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Choose Champion Build:
-
Mid
-
Top
Runes: Fleet (vs. Ranged)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+8 Magic Resist
+15-140 HP (lvls 1-18)
Spells:
Flash
Teleport
Items
Threats & Synergies
Heimerdinger
Extremely oppressive laning phase; be prepared to constantly be pushed to your tower. Although it does get easier later on, he can still be a huge threat late game just because of his turret damage and the potential stun on you if you Riftwalk into his face.
Champion Build Guide
Pre-Game |
Gameplay |
In-Depth Matchups |
Extras |
Do you like being oppressed for 10 minutes in lane and then suddenly after, you deal tons of damage? Do you like the mobility of ![]() ![]() Well ![]() ![]() ![]() Even at level 6, ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Pros
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![]() Passive |
Void Stone |
Take 15% reduced magic damage and gain the ability to ignore unit collision.
- The reduced magic damage makes him a great pick against mid mages and heavy AP teams.
![]() Q Ability |
Null Sphere |
Range: Cost: Cooldown: |
650 70/75/80/85/90 Mana 9 seconds |
Deals magic damage equal to 65/95/125/155/185 +70% of your AP and gain a MAGIC DAMAGE shield equal to 60/85/ 110/135/160 +30% of your AP and stops channels on the target champion.
- Very useful in lane as a poking tool, but it shouldn't be constantly used if you can help it since the mana cost is relatively high and it can draw minion aggro.
- Helps a lot in trades against enemies that deal magic damage
- If you can't target the enemy champion with this but need the shield to tank damage, use
Null Sphere on a minion instead.
- SAVE THIS IF YOUR ENEMY HAS A DANGEROUS CHANNELING ABILITY
Anivia,
Katarina, etc
![]() W Ability |
Nether Blade |
Cost: Cooldown: |
1 Mana 7 seconds |
Passive: Your basic attacks deal 20 + 10% AP bonus magic damage.
Active: Your next auto attack gains +50 range (200 total), deals 40/65/90/115/140 +80% AP magic damage, and restores 4/5/6/7/8% of your missing mana, quintupled if you hit a champion.
- This ability is an auto attack reset, meaning you can Auto - W - Auto for two quick auto attacks.
- Active auto damage does not work on towers, but passive auto damage does.
![]() E Ability |
Force Pulse |
Range: Cost: Cooldown: |
600 60/65/70/75/80 Mana 5 seconds |
Abilities casted near you (including by yourself) add a stack to


- This is a very useful ability in lane against champions that dash/are very mobile because of the slow and AoE damage.
- Generally, later in the game you'll want to use
Force Pulse first after using
Riftwalk for the guaranteed slow as well as AoE damage.
- If you're stacking
Tear of the Goddess, you should be using this ability first (if it's available) so you can have it ready again when you're in lane.
![]() Ultimate |
Riftwalk |
Range: Cost: Cooldown: |
500 50/100/200/400/800 Mana 5/3.5/2 seconds |
Blink to a target location and deal magic damage equal to 80/100/120 + 40% AP + 2% Max Mana to an area around the location.
Using this ability adds a stack that lasts 15 seconds, which increases the damage by 40/50/60 magic damage + 10% AP + 1% Max Mana per stack up to 4 stacks.
- This ability is what makes
Kassadin so dangerous at level 6. If you get the enemy laner low enough, you can stack this up to 2 stacks and go for the kill.
- Make sure to stack this up once or twice when you're roaming to get increased damage.
- You can use
Riftwalk +
Flash immediately to extend the range (and damage) of
Riftwalk.
- Very strong in teamfights as people get more and more clumped and you stack the damage higher.
- Great tool to assassinate priority targets and then get out
- Can be queued so that if you get CC'd you can still
Riftwalk away.

- Standard skill max that's good in most situations.
- If you're against melee champions that can spam abilities or champions with no resource bar / infinite resources (
Akali,
Yasuo,
Zed, etc), max
Force Pulse to deal with them.
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FLASH: Hands down best summoner spell to take. Can be combined with your ![]() |
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TELEPORT: Despite recent changes and nerfs to ![]() ![]() |
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IGNITE: Alternative to ![]() ![]() |
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Fleet Footwork - vs Ranged![]() |
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Presence of Mind![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Legend: Tenacity ![]() |
![]() |
Coup de Grace![]() |
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Grasp of the Undying - vs Melee![]() ![]() |
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Shield Bash![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Bone Plating![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Overgrowth |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Dark Harvest![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Electrocute![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Taste of Blood![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Eyeball Collection![]() |
![]() |
Ravenous Hunter![]() |
The 20% mana recovery from every takedown is what we're really looking for. In teamfights, will be drained quickly as you stack up ![]() ![]() |
We abandon ![]() ![]() |

Starting Items
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This will be your standard starting item that is fine to go in any lane -- it gives you a good amount of sustain as well as a little bit extra damage in trades. |
![]() |
Despite nerfs to ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
If you're in an easier lane that you'll be able to get a lot of kills in or be able to roam freely, then you can start (or buy after your first recall) a ![]() |
First Back
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The optimal first back is a ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rush/Core Items
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![]() |
![]() |
You'll want to get a ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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You'll usually want these to enhance your damage against squishy targets and tanks. However, you can buy a ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
The next item you'll want to upgrade is ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Other Items
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The next item you'll usually want after finishing ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
If you're against a lot of enemies that deal physical damage, then you can opt to buy ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
If you don't want to buy ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
The next item you'll usually want to purchase after sorting that mess up there out will be a ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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If the enemy is stacking a lot of MR, then you should buy a ![]() |
![]() |
Helps against enemies with magic damage that are a threat to you. Especially good if you need to not get hit by CC like ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
This item is only really a good investment if you're against multiple enemies with a lot of healing that're dangerous, such as ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
I don't usually buy these myself, but as a 6th item it's more of a "win harder" item since the build path with ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Early Game You should know (and play to it), that ![]() Early on you should just be looking to last hit (which is made easier with the bonus dmaage from ![]() ![]() ![]() Against most ranged matchups, except into champions like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Once you have enough gold for a ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In general, your main goal should be to keep vision up for your team and survive until level 6 so you can start roaming and killing your laner. |
![]() |
![]() |
Mid & Late Game![]() ![]() ![]() If you're too weak to splitpush effectively and want to group, then you should be getting mid control first and then going off to take an objective. If a teamfight starts, your job is twofold. First, you should be using ![]() ![]() If you're not able to safely access their backline without dying, then you should stick with your team and wait for a good engage to go in. While it's not the best option to ![]() After taking down the backline or taking down the enemy's tanks, then you should automatically win the rest of the teamfight since you'll have free access to the rest of the enemies. Afterward, you should look to take ![]() |

![]() |
Minor - Fizz![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() You can max ![]() ![]() ![]() After level 6, be careful about engaging on him with ![]() |
![]() |
Minor/Skill Matchup - Talon![]() This is a very snowbally matchup and champion, so you want to minimize your own deaths against him and make sure you ping whenever he is missing from lane, to prevent your team from dying as best as possible. If he decides to roam at any point during laning phase before you hit level 6, you CANNOT match his roam. So you need to stay in lane and push to his tower to punish him and make him lose as many minions as possible. You can maximize the punish by setting up a slow push and stacking a lot of minions so he won't want to leave lane. If he does anyway, you can fast push into his tower and he'll lose all those minions. Once you do have level 6, you can either match his roams and follow him or roam to the opposite side of where he goes. Remember that it's highly unlikely that you're able to roam as fast as he is, just because of his E and the cost of your ![]() You can rush a ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Minor/Skill Matchup - Zed![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() During the early levels, levels 1-3, you're safe to push up or be in the middle of the lane. While you can freeze against ![]() The way to win this matchup is through jungler assistance and better macro; if you can bait out his W for your jungler, you'll be safe to go in. If Zed decides to roam to help his jungler, then you can make use of this by pushing up and punishing him and then following. Pushing up will be much easier because you'll be maxing ![]() Level 6 will be when you gain a huge advantage in this matchup because your ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() You should be pushing up and roaming after level 6 since you have the superior roams (unless he builds ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Even - Annie![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In lane, you never want to get harassed for free, so when she goes to use Q on you, you want to use ![]() Definitely want to buy ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Even - Yasuo![]() ![]() ![]() For this matchup, you can't really do much against him before you get all three abilities (or level 2 basically). So, I recommend letting him push a little bit until you hit level 2, and then you can start playing more aggressively. After you unlock all three abilities at level 3, trades against him will be much better. Reminder that you don't want to let him just push the wave freely -- make sure you're damaging the wave a little bit less than he is so that it doesn't just push into your tower. Max ![]() ![]() ![]() If he ever decides to go into melee range with you and you have ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() You'll usually want to get a ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Major - Aatrox![]() You'll want to constantly poke him with ![]() ![]() Do not overextend against ![]() I recommend buying some sort of armor item since most Aatrox players will now build Lethality. |
![]() |
Major - Xerath![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Be careful about taking too much poke from him since he can finish you off really easily with an unexpected skillshot. Do not let him push you to your tower since he can easily harass you if he does. After level 6, be careful about engaging on him before he uses his stun. Once he misses his stun, you're free to ![]() ![]() Once you get going into the late game you need to be wary of his stun or else you could get one shot by him or his team. Definitely recommend buying ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Extreme - Malzahar![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He'll constantly push you in during laning phase, which you can counteract by going an extra point into ![]() After level 6, it'll only get more dangerous because of his ultimate and silence. Since it'll be really dangerous to stay in lane against him at this point, your best bet is to push up and roam or wait for him to roam to push tower. In teamfights, try to avoid going near him as much as you can or wait until he has already used his ultimate. Definitely recommend going ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Thank you for giving this guide time out of your day to read it! I hope you enjoyed reading the guide and learned even a little more about

Kassadin is incredibly satisfying to learn and play, so I hope you stick with him! If you're interested in joining the

Other Guides
January 24, 2019:
- Updated to patch 9.2.
- [[Kassadin's armor was nerfed in this patch, but we were already taking Armor shards.
January 9, 2019:- Updated to patch 9.1.
- No notable changes for
Kassadin
- No notable changes for
January 5, 2019:- Made the In-Depth Matchups section a header on the Table of Contents.
- Added in matchup guides for
Zed and
Talon
December 18, 2018:- Published for the first time. Woo!
- Updated to patch 9.1.
- [[Kassadin's armor was nerfed in this patch, but we were already taking Armor shards.
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