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There is a huge disconnect between Kassadin's gameplay and fantasy

Mira Arya Enthe··4 votes·697 views

Fantasy, Lovecraftian looking void guy. Originally a magi who got a glimpse of the void. Not he freed his mind from it's grasp and uses his magic tainted by void combined with a blade and anti-magic powers to fight the void and stop it from taking over.

Gameplay, now originally he had a kit aimed towards this fantasy. Mana stealing, armor pen, AS from magic damage, a voidic silence to stop spells, a slow powered by consumed magic near him, and a step through the void to stay on his target. But it was a flawed, and overpowered design.

Most of it was that his scalings made him oneshot everyone late game instantly popping over a wall. Part of it was high base damage on his point and click silence making him able to trade strong in mid without retaliation.

So he was gutted, gutted, gutted, gutted. And turned from a mobile, mage, anti-mage bruiser. To another AP assassin nobody cares about because they could just play LeBlanc, Kat, Fizz or Akali instead. Who are all better designs that better fit their fantasy(even if OP or UP at this time)

I intend to suggest a specific Kassadin rework at a later time. But for the moment. I just wanted to mention that while it is good Kass isn't 90% p/b anymore. He also isn't Kassadin anymore. And his gameplay just feels bland and disconnected.

This post in no way pretends his original design was good/healthy, and he is well balanced now as a generic AP assassin. But he is also not worth picking as a character fantasy anymore for so many who loved him... at least 3 people I know that is.

12 Comments

Big Lincoln2 votes

no way in fuck that Kass should ever be balanced as a bruiser or remotely tanky champion

also that being a champ who punishes magic/ mana users just doesn't really work when Riot decided energy and resourceless champions would be a good idea

Ralanr1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=iPLJdJPl,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2017-01-09T17:03:23.517+0000)

no way in fuck that Kass should ever be balanced as a bruiser or remotely tanky champion

also that being a champ who punishes magic/ mana users just doesn't really work when Riot decided energy and resourceless champions would be a good idea

Or because most champions in the game use mana and this game is heavily ability based.

Kassadin basically punished everyone relatively equally.

Big Lincoln1 votes

I mean punishing mana would work out well enough, balance it off % of mana pool or do damage based on how much mana they just used - mages have usually had higher mana costs so it gives him a clear target compared to say Darius, who has very low costs

problem is balancing that vs not doing any at all to someone who has no costs to care about

Keira Helsh1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=iPLJdJPl,comment-id=000000000000,timestamp=2017-01-09T17:14:05.441+0000)

I mean punishing mana would work out well enough, balance it off % of mana pool or do damage based on how much mana they just used - mages have usually had higher mana costs so it gives him a clear target compared to say Darius, who has very low costs

problem is balancing that vs not doing any at all to someone who has no costs to care about

Again, OP was not talking about how Kassadin should have the same design that he did previously though.

He doesn't need to steal mana to gain back that 'anti-mage' feel.

A big part of what made him a disabler was his ability to fight mages, which was through his silence which stopped a mage's kit and gave him time to act against what would otherwise be the mage's death combo. What made him broken was that he did this with a point and click ability while also having very high mobility and very very high scaling and high base damages. There have been other champions in the game with CC's just as long and as strong or stronger than Kassadin's silence. Cho'gath, Rammus, but nobody ever complained about them. This is simply because Cho lacked the mobility, and Rammus lacked the damage. Kassadin brought lockdown, mobility, and damage, and that's what made him broken. For an 'anti-mage', especially in a team based game like League of Legends, you don't need to deal high damage. What you need are tools to give your team a way to fight mages. Especially since Kassadin literally replaces the mage spot on your team. Unless you have a mage-support these days but that's not Kassadin's fault :v

How do you fight mages? You stop them from blowing their whole kit at once, lock them down, seperate them, and bring them down when they don't have team support. If it wasn't for Kassadin's scalings, his old kit was great at this. An teleport to position, an E to slow a team, and a silence to stop the mage. Now... He jumps in and hopes that Brand isn't paying enough attention to E-Q in time.

Big Lincoln1 votes

I didn't say steal mana, I said do extra damage vs champs with a lot of it. Ryze and Cass, Xerath, etc

probably isn't going to get his silence back unless it's on a skillshot or requires he do a lot of work to actually proc it

Keira Helsh1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=iPLJdJPl,comment-id=00000000000000000000,timestamp=2017-01-09T17:38:46.585+0000)

I didn't say steal mana, I said do extra damage vs champs with a lot of it. Ryze and Cass, Xerath, etc

probably isn't going to get his silence back unless it's on a skillshot or requires he do a lot of work to actually proc it

Well again, he doesn't need to have some kind of effect on someone with mana, he just needs to be able to help his team deal with mages.

Old Kass was good at it, but absurd scalings and base damages made him too strong.

I would put it on his W in his current design. That way he has to jump directly on top of his target to silence them.

But, I would rather rework him entirely and approach anti-mage from a different direction at this point.

Keira Helsh1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=iPLJdJPl,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2017-01-09T17:03:23.517+0000)

no way in fuck that Kass should ever be balanced as a bruiser or remotely tanky champion

also that being a champ who punishes magic/ mana users just doesn't really work when Riot decided energy and resourceless champions would be a good idea

You're missing the point. The point isn't that Kassadin should have his original design.

The point is that Kassadin's identity was 'anti-mage' and due to his absurd scalings and old design, the community just played him as an assasin. Instead of fixing his identity, Riot just said 'he's an assassin now'. Afterward, to fix his toxic, never-designed-as-an-assassin gameplay, the gutted his kit, and by extension, his identity. Even AFTER the rework, Riot said that he was an anti-mage assassin, hence why his Q has that magic damage shield. Yes, every time I play him, it feels like I'm way stronger against champions like Yasuo than Brand.

He's not an anti-mage, he has no tools to deal with spellcasters aside from a shield that doesn't even absorb one spell, and overall he's now just an generic AP assassin.

He's not the the champion I used to position to correctly place a silence on the enemy annie so my team could swoop in and kill crucial targets before tibbers lands on them. He's not the badass that disables his opponents for his team that I started playing this game with.

He's not Kassadin .

Ralanr1 votes

And his joke doesn't make sense anymore.

I'm honestly surprised he didn't get touched in the assassin update. I'm not sure Riot considers him a candidate for major changes.

Oleandervine1 votes

{quoted}

And his joke doesn't make sense anymore.

I'm honestly surprised he didn't get touched in the assassin update. I'm not sure Riot considers him a candidate for major changes.

They most likely do, he's one of the ugliest champs in the game next to Cho'Gath, Nunu, and Mordekaiser. He needs major kit work and a major visual overhaul to bring him in line with the Darth Vader look they tried to push him into and failed at.

Penns1 votes

Hm, whenever I see a "good" Kassadin play, I think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeimE8Wz6e4 I dunno why someone would pick Fizz over Kassadin just because he has "better design that fits his fantasy" (which I dont agree with item 3070 )

NiuLogic1 votes

With his E and w I dont see such a big problem just only his Q

His Q is still brining that dmg out but it doesnt feel like its not very good or bad either even with the canceling of surspressing skills like WW ult malz etc.

i Would like to suggest that his Q the orb travling way faster and way more skill witch is better for the team like removing of the opponents inused skills for example Trynda Ult rengars stealth Kennens Ult /e Nasus ult rene ult morgana Ult

Or an a kind of cleanse effect that he will be ignoring CC for a short ammount of time for example 1-1.5 sec

Linna Excel1 votes

Problem is that his fantasy is broken and he needs to be kept kneecapped or else he winds up at 90% pick/ban.

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