League of Legends - Kassadin Guide and Build
League of Legends - Kassadin Guide and Build
Are you looking for a Kassadin guide or a Kassadin build? This page covers the basics of playing Kassadin effectively including skills, runes, masteries, tips and includes custom skins.
Kassadin is a very powerful anti-caster AP carry. Kassadin packs a powerful nuke silence, a strong area of effect slow and a low cooldown Flash like ultimate. Kassadin is a solid champion for anyone who enjoys the ability to nuke enemies and loves having great mobility around the map.
This Kassadin guide and build aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Kassadin, it is recommended for people just starting to use Kassadin.
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Guide current as of: Release Notes v1.0.0.148
This Kassadin guide is also available in summary format (thanks to LeagueCraft.com).
Images on this page are sourced from the official League of Legends website and the game client. They are used for review, commentary and educational purposes.
Is Kassadin Over Powered?
Is Kassadin Too Strong?
Kassadin Skills
Void Stone (Passive) This makes Kassadin a strong anti-caster due to the magic reduction it offers. The attack speed isn't game breaking but can help pick up some early game kills.
Null Sphere (Q) Kassadin's single target nuke that also packs a hefty silence with it. It is great for interrupting channelled abilities, harassing and zoning an enemy champion in lane. This should always be the first skill in your combo.
Nether Blade (W) This skill helps keep Kassadin's mana levels high during the laning phase and can give him the extra damage he needs to finish off an enemy during the game. It is also a great way to get an extra stack of Force Pulse.
Force Pulse (E) Another skill that helps make Kassadin an anti-mage as he builds up charges for every spell cast. This skill offers a powerful area of effect slow that , it has a good AP ratio and gives Kassadin some strong damage output in team fights.
Rift Walk (Ultimate) Kassadin's ultimate is basically a low cooldown Flash and gives Kassadin amazing mobility around the map. It also allows Kassadin to get in and out of the battle quickly, making him difficult to lock down and kill. You have to be careful about excessively using this as the mana cost quickly increases.
Kassadin Skill Order
Skill ordering for Kassadin should follow: Ult > Null Sphere > Force Pulse > Nether Blade
Maxing Null Sphere first gives you powerful single target burst and harassment, allowing you to dwindle down the enemies health. Maxing Force Pulse second adds to your massive burst damage and is a very powerful area of effect slow.
Nether Blade is left till last as it offers little compared to Kassadin's other skills (as you should do your best to avoid melee range), grabbing a point at level 4 is great at giving you that extra kick of damage you need while also helping you replenish your mana though.
Pre-Void Kassadin
Kassadin Runes
Red (Marks) - Magic Penetration
Yellow (Seals) - Mana Regeneration Per Level
Blue (Glyphs) - Ability Power Per Level // Magic Resistance
Purple (Quintessences) - Ability Power // Health // Movement Speed
Kassadin is best run with a standard caster rune setup, Magic Penetration is an obvious choice on Marks boosting your damage output, Mana Regeneration Seals have your mana needs covered and will serve you well until you can build a Rod of Ages or secure a Blue Golem Buff.
Ability Power Per Level Glyphs also gives you some extra damage allowing you to burst down the enemy that much quicker. This is combined with Ability Power Quintessences for even more damage output.
Alternatively you can run Health or Movement Speed on Quintessences to boost your health pool or harassment capabilities.
To learn more about making effective rune choices, visit the Rune Page Guide.
Kassadin Summoner Spells
Best Summoner Spells:
-Flash
-Ignite
Flash and Ignite are very strong on Kassadin, the ability to double Flash is great for getting in and out quickly and also works very well at aggressively tower diving.
Ignite adds to Kassadin's already powerful burst damage and will often score you early game kills.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-N/A
The possibilities that Flash opens up (like aggressive play combined with his ultimate) and the bonus damage from Ignite are too much to pass up.
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Kassadin Masteries - 21/0/9 Mastery Setup
Kassadin is best run with an aggressive set up focusing on the offense tree. You want to grab all the ability power related masteries to boost your damage output. You will want to combine this with 9 points in the utility tree to grab some extra movement speed, mana and buff duration.
To learn more about masteries and your mastery options, visit the LoL Masteries Guide.
Kassadin Build
Final Item Build:
-Sorcerer Shoes
-Rod of Ages
-Rabadon's Deathcap
-Abyssal Scepter
-Zhonya's Hourglass
-Void Staff
Steps/Reasoning:
-As Kassadin you want to start with Boots of Speed & 3 Health Potions, this gives you some movement speed to harass your enemy and stay safe in lane.
-Your opening item for Kassadin should always be Rod of Ages, this gives you some strong Ability Power along with an increase to your mana/health pool. You'll also want to upgrade your boots to Sorcerer's Shoes fairly early on in the game for the extra movement speed and magic penetration.
-From here you want to build up your Rabadon's Deathcap for a massive AP boost allowing you to burst down your enemies.
-Your Kassadin build from here will depend on the game but items like Abyssal Scepter and Zhonya's Hourglass are good choices as they boost your defenses and increase your damage update.
-Finishing off your Kassadin build with a Void Staff will allow you to get past any magic resistance that your enemies have been building.
Alternatives:
-Banshee's Veil (If you need more magic resistance).
-Athene's Unholy Grail (If you have struggle managing your mana costs or need some more magic resistance).
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League of Legends - Kassadin Ranked Commentary
Kassadin Tips
General Kassadin Tips & Tricks
- Kassadin has great mobility over terrain, use this to your advantage to gank aggressively early.
- Always pay attention to your Force Pulse charges as these play an important part in combo. Using your summoner spells counts as an extra charge.
- When moving around try to wait alittle between ultimate casts, this will reduce its mana cost significantly during the early game.
Early Game (Level 1-6)
- Harass the enemy champion with Null Sphere, be slowly dwindling your opponent down in this way can help you secure kills when you hit level 6.
- Don't forget that your auto-attacks will restore mana after you grab a point in Nether Blade, so if your find yourself needing more mana, try to sneak in some extra auto-attacks.
- Don't play overly aggressive, focus on harassment and last hits, Kassadin is not very powerful until level 6.
Mid Game (Level 7-12)
- You can now start to harass your lane opponent with your Null Sphere and ultimate.
- Kassadin is now a ganking machine, during this stage of the game you want to start roaming the map to build up your kills. Kassadin also makes a great tower diver thanks to his ultimate.
- If you can't burst someone down completely with your combo it is important you back off, as you have limited damage output once your initial burst is over.
- In early team fights you want to be jumping in and out using your Force Pulse for strong area of effect damage each time it charges up.
- When moving around the map you can use Nether Blade to give you one more stack on Force Pulse, this will ensure your ready for a fight or to save yourself from a gank (with the slow).
Late Game (Level 13-18)
- You want to be hiding to the side of your enemies, waiting for someone to initiate and then jumping on the enemy carry/support.
- Focus your Null Sphere on the enemy supports and carries both during team fights and any initial poking, this will limit the amount of poke they can return and heal.
- Continue to farm up lanes heavily with your ultimate and Force Pulse, Kassadin can afford to slightly over-extend as you can quickly retreat (make sure you have eyes on the enemy or a general idea of their current position).
- Kassadin plays very much like a hit and run assassin, you want to get in and out quickly only to return a few seconds later when your cooldowns are back up.
Other Kassadin Guides and Build
- Kassadin Build Guide - The Magic Ends Here (Solomid)
This Kassadin guide over at Solomid was put together by RathalosHate and offers a great overview of playing Kassadin effectively. - Kassadin Build Guide - Destroying Solo Queue With Kassadin (Solomid)
This Kassadin build by offers a great overview of playing Kassadin in solo queue and using him to drive up your ELO. - Mobafire: Kassadin Build Guide - Excellence Is Null
CasterMaster offers his opinion on playing Kassadin over at mobafire. - Mobafire: Kassadin Build Guide - Kiss My Kass
RuminatingWin offers a great Kassadin guide with plenty of depth, a must read for anyone who is serious about playing Kassadin.