susceptible to ganks. In addition, CC negates Cassiopeia’s DPS so she needs to be wary of the enemy team’s CC cooldowns. Because Twin Fang is a single-target spell, Cassiopeia needs to focus the optimal target in teamfights.

Flash is a must-have in order to make plays and get out of sticky situations.

Ignite will give you kill pressure in-lane & counters healers, such as Vladimir and Swain.

Teleport gets you back to lane quicker and Teleport to other lanes and help turn ganks.

Cleanse is a MUST when you are vs. Twisted Fate & other heavy-CC champions.

Exhaust will help negate all-in potential from assassins, such as Zed, Fizz & etc.

Heal is a better option than Barrier if you plan on roaming together with your jungler. ]

Barrier is a better option than Heal in 1v1 situations.

Ghost is great if you need to kite and/or gap-close.

PASSIVE ABILITY

Serpentine Grace (Passive): Cassiopeia cannot buy boots but rather gains movement speed per level.

Q

Noxious Blast (Q): An AOE area that grants her movement speed if she hits an enemy champion. Also, deals damage-over-time for 3 seconds to enemies hit. This is what makes Cassiopeia’s kiting really good.

W

Miasma (W): An AOE grounding area that doesn’t allow grounded enemies to use any movement abilities. It also slows and deals magic damage. The slow from Miasma is a great way to chain other abilities.

E

Twin Fang (E): This is Cassiopeia’s main DPS spell. If the enemy target is poisoned, Twin Fang does additional damage. Remember that Teemo and Twitch poison also counts as well.

R

Petrifying Gaze (R): This is Cassiopeia’s big CC spell. It stuns all enemies facing towards her for 2 seconds and slows for 40% to those facing away. You can turn teamfights with this spell.

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We want to max out Noxious Blast first because it gives movement speed that allows Cassiopeia to follow up with her Twin Fang. Then max Miasma second as it increases the slow % to help chain Noxious Blast & Twin Fang. We level up Twin Fang last. Rank up Petrifying Gaze whenever possible.

Void Staff When should I go Void Staff? If they enemy team has multiple MR items, then Void Staff is a great choice.

Liandry's Torment When should I go Liandry's Torment? If the enemy team has multiple champions with high-HP and/or building HP items. The burn from Liandry's Torment will help against champions with a lot of HP.

Morellonomicon Does the enemy team has HP-healers/HP-sustaining champions? Swain, Vladimir, Soraka, Sona, etc? The Grievous Wounds applied from Morellonomicon’s passive will considerably reduce the healing/HP-sustain.

Zhonya's Hourglass When should I go Zhonya's Hourglass? Zhonya's Hourglass is great against AD-matchups & burst assassins. Examples would be Zed, Talon, Jayce & Yasuo. There is special case for Fizz. Zhonya's Hourglass will completely negate Fizz’s ult, Chum the Waters. I highly recommend Zhonya's Hourglass against Fizz as you can survive Chum the Waters every time and its makes the Fizz matchup a lot easier.

Banshee's Veil Are you against an AP-assassin or does the enemy team has multiple AP champions? If so, Banshee's Veil is a great choice. An example where you would go Banshee's Veil would be against LeBlanc mid with a Nidalee jungle. Because of the nerf to Abyssal Mask in Patch 8.6, Banshee's Veil is a better MR item for ranged AP champions than Abyssal Mask.

Banshee's Veil

VS

Abyssal Mask

Banshee's Veil gives 60 MR, 70 AP & 10% CDR. Chances are if you are building Banshee's, you are probably building Rod of Ages as well. Since Abyssal Mask was nerfed in Patch 8.6, Banshee's is the better MR item for ranged-AP champions.

Abyssal Mask gives 55 MR, 350 HP, 300 MP & 10% CDR. All of these stats are great but the nerf to its’ passive does not make it optimal on ranged AP champions. If you buy Abyssal Mask on a ranged-AP champion, you will not be utilizing the Aura efficiently due to its Aura range being pretty much melee range.

Cassiopeia is a very strong dueler and laner. The only things that holds back Cassiopeia is mana and her immobility. In this guide, we will talk about how can mask her weaknesses and let YOU take over the game as Cassiopeia and climb the ranked ladder. Level 1: You do NOT want to hard shove the lane right away because you won’t have enough room in lane to try an all-in at level 2. So, you want to keep the minion wave even but at the same time, you want to hit level 2 first. In order to achieve this, keep the first minion wave even thru last-hitting with auto-attacks and Twin Fang. When the 2nd minion wave hits the lane, you want to rush for level 2 ASAP. Level 2: As soon as you hit level 2, land Noxious Blast and spam Twin Fang while kiting forward. At this point, you should be conscious on whether or not you should use Ignite because Ignite along with the poison ticks will do a ton of damage at level 2. Please be wary of your mana bar. There isn't a worse feeling than also getting a kill but running OOM. Because of this, we do NOT hard shove the first minion wave. We are preserving our mana for this level 2 all-in. Auto-attacks are your best friend levels 1 and 2. 90% of the time, I get a kill with an all-in at level 2 or at least force out summoner spell(s). While this is all going-on, you should be wary of which side of the lane the enemy jungler can gank you from. Cassiopeia needs to be wary of the enemy jungler at all times in-lane because she does not have a dash and Flash is her only major gap-closer. Your combo as Cassiopeia in-lane and in-general should be: Miasma, followed up by Noxious Blast, and lastly spam Twin Fang until you need to apply Noxious Blast again. Use Petrifying Gaze accordingly to either get out of an engage or land a massive Stun or Slow. I will now explain why Miasma first, then Noxious Blast, followed up by Twin Fang. Miasma has a slow and we also max'd Miasma second because the slow scales as we rank up Miasma. The slow from Miasma makes it easier to land Noxious Blast, which in turn gives us a movement speed. Remember, that we max’d Noxious Blast first because of the movement speed buff when we land Noxious Blast on an enemy champion. Now here is the icing on the cake, Rylai’s also offers a slow on top of the slow from Miasma so Cassiopeia has a ton of kiting potential and the ability to pump out DPS thru Twin Fang!

Each lane match-up/game requires different ways to play the laning phase. Down below, I will try to give you as much information about the laning phase so you can apply this to imrpove your gameplay. During the load-in screen, you want to be actively thinking how you want to play out the laning phase and come up with a strategy on how to come out with a lead during the laning phase. By planning ahead, you are able to follow guidelines and set yourself up for success because you are actively thinking about what to do next/how to react to certain scenarios.

Laning Phase is one of the most important parts in League of Legends. It is the start of the game and a strong laning phase helps you smoothly transition into the mid/late game.

The Laning Phase composes of CS (creep score), Wave Control, Trading, and Pressure. Most players know only one, two or maybe even three out of the four major components of the Laning Phase. High-elo players understand how to efficiently control all four major components of the Laning Phase and therefore, are able to play their champions optimally. In this guide, I will break down all four major components of the Laning Phase and hopefully, help you gain LP.

The first phase of Laning is creep score or commonly known as CS. CS is the number of minions that you have collected gold from through last-hitting them. CS will be your MAIN source of gold income and helps you build items.

A perfect CS score at the 10 minute mark will be around 107-114. The important part of CSing is that you are consistent game-to-game and that you are building a solid foundation through your mechanics. If you are currently getting around 50 CS at the 10 minute mark, aim to improve and get 70+ next game. You can achieve this through optimal back timings, wave control, trading, pressure, and mechanics, all which we will talk about later in this guide.

The second phase is Wave Control. Wave Control or Wave Manipulation can be broken down into 2 basic concepts. The wave is either Pushing or Freezing.

Let’s talk about Pushing first because the majority of players will subconsciously just Push the wave without knowing the advantages/disadvantages of Pushing the wave. Pushing the wave is damaging the enemy minions faster than the enemy can, which creates an imbalance of minions for each side. If you have more minions than the enemy, you will create a Push.

Let’s break down the two different types of Push(s): Slow Push vs Fast Push

A Slow Push, simply put is killing the enemy caster minions first. By doing so, you are taking away the damage portion of the enemy minion wave. Remember, caster minions do the damage, melee minions do the tanking, and cannon minions do both. If you kill the caster minions first, you are taking away the damage portion from the minion wave and creating a slow push as the melee minions tank the minion damage. Slow Push(s) usually results in your minion wave stacking and becoming bigger (in numbers) than the enemy minion wave. Slow Push(s) are great if you are trying to roam, base, put down a ward, and/or tower dive. When you create a Slow Push into the enemy, the wave will eventually bounce back and cause a Slow Push back to you. Because of this, you will not lose out of much XP and CS from roaming or basing rather than if you didn’t Slow Push into the enemy tower and based/roamed.

Fash Push is where you are killing the enemy melee minions first. By doing so, you are taking away the tank portion of the enemy minion wave and creating a Fash Push because there are less minions to tank your minions' damage. Also, a Fash Push can be created by just killing as many enemy minions as fast as possible. Fast Push(s) are great if the enemy laner just based and you want to deny them CS and XP. It is also great if the enemy is low and you want to tower dive with your jungler. If you are Split-Pushing, Fast Pushing creates Pressure onto an objective. Also, you can Fash Push to set up vision around your lane if you feel like you may be ganked soon. Remember, Fash Pushing leaves you vulnerable to enemy ganks and it is highly NOT recommended if you are low-HP and/or do NOT have vision on the enemy jungler/laners.

The important theme in Wave Control is you want to be conscious on what you want to achieve with the minion wave. Are you close to leveling up? You might want to push to get level 2 before the enemy so you can get a more favorable trade. Are you against an assassin who excels in gap-closer? Then you might not want to push and give him a long-lane to gap-close onto you. Are you planning to dive with your teammates? Then you might want to create a Slow Push in advance, so you have a huge minion wave to help with the tower dive. OR you can Fast Push if you are short on time.

Pushing the wave will help you gain EXP faster due to the enemy’s minions dying faster. It also creates Pressure in-lane because you can push in the wave and threaten to roam to other lanes or invade the enemy jungle. Lastly, it forces the enemy laner to CS under-tower and have their tower take damage from the minions.

Freezing the minion wave. This is a harder concept for many players to apply to their gameplay. It requires patience and game knowledge. A Freeze is keeping the minions for both sides equal. To create a freeze, you would want to try to keep the number of minions for both lanes equal while last-hitting for CS at the very last possible second. The most optimal position for a Freeze would be right in-front of your tower but just outside your tower’s range. It creates Pressure on the enemy because they have to expose themselves to a gank by being so far up in-lane. Also, they cannot freely trade against you because they are threatened by the Tower. Also, CSing that far up in-lane will also open them up to being ganked. Just from this, a Freeze is great to set-up ganks and/or deny the enemy laner from CSing/trading with you. Also, Freezing the wave is great to limit the gank potential from the enemy jungler, if you are looking to deny XP and/or CS from your enemy laner, and if you want to base. Earlier we talked about Fash Pushing if you are looking to base. An alternative to having an optimal base timing, is to base on a frozen wave that is slightly pushing towards you. Not only do you get an optimal base timing but also get to deny CS/XP.

Let’s say you got a Freeze against you, how do you break a freeze? You can either try to wave-clear and reset the wave OR you can call for your jungler to help push out the wave 2v1 and reset the wave that way. The important part of breaking a freeze and resetting the wave is understanding what caused the Freeze in the first place and not repeating it again.

The third phase is Trading. Trading is dealing damage between laners. By doing so, you create Pressure by bringing down their HP. Now, you want to do more damage than your opponent in trades. But sometimes, you can get Trades where you take no damage while damaging the enemy laner. How? When the enemy goes to last hit a CS, they are in a vulnerable spot to take a bad trade. At that split-second they must make a decision. Do I go for that CS and take this unfavorable trade or do I forfeit that CS and not take this bad trade? This is what is called Pressure. They are pressured into making an uncomfortable decision in the heat of the moment. Abuse this to get favorable Trades in-lane. 99% of players do not actively look to trade when the opponent is about to go for a last hit on the CS. Trust me, this single concept alone can make your laning phase go from good to great!

The last and final major phase is called Pressure. Pressure is extremely important because it can translate into Tempo. Pressure is created when you push in the wave and look to roam. Now the enemy laner feels pressured because they have to decide, do I CS these minions and be late to the roam or do I leave the CS and match the roam? The opportunity cost created from Pressure can expose players’ flaws and poor understanding of the Macro-game. ABUSE Fog of War to create Pressure. Just the threat alone on being off the map creates Pressure on other lanes and put them in an uncomfortable spot.

All four phases of the Laning Phase are connected to each other and by actively thinking about what you want to achieve in the lane and executing that plan will build a solid foundation so you can smoothly transition into the mid/late game with a lead/advantage.

Other Key Concepts:

Positioning: Ask yourself, should I be sitting in my minion wave or should I standing aside my minion wave? If I am pushed up this far, how exposed am I to being ganked? Based on your answers, you should adjust your positioning to cover your weaknesses.

Build small advantages over the laning phase and they will add up later in the game. If you get a lead, snowball that lead to your advantage by either roaming to other lanes or killing your laner.

Now I will give you a common & difficult matchup to help you understand how to plan out the laning phase, and execute that plan.

Matchup: You are “Twisted Fate” vs an enemy “Fizz”

From prior games and game knowledge: you know that pre-6, Twisted Fate can poke and harass Fizz in-lane. But if you don’t poke/harass Fizz and create pressure in-lane pre-6, Fizz will kill you as soon as he turns level 6 with his ultimate.

How I want to play this matchup pre-6: I want to allow him to push in the wave as soon as the game starts but I want to freeze the wave just outside my tower’s range. Then, I want to create Pressure, where he is forced to overextend in-lane and CS is an uncomfortable spot. This exposes him to an early gank, where he can be set behind. Also, I want to trade every time he goes for a CS but I also want to be aware not to aggro the minions too long because it will break my freeze.

How I want to play this matchup post-6: Now that Fizz is level 6 and has ultimate, if I push the wave and stay in-lane, I will be exposed to being caught by his ultimate. So how do I counter this? I fast-push and look to create pressure by roaming. This covers my worries about being caught by his ultimate if I were to sit mid after I push the wave, and at the same time, I create pressure of the map.

Thank you for taking the time to read my guide. I hope you enjoyed the read and picks up a few things along the way. If you have any comments, questions or queries about my guide, please don't hesitate to ask any questions. I would LOVE to answer any questions. Your best chances of reaching me will be on my Twitch stream at the top of the guide. If you just want a place to hang out and chat, feel free to hang out in my Twitch stream. We can talk about League or other random topics. Once again, thank YOU. If you have the time and would not mind, please UPVOTE if you liked the guide. Once again, thank YOU for clicking on this guide and I hope to see you again. - RAPMONSTA2