League of Legends Kassadin Guide

Certain death creeps as this champion slowly build towards Level 16. The Void Walker is considered one of the strongest late game champions in League of Legends because of his super strong power spike after maxing his ultimate cooldowns and getting a ton of items that help him manage his resources a lot more efficiently. This Kassadin Guide will help players try to understand how to use this champion so that they will have a better idea on how to use this champion hands-on.

Kassadin dressed like a Vampire - Kassadin Guide
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The Inevitable March of the Void Walker

Kassadin was simple man who lived in Icathia with his family. However, when the void consumed the village his family lived in, he vowed to take revenge upon them. He used technology and dark magic to create the ultimate equipment to hunt down the Prophet of the Void and avenge those that he had lost. As he hunts down the void, he will learn that not all members of his family were not lost during the incident but that’s a story for another time.

One of the most prominent champions in the early days of League of Legends was Kassadin because of his powerful mobility and great burst. Nowadays, Kassadin is only considered as a relatively risky champion to use because of the amount of time needed before he becomes fully online. When he gets to Level 16, he suddenly becomes of the Deadliest Assassins in the Game that has the capability of carrying the game single-handedly. This Kassadin guide will help you understand how that’s done.

Kassadin General Gameplay

Kassadin is a late-game scaling assassin. During the early and mid stages of the game, this champion can only be described as pretty decent in a sense that he’s not terrible but is also a little bit crippled by the long cooldowns and expensive costs of using abilities. Once he reaches Level 16 and has at least 3 items in his inventory, Kassadin becomes a semi-unstoppable machine that just jumps into the middle of the enemy team wreaking havoc. You’ll understand once you read the rest of this Kassadin guide.

Kassadin Guide: Skills and Abilities

For the first part of our Kassadin guide, let’s take a look at this champion’s skills and abilities to understand what makes this champion extremely strong. As a battlemage, he relies on getting close to opponents to deal damage because of the really low range and self-AoE of his abilities. Players that don’t know how to play melee matchups might have a harder time laning using this champion.

Passive: Void Stone

Kassadin's Passive - Void Stone icon Innate – Kassadin is permanently ghosted and takes 15% reduced magic damage.

A simple ability that helps Kassadin survive most mages during the early stages of the game when he’s at his weakest. This passive ability is less effective during AD matchups so be careful when you use Kassadin, otherwise you might end up not being able to reach Level 16 if you give the enemy laner too much of an advantage. Don’t be scared to take CS against mages even if there is a range disparity since you can survive most poke damage during the early game when the enemy doesn’t have too much AP.

Q: Null Sphere

Kassadin's Q Null Sphere icon Active – Kassadin throws a sphere of void energy at a target enemy. Upon impact, the target is dealt magic damage and disrupts any channeling ability.

Excess energy from this ability forms a magic damage shield around Kassadin for 1.5 seconds.

A great harass ability to damage opponents. This ability is also a great counter to a lot of champions that channel their abilities or have the Teleport summoner spell. Make sure to save this ability for last so that you can be prepared in case the enemy tries to channel one of their abilities so you can disrupt it. It can also be a great opener if you’re trying to do a full burst on an enemy mage because of the shield as long as that target doesn’t have any channeling abilities that you can counter later on.

W: Nether Blade

Innate – Kassadin’s basic attacks deal bonus magic damage at the target.

Kassadin's W Nether Blade icon Active – Kassadin empowers his blade, causing his next basic attack within the next 5 seconds to have an uncancelable windup, gain 50 range, and deal increased magic damage at the target and restores mana. The mana gained is increased 5x if the target is a Champion.

Nether Blade is an ability that helps Kassadin maintain his resources such as mana and make him deal more damage as a melee champion. Kassadin should always aim to trade by dealing auto-attacks in-between abilities to maximize his damage against those champions. Activate this ability when trading to get some of the mana that you lost during the encounter. Make sure to harass opponents often and try to reset your auto-attacks using this ability.

E: Force Pulse

Passive – Every time Kassadin or a nearby champion uses an ability, Kassadin gains a stack of Void Charge, stacking up to 6 times. At 6 stacks, Kassadin gains the ability to use Force Pulse.

Kassadin's E Force Pulse icon Active – Kassadin shoots out a wave of Void Energy in a cone, dealing magic damage and slowing all enemies that are hit within the area for 1 second.

A great ability to use every time you go in for a short trade. Make sure to stay in reasonable range of the enemy to be able to stack this ability faster unless they are dealing too much damage to you. You can also easily stack this ability just by spamming Nether Blade on minions or using Rift Walk. Try to hit as many champions as possible to maximize the damage and give you the edge when trying to chase or run away from them thanks to the slow.

R: Rift Walk

Kassadin's Ultimate Riftwalk icon Active – Kassadin blinks up to 500 units to a target location after a short delay, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemy units in the area.

Each subsequent Rift Walk doubles the mana cost of the ability and increases the damage dealt, stacking up to 4 times.

Rift Walk is an extremely powerful ability that consistently deals devastating AoE damage at an area. Once Kassadin hits Level 16 and has enough Ability Haste and Ability Power, he will be able to Rift Walk onto the middle of the enemy team and chase them. Make sure not to abuse Rift Walking too often just to move around since the ability consumes a large amount of mana for each subsequent use. Just let the Rift Walk stack naturally during a fight and go in when you feel comfortable that you’ll survive.

Kassadin Guide: Items and Builds

Next up on our Kassadin guide, we’ll be talking about the best items and builds for this champion. Since Kassadin is mostly used as a mid laner, we’ll be focusing primarily on his items while playing in that lane. However, you can also use this item build if you want to go top lane.

Starting Items

Dark Seal Start Item Icon - Metallic ring with a void emblem Dark Seal – A great early setup to build Mejai’s Soulstealer later on in the game. Provides more survivability in lane while keeping up his Ability Power. Once you gain enough stacks, you should upgrade this item right away.

Core Items

A shard of magical ice - Everfrost icon Mythic items Everfrost – One of the strongest items for mages, Everfrost is an excellent source of Ability Power thanks to its Mythic passive. This item also provides excellent utility for mages that like to get up close and personal since it offers a layer of CC. The extra mana and health also helps Kassadin’s overall survivability and sustain in a fight.

A golden staff with small wings - Arcangel's Staff icon Arcangel’s Staff – This item is also a big source of Ability Power especially after being upgraded into A golden staff with Angel Wings - Seraph's Embrace icon Seraph’s Embrace. The biggest bonus of this item is that when upgraded, Seraph’s Embrace increases Kassadin’s maximum mana pool by 5% on top of the 860 mana that the item gives already. Having this item solves a lot of his resource problems and gets him ready for the Level 16 powerspike.

Recommended Items

Legendary Item - Mejai's Soulstealer icon Mejai’s Soulstealer – If the early game is successful and Kassadin still has most of the stacks that he gained from his Dark Seal, he should immediately build this item to snowball his lead to increase his Ability Power astronomically. Once fully stacked, be careful but don’t be too overly cautious that you no longer contribute to the fight since you’re trying to conserve your stacks.

Legendary Item - Zhonya's Hourglass icon Zhonya’s Hourglass – A great defensive option for when the enemy team has too much CC. Trying to dive into the middle of the enemy team is Kassadin’s specialty but that doesn’t mean he should do so recklessly. The stasis will offer Kassadin extra time for his abilities to cool down and dodge some important CCs from the enemy team.

Rabadon's Deathcap icon - magic hat with fangs Rabadon’s Deathcap – The icing on the cake. Rabadon’s Deathcap ensures that not even the tankiest champion on the enemy team will survive consecutive Rift Walks with the amount of Ability Power that Kassadin stacks. Build this item only if you have enough Ability Power already.

Lich Bane Icon - flaming sword Lich Bane – Being able to add more AP damage to your auto-attacks makes you a difficult opponent to duel and gives you the option to split push the side lanes on your own. The added Movement Speed is also very useful when chasing or running away from the enemy.

Legendary Item - Void Staff icon Void Staff – Buy this item as the final piece or when the enemy team is stacking too much Magic Resistance. This item will help shred through the enemy’s defenses and make them more vulnerable to take magic damage from you.

Kassadin Guide: Runes

Primary: Runestone Domination Logo icon Domination

Keystone: Keystone Electrocute Icon red lightning bolt Electrocute – Kassadin can easily burst an enemy down with his abilities and the extra damage just makes short skirmishes extremely painful for the enemy player. Just make sure to do the full combo and pop Electrocute before disengaging so that you can assess if you can continue the fight or not.

Taste of Blood Rune icon Taste of Blood – Adds more sustainability in lane so that you don’t get harassed out of the lane. Play aggressively to maximize using this Rune’s ability that heals you up.

Domination rune eyeball collection box full of eyeballs Eyeball Collection – Runes that add to your total AP are always good. Makes you stack AP faster with Dark Seal for every kill or assist that you get in the game.

Domination rune ultimate hunter icon Ultimate Hunter – Aside from the bonus AP, the extra Ability Haste also helps you drop Rift Walks on the enemy faster. More Rift Walks means that you’ll be able to drop enemies a lot faster once you reach Level 16.

Secondary: The Rune Icon - Resolve Resolve

three sharp bones - bone plating icon Bone Plating – Makes it harder for enemies to burst you down because consecutive attacks will become weaker on you. This will give you a better time staying in lane against overly aggressive champions that like to spam abilities.

Resolve runes - overgrowth icon Overgrowth – The added tankiness makes it a lot safer to Rift Walk into 5 enemies because you’ll be able to last longer and give you enough time to finish off the strongest enemies after layering your bursts on the priority targets.

Kassadin Overview

Kassadin is a great champion that guarantees you the victory if your team likes to play late-game scaling compositions. As long as you can wait and survive until the Level 16 mark, you won’t have a problem playing this champion. Remember that Kassadin isn’t simple and should not be played by those who are impatient. The last thing that the team wants is an impatient Kassadin who keeps getting killed so they will get set behind in terms of gold and experience.

Kassadin equipped with Hextech Crystals in his body - Kassadin Guide
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How to counter Kassadin?

If you see your enemy mid laner lock in Kassadin, you might want to pick an AD Mid Laner with strong early game potential and a late-game carry option. Make sure that you try to set them behind as much as possible or urge your team to win before the Kassadin reaches level 16.

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