Kassadin: Master of the Rift

Introduction

Kassadin is currently at a 7% pick rate in ranked play, with an even lower rate in competitive play. With two hard crowd control abilities, high burst, the ability to avoid wards when ganking, and high maneuverability, why is he not picked more? Let's find out.

 

Skills

Passive - Void Stone

 Kassadin takes 15% reduced magic damage from all sources. Kassadin converts each point of this ignored damage into 1% bonus attack speed for 4 seconds. This bonus attack speed stacks indefinitely, with the duration refreshing each time Kassadin takes magic damage.

Excellent passive against any source of magic damage and this is what makes Kassadin a counter to other mages.

Q - Null Sphere

 Kassadin fires a void bolt dealing 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+70% of ability power) magic damage and silencing the target for 1 / 1.4 / 1.8 / 2.2 / 2.6 seconds.

This is Kassadin's harrass and farming tool. High damage and a long silence duration make this ability extremely useful agianst other assassins and mages.

W - Nether Blade

 PASSIVE - Kassadin's basic attacks restore 8/11/14/17/20 Mana each hit. This is tripled against enemy champions.

ACTIVE - Active: Kassadin charges his nether blade for 5 seconds causing his basic attacks to deal an additional 30/45/60/75/90 (+0.3) magic damage.

Great for restoring mana for more frequent spell usage and for last hitting under your own tower.

E - Force Pulse

 PASSIVE - Kassadin draws energy from his own and nearby spell casts. Upon reaching 6 charges, Kassadin may use Force Pulse.

ACTIVE - Kassadin fires a pulse of energy in a cone in front of him, dealing 80/130/180/230/280 (+0.7) magic damage and slow enemies by 30/35/40/45/50% for 3 seconds.

Powerful crowd control and wave clearing tool. Paired with high base damage and a high ap scaling make Force Pulse an intergral part of Kassadin's burst combo.

R - Riftwalk

 ACTIVE - Kassadin teleports to a nearby location, dealing 60/70/80 (+0.8) magic damage to surrounding enemy units. Additionally, each subsequent Riftwalk within the next 8 seconds costs 100 additional Mana and deals 60/70/80 additional damage, stacks up to 10 times.

Riftwalk allows Kassadin to be one of the slipperiest champions in the game. With riftwalk, Kassadin can blink over an enemy's front line and assassinate carries or flank enemies from over walls. Do not underestimate the damage output of Riftwalk.

 

Early Game

Kassadin's levels 1 through 5 are very weak.  You will find yourself taking constant auto attack and spell harass when trying to farm creeps. When trying to farm a ranged caster creep, consider using your Null Sphere to silence your laning opponent to avoid taking spell harass. Try to pair Kassadin with a strong early ganking jungler such as: Lee Sin or Jarvan IV to help Kassadin get through his weak early game. There is no easy way to survive his pre level 6 laning phase; you just have to pot up and farm as best as you can.

 

Mid Game

Upon reaching level 6 and unlocking Riftwalk, you have 2 options:

1. Use Riftwalk to apply pressure to your lane and force the enemy jungler to pay attention to you.

2. Use Riftwalk to gank your other lanes and apply pressure on the map.

If you have a strong jungler that is effective at putting pressure on the enemy lanes, then it is fine to stay in your lane and dominate your laning opponent. However, if your jungler is behind or a weak ganker, consider pushing out your lane and roaming top or bot to snowball these lanes. The mid game is where Kassadin can snowball the entire game into your favor, if you play him correctly.

 

Late Game

If the game has managed to reach the later stages, your job as Kassadin is to try to assassinate the enemy carries. This task requires good initiation from your team as well as excellent positioning from you. As Kassadin, you are able to flank the enemy team by hiding over walls and Riftwalking over when your team starts a fight. A perfect R -> Q -> E -> W -> Ignite combo will spell the death of most enemy AD carries.

 

Items

Catalyst the Protector

 The passive that Catalyst gives you is vital to surviving your lane. Rod of Ages upgrade gives you: health to survive diving enemy AD carries, mana for more repositioning with Riftwalk, and ability power for extra damage. A must buy every game as Kassadin.

Tear of the Goddess

 Tear of the Goddess is an interesting item on Kassadin. Stacking it is relatively easy by spamming Nether Blade when walking to lane and Riftwalk to gank other lanes. Buying this item delays your Rod of Ages, thus weakens your early game, but fully stacking tear and upgarding to Seraphs Embrace provides you with a great damage soaking shield and a huge spike in power. Buy this only if you can get away with it in the laning phase.

Rabadon's Deathcap

 Rabadon's is a core item on any burst caster and provides a huge spike in damage upon completion.

Abyssal Scepter

 Abyssal Scepter is a very situational item on Kassadin. I would highly recommend it against other burst casters such as LeBlanc or Akali or against double AP teams.

Deathfire Grasp

 Deathfire Grasp is a very situational item. The percent of maximum health damage is low and the amplification of magic damage is only useful when you have another AP assassin on your team. Recommended buy only with Akali or Kat on your team.

Athene's Unholy Grail

 This is an item I don't usually buy on Kassadin. The combination of cooldown reduction and magic resist makes this item very attractive. I would say its good, but situational.

Zhonya's Hourglass

 Excellent for baiting enemies and buying time for important cooldowns. The Seeker's Armguard portion that builds into Zhonya's gives excellent defensive stats vs physical damage laners such as Zed, Riven, or Lee Sin.

Boots

 or  or 

Ninja Tabi - Not as good with the addition of Seeker's Armguard, but they are still a viable option if you need the extra armor.

Sorcerer's Shoes - The boots I usually buy each game. The Magic penatration is great for killing enemies in lane or roaming. I would pick these right when your blue buff spawns. The mana regen paired with the magic penatration will make your harass more potent.

Mercury's Treads - I would but these vs Fiddlesticks, Cho'Gath, Soraka or any other champion that has a hard crowd control ability that is preventing you from doing your job.

 

Good Matchups

Some of Kassadin's matchups become favorable when he hits level 6 due to the power his Riftwalk brings. These matchups include: Twisted Fate, Xerath, Anivia, Annie, Veigar, Brand, Karthus, Evelynn, and Katarina.

 

Bad Matchups

Kassadin's bad matchups are ones that are extrememly hard without jungle pressure. These matchups include: Riven, Cassiopeia, Akali, Kayle, Kennen, Zyra, Diana, Lee Sin, Jarvan, Nidalee, Ryze, Wukong, Lux, Lulu, Swain, and Soraka.

 

Other Matchups

There are some matchups that I know little about simply because I haven't played against enough people to learn the matchup. Ahri, Zed, Syndra, and AP Karma are a few examples of this. I think it may be possible to beat Zed as Kassadin only because he has no natural sustain or shielding unlike other AD champions mid (Riven, Lee Sin, Jarvan) and his early damage output is a little easier to deal with. Kassadin also has the advantage post level 6 because he can Riftwalk away as soon as Zed ults onto him.

 

Final Words

Kassadin is a strong champion that is held back by numerous bad matchups and possibly the worst laning phase in the game. Despite this, I believe he is worth learning due to the power that Riftwalk puts on the map and his ability to obliterate enemy carries. If you are a mid lane player, I urge you to pick up Kassadin and learn how to play him.

 

Footnote

I hope you have found my first article to be imformative and detailed. In future articles, I hope to explore more underappreciated champions and items. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions, comments, or critiques, feel free to message me.