YOOOOO. My name is Caled and I am a Diamond Jungler who best specializes in playing Kayn. I have been playing League now for a few years and started playing Kayn early Season 10 and have been spamming him on the rift ever since.

I love playing Kayn because of the versatile and adaptable kit/playstyle he has, allowing himself to be played in a LARGE variety of different team comps. The flexibility his passive offers allows me to either play like a team-fighting god with The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast or play like a hyper carry with The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin.

After playing Kayn now for a majority of the preseason, before and after his nerfs, I still believe he is a great pick going into Season 11 and is someone that should be picked up by anyone who is looking to add a new champ into their jungle champion pool.

I will be updating this guide and will change things as the season progresses, to give you guys the most accurate information on how to play Kayn.

The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast (Red Kayn): Typically, a Kayn chooses to go Rhaast when the enemy team has 3 or more melee champs. The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast is focused on dealing heavy amounts of damage while also taking tons of damage. Not only does your kit offer so much potential for teamfights, specifically with your Blade's Reach (W), the sustain you get from your Passive The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast allows you to constantly pressure enemies and weave in and out of fights with ease.

The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin (Blue Kayn) Typically, a Kayn chooses to go Shadow Assassin when the enemy team has 3 or more ranged champs. The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin is focused on dealing heavy burst damage and plays like that of an Assassin. Zooming through walls at high speeds with Shadow Step: Shadow Assassin (E), poking with your Blade's Reach: Shadow Assassin (W), and going all in once the enemy is low enough. The one shot potential with your Full Combo and Umbral Trespass: Shadow Assassin (R) allow you to make some stylish plays and claim some nice shutdowns on enemy carries.

Conqueror

Conqueror Conqueror is by far the best rune for Red Kayn due to the dueling power it gives in the form of AD and healing. Red Kayn excels at extended fights where he gets to use multiple rotations of his spells to constantly heal up and deal damage and no other rune complements this strength as well as conqueror.

Triumph In solo-q, fights are very chaotic and this rune will often come in clutch to help you win skirmishes and teamfights through the sudden burst of healing it gives on takedowns.

Legend: Tenacity Red Kayn’s strength comes from being able to heal from the damage he deals, making him much more durable than other carries. CC will stop you from healing off of your abilities and make you much squishier, so Tenacity is the best rune choice here.

Last Stand is an insanely powerful rune that makes you stronger the lower you are, allowing you to turn close fights with the added damage and therefore healing this rune.

SECONDARY RUNES:

Sudden Impact is a low cooldown rune that gives you temporary lethality every time you dash. Because Kayn's Reaping Slash (Q) is such a low cooldown, you get this lethality for the entire fight.

Ravenous Hunter Similar to Conqueror, this rune has great synergy with Red Kayn due to the increased healing it gives on all your damage. This rune makes you tankier and allows you to stay in fights longer by making you heal more off of your attacks.

Dark Harvest

Dark Harvest Unlike Red Kayn, Blue Kayn’s strength comes from being able to quickly assassinate carries rather than being a durable fighter. Dark Harvest synergizes well with this playstyle by giving extra burst to low HP targets to ensure a kill when you go in.

Sudden Impact Again, you have permanent uptime on the lethality this rune gives which makes your burst that much stronger when you go for an assassination.

Eyeball Collection This rune gives you more AD as you get kills, making it very powerful for snowballing..

Relentless Hunter Blue Kayn prefers the movement speed from this rune more than any other of the choices as it allows him to roam around the map more quickly and enter fights with more speed.

SECONDARY RUNES:

Nimbus Cloak gives you more mobility by giving a sudden burst of speed whenever you use smite or flash, which can be crucial for reaching enemy carries or escaping after a successful kill.

Gathering Storm is an alternative choice to Transcendence which gives you raw AD rather than Ability Haste as the game goes on. This rune is particularly powerful at lower ranks where games tend to last past 30 minutes where the rune really shines, but you are giving up an earlier power spike for better late game scaling.

Rhaast Build:

Not only used to close the gap against enemy champions that can easily kite you but also used to allow you to use your Umbral Trespass (R) into targets that you couldn’t damage otherwise.

Usually want to get as quickly as possible so you can start stacking mana as quickly as possible. If you have enough gold on first back, also purchase Long Sword or Boots. Do not finish this item until after you have Mythic.

Easily Red Kayn’s best mythic item as it allows you to heal and do more damage in fights compared to other mythic items. Its unique passive combined with Rhaast passive and Last Stand that heals you for 20% AD (+ 12% of your missing health) for each enemy champion hit is real BROKEN.

Dependent on enemy comp. If playing against a comp with heavy Auto Attack damage go Plated Steelcaps, if you are playing into MASSIVE CC Heavy Comp, go Mercury's Treads

Builds off your early Tear of the Goddess purchase. Allows you to spam abilities and not be dependent on Blue Buffs. In turn, spamming abilities allow you to output more damage, clear faster, and move around the map faster. STONKS!

More Ability Haste, resulting in lower cooldowns. More flat damage and Armor Shred. Unique passive Black Cleaver offers is very strong as: Basic attacks on-hit and damaging abilities against fully Shredded enemies deal bonus physical damage equal to 5% of their missing health, reduced to 2% of their missing health for damage over time effects (0.5 second cooldown).

SITUATIONAL ITEMS:

After building core items, Kayn has a variety of itemization paths he can take that all depend on the state of the game. If you are ahead and trying to push a crazy lead as The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast, purchasing Ravenous Hydra for INSANE sustain and also crazy damage. For a safer item to build that has both offensive and defensive stats, picking up a Sterak's Gage is a great option especially with its Lifeline passive. For a more tanky route, opt for Randuin's Omen or Spirit Visage depending on whether or not the enemy team is heavy in AP or AD damage. If your team needs healing cut, opt for Chempunk Chainsword.

Shadow Assassin Build:

Same reasons as Rhaast but also allow you to deal extra damage and solidify that one shot aspect of Shadow Assassin. Also, feels really cool to blue smite a Dark Harvest stack tee hee.

Usually want to get as quickly as possible so you can start stacking mana as quickly as possible. If you have enough gold on first back, also purchase Long Sword or Boots. Do not finish this item until after you have Mythic..

The ability to reposition yourself in fights and gap close enemies even harder is huge. Not only can you use the active to reposition, but you can also use this item to deal more damage if you follow up with abilities/autos.

Blue Kayn go ZOOM ZOOM. Seriously tho… you FAST AF!

Builds off your early Tear of the Goddess purchase. Allows you to spam abilities and not be dependent on Blue Buffs. In turn, spamming abilities allow you to output more damage, clear faster, and move around the map faster. STONKS!

Gives crazy Ability Haste and CRAZY HEALING. The cleave passive is also OP: Damaging basic attacks and abilities deal 60% − 12% (based on distance) AD physical damage to other enemies near the target. Can only hit each target once per attack or ability.

SITUATIONAL ITEMS:

After building core items, Kayn has a variety of itemization paths he can take that all depend on the state of the game. If you are playing against a team that has an overall squisher composition purchase Youmuu's Ghostblade for stronger one shot potential and more movement speed. If the enemy team is tankier and has a lot of Armor/Health, purchase Black Cleaver due to Shred Passive being really strong. If an enemy comp has a lot of shields, purchase Serpent's Fang as it POPS shields and offers lethality. Edge of Night is a great item into any comp that has MASSIVE CC that prevents you from getting on to enemy carries (also has lethality). If your team needs healing cut, opt for Chempunk Chainsword.

BEST PATHING ROUTE (Refer to YT Video Below)

Play Video


ALTERNATE PATHING ROUTES

Rhaast w/ Bot Leash (Clear order from Top to Bottom) Red Brambleback Krugs Raptors Wolves Blue Sentinel Gromp Scuttle Recall

Rhaast w/ NO LEASH (Clear order from Top to Bottom) Raptors Red Brambleback Wolves Blue Sentinel Gromp Scuttle Recall

Shadow Assassin Option #1 (Clear order from Top to Bottom) Wolves Raptors Red Brambleback Krugs GANK IF POSSIBLE Scuttle Blue Sentinel Gromp Recall

Shadow Assassin Option #2 (Clear order from Top to Bottom) Raptors Red Brambleback Wolves Blue Sentinel Gromp Scuttle Recall

Your time in champ select is the most crucial moment when it comes to playing Kayn. Specifically, choosing your form. Understanding what form is best to go into each enemy team comp is VERY important as each form uses completely different runes. As stated above, the general rule of thumb to decide what form is best for each game is if they have 3+ melee champs, go The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast. If the enemy team has 3+ ranged champs, go The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin. The advantages and disadvantages playing each form are again listed above. After making your choice, choose the right runes and you are ready to go.

Kayn’s weakest point is definitely during the early game. Compared to other champions, Kayn struggles to get his feet off the ground and doesn’t really contribute much pre-form. In the early game, you want to be focused on clearing your jungle as quickly as possible and working at getting transformation orbs. Your goal in the early game with most matchups is to play as safe as you can until form. Don’t let this dissuade you however from looking at opportunities to counter-jungle and invade when you have vision of the enemy jungler on the other side of the map. Usually, your goal to get form is pre 12-13 mins as you want to become a REAL champion by the time mid game rolls around. Your Tear of the Goddess will be pretty stacked by this point and you should be awfully close to your Mythic Item if you don’t have it already.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have finally transformed and you can finally feel useful! Your goal now is to play to your chosen form’s strengths and push for victory. When playing The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast, push your team to group early and push for as many teamfights as you can get. This is your time to shine since The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast thrives heavily from team fighting. Pushing for team objectives such as dragon, baron, and turrets is the way to go with the strengths The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast has to offer. In team fights, focus on CC’ing as many people as you can and also catching enemies out of position with your Blade's Reach: Rhaast (W). Utilizing your passive healing with Goredrinker and the healing from your Umbral Trespass: Rhaast allow you to go from 0-100 health REAL QUICK allowing you to stay alive while dealing damage in prolonged fights.

Playing The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin is completely different from The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast. Look to snowball as your kit relies heavily on one shotting and pushing leads. Also, look to counter jungle and invade if you are playing against someone that you beat within a matchup. Using your Shadow Step: Shadow Assassin (E) as the The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin whenever you can to hunt people down is critical as you have INSANE movement speed, especially with Mobility Boots and Relentless Hunter stacks. Especially in lower elos, going for picks on unsuspecting enemies is very easy to do as you’ll be able to roam the enemy jungle with ease due to the lack of vision setup. Look to use your Blade's Reach: Shadow Assassin to poke out enemies wherever you can as the cooldown is low and it outputs MASSIVE damage. In team fights, look to get to the backline carries and try to prevent them from playing the game by one-shotting them whenever you can.

Depending on what form you are going, late game as Kayn can begin to prove a little rough. At this point, you want to look to play as much as you can around your team and do whatever you still can to catch that sweet Victory Royale. If you are playing The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast, continue to play for team fights and set up your team by offering peel with your Blade's Reach: Rhaast (W). Most enemies will have grievous wounds by this time in the game and will prevent you from healing as much as you’d like, proving to be very difficult for Kayn.

As the The Darkin Scythe: Shadow Assassin, continue to poke the enemy team as much as possible with your Blade's Reach: Shadow Assassin (W) and keep looking for opportunities to one shot their carries. It might be much harder at this point as ADC’s typically build Guardian Angel, and mages build Zhonya's Hourglass but don’t let that dissuade you from trying. Even if you can't kill their backline and force them to use these items and put them on cooldown, this can allow the rest of your team to take advantage of this and ultimately win team fights that lead to that sweet sweet Victory.