About Me Hey guys I'm twist. This is my second guide on Mobafire and i hope you guys will like it. I used to be a diamond player on both EUNE and EUW in solo queue, and managed to get into the 3v3 challenger division on EUNE in season 4. I started playing league since the beginning of season 2, took a break before this season, and now i'm back, ready to reclaim my rank. About the title I decided to make this guide because i saw the skill order R>E>W>Q being used even in one of the high-elo guides. For competitive games that is not the optimal way to play cassiopeia. What's In This Guide? In this guide i'll try to explain which masteries, runes and items you should use and some other things about cassiopeia.

Cassiopeia is a very good champion in a solo lane, that's why i usually play her on the middle or top lane.

Cassiopeia has a very good passive ( Aspect of the Serpent) that offers us A LOT of ability power and cooldown reduction, an insane sustained damage because of her Twin Fang ability, a decent amount of cc because of her Miasma and Petrifying Gaze, but she has some cons too. Poor mobility and the mana requirements are fair disadvantages, also she's very hard to master.

Pros: Has insane amounts of sustained damage. Requires almost no cooldown reduction from items. Strong cc abilities.

Cons: Her mobility is not one of the best. She's a mana thirsty champion. Hard to master.

Masteries

Offense

Most of the talents in this tree provide us with damage. The exceptions are:
Feast
Dangerous Game
which give us sustain.

Utility

Phasewalker : I use this only to gain acces to other masteries in the utility tree.
Expanded Mind : provides us with more mana . This is a must because cassiopeia is a mana thirsty champion.
Summoner's Insight : Gives us a lower cooldown on flash, so we are able to do more plays with this mastery.
Strength of Spirit : A good mastery considering the maximum mana we will have on cassiopeia.
Alchemist : A good mastery for sustain on lane.
Culinary Master : Gives us even more sustain.

Runes

I currently use three rune pages for cassiopeia.

This is the page i use most of the time. It gives you the most damage and a decent amount of defense.

The 2nd rune page is a more defensive one. Good against mages that counter you.

This 3rd rune page is even better than the first if the enemy you are facing is dealing physical damage.

This page is used on almost every mage by the korean pro player Faker.

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - There are no better marks (reds) for a caster at the moment. They provide you with magic penetration, which increases your damage against enemies.
• Greater Seal of Scaling Health - These seals provide you with some extra defense against any kind of champion. They become better than Greater Seal of Health after level 6.
• Greater Seal of Armor - If you know you are going to play against an enemy that uses attack damage more than ability power on the lane, you can go for these seals.
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power - I find these to be the best glyphs for a caster, because your main role is to deal damage. This glyph becomes better than Greater Glyph of Ability Power after level 7.
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - If you are afraid of the enemy mage you will face on the lane you can go with these. They will provide you with extra survivability, but will reduce your damage.
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power - These provide your spells with a decent amount of extra damage. I also don't find another viable quintessence for a caster like annie. (maybe only the movement speed one)

Champion Abilities

So as you can see the order is R>E>Q>W. This is the way i play cassiopeia, and most of the professional players do.


Small tip: use ctrl+<spell key> to level an ability faster. For example if you just reached level 6 and a fight just started, instead of moving your mouse to that 'plus sign' press ctrl+r to level your ultimate. This is the smart-cast version to level abilities.

• Petrifying Gaze(R)- Without doubt this is the best ability that cassiopeia has. Level this every time you can because it provides you with a strong CC and a decent amount of damage.
• Twin Fang(E)- This is the second most important spell. It provides us with huge amounts of damage. Because we will use this spell a lot of times, the mana cost is a disadvantage, but our build will provide us with a lot of mana.
• Noxious Blast(Q)- We usually use this spell for poking and before killing our target with the Twin Fang spam. I choose to level this faster than Miasma because it provides us with more damage.
• Miasma(W)- Max this last because it increases mostly the strength of the slow. The damage increase is not that relevant.
• Aspect of the Serpent(passive)- This passive is extremly good. The amounts of ability power and cooldown reduction provided are insane.

Summoner Spells

Defensive choices:

+In the later stages of the game, escaping from a slow or stun might be more useful than getting a shield or some health back. -Doesn't protect your from suppression, knock-ups, knock-backs, grabs or flings. -I wouldn't recommend this one if you already plan on building Quicksilver Sash.

+Provides us with extra health points and a movement speed boost. +Can aid our allies. +The health points we get don't disappear after 2 seconds. -Does not remove crowd control. (stuns, slows) -Is affected by grievous wounds. (healing reduction)

+The shield is bigger than the amount of hp you get from heal. +Is not affected by healing reduction. -Doesn't remove crowd control. -The shield disappears after 2 seconds. -No movement speed boost.

Utility choices:

+Very good against champions with a lot of burst damage. +Good for reaching your targets. (by slowing them down) -Sometimes as a carry, it might be more important to protect yourself than slowing down a certain target for 2.5 seconds.

+Can get you where you are needed. (a very good spell if you are playing in the top lane) -It's harder to use than any other summoner spell. -Can't aid you in combat.

Offensive choice:

+Good against targets that get healed. +Good early game when you might not have enough mana to finish your opponent. -Doesn't help you survive. -Sometimes you might not be in range to cast it on your target. (considering your skills range)

Core Items

or

Because Cassiopeia needs a lot of mana, we should buy one of these items. Seraph's offers us more damage and mana (that's why i pick this item most of the time), while rod of ages provides us with more health. Going for mana regeneration items like Morellonomicon or Athene's Unholy Grail is bad for cassiopeia because we will exceed the 40% cooldown reduction cap. (20% from item + 25% from Aspect of the Serpent = 45%)

Offensive items

vs vs

If your enemies have magic resist items, you should go for void staff. Otherwise you have 2 options, Luden's Tempest or Rabadon's Deathcap. This one is really a hard choice. I usually go for Rabadon's Deathcap because it gives me more burst damage, but Luden's Echo is cheaper (3100 gold vs 3300 gold), gives us bonus movement speed, and it is better when you plan to poke your enemies.

Defensive Items

or

The defensive item should be bought when you know you won't live a long time in the team-fights. Quicksilver Sash is better when you are afraid only of crowd control. Banshee's Veil is better against Vi and when you are afraid of the damage you get as well. When using the veil, try to keep your shield up for an important ability.

Hybrid Items

These items provide both defensive and offensive stats.
Zhonya's Hourglass is one of my favorite items from this category because it has such a strong active. The active is almost as good as the one from quicksilver sash or the shield from banshees' veil. If the enemy team lacks physical damage the armor might be a waste.
Abyssal Scepter is a good item. If your enemy laner deals mostly magic damage this could prevent your death during laning phase. One disadvantage is the low range of the magic resistance reduction aura that you get from this item.
Will of the Ancients can be used against opponents that deal hybrid damage (both magical and physical). This item can be really good on cassiopeia because of her sustained damage.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment give you health and damage. You should go for rylai's or Luden's Tempest if you have troubles when chasing your enemies.

Early Game

Try to harass your opponent with Noxious Blast and auto-attacks. If a minion is about to die, use your auto-attack for farming instead. After you get level 2 you can use your Noxious Blast to apply poison on your enemies and follow it with a Twin Fang spam. Do this only if you know you have a chance of killing your target, because the Twin Fang spam uses a lot of mana. Don't be afraid to use Twin Fang for last hitting minions as well. (be careful, missing the last-hit will cost you a lot of mana)

Mid Game

If you just can't get a kill on your lane, try to either freeze the lane or push it and help the other lanes. This might be the perfect time to use your Vision Wards. In the images below you can see the 2 spots i ward most of the time if i am mid.





If i am top and on the blue side of the map i usually ward this spot.



If i am top and on the red side of the map i usually ward this spot.



By warding those spots you can see the incoming ganks.
For mid: If only one side is warded, try to stay on that side of the lane.
For top: Try to stay as far away as you can from the river.

Late Game

In this part of the game, the most important thing is to stay around your team. Try to apply poison to your enemies because if you can't spam your Twin Fang on them you won't do as much damage as possible. Try to hit as many people with your ultimate, but don't be afraid to use it to defend yourself or your teammates (especially your ad carry). Also, let your team know if you are low on mana. That way, they won't engage in a 4v5 fight.

Gameplay videos

Below you have videos with professional players playing cassiopeia.



If you would like to see more videos with professional player in solo queue, you should take a look at this youtube channel. If you want to see a certain professional player or champion, comment in any of the videos.

If you would like to see me play casters (annie, cassiopeia, leblanc, lulu, syndra) on both summoners rift and twisted treeline you are more than welcome. If you would like to follow me, you can do that on my twitch page. (Link here)

If you have questions don't be afraid to ask into the comments section, because i will try to answer as soon as possible. Also if you find any important mistakes that i have made please point it out.

07 June 2015: Guide was released.