Hey!

This is my first guide, and I haven't had too much time on my hands. This is still something I've wanted to share for a long time, so go easy one me, and give me tips to improve :). First off, a little bit about me. I have been playing league since season 3 started. I have picked up Cassiopeia just now in season 6, after the healthy changes to her kit regarding to the ability to spam E, and still remain the movement command at the same time. My main account was placed in Diamond 3 at the end of the season 5, and I started practicing Cassio in that elo. After a few twenty games, I decided to start from the bottom on a smurf, and see how far I can get on a one-trick pony based account. I got 9 accounts at the moment.

For my surprise, Cassiopeia proved to be really strong in the lower elos especially. It took me a bit over a month, to climb from silver 2 to Diamond 1, on 'The blue cobra'(Eune) in 150 games (+random other champs I occasionally had to play). I promise you, if you master this champion, you can climb a whole division just by dominating the middle lane. And the best part is, you will fall in love with this champion, and enjoy playing her even after you have reached your first set of goals.

I WANT TO ADDRESS, THAT THIS GUIDE IS A WORK IN PROCESS, AND SHALL BE UPDATED. All the basic knowledge you need to know is here, just the reasoning will updated further on. In this state the guide provides only my opinion how to build her, the more detailed one for beginners, with comboing, laning, takes more time, which I try to scrap up as soon as I can. All of the feedback is more than WELCOME, So please comment :) ALSO, I'm sorry this guide has not yet been updated fully, I am really occupied with my thesis at the moment in the univeristy. Thanks for your patience!

As most of us know, Cassiopeia underwent huge changes in patch 5.9. They literally BUTCHERED her. Now, in 5.10, they finally blew some life into her again.

I finally think riot has done enough, and made her a dominant force again, to petrify anyone who dares to go eye to eye with her. She is finally as good as she was before, with a little more complexity.

Buffs

Noxious Blast, The Range buff is really nice, it's quite an unseen buff. Don't forget the high mana cost though, it's still 60- mana at rank 1.

Miasma, Also buffed nicely, the range is really high now, and the minimum range is JUST ABOUT enough, (Could be still a bit lower though)

Twin Fang THANK GOD, they finally reduced the cooldown to 0.75, which is enough for now, can barely even notice the difference anymore.

Items

Cassiopeia is somewhat item dependant, since you can consider her as an AP version of AD carry. The most beautiful part of Cassio is the fact, that you can go so many ways with your item builds, and the priority of items. I Try to explain in this section the thought process I use to determine what items to buy, and when.

This is the lane, I consider hardest to play as Cassiopeia. Champions like and do huge burst damage to you, leaving little time to react. The sole purpose of Cassiopeia is to dish out constant damage. The thing I NEVER DO, is build Zhonya's Hourglass. You're purpose is to kite, as for the purpose of zhonyas is to deliver your burst, and go untargetable after. The thing you SHOULD DO, is rush HEALTH. I Find myself usually going for Rod of Ages and rushing Rylai's Crystal Scepter after. At this point you should have at least 700 raw HP, to counter the burst. From here on out, you got several paths you can go to. The fact that you can build so many things, means you have to think about your situation when you get at these breaking points.

This is the most comfortable matchup for cassiopeia, since nobody does control as well as cassio. Champions like , , are some of the easiest to lane against as Cassiopeia. This doesn't mean that the build is going to be always the same against these control mages. I take usually three paths, which is decided by the lane pressure:

[*] Farm lane / You pace the aggression

If my lane opponent can't harass me off the lane, but I simply can't go all in on him to press my advantage, OR it isn't worth anymore, the lane turns into FARM LANE.

In this situation, if I deduce that the laning phase is going to be long, I buy Tear of the Goddess on my first back, and then rush Rod of Ages Perfect example is generally .

[*] You are getting pressured / Enemy paces the aggression

By the first back, try to scavenge enough money for Catalyst of Aeons. This will counteract the poke, and pressure a little bit. Afterwards proceed again with Tear of the Goddess Straight for Rod of Ages after and then rush Abyssal Mask.

[*] Pressing your advantage,

On Cassio, pressing your advantage come from little things. The build usually stays the same, because you are always looking to scale. The little change comes from the build paths, E.x When building Rod of Ages, build Blasting Wand before finishing Catalyst of Aeons

Tough one, the core build Tear of the Goddess, Rod of Ages and Rylai's Crystal Scepter stays the same, but in this case you might find yourself rushing Negatron Cloak Straight after Tear of the Goddess. This is really situational, BUT NEVER rush Abyssal Mask. After Negatron Cloak proceed with rod of the ages. Then complete Abyssal Mask, and proceed to Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Finish with optional items

[*] When ahead AND enemy team is low on resistances

Archangel's Staff OR Rabadon's Deathcap

[*] When even or behind OR heavy resistances

Void Staff

With this build CDR comes from your runes, FORGET ABOUT MORELLO. :)

Summoner spells

You can optionally swap , to

, this is the one I use most after Ghost / teleport. Usually against or

, I usually only use this only against , every little damage matters in those short trades. If you manage to land your ult while she uses W, you have 2 rotations of E. You need the

, the one that comes to my mind, is and . I Also might pick exhaust against , which gives you a bit more power in the trades, and punishes his all- ins. Run stormraiders surge with Exhaust, otherwise you are too immobile.

Runes

More detailed reasoning incoming later on.

Shortly, with takin the CDR in our rune page, we allow ourself to build the optimal way for cassiopeia. None of the CDR items fits Cassio too well, so this way we get the best of both worlds. You can optionally swap 10% of CDR to AP Runes. Usually you want to keep the move speed quints in the page though

Masteries

Simply, lane, dominance. As Cassiopeia you want to dominate the laning phase, and be the one in control of the trades. This is mainly the reason I like running Thunderlord's Decree . I have been experimenting on Deathfire Touch , and I have to admit, this is viable too in certain situations.

Basically, the other option you want to run is Stormraider's Surge . This is the optional Keystone to use right now, since it gives you immense mobility. The only way to judge which is better, is to ponder if you need the additional mobility, or not. More often than not, you DO need it.

I would consider Stormraider's Surge better option in lanes, where you are expecting longer trades, and not to be bursted out quickly.
If the lane is explosive, like or I would take usually thunderlords.
Executive call depending on the matchup with consideration of their team.

Working on more detailed explanations!

#1 Stormraider's Surge (1)Farm lane, (2)You need the additional mobility, but you also (3)don't need the additional pressure to keep your enemy in line (E.x Orianna, in some cases also Ryze, Fizz, zed and other assassins [You get more pressure also by enhancing your chase ability / kiting ]),

#2 Thunderlord's Decree , if you face an enemy, that you HAVE to pressure hard, e.x. Leblanc, (Usually bursty champions) or YOU CAN abuse hard (Ryze, kennen, zed).

Firstly look at the #1 option, if it matches to Stormraiders, usually it is the best option. Take Thunderlords only, if you feel safe and you can abuse the enemy without the additional move speed. (In patch 7.23, you usually want the speed though.)

Farming, Combos, Presence, Positioning

COMING SOON, Also with Laning combo's, presence and tips&tricks for teamfighst and for lane.

Statistics

My performance and stats. A tiny bit of validation for my way of playing Cassiopeia, especially at the moment, when the guide lacks a bit of reasoning.