Kassadin Is Still Strong — Calculations Inside

Ever since Kassadin's rework early on in season 4, I have read a lot of posts about how he became much weaker than he used to be. When the empowered Riftwalk stack timer was increased to 20 seconds from 12, a lot of people said that Kassadin was "dead" and "gutted." Then he had a huge pick-ban rate in competitive play despite that in early season 5, until his ult range was reduced.

Personally, I think that Kassadin is still a very strong champion who is just underplayed, like a lot of good champions. Let's look at his numerical values now compared to season 3, ability by ability. Please note that I didn't play more than a few games in season 3, so I'm relying on Wikia for the numerical values I have of season 3 Kassadin.

Q: Null Sphere: This used to have a silence that was removed, and in my opinion, rightfully so. Assassins shouldn't have silences; those kill counterplay.

The base damage was 280 + 70% AP. Now it's 170 + 70% AP. That's a 110 damage loss. Instead of the silence, it now provides a magic damage shield that is useful for trading with mages.

W: Nether Blade: This used to increase his attack speed, if I'm not mistaken. Older players are free to correct me if I'm wrong. It also had a much higher cooldown than it does now. The current version deals 140 + 70% AP damage, and its passive adds an additional 10% AP ratio. Overall, that's a 140 damage and 80% AP ratio increase.

E: Force Pulse: Like Kassadin's old Q, this used to have a 280 base damage and a 70% AP raio. It retains its ratio, but the base damage was reduced by 100. Furthermore, the slow was increased from 50% to 90% but had its duration reduced by two seconds.

R: Riftwalk: This is it: Kassadin's bread and butter ability. It used to have a 120 damage at max rank with an 80% AP ratio, increasing by 10% for each subsequent cast, up to the maximum number of stacks, which as 10 stacks. It now has the same base damage but with a 20% AP ratio increasing by 10% for each stack, up to 4 times amounting to a 60% AP ratio. It also has a maximum added damage equal to 6% of Kassadin's maximum mana.

Riftwalk had a base cost of 100 mana increasing by 100 mana for each subsequent cast, stacking up to 10 times. Now it stacks up to 4 times only but doubles the cost with each cast, up to 800 mana. Adding up the losses in base AP ratio and the stacked ratios, this amounts to a 120% AP ratio loss.

Arguably the most significant nerf in Kassadin's history was the reduction of his ult range. However, with the reduced cooldown, he is (in my opinion) just as mobile; just in smaller bursts than before. Let's look at the math:

Old cooldown versus current cooldown: 7/6/5 compared to 6/4/2. At rank 1 Riftwalk there isn't much difference, but the difference starts to be very noticeable at ranks 2 and 3. In 12 seconds, old Kassadin could riftwalk twice, while current Kassadin can Riftwalk thrice. 2 x 700 = 1400 units in 12 seconds for old Kassadin. 3 x 500 = 1500 units for current Kassadin. At max rank, old Kassadin could riftwalk only once in 4 seconds, while current Kassadin can Riftwalk twice. 1 x 700 = 700 units for old Kassadin. 2 x 500 = 100 units for current Kassadin.

For mana costs, the old empowered stack timer was 8 seconds, while the current one is 15 seconds. This is possibly the most significant difference between the ultimate then and now.

So he lost 210 base damage and a 120% AP ratio on max-stack ult, in addition to losing the silence and having the duration of his slow reduced by two seconds. However, he had a mana ratio and a lower AP ratio added to his ult, and 140 damage + 80% AP ratio added to his W. This amounts to a net loss of 70 base damage and a 40% loss in AP ratios, not taking into consideration the added mana ratios.

I think the only major difference is that he can now be caught by abilities or autoattacks easier than before when he riftwalks away. His Riftwalk's range is just barely less than autoattack range, so there is room for retaliation when he jumps on a carry and tries to burst them down and then ulting away. I think that this opens up counterplay, while the reduced cooldown ensures that he is just as mobile as before, albeit in smaller bursts.

These are the thoughts of a Kassadin main who is a huge fan of the champion. Feel free to add your own thoughts or calculations.