League of Legends (LoL) Question: Next AP Mid to learn and why?

Posted in Champions | Tags: Cassiopeia Kassadin Twisted Fate Xerath 10,280

Next AP Mid to learn and why?

Asked by wtfproof on March 30, 2013

Hey, so I can't really decide which champion to learn next after I have finished with Evelynn. I play AP Mid in a fixed 5vs5 team so I need champions who are valuable in organised competitive play. Champions I currently am able to play on a decent level (in the order of how comfortable I am with them):

- Kayle
- Ahri
- Annie (Very situational, can be a great counter to champs like Katarina in mid but else meh)
- Morgana (Not so useful in S3 it seems)
- Zyra
- Evelynn (Still learning)

So that leaves me with 4 really useful champions in mid from which 1 I am still learning. After I get my Evelynn play to a decent tier I thought about following champs:

- Cassiopeia
- Kassadin
- Twisted Fate
- Xerath

Now I need your opinions. Please rate these four for me on the aspects of:

- Simplicity (how hard is it to get a feel for the champion)
- Pick/Ban potential (how high is the threat that I won't be able to play the champ because the enemies ban/pick him themselves)
- Time in Lane (here it's about the first 15-20 minutes of the game, how hard does this champion get countered and how good can he dominate his lane)
- Use for the team (20+ minutes when mostly team-fights happen how valuable is this champ)

Please don't suggest any other champions, I only want to know about these four here.

Answers (4)

(1495) |

:
-difficulty: medium-high
-pick/ban: she's very rare
-laning: can dominate, but generally has to outplay opponents
-team: high damage, strong AoE ult, but generally gets blown up and requires protection

:
-difficulty: medium
-pick/ban: pretty rare, possible bans at low elo?
-laning: early levels can be very tough, but has high kill potential, especially in strong matchups
-team: he's an assassin. Great roamer for mid game, but your team fighting will suck if you're behind.

:
-difficulty: medium-high (due to pick-a-card draws)
-pick/ban: fairly common, though not permabanned
-laning: easy laning against non-assassins, good waveclear, can zone weaker opponents and melees
-team: Arguably the best roamer in the game. Mid game ganks are terrific. Mostly stun and waveclear later on, so his late team fights aren't great. Good splitpusher.

:
-difficulty: easy-medium
-pick/ban: not too common
-laning: pretty easy in most matchups, waveclears great, good kill potential post 6 and nice poke
-team: Poke, waveclear, AoE nuke. Good teamfighter if you have good positioning.

(1) |

Sounds good, thank you! :)

(538) |

Alrighty, I will rank them all.

Simplicity (simple to hard)
1. Kassadin (Pretty mobile and a decent amount of damage)
2. Xerath (Very long range)
3 & 4 Cassiopeia + Twisted Fate (Both require a certain expierence with them)

Pick/Ban potential (High ban rate to low ban rate)
1. Twisted Fate (Everything here is statistic :P)
2. Kassadin
3 & 4. Cass + Xerath

Time in lane (Solid to not solid)
1. Twisted Fate (Stuns, long range and also a great ganking ultimate)
2. Kassadin (Silence, slows and a great ganking ultimate :P)
3. Xerath (Long range, so if the enemy is dangerous, you can just stomp him from afar)
4. Cassiopeia (Hard skillshots :P)

Use for the team (high to low)
1. Cassiopeia (AOE stun, aoe slow, aoe damage aoe aoe aoe, and also a hard burst :D)
2. Xerath (Stun and a lot of long range AOE stomping)
3. Twisted Fate (Stun and long range aoe stomping :P)
4. Kassadin (Short range, requires him to be in the middle of combat, making him an easy target)

It could be that I made some wrong rankings here. I did play all champions listed here, but did not master all of them :P
Overal, they are all strong picks, so do not think because something is on rank 4, it instantly is a bad at that category :P
For example, all of them are pretty good in teamfights, though Kassadin will be more bursty and Cassiopeia will be more continuous in her damage output.

I hope I helped :D

(8) |

Pluckin Penguin, I agree and disagree with you lol. I agree that xerath is hard, but would you imagine a player to not know to ? And would you imagine a player to not know to get out of Locus of Power in a teamfight?

As you see, both are hard in their own way.

Cant talk about cassio, never played with her.

(1) |

Thank's for your input :).

(353) |

You shouldn't evaluate champs like that. They all have different playstyles and you can't put them on the same line for everything.

(168) |

xerath is one of the hardest champions to position properly simply because you snare yourself if you want maximum damage output.

Cass is harder though, cause you don't have that great range and you need to aim you q's, and spam your e's while kiting the enemy. Cass ult is really hard to hit (a good one)

(117) |

IMO Xerath takes just as much if not more skill then Twisted Fate and Cassiopeia mainly due to Locus of Power. Locus of Power sacrifices mobility for more magic penetration and range. It's very important to understand how to properly use that ability, and it makes the difference between a good and a great .

(531) |

All of them are fairly hard I'm afraid.

Xerath is hard due to his lack of escapes and one-trick pony mechanism. Also, being quick and precise with your burts isn't that easy. (coming from a Xerath main)
Kassadin is also tough. The early levels (1-5) are a pain if you don't know what you're doing. After that it's about knowing what you can and cannot do.
Twisted Fate is very tough. His laning isn't hard due to infinite mana, long range, etc. However, using Destiny properly and pulling out the right cards; that requires some skill.
Cassio. The weakest out of those four imo. While she has some good lane/zone control, she is very squishy and has no answer to proper gap-closers. Her damage is fairly high but unless you're froggen, I wouldn't really play her.

Difficulty Ratings:
- 3/5 (4/5 to truly master)
- 4/5
- 3/5 (5/5 to truly master)
- 4/5

(168) |

I would say either twisted fate or kassadin. Leaning a bit towards twisted fate, simply because both of these champions can gank sidelanes very easily. Once you actually get good at these champions, you can carry games very easily by pushing your lane and ganking.

Twisted fate has an easier laning phase pre 6, and is a pretty safe pick. He can be built in many ways, and has really strong burst. Because you will be in a premade 5's team, communication should not be an issue. You should simply announce when you are ulting, position your ult properly, and get free kills. Ganking with kassadin is a bit harder, which is why my opinion would be leaning towards twisted fate.

After that, I would say xerath is better than cass at the moment, but thats my opinion. His poke damage is really fun and strong (:

Sorry for not using your rating system, don't have much time, just my 2 cents

(1) |

And of course thank you too for your opinion on this question :).

(1) |

Yeh, I just wanted to get on a decent level with her first because I played her for around 20+ games and already know a bit about how she works (theoretically) but the other 4 I didn't play at all in PvP so I thought starting with them as soon as I have Evelynn on a decent level.

(168) |

and on a second note, evelynn is not really the strongest mid right now due to all the nerfs. While her mechanics are still really broken, her damage is only ok.

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