HI, I’m Karasmai a Challenger Kayn player peaking at over 1k LP in season 10! I’ve been the best Kayn NA since his release in 2017 so I wanted to create a guide to help other players climb. I've added some links below of where you can find me. Thanks for checking out my guide! Twitch|Twitter|Discord|Youtube|OP.GG

RHAAST

VS

Shadow Assassin

I go Rhaast (red) Kayn whenever the enemy team has 3 or more Melee Champs. The core strength comes from his sustain with passive healing and having a knock up on his W. Strengths ➤ Strong Tank killer ➤ Team fight god There are times where I plan to go red but get Blue form first and just go blue Called “blueZer” where i just go rhaast runes/build on blue kayn or i do vice versa and We call this “Rhaassassin” the build will be normal just opposite form.

I go Assassin (blue) Kayn when there are 3 or more ranged champions. Shadow Assassin gets mix dmg with his passive giving magic dmg and higher mobility with a lower cd e and not having to stand still to use your W Strengths: ➤ Assassin ➤ Great at diving backlines ➤ Strong at making picks There are times where I plan to go red but get Blue form first and just go blue Called “blueZer” where i just go rhaast runes/build on blue kayn or i do vice versa and We call this “Rhaassassin” the build will be normal just opposite form.

RHAST Typically the Best combo for Rhaast is with your Gore drinker you’re gonna want to lead in with your E than Q1- Goredrinker - Q2 and follow with your W into a autoattack or 2 into another Q + ulti if they’re low enough hp or if you’re getting low (typically you want to save ult and only ult at very low hp) ASSASSIN For Blue Kayn you want to lead with E and hit W poke them with W a couple times til they’re low and then either lead with R or if they’re caught off guard instantly W Q auto for one shot, If they notice you than you should W R Auto and run away when your E comes back up. Make sure You stay in ulti if you can (they dont have heal or barrier) to reposition and wait for Upcoming Spells.

HAIL BLADE Going red Kayn experienced players will know how to kite you fairly easily so this helps to close that gap. You can go Emberknife if the enemy team doesn’t have a lot of kite champions or if your team has a lot of CC

TEAR OF THE GODDESS You want tear and Long Sword on your first back. It should be easy to stack and will build into manamune which is a high damage output item.

GoreDrinker Goredrinker is amazing on red kayn because It gives you more AD based on lower hp (synergizes with red kayns sustain/playstyle AND last stand) - also has a lot of healing with it especially on multikills and extended fights which is what red kayn is about

Manamune Your solution to any mana issues as well as tons of added attack damage. Continually using E and Q will give you bonus movement speed.

BLACK CLEAVER Cleaver shreds tanks and gives CDR (haste). It’ll also be a good source of both health and added damage.

PLATED STEELCAPS Steelcaps will give you added + 20 armor and +45 movement speed. They will also reduce all incoming damage from basic attacks by 12%.

CHEMPUNK CHAINSWORD Chainsword will inflict grievous wounds which is necessary against anyone who has healing. It also gives added CDR (haste), attack damage, and health.

HAIL BLADE For blue Kayn Hail Blade will synergize well with your one shot ability. You can go Emberknife if the enemy team doesn’t have a lot of kite champions or if your team has a lot of CC

TEAR OF THE GODDESS You want tear and Long Sword on your first back. It should be easy to stack and will build into manamune which is a high damage output item.

ECLIPSE One of the strongest AD items with lethality. To add to it’s strengths it gives high AD, has a movespeed proc and a shield.

IManamune Your solution to any mana issues as well as tons of added attack damage. Continually using E and Q will give you bonus movement speed.

IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY +15 Ability Haste (cool down reduction) and +45 movement speed. It also gives an added 10% cold down on summoner spells. .

OR

BLACK CLEAVER OR YOUMUU’s GHOSTBLADE If they have tanky or bruiser champs you want Black Cleaver. If they have all squishies you want Youmuu's Ghostblade.

Rhaast you will start red and then do a full clear. Pathing: Red Brambleback ➟ Ancient Krug ➟ Crimson Raptor ➟ Greater Murk Wolf ➟ Blue Sentinel ➟ Gromp ➟ rift scuttler ➟ look for gank ➟ back and buy ➟ Tear of the Goddess + Long Sword On your first clear you will want to use Hailblade smite on Ancient Krug and Gromp

Assassin Kayn you won’t need a leash so you’ll look to start wolves. Pathing: Greater Murk Wolf ➟ Crimson Raptor ➟ Red Brambleback ➟ Ancient Krug ➟ gank top or bot depending on side of map ➟ Buy Tear of the Goddess + Long Sword ➟ rift scuttler ➟ Blue Sentinel ➟ Gromp ➟ look for gank

E A R L Y

you want to make sure you have a fast start so be sure to practice your pathing to be as fast and efficient as mine is. And it will give you more time to look for ganks this also means you have to be able to buy in shop as fast as i do so be sure to utilize the tool of a item set and include all the items listed above ^^ Typically early you can give up a lot of things (skuttle, Vision control, 1 or 2 drags) as long as you are building a CS advantage or getting very close to form.

M I D

Typically this is the time you get your form and based off the form you choose you will be able to turn the direction of the game, Blue snowballs a lot Faster so you can immediately look for picks as soon as your Ulti is up (based off the enemies items and yours). The main thing i look for is who has a shut down and try to secure that as fast as possible and definitely look to force plays with your team because you have more mobility you will be able to be at the fights faster, Now for Rhaast its all about teamfight so look for dragons or rifts and ping your team that you’re ready to go! Typically the enemy team will look to fight you at every objective and if not you can just stack objectives til you get a free win and the second you get a gold ADV look to push for towers but be very careful not to over extend on either form cause you can and will throw the game being too cocky.

L A T E

Both kayn forms start to fall off so you have to play off the main carry (mid/adc) so either look to one shot there mid/adc as shadow assassin or Look to peel for your backline as Rhaast.

F I G H T S

As a Rhaast the main thing you can do is dive there backline and look to ult at a very low hp And ult who ever has the most Flat HP on the enemy team for the largest heal then you redive the back line also make sure you’re looking for the ppl who are grouped the most for multiple man w’s + q’s

As a Shadow Assassin you usually want to come from out of vision and be ready to full combo immediately only look to flash in when there is multiple people lined up and they seem out of position, you typically wanna save smite as a safety net in case you’re caught out and you can smite and ult someone to survive!

(M)
I only put him at medium because he is very overpowered in the current meta, he typically isn't a big deal for Rhaast but he is a big deal for your team because he sets his team up very easily. If you get perma cc’d you won't be able to do much in fights. Typically you will have to itemize properly to survive by either rushing Visage after cleaver or Merc treads instead of Plated Steelcaps. If you go Shadow Assassin he won't be able to catch you. If you’re worried he can just rush Edge of Night and PERMA dive his backline. Just remember you won't be able to kill him alone.

(VE)
This champ used to be a popular jgler but more of a offmeta pick now, not too much to worry about. Just make sure you go Rhaast and when she E’s in knock her up. You can easily out path her and out tempo her just by full clearing and the second you get 3 items you will have already out scaled her 2x over.

(VE)
Both forms are pretty easy. Rhaast does MAX % health Dmg just rush a Exec after you finish Goredrinker and if you’re going blue you can easily run past him. No need to itemize to kill him, just his backline. Maybe you can get a Exec if your team doesn't, the only thing to watch out for is his early dragon control powers so buy a Control ward early and put it there!

(M)
Very rough to play against if he snowballs early but he has a very slow clear so by the time you full clear he won't be 5 camps in. Just make sure you or your team wards early for the early ganks if he gets a early gank off he can easily run the game over, I typically only go Rhaast into Ekko and itemize Goredrinker - Manamune - Tabi - Cleaver - Spirit Visage - Chainsword.

(E)
A champ that is very feast or famine has to get early ganks to be relevant if not then she will fall off hard and be useless. If you are going Blue make sure you get Edge of Night a s soon as possible. If you are going Rhaast make sure you rush Merc treads or Visage, similar to Amumu. The main way you will beat Elise is early power farming and mid-late teamfights.

(VE)
This champ Loses up until lvl 6 so make sure you punish her a lot early game. This means you can easily win early skuttle fights and you can also look to invade her to start the game (start her raptors and look to smite her red away) if she starts blue you can take her entire red side and just make sure your red is warded cause she will be easy to catch out. Once she’s lvl 6 she will only be stronger until you get form so try to force a lot in that early game and get form asap . Once you do its smooth sailing just force teamfights and objectives + always have a control ward on the map. If you go Red rush MR (visage or merc) if you go Blue make sure you rush Edge of Night and stay away from the charm!

(H)
This champ falls under hard category because his OP early farming gives him a lead + his W sustain makes him impossible to solo without form. Once you get form he will always have A strong advantage in fights and without due to his ult. The way you play around this for Red is rush MR like most typical AP matchups and Blue you rush Edge of Night. The playstyle will rely on heavily warding + forcing when his ulti is down. Make sure you’re farming a lot because Fiddle will tend to farm a lot early and only look to fight mid-late so you can build a HUGE cs lead. Also he will tend to solo drakes you can give him the first 1 or 2 if his bot-mid have prio but if not you may contest.

(M)
The only reason he falls under medium is because of his E which can cancel your Q entirely so if a well timed E lands it will cancel a lot of your in fight dmg. He is really easy to out path and out farm so power farming will come in handy vs this champ! If you go blue be careful if he rushes Zhonya and try to get Edge of Night to counter his R / E And if you go Red you can get Spirit Visage after Cleaver and you will typically outscale just make sure you save your Q for after he e’s and try to W him mid air. Also be care of Gragas yoinking your buff with Q lvl 1 if he's a cheeser !

(VH)
Please ban this champ there is very little to no counterplay if you don't ban him. I suggest dodging if some reason you didn't do either of these get ready for 15 minutes of the most unenjoyable experience you’ve ever had. If you manage to beat a Graves you probably went Rhaast and team fought better but you also probably had a better team so just ban him to save yourself.

(H)
Only reason he falls under hard is his early clear is as fast as yours he is very high tempo, with a slightly weaker teamfight but much better force so he can start fights easier and pressure the map thru ganks and objectives a lot smoother than Kayn. If you’re against Hecarim your best bet is going Rhaast and scaling with 3-4 items and 1v9ing a teamfight, if you do go blue try to keep vision of him and gank opposite of the map from him cause you will lose a counter gank.

(M)
This champ won’t be too hard just make sure he does’nt cheese one of your buffs. Typically I like to start red no matter what form i go and ward my blue, if he does cheese you go invade his jg because it takes a bit for him to take camps. If you go blue make SURE you rush Serpants fang to break his shields if you go Red you must dodge his snare in order to murder him and his backline. Only reason he is medium is because of how easy it is for him to play off his team and most teams tend to outscale rhaast or shadow assassin.

(E)
Very easy if you are going Rhaast you will hard win the fight as long as you can dodge his E q which is very easy since you can just use your Q, If you go shadow assassin its even easier to dodge and you can easily get through to his backline. No matter form, remember you can use your E out of his ult and it will heal you!!!

(VE)
Very simple matchup you out farm you out pace you outscale if you go blue you won't be able to one shot him but his team, and if you go rhaast you’ll beat him in every way

(H)
Only reason he falls under Hard is because he can powerfarm and get free kills just from using R so its impossible for any jgler to punish especially since his lvl 1 is a lot more powerful than ppl think so its hard to invade and punish especially as a Kayn, I typically like to try to teamfight if i go rhaast and kill him early and you may use Ulti to dodge his ulti which can negate a lot of his dmg, If you go Blue you need to snowball before he gets zhonyas and invade him a lot and take his camps so he will not powerfarm.

(M)
If you’re playing norms and you’re vs a Kayn who ever goes Rhaast will probably win. Make sure you buy items to counter him like tabi and Exec and get your form asap and try to deny him his.

(M)
This is the definition of a 50/50 Matchup, You win early clear by farming faster, Kha'zix will always win the 1v1 so never try to 1v1 him. Always look to fight in groups even first form so 2v2/3v3’s are your best friend. And when you get form make sure you fight in groups still and force fights on objectives. Vision control will win this matchup forsure! Don't be afraid to get Exec as well to stop his massive healing from his ravenous hunter + Q - W combo.

(H)
Depending on which form you go this will either be very hard or just hard, if you’re blue you must be strong enough to kill her with out using R because when she is low enough she will use R and you must use R during that R to kill her immediately after its done. So make sure you rush full lethal DMG. As a Rhaast you will need exec and make sure you Can Land your W so be patient soon as she uses Q you must throw W immediately luckily if she ults you will benefit more cause you can sustain more and she wont be able to kite out faster.

(H)
This matchup is very tricky took me a long time to get comfortable with, you’re gonna wanna farm a lot for the early and track your resets everytime he stays on the map too long you want to make sure you have the Bonus Longsword adv or Kindlegem adv. You can full clear and be at skuttle before hes lvl 4 so if he contests look to fight him, If you’re going blue itll be hard to ignore him but get edge of knight and try your hardest to kill his carries. If you’re red you will eventually hard outscale just dont let him get too many dragons

(H)
The reason she falls under the hard category is because She can itemize to counter Blue while also having movement speed which counters Rhaast. So theres no real counter to her + she paths very fast. The way i typically beat lilia is by ganking and forcing teamfights, She usually cannot play the game if i get my form early and i either Force on her with blue or force objectives/ganks with red.

(M)
Rhaast will hard counter yi as long as you Use your Knock up as soon as his Q is over it is a guaranteed hit and you can also use your W to cancel his W. I never struggle with yi but if i go Blue Kayn it will be very hard to win if he itemizes properly and times his W well, i typically look to kill his entire team then have my team help me kill the YI with some CC so i’d only play blue kayn if myteam had good cc

(H)
She has very fast tempo you will not notice her being hard until the higher ranks but when you go Rhaast she will out movement speed you so just try to force teamfights and land something on her or her team and she will go pop!, as for shadow assassin shes a real pain cause she can get zhonya and can also heal her team to peel the carries, typically you’ll get to a point where you can burst thru this but it’ll take awhile so just be safe and dont lose to many dragons and dont let her gank too much by setting up vision

(VE)
Whether you go blue or red nocturne isnt too bad, he will afk farm and ult to gank so just try to get form early as possible if you’re rhaast you will easy win teamfights if you are shadow assassin wait for him to go in on you smite q W r to break his shield and one shot immedietaly

(H)
This champ is very tanky with a lot of early game dmg, he has insane ganks + objective control so you will need vision on the map the entire game so keep trinket and keep dragon control warded, once you get 3-4 items on Rhaast you will be able to murder him easy. Make sure you get executioner and if you do go shadow assassin never try to one shot him unless insanely ahead

(H)
Very similar to the Lee sin matchup or rek sai or trundle, he will be very strong early game but either form will hard outscale around 15-20 minutes so just dont die to him and if he wants dragons you can let him take those just make sure you get form and make it to 15-20 mins.

(E)
If you’re Blue he will never be able to catch you if you go in walls and get QSS so its easy to get to his backline, if you’re read make sure you perfectly time your W to knock him up and cancel his Q and try not to fight him during his W

(M)
Similar to olaf, but an easier version for sure. Try not to let her do as much, keep trinket, keep dragon control warded, and get your form VERY safely by just farming and ganking when u know she's not on the side of the map where you are ganking. If you’re red you will win every fight 15-20 mins + if your team isnt super behind. If you’re blue you can easily run past her and get to the backline and she wont be able to catch you.

(VH)
This champ I put under very hard because he is very very slippery and can one shot either form with ease. Red tends to do better in the lower elos, blue gets destroyed because he is the assassin who's an anti assassin. My secret way of beating Rengar is going Bruiser Blue kayn which is called Bluzer, Because i can have the high dmg and movement speed that he has and counter him with Exec and Cleaver to not die and sustain his dmg. Usually i dont like to play vs rengar but he is beatable. Just dont let him kill you and your team cause if he gets 5 stacks early of his passive he will run you!

(E)
The only reason she isn't very easy is cause her q can cancel your Q if timed properly. She is very easy for shadow assassins to pass and you can dive her backline. Rhaast will typically outscale. Just be care of her early 2v2/3v3 she will win early counterganks but when you get form you will quickly take over the game

(E)
He is much different than his Top version his top lane version is very hard to play vs cause of the itemization but jgle Sett is just full blown tank who can easily get out ran. You power farm and play similar like how you do vs Olaf but you outscale faster and blue kayn should never be touched by Sett. I would recommend getting serpent's fang on Rhaast if he's a bit of a issue in fight and save your Q to dodge his W

(M)
I made a simple set up vs shacos, if he is going AP you go Rhaast if he is going AD you go Shadow assassin. The reason behind this is because of the way he itemizes if hes AP he can get armor and rhaast will just murder him, if he Goes AD he cant build defensive go Shadow will one shot him. The only reason he falls under Medium is cause he can farm fast and gank early and snowball hard so if he does that try to stall the game and outscale.

(E)
AD Shyvanna loses hard to both forms no explanation needed just play the matchup and don't let her out farm you. AP shyvanna is a bit hard cause rhaast cant catch her and shadow assassin can't one shot her thru zhonya, But you can easily gank her lanes since she is very weak at ganking lanes and also make sure you keep dragon warded cause she will 100% go to solo dragon on spawn if you deny her dragons and gank a lot it will be very easy, also you can look to invade her by starting her raptors and smiting away RED.

(M)
Be careful not to fight him in his spires which are his passive on the ground. He will gain too many stats worth to fight. He will tend to fall behind in farming if you power farm, if you go blue get edge of knight and run past him EASY peasy, if you go Red you will need to be tanky enough to survive his 3 seconds of CC. If its too much try getting merc treads and if you need extra dmg GET serpent's fang

(E)
He farms very slowly so you just power farm and can easily contest the first scuttle. I would not recommend going Blue Kayn. Go red secure early dragons and once you get form its smooth sailing. You definitely need to rush EXEC and you will have NO issues.

(H)
The reason she fits under hard is because she will DESTROY a Rhaast so i will always recommend going Blue and if you go blue you must snowball before she gets zhonya, otherwise it’ll take a long time to out dmg it enough to burst thru the zhonya. She's not too hard to ignore tho so you can always dive her backline. She farms pretty fast but kinda weak early so if you can look to invade as much as possible.

(M)
Everything i said about Olaf can be said for Trundle so just look at that for reference it is the same exact champion, same exact counter except this one is weaker and you can E thru his pillar for easy heals XD!

(H)
This champ is THE OG MACKDADDY of hard counter to Kayn. every OG Kayn main Knows Udyr is unplayable into for most situations. Nowadays there's a bit of counterplay thru itemization if you want to kill him you need serpants you need exec and you need to kite him out. With rhaast w and kite back to your team, for shadow ignore him completely and run to his team.

(E)
Surprisingly a lot of my Kayn main students come to me with struggles of VI but she's a scripted champ very basic playstyle very low optimization. She will always go to solo drags, her clearing is very meh so you can powerfarm easily. Ward a lot so keep trinket and Control Wards on the map so she doesnt get free ganks and in teamfights. If she ults you Blue smite her and Ult her to cancel her ult entirely BOOM easy win. + you can W her mid q if you’re rhaast, You can go either form so its coolio.

(M)
He falls under the competitive bracket more than soloq but still a very strong champion. His Q can cancel your Q and your E so stay away if you can distance yourself it will usually be easy. I tend to just kite him back with my W into my team and if i go blue i get youmuus to run past him and if he ults me i smite ult him and exit into a immediate W on him and run like hell. You want to get EXEC asap and don't let him get more than 2 drakes.

(E)
VERY SIMILAR TO OLAF AND TRUNDLE! They are all the same champion in my eyes this guy is pretty easy just don't let him Q your W you want to W him from a distance cause if he Q’s your W he will not get knocked up or dodge it which will lead to a very unfortunate perma cc into death situation. Try to get exec asap and outscale 15-20 mins + don't lose more than 2 dragons.

(VE)
You hard outscale either form , you farm faster and you can win early fight at skuttle. You can easily turn 2v2 or 3v3 due to that early XP ADV strength. You will outscale at 15-20 mins with both forms, i typically wouldn't try to one shot xin as Blue kayn and it's pretty easy just to ignore him if his ULT is troublesome than go edge of knight, and for Rhaast go typical build and get easy win.

(VE)
Just go Rhaast and team fight you can cancel his E with your W if timed well. You get exec and you can out-path him. You can get all the early objectives and win counter ganks, just be very cautious of his ulti and DO NOT let him pick up his blobs or else!