Redefining Kassadin: A Guide for Mid & Top Lane
Welcome to our guide on playing Kassadin in the mid lane. This versatile champion can also work in the top lane, but it’s a bit more challenging. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out our previous article on why Kassadin is still a force to be reckoned with, even after all the changes in patch 5.4 and subsequent patches.
In this guide, we’ll focus on Kassadin’s runes and masteries setup, early laning phase, laning after level 6 and roaming, item builds, teamfighting strategies, and tips for dealing with different matchups.
1. Runes and Masteries Setup
For runes, I recommend mp marks, armor or hp per lvl seals, and mr, mr/lv or cdr/lvl glyphs. Use flat ap quints for that extra punch during the lane phase. You can opt for cdr glyphs against AD matchups and less aggressive AP matchups. Otherwise, I recommend using mr glyphs to make laning easier.
When it comes to masteries, it’s important to prioritize tankiness to improve your trading and harassing abilities. The feast mastery in the offense tree is a matter of personal preference, but it provides extra sustain and mana regen in combination with Doran’s Ring. Aim for a full 5% cdr, especially if you have cdr runes. Avoid deviating from the recommended masteries.
As for summoner spells, take ignite and flash in the mid lane. If you’re playing top lane, teleport is a good option.
2. Early Laning Phase
Start the game with Doran’s Ring instead of Flask for more lane pressure and better mana regen. Although Flask provides more sustain, a Doran’s Ring will give you more mana regen, especially if you’re laning for a long time without backing. The extra AP from the ring will also make your harassment stronger and increase the shield of your Q, resulting in more health points if used effectively. In summary, a ring is preferred for easier kill threats and farming, while Flask is better for safer laning and sustain.
Always start with Q, then level up W (more on this in the champion matchups section). To summarize, max Q against AP champions and E against AD champions or when you need early waveclear.
During early laning, focus on spamming Q at the enemy to apply pressure. If your opponent tries to trade back, make sure to trade at the same time to absorb some of the damage with your magic shield. Once you reach level 2, use W whenever it’s off cooldown on minions. At level 3, prioritize another point in Q for more harassment, or get E if you’re getting pushed in or playing against an AD champion.
Try to farm as much as possible until you have enough gold for a blasting wand or catalyst. Be cautious of jungle pressure before you hit level 6. It’s unnecessary to buy boots early on, and extra Doran’s Rings won’t make laning easier. The longer you delay building your Rod of Ages, the longer it will take to become effective. Catalyst provides more sustain in lane, while blasting wand increases kill threat potential. Choose based on your playstyle and the situation, similar to the flask vs. ring choice.
3. Laning After Level 6 and Roaming
Keep a close eye on your ultimate counter. Don’t use it more than twice to go back to the lane, as you’ll need it for harassing and participating in fights. Laning becomes easier and stronger for Kassadin after reaching level 6. Now, you should constantly harass your opponent by ulting in and using Q + E combo. Use your W if you can, but it’s safer to stay at a long range while harassing. Ult in when your opponent has used their spells on minions or when you can dodge their spells. This will make trading easier and punish your opponent.
Always buy wards (pinks and greens) to cover the river for enemy jungle movement or to keep an eye on your lane opponent’s roams.
4. Item Build
Core Build:
- Rod of Ages: This is a must-have item for Kassadin. It provides sustain in lane, tankiness, and a large mana pool. Kassadin heavily relies on his mana pool, as his W ability works with % missing mana and his ult has an increased mana cost. Orianna, on the other hand, is more mana regen-dependent and can rely on items like Morellonomicon to keep using her spells.
- Merc threads or Sorcerer shoes: Get Sorcerer shoes for more damage in most games, but make sure you finish your Rod of Ages before buying boots. Merc threads are recommended against heavy CC comps or champions with long CC durations, such as Rammus, Fiddlesticks, or Veigar. Avoid building Banshee’s Veil or Quicksilver Sash and choose Mercs along with a Zhonya’s Hourglass to survive chain CC comps.
- Zhonya’s Hourglass: Build this item quickly if your opponents pay attention to you in teamfights. It completely changes your teamfighting potential. With this item, you can be more aggressive, play on the frontline, and even engage fights on your own. Use it after using your ultimate to allow your abilities to reset or as a bait tool.
- Deathcap: This item provides more AP and is great if you want to snowball harder.
- Void Staff: Purchase this item when multiple opponents are building magic resistance. However, if their backline has no MR, prioritize Deathcap first. Your job is to kill the backline and clean up fights. Unless the tanks pose a threat, you can delay getting Void Staff until your fourth item.
If You Have Extra Money:
- Lich Bane: This is a perfect last item. It enhances your W damage, allows you to one-shot squishy targets, increases sustain damage, and makes you a great splitpusher/tower pusher.
- Luden’s Echo: Upgrade your large rod items first before considering this item. It can be useful when you can’t risk getting into melee range or when you want extra poke while your ADC destroys turrets. In most situations, Lich Bane is a better choice. Luden’s Echo can also be a solid sixth item if you decide to sell your boots and focus on damage, but it’s recommended to have a more defensive item in that case.
- Abyssal Scepter: In certain situations and matchups, Abyssal Scepter can be a solid choice. It’s especially useful against high AP comps or burst champions like LeBlanc, Katarina, or Veigar. The item provides both damage and defense. Consider buying this item before Deathcap or even Zhonya’s Hourglass.
- Mejai’s Soulstealer: If you want to snowball early, you can buy this item. It’s relatively cheap and offers the best flat AP when stacked, plus some extra CDR. However, keep in mind that this item is a gamble and draws extra attention since enemies don’t want you to reach the 20-stack limit.
- Upgrade your trinket: Whenever possible, upgrade your trinket after reaching level 9. The Sweeper trinket is preferable, and if you decide to upgrade your boots, go for alacrity for extra movement speed.
Items to Avoid:
- Archangel’s Staff/Seraph’s Embrace: While Kassadin benefits from mana, he also needs to be tanky. Building both Rod of Ages and Archangel’s/Seraph’s will delay your power spike even further, especially considering that Kassadin is a slow/medium scaling champion. Archangel’s has a shield and more AP when fully stacked, but its build path is not ideal, requiring Catalyst and Tear, and it takes longer to become effective. Both items stack at a similar rate, but Rod of Ages is useful as soon as you buy it, while Archangel’s becomes strong only when fully stacked.
- Morellonomicon/Athene’s Unholy Grail: As mentioned before, Kassadin needs mana rather than mana regen, so it’s not worth building these items just for the CDR.
- Iceborn Gauntlet: Lich Bane is a better damage option than Iceborn Gauntlet. You don’t need extra slow with a flash that has a cooldown of less than 2 seconds. If you have enough damage to one-shot ADCs or AD assassins, you don’t need more armor. (Keep in mind that you are still an AP assassin.) Iceborn Gauntlet can be useful against full AD comps with a lot of poke, but it’s generally not recommended to pick Kassadin in such situations.
- Rylai’s Crystal Scepter: Not recommended.
- Liandry’s Torment: Kill the backline first, then focus on the frontline with Lich Bane.
5. Teamfighting
Kassadin excels in jungle fights where he can use his ultimate to jump over walls. On the other hand, he struggles in open lane fights. Always look for opportunities to damage the backline or pick off squishy targets like supports.
In the early stages of teamfights, focus on damaging anyone who comes close, as your damage is lower and enemies aren’t tanky yet. Prioritize the biggest threats.
Stick close to your team and assist them in cleaning up fights by chasing with your ultimate and slowing enemies with your E ability. When your abilities are on cooldown, stay at the edge of the fight until they’re back up, so you’re ready to jump back in. Avoid spamming your ultimate too much, as resetting your ult stacking before a new fight breaks out is crucial.
Always look for opportunities to pick people off from over walls or edges. Having vision is essential to avoid being caught in a warded area. In the later stages of the game, focus on the backline and capitalize on moments to poke when both teams are circling around each other. Stay out of poke range until you spot a chance to ult in, quickly use Q + E, and then float back to your team.
Never back away from a fight, even if you’re low on health. Always look for opportunities to re-engage and pick people off with a well-timed Riftwalk.
6. Matchups
AD matchups:
Avoid AD matchups whenever possible, as they can be very challenging. Most of the time, you should max E against AD champions for the extra slow and waveclear, allowing you to quickly push and roam. The magic damage shield from your Q ability is useless against AD champions.
- Zed: Buy Flask or Cloth Armor and focus on staying healthy. Try to farm and avoid all Q poke. Your kill threat against Zed at level 6 isn’t significant, as you can use your ultimate to escape, but you should never take him lightly and avoid his poke as much as possible. Pressure the map and avoid 1v1 interactions until you scale up. Build Rod of Ages and then rush Zhonya’s Hourglass (avoid boots upgrade). The best advice for dealing with Zed is to ban him.
- Talon: This matchup is similar to Zed. Stay behind your minions, avoid his Q poke, and survive in lane. As you scale up, your kill threat against Talon increases, but he can push and poke aggressively early on. After reaching level 6, the matchup becomes easier. Just max E and try to farm as evenly as possible.
- Yasuo: This is one lane where the matchup isn’t completely unfavorable for Kassadin. Let Yasuo push early on, avoid early harassment as much as possible, and use your level 1 Q to remove his shield. At level 2, use Q + AA plus W reset for some good damage. In general, try to stay out of his range and harass with your Q and E abilities. You outscale Yasuo easily. Follow the same build advice as against Zed.
- Unconventional Picks: If you face an unusual champion like Pantheon, it’s better to swap lanes and go top. Kassadin can perform well in the top lane. You can’t win without assistance, and Kassadin is a viable top laner.
AP matchups:
Kassadin thrives against AP champions and has very few bad matchups, but let’s go over them anyway. Keep in mind that Kassadin scales well and can often come back even if the laning phase doesn’t go smoothly. Below is a summary of various AP matchup strategies.
- Annie: It’s a fairly easy matchup. Avoid her Q and trade Q for Q effectively. Avoid her AA harass and do not engage in prolonged AA duels, as her passive and shield will often win those trades. Although Annie isn’t too scary early on, her burst damage becomes higher than yours at level 6. Your ult is primarily for mobility, while her ult enhances her burst. Avoid her Q at all costs. It’s challenging to burst her down because she rushes Abyssal Scepter early on, so focus on poking her down and avoid getting baited into an all-in.
- LeBlanc: Avoid her Q harass and trade effectively. Stay behind your minions and use Q to poke. This matchup is in Kassadin’s favor, but LeBlanc still poses a threat. Consider building an Abyssal Scepter if you’re struggling in the lane. As the game progresses, it becomes easier to kill her.
- Syndra: Play it safe and trade Qs to avoid her harass. Avoid getting caught by her stun and the pillars she generates. This matchup heavily favors Kassadin after level 6, but mind her double shield.
- Fizz: Harass Fizz when possible but avoid his E. Let him push and pressure early on. Avoid long AA trades as Fizz will win those with his W ability.
- Veigar: This lane can be challenging. Avoid getting hit by Veigar’s E and play safely. Use your Q whenever possible and harass him, but be aware that Veigar will push hard. After level 6, it becomes harder to kill him without jungler help. Be cautious of his CC chain in combination with the enemy jungler’s involvement. Place wards and think preemptively to avoid being surprised by his E ability.
- Anivia: Avoid her harass and dodging her spells. Buy boots early to dodge her abilities, especially the Q. Play aggressively and position yourself next to your minion wave to avoid her harass while securing your farm. Given Anivia’s safety in lane, you’ll want to roam or get jungler help for a kill.
- Viktor: Avoid getting hit by Viktor’s Q, and stay behind your minions to harass with your Q. Play fairly aggressively next to your minion wave to prevent Viktor from harassing and farming easily. Always juke sideways to dodge his Q and don’t run away from it. Viktor is a safe laner, so try to roam or get jungler help for an advantage.
- Cassiopeia: Trade Q abilities with her E, and avoid getting snared. This lane is entirely in your favor after level 6, but be mindful of her double shield.
- Syndra: Avoid her spheres and trade Q for Q effectively. This matchup strongly favors Kassadin after level 6, but watch out for her double shield.
- Karthus: Harass him from a distance and avoid his Q harass. Do not engage in prolonged AA fights, as you won’t win those. Farm, scale up, and use your mobility advantage to avoid his spells. Build Zhonya’s Hourglass early to absorb his ult, which will be more useful than Abyssal Scepter in most cases.
- Nidalee: Stay safe and poke whenever you can, avoiding her Q harass. Don’t get baited into AA duels, as her shield and passive will win her trades most of the time. While Nidalee isn’t too scary early on, her damage will surpass yours when she reaches level 6. Use your ult to create distance if she tries to engage, and do not underestimate her additional damage output.
- Lux: Trade Q for Q and be careful not to get caught by her CC. This matchup heavily favors Kassadin after level 6, but be cautious of her double shield.
- Zyra: Trade effectively and avoid being snared. This is an easy matchup, as you can harass her a lot, and you can interrupt her ult with your Q.
Thanks for reading our guide on playing Kassadin. If you have any questions or need additional advice, feel free to reach out to us on Twitter @antdrioite or leave a comment below.