Greetings! My name is Swisherland and this is my take on the Season 6 Kassadin Jungle. Previously in Season 5, RuneGlaive Kassadin was absolutely amazing. You recieved CDR, movement speed,Sheen Procs, mana regen, etc. But with the new season changes in patch 6.1 Runic Echos has caused an incredible difference in his play style and decision making across the map. For starters, you don't recieve the 10% CDR with sheen proc right off the back so you don't spike as hard through your early game jungle clears and the build path into runic echos forces you to think carefully about your decision making as you won't rift walk or spam abilities quite as fast. Overall I feel Kassadin has many strong points in various forms of team compositions and I hope this will help you on your way to solo q.

At level 1, start W. The passive and auto attack reset is an absolute must for your early jungle clear. Reason being is that Kassadin is still fairly squishy and having an ADC/Support apply DPS and sustain for you early on can mean the difference between rotating scuttles and other camps getting the blue smite early on and going back with a hunters talisman and a few health pots. You need to get blue smite as soon as possible due in part by the fact that pre 6 your ganks will not be as strong but you are still capable of having high burst potential with sticking power. Level 2 take Q, then E at level 3. Max W first and E second, this way when you rift walk into a gank, your empowered AA W AA reset will do amazing amounts of burst and with a charged E to slow them and a Q to poke, more often than not you are capable of bursting down the squishy carries in 1-2 skill rotations. Thanks to your superior mobility you will almost never get caught out post 6. The main Kassadin combo is to charge your E in the jungle to ensure you have the most amount of burst damage available. Depending on the enemy's position, you can Q+E+R+AA+W+AA with the Q for engage to proc Runic Echos, your slow to help with the gap closer and the animation cancelling from AA+W+AA will allow you to easily proc thunderlords and auto at the same time giving you incredible DPS with a little AOE if you have 2-3 enemies right ontop of eachother. You can build either full burst assassin or bruiser depending on how their team composition plays out but always know end game you can one shot their carries with relative ease given they don't have the sustain to outlast your burst.

Kassadin's Q, Null Sphere has a 650 attack radius with a 70% AP ratio. It is capable of cancelling channels like Fiddle's lifesteal, Zac's jump, and a few other abilities all the while providing a nice magic shield against mages. It can be used as a utility spell to pop spellshields or to proc Runic Echo/Slows for a better gap close due to its low base damage.

His W, Nether Blade, has a passive that scales with 10% AP and an active that scales with 70% AP. This is his bread and butter as it is an auto attack reset providing superior burst DPS and mana sustain. Tied in with the cost of his Rift Walk, you can easily gain back the mana needed to escape or to re engage a fight.

E, Force Pulse, is his ganking tool. It has high base damage with a 70% AP ratio and provides an AOE slow with a surprisingly larger range than the indicator tells you. You can also use this ability to cancel the Null Sphere animation combo'd with W as Null Sphere slows down your auto attack time. E+Q+W+AA for incredibly fast spell rotation and better wave clear in the jungle. Its great for team fights as you can easily slow down entire groups and provide peel for yourself or the carries.

R, Rift Walk, is his core ability and is why he is a viable jungler in many ways. It has a 20% AP / 2% Mana ratio and can stack up to 4 times. Mana costs go from 50/100/200/400/800 and goes ona 6/4/2 second cooldown with 0%CDR but can actually go down to 1.2 seconds at 40%CDR and 1.0 with 45%. The trick is to micromanage how many times you rift walk without wasting too much mana and to animation cancel/combo your abilities. You can pull off incredible gank paths and safe escapes for days and with a little creativity you can find your own play style and how to utilize the ability to its maximum potential. From slick baron steals to face rolling pentakills.

Pros

+High DPS
+Reliable Escapes
+Flexible Build Path
+Great Pick potential/split pushing
+Can snowball fairly easily
+Excellent Mana sustain due to W proc and Runic Echos
+Incredibly strong item power spikes via Lich Bane/ROA/Rylais/Deathcap/Void Staff

Cons

-Weak early game presence
-Can be counter jungled if not careful with vision/scuttle control
-Requires smart positioning/decision making otherwise you lose map pressure
-If the combo isn't done right, you will be punished
-Very on hit reliant

I always start on the bottom side of the map to have the DPS and Sustain from the ADC/Support as trying to go top side will often leave you with one less camp cleared which can be the difference between Blue smite on first back and Hunters talisman with a few health pots. Overall you should be doing Krugs into Red buff if you are on blue side or Gromp into Blue buff if you are on red side. Either choice is viable as starting W means you require zero mana levels 1-3 and after you've cleared the buff, go straight to scuttle crab to sustain back up and provide vision for your laners. Afterwards, pay attention to your Mid laner. Is he/she pushed up? If so, you can take the faster path walking through lane without being seen to get the 2nd scuttle crab. If not, then just take the safer route. Once you've taken the crab, take your 2nd buff and clear wolves if you have the HP. By then you should have enough gold to take blue smite and from there, wash rinse repeat until you see a gank potential or level 6. The best method to get early clears and high HP is to ALWAYS AA Cancel with your W as fast as possible. Every auto counts. Pre-6 ganks, you have to find a way to get behind your opponent and lay down the burst as you don't have rift walk and blue smite is a way to help close the gap. Post-6 ganks are fairly easy and if you know your DPS, you will always get a kill when they misposition. Dragon control is not a priority unless your bot lane is snowballing. The main focus should be on protecting your laners and ensuring you can counter gank on time and get them rolling. As long as you keep up in jungle CS, kills aren't a priority for you either as you want to be unseen as much as possible and surprise the enemy with your item power spikes like Lich Bane 2nd item etc.

Overall Kassadin is an incredibly strong pick for when you want to be not only a hypercarry role but also a supporting side carry for when your mid laner or top laner loses lane. Due to your superior mobility, you are capable of providing incredible map presence with an overall sense of safety. Pre 6 it is all about micromanaging your decisions and making smart plays. I hope you enjoyed this guide and honestly, Kassadin can be played any style you'd like depending on what the team compositions provide. Enjoy the thrift walking and I'll see you in solo queue! -Swisherland