Hello all you Mobafirians, you are about to witness the best Kassadin guide for pub stomping. Now, this guide isn't for everyone, if you don't like making annoying people on the other team cry and smash their keyboard in a fit of rage at how you just killed them in 4 seconds, then move on.

Let me tell you a secret. I hated Kassadin. The first few games I played with him I ended with a feeder score and I was very angry. "How is it so easy for these other guys?" I asked. In this guide, I will show you how to go from Kassadin feeder, to Kassadin stomper.

Here is some proof that I'm not just some noob. All these scores are legit, and you could have scores just like this, or better, when you follow this guide and learn how to play Kassadin.

I think the pros and cons section on Mobafire is a poor choice for many builds because when I see a bunch of bulletins saying how he can do this and that, it doesn't help one bit until I know what Kassadin is. I assure you that there are no "cons" for Kassadin if you master him, he is the best at what he does, and the pros are based upon the player. Kassadin is a middle lane, Anti Ability Power Caster this basically means that most middle champions get very distressed when you dodge their combo, vomit in their face then run. The idea behind the whole playing of Kassadin is, I kill you whenever I want, and you can NEVER KILL ME BACK.

Void Stone- Is Kassadin's passive. When a Caster combos you in mid, you have a better chance of surviving, and then retaliating with your own combo. As for the bonus attack speed, don't sword smack people with Kassadin unless they are very low health and your abilities are on cool down, or you just enjoy cruelly taunting your enemies before barfing their hopes down the toilet. (There is nothing wrong with that).

Null Sphere- Is the strongest ability any Caster could ask for. It has... the raw power of a bulldozer, with the silence of a sumo sitting on you (which has a similar effect of a bulldozer). This ability is gotten first, and maxed first. In early game, you can harass your opponent with it, in middle and late game you can DESTROY with it. If anyone gets to close in the laning phase, hit them with it a few times. You will then have put them in time out at their turret, while you eat all their minions.

Nether Blade- Why does everyone keep hating on it? Most builds I've seen don't even put a point in it till they have to! Those pansies. I take this at level 2, while most people take Force Pulse. There is no reason to get the vomit blast so early. In the very early game you want to hang back, and smack your opponent with Null Sphere. If you do this effectively you will struggle with mana, even with the rune build. With this ability, you should auto attack minions, and keep your mana at 75% all day, which is your goal for early game. What, but auto attacking minions is for noobs, you should be last hitting! Who said we weren't last hitting? Time your melee attacks so you hit the minion twice, then get the last hit. Master this, master the mana, master the money, master the lane.

Force Pulse- Is the Ooh, that has gotta hurt of your combo. Well, there are so many uses for the purple vomit blast that makes Kassadin so annoying to play against. I will go into most of them. This ability is a short range, heavy damage, slowing, and multi-target squish noise that will make your enemies want to quit. When a spell (yours too) is cast anywhere near you, you gain a stack. Once you get six stacks, vomit blast becomes available. Many Kassadin players really dislike this stacking system, but with a little practice, this ability can have an extremely low cooldown. Just remember to always keep 4 stacks on it, by using your W, so its ready when you UNLEASH THE COMBO. In teamfights there are so many spells flying through the air that this ability can be used every 5 seconds. It can also be charged out of combat by using your W, which counts as a stack. This is also the final ability of your combo, which I will go into later. If a teammate is being chased by a scary looking Singed, you hop in, blast the Force Pulse in his face, and everyone gets away. If an enemy runs into the fog of war around a corner with extremely low health and your riftwalk is on cooldown, what do you do? You blast the vomit into the fog of war, An Enemy Has Been Slain.

Riftwalk- Is the best ability in the entire game. It is Flash with a 2 second cooldown, and damage where you land. If Kassadin didn't have this, he would be worthless and no fun to play. You can cover so much distance on the map with this, and before the enemy knew you were there, you have pooped on them and left. You are being chased? Riftwalk away then over a wall, and you are safe to type an insulting message in "all" chat before teleporting home.

Smart Casting

Let me begin by saying that smart casting is an underrated and underused secret to my success. In game, press esc, go to key bindings, scroll down to smart cast, and put them as Q W E R. It takes a while to get used to, but now you are ready to combo kids.

The Moves

To successfully combo, you first need to learn when to do it. However, a better question would be when not to do it. Which I will answer now. If there are more than 2 enemies clumped together with full health, and you aren't fed like crazy, don't do it. If you are on low health and a not so squishy Olaf is attacking your turret don't do it. Every other time, you would do this. Here's the situation. It's 10 minutes into the game and you have your ult. You are laning against a Karthus who isn't very good. You have exchanged blows, you have 3/4ths health, while he has 1/3rd health. He is barley in front of his turret. No one in their right might would attempt a dangerous turret dive so early. But we will.

STEP 1: Take a deep breath

STEP 2: Put your cursor a bit in front of him

STEP 3: Press R

STEP 4: Move your cursor on top of him and quickly hit Q, E and F.

STEP 5: Flash out

Congratulations, it wasn't actually that hard was it? Now you have a kill. In less than a second you have teleported in, damaged him, silenced him, vomited on him, ignited him, and flashed out safely. It's a mouthful. Or rather a sentence full. Once you get the hang of combo'ing people you will be the master of your lane. The basic combo is Riftwalk, Null Sphere, then Force Pulse. You can use this to harass early game, and kill mid and late game. If you get fed enough, one burst of this can kill a squishy. Once you get used to Kassadin, you will find more ways to use this, especially going over walls into the fog, which takes some practice and quick reactions.

The Don't:I consider early game to be from levels 1 through 6, because Kassadin completely changes as a champion after acquire his ultimate RiftwalkThus far I have not seen a Kassadin who plays early game correctly. That said, people mostly make their mistakes with Kassadin when they get behind and lose their lane. These people stay at just behind the minion wave, going for last hits, and not focusing on harassment. This gets them neither. If a Kassadin doesn't harass, it is super easy for the opposing lane to dominate the minions, leaving you without your gold. However, if you are all up in the opponents face, while this might be better against the dumbest of people, Kassadin gets dominated early game if he is too aggressive.

The Do:The balance that a strong Kassadin player needs to achieve is between harassment, and last hits. This is all accomplished through positioning. By placing yourself between both minion waves, without getting attacked by the minions (that would be dumb) you can out range most enemies from touching your minion wave. Why does this work? Wouldn't, when you hit them with Null Sphere they would just walk over you? NOPE. The silence is for 2-2.6 seconds depending on your rank. When you hit the enemy, he cannot retaliate for 2 and a half seconds. This is painful for them because while they are mashing their Q button and nothing is happening, you are barfing in their face, and running away to last hit more.

Early Game Recap

What did we learn? When laning, you should be relatively passive up until level 6, before then, you should slowly and without taking risks, force your opponent out of lane, while keeping lots of distance, and following up with your harassment.

Taking early game deaths jeopardize the entire game, don't forget that you have free health and mana right in your inventory. You will have plenty of fun after level 6.

Congratulations! It is now middle game for you. Everyone is still in lanes, and you are doing okay in lane, you have good last hits, and you are not getting walked on. Good. If you got this far without taking a death, and keeping a strong lane, it is time to begin the death. Fake attack a minion, then combo your opponent hard, then back off. Wait 10 seconds, UNLEASH THE COMBO when he tries to move up again. He is now probably low health, if he is low, ignite him and sword smack him a bit for a kill. Make sure not to run into the turret.

With your opponent out of the picture the lane is a free farm. If their jungle tries to cover his lane, he is a free harass and is ineffective against your pro play. During this minute if you see a lane that needs ganking and your feeling confidant, why not give yourself a kill? Sneak into the bush, ping a few times for your team to pay attention, then jump out and combo. The gank is usually a success if your teammates do anything, but if they get away then that's fine! B home and get your items.

Once you have your Mejas, travel around the map, making good decisions, helping your team and taking blue whenever you can. This is the easiest part of the game, where you are out leveling the other lanes, and you go around getting stacks on the Mejas, and getting hopelessly fat with kills. When there is a break in the action, remember to B home if there is no turret to kill, and buy some more items.

The Stupid Mestake

It's about time for you to do something really dumb, get overzealous, and die. Not to worry, this is the hardest thing for Kassadin. I still do this all the time. You just lost a bunch of stacks, and you are about to type "YOU PIECE OF HAIRY ****!!" in the chat, STOP. This is a normal response to losing stacks. Once you respawn you will find that you need to play slightly more cautiously, and build up your stacks again. It is easier than before, I promise.
But remember, when you turret dive into a group of five enemies, if you got the Teemo, is was worth it.

It's about that time!

Well, if they haven't already, they are bound to soon. Surrendering when your 18-1 is really a good option. I've won maybe 5 non surrender games with Kassadin, and it was because there was a trolling duo on the other team. If they don't surrender, grab baron and kick their heads off, it's only more fun for you!

(The title is a joke i'm not a ******)

Masteries

I would like to start by saying that masteries, runes, and amount of cloths worn while playing is completely up to you. I picked these masteries because I get extra damage with the offense tree, and with the utility tree I like to get faster movement speed, and 20% longer buffs. If I were to change anything, I would put the movement speed into mana regen instead, which I do sometimes. But remember, it's all up to you!

Runes

The runes look a bit wacky, and they are. The Greater Mark of Magic Penetration is standard for almost all casters, it it the biggest damage boost for marks. Same with the Quint of Insight, and the Quints of Potency, just for a bit of damage. For the seals, I show 4 Greater Seal of Replenishment,and 6 Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration. If you are lacking in early game mana, change the masteries, and put in a few more Greater Seal of Replenishment. If feel like you need more mana mid and late game, then put in more Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration. Other runes are viable, if you have suggestions, put them in the comments for what seals you use for Kassadin. The glyphs are great for cool down reduction (CDR). For them I use a balance of early game CDR, and late game CDR, for a small help after the combo. These can be replaced by ability power glyphs, which are also great.

Items

Boots- To dodge enemy skill shots, and make lane control easy. I see many Kassadins going with Doran's Ring however, boots are much better because the build into bigger boots, and it makes sure Karthus really struggles to harass you with his Qs.

Health Potion/ Mana Potion- To give you a little extra sustain when getting hit.

Catalyst the Protector- For the much needed early game mana, as well as a very nice recharge when you level up. I prefer this over Tear of the Goddess because the recharge is just so valuable, as well as I like the extra health from Rod of Ages and Kassadin needs extra health more than he needs a ton of AP. With 20 stacks of Mejai's, and a deathcap, you do plenty of damage.

Sorcerer's Shoes- An upgrade of the normal boots, giving you faster movement, and increased damage. In my opinion this is a better choice then Ionian Boots because we will have plenty of CDR anyway.

Mejai's Soulstealer- Huge amount of ability power, at 20 stacks you can 1 burst Teemo. Who doesn't want this?

Rod of Ages- An upgrade of the Catalyst. Good AP, good mana, good health, and an over time effect. A brilliant item, no Kassadin should go without one!

Rabadon's Deathcap- Once you get this, you have a ton of AP. This item gives AP only, and a lot of it. I don't rush it because Mejai's Soulstealer needs time to get stacks, while this is an instant effect.

Leviathan vs Rylai's Crystal Scepter- Pick Leviathan to securing your win with another stacking item. At this point you have 20 Mejai's stacks anyway, so an extremely cheap and awesome item that makes you "not die" at 20 stacks really insures victory. It gives you 820 health at 20 stacks. If you fear the snowball items, you could substitute Rylai's Crystal Scepter instead. This item is much better, but is very expensive, and will take a while to save up for. I use this occasionally when I have a bit of gold saved up, and don't trust myself with another snowball item.

Banshee's Veil- Health, mana, and magic resist. This is all nice, but we get this item for the blue shield of "inyourfaceLeBlanc". It's a real word, look it up. When you have it up, the enemies think twice about attacking you, you are now invincible if you play correctly.

Void Staff- No one cares because they have surrendered long ago, but I will go over it anyway. This item is to make sure that whatever item they bought to counter you is ineffective, and you will still kill them with one combo. This is interchangeable with Zhonya's Hourglass, if they have a Tryndamere, or you are still getting focused (not likely).

Wooh, that was rough to write.

Summoner Spells

Flash is pro, Ignite is needed.

I really hope this guide helps people, I have a lot of fun playing Kassadin, and I hope you will too. This guide was very fun to write, if you have any secret ways to make my guide better, feel free to leave a comment on how to improve. Now go out there, and kill some noobs with Kassadin!