Hi everyone! I'm EagleXs, I've been playing league for about a year and a half now, the first champion released during my time was Jhin. I've played Dota 2 for a year before that (my favs were Phantom Lancer and Templar Assassin <3), Strife, which was an awesome game of the same style (3 lane rpg/rts) for about half a year from when it was released to when the developers just stopped updating the game (rip Strife <3), and I have some play in HotS, the "Starcrafty" version of all the previously named games.
Whenever a new champion came out, I'd always be excited to figure out the build for him, and I always explore the champion on my own whenever i decide to learn someone new, before going to say Mobafire to see what players post here.

So, for the first time, I feel like I have the experience and I'm super excited to post my very first guide on this website which I respect so much! Hope this guide helps you that one time you actually can lock Kayn top by some miracle ;)
By the way, Kayn's weapon is just a kane, and the little sharp thing at the end? don't worry about it, it's not important (wink)

NOTE: This guide is under visual construction and I am constantly looking for more new content to add especially to the laning chapter. Some things I'm currently working on include video clips with demonstrations and gameplay! I have ambitions to make this a very in-depth guide covering every important relevant detail (including the scythe's moving eye, uggh!) so check back! I also intend on updating this guide regularly as the patches continue!

Don't miss my Blue Build Kayn! First ever! #EagleXs :p

summoner: nerf darkin! it's op! help!
rito: mk, i guess next patch...

Pros
Playmaker
Many playstyles and build paths
Strong mid and late game
Adaptable to particular teammate and enemy team comp
New champion and most people don't know what he does/how he works
Who doesn't love playing a carry top lane
Super cool auto effects and passive animation

Cons
Ban, First Pick, and sometimes Dodge (hard to get in queues)
Difficult to master
Can't Juggernaut the laning phase
Heavily positioning, skillshot and timing oriented/dependent

I find that Ignite is better than anything else, as it creates a greater all-in threat from Kayn. This is especially important early game in the laning phase as that prevents an all-in from being a good idea for the opponent or giving you a free kill through outplay and your minions backing you up if they engage you first. This also allows you to secure kills and counter many champions that may out-sustain you in lane by stopping them from healing in an all-in skirmish >.>= Renekton Olaf Irelia Kayn is a carry so farming is very important for him. His power spike comes mid-game once he has chosen a form and after he has lvl6 and a few more points in other abilities. Teleport will keep him in lane longer and if ganked a lot can still keep up with the laner. Later on Teleport becomes a big threat if you go since Kayn is an amazing split pusher, using Teleport right after backing to continue pressure is really strong. Barrier is actually more favorable on Kayn than most other champions as most of his gameplay is around initiating a fight and the rest of the time repositioning for the ideal scenario. Barrier can be nice to pop after dishing out all your damage as you get focused. I'd say take barrier only if the other team has tons of poke and cc and you're the only chance they have for an engage during mid-game and late-game. Flash isn't as good, as you have an incredible gank and escape ability ( Shadow Step) and a short dash in Reaping Slash on top of that. You have 3 abilities that give you mobility Reaping Slash, Shadow Step, Umbral Trespass and 1 that's an aoe slow/knock up Blade's Reach. Apart from Reaping Slash and Blade's Reach's knockup giving you time to chase, and E giving you a terrain ghosting capability, Kayn doesn't have much left for gap closing and Flash can be a great tool for additional play making. You can also use it for a great surprise play if you Shadow Step out of a wall and Flash in with a combo literally without anyone seeing you coming you would appear out of nowhere. I like to call that style "silent snipe", shhhh Ghost isn't that good as you will be buying many mobility enhancing items anyway ( Youmuu's Ghostblade, Dead Man's Plate), adding Ghost on top of that isn't going to make that much of a difference. It might be better to either cover a weakness or increase all-in potential.[/column]

Always Max R Umbral Trespass at the earliest possible levels: 6, 11, 16.

Usually max Reaping Slash first (after Umbral Trespass) - it's easiest to land, plus landing both parts of it is more damage than w, and it's one of the 3 spells that give you mobility and can be used for both engage and disengage and to counter abilities like Darius's Decimate and Kled's Beartrap on a Rope. Also, you gain more %cdr each time you level it (1/7, 1/6 reduction, and so on) than your other damaging ability: Blade's Reach

Blade's Reach is your next best ability for damage and is a great poking tool if you can't afford to go in with Reaping Slash without losing the trade in lane. If you're up against a ranged champion (ex: Kennen and Ryze), it may be better to max Blade's Reach first instead in order to poke them and reach minions without putting yourself in danger.

Leveling Shadow Step after 1st level only gives an additional 1s to the effect duration and buffs the healing effect when going into a wall, so only put your left over points into this one, unless you feel you need the extra mobility and map roaming. Unfortunately leveling Shadow Step does not upgrade the time you can spend between impassable terrains without losing the effect. Really wish it did. Getting out of combat movement speed items is the only way to close those sneaky gaps like crossing river near mid and such.

Ferocity

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I go Sorcery because so much of Kayn's damage is abilities and nothing in his kit benefits from attack speed plus everything in his kit is already an aa reset. Fresh Blood to buff your engage damage. If you are afraid of the laning matchup, you can take Feast , but that takes away from your strength overall and I don't think that's ever worth it. Natural Talent provides more stats which I prefer as it creates a greater kill threat. Both of Kayn's post-transformation passives benefit more depending on your damage. I would only go Vampirism if you already know you're definitely going to need to go Darkin and somewhat tanky, and that out-sustain is the key. This can be especially good if you end up going Assassin and would like the extra bit of sustain with it. You can argue as well that his Reaping Slash and Blade's Reach are very strong aoe abilities so the 2% spellvamp would make a big difference. This is very much a preferential choice. Bounty Hunter is very good as you have one of, if not the best, ganking ability in the game and a very high all-in potential, so you will definitely not be stuck sitting top all game. Getting 3 or more stacks wouldn't be hard. Because Kayn is melee and is weak to poke in both forms, I don't think Double Edged Sword would be worth the downside. Battle Trance is nice, but I feel like the longer you stay in a fight as Kayn, unless it's a 2v2 or bigger fight, the lower your chances get of making a good impact and the less your chances of survival in most scenarios, and if you are fed and nothing scratches you without losing an eye or a leg, then you might as well have went Bounty Hunter .

Cunning

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Savagery - Given the weaker laning phase, I'd go this over Wanderer . Aside from Kayn alone, this is pretty standard for a Top laner. Assassin - the name implies it, but even if you are Darkin, you are usually stronger when alone fighting someone, and you want this slight edge on your opponent. This is also pretty standard for a Top laner. Merciless - Since mana sustain is in one of Kayn's Core items, you won't need Meditation , at least from all the games I've played having tear, I've barely ever run into an issue of running out. Dangerous Game - This is often a life saver for carry champions which I consider Kayn to be one. You could argue that Greenfather's Gift is good, because catching someone out using Shadow Step and getting out of a wall where there is a bush would give you even more burst, and in laning you can use this passive to harass better. But especially if you're going Darkin, that 5% missing HP will be a huge heal if you get kills in a skirmish or teamfight, adding to your fighter/carry potential throughout the game. Intelligence - One of the most important stats that Kayn can buy and use is cdr. The more often you can cast your combo and the more often you can roam and maneuver with Shadow Step, the stronger you are in every way. The 5% cdr has helped me in fights and saved me in tight scenarios so many times. I think the cdr is more important than the lethality from Precision. Stormraider's Surge/ Thunderlord's Decree - I argue that Stormraider's Surge is better as Thunderlord's Decree 's cooldown first of all is way longer, and mobility during a fight where you can't take advantage of Shadow Step easily is very strong (as Shadow Step's duration drops to 1.5s if you don't go into a wall or become in combat after cast), plus the 75% slow resistance with the 40% movement speed can be enough to get away from retaliation after a big blow and give you that much needed boost to run to a wall and Shadow Step out of danger.

Other options and why Kayn Kan't Kane that:
Fervor of Battle - most of Kayn's damage lies in his abilities and, unlike some other top laners, Kayn doesn't have anything insane about his autos other than that he can weave them into his combo. When considering Kayn fighting a teemo punching bag top, yes, Fervor of Battle seems amazing, but when considering he'll be going up against another top laner going horrid nightmares like Darius, Riven, Rumble, Teemo (a real one), and Quinn, Fervor of Battle becomes more like a shopping stats perk than anything actually game changing or helpful.

Warlord's Bloodlust - This is slightly better than Fervor of Battle , and is actually very strong in the laning phase, but it becomes pretty cosmetic in comparison to other options in the mid and late game, not to mention that you would be losing out on Intelligence in the Cunning branch, giving up 5% cdr early game and through late game.

AD is really important for Kayn as he relies a lot on the threat of the maximum damage output he is holding onto throughout the laning phase. Kayn's kit is built around out-maneuvering and then over-maneuvering your opponent in order to deal more and more damage, so AD Quints and AD marks are best. Taking lethality marks would take away from Kayn's already (imo) questionable laning phase, I wouldn't do it, not in top.
Seal of Armor is pretty standard for top. Because you have so much mobility and juking potential, the only thing you can't out-maneuver is an auto attack if you're in range of one and this is especially relevant later in the game when the adc will start trying to gun you down in fights and skirmishes.
I take all CD glyphs: 6 flat, 3 scaling. This is in order to have 10% from runes and then 5% from masteries ( Intelligence ). CDR is literally Kayn's biggest power generator. I can't tell you the amount of times I'm staring at the timer in fights on my abilities lusting for it to hit almost 0 where I can jump back into a fight or finish someone off. The 10% at the start of the game will make a huge difference and the build should provide you the missing 30% which can be done favorably in many ways described in the items section. 45% cdr at lvl 18 not only gives you tons of sustain and continuous damage with mobility, but it makes Shadow Step have such a low cooldown you can one-man farm 3 lanes and the jungle fast enough to barely miss any creeps.

I've played a lot of dress up with Kayn and here are some important things to keep in mind.
(TEAR? LET ME EXPLAIN!! D:)

Building Manamune can be a game saver and a game changer in special cases and matchups. This is not something to do every game as your vanilla go-to, but it is a viable path and an option I would sometimes consider taking:




But Black Cleaver?
Here's my opinion on it if you'd like to read on:



Moving on into more familiar places:
Kayn's Core items work on both Darkin and Assassin: the Death's Dance.
Death's Dance builds from Caulfield's Warhammer, the best early first back item you can get, and a Vampiric Scepter, an amazing lane sustain item on Kayn. Its first passive provides lifesteal for 3 of your abilities and has the highest flat AD stats in the game (tied 1st with Bloodthirster) and it provides some defensiveness especially against burst damage giving him a chance to use his abilities to lifesteal and "dance away" to evade dying. Did I mention it has one of the most important stats for Kayn: CDR?
By the time this one is finished, you should know which path you're going.

For Darkin Path, the staple finish is: Titanic Hydra, Dead Man's Plate, and Spirit Visage.
The Darkin path usually guarantees that once you have 2 of these items, you can 1v1 and win against pretty much anyone you were laning against that match.

Titanic Hydra gives you a very nice health bar and Tiamat's effect, giving even more burst damage potential with auto's scaling with your maximum health, which you will be building up as you get to your FINAL FORM. This item helps you farm EVEN FASTER than your normal god-tier level wave clear of Q+W.
Get Dead Man's Plate if you're struggling to trade or are getting shut down or if your team is a bit behind where you need to be able disengage more effectively and the armor makes a big difference with the health. The only thing you're really losing out on is cdr, but this will keep you alive well enough to farm safely in most matchups. Later on, this item becomes devastating when you're flanking or chasing down enemies.
Spirit Visage can be great to rush against heavy AP comps or if you're laning against an AP top in order to out-sustain them. This one provides cdr on top of everything and the +30% healing (oh the healing <3) buffs your passive to maximum of 55.9% healing from abilities, and then buffs Death's Dance healing to 19.5% (granted the aoe is 1/3 per enemy hit, but still, holy moly healing). Your Blade's Reach gets to healing levels on a comparable level to Darius's Decimate, which is insane to think about as your Blade's Reach is a lifesteal knock up.


Other Darkin Options:
With Darkin there are many options. It all depends on what you want to be able to do and what your team will do for you. Ravenous Hydra doesn't give you as much health but can be a big difference in finishing off enemies and dealing more damage in team fights. Warmog's Armor really gives you the health and can be great for helping your team siege and staying alive from moderately strong poke and can sometimes save you from what would have been many backs when you have the pressure simply because their Ziggs or someone won't let you stand there and take hits.
Black Cleaver isn't as good as the staple items because it doesn't work as well together with your core items. Darkin does excel at continuous fights, but I find that building him with more tank items, lifesteal, and burst is more important than the famous armor shredding passive. Plus, Phage is overkill when you already have a knockup with lifesteal and walking through walls to catch anyone you want. If you are able to kite and utilize with Rage ( Phage's passive), they are already dead anyway, so you might as well replace it with more tanky-ness or burst. But sometimes it can be very strong if your comp is AD heavy and no one else is building armor shred and they don't have much CC. The cdr will also make you a monster if your lane isn't too tough. I'd say also that Black Cleaver is amazing if you're dominating lane and want the best Snowballing item money can buy.
Randuin's Omen works well for heavy diving AD comps and slowing everyone in order to land multiple Blade's Reach's. This item has been buffed giving 400hp, so it's nothing to glance over.
Frozen Mallet provides amazing health and is often a better choice than Warmog's if you're not sieging/fighting a 4v4/5v5 all the time. Catching enemies out with this in hand makes it really difficult for anyone you're after to escape. The health on this will really buff the Titanic Hydra's effectiveness as well.
Frozen Heart is not at all that helpful for Darkin overall, but it can be very necessary and can make your presence quite a significant problem for the enemy team if your team is being heavily tower dove. The cdr helps you cast Blade's Reach more often and be more mobile to keep up with defending objectives (cast Shadow Step more often) and the mana will boost your Muramana's effectiveness as well. 20% cdr in one item really gives you more options on going tanky without having to worry about getting that last bit of cdr for maxing out.

Going the Assassin Path limits your role to roaming flanks, one-shots, and cleanup most of the time, but you are amazing at this role. I would not strafe from having 3 lethality items as it multiplies the effectiveness of your passive and considering how strong lethality is this patch, these are your best bet:

Youmuu's Ghostblade is great at chases, escapes, allowing your E to give better positioning both to engage and disengage, and it provides a 10% cdr which is hugely important for damage output on Kayn. Overall Youmuu's Ghostblade is the best first item of the 3 as it provides a great powerspike and threat to the enemy squishy's.
The Duskblade of Draktharr is insane, as it makes wards not a concern when roaming with Shadow Step, and it nails down a mobile champion for that split moment in order to get a practically guaranteed Reaping Slash in, also making it more difficult for them to blink/dash far enough away to get out of your ult's range.
Lord Dominik's Regards will add up to 20% more damage from abilities and autos, which this bonus is then multiplied by Kayn's passive bonus on engage, making this item extremely strong on Kayn.

Other Assassin Options:
There aren't many other options if you've chosen the assassin path. Blade of the Ruined King can be very good to protect you when you've went into a cluster fight, got a kill or bruised someone hard and need to get out as you can use passive to boost your mobility when you most need it. After the engage you can Shadow Step away, get some health off of a jungle camp near by to get some health back and then come back in. The passive on autos shreds the particularly max hp loving champions as well, though you mostly won't be going for them as Assassin.
Mortal Reminder is for peeling for your team and taming the heavily lifesteal reliant champions.
Edge of Night no longer provides the magic resist (sadly), but it now does provide health which can make a huge difference depending on who you're up against and provides an ability shield to save you from the burst that will inevitably be shot at you as soon as you appear, especially on flanks and initiating fights by trying to pick off the backlines.

Lastly, about elixirs. Elixir of Wrath is pretty much always the one you're going to get, unless you're Darkin and you have to frontline for your team and you just cannot survive the burst long enough to be able to cast enough abilities in order to stay alive, in which case going Elixir of Iron can be very helpful as the lifesteal off of Wrath is only good if you're alive ;)

Sometimes this build can work very effectively but it won't work in every situation. This build will give you an edge in situations that the standard build won't and cover weaknesses that Kayn would normally be exploited for in certain team vs team comps and allow Kayn to play roles he usually is unable to fill or just become outright unstoppable and untouchable.

The most usual reason to go this would be if you're up against a heavily snowballing top laner (especially an AD heavy one) and the enemy team has a lot of sustain and has very strong sieging/split pushing power or is very strong late game. Here's the breakdown:

First of all, you always go Darkin when going this build, (hence the mixing red and blue).
Starting: If you can safely invest right away towards your early items, do it and there are a few option for this and you can always replace Fearie Charm with potions if you like. I prefer the mana regen as you have TP and you can rely on Shadow Step to heal you in lane, mana regen giving you effectively health regen as well.

First Backs:
Tear of the Goddess if you want more poke
Glacial Shroud if you don't need the mana that badly and want stats.
Sheen for a mini power spike and better trading in lane.
Pickaxe raw damage is good if you like how tear is stacking up (but only get after tear, and most of the time Sheen is better imo). This is a great gamble/steal if buying it will get you kills you feel otherwise are barely out of reach.

Core: Icy Gauntlet is the cheaper final item of the set and gives you 45 armor for just 750 gold with an enhancement to Sheen helping with kiting, pinging down, and running away.

Final Build has 5 items that are blue (in case you didn't know).

MATH:

Spoiler: Click to view

The stats that you get from the items together is:
Armor - 65+90=155
Health - 700
Mana - 500+400+1000(full stacked tear)=1900
CDR - 40%
AD - 25+57+(current base max mana * .03) = 82 + (12.3 > 30.7 depending on level) maxing at 112.7AD.

The idea behind this build is to exploit Kayn's incredible sustain in Darkin form by going tank and CC on both autos and aoe, making him capable of diving and taking tons of AD damage poke and harass while providing CC and enough disruption to allow the team to engage safely and dish. This also allows Kayn to fight a 1v2 and disrupt any siege attempts. Because you take so many items that provide a big amount of bonus mana, your Muramana will provide a huge amount of AD, plus you can double that number, because Frozen Gauntlet builds from Sheen. Your burst will be just as insane as a normal hybrid Kayn build, but you will only need one slot for an AD item when that much AD would normally take 2 slots to gain. Of course you don't get the perks of some of the standard items, but that's just the trade-off of going Blue Build Kayn.

You can replace boots with items like Titanic Hydra (which will benefit from the 700hp bonus Frozen Mallet gives you) for more aoe damage tagged to your auotos, Spirit Visage for more healing, Death's Dance for more damage and a less tanky build but more lethal presence. Trinity Force can be great as well as it provides more mobility, more skirmish auto weaving and room to micro with Phage's passive and +250 mana towards Manamune.

Another very interesting item to consider is Zeke's Convergence which will greatly benefit your team when you go in, damage someone, and then ult them, your team can follow up, shredding whatever juggernaut is up front, after what you effectively execute their health bar and continue the fight with an advantage. Binding with your carry or anyone around has no cooldown so there is no downside in this way. This item also grants +250 mana which will feed your Manamune even more.
(more on this coming soon!)

Kayn has one of the most unique laning phases compared to most champions that go top. His Shadow Step creates tons of poke opportunities and outplay windows especially when combined with his other abilities and there are many very important details about how Kayn works that can help you win lane and outwit your opponents.


Wall Hop - One technique that is incredibly useful for disengage and mitigating damage is the wall hop. Even though Shadow Step is shortened in its remaining time when hit by something or in combat, you still have 1.5 seconds to be on the wall and that can be enough time to move far enough over the wall so that when the ability runs out, you'll be pushed to the other side, because you only need to make the jump half way in order to make it, allowing you to effectively " Flash" over walls using Shadow Step. This can be done at either turn of the lane towards river.
Play Video

Wall Run - Here you're using Shadow Step to sneak around vision in order to surprise opponents or make sneaky escapes in tight scenarios. One way is to go deep in the wall and ride to the nearest bush, and other is to go from one bush to the adjacent one. The second Wall Run can be done both with full length Shadow Step and the quick Shadow Step while still in combat (the demonstration is right after fighting Ryze and it only gave me 1.5 seconds to make the turn and I was able to hide the dot trail because the ability ran out as i walked out to the side into the bush 8)
Play Video

Oh, does Kayn have tons of interactions that are crucial to utilize in order to maximize his potential.

Important things to know about how Kayn's Kane Kanes (how his abilities work dummy, did I really have to spell it out? ;)


- Your ult makes you untargetable, which is pretty much the same effect as Zhonya's Hourglass's active, meaning you counter Zed's ult Death Mark (sorry Zed <3, it's another one of THOSE champions), Veigar's ult Primordial Burst, Vladimir's ult Hemoplague, etc. This includes another Kayn's ult, in which case (take a breath for this one) if #2 ults you ( #1) and then you as #1 attack say a Zac and then ult him (the Zac), later #2 will run out of time on his ult and will jump out of where both you and Zac are, and you ( #1) will take no damage from #2. Got it? :D

- Untargetable doesn't mean invulnerable for Umbral Trespass, so any dot can kill you and will deal damage to you while you are on someone, ulting them. Examples: Ignite, Darius's Hemorrhage, Teemo's Toxic Shot.

- In addition to being able to go on walls and there being a 1.5s timeframe for doing so between being on normal ground and being in combat after the enhanced cast, knocks you out within 1.5s, there is more.
If anyone has vision of you while you are on a wall, if they are in range to aa or cast a targeted ability on you, they will be able to do so even though you're on the wall because Shadow Step is only a mobility spell, it does not make you immune to damage or untargetable. This is especially relevant when facing for example Poppy. She can knock you into the edge of the wall between her and Kayn being on the wall. What will happen is she will dash to you and it will instantly place you at the nearest exist out of the wall or terrain, ending Shadow Step and stunning you as if you were just next to the wall. This works the same on Vayne's Condemn, Ryze's Rune Prison, and other champions with targeted abilities of such.
Play Video


- You may use your Q, W and R while Shadow Stepping in either form, but as soon as you're on normal terrain for 1.5 seconds or you've made an AA, or if you ulted, your Shadow Step goes on cooldown.

- The previous point means that you (unfortunately) can't do this combo: use Shadow Step, Blade's Reach someone, Umbral Trespass and then walk right back into the wall. You will lose E as soon as you ult someone and will need to recast it, which is unfortunate, but this is how this works.

- You cannot ult while rooted, so beware of champions like Ryze and Nautilus who have roots during which you cannot escape to dodge their damage by blinking to them.

- You cannot use Teleport while using Shadow Step and being on a wall.

- There's a trick you can do, I call it the Shadow Leap - Some gaps on Summoners Rift and on Twisted Treeline and just barely too large to walk over, making you lose Shadow Step right before you make it over as the 1.5s timer runs out just when you get to the other side. Kayn can use his all his other abilities while Shadow Stepping, so you can actually make that gap by casting Q, Reaping Slash timed so that Shadow Step runs out right as you finish the first half of the Q which is the dash. The moment you begin the dash, if your Shadow Step is still active, the dash will get you on top of the wall's edge just a bit sooner, allowing you to travel a slightly larger distance between walls/impassible terrains without losing the Shadow Step early.


Mobility
Kayn's Shadow Step can be used to cross most gaps on the map, some require using reaping's slash in order to close larger gaps and are easier to make with higher mobility provided with boots and things like Youmuu's Ghostblade.
Here's a summary of the map with all gap pathings that will not cause you to lose Shadow Step: blue for walking over, green for Shadow Leap crossing

Animation details on Shadow Stepping (advanced)
One of the hardest Shadow Leap's to pull off is across the river from one wall to the other next to the mid lane. The key to not losing Shadow Step and what is the real determining factor of when the ~1.5 seconds not on a wall runs out is the animation. Kayn takes a step every ~.5 seconds so 3 steps is ~1.5 seconds (this may fluctuate as your movement speed goes beyond tier 2 boots to levels of ghostblade and deadman's bonuses).

The thing is that the rhythm of his walk stays constant whether he is on a wall or not, even though when he's on a wall, it does not show him stepping on the ground.
Leaving a wall right at the start of the ~.5 second step having the step happen and then be instantly out of the wall will delay the step on the ground by up to ~.4s giving you technically more time on the ground than if you came off and a foot would instantly land on the ground.
Getting back on a wall doesn't have as much leeway. As soon as you've made the 3rd step, the foot that is about to make a 4th must reach the highest point above the wall, otherwise on the way down it will count as though you will be walking onto the ground anyway, and will deny you a little distance. Kayn's foot must be on it's way down already above the wall and land beyond it, not step/land onto the edge, so the animations fools you into thinking you have more distance a little than you actually do.

So, how is knowing all this helping? Well, when you Shadow Step, try to feel the rhythm of his steps while he's on land and keep track as he's on walls. This way, with practice and patience, you can learn to get off walls with a little extra distance before the 1st step giving more time to spend on the ground between wall walking.
If you nail this down, you can cross the mid lane river wall to wall without any boots at level 2 onward without losing Shadow Step and be able to then keep walking straight to raptors or wherever you want with the ability effect still going.
(video coming soon for this!)