Kassadin Help?

[quote=Equus Mulus]Well, I'm not really new to the game, I've been playing about a game a day so just casually playing for about a year now. That means I've got about 300 or so games under my belt which in retrospect isn't much. I play a lot of Sc2 and Allods, so I feel my overall mechanics for this game could be pretty high. What I'm looking for honestly is just a few replays of how a Kassadin should be played. My core items are basically what is to be expected, Rabadons, BV, Void, Abyssal. I would upload some replays, to have people just critique them but I've been smurfing a new account to save up for Voli without having to worry about where all my IP is going to go on my main account, so the reps are pretty bias'd towards my favor atm. Anyways I know for Kennen I changed what item order I get based off of the situation and have optimized my build to get more quicker with less gold [basically avoiding spending a lot of gold on the recipe prices earlier on and getting more of the lower tier items quicker, without deviating what I want my ultimate goal to be.] For an account without any runes/masteries I've been trying to figure out a good SAFE build for Kass and it just seems really hard, I'm almost always out of mana unless I've got a blue, and with this new [s]meta shift[/s] Patch I'm finding my time solo-que a lot more difficult to get someone to give me the blue even if I'm hard carrying. Is there any way to get a balance of mana and damage output earlier on? I've felt myself having to q farm quite a bit until 6 which is normal but finding myself hard for mana once I hit 6. On my 30 I don't find myself having this problem because of the Masteries and Runes I've got on my character. I feel if I focus too hard on mana my character is just going to fall off on damage output and ultimately utility. My current build is as follows: Either: Boots 3 Pots, or Sapphire Crystal 2 Pots Catalyst Sorc Boots Rabadons BV Void Staff Abysal ??? I'm not sure if the last item actually matters since getting to that point is quite hard but I would probably just add another thing to help nuking or to help surviveability depending on how good my opponents are. TL;DR Good Kassadin Mid/Bot laning replays Any way to balance damage laning durability [how long I can stay in a lane without being mana starved] without runes and masteries? Is there any way to optimize my build if I'm going rabadons. [EX. Putting off Rabadons and getting 2 blasting rods and needlessly large rod then getting rabadons?][/quote]

[quote=abzilla]Here is the search for [[kassadin]] on the builds and guides based on top scored guides. hope this helps. [url=http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/browse?sort_type=score_weighted&sort_order=&champion_id=27&guide_type=&threshold=guides&freshness=Stale&vote_count=0]Kassadin Builds[/url] The top one seems more mana friendly. good luck![/quote]

[quote=Equus Mulus]I use those, my build is just the first and the second combined. I've got all the information from those guides and they've still haven't helped enough. I know Kass is supposed to be impossible to get CS with because he's very good late game but after the nerf to him I just don't see him having any viability because of the range nerf's. Honestly I just need some replays. Also going for a ROA early on sort of gets rid of how good I can deal damage even against squishy characters. By the time the first turret dies I have roughly 30-40 CS, and I'm not quite sure if that's good or not. I basically get my catalyst and that's about it, and I have to heavily rely on my q farming because if I'm pushed to the turret I can't get any last hits because I don't have the masteries or runes to help clearing the creep. As you know turrets take 2 shots on the magic minions and they're the ones who die last so there is always those left but I can't get 2 hits in to last hit them. So I find it tough to farm in the lane and I find it impossible to farm when pushed to my turret as well. It's just frustrating because kass was such a good nuking champ 5 months ago. :/[/quote]

[quote=abzilla]where are u going to lane, mid or sides? it sounds like u cant harass mid well enough for u to farm it. if thats the case nd ur using good builds then i suggest laning with someone to support u and keep u up. if u see a tough lane ask for a switch asap cuz from all i can tell its ur cs thats low. i do the same with my ryze.[/quote]

[quote=Embracing]Kassadin always goes mid or top. Mid is always the best. Never go side lane. That goes against the meta, and you'll lose lane 100% against a ranged AD + support. Boots 3 / Mana 2 RoA *Tear here can help you with mana problems and for late game deeps* Sorc Rabadon's Void Staff / Abyssal (NEVER GET BOTH) Archangel's Zhonya's 9/0/21, 21/0/9, 21/9/0 are all good Have no replays right now. Itemizing for casters is pretty straightforward. If enemies have a lot of MR, get void / abyssal earlier, else get more AP. Same goes for early game Sorc Boots. If enemies have no MR, start building raba first.[/quote]

[quote=abzilla]but his issue is the cs. if he cant cs solo then whats the points? what runes are u using for ur kassadin equus?[/quote]

[quote=Equus Mulus]again this is a low leveled character so no runes nor masteries, it's strictly the fact that i can't get cs because if i do i get hit hard and skills don't do damage until level 4 or 5 for the mana cost. I'm just not sure how to go about farming, do I waste all my mana on q farming or do i spam pots every 2 or 3 cs? :P I don't see myself having this problem with any other character I play because Kassadin's early game is just so weak. High mana cost for low damage early on and having to be point blank on a creep just makes it very hard to farm at any pace. I'm almost always pushed up to my turret and it's impossible [at my level] to deal the damage output to farm cs at the turret. [Literally impossible I have to hit it then have the turret shoot it then hit it again just to get the cs and if any minion hits it the turret just kills it.] It's not like I do bad, I'm still going 15-0 and 23-6 it's just if I go up against a competent person in a lane I get denied hard. I just want to do better is all. :] At this point in my play no one goes into the jungle so even if I ask for a switch it's still going to be a 2v2 side lane or a 1v1 mid lane either way it's going to be hard to farm cs, unless I get some sort of AP in mid. [Which oddly enough is quite rare recently. AD mid seems to be the new fad and it's just annoying ;__;] I'm pretty sure that a good replay of someone good would fix my problem. I've watched a few random replays on LoL Recorder and those players look a lot worse than me, so who knows. I might be doing as good as I cam. I miss a few CS that I could get but I've been working on that, its just hard to measure the decision of do I take some damage for that creep or do I just let it go. I feel that I have to play 2 or 3 times better than my opponent and make fewer mistakes than my opponent just to get on a decent footing into mid/late game.[/quote]

[quote=Zell][quote][b]I'm pretty sure that a good replay of someone good would fix my problem[/b]. I've watched a few random replays on LoL Recorder and those players look a lot worse than me, so who knows. I might be doing as good as I cam. I miss a few CS that I could get but I've been working on that, its just hard to measure the decision of do I take some damage for that creep or do I just let it go. I feel that I have to play 2 or 3 times better than my opponent and make fewer mistakes than my opponent just to get on a decent footing into mid/late game.[/quote] Is something like this what your looking for? - http://www.own3d.tv/video/88857/Reginald_s_Kassadin Above link is more of a central commentary tutorial which you'll likely find more useful. The below link is from a top perspective and is less useful but gives a different perspective. http://www.own3d.tv/video/63637/Reginald__Kassadin_Solo_Queue[/quote]

[quote=Equus Mulus]Yeah that doesn't really help much. I feel that peoples play styles have changed. He was using creep as a viable point of damage so he could use those to at least turn the fight into a balanced fight always. With the Creep Nerf and the Kass nerfs I find my opponents more inclined to attacking me and putting pressure on me to not get CS. Like I'm thankful of those video's but they're not really relevant anymore the game's changed since the newest patch along with Kass getting nerfed with cd he just feels quite different. :/ Again I'm always forced to fight creep at turret unless I q farm and I'll only be able to q farm for a very low amount of time ruining my sustain. I just don't know any solution and it sucks. Regardless of how good Kass is in the mid/late game if his early game is terrible it's impossible to nuke as hard as you have to for him to be a good champion.[/quote]

[quote=Zell][quote]For an account [b]without any runes[/b]/masteries I've been trying to figure out a good SAFE build for Kass and it just seems really hard, [b]I'm almost always out of mana[/b] unless I've got a blue, and with this new meta shift Patch I'm finding my time solo-que a lot more difficult to get someone to give me the blue even if I'm hard carrying. Is there any way to get a [b]balance of mana and damage output earlier on[/b]? I've felt myself having to [b]q farm quite a bit until 6 which is normal but finding myself hard for mana[/b] once I hit 6. [b]On my 30 I don't find myself having this problem[/b] because of the Masteries and Runes I've got on my character.[/quote] You've pretty much already stated the problem. Seal of Clarity is practically a must for Kassadin in order to allow him to farm with his low-mana efficiency. You could possibly get W earlier (level 4 for example) in order to help last it more effectively under the tower. Otherwise, you seem to be asking for too much: wanting the best in both damage and mana. Kassadin clearly is weak early game but he makes up for it [b]alot[/b] after level 6 and continues to do so. As others have suggested possibly just stacking Dorians early to help withstand the harass while improving both Mana regeneration and Ability Power to help gain that "balance" you crave for. [quote][b]Kass getting nerfed with cd[/b] he just feels quite different. :/ Again I'm always forced to fight creep at turret unless I q farm and I'll only be able to q farm for a very low amount of time ruining my sustain. I just don't know any solution and it sucks. Regardless of how good Kass is in the mid/late game if his early game is terrible it's impossible to nuke as hard as you have [b]to for him to be a good champion[/b].[/quote] Whatever nerfs Kassadin got to be frank he deserved it. He counters many mid-champions and it is the consensus that he is one of the strongest mid-champions in the game as such he gets banned a lot at all levels of elo and tournaments. Also, this video is slightly outdated in that its before the Mastery change/Creep nerf (so less Mana regeneration etc) as such isn't really a good example but it does show a Kassadin being harassed a lot early on. Remember, if the enemy mid lane is constantly harassing 24/7 then hes losing creep kills as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfXhY_-L_Qo&feature=channel_video_title[/quote]