Are you Null and Void? - Kassadin Analysis

With the V4.4 patch, the long awaited Kassadin rework finally hit live servers. And even though the banrate for Kassadin hasn’t changed all that much from what it was – at least 90% across draft platforms – his new playstyle differs a lot from what it used to be. Let’s do a rundown of what was, what is, and what will be, shall we?

His old kit – the one before he got stricken down with pure number nerfs – had three main problems. While it was easy to counter Kassadin in lane, he had a relatively easy time transitioning to mid and late game, even when behind, since his raw damage was just that high (560 (+140% AP)). He was also extremely mobile. His ultimate was a ground targeted port with a cooldown never higher than 7 seconds. The ability to port into combat, deal damage, wait on the side and port in to take the kill was a power that allowed him to get fed on a very safe play pattern, especially with those high numbers. And in the unfortunate event that you did not counter him in the mid lane… he’d have a relatively safe time getting farmed, fed, and as such have an easy time transitioning to later stages of the game in a vastly higher pace than his opponent, allowing himself to get fed at a faster pace than his opponent and snowball his lead really hard.

All of this led to a 90+% banrate, and as such, a rework. Main difference between live and previous Kassadin is that he doesn’t get a free spell rotation of 560 base damage. Those numbers got tuned down and the same two abilities now deal 360 damage. Additionally, he has to get into melee range to deal another 160 damage, not taking his AP ratio into account. What has happened, is that Kassadin got a new W, which increases the damage on auto-attacks and adds an significant burst of bonus damage on his next attack upon activation. This spikes his burst rotation AP ratio from 1.4 to 2.1 – which is very nice. One change to compensate for this increase in power, is the nerf to his ultimate. While at first glance it seems as if the cooldown lowering is a buff to Kassadin’s mobility, the increase in mana cost, the more you use it, is a hard nerf to his prolonged mobility, which Riot has been keen on enforcing.

Where does this take our Void Walker? My preferred playstyle has always been one where you’d live along the lines of ‘slay or get slain’. I always liked this playstyle because Kassadin has always very high snowball potential, as well as a lot of damage. The setup I prefer on Kassadin is Magic Pen Marks, Armor Seals, a combination of 3 Magic Resist and 6 Magic Resist/Level on Glyphs, and Flat AP on

Quintessences. Alongside these runes, I like a 21/0/9 mastery book which gives everything I could possibly want for an AP caster in Offense, as well as some additional good stuff for a mage in Utility.

Itemizing Kassadin starts with a Doran’s Ring and either two or three potions. Kassadin’s level 1 power is no different than it always was, so starting out as offensive as possible helps you settle your position as the dominant one in the mid lane. My key items on Kassadin contain Lich Bane, Seraph’s Embrace and Sorcerer’s Shoes. Those three need finishing as soon as possible, so as part of our core build, we’ll aim to get a Tear of the Goddess as soon as we base for the first time. This allows for the Tear to start stacking as soon as possible, which is kind of what we want.

Double Doran’s Ring are a strong addition as they aid in upkeeping mana costs and add some additional power and survivability in the form of extra HP. After purchasing said Tear, you should get a Sheen in there as soon as possible. The Tear is going to stack itself too, so getting an extra power spike in the form of the Lich Bane as soon as possible is a good addition to a burst rotation, as it gets power from both the ability power you obtain, as well as from the innate second highest AD in the game, after the tied Cho’Gath and Skarner. Power spikes yay.

After that, it’s assessing the situation. There’s a number of items you can possibly buy, so I’ll cover those real quick:

Rabadon’s Deathcap

Insane power spike as it amplifies everything, and then amplifies those things some more. Keep in mind that sometimes, very sometimes, a Deathcap won’t grant you as much actual damage as a Void Staff would

Void Staff

If enemies buy Magic Resist, this is the go-to item. Especially if you’re fed, chances are Magic Resist will come in. This gets through a lot of it and is also a power spikes of sorts.

Zhonya’s Hourglass

For those select games where you have the damage and ability to completely murder someone without chance or retaliation from them, but then have to fear the rest of his team for being able to pin you down. Very late game, this will in fact allow you to wait on the cooldown for Riftwalk to come back up. Especially handy when playing against AD casters in mid, too.

Guardian Angel

For those times when you think you just need that extra offensive item and a Guardian Angel is the only thing that you can get to receive both defensive stats and a way to get out of harm’s way afterwards.

Banshee’s Veil/Abyssal Scepter: Another fun thing is to rush tanky stats and work from there, being an annoying tanky caster. Abyssal Scepter also heeds you from a lot of magic damage, as it works amazingly well with your passive to negate a whole lot of damage.

A quick rundown of his passive and how that works with items: Kassadin takes 15% less magic damage and ignores unit collision. While the latter is nice, it’s mostly the first part that makes Kassadin such an outstanding counter mage. He takes 15% less magic damage, after resistances are factored in. Damage reduction from resists is factored in from the following:

You take 100 – (100/(100+MR) × 100)% less damage.

To put this into words: Let’s say you walk into lane with full Magic Resist Glyphs, totaling 12, giving you 42 magic resists. You would take 100 – ((100/142) × 100) = 29.5% less magic damage. Then the 15% damage reduction is factored in, reducing the 70.5% remaining damage taken by another 15%, which totals a damage reduction of 40.2%. Had you not had this passive, you would have needed to have 67 magic resist, meaning the passive just gave you a free 25 magic resist.

Let’s say we buy an Abyssal Scepter. This item grants 70AP and 45MR. When the MR/Level is factored in, those runes give a total of 16MR, putting us at 91MR. This alone would give us 47.6% damage reduction. In comes Void Stone, reducing this 52.4% damage to 44.5%. This totals down to 224 Magic Resist needed, meaning the passive just gave us 33 Magic Resist. Amazing, isn’t it?

All in all I’d say Kassadin remains a good and strong counter mage. He doesn’t have the same stomping potential he used to have, but he now requires a way more offensive playstyle to get as fed and strong as he used to be able to get without too much risk. I’m interested to see how others feel about him.

Nigel Wiersma