So you want to play the mystical rapist we've come to know as Kassadin ey?


Anyways I'm making this guide because I think there are a lot of other guides out there that don't touch up on tips and tricks for Kassadin and the way I believe he should be played. Keep in mind you may have your own different opinion, but please save it for the comments below.


First of all I believe that there are certain champions that fit your play-style that you'll do well with even on your first game with them. Kassadin is one of those champions for me. He may not be the right champion for you. But I have no doubt you can do well with him with a little bit of practice.


When playing Kassadin, try to get Solo top or Mid. If you cant, or if there is a better champion on your team suited for it (eg Brand, Annie, Ashe, etc), let them. Its not worth the hassle arguing for a lane. Plus Kassadin makes a very good duo laner too.




Before we get started you must know Kassadins mechanics inside and out if you wish to rape with him.

Kassadin's Pros:

15% Reduced Magic Damage
Super Long Silence
Mega Slow
Extremely High Burst
Uncatchable
Decent AoE
FUN to Play


Kassadin's Cons:

Hard Earlygame
Low HP
Takes a lot of skill to play (Hard to master)
Good judgement of situations is required

Masteries

I run typical 9/0/21. Thats what I find works best for Kassadin.

PS: NEVER ever get perseverence. Its bad. Only get it for champions like Mordekaiser and Garen...

Runes

Runes are really personal preference. The ones listed up top are just the ones I choose to use.
Here is a recommended list of Runes to use.

Marks:


Seals:


Glyphs


Quintessences:

People think Flash is "useless" on Kassadin since he already has one built in, but in my honest opinion I think it makes him even more OP.

Flash vs Cleanse.

Here are a few reasons why Flash is a must.

Gap Closing/Escape
In a teamfight if you get suppressed, silenced, stunned, snared, etc, The time it takes to get out of the debuff can be a while. In that time, the enemy team can beat your *** down with some amazing force. With Cleanse You get one shot to pick your debuff and remove it. Anything after thats duration is reduced by 65% but only for 3 sec untill its up again.
There are tons of abilities out there. The chance that all of them from the other team is going to be chucked on you at one point in time is minuscule. It seems like a waste of slot to me.
With Flash, you have that extra 0.2 sec of time to be able to instantly cast it (Instead of point click for riftwalk, aka smartcast) allowing you to jump over a wall and completely deny them the ability to do anything to you, or flash forward and make it take longer before they detsroy you, allowing your team more time to come and help you. You can also use Riftwalk and Flash straight away/toward the enemy giving you basically 2 flashes in 1 sec, but make sure you only Flash -> Riftwalk for emergencies to escape.
If your enemies are close, but not close enough to damage or kill you, Riftwalk away. If they catch up before your next Riftwalk is up, Flash and then Riftwalk away again when you can.
Make sure you use walls to your advantage as often as you can to escape. It denies sight and pathway to you.

Wall Jumping... Twice. (Guaranteed Escape)
If you see someone like Ashe coming for you and you are near a wall, No worries. Just Riftwalk like a boss over the wall and you're safe.
But what if ashe flashes over as well? She has a stun and can beat your *** down to pulp lategame. You cant just stand there waiting for Riftwalk to come back up, you need another teleport to be able to get away double the distance so that NO ONE can catch you.

No Mana.
Out of mana, yet you're near a wall? What are you going to do? Flash.
Even though this hardly ever happens to me as Kassadin, it isnt uncommon. I have been out of mana before with kass and flash has always saved my life.


Conclusion
Theres no doubt that Riftwalk is the best Gap Closer and Escape ability, however you arent the only one in the game with one. Tryndamere for example has one himself. So theres no doubt that he can still chase you down regardless if you jump over a wall or not. If you're slowed and you jump a wall, so will trynd. He'll just beat you're *** down till you can Riftwalk again which will render you useless if you have to teamfight straight after.
You'll be forced to recall heal, mana up and get back to the fight. By the time you're back someone on your team would have died of gotten low seeing as it'd be a 4v5 for the length you were at base.

But in reality, its up to you. Complete personal preference. Its your choice whether you choose or .







This, would be my second choice.


I find Ignite almost essential for Kassadin. It isn't uncommon in games for people to be below 50hp or less and survive.
One thing Kassadin is really good at is tower diving.
Riftwalk In, Ignite, Flash out.
And of course, do NOT do that if you can't take more than 1 tower hit.


-Higherbrow's Tip: "Mid to end game it doesn't do much for you, but using Ignite has allowed me to start killing in solo lane at level 6. Using a Null Sphere or two for harassment during level 5 can bring an opponent down to 3/4, and comboing them out when you hit 6 with Ignite is almost a guaranteed kill, often first blood. I usually start roaming at 7 rather than waiting for 9 simply because Ignite gives me that last bit of damage I need to finish them off. Cleanse and Exhaust are both extremely useful, but I usually net 2-3 kills per game on early Ignites. And Kassadin needs the help early. Late game, it sucks not having Exhaust/Cleanse, but if you had a really strong early game and kept your power going late, following your initiator in usually lets me straight up kill one person and put two or three others in a fleeing kind of mood."

This explains exactly why I prefer Ignite over most other choices.

Before you can even start playing Kassadin, you must know his mechanics inside and out.
Dont miss a thing.

Passive:

In all Honesty this passive is quite useless. The 10% reduced magic damage is great and taking a Requiem to the face when you're in a lane by your self is fun for farming with auto attacks. But like I said, its pretty useless.


Q:

This, is your main ability. The silence on this thing is a godsend. Just watch as you silence Garen before he can spin2win. Watch him retreat almost instantly or leave him thinking 'wtf do i do now?!?', even if he gets the chance to come close to you.


W:

Another useless spell. It has no real use until level 13 when I use it to get Force Pulse charges if no one is around. Other than that, it gives you Passive Mana per melee hit, and when activated extra melee damage from ability power.


E:

This spell, is amazing. Its only downside is that it takes a while to charge up until level 13 of course :). The way you use this spell is quite unique among LoL's champions. Any spells cast near you (Allied or Enemy) will give you force pulse charges. Once you reach seven charges you are able to cast Force Pulse. Not only does this beast of an ability do amazing damage to multiple enemies, it will slow them all too by 50% when maxed. This plus Null Sphere, Riftwalk and Ignite makes for one amazing combo taking over 60% health on squshies and leaving a damage over time effect on them with reduced healing. Once you've let that out on 'em chase them down with your Riftwalk and Flash and pick yourself kills up all over the place.

(Another thing I must mention is that even when you're low and need to retreat for health, you can still be of use to your fellow teammates. Force Pulse enemy champions for your team so that they can chase them down and kill them with ease. Or if you have a fellow teammate trying to escape, Force Pulse the enemy/enemies so your ally can reach safety.)


R:

Last but certainly not least, Riftwalk.
This spell is what Kassadin is most renowned for. Is is comparable to flash, but with a much shorter CD. Being only being 4 sec long when fully maxed at level 16. This spell allows Kassadin to jump over walls with ease, dive low health players under towers, escape on the lowest amount of HP imaginable, etc. It is one of the best Gap Closers/Escape mechanisms in the game. This spell paired with Blue Golem Buff makes Kassadin faster than Singed, Poppy and Usain Bolt combined.
On top of being amazing for getting away or chasing enemy players each Riftwalk used consecutively does more damage but comes at the cost of using up a lot more mana. Be safe with this. You dont want to be riftwalking all over the place and find that when you have to escape you don't have the mana for it.

I've carefully picked out and put a lot of thought into items and the item purchase sequence for Kassadin. This is what I find works best for me allowing me to be able to deal mega tons of damage yet have that much needed survivability so that you dont get pounded to 100hp in 2 seconds.

Here is a list and description of items, skip to the bottom to find the item summary.

I first start with a Sapphire Crystal and a Health Potion, buying a sapphire crystal is a must since it builds into
Catalyst the Protector, taking off 400g when you first purchase cataylst.
The earlier you get catalyst, the better.

As soon as you can afford a catalyst, recall and buy one. It will make your laning so much easier since Kassadin's earlygame is quite brutal and tough to get through.
If I find I'm doing quite well earlygame, then I'll wait it out till I have about 1400g, then go back and buy catalyst the protector, Boots and 1 Health Potion and head back to my lane.

Tip: Harrass when you can, however DONT spam your abilites. Wait for the right chance when your enemy is over extending and low and pop your combo in their face. They'll never see it coming.


Once I'm back in my lane, I start the hard and long grind for Needlessly Large Rod.
You may be thinking, why not upgrade your boots first? The answer is that you have an instant flash like spell. Gap closing or escaping with movement speed isn't really required until later on in the game.
Once you have your rod, you'll find yourself taking out enemies HP with ease and that single item will last you ages, dealing tons of damage all of early to midgame.

I then upgrade my boots to Sorcerer's Shoes and start farming for a Tear of the Goddess. The early Tear of the the Goddess is extremely useful. It gives you lots of Mana, Mana Regen and Increased Max Mana. This combined with blue buff is insane, consider mana never a problem again.
Also its a good idea to start grinding up your tear early for lots of mana lategame.

I then turn my tear into an Archangel's Staff giving me even more AP, and I turn my Catalyst into a Banshee's Veil giving me a shield against abilities every 45 sec and 50 Magic Resist. Amazing for survivability.

Now I finally turn my Needlessly Large Rod into a Rabadon's Deathcap pushing your ability power higher and higher. You'll find after getting this item you'll start taking down enemies health with ease.
The reason I get a Rabadons later on rather than earlier is because your needlessly large rod and Archangels will give you lots of AP and last you well, until you get a Rabadons.

Archangels Passive gives you 3% of your max mana in Ability power. Before and after that you're getting your survivability items which have mana included, which in turn will give you even more ability power until your rabadons. The mana from a Grinded tear and the mana included + banshees mana = AP and Included Archangels AP. So you're pretty much sorted in the AP department until you get a Rabadons.


I then get a Blasting Wand and build it into a Lich Bane. This item is just crazy, Turst me, it'll make you rape x50000 more by giving you Movement Speed, Magic Resist, Mana and 80 AP.

This is the description for Lichbane's passive: "When you use an ability, your next physical attack will deal an additional 100% of your Ability Power in damage.".

Well guess what? Lategame when you have ******ed amounts of AP you'll be hitting truckloads with your melee hits. This combined with the extra damage you get from AP on your W Nether Blade is just F@#!%d, And keep in mind that the 350 mana from Lich bane is also giving you more AP because of your Archangels :).

Tip: Your lichbane hits CAN be used on towers! :D. Riftwalk in, hit the tower for a truckload. Null Sphere an enemy, hit the tower again. Rinse and Repeat.


And last but not least Void Staff, this will counter any Magic Resist the Enemy has while giving you 70 AP (which in turn will make your Lich bane hit harder) and 40 Magic Pen.
All the Magic pen from Boots, Void Staff and Runes should give you around 70 Magic pen. Thats just insane...


By the way. The reason I dont get Mejai's Soulstealer is for the simple fact that if you get it, enemy champions will target you, and its even worse if you have 20 stacks. If you do have 20 stacks, the enemy team will just make you priority #1, which in turn will give you deaths and will make your mejais useless. Plus, void staff is way better... pssshh.

Quick Summary of what to get.

Sapphire Crystal, x2 Two Health Potions ----> Catalyst the Protector Catalyst the Protector ----> Boots of Speed ---->
Needlessly Large Rod ----> Sorcerer's Shoes ----> Tear of the Goddess ----> Archangel's Staff ---> Banshee's Veil ----> Rabadon's Deathcap ----> Blasting Wand ----> Lich Bane ----> Void Staff

Early Game

DONT PUSH, if you have a junlger on your team this is exactly why you don't want to push, otherwise he cant gank.
If the enemy team has a jungler that's even more reason why you shouldn't push.

Last hit when you can and try to avoid enemy harassment.
Harass your enemies when you get the chance. However don't go around like a crazy noob spamming the enemies with your Q until you're out of mana, that's just stupid.
For early kills, harass when you can with Q (don't spam). When you have a force pulse up Q, E. Wait a while till you can rip a final combo on them and Q + E + Ignite. If you don't get the kill, don't fret. Calm yourself, follow them to their tower, wait till your Q is back up and flash Q. (Pre lvl6, after level 6 you wont need to flash unless you're out of mana or dont have enough to spare for R + Q)

Farm till you can get your Catalyst and Boots. Go back to farming and get your needlessly large rod to rape some more face.

Mid Game

On top of farming, you should be getting kills in your lane. Helping with ganks when needed for Top, Mid or Bot.
Your team should be getting dragon whenever possible and you shouldn't be pushing towers unless you know where every single enemy is.

In team fights DONT just sit there waiting for someone to be low to chase and combo, it doesn't work like that.
Find your target, usually whoever is most fed, squishiest or deals the most damage. Ruin them with your spells.
Try to get the kill with your R, ensuring they don't get away and you get fed.


If an enemy manages to get away, split from your team to the side and gank them from the side/behind. This ensures that the enemies are concentrated on your team and not you. If you try riftwalking through them all you'll just get targeted and destroyed.

Late Game

Late game you should be pushing as many towers as possible.
All 3 enemy outer turrets should be down by now and you should be forcing your way mid, through the towers and onto the inhibitors.

If your team is doing really well then push through to the mid inhibtor regardless of whether the enemies are alive or not.

If your team is doing poorly just stay and defend at your towers. Its long and boring but if you want to win its the only way.
Wait for an ace and push as far and fast as you can before the enemies are up.

If both teams are doing evenly wait at your towers!
The enemies will get bored of doing nothing and try fight you at your tower. Blitzcrank is perfect for going through this stage.
Once you have an ace, just like if you're team was doing bad, push as far and fast as you can.

If you get an Inhibitor and the Enemies are already on their way to try kill you, go back to the enemy side towers and try push them while the enemies are occupied with killing minions.

If the enemies aren't up for 30sec+ push the nexus turrets and attempt to win. If you can't, no worries, just concentrate on getting the other towers/inhibitors.

When to kill

Deciding when to baron is very tricky, you have to make the enemy believe you aren't going to take it.

Rules to remember:
Do not try to get baron if enemy minions are pushed all the way to your towers.

Always get a pink ward for baron.
Go to baron just by YOURSELF and place your invisibility ward. Kill the enemy ward and back off for a while.
If you do baron straight after you've killed their ward, they'll get suspicious and attempt to steal baron or kill you.

Try to push side/mid towers before you baron.
When you get to the tower and the enemies are there to defend their tower, back off and make them think you have to run otherwise you'll die to them, rather than you're about to baron.
Meanwhile send your team to baron and get them to start on it. You'll be able to get away and make your way to baron from anywhere on the map in about 2.5 sec. You're Kassadin mofo.

If your lanes are pushed to your towers with enemy minions and you fail/are killed at baron, consider a loss instantly.
They have minions at your tower, they then don't have to push a whole lane of minions just to reach your first tower.
You never know, pushing enemy lanes before you baron might just save an inhibitor for your team.

Thank you for coming to check out my guide.
If you liked it or it helped you rape with Kassadin please up-vote the guide :)


(Special thanks to Killraven and his guide, inspiring me to make this one for you all.)
His guide was the one I used for a long, long time before I developed my own way of playing Kassadin.
Make sure you check out his guide, as most of the inspiration for my guide came from his.

19/09/11 - Edited for Riven Patch:

Void Stone magic damage reduction increased to 15% from 10%
Null Sphere missile speed increased to 1400 from 1150
Nether Blade base damage increased to 30/45/60/75/90 from 20/30/40/50/60