Is it ever worth it to go Shadow Assassin Kayn over Rhaast?

iiGazeii·Sep 11, 2018·2 votes·3,026 views

I recently got Kayn, and like I always do when I get a new champion, I did some research on their build path, important stats, combos, etc., and a lot of people seem convinced that going Shadow Assassin is a mistake in nearly every game. The consistency provided by the additional spell vamp and CC Rhaast gains seems to outweigh the extra mobility and burst damage Kayn gets by going Shadow Assassin

Is this really the case? Should I bully the only melee enemy in the game to rush Rhaast, even in a game full of ranged squishies? On paper, Shadow Assassin looks really good. Why do people think otherwise?

6 Comments

SwiftKitten88Sep 11, 20181 votes

short answer... yes. i find SA a lot worse to deal with than rhast

ModDaenrysTargaryenSep 11, 20181 votes

if you are against a lot of tanks Rhast is better because shadow will not do as much damage, if you go against a lot of squshies then shadow is better

PhoneixflareSep 12, 20181 votes

in my experience, most of the time if your team has a lot of frontline and cc but is lacking damage, going SA is better because although you are another beefy frontliner as Rhaast if your team cant capitalize and convert ganks when summoners are on cooldown into kills then you aren't effectively doing anything. But 90% of the time, Rhaast is a better choice because of how much survivability he has. SA Kayn doesn't actually end up doing that much more damage, but is just more mobile and harder to kite because he can cleanse slows and cast his w without having to stop moving.

SS Big DaddySep 12, 20181 votes

I find I play better as shadow there something about the lightness and expertise, I just prefer the smooth style. But Rhasst teamfights are beat so yes rhaast is always the main option tbh.

But if your ahead never doubt shadow.

RhaastMain Aug 4, 20191 votes

So everybody knows when you have to use Shadow or Rhaast form. And if you don't i will explain it again . The thing is that if you wanna be a good Kayn you have to know which form you are gonna go for either Rhaast or Shadow Assassin. Here's why: each form has it's own specific runes for example on SA you take Electrocute or Predator, but on Rhaast you go for Conqueror. So you must choose which form you will take and it depends on the enemy team, if enemy team has ATLEAST 3 squishy targets that you can oneshot you go for SA otherwise you go for Rhaast. You can't compare SA and Rhaast cause both forms are really good it's just that one is for one situation and other is already for a different situation.

iiGazeiiAug 4, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=RhaastMain ,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Vti1a6X4,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2019-08-04T15:36:42.679+0000)

So everybody knows when you have to use Shadow or Rhaast form. And if you don't i will explain it again . The thing is that if you wanna be a good Kayn you have to know which form you are gonna go for either Rhaast or Shadow Assassin. Here's why: each form has it's own specific runes for example on SA you take Electrocute or Predator, but on Rhaast you go for Conqueror. So you must choose which form you will take and it depends on the enemy team, if enemy team has ATLEAST 3 squishy targets that you can oneshot you go for SA otherwise you go for Rhaast. You can't compare SA and Rhaast cause both forms are really good it's just that one is for one situation and other is already for a different situation.

This post was from almost a year ago... Back before the devs really went hard on buffing Shadow Assassin's mobility.