Unless you're playing GMD's Kassadin but that one's on a whole different level.

Well the term to use isn't 'different'. It's 'worse'. Your build does indeed suck, and if you've had success with it so far, what's not to like about even greater success using the right runes and items?

Yes, I said it. Your runes are wrong. While there is no one correct answer for builds, there are right and wrong answers. CDR runes and gold seals are a no-no. There's only one champion among the 107 whom you will commonly see CDR runes, and that is Soraka.

The correct runes for Kassadin is a standard caster rune set:

Marks: Magic pen of course
Seals: Scaling health, scaling AP, mana regen, or flat armor
Glyphs: Scaling AP, no better alternatives
Quints: Flat AP, no better alternatives

Well, I have to say I'm a little discouraged by the general level of critiscism for the content of my guide. Thank you all for being honest though.

Perhaps I need to clarify more extensively in my guide that I am trying to share my style of playing Kassadin, and that I understand the playstyle is very different from the more standard Rod of Ages styles.

Also, I would like to clarify one thing, as something I said may have been misinterpreted:



I do not routinely play against bots with champions I'm at all familiar with, and this guide certainly is not about a bot killing style whatsoever. All of the experience I have with this build is against humans, most of which seem reasonably decent. Sorry if this caused some confusion.

I think, looking forward, I'm going to try to include the Rod of Ages tanky assassin style in my guide as a fully supported build (alongside my preferred glass cannon elusive assassin style). Its definitly worth elaborating on, but the playstyle is kind of completely different so I would need to made accomedations in most of my sections for it specifically (this is why I have not actually included the build).

Thanks again for your input, and keep on sharing your perspectives!

Without mentioning anything else, the core items are very bad. Rod of Ages is automatic on Kassadin, and Athene's Unholy Grail gives utility, instead of flat out damage, which is what he needs, since he is an assassin, not a high utility champion like Orianna.

As everyone mentioned already: the runes are complete ***** and MUST go.

As for the items, Athene's Unholy Grail is the worst mana item for Kassadin. Most Kassadin players build Rod of Ages or an early Tear of the Goddess. Kassadin doesn't do so well with mana regen, and he needs a large mana reserve.

You put up a lot of work into it which is a bit of a shame since some parts are just bad. The runes are very sub-par and so is starting with boots. Clarity is 100% bad, no exceptions to that. It's a -1 for now but once you've made some improvements or simply have questions; you can always PM me.

If you ARE going to get cooldowns for Kassadin, you take flat, not scaling. Seals of gold, just why? With your runes you have: no health, no armor, no magic resist, no ap & some magic pen. if you're going to play him like a glass cannon, you'll need some form of resists. This is my personal opinion or others common logic. Goodluck.

Well dude, I for my reason play Kassadin that way in AI games aswell, but when it comes to teamfights (even in an AI game) you are basically lost with that build.
Let me just show you, what I for my point noticed while playing Kassadin:

1. He is really squishy if you don't play at least one HP item on him (see the HP your Kass' has)

2. He is a melee Caster, such as Cho, but he doesn't have the natural sustain that Cho has and every melee champion needs...

3. He has no spammable abilities, actually I think he is rather based on his passive in combination with his W and just uses his other abilities to finish the enemies off...

4. I would build Kassadin much more like Teemo (or sometimes Master Yi): AP/AS Hybrid, for the sake of using all his abilities effectively.

5. And last but not least, you can't stay back in the last row with Kassadin, you will HAVE to rush into the first row, as you implied you do, through the building of Lich Bane.
Your build would work perfectly with a ranged Caster (e.g. Ryze) but not so well with Kass...

-NA- Veng Lmfao, I understand if you don't really want to get into it, but I would appreciate knowing some of the rationale behind your choice of glyphs, and why they are overwhelmingly necessary, instead of just a delcaration that they are terrible. The same goes for your thing about Clarity, but know that I am not recommending Clarity as a usual choice, just stating that it can be used to great effect in timing situations.

Thank you for your remark about the Crystalline Flask starting build, I had forgotten to mention that and I will include a section on it promptly to be found in "Discussion of Alternate Items".

Thanks for your feedback!

Thank you for your feedback Satella!

To respond, I do indeed play Kassadin as a glass cannon. I'm not a pro and applying the word 'competitive' to me is a dubious association at best, but my style works on alot more than bots, and I felt it was worth sharing as my first guide.

With regards to the 750 gold bit, let me explain in a bit more detail my thought process:

Firstly, my priority is (and this applies to most mid champions) to farm better than my laning opponent. All else being equal (which it seldom is) trading health to the point where both of us need to recall is usually a break-even outcome. I'm merely observing that if you can get this trade to happen with at least 750 gold and close to level 6 by modulating your level of aggression, the events of your mid lane can synergize well without your opponent even knowing it.

Sure, if your lane isnt very caustic, its fine to keep it that way and stay in lane until ~10 mins, then go back and buy even more, but if you can force your opponent to recall, then recall yourself on your own terms, collect Sorcerer's Shoes, and hit level 6, you're in a great position to start making something happen, especially if your jungler has a blue buff for you <3


I just want to reiterate something I mentioned in my guide. I have the utmost respect for the way that you and most people think about and play Kassadin. There is nothing wrong with it. I just really like this less tanky, more spammy style, and find it effective.

Cheers and thank you again for putting some thought into my guide :)

http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/blog/na-veng-lmfao/my-blog-good-guide-shop

The runes are terrible. You need armor/MR seals/glyphs & ap quints, not CDR & gold.. You have no mention Crystalline Flask + Health Potion + sight ward as a start. Clarity is such a terrible spell, don't recommend it. Rest of your guide is fine. I score you a 7, giving you an upvote. Goodluck.

"Although it is not always possible, try to avoid returning to base until you have 750 gold."

750 gold is nothing; your first back should usually allow you to afford at least Sorcerer's Shoes and a Catalyst the Protector. Are you farming efficiently? You should have 60-90 creep score around 10 minutes depending on how well you did in lane, and you shouldn't need to recall before 10 minutes unless you got a kill or got killed.

The guide seems well-written, but its contents I must disagree with, since it looks like you are playing Kassadin as a glass cannon rather than a tanky, mobile anti-AP assassin. Kassadin's range is low, his Q isn't a spammable nuke, and if you have to stay at the back the whole time, you are wasting your passive as well as Nether Blade. A good Kassadin player can devastate teamfights with a good Riftwalk Force Pulse combo as well as a Null Sphere to make their AP temporarily worthless.

The way you play Kassadin might work in bot games or at low elo, but he definitely isn't played the same way at a higher, competitive level.