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So lets talk about Kass

BeepBeepImBetter·3/13/2015, 2:39:23 PM·2 votes·677 views

So in the 5.5 Kassadin got some of his power back through the buff to his ult. (Im sure we all know by now that at lvl 16 max cdr his ult has a 1.2 sec cool down.) I used to play a lot of Kass so I am pretty familiar with his kit. I got kills early and snowballed into the mid game and I am really happy with where Kass is at. However, the enemy team, after seeing that Kass is not awful, began to complain that Kass is op again. Then five minutes later the Jax on my team (also fed) 1v5 their team and got a penta, and they complained that Jax is op too.

Later I got a message from my friend complaining about how op Katarina is because she got two pentas in his game. With this in mind I would like to share some of my thoughts on champions and balance.

All the champions in the game are unique. They all have strengths and weaknesses. Jax is weak to burst and poke. Kat is shut down by CC. And Kass is countered by Coordination. A team that can effectively work together can shut down a Kass easily. This is why people think that he is op. There is a lack in coordination in normals and soloq. Kass is not inherently over powered, people just dont know how to play against him. We see the same type of thing occur in lower elo, when people go bot with stupid duos and manage to win lane. People simply dont know what to do. Lower elo (and yes im bronze and havent been playing too long and my match history isnt pretty) players rely on a static order in their builds and ability order. Some champs require a certain ability order, yes, but no champ has a "set" or "single" build path. Playing against a zed? Build item 3191 early . AP Nunu ? Build a item 3102 .

What happens is that people dont know how to compensate and build around the other team. They also dont know how to play around other champions. What really want everyone to know is that Kass is in no way OP. He is just different, and players cant figure out how to counter play him because he is rare, as opposed to champs like Katarina or Zed . If you want to figure out how to beat a champ, I suggest playing as that champ. I used to think Yasuo was broken. However after playing as him a while, I was able to figure out how to play against him.

This is not to say that some champs are actually OP and need to be nerfed. However I believe that Kass is in a good place right now, and i hope that he doesnt end up getting nerfed again due to complaints by people who think he is OP, partially (or wholly) because they cant (or wont) play around him and exploit his weaknesses.

TL;DR- " Kass is countered by Coordination. A team that can effectively work together can shut down a Kass easily. This is why people think that he is op. There is a lack in coordination in normals and soloq. Kass is not inherently over powered, people just dont know how to play against him. We see the same type of thing occur in lower elo, when people go bot with stupid duos and manage to win lane. People simply dont know what to do."

15 Comments

Hard4Hamsters3/13/2015, 2:46:30 PM2 votes

Well stated. But to be fair, before nerfs, Yasuo was OP.

Also, do you max CDR on Kass? I don't think that's common practice, but how is it with the new CD? I don't think you would have enough time to use your full combo in 1.2 seconds.

Agidyne3/13/2015, 2:48:08 PM2 votes

is this a nerf teemo thread?

SIayton3/13/2015, 4:19:46 PM2 votes

I like where Kass is at too. His teleport may not be as far but atleast the mana cost and cooldown are much better now. He's pretty fun where he's at right now and you still get to be mobile without the whole "whelp kass just teleported, better give up all hope of chasing him".

DanofDemacia3/13/2015, 3:40:15 PM1 votes

I agree with everything you said except the fact Kat is definetly broken.

Hupsis3/13/2015, 3:40:47 PM1 votes

A champion being called "op" means that the champion has the tools to feel "op" when fed (gets easy kills and is hard to kill). Every champion can feel op when fed. However another thing you have to take into consideration is how easily that champion can get fed.

Katarina is rather easy to get fed with if you follow "the rules". The rules being that you don't take unnecessary risks trying to kill the opponent before you have your ultimate. This means her laning phase is really boring and she's being all defensive. With this defensive playstyle you secure that the enemy laner won't get kills from you and it's easier to kill them when you are lvl 6. Now what would happen if Riot gave her a set of basic abilities that encouraged her to be more aggressive during pre 6. She would put herself at more risk while being aggressive which gives the enemy a chance to kill her and weaken the chances of her level 6 guaranteed kill. This would overall make the game more enjoyable imo (more action, more fun).

Many champions with similar kits work the same way. Kassadin and Akali for example. Nothing you can do pre-6 against the enemy so why should you even try? Wait till 6 and wreck them and tadaa you are on your way to a free buffet.

In the case of Kassadin I'm ok what they did to him. It's fun to hop around. But it doesn't change his gameplay pattern which is similar to Katarina's --> risk free early game. The question though is, does he need to be aggressive? Afterall he's considered an anti-mage. I haven't made a lot of research on the new Kassadin so he might turn out to be in an ok spot.