Hope this guide help u climb, i dont expect many to know how to use this guide or probably even take it seriously. But i truly believe that people doesnt know how to buy and build for kayn and i grow tired of ppl thinking i am trolling when i play like that. So i decided to make this guide officially on the internet in the hope of people opening their eyes a bit on different playstyles.

If u guys want more info on any specific thing u can tell me and ill do what i can.

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/nullstation *Can't promise that i will always stream though

I mostly go Rhaast, regardless of squishy or not in this season. The point being is that, Shadow assassin is underperforming since his nerf + the extra item on mages (The shattered queen) So i find it most likely better to go Rhaast than shadow assassin right now in every situation. But that doesn't mean that u dont need the other sometimes u need shadow assassin, since his speed is more important in certain situation.

So the point i go lethality as Rhaast, i have been doing that since his release, i dont rly understand why ppl go goredrinker and tank items in general with Rhaast. U guys probably have forgotten his passive, the more damage u deal the more heal u get which supposed to be obvious i guess to everyone by now. But the point is, Rhaast Q deals % damage of max health + bonus ad and heals from it, if u combined that with the lethality and ESPECIALLY dusk blade, u can join any fight, obliterate 1 person doesnt matter if its tank or squishy, both will not be able to survive ur damage. U will turn invisible and then re use ur W and Q combo on the next target with an AA as extra for the beginning bec it gives u 99% slow on them, makes it hard for them to escape the knock up. And u will heal ur hp back to full, again and again and again.

As extra, Ur ult, can reach to deal up to at least 65% of the enemy hp, so if u fought Tank or squishy u will end up with 2000+ healing and damage from anyone u fight.

Team fight:
In the team fight u have 2 options in ur engagement. #1 Kill the most damage champ in the enemy team, if it was adc,top,mid, doesnt matter whatever it is, no one can stop u with full lethality build not even ornn full hp and tank will survive ur burst with the armor pen and lethality. #2 kill the CC champ, if u face champs that annoys u with their cc like lissandra, morgana, malz, etc.. Flash and 1 shot them and feel free to obliterate the rest.

Extra info so that u pay attention to is that the orbs u collecting and when do they increase according to League of legends fandom wiki the orbs collecting are multiplied over time and the correct math order is as following: Min 0-5 = 3 so unchanged. min 6=3.88/7=4.75/8=5.63/9=6.5/10=7.38/11=8.38/12=9.39/13=10.39/

Formula:Increases each second after 5 mintues. at 10 minutes it increases by 15% more every second until it caps at 13 minutes.

*3 − 10.39 (based on minutes) maxed at min 13*

So pay attention on when u are actually into fight and when it is best to fight in order to get ur form faster.

Happy Reaping everyone.

I go red buff, then golems then raptors and proceed to wolves, blue, frog scrub. But not always like that. Since i have to gank u know, sometimes after golem i gank top or bot depends on where the golems are. Mostly i try to gank after raptors bec i will have my W on, but i keep it that way, since if there is no ganks then its faster to go to wolves, which makes it faster to get all the jgl camps. Then i normally go back and buy the tear of goddess and some ad or boots.

If i ever changed my jungle path or i have another ideas i will update it in this chapter.

Option 2:I go red > Raptors > Golem and if there is a gank on top or bot depends on where red is u gank if not, recall and buy tear of goddess. This move will make u a head later on if u completed it after duskblade u will see a huge difference in ur damage and teamfights later on.

Option 3: For blue side. You can simply, take Blue then level up W instead of E and go for frog then dogs and continue to red side, i find this style is kinda a bit more comfortable to farm early but also = less ganks effectiveness, since the early ganks with red will secure kill more often than blue thanks to the slow. Also dont buy healing potion, u don't need it. Simply, blue>frog> wolves> red > scramp *Dont fight for it, u gonna die mostly* since kayn rly weak early.

You can also just recall after blue side to get tear: Blue>Frog>Wolves> tear of goddess.

Option 4: You can take the red, birds then go to blue frog and gank then recall, although its not the best option, at sometimes it really gives you advantages on early leads.

The decision about which form to take in the game is depending on the comp from both teams. Like if they are all squishy then shadow assassin is the way to go, if they are tanks mostly then Rhaast, but its not always the case. Certain champs that are squishy with a lot of cc still do require Rhaast more than Assassin. Also when there is Lulu on the enemy team, u also need Rhaast, since lulu turns everyone into tanks.

To know which form to get if its hard to decide bec the enemy has tanks and squishy, well at that point u pick depends on which one is fed or which one is a huge threat.
For example: Nasus, Graves, Zoe, Jhin, Brand. I go Rhaast, bec there is Nasus. Nasus is huge threat to ur team, and if u are fed as rhaast u can easily solo Nasus even in late when he is stacked.

Well if u ended up with a form u found bad decision in a game, then u still can turn things ur way by switching ur items path. Even if u are Shadow assassin, adding Armor pen from both items 30% and black clever 30% can lead most of the tanks down as an Assassin, also u could add Hydras so that when u get into fights ur healings from runes + item can make u an assassin bruiser or duelist.

Same thing if u managed to get wrong form as rhaast and u need speed, u could also use collector as rhaast that can make any squishy adc be a moving minion with a extra gold in it which will make u feel like shadow assassin but different playstyle.

So either way u still can make advantage on ur side, no need to be afraid. Before the nerf of the assassin i used to transform to whatever i get first, this style can still work now but not as effecient since losing 14% damage early and late rly hurt a lot of kayn's assassin kit that made him unable to solo all targets til he add extra ad which means snowballing is very important for assassin to feel like true ascended monster. But while late games can be pain in the ***, Rhaast on the other hand, u always have hope in winning the game no matter how bad the situation can be. Which makes Rhaast superior in most cases.

But in snowballing, Assassin is the king of snowballing. U could snowball as rhaast but not as good as assassin, since snowball needs speed and Rhaast lacks the speed to do a lot with being ahead, but if the enemy is tanky, snowballing can work as rhaast more than assassin that's for sure. Since Rhaast is tank melter and assassin is squishy deleter.

Remember that items has almost 80% of the reasons why u lose or win. So careful what u buy and when u buy them otherwise ur build would not feel as good as u want it to be.

Once u turn into Rhaast u got few objectives in mind:

#1 Tanks must go down by u and no one else.

#2 the highest dps in the game gonna be u so u can freely destroy any target that ur team is having hard time against.

#3 dont forget u are a jgler, drakes barons ,etc. U are still kayn even if u have to do it alone vs 5 go for it u can even get penta with the obj if u are fed enough, its ok if u die at least die trying as Ekko says:I rather make mistakes than make nothing at all.

#4 The combos u could use is AA>W>Q>AA>R>AA>Q>W>AA or AA>W>AA>Q>AA>R>AA>W>AA>Q>AA. Now there is diff other combos.Dont forget that all of that with duskblade on, never change dusk blade. Duskblade slows down ur target by 99% for 0.25 u can hit ur combo so easily without any problem.

But these combos does the most damage out of a little time u have and also doesnt always work since u gotta use ur ult to catch up with ur enemy or to survive burst or to dodge CC.

Once u turn into shadow assassin u have few objectives in mind:

#1 The adc and the mage is yours and yours alone to take care of.

#2 Your speed has a meaning and you need to take advantage of it, so make sure you clear up your camps often no matter how fed you are LEVEL> KILLS. The faster you get to 18 the better. I rather be level 18 with 0 kills rather than level 11 with 10 kills.

#3 You are still kayn take drakes baron herald etc. Trust me they are way more worth than any kill in the game, even if you are alone vs 5, as Ekko says:I rather make mistakes than make nothing at all.

#4 End the game fast, you need to try to snowball when you turn into assassin, his speed is meant to make you snowball, your late is not fun for you. End the game as quickly as possible and to do so, you get obj, LEVEL UP AS FAST AS YOU COULD. Go on murder spree between squishy DO NOT FIGHT THE TANKS. Even if you know you could win, they take of from your time which makes you spend a lot of time fighting for a 300 Gold which you could have gotten from 1 tappin adc.

#5 The combos you could use are pretty easy, infact a lot easier than Rhaast. Assassin doesnt wait using his W, so your combo is going to be like: AA>W>Q>AA>R>AA>W>Q>AA or for faster and safety AA>W>Q>R>W>Q might be less damage, but that way u are way faster and u will not be caught up with cc too easily. Dont forget that all of that with duskblade on, never change dusk blade. Duskblade slows down ur target by 99% for 0.25 u can hit ur combos so easily without any problem.

If you found your self in a bad position against tanks, remember Black cleaver and Grudge always help to obliterate any tank.

Once u get to late game while playing Rhaast which means (Full items and max level everyone), ur obj becomes a little bit harder.

#1 When u join a teamfight u mostly likely gonna need a flash to reach ur target rather than walking to it. Dont forget u are squishy, u kill to survive, if u dont kill u die fast.

#2 No one from the enemy team has chance to solo u or even duo u except by CC. Which means, u fear NOBODY, no one is free of fear against u when u are around. Not even a single champ in this entire game can handle full lethality Rhaast damage in late, which makes u fearsome champ use that fear for ur advantage.

#3 Most likely ppl will think u are bad since u build lethality rhaast and they will start trying to focus u as 1v1 or 2v1, take that as ur advantage to take free kills without teamfight.

#4 Baron,Elder, Soul(If u dont have it yet) Most damage champ in the enemy team, most tanky champ in the enemy team, most cc champ in the enemy team. Those are ur objective that must be done in order to win.

#5 In the end u gotta sell the shoes, yes u are slow but u gonna need to flash to reach ur enemy or use a trick or ult to reach the target u want. But ur boots wont be as important as an extra dps or healin or lethality item. It might look stupid but trust me its wayyy more important than speed. But ofc if u fail to reach ur target, consider ur self dead.

Once you reach late as Shadow Assassin which means (Full items and max level everyone), your objectives becomes a lot harder, unlike rhaast, shadow assassin is meant to snowball and if u didnt u are in hard time but here is what u can do:

#1 Insta del the squshiy from the enemy team, not the ez kill but more like the important one's. Like the adc if fed or the mage if fed or even the supp like lux bec they are going to be more problem than the adc. Even if u die, dont fear taking them down for ur team, its ur job to do so anyway.

#2 Baron,elder, soul(If u dont have it yet) Well at this point this is easier to do than rhaast, thx to ur speed its hard for the enemy to stop u from stealing it ur combo AA>W>Q>SMITE can literally steal anything without problem and even cause a huge damage in AOE on the enemy if they were on the way of ur combo.

#3 Dont fight alone, u most likely feel like u can do anything, but u actually cant they scale better than u and especially if there was tanks u are kinda useless. So consider being ur team assister on taking down the problem with ur life, u go all in on them so that ur team will have to deal with less problems. Taking down adc mage for example and dying that moment u took down the huge dps and u made ur team 4v3 = Perfect for ur team.

#4 make sure u secure areas around obj like drakes and barons since u rly gonna need them if u wish to win in late. By securing area i mean, make sure enemy supp doesnt ward and if it did punish it by killing them fast and escape and then clear the wards and so on so that u make sure ur obj drake is on ur position rather than the enemy.

At level 1 u rank up Q. U use it to bully the laner while getting all of ur minions. Like for example u facing zed u go near the minion wait for zed to get close dash through minion and damage him with ur Q a bit, do it again several times til his hp is low enough for u to go in with a flash+AA+Q+ignite. And the kill is all urs.

This style can also work against range, but its a lot more effective against melee but remember this works in early like level 1-2 later on is a different situation depends on who u fighting. But mostly ur Q damage in early far beyond any other champ and u can use that to ur advantage and since Kayn isnt lane champ non will expect that.

Other than that u have few objectives to put up in mind while playing kayn in lane:

#1 survive the lane or win the lane either way u still gonna fight them so u will get ur form.

#2 Ur E is LORD of roaming, so dont be shy, roam a little, get that tasty kills and enjoy the free form bars.

#3 U are still half jgler here, u can simply watch ur jgl and assist him in drakes or invading or even ganking, all works.

#4 Dont forget ur position as kayn, Assassin = snowball, squishy. Rhaast = Tanks melter team fighter.

Well this one is way more harder than melee and its the reason why i dont always go in lane, its nightmare for kayn to deal with range champs in early, but here is what u can do when u are aganist range:

#1 Max W first thing, W is very important to deal with range champs otherwise u will just dash to dying use Q.

#2 Get elixer first item, u gonna use ur E to heal a lot of time, every extra mana will always be of a help.

#3 Get tear of goddess, u are in a surviving situation here not a murder spree. Til u get ur form u are in a very bad spot, u can only roam or try to survive ur lane while damaging the enemy for form.

#4 Don't transform to the form that counter ur lane, choose wisely, u need a form for the enemy comp completely not just ur lane even if u cant deal with ur lane, choose what is better to win not to kill.

Thought of adding info on how and when to fight ppl to get ur form faster. Well, its sometimes easy and sometimes hard, first it depends on the enemy champs u fight and also depends on the way they play. For example, i gank a lot just incase my team is bad so i dont lose the game before i even get to trasnform, pretty sure many of us has this issue.

So yes, less farm more ganking, for example after your recall to get the tear of goddess, ignore ur rest of the farm and go gank depends on which one looks more viable to ur ganks. After u finish ganking and getting a call, do not continue farming after that, RECALL and get items to do mroe damage and get ur blue or red buff and gank the other lanes. I know it sounds bad idea to ignore your farm but trust me, u will end up fed which will cover the farm u ignored + you will have your form pretty early like between 6-8 min.

Note: Just thought of adding extra info that, Shadow assassin is ALWAYS faster to gather than Rhaast. Yes it's faster. According to league wiki:

*Melee orbs grant 2 points per hit and 6 points per takedown.(Rhaast)
*Ranged orbs grant 3 points per hit and 7 points per takedown.(Shadow Assassin)

As extra, i mentioned this before but ill mention it here again orbs gaining increase overtime *Which is already known* but here is the correct math of when u gather most orbs faster: The amount of points received per orb is then multiplied by 3 − 10.39 (based on minutes).

Update#1: I added boots since i forgot about them, dont forget to read the note on the boots, thx in advance. Also i added a note on the runes for extra info.

Update#2: Added runes for laning.

Update#3: adding extra info about jungling path.

Update#4: Added leveling path for laning phases both melee and range.

Update#5: Added more threats and synergies.

Update#6: Added more threats and synergies and divided some of the info into different chapters to make it easier for ppl searching for a specific infos.

Update#7: Added Rhaast playstyle objectives after u turn into him.

Update#8: Added Shadow Assassin playstyle objectives after u turn into him.

Update#9: Added Rhaast and Shadow Assassin (Late) playstyle objectives.

Update#10: Added Kayn early playstyle vs melee on lane and summoner spells u can use in lane.

Update#11: Added 1 extra leveling path for jungle when going Rhaast.

Update#12: Added another option in jungle path and extra info about transformations for Rhaast and Shadow Assassin and early playstyle against range in lanes.

Update#13: Added extra runes, threats and changed the name of runes bec it was hard to read also added few items in situational as well as a note for early items purchase.

Update#14: Added laning starting items.

Update#15: Added *How to get form faster* just for extra info on how to get form or when to gank etc..

Update#16: just changed the info of ur ult *getting up to at least 65%* on Rhaast.

Update#17: Added more info about the new runes *First strike*

Update#18: Added another *First strike* Runes.

Update#19: Just switched Runes position, i putted First strike runes at first bec i find it the best runes for kayn atm *In jgl* for both Assassin and Rhaast. Also added Electro rune(Thunderlord)

Update#20: Added more situational items.

Update#21: I just putted a little extra note on core items since i see many ppl on reddit and other social media websites saying that collector is bad, so i put a little info of why i play collector.

Update#22: Deathdance has changed, its a huge buff so i added extra info about it.

Update#23: After deathdance buff i find hydra to be important more than collector with the increase of AD from hydra, so i changed the core items.

Update#24: Changed cosmic insight to approach velocity, i find it more useful to kayn to increase his ms toward the enemy after W or in a gank more important than item and spell haste.

Update#25: Since Ravenous is gone now, i use ultimate hunter in its place. So i updated the runes to be ultimate hunter with dark harvest and also i added another mythic you can use.

Update#26: I added a new build tree, u decide which one u wanna go with, it starts with hydra and i find it to be VERY effective.

Update#27: I added in the jungle farming the blue side, if people want to start blue then i prefer to level up W second for better farming in the other side.

Update#28: Switched back to dark harvest as the main runes, since most of the time i lack extra damage thx to the nerf of Rhaast on the Q, so the dark harvest will fix the issue.

Update#29: Added another jungle path which includes ignoring some jgl camps for potential early gank.

Update#30: Adding my twitch stream *If i ever streamed* Which can also be found in intro: https://www.twitch.tv/nullstation

Update#31: updated the items that i go with as well as the option 3 in jungle camp for blue side info in jungle path.

Update#32: Added items for anti kill steal, if u got tired of people stealing your kills and not carrying, this will help allowing u securing kills without worrying about ur teammate stealing it.

Update#33: I returned first strike as main runes bec it still way better than Dark harvest since it allows u to reach full items wayyyy faster as well as getting the form faster too.

Update#34: More details about 3rd option from jungle path.

Update#35: Kayn no longer gain bonus transformation from First strike, so this runes isnt as good as it used to be but still useful for damage and money.

Update#36: After another healing nerf to kayn i find eclipse is a better option now, i also added new runes to help using eclipse more often than usual.

Update#37: The nerf on Rhaast didnt actually effect him much as far as my games goes, i still run dusk blade or eclipse, but i started to use eclipse less after the nerf on lethality so i recommend spamming black cleaver first item and then dusk blade afterward finish manamune.

Update#38: I updated the guide for the new season, i didnt update for a time bec i actually left the game in preseason waiting the preseason to end so that i dont have to deal with the bugs, since now there is less i am back. Now i changed items for the new season as well as the build a bit, since hydra seems to really be good with kayn, i start with it while having tear of goddess going for Duskblade after i finish it and manamune rightafter. But if there was tanks again, Black Cleaver > anything against tanks in early.

Update#39: I added different item set, since i started to see that more penetration is very MUCH needed.