Kassadin Build Guide by deadicated

Build Notes Legend What do the tags in Build Notes mean? League Patch What is the latest patch this guide matches with? How does this effect Kassadin? Important Are you a first time reader? Look at this! Spells Weighing spells work better and how. Major Stats The relevent stat information that MobaFire gets wrong. Lick Bane or Rod of Ages? Summary of which item is better and when. Abilities Comprehensive guide to Kassadin's arsenal. Tips Things to remember during all stages of a game. Gameplay: Early Game Elaborate game plan for early game. Gameplay: Mid Game How to keep your lane healthy as you turn the tide in other lanes. Gameplay: Late Game Keeping your team fed AND keep on ACEing Counters What counters Kassadin and how to deal with it. Kassadin's Team Mates Want to learn the best way to duo with a Kassadin? Credits Thank you for checking the guide out.

[OPTION] - there will be several purchase sets adjacent to each other with this keyphrase and similar name prefixes. IE: "Start Set:", etc. You will pick only ONE of these in each respective case. The notes for these sets will elaborate which purchase set should be used for which scenario.

[OPTIONAL] - A purchase set with this keyphrase is entirely optional and is mostly based on the situation, game time and also the team compositions. The notes for these sets will elaborate when you should and when you should not use the purchase set.

[BUILD THIS INSTEAD OF ROA/LB] - ROA is Rod of Ages and LB is Lich Bane. If you choose the set with this keyphrase you do not build Rod of Ages nor Lich Bane

[PICK ONE] - When a purchase set has this keyphrase, you are to choose only one item in the purchase set to build and then move on to the next purchase set.

[SELL TEMP ITEM TO GET THIS] - If you chose a purchase set with the name prefix "TEMP SET", and you are starting to use a purchase set with this keyphrase, you are to sell Lich Bane or Rod of Ages from the "TEMP SET" purchase set BEFORE building items from this purchase set.




Kassadin Patch 3.15

Changes to Kassadin's SKILLS and STATS from the latest patch will be in this color, if there are any. They will be found in this chapter or in the respective skills chapters.


Ignite no longer gives bonus AP/AD while on CD. However in the future it may reveal targets, even invisible.




the case that you do not know, when you look at the build section and see subtitles such as "Masteries" you will notice dark blue appended text that reads out as"+ NOTES". If you aim your mouse at the "+ NOTES" a text bubble will pop up containing all notes regarding that portion. I added notes to each subtitle but some people have not noticed so please check it out.

Note Sample

Promise:

Spoiler: Click to view

If I get 100 accumulative votes I promise to make additions to Chapter 4: Ranked Play.

(Did you know there is a secret in this guide? Find it and follow its instructions)

Ignite is also an option that Kassadin's arsenal supports. However it has its pros and cons on Kassadin.

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SPELL

INFO

PROS

CONS

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Ghost

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Your Champion ignores unit collision and moves 27% faster for 10 seconds (210 second CD).

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Superb Duration which will assist in tying up loose ends of a team fight or if the need arises, escape from several enemy champions. Works better with Riftwalk rather than without. Can be used more frequently than Flash and better suits auto attacking with a melee champion. Truly shines during the later portion of the match. Not as fast as Teleport, but does allow you to quickly travel all the while avoiding enemy wards.

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Leaves you vulnerable prior to level six, due to lack of any gap closing capabilities. Does not necessarily permit you to attack without receiving punishment.

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Flash

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Teleports your Champion to target nearby location (300 second CD).

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Provides an early game gap closer. Works with Riftwalk, also works just as well without Riftwalk. Great advantage in a 1v1 setup. Works better with ranged champions than with melee.

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LONG cooldown. Instant usage and requires practice and precision. Half as reliable as Riftwalk. Not so advantageous in team fights. Not too beneficial for travelling (due to its duration/range as well as its cooldown).

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Ignite

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Ignites target enemy unit, dealing 70-410 true damage (depending on champion level) over 5 seconds and reduces healing effects (and eventually may reveal) of target for the duration. 210 second cooldown.

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Provides an early game damage. Stunts health regeneration and assists in securing kills. The best spell for a 1v1 scenario. 600 range is rather decent and combined with Riftwalk this spell is easy to use.

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Lack of an abundance of middle lane champions that use health regen or healing skills. Is usually useless when its user is being ganked. Lacks in range in comparison to most "Middle Lane" champion skills.

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I believe the later portion of the game is more important for a Kassadin so I prefer Ghost usually. With the changes made to Ignite you may consider still using it against specific opponents. Just keep your eyes open because Ignite may eventually reveal invisible units when used before they became "invisible" or "hidden" in a bush, etc.







I think we can all agree that when it comes to items that scale into LATE GAME, both Lich Bane as well as Rod of Ages lose their luster. I can concur that Rod of Ages does maintain its luster longer, however neither have a real place in Kassadin's build late game BUT they do function extremely well with him in early as well as mid game.


Being items that work so well early and mid game, a Kassadin can easily earn back all the money spent, and when being sold back to store the amount of money lost in making either item is 800-900 gold, an amount which is also easily earned back during the time that Kassadin had been utilizing them.
Based on these facts you definitely should sell both LB or ROA eventually.

It is no mystery that most who prefer Rod of Ages think of Lich Bane as being useless, and this goes for vice versa as well. I on the other hand believe both have their merits depending on the situation.



PROS:
Lich Bane contributes ap while you are building it, as well as when you are done building it, and can be used to secure many kills as well as increase your harass damage in an exchange. It also increases your mana pool considerably, making mana regen masteries needless.

CONS:
Its great downside is its range, and even with Riftwalk, if your opponent(s) have the right crowd control or gap closing capabilities, Lich Bane's unique effects can become quite useless. This item however is first in the list of temp items simply because most middle lane champions that would even have such skills are aim based, making LB a more usual item to purchase.



PROS:
Rod of Ages allows Kassadin some much needed survivability as well as intimidation towards those who would avoid attacking a champion that seems tanky. Rod of Ages is much more generous when it comes to its contribution to your mana pool, perhaps even a little needlessly one might say. After this item is finished, there are no more hurdles to go through, and its usefulness does outlast that of LB.

CONS:
Its great downside is its components, none of which offer inexpensive damage. In other words, if you do not save for Blasting Wand before catalyst the protector you will have slightly nerfed your Kassadin's early/mid game damage. On the other hand if you do not rush catalyst the protector not only do you squander its uniqe passive, but you also lack the beneficial survivability that you would likely be needing if you want a Rod of Ages.







Void Stone - Kassadin takes 15% reduced magic damage and transforms this damage into bonus attack speed.

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This passive has been the reason why many have said that Kassadin can beat any ability power champion in the middle lane. You won't find the attack speed too useful early on, and later on you wont be auto attacking at all (to avoid taking all the kills if you are a good Kassadin).

You will how ever be in love with the magic resistance it grants you, as that is the reason we can have a Void Staff as opposed to an Abyssal Mask. In other words it is thanks to this passive that we are able to hit tanks harder.




Null Sphere - Kassadin fires an ethereal bolt of void energy, dealing damage and silencing the target for a duration.
Kassadin fires a void bolt, dealing 80/115/150/185/220 (+0.7) magic damage and silencing the target for 1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5 second(s).
Cost
70/75/80/85/90 Mana
Range
650

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The primary skill and damage output used by Kassadin early and mid-game. The first skill you max out and the skill that will earn you the most kills usually. ALWAYS use Null Sphere before Force Pulse when fighting unless you are being chased and are dangerously cutting it close, then the better result would be to use Force Pulse followed by either Riftwalk to escape or Null Sphere and Riftwalk if you have the mana available. If you are pushing an unguarded lane you may consider using this skill to secure a siege minion kill.




Nether Blade - Passive: Kassadin's basic attacks restore Mana. The Mana restored is tripled against enemy champions. Active: Kassadin's basic attacks deal additional magic damage.
Passive: Kassadin's basic attacks draw energy from the void, restoring 8/11/14/17/20 Mana each hit. If the target is an enemy champion, the Mana restored is tripled to 24/33/42/51/60.

Active: Kassadin charges his nether blade for 5 seconds causing his basic attacks to deal an additional 30/45/60/75/90 (+0.3) magic damage.
Cost
25 Mana
Range
0

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You may eventually notice this skill saving your hide sometimes mid-game. Otherwise it's only real purpose is to use Tear of the Goddess, stack your Force Pulse, sustain mana early game and activate [[lich bane] if you have it.




Force Pulse - Kassadin draws energy from spells cast in his vicinity. Upon charging up, Kassadin can use Force Pulse to damage and slow enemies in a cone in front of him.
Kassadin draws energy from spells cast in his vicinity, gaining a charge whenever a spell is cast near him. Upon reaching 6 charges, Kassadin can use Force Pulse to deal 80/130/180/230/280 (+0.7) magic damage and slow enemies by 30/35/40/45/50% for 3 seconds in a cone in front of him.
Cost
80 Mana
Range
400

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Albeit this will not be the MOST reliable skill simply because you cannot really spam it. However it has a lower cool down demand than Null Sphere. You should mostly use this to either slow an enemy/secure a kill or farm minions. I would not recommend using this skill to boost Tear of the Goddess.




Riftwalk - Kassadin teleports to a nearby location dealing damage to nearby enemy units. Additionally, multiple Riftwalks in a short period of time cause them to cost additional Mana and (if damaging an enemy champion in the process) deal additional damage.

Damaging an enemy champion also returns half of the Mana used by Riftwalks, this includes additional Mana cost accumulated for subsequent usage.

Kassadin teleports to a nearby location dealing 70/100/130 (+0.6) magic damage to surrounding enemy units. Additionally, each subsequent Riftwalk within the next 8 seconds costs 100 additional Mana and deals 50/60/70 (+0.1) additional damage, provided that Riftwalk damaged an enemy champion, this effect stacks up to 10 times.
Cost
100 Mana
Range
700

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By far the greatest non global gap closing skill in the game as well as Kassadin's most defining skill. This can be used to farm, kill, chase, escape, boost Tear of the Goddess, activate Lich Bane and scare people. It's greatest benefit how ever is its shockingly low cool down demand when maxed out respectively with my build.





is a game so it is important to enjoy yourself, also maybe it is just me but I recall playing better when I am enjoying myself, directly related perhaps?

Use Null Sphere at early levels to harass the opponent. Because of the silence that comes with the ability, enemies will have a hard time counter-attacking in time.

While out of combat use Nether Blade to charge up your Force Pulse and its passive to regain mana. With the low cost of 25 mana, this is a great skill to spam for the sake of spamming.





Kassadin is fairly easy to kill if he can't Riftwalk away. When engaging the enemy, consider whether it'd be better to Riftwalk in, cast your spells, and walk out, or to walk in, cast your spells, and Riftwalk out.

THIS IS THE BREAD AND BUTTER OF KASSADIN, when facing someone 1v1 it is more effective to riftwalk into them, burst your spells and riftwalk out since you won't die so quickly from just one enemy focusing you. When in team fight you are more likely to stick to the edge of the fight, skill spamming and saving your riftwalk to either secure SEVERAL team kill or escape from being focused.







THE VERY START: Offer to invade or provide a decent leash for your jungler, also ask your jungler to make sure they gank mid 4:00 - 5:00 minutes into game if you haven't killed your opposing mid before then. This is vital to you dominating your lane until you get to level 6 and acquire Tear of the Goddess which would allow you to gank to the extreme.

If your opponent picked a champion that counters you, YOU MAY LOSE YOUR LANE, that is if you haven't ensured that you will get a gank by 4:00 into the game. You may want to check out Kassadin Countered as it gives tips when dealing with specific counters.





Otherwise when playing as Kassadin what you want to do is intimidate your lane opponent, be the one who gets to atack minions, if your opponent tries to even come close use Null Sphere then pretend to chase but fake him out and go back to attacking minions, if right after you use Null Sphere and (s)he does not fall back then YOU FALL BACK, wait til your Null Sphere cooling down is finished. By the time you are level 3 your opponent should be below half of his/her max hp if fought like this, and then your gank should soon come and you or your jungler will score First Blood. Until you get a Tear of the Goddess it is critical that you get to attack minions to regen mana with your Nether Blade passive.

If your opponent fears you to the point of tower hugging most of the time then when you push all the way to his tower, GO GANK, if you see an enemy with less than half his hp left in another lane you pop Ghost and go eliminate him with your team mates. Otherwise keep pressure on the middle lane (without attacking opponent champion and tower) while you observe top and bottom for a chance to gank (it will come).





You should NEVER be standing on the enemies half of the middle area before level 6 unless the opposing mid is dead and you have at least 400 hp left.

A final note to remember is that there is NOTHING WRONG with TOWER HUGGING. Losing farm is bad, losing experience and feeding the enemies is worse.





by now your Kass should have Tear of the Goddess and Sorcerer's Shoes as well as Riftwalk.
2 Rules apply to using your Tear of the Goddess to achieve its maximum potential:

Spam

Nether Blade whenever you can, with a 25 mana cost this is a very decent way to build up mana.

When leaving fountain use Riftwalk, When needing to go back run back and spam Riftwalk to get there faster while still using Nether Blade needlessly. (Pay attention to your own auras as you should wait until your Riftwalk stacks wear off (the one that adds 100 mana cost to the usage of Riftwalk).

If you are sitting on spawn waiting for that last 1-40 gold needed to make a purchase, make sure you spam skills meanwhile if Tear of the Goddess is not capped out.






Stick to the rules applied in early game, pressure on tower, gank whenever opportune. It should be easier to kill your opponent in mid lane now that you have your Riftwalk, even if they counter you.

For example:

Kassadin vs Katarina in the middle lane

To destroy Katarina you Riftwalk towards her (not on top of her, Riftwalk just close enough to target her with your Null Sphere). Use Null Sphere and run, if she teleports near you and uses Death Lotus, quickly use Force Pulse (if possible Null Sphere too) and Riftwalk away as soon as the cooldown finishes.








I look at most other Kassadin players the one thing I find most unfortunate is they don't know how to play late-game. All they do is run around and steal kills at each opportunity, and thus not benefiting the team the way they should.

At the point where Kassadin needs to get rid of his Lich Bane because it is too dangerous to auto attack opponents anymore is when Kassadin ought to stop trying to SCORE KILLS, and start trying to GET THE REST OF THE TEAM FED, when we get to late game Kassadin should be fed enough. To play properly he is to often initiate and try his best not to burst his way into getting a kill or even worse - be fodder.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN Kassadin IS BAD IF HE GETS A KILL
it means
Kassadin IS BAD IF HE IS GETTING ALL OF THE KILLS.





Kassadin is not merely a late game carry, he is someone who is there to:
A) Support & Debuff.
B) Kill Secure IF team mates fail at chasing.
C) Burst any of the opponent carries into being easily killed by his team mates.

Follow these rules and Kassadin will have either a smooth win - even on ranked- or he will be the that one special guy or gal who has the most kills, least deaths and most money on both sides of the team but with a loss of the game. It is a team game after all.





Keep an eye on the cool down of active items, press tab and identify the tankiest champ that is behind on magic resist (unless you have Void Staff, then you just use Deathfire Grasp active on any tank) and use Deathfire Grasp on them.
I AM NOT TELLING YOU TO FOCUS THE TANK!
I am telling you to use your active in the most effective way possible, and even though it squanders the temporary damage boost, it is likely not needed since even without that active Kassadin can easily 3 hit most carries. The goal late game is not to get fed ( Kassadin should already be fed), it is to feed his team!

Seraph's Embrace should be used to save your skin when being chased and Zhonya's Hourglass should be used to save you from being focused in a team fight.

Kassadin should never ever be standing still or auto-attacking champions at this point of the game.






just like any other champion in the game, has his weaknesses. These are called counters, and facing them is a royal pain if you do not have the right know-how.

First and foremost, the best thing you can do to prepare yourself to face a counter is to play a match as that counter. This will help you understand the skills: their ranges, cool downs, costs and effects. The following is an Alphabetical list of such counters.

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Items/Spells that work well here: Warmog's Armor Banshee's Veil Ignite Flash

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Items/Spells that work well here: Banshee's Veil Zhonya's Hourglass Flash

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Items/Spells that work well here: Banshee's Veil Mercury's Treads Quicksilver Sash Cleanse

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Items/Spells that work well here: Chain Vest Aegis of the Legion Exhaust Ignite

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Items/Spells that work well here: Chain Vest Oracle's Elixir Vision Ward Exhaust

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Items/Spells that work well here: Quicksilver Sash Banshee's Veil Ignite

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Items/Spells that work well here: Quicksilver Sash Banshee's Veil Ignite

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Items/Spells that work well here: Morellonomicon Banshee's Veil Ignite

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Items/Spells that work well here: Oracle's Elixir Chain Vest Exhaust

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Items/Spells that work well here: Vision Ward Frozen Heart Exhaust

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Items/Spells that work well here: Frozen Heart Negatron Cloak Exhaust

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Items/Spells that work well here: Zhonya's Hourglass Frozen Heart Exhaust

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Items/Spells that work well here: Liandry's Torment Banshee's Veil Abyssal Mask Ignite

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Items/Spells that work well here: Chain Vest Seeker's Armguard Exhaust









Suppport the development of this section by voting!





If you want to know how to play Diana jungle, visit Njoror's guide.





some this is known as the diver duo or diver combo, designed to out-chase and shut down anyone.
There is simply no better jungler you can have if you are using Kassadin. The reason being that together they can kill a carry who does't possess Guardian Angel faster than they can return a hit, spam a skill or flash away.

If you are joining a duo queue and playing Kassadin then Diana is the champion you want your partner to use.





If you want to know how to play Kha'Zix Top, visit DR34MK1LL3R's guide.


like Diana, Kha'Zix makes a great jungler if Kassadin is mid. However this guide specifies him as a top so that Diana - who is considered to mesh better with Kassadin - can jungle. When it comes to jumping into the fray and killing things fast, these three are like muskateers... muskateers that instantly jump into your face and nuke you. If all three of them are together in a team fight the enemies are gonna simply melt away, tanky or not.

The only real way anyone can counter this deadly trio is by use of AREA stuns, snares, knock ups or strong slows. Not only that but the area attack must hit at least two out of the three. It is because of this that you should be very conscious of what champs your opponents take, like Malphite, Amumu, even Galio. If you are aware of what has the pontential to shut you down you are that much more prepared and that much less likely to succumb to an effective assault. To this end communication with Kha'Zix and Diana will be key to ensuring that your best allies don't become casualties.





Thank you readers and critics alike.
If it were not for you this guide wouldn't be what it is today.
I sincerely hope that this guide proves to be helpful in the league as well as easy on the eyes to read and it would mean a lot to me if you could share with me your thoughts, opinions, questions, heck share anything that is on your mind after reading or reflecting on this guide.

Thanks to Jhoijhoi for her guide making guide, and a
Very Special thanks to Njoror and DR34MK1LL3R for sharing their efforts and wisdom with me, making this guide way better than I ever could have made it alone which leads me to another favor to ask of you, please visit the guides that Njoror and DR34MK1LL3R made and have allowed me to incorporate into this guide. Their links can be found in the credits section and their work is quite simply AMAZING!

Make sure to vote and check out the Discussion section WHICH I do frequent.

If you have read this far, I have but one last thing to share with you:
"Congrats brah, you can finally rift!"




RIOT: For providing this awesome game, also the lore and skill details are pulled from their North America website.


MobaFire: For providing this nifty build/guide creator and archive.
Championselect.net: For its clever utilization of a voting system in determining counters as well as combination champion selections.

Njoror: Made the build and guide for Jungle Diana
Guide Link: S3: Jungle Diana Building Her Offensive Or Defensive Build

DR34MK1LL3R: Made the build and guide for Top Kha'zix
Guide Link: Kha'Zix, Vengeance of the Void (S3 Jungle + Top Lane)






**This Chapter will potentially be removed or re-added**

Version 1.7
- Melee(Ghost) vs Ranged(Flash)


For VERSION 2
- Lee Sin, Aatrox, Cho'Gath chapters


*Let me know in the discussion section if you would like to see this and why or why not
** See discussion for details