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r/KaynMains | Comprehensive Guide [11.6]
By Kayn Mains | Updated on March 28, 2021
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Choose Champion Build:
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Rhaast
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Shadow Assassin
Runes: Rhaast | Page 1
1
2
Precision
Inspiration
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
Summoner Spells
Flash
Smite
Items
Rhaast | Standard Build
Starting Items
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
Show All
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Elise
You will be able to take trades early on as long as she doesn’t catch you with her Cocoon (E). Same goes for the mid game: Avoid Elise's stun, and you win the fight. If you went Shadow Assassin, it is heavily recommended to go all in on her late game. While killing her is generally unrealistic, your goal is to try and force out her Rappel (E), Zhonya's Hourglass, and/or Banshee's Veil so your team will eventually be able to pick her up in teamfights.
Yuumi
If you prefer having a quick and accessible way to inform yourself about matchups before each game, check out our Matchup Sheet. It contains the same information as above in a handy google document layout.
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We are a chill and friendly community dedicated to 
Kayn, the Shadow Reaper. Our community has existed since his release in 2017. We have several social media outlets and our goal is to share our passion for the character and help others find success in playing him. This guide was made to provide people with quick, reliable, and easy to understand information. We will continue to work and improve this guide with every new patch. We hope it can teach you some new things. Feel free to leave us some suggestions!
Check out our Subreddit, Discord, and other Social Media
Kayn, the Shadow Reaper. Our community has existed since his release in 2017. We have several social media outlets and our goal is to share our passion for the character and help others find success in playing him. This guide was made to provide people with quick, reliable, and easy to understand information. We will continue to work and improve this guide with every new patch. We hope it can teach you some new things. Feel free to leave us some suggestions!Check out our Subreddit, Discord, and other Social Media
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Kayn, the Shadow Reaper: One of the most fun and edgiest champions in the game! This section will provide you with some insight on who he is as a character and how he functions ingame.
A peerless practitioner of lethal shadow magic, Shieda Kayn battles to achieve his true destiny — to one day lead the Order of Shadow into a new era of Ionian supremacy. He wields the sentient darkin weapon Rhaast, undeterred by its creeping corruption of his body and mind. There are only two possible outcomes: either Kayn bends the weapon to his will... or the malevolent blade consumes him completely, paving the way for the destruction of all Runeterra.
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Kayn is one of the most unique junglers out there. Thanks to his passive, The Darkin Scythe, he allows you to choose between different playstyles depending on the circumstances in your game. One of them is taking the form of a zealous Assassin, skilled in shadow magic, and able to make your foes disappear within seconds thanks to a significant amount of burst damage. Abilities such as Shadow Step provides you with excellent mobility and slipperiness. Catching out squishies and assassinating them with only two abilities is some of the most fun you'll have with this form. You may also choose to succumb to your weapon however, Rhaast, and become a gruesome Darkin that wants to slaughter everything that crosses his path. In this form, you give up some of your mobility in exchange for mild crowd control, %max HP damage, insane healing, and utility. You will be able to duel tanks and bruisers for days. While healing off their pain, you will be able to kill them slowly but surely. Now, which one of the two shall you choose? Such a decision can already be a difficult task for some people. If you would consider yourself as one of those players, simply click here to learn more about Kayn's Form Choosing Philosophy. |
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KAYN'S POSITIVES
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Kayn's abilities are quite straight forward. Reaping Slash makes you dash forward, letting you deal damage upon cast and impact. Blade's Reach provides you with a decaying 90% slow and Shadow Step allows you to set up ganking paths that enemies usually would not expect. By using your ultimate, Umbral Trespass, you become untargetable, entering your targets body for up to 2.5 seconds and dealing damage upon exit. Choosing to become either The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast or The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin only changes up the effects of these abilities slightly. Kayn is an easy champion regarding mechanics, making him very beginner-friendly. If you want to climb, you will find yourself having to mainly focus on your macro play.
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Kayn is a very snowbally champion. Once you get your form and obtain a few kills you will be a pain to deal with for the enemy team. However, if you actually want to win your games, you need to be very cautious about closing out your games quickly. Reaching late game can be very troubling, especially for Shadow Assassin. Going up against champions such as Cassiopeia,  Vayne, or Kindred will give you a very hard time due to Kayn being vulnerable to kiting. Getting immobilized or missing your Blade's Reach can lose you a fight easily. You need to plan and think ahead when you try to go for picks. Being aware of items or abilities that could counter you is a necessity.In regards to rune choices, it might be a bit boring at times. The maximum amount of keystones to choose from for each form comes down to two at best. Being creative can be fun, but if you want to climb effectively, you will have to stick to what the current meta demands. |
KAYN'S NEGATIVES
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Which Form do I choose? When should I go Red or Blue? Which form is better to climb with? These are only a few of the biggest questions new Kayn players will have. This section should provide you with answers to all the things you might be wondering about.
First off, you never want to wait until you get into game to choose your form. That decision should have already been made once you enter the champion selection screen. This is very important since red and blue Kayn vary quite a lot in terms of rune choices. Going for a form when you do not have the ideal runes can make you lose out on a significant portion of damage and functionality.
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CHOOSING RHAAST Rhaast, aka. Red Kayn, is a drain tank bruiser that looks to take down his targets slowly but surely. You generally want to go for this form whenever the enemy team consists of more than two bruisers and/or tanks. Thanks to The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast this form performs best in prolonged fights. This in addition to Blade's Reach: Rhaast is what makes red Kayn more teamfight friendly than blue Kayn. Despite this, don't ever feel pressured to going Rhaast when your team asks you to. If your logic tells you that it's better to play Blue Kayn into four squishy enemies, then do so. In low elo (Platinum and below) you should overall try to go for Rhaast whenever you can. Low elo games are proven to be longer, because of this you will reach the late game in most of your matches. At that stage of the game, Shadow Assassin falls off more than Rhaast. |
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CHOOSING SHADOW ASSASSIN Shadow Assassin, aka. Blue Kayn, is a slayer that looks to swiftly take down his targets. You generally want to go for this form whenever the enemy team consists out of more than three squishies or poke champions. Thanks to The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin this form performs best in catching out isolated opponents and eliminating them. Don't ever feel pressured to going Rhaast when your team asks you to. If you are really fed early on, going Blue Kayn isn't a bad idea as long as you are confident in your ability to close out games quickly. In low elo (Platinum and below) you should overall try to go for Rhaast whenever you can. Low elo games are proven to be longer, because of this you will reach the late game in most of your matches. At that stage of the game, Shadow Assassin falls off more than Rhaast. |
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FLASH The absolute best Summoner Spell in the game. It can be used both defensely and offensively, allowing you to increase or decrease the distance between you and your enemy. It may have a respectively long cooldown of 300 seconds, but the possibilities this spell leaves open for you make it worth it. Taking Ghost or Ignite is out of question if you are not a laner. You do not benefit much from the movement speed increase apart from being able to negate kiting. Its offensive and defensive usage is inferior to the one of Flash since you are unable to get over terrain. Additionally, it leaves open a much bigger window for the enemy to react to if you are trying to go for unexpected plays. No matter the circumstances, you do not want to pick Ignite. You aren't a champion made to invade, nor duel others early on. Once you reach your powerspike mid game, the spell isn't of any use to you anymore. As Shadow Assassin your kit alone should be enough to kill someone, meanwhile, on Rhaast it isn't your job in the first place to assassinate targets. You are a drain tank bruiser, if you want to negate healing there are enough items you can build to do so.
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SMITE Junglers need Smite. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. If you don't have it, you are unable to buy jungle items such as Hunter's Talisman or Stalker's Blade. Smite also improves you clear in terms of both speed and health. It is also required for securing major objectives such as Dragons or Baron Nashor.
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PRIMARY
SECONDARY
RUNE SHARDS
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PRIMARY
SECONDARY
RUNE SHARDS
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Are you a lazy reader that just wants an importable item set? No worries, simply click here!
If you encounter an issue with this link, please message us on Reddit or Discord!
If you encounter an issue with this link, please message us on Reddit or Discord!
STARTERS
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EMBERKNIFE Challenging Smite was very popular upon Kayn's release because people liked to associate the terms "Red Kayn" with "Red Smite". Nowadays you only want to go for this item in games where you are going to be fighting against more than three bruisers/tanks that aren't capable of kiting you. It is also fairly useful against assassins such as  Kha'Zix because its active effect works similar to Exhaust, essentially reducing the damage your opponent deals for a few seconds.
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HAILBLADE Lots of high elo Kayn mains like to go for this item on Rhaast since it can do a whole lot of things. Thanks to Chilling Smite's slow, it is a great tool that helps you with either catching up to someone or potentially escaping a fight. The instant damage is also able to proc Dark Harvest or account for a stack of Conqueror. Another amazing part of Blue Smite is the fact that it allows you to get off an instant cast of Umbral Trespass. Ever get jumped on by an enemy and don't think you'll have enough time to damage them with an ability before they kill you? Simply cast Chilling Smite to mark them instantly.
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REFILLABLE POTION Kayn's clear is fairly healthy and quick. He does not need a lot of healing to survive, hence two charges of Refillable Potion are much more useful than three of Health Potion. The gold value is way higher, considering you get to reset the item with each trip to your base. As a jungler, you should ideally always go for this type of potion.
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MYTHIC CHOICES
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GOREDRINKER Remember the fun we had with Tiamat in Season 10 before its active got removed? Goredrinker serves as an almost perfect replacement for that. Aside from a really good gold value and the item basically giving Rhaast every stat he needs, the AOE active effect pairs up nicely together with your Reaping Slash. Using both at the same time allows you to hit the enemy with some unexpected burst damage.
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CORE
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RAVENOUS HYDRA Ravenous Hydra is rushed after your Mythic item. The reason why is the following: Rhaast loves all stats the item provides. More AD means you can deal more damage. More damage lets you heal you heal more. Ability Haste allows Rhaast to use his abilities more often which loops back into more damage and healing.
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BOOTS OF SPEED On Rhaast there aren't any boots you can take that provide you with consistent damage, hence it is best to go for utility options. |
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PLATED STEELCAPS This is your default choice. Obviously good against AD enemies. Legend: Tenacity already provides you with some resistance to immobilization, so the MR boots are not needed unless the enemy has a considerate amount of magic damage or heavy crowd control.
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MERCURY'S TREADS As explained above, Mercury's Treads is a great item to take against AP or CC heavy team compositions. If there aren't any notable AD threats on the enemy team, go for these.
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BOOTS OF SWIFTNESS If you're ahead, these boots can potentially assist you in extending to your lead. The extra speed greatly improves map presence and helps you negate slows. Not all high elo Kayn players agree on whether this item is actually worth considering or not, however, another interesting thing to note is that your Reaping Slash's cast on Rhaast scales with your own movement speed. Your Q has two damage parts, one when you dash, and one upon impact. The faster your movement speed, the faster your ability animation, the faster you get off both damage parts.
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IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY Flash is great. Who doesn't love to flash Q into the enemy team and casually secure a quadra kill? Well, Ionian Boots of Lucidity help you with experiencing such moments more often thanks to its cooldown reduction to both items and summoner spells. You may choose these boots based on personal preference, although it is recommended to not buy them unless you have a lead.
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SITUATIONAL
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SERYLDA'S GRUDGE This item works really well together with your core build. Aside from some neat armor penetration, it increases your overall damage and lets you slow down your enemies' movement speed on top of it. Almost everything that crosses your path is bound to get slowed by not only your abilities but also the extra passive damage you deal through Ravenous Hydra and Goredrinker's active. Only purchase Serylda's Grudge if you have to act as the main damage dealer on your team. Being behind or having to peel for a teammate of yours makes this item suboptimal.
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STERAK'S GAGE Sterak's Gage shields you from incoming burst damage for a few seconds. If the enemy has several champions that are likely to get your HP from 100 to 0 in a short period of time, you should seriously consider buying this. Its passive stats are pretty nice as well unless the previously mentioned scenario isn't a given. If getting burst isn't a concern you should look into other itemization options.
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DEATH'S DANCE Death's Dance passive essentially takes burst damage and stores it. Instead of having it hit you all at once, you will be taking damage over an extended period of time. The bigger time window you get from this enables you to try and negate the incoming damage with all of your healing. Death's Dance is superior to Sterak's Gage as an anti-burst item you are up against an AD heavy team. This is thanks to its armor stat and passive only accounting for physical damage. A nice bonus you get is its passive effect called "Defy", which is similar to the Triumph rune. Takedowns grant you some bonus movement speed and healing.
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SPIRIT VISAGE This item is just very fun. It enhances your healing and gives you some nice defensive stats. You generally want to build Spirit Visage whenever the main threats on the enemy team are AP. Two to three sources of magic damage are sufficient enough of a reason to incorporate it into your build.
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RANDUIN'S OMEN Randuin's Omen becomes essential when the main threats on the enemy team build lots of critical strike. You should definitely be getting this item if the enemy has more than two crit based champions. Do not confuse Randuin's Omen for a good anti-AD item however, it is only useful against crit.
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GARGOYLE STONEPLATE Gargoyle Stoneplate is a good choice for a last item. If you ever do reach late game you will most often find yourself needing some extra tankiness against the enemies' healing reduction. This item gives you a decaying shield based on your bonus HP, which would make it useless to buy early on since you wouldn't have other items providing you with said stats. Investing into a tiny shield isn't worth it compared to all the other defensive items you could be getting, so remember to only purchase this late game.
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MAW OF MALMORTIUS Maw of Malmortius prevents you from instantly dying to burst mages by giving you a shield once your health has been reduced down to 30%. While this sounds very useful in most situations, the item is sadly pretty expensive which only makes it worth buying when you are playing against a full AP composition.
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CHEMPUNK CHAINSWORD Chempunk Chainsword is one of your Grievous Wound options. You generally want to build this item if the opposing team has mixed damage and lots of healing. In situations where tankiness is preferrable to you, Thornmail becomes your alternative.
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THORNMAIL As mentioned above, Thornmail is one of your Grievous Wound options. Instead of applying them to your enemies by hitting them, enemies will apply it to themselves by hitting you. It makes you tankier overall and makes for an ideal purchase against a heavy AD composition.
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CONSUMABLES
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ELIXIR OF WRATH Since you are an AD bruiser, the only late game consumable you'll benefit best from is Elixir of Wrath, since it allows you to heal for an insane amount of the damage you deal to opponents. It also provides you with 30 extra AD, which only increases your healing even more thanks to your Passive. |
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ELIXIR OF IRON Elixir of Iron can be a solid choice in situations where you are facing a team with lots of burst damage. Beware though, as you do not want to buy this if you have Mercury's Treads in your build, as it is really gold inefficient. The way that tenacity works in the game is that it has diminishing returns, meaning the more you build of it, the less you get. Only go for this elixir if you aren't stacked on tenacity.
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CONTROL WARD Try to always have a Control Ward in your inventory when there's a free item slot. Vision control becomes very important late game, so make sure to also switch out your Stealth Ward with an Oracle Lens or Farsight Alteration.
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STARTERS
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HAILBLADE Blue Kayn is an assassin and therefore not meant to stay long in fights. Your goal is to get in, kill someone, and get out again. Overall, it is a great tool that helps you with either catching up to someone or potentially escaping a fight. The instant damage is also able to proc Dark Harvest. Another amazing part of Blue Smite is the fact that it allows you to get off an instant cast of Umbral Trespass. A squishy flashed away from you and they aren't damage marked for your ultimate anymore? Simply cast Chilling Smite on them and it will solve your problem.
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REFILLABLE POTION Kayn's clear is fairly healthy and quick. He does not need a lot of healing to survive, hence two charges of Refillable Potion are much more useful than three of Health Potion. The gold value is way higher, considering you get to reset the item with each trip to your base. As a jungler, you should ideally always go for this type of potion.
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MYTHIC CHOICES
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GOREDRINKER This Mythic is an upgrade to one of your core items, Ironspike Whip. It is part of the "No Mythic" strategy that recently rose to popularity. The idea about this strategy is to only purchase the Mythic component Ironspike Whip and go for Legendary items afterwards. Other Mythic items don't offer you as much damage compared to the gold value you get from only building this component. Once you reach late game and have filled up all your other item slots you may choose between the following two options: Upgrading to Goredrinker, which is the go-to decision for most players, or replacing Ironspike Whip with an entirely different item. For the latter given scenario it doesn't matter what tier of item you purchase as long as it fits your games circumstances. It does not have to be a Mythic item.
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PROWLER'S CLAW Despite the "No Mythic" build being the most popular among high elo Kayn players, this item remains as an option for players with different preferences. Prowler's Claw lets you dash forward, dealing damage upon impact, similar to Ironspike Whip. Using this active effect will also cause the enemy target to take 15% more damage for 3 whole seconds. Although some players would describe this as an item that's hard to master, it can be a very worthy purchase against an all-squishy enemy team. Lethality, which Prowler's Claw empowers other Legendary item with, is calculated differently than Armor Penetration, allowing you to deal more damage to targets that don't build tanky items such as ADC's.
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CORE
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IRONSPIKE WHIP Many might be asking themselves why a bruiser item suddenly became meta for several assassins such as Kayn or Talon, and the reason lies within its active effect. Upon activation your champion deals a solid amount of AD damage, damaging all units within a small radius of you. This gives you immense reach and combo potential. Using it together with your Q, Reaping Slash, at the same time enables you to hit the enemy with burst damage that's higher than expected. Keep Ironspike Whip in your inventory until you run out of item slots late game, at that point you can have the choice between turning it into Goredrinker or replacing it with a different item of your choice.
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LETHALITY Each game, you want to incorporate at least two Lethality items into your build. Choose from the ones listed below depending on your game's scenario. |
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YOUMUU'S GHOSTBLADE Youmuu's is an item that works really well for snowballing. Its active effect grants the user 20% movement speed for 6 seconds, also enabling them to pass through units. Map presence is a field that Assassin excells in and this item only amplifies this strength of his. Youmuu's Ghostblade's active effect can also be very useful for sticking onto slippery targets and negating some of their kiting.
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EDGE OF NIGHT Edge of Night grants you a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. It is very useful to take against champions such as Morgana, Syndra, or Zilean. Basically any champion that could stop you from going in and out of the enemy team through hard CC.
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UMBRAL GLAIVE Upon being spotted by enemy wards or traps you will gain an effect similar to the one of Oracle Lens. Surrounding vision tools will be revealed and disabled for the following 8 seconds. Umbral Glaive costs less than other Lethality items, although it can be tricky for unexperienced players to utilize its effect properly. If you are confident in playing around vision, it can be an extremely valuable purchase against champions such as  Nidalee,  Shaco, or  Teemo.
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SERPENT'S FANG Serpent's Fang is a shield shredder. Whenever you get into game scenarios where shields start to consistently hinder you from assassinating targets, you should probably pick up this item. Note that its effect works for more champions than just enchanter supports. Shield users range from Camille and Sett, to Janna and Yuumi.
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BOOTS OF SPEED Assassin is very versatile in terms of Boot choices. Some time ago people were even going crazy with Sorcerer's Shoes on him since it complimented his Passive. You can still take them nowadays if you like to have some fun, the options listed below are currently proven to be the best ones however.
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BOOTS OF MOBILITY The default choice for most players. It greatly improves your map presence and potential to catch out squishies on sidelanes. With Mobility Boots you might be speedy, but always make sure to remind yourself that you are giving up some strength in combat itself. However, your Shadow Step alone provides you with immense movement speed already, so choosing to pass on this item isn’t detrimental.
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IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY Flash is great. Who doesn't love to flash Q into the enemy team and casually secure a quadra kill? Well, Ionian Boots of Lucidity help you with experiencing such moments more often thanks to its cooldown reduction to both items and summoner spells. You may choose these boots based on personal preference.
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PLATED STEELCAPS Defensive boots on Assassin are usually a rare sight, however quite a few high elo Kayn players have started to build them. Your base mobility is already immensely high by itself, so you aren't missing out on anything by deciding to build this item. Purchase Plated Steelcaps against AD heavy teams.
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MERCURY'S TREADS Defensive boots on Assassin are usually a rare sight, however quite a few high elo Kayn players have started to build them. Your base mobility is already immensely high by itself, so you aren't missing out on anything by deciding to build this item. Purchase Mercury's Treads against AP and CC heavy teams.
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SITUATIONAL
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MANAMUNE After being a core item for some time, Manamune has shifted into the list of situational purchases by now. Apart from high AD stats it also solves your mana problems which Assassin is prone to struggle with in certain game scenarios. Thanks to Manamune's strong scaling it makes for a great snowballing item if you can afford to buy its component Tear of the Goddess without any repercussions. If you are behind, it is better to invest into Lethality items.
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SERYLDA'S GRUDGE If the enemy team is stacking lots of armor this your go-to item. It helps you with tickling tankier champions such as  Cho'Gath or Sion that you usually would do no damage to once you hit late game.
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CHEMPUNK CHAINSWORD Chempunk Chainsword is the only viable item for you against enemy healing. Its Grievous Wounds prevent tanky opponents from regenerating all their HP and lessen the chances of your squishy targets being saved by a heal such as Redemption or Monsoon.
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CONSUMABLES
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ELIXIR OF WRATH Since you are an AD assassin, Elixir of Wrath is the only late game consumable you'll benefit best from. Extra AD is always nice and its passive "Bloodlust", which heals you off damage you deal to opponents, provides you with some increased survivability. |
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CONTROL WARD Try to always have a Control Ward in your inventory when there's a free item slot. Vision control becomes very important late game, so make sure to also switch out your Stealth Ward with Farsight Alteration. Getting an Oracle Lens is also great as long as you did not build Umbral Glaive. Its passive is almost identical to the one of the sweeper, essentially making either item useless.
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RHAAST ABILITY SEQUENCE
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SHADOW ASSASSIN ABILITY SEQUENCE
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PASSIVE: THE DARKIN SCYTHE Kayn wields an ancient weapon and fights the darkin within it, Rhaast, for control. During each game, one will consume the other. Kayn hones his shadow skills by hunting ranged opponents, while Rhaast fuels his bloodlust by going toe-to-toe with melee enemies. If Kayn wins the struggle, he ascends to become the Shadow Assassin. If Rhaast is the victor, he will consume his host and take center stage.Protip: You can transform into either one of your forms outside of the fountain. The limit is roughly around the nexus turrets. So in case you ever purchase your items and forget to choose a form: Don't worry, you still got a few extra yards to do so! |
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RHAAST Heal for a chunk of all spell damage dealt to champions. Rhaast is a drain tank champion that heals through other's pain. Thanks to bonus percent-health damage on both Reaping Slash and Umbral Trespass, you become ideal at melting tanks and bruisers. As long as you aren't behind, you become an unstoppable duelist. The only threats facing you over the course of the game are Grevious Wounds and crowd control. The longer the match goes on, the more the enemy team gets to build to counter your healing. Be aware of items such as Executioner's Calling, Mortal Reminder, Morellonomicon, or Thornmail as they will prevent you from winning fights based on only your healing. If you want to win games as Rhaast you must be able to choose fights wisely and occasionally rely on your teammates to follow up on knock-ups. You will be able to read more about this topic in our Late Game section.
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SHADOW ASSASSIN Deal bonus magic damage during the first few seconds of combat with champions. Shadow Assassin, as the name implies, makes you into an assassin. Your main purpose from now on will be to take out squishies and high priority targets such as ADCs. Using everything that's available to you ( Reaping Slash, Blade's Reach, Umbral Trespass, Chilling Smite) should usually be enough to assassinate a non bruiser without them using any defensive items or summoner spells. Your newly gained stats are focused on three things: Damage, Range, and Speed. Many people would consider this form to be more fun and easy. Do not be fooled however, if you want to win games as Shadow Assassin you must be able to close out games quickly before the enemy team stacks up on items like Zhonya's Hourglass. You will be able to read more about this topic in our Late Game section.
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Q: REAPING SLASH Kayn dashes forward, striking nearby enemies at the end of the dash. Both the dash and the strike itself deal physical damage. Reaping Slash deals bonus damage to monsters.Whenever you do your jungle camps, make sure to use your Reaping Slash AGAINST a wall. It will trigger an animation cancel and deal both damage parts of your Q at the same time. Doing this can improve your overall clearing speed by quite a bit.You're able to use this ability while Shadow Step is active. Being inside of a wall does not hinder you from casting it. This helps you gain some extra distance, especially on Rhaast whose Shadow Step remains unchanged upon transforming.
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RHAAST This ability deals bonus percent-health damage against all enemies except minions. In short: You are able to melt tanks and bruisers easily. It can still do a respectable amount of damage to squishies, but it certainly isn't what you excel at. Whenever in fights, you should try to use it on cooldown to get off as much damage and healing as possible. |
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SHADOW ASSASSIN Ability remains unchanged. |
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W: BLADE'S REACH Kayn deals damage in a line and applies a 90% decaying slow to all enemies hit.Try holding onto this ability whenever you decide to go for a gank. You ideally want to bait out a movement ability or summoner spell out of the enemy first. If needed, you can use Reaping Slash or Chilling Smite to close the initial gap between you and the enemy laner.You're able to use this ability while Shadow Step is active. Being inside of a wall does not hinder you from casting it.
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RHAAST You briefly knocks up struck enemies and apply a 60% decaying slow to them. This ability is the main reason why the average teammate prefers having a Rhaast on their team. Who doesn't like to play together with crowd control heavy champions? Getting a 4-man knockup can win you fights easily, and managing to pull it off late game can be a guranteed win in most cases. |
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SHADOW ASSASSIN Your Blade's Reach has increased range. Using this ability will leave behind a living shadow that casts Blade's Reach for you. What this means: You are able to cast other abilities such as your Reaping Slash, making you dash forward and deal the damage of both skills at the same time. This ability is what makes you one of the best assassins out there, you essentially just need to slam your head on the keyboard in order to deal insane amounts of damage within one second.
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E: SHADOW STEP Kayn gains a burst of movement speed and the ability to walk through walls for a few moments. When he first enters a wall, he'll heal for a small amount and the duration of Shadow Step will be greatly extended. You won't get the duration extension if you're in combat with enemy champions. Getting immobilized will interrupt this ability and force you out of any terrain you're in.While Shadow Step is active, you're able to use abilities and summoner spells. Being inside of a wall does not hinder you from casting them.
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RHAAST Ability remains unchanged. As mentioned above, you are able to cast abilities while being inside of terrain. Use this to your advantage by casting Reaping Slash inside of a wall to get across the map faster or escape certain fights.
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SHADOW ASSASSIN Gain additional movement speed and immunity to slows when activating Shadow Step. Activating this ability also lets you cancel the duration of slows already applied to you, some examples being Exhaust, Wither, Zephyr, or Twin Shadows. Use your Blade's Reach as a driveby while being inside of a wall to intimidate squishies or poke enemies while remaining out of their attack range.
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R: UMBRAL TRESPASS Kayn may infest any nearby enemy champion who he has recently damaged. Trespassing into a champion makes Kayn untargetable for a few seconds. Reactivating the ability during this period ends the effect early. Kayn then wrenches himself free from his victim's body, dealing a burst of damage.Be aware of the term untargetability as it does not equate to invincibility! This means that you can still die inside of enemy champions to things such as burn damage coming from Grievous Wounds or Ignite.You're able to use this ability while Shadow Step is active. Being inside of a wall does not hinder you from casting it. You are also able to use Smite while being inside of an enemy champion, allowing you to either deal some extra damage with Chilling Smite or apply the effect of Challenging Smite before exiting.
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RHAAST Umbral Trespass deals extra damage as a percentage of the victim's maximum health, healing Rhaast in the process. Thanks to your passive, The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast, stacking with this ability you will usually get a heal equal to 1000HP every time you use it. Building Death's Dance will only amplify this effect, making it one of the best items to get on Rhaast. You generally want to use this ability as either a tank/bruiser execute or to heal yourself. If your target happens to die to other damage sources while you are still inside of them you will be forced out without receiving a heal. Teammates like to forget about this fact a lot of the times, so if possible make sure to remind them that you depend on your healing in teammfights and they ideally should not touch low HP targets that you casted Umbral Trespass on.
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SHADOW ASSASSIN Umbral Trespass can be cast from further away and resets the bonus magic damage from The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin after the Shadow Assassin exits his victim.This ability is very fun to use, it feels quick and clean. You gain about 200 extra range from the base version of it which lets you cast this ability from further away. It also lets you to exit your targets body with more yards between the both of you, allowing you for an easier getaway. There are a few things to look out for if you want to get the maximum damage potential from this ability. Make sure to deal damage to your victim over the course of three seconds WITHOUT using your Umbral Trespass. Cast Blade's Reach and Reaping Slash before resorting to ulting. Optionally, you can also try to throw in Chilling Smite or an auto-attack. You want to make full use of your passive effect, The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin, before it gets reset by using your ultimate. If you built Duskblade of Draktharr, make sure to wait one second before leaving your target's body to reset its effect as well.
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If you prefer listening over reading, check out the video guides below made by Rhaastafarian. While they might not go as in-depth as our guide does here, they should still be able to give you a solid, overall idea of pathing on Kayn.
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First things first, as a jungler it is important for you to already establish a plan for your upcoming game in champion select. Not only is it important for you to choose your form in advance in order to go for your most optimal runes, but also to think ahead of pathing, matchups, and objective control. Take a look at the enemy team's champions and yours. Which laners will have a matchup advantage? Who is vulnerable to ganks? Is there anyone you should avoid early on? Asking yourself questions and analyzing several things will help you with adapting to several game outcomes.
A common misconception for lower-ranking players is that jungle pathing is very binary. They tend to go the same route every game, no matter the circumstances. However, it is very important to modify your pathing based on many factors, just like mentioned above. Determine which lanes have priority, are gankable or need help early on. You want to adjust your clear based on this and what you think the enemy jungler is going to do.
A concept that was out there for some time is that your clear should be based on which form you want to go. This idea is wrong, however. Just make sure to stick to what we wrote above: Never forget to look into modifying and adjusting your pathing depending on your game's circumstances. Below, you will find some standard routes to draw inspiration from.
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STEP 1
Put a point into your Reaping Slash and start at your Red Buff together with a leash from your laners. While on Kayn's release people were amazed by how fast he could clear Raptors, you do not want to start off with that camp anymore unless your teammates refuse to give you a leash. The burn you get from Red Brambleback speeds up your clear significantly on other jungle monsters. If you take a look at the image above, it should also show you how a Red Buff start allows you for a much smoother transition onto the opposite side of the map due to you not having to walk all the way from Krugs to Wolves. Make sure to smite your buff once it hits 390 HP. This lets you continue your clear with a higher amount of HP. |
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STEP 2
After Red Brambleback is killed you will hit level 2. Put a point into your E, Shadow Step and use it right away to get down to your Krugs. Your W might give you more initial damage, but you will still lose a significant amount of HP. Your E's heal makes your clear much healthier and puts you at less risk of immediately dying upon being engaged on. Use your Smite on the big Krug once it has lost enough HP to be executed by it. |
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STEP 3
This is where flexibility comes in. Take a look at botlane/toplane (depending on which side you are on) and whether your teammates are pushed in or have strong CC that allows for a likely successful gank. If the answer to either of these examples is "Yes", then feel free to pay your teammate(s) a visit. However, if you think that you will only be able to force the enemy to use a summoner spell, you should most likely refrain from ganking. Showing yourself on the map this early on allows the enemy jungler to steal camps of yours that you haven't cleared yet. This will cause you to fall behind significantly. Only resort to ganking if you are 90% sure of it ending in success. If you decide not to gank, you may tend to your chickens. After killing raptors you will hit level 3. Proceed to put a second point into your Q, Reaping Slash. Your W will still have to wait a bit as its cooldown is fairly high and will slow down your clear. |
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STEP 4
Take a look at your midlane on whether they are in need of a countergank or similar. If not, your next objective is to move over to your wolves. Make sure to only use auto-attacks on the big wolf! The smaller ones will get killed automatically by Reaping Slash's AOE damage. |
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STEP 5
After killing your wolves, you want to clear Blue Sentinel along with Gromp. Take another look at your nearby lanes on whether your assistance is needed. If you see an opportunity for a successful countergank make sure to head there right away. If you're free to continue your clear, start off by first auto attacking your Blue to make it move towards you. Next, you hit Gromp with an auto attack and move back immediately as to not lose aggro on your Blue. Try to stay in the middle of the two camps, while stacking both monsters on top of each other. Use both charges of your Refillable Potion and focus your Blue Buff. Once it hits 700 HP, use Smite on it and start targeting with your autoattacks Gromp. After about two uses of your Reaping Slash they will be dead. Afterwards you should be level 4 with about 500-550 HP (70% of max). Now it is time to get your W, Blade's Reach. |
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STEP 6
Scuttle Crab is your last objective. Getting this jungle monster can be quite scary at times, due to how contested it is. You want to act based on whether your lanes have priority or not. For the ones not knowing what "having priority" means: A lane having priority is a lane is pushed to the enemy's turret. So for instance, if teammates from both your nearby lanes are sitting under their own turret you want to refrain from trying to take it unless you have vision on the enemy jungler and laners. Trying to take Scuttle while not knowing their location is quite risky and can lead to you getting ambushed. If your laners have priority and you can rely on them helping you out if it comes to an encounter with the opposing jungler you can feel more than free to contest it. |
WORK IN PROGRESS - MORE COMING SOON!
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If you prefer having a quick and accessible way to inform yourself about matchups before each game, check out our Matchup Sheet. It contains the same information as below in a handy google document layout.
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TINY  Amumu |
MINOR Cho'Gath |
MINOR Dr. Mundo |
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MINOR EKKO |
EXTREME ELISE |
EVEN EVELYNN |
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EVEN FIDDLESTICKS |
MINOR GRAGAS |
EXTREME GRAVES |
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MAJOR HECARIM |
TINY IVERN |
EVEN JARVAN IV |
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MINOR JAX |
MINOR KARTHUS |
EXTREME KHA'ZIX |
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EXTREME KINDRED |
EXTREME LEE SIN |
EVEN LILLIA |
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EXTREME MASTER YI |
EVEN NIDALEE |
EVEN NOCTURNE |
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MINOR NUNU & WILLUMP |
EXTREME OLAF |
MINOR RAMMUS |
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MAJOR REK'SAI |
EXTREME RENGAR |
MINOR SEJUANI |
TINY SHACO |
MINOR SHYVANA |
EVEN SKARNER |
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EVEN TRUNDLE |
TINY TWITCH |
MINOR UDYR |
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EVEN VI |
EVEN VOLIBEAR |
EVEN WARWICK |
EVEN WUKONG |
MAJOR XIN ZHAO |
EVEN ZAC |
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Kayn is a champion that is rather weak early game due to his powerspike essentially being his transformations through The Darkin Scythe. You should always be aiming to get a form by around 10 minute into game. The best way to execute Kayn's early game is to farm as much as possible since he is very efficient at doing so. Clearing your camps on respawn is ideal. Do not try to force ganks or fights for passive orbs! Greeding for them will most often backfire and allow your enemy to snowball off of such mistakes. Try looking for ganks whenever enemies are pushing in and or do not have summoner spells. Make sure to read through our pathing section to get an overall better idea of this concept. Depending on your matchup, you most often should not try to go deep into the enemy jungle since most of your opponents will be able to beat you early on. While your Reaping Slash and Shadow Step might provide you with excellent mobility and solid escape potential, trying to counter jungle in the early game simply isn't rewarding enough. If you ever do decide to do so, it is absolutely essential for you to have good map awareness. Knowing where the enemy jungler is, how your laners are pushed in, and who's currently missing on the map can be the deciding factor as to whether your bold Blue Buff steal ends in a success or int. Your safe space however will always be Raptors. Sneaking them from the enemy jungler usually proves to be no problem since it doesn't take long nor require you to dive deep into the enemy's territory.
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This is the point of the game where Kayn truly shines as a champion. Once you get either one of your forms it's time to force dives with your team, preferrably winning lanes, as well as trying to get as many objectives as possible. If you are confident in 1v2ing on Rhaast, go for it.Always make sure to put up as much vision as you can. Most people tend to immediately jump in once they see an insolated target even though they don't know where the rest of the enemy team is at. More often than not, this ends in a bad suprise of suddenly being outnumbered. All in all, you want to apply lot's of pressure together with your newly gained power. Gank, fight, and force objectives. If your enemy happens to be ahead, try going exclusively solo. Start split pushing and punishing squishies that are out of position. |
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LATE GAME ON RHAAST Due to the enemy team building more items that counter your healing the longer the game goes on, you should refrain from trying to pick fights against multiple people unless all of them are tanks/bruisers. Regardless, Rhaast still loves to pick 1v1s, so it's important to keep an eye on lanes and seeing whether anyone comes up alone to farm. Besides that your job in team fights is to keep your carries alive by killing assassins, bruisers or tanks all of which will be trying to focus them down. If your team happens to have no tank or any sort of good engage, you will have to provide for them. Use your Flash together with your Blade's Reach to knock up multiple enemies. In most cases it can be a huge win condition. Before you try to go for any flashy plays however, make sure you know where your own team is and ideally let them know through pings that you are planning to go in. Hitting four people at once usually gurantees you to win a teamfight as long as your own teammates are able to follow up.
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LATE GAME ON SHADOW ASSASSIN On Shadow Assassin your job is to assassinate enemies that isolate themselves from their team on the map. You see an ADC going to farm a wave by themselves? Run towards them immediately and secure a kill. This allows your team to have a significantly easier time while teamfighting, since you will be outnumbering the enemy. If there is no opportunity for this however and the enemy team stays grouped up, be patient. Using your Shadow Step to wait inside of walls for a fight to be started by your teammates is very important as you must be able to react quickly. During teamfights people tend to be very distracted due to all the things happening within a short span of time. You want to use this time frame to assassinate enemy carries.Beware of items such as Zhonya's Hourglass, Banshee's Veil, and  Edge of Night. Lots of squishies will resort to building defensively in order to block your damage, which is what makes Shadow Assassin objectively worse the longer the game goes on. Supports will be stacked on protective items, as well as carries themselves. There is no need to panic however, just be patient, track the enemy team's cooldowns, and wait for opportunities to dive in. |
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In this section you can find some talented and devoted Kayn lovers that like to share their gameplay on twitch regularly. They are all approved by us and will hopefully be able to teach you a thing or two if decide you watch them!
If you are a Kayn streamer looking to be featured on both our subreddit and here, check out our discord! You will find all the requirements in the #server-info channel.
Kayn lovers that like to share their gameplay on twitch regularly. They are all approved by us and will hopefully be able to teach you a thing or two if decide you watch them!If you are a Kayn streamer looking to be featured on both our subreddit and here, check out our discord! You will find all the requirements in the #server-info channel.
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gyeon100 Challenger KR |
Vakin Challenger NA |
Karasmai Challenger NA |
GhostlyCat Challenger EUW |
EnvyCarry Challenger EUW |
Rhaastafarian Grandmaster NA |
Nivarem Diamond 2 EUW |
This section will list various coaches you can contact in order to improve your Kayn gameplay. If you encounter a problem with any of the coaches during a coaching session, please contact us on Reddit or Discord. This includes things such as scamming or rude behaviour.
If you'd like to apply as a coach yourself, head over to our discord and read through our #kayn-coaching channel. There, you will find requirements as well as an application form.
Kayn gameplay. If you encounter a problem with any of the coaches during a coaching session, please contact us on Reddit or Discord. This includes things such as scamming or rude behaviour.If you'd like to apply as a coach yourself, head over to our discord and read through our #kayn-coaching channel. There, you will find requirements as well as an application form.
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A compilation of video guides for our readers that aren't fond of reading. If you want to suggest a video of yours to be added here, don't hesitate to message us on Reddit or Discord!
COMPREHENSIVE GUIDES
SPECIFIC GUIDES
COMPREHENSIVE GUIDES
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SPECIFIC GUIDES
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Have a question? Ask us on Reddit, Discord, or Mobafire. We will be featuring the most frequent ones down below!
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If you accidentally picked Red Kayn, get yourself either Duskblade of Draktharr or Youmuu's Ghostblade instead of your Death's Dance. For Blue Kayn, stick to regular assassin items but make sure to add a Black Cleaver to your build. |
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While both Rhaast and Shadow Assassin are able to use the Dark Harvest keystone effectively, they still differ in terms of secondary choices. Going for a form when you do not have the most ideal runes can make you lose out on a significant portion of damage and functionality. Experienced and high elo players such as Karasmai are able to get away with unfitting runes due to how well they can adapt and utilize their form-powerspike. His strategy is not recommended for the average player. Check out this video by Rhaastafarian about the topic. It showcases a few examples of opposing team compositions, how to identify threats, and choose corresponding forms against them before your game starts. |
Thank you for reading our guide and making it all the way down here!
Kayn has a lovely design that reawakens the inner edgelord in oneself that you never knew you had. His playstyle is incredibly fun and versatile, making it quite hard to ever get bored of him. This guide was made in collaboration with lots of passionate and skilled Kayn lovers. We truly hope it helped you learn some new things about the champion.
We put lots of effort, time, and love into this project, so if you enjoyed reading, please leave us a like or comment!
If you would like to discuss Kayn with others, or simply just receive updates about him and his gameplay, make sure to drop by our discord!
Kayn has a lovely design that reawakens the inner edgelord in oneself that you never knew you had. His playstyle is incredibly fun and versatile, making it quite hard to ever get bored of him. This guide was made in collaboration with lots of passionate and skilled Kayn lovers. We truly hope it helped you learn some new things about the champion.
We put lots of effort, time, and love into this project, so if you enjoyed reading, please leave us a like or comment!
If you would like to discuss Kayn with others, or simply just receive updates about him and his gameplay, make sure to drop by our discord!
A huge thanks to the following individuals who helped making this guide possible:
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Arcuves Design, Writing, Code |
Nivarem Information, Data |
Rhaastafarian Information, Data |
Vakin Information, Data |
Alleria Proofreading |
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Malnourishd Information, Data |
Dark Aura Information, Data |
Check out our other Social Media outlets!
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Top Kayn Guides
r/KaynMains | Comprehensive Guide [11.6]
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