Advices to Kassadin Players
There go some advices for those kassadin players which are trying hard to master the champ:
1- Presence of Mind in Team Fights: When you are in a Team Battle managing well your mana is more important than what it looks like. Some times you will be Tempted to spam R more times than what you need. Be careful, because if you kill an enemy champ and you have less than 800 mana remaining, you won't be able to use correctly the Bonus that Presence of Mind gives for 5 seconds (7 soon). Be wise managing your mana always, not just spaming as crazy. You will have your time for crazy plays when you get the Presence of Mind Bonus, but until then think carefully when using R.
2- Controversial Question... What do I level up in level 1? W VS Q: Many people recommend upgrading Q in level 1 to poke constantly but i would recommend upgrading W in level 1. Why? W's passive make your basic attacks much stronger and allows you to farm well. If you level up Q in level 1 you will soon run out of mana because at level 1 Q doesn't do much damage and requires a lot of mana while W doesn't cost mana and gives you a passive for your basic attacks. Kassadin is not an Early Game Champ. You will be focused first in farming pre-6 then you will destroy your opponent in lane. I recommend start using the Q to poke after 5. You are more interested in farm because you are a late game Monster, not an early game bully.
3- Against Zed (Kassadin's Counter): You will first build RoA as well. If you build first Zhonya's Hourglass you are ruining your game. Why? Because you are losing time which RoA would give you extra stats bonus and then you will find Zed too strong to fight him. Here goes what you need to do. Play passive under tower and never stop moving, keep a considerable range from zed after he hits level 3 (if zed upgrade W at level 2 which is not usual, be carefull as well), i am not saying you should play agressive before level 3. After you build RoA you will instant build stopwatch and after that build Zhonya's Hourglass as fast as you can. After that you will try to hit 40% cd reduction building the cd boots and Sheen (after upgrading to Lichbane). You should be able to defeat zed in a 1 vs 1 without any problems, do not have fear because you have zhonya's so go and destroy him. After you get used to this strategy you will find zed not as strong as you though he was before.
4- Against ADC: If you have enough range to hit him with R you will do the next combo: R+W+E+Q. Unless the adc is too fed, you should be able to finish him fast without any problems. Use that combo in Early and Mid game. However in late game where your E is level 3 or 4 and it slows considerably, you will R+E+W+Q.
5- Starting items: It is all about preference, i usually go first for the corruption potion but some players find the dark seal+refilling potion helpful. Try both options yourself and find what you like more. Both are good. Corruption potion is more safe to resist against early bully champs in lane. Dark seal is a little more agressive: It gives you also a passive which makes your heal from potions bigger, but be careful because you can find yourself off of mana. Special Ocassions.... When you are against a zed you can do 2 things... Try to take some adventage in levels 1 and 2 by building cloth armor and take 4 heal potions and upgrading W in level 1 so you will do more damage to him and win trades BEFORE he hits level 3 or buying corrupting potion and play safe too.. When zed has his W ready, you are in disaventage, after he uses it, it is the best moment for you to trade with him. Those are the best option for starting items for the moment. If you think there are more, you can put them in the comments and i will add them.
More questions will bring more answers.
