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Why does Kassadin counter Ekko so hard?

Electro522·1/6/2019, 2:28:15 PM·5 votes·5,759 views

I am going to be maining mid lane this season, and the one champ that I can't really deal with is Ekko. The 6 champs I have (Liss, Swain, Vel, Diana, Akali, and Fiora) all allow me to be set up for every situation possible........except Ekko.

It's a matchup I am not confident in with any of these champs, so, I did some digging to try and find out what his counters were, and to see if any my champs somewhat compare to his counters.

Only to find that across all League data sites, it's quite unanimous that Kassadin really hard counters Ekko. Like......it's as if Ekko doesn't stand a chance against him.

But I don't know why. Normally, I'm quite good at these kinds of things, figuring out decent counters or explanations to a certain game mechanic.......but this one stumps me because when I look at their kits, I see no way of Kassadin being able to do anything to Ekko.

Is it that Kassadin can actually keep up with Ekko? Because quite a few characters can do that (hell, my Lissandra can keep up with him) Can Kassadin interrupt the casting of his ult? If so, I didn't know his ult was a channel. Can Kassadin just out damage him? This doesn't really make sense, because Kassadin is known for having a really weak early game, a "meh" mid game, and god tier late game. Whereas Ekko shines in the early to mid game.

I do know that Kassadin is pretty strong right now, ever since the passive stat runes came into play. It opened up Precision for him in order to more easily take Presence of Mind. But, despite his strengths, I still wouldn't think that's enough for him to completely destroy Ekko.

So, I'm calling out to any and all Kass and/or Ekko mains.......

Why is this matchup the way it is?

8 Comments

fire2631/6/2019, 3:35:05 PM4 votes

Kassadins passive makes him take reduced magic damage, thats one thing.

The fact that ekko is also a melee champion means that his overall damage requires him to fight you melee which means you can trade with him without having 6 as when he goes in, you also get to use your full combo, unlike in a ranged matchup where Kassadin usually can't use his combo until level 6. Kassadins damage I believe is slightly higher than Ekko's in terms of using a full combo, which should in theory be why Kassadin wins.

Even if you mess up your full combo, you have a magic damage shield from your Q and you have built in magic damage reduction passive, which pretty much guarantees that Kassadin wins the trade. Kassadin also scales much better than Ekko, which means even if you lose early (which is highly unlikely) you can still pretty easily beat him late game.

charge attack1/6/2019, 3:11:57 PM3 votes

In terms of Kassadin. He does well against anyone that can't abuse him early, and ekko certainly can't. Kassadin can match his burst trade with his Q shield, and at best Ekko can just shove Kass under tower - but can't really harass him under tower. Meaning Kass gets a free lane.

Later in the game, Kass can run Ekko's ass down town. Literally at no point in the game does Ekko have kill pressure on Kassadin, while Kassadin will eventually have kill pressure on Ekko. These are both champions that want to side lane (ideally).

I'm pretty sure Lissandra is also good into Ekko. You can deny his burst trade with your W + aftershock (and honestly with just W), and then win the extended trade with Qs. He won't have kill pressure on you at really any point in the game if you properly play around your cooldowns and not walk up when they're down (your cooldowns are a bit higher than his). Remember: play the lane to win, you shouldn't just let Ekko have his way with your wave since level 1. Make him your bitch every CS he goes for.

Who Fed Ru1/6/2019, 2:33:10 PM3 votes

He can basically negate a big part of Ekkos Q damage with his own Q (because of the magic shield), so there is no real way for Ekko to poke Kass in a meaningful way.

And if Ekko goes on him with his E, Kass can simply get his complete rotation on him for free.

Jerry SeinfeId1/6/2019, 3:32:26 PM2 votes

ekko doesn't have any sticking power vs kassadin i'd say. ekko isn't oneshotting anyone at level 3 and certainly not kassadin, nor can he really poke kassadin, so he gets outscaled.

0 Hogapu1/6/2019, 2:49:46 PM2 votes

cause overall kassadin is literally broken (:

and as ekko is melee, you can poke him with E and W easily, easier to trade

PlsBuffMyMain1/7/2019, 12:30:22 AM1 votes

Because Ekko likes hit and run trades (QEAA) to proc his passive and electrocute while using the bonus ms to run away/dodge skillshots. Kassadin's abilities are not easily dodgeable and his magic shield ensures he wins trades. Kassadin also counters AP anyway.

Necro Warrior871/6/2019, 3:34:34 PM1 votes

Because Ekko Isn't that good, has little range to counter Kassadin's poke, and Kassadin was literally designed to counter Ap champions. Kassadin's main weakness is his early game, Ekko also has a weak early game so can't take advantage over that. Ekko all in all is just a really bad pick into Kassadin.

Kazekiba1/6/2019, 4:38:06 PM1 votes

"Why does Anti-mage counter a burst mage?"

Gee boss, maybe because that's Kassadin's job. And being that theyre both Melee assassins, they both want the same thing in trades. but since Kassadin is designed to beat burst mages, he's going to win unless he misplays poorly or the teams around them aren't matched well.