Kassadin, The Anti-Mage Thread and Road to Viability

Hey guys, (just a warning that i am not english, I am also dyslexic and you may not agree with everything i say, and i may even be wrong in some points, but i want to give the general idea of the direction i want from Kassadin)

Do you guys know the feeling of when you pick a champion and you get the right feel? The feel that no champs give you but this one? that no matter how bad it becomes--You have what it takes, the knowledge, and the full will to unleash your fury at the enemie's mistake and underestimation of your capabilities? Kassadin was that guy for me. But it was more than that. IT was his niche, his lore, his purpose--That your team may not fear magic, you have someone there for them!. An Anti-Mage.

When i started to play in season 2. League of tanks happened and Irelia just had received some nerfs or was going to. It was the Varus patch. I thought to myself that i wanted to play assassins, cause they fit my personality and I just think they can save the day when all hopes are lost, even if it means their own demise. Kassadin wasnt my first choice, but when i tried him; something happened. To be honest tho, his abilities were weird to me, his Q was straightfoward, but his W was useless to me, his E needed to charge up, so it wasnt available when I could need it and the R dealt dmg, forcing me to go on top of people. But I realized that it was like an execute. rather than a risk. It didnt make sense but I tried him. I realised the difficulties he faced: ad assassins werent really a thing (talon wasnt impressive to me) but the strong cc back in the day (rammus, old veig E etc..) the huge tank lines (malphite, shen, anything with health really) and sustained dmg. If he couldnt burst his target one shot and it happened to fire back with lifesteal, you were in a hell of troubles--Silence doesnt stop aaing or movement. On the good side, he was effectively countering casters and mages. His job!

Then few things happened. After Season 2 ended. Several huge changes completely transformed the echo system which made him into an absolute unstoppable monster in solo queue. He wasnt always winning games, far from it. But he sure made you understand why you should have banned him. First thing, his assassins buddy all got several round of nerfs. meaning hes the leader of the pack--by far. Since he was an anti-mage, and force of nature was gone, no one could challenge him or oppose him properly. He became the strongest champion in league. His weaknesses were still sort of the same. But with tank items being nerfed, magic pen being buffed (% and flat application), competition being nerfed. him getting actual buffs etc.. he was going to get the biggest nerf whopping in history(after sona ofc)

Now, in perspective, i can say that although silencing is a soft cc, it had to go from assassins. Let me tell you that aoe cho gath and soraka does anti-casting stuff alright. .

Lets discuss the changes done to him, I will also give several suggestion to what to do to him instead. In the game, unless i am wrong, there is three champ that are, or at least, that I consider anti mages. not to be confused with anti-carry: Veigar has the ability to smoke you just because you have damage as a mage. Galio is more dangerous the more protected he is from magic. Kassadin had his passive (sort of Urgot like but innate rather than targeted) and his silence. (his passive used to give him attack speed on magic damage, dont know if he was intended to be AD originally or be built a nashors. anyway) They are who they are because it defines their roles with what they are given in their kit.

Kass rework did few things that i think needed to happen and some that are not helpful to him. The dmg on his ult had to go to his W. it made sense. He had a badass void sword that did nothing but his ult was pure destruction...made no sense to me. His Q base dmg was reduced a lot(given a forgettable shield for the loss of silence), same with E(slow pattern was changed), and W-R switched dmg was also nerfed. R significantly nerfed. Passive was added a fizz effect.

Right now, Kassadin suffers many issues. He gets strong late game. But here are the possibilities that happens in everygame he joins.

1. gets decent cs and kills, still weaker than enemy. lose game or less likely win 2.denied cs and kills, MUCH weaker than enemy, lose game most likely. 3.gets fed, great cs, reach his late game dmg by 40 mins (altho he doesnt have the dmg mid or early game to get these kills)

It shows few issues: Kassadin became essentially a kill catcher bot. so weak that the enemy makes no MR, but when they are very low, hes gonna kill them. tho hes very irrelevant in drag, baron, or obj contest because hes dealing no real dmg threat compared to the enemy. Essentially, hes somehow useful because no one cares about him--no one focuses him, and becomes a mobile karthus R and cleans up with little dmg--that is if he survived anyway. hes not an assassin or anti mage at these points. the problem is that a vast great majority of games finishes before 40 min. thats when he is MAYBE relevant. Its like having a nasus in your team who is just applying utility with no split pushing threat.

An other issue is that he is in no way comparable to the other assassins until very late in both mobility and dmg. Zed, leblanc, nidalee, Ahri etc. Late game, he _isnt _actually stronger than them. While he pays immensely for his mobility late game. His positioning is more important. Arguably, many champs can catch up to him late. because of mana, or just fast enough to apply both mobility and cc (like leblanc just to name one). So not only his weaknesses are huge, but his strengths are matched and possibly outmatched by the enemy. Its unfair because everyone can do more dmg than him, at any point of the game, in which he has a very specific uncommon condition in which he can actually be considered stronger or dangerous. its unfair because he pays immensely for his mobility while others doesnt or have different mechanics or ways to actually catch him and kill him. its unfair because his role as an anti mage is a shadow of what it used to be. He doesnt counter mages because he is squishy, and his passive just doesnt cut it to compare it to galio and his dmg isnt near close to any assassins (unless late to very late game) or veigar.

Now, I will give ideas and serious propositions about his kit. ideas being just thrown out there, and proposition is what should happen

(IDEA) passive: voidstone gains power as the game advance (gains % magic dmg reduction per lvl) .5% or 1% -add unit collision again. -add magic shield to every ability used. (IDEA) -OR add .5 sec silence to Q-W-E (if they are used all at the same time for instance it wont add to one another) (IDEA)

(PROPOSITION AND IDEA) Null Sphere: add base dmg. silence or/and shield

(PROPOSITION) Nether Blade: silence or/and shield

(PROPOSITION) Force Pulse: add base dmg, silence or/and shield

(IDEA) Riftwalk: I love the recent changes made to him. seriously. Its a good spot. However, i feel that he should be added just a little range and reduce the mana lockout a bit more. to 12 secs. (just an idea tho)

With these changes. He will keep still his weaknesses, his deserved past nerfs but give him back his true identity. An assassin, but an anti-mage--that will not be a liability to the team the entire game. More importantly, he will be unique compared to the other anti-mages