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Cass

Nahui··6 votes·1,340 views

So I have a question, and I want lots of feed back from anyone really.

Is Cass worth picking up? I enjoy mechanically advanced champions and I know Cass is up there when it comes to those. So is she worth learning? I'm currently gold IV. I include this because I know there are lots of great champions like Orianna who do poorly low ELO because of how much they require organized, team play which one does not find in Yolo-queue. Is Cass like Orianna in the fact that she needs her team to be able to carry, or is she a well built mage? I know I've seen lots of QQ threads about Cass getting destroyed by the rework, however (Not to be the player fan riding pros), I've seen players like Faker do exceptionally well and exceptionally high damage with her. Now I understand the pros play a much different game than us, but the actual damage output can't change that drastically, right? Is she worth learning or should I stick to Viktor, Xerath, Vel Koz, etc?

I want to learn a solid mage because I mainly play Assasssins (Zed, Talon, Ekko mid, Diana mid) and assassins are just havung a rough time lately and I'm not finding myself having as much fun with them as I used to both in their meta and out of it. I want a mage and already can play Viktor fairly well, but I want another one. I know Cass has a very kiting playstyle that can unload damage, but is she worth bringing to the rift or is she currently not too good and someone like Vel Koz or Xerath would outshine her?

Thanks a bunch for any positive/constructive feedback!

22 Comments

Canastus6 votes

Absolutely not worth picking up if you're looking for a fair trade. The risk/reward ratio is entirely skewed to her disadvantage, now add the last wave of nerfs to the mix and you're stuck with an almost unplayable champion with crippling manacosts and horrendous mobility.

If you lose lane, you're pretty much useless for the rest of the game without a chance of ever coming back due to her extremely binary playstyle which only works if you're ahead. I used to love her before the rework entirely ruined any diversity and viability she once had, it greatly pains me to see her in her current state now.

She is by far the hardest champion in the game while being the worst midlaner at the same time, from a statistical and personal point of view.

Nahui2 votes

{quoted}

Absolutely not worth picking up if you're looking for a fair trade. The risk/reward ratio is entirely skewed to her disadvantage, now add the last wave of nerfs to the mix and you're stuck with an almost unplayable champion with crippling manacosts and horrendous mobility.

If you lose lane, you're pretty much useless for the rest of the game without a chance of ever coming back due to her extremely binary playstyle which only works if you're ahead. I used to love her before the rework entirely ruined any diversity and viability she once had, it greatly pains me to see her in her current state now.

She is by far the hardest champion in the game while being the worst midlaner at the same time, statistically spoken.

Doesn't she have a mana refund mechanic that nullifies her mana costs somewhat, as well as stacking tear?

Canastus2 votes

The Tear only does very little to alleviate your manaproblems, you've got to remember that every single E costs almost as much as an ultimate. That's horrendously expensive. Also the mana-refund was HALVED during the last nerf thus making it almost insignificant. You already need to cast your poison abilities to trigger the reset for your E otherwise you won't be able to clear waves anyway. In the end you spend more mana than you actually gain by lasthitting all of those minions.

The issues get a lot worse once you're expected to kill raidmonsters like drake and baron since those require a full manabar from you if you want to do anything before hitting 500 stacks and amassing a considerable amount of ap. Literally all of her ratios and numbers were nerfed during the rework and the nerfs after that only made matters worse for her. What good is a so called hypercarry if she dies as fast as her targets while lacking their inherent tankyness or safety nets (see Nasus and Vayne). She is the most disappointing champion to play as if you ask me just for being so damn frustrating.

khorney4 votes

Her rework is a huge nerf

Mat7itan2 votes

I would say that she is worth learning. She is great against team comps that chase teams down and like to dive. Even if you don't end up playing her much I think it is worthwhile to know at least her basics.

Nahui1 votes

{quoted}

I would say that she is worth learning. She is great against team comps that chase teams down and like to dive. Even if you don't end up playing her much I think it is worthwhile to know at least her basics.

Is she a champ you would like to see in your ranked team or no? Like if you saw mid lock in Cass, do you get a Teemo-esque feeling or a Garen/Jungle Yi-esque feeling?

Mat7itan1 votes

I wouldn't mind seeing her in ranked. She has good aoe damage and single target burst and can peal or engage.

Nahui1 votes

{quoted}

I wouldn't mind seeing her in ranked. She has good aoe damage and single target burst and can peal or engage.

So overall you're saying ignore the QQ and CertainlyT hate, and that she's worthy to play a bunch?

RiotRiot King Cobra2 votes

Cass is a fine champion to pick up. She has a high skill cap but no hard counters in lane so if you play her enough you have the potential to beat every champion in lane which is something that I like about her. While there are probably stronger mages at the moment, I don't think Cass is anywhere near bad. She is mechanically demanding as well as mentally, for lack of a better term. I think she teaches a lot of important midlaner gameplay concepts. Her vulnerability to ganks means you need to be on top of your vision game and her skill shot reliance and spacing reliance calls for on-point mechanics. Her reliance on sustained damage means she can itemize differently depending on comps (Do I want raw damage to carry or something like Rylai's to bring utility to my team and help THEM carry?); same deal with her summoner spells (Is running Exhaust or Cleanse more optimal than Ignite against the enemy comp? Is Ghost a good choice here to aid in re positioning during team fights?).

She is definitely a complex champion, but she is very rewarding to play if you learn how to play to her strengths. It may take quite a few games though to get a feel for how many Twin Fangs you can throw out per Q, when it's best to use her ultimate, how to kite with her, etc. Don't get discouraged. She's a lot of fun. :)

Nahui1 votes

[{quoted}](name=King Cobra,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=oiHHMdWQ,comment-id=0009,timestamp=2015-10-07T20:40:59.893+0000)

Cass is a fine champion to pick up. She has a high skill cap but no hard counters in lane so if you play her enough you have the potential to beat every champion in lane which is something that I like about her. While there are probably stronger mages at the moment, I don't think Cass is anywhere near bad. She is mechanically demanding as well as mentally, for lack of a better term. I think she teaches a lot of important midlaner gameplay concepts. Her vulnerability to ganks means you need to be on top of your vision game and her skill shot reliance and spacing reliance calls for on-point mechanics. Her reliance on sustained damage means she can itemize differently depending on comps (Do I want raw damage to carry or something like Rylai's to bring utility to my team and help THEM carry?); same deal with her summoner spells (Is running Exhaust or Cleanse more optimal than Ignite against the enemy comp? Is Ghost a good choice here to aid in re positioning during team fights?).

She is definitely a complex champion, but she is very rewarding to play if you learn how to play to her strengths. It may take quite a few games though to get a feel for how many Twin Fangs you can throw out per Q, when it's best to use her ultimate, how to kite with her, etc. Don't get discouraged. She's a lot of fun. :)

Thanks a bunch, you make her sound so much more fun and worth it!

MisterHealYoGirl1 votes

Velks/Xerath and Cassiopeia bring a very different playstyle to the map. They're all immobile mages, but V&X have much longer ranges and can't be punished as easily. Cassiopeia is one of the most unforgiving mages in the game; if you get CCed by anything, you're probably dead. If you miss a single poison, you're probably dead. Her damage output is more or less unparalleled, and she's a fantastic duelist, but there are other mages who do what she does (massive sustained magic damage) safer than she does it.

Nahui1 votes

{quoted}

Velks/Xerath and Cassiopeia bring a very different playstyle to the map. They're all immobile mages, but V&X have much longer ranges and can't be punished as easily. Cassiopeia is one of the most unforgiving mages in the game; if you get CCed by anything, you're probably dead. If you miss a single poison, you're probably dead. Her damage output is more or less unparalleled, and she's a fantastic duelist, but there are other mages who do what she does (massive sustained magic damage) safer than she does it.

Much longer range, however their damage isn't as high you could say, correct? The fact that she can spam her E over and over while simultaenously healing seems to be a huge boon in her favor. I feel like when you get close to Xer and Vel, they lose a lot of their intrinsic power, being range, but getting close to Cass works more in her favor. I'm just tired of playing Zed and Ekko and having to play really hard to overcome the gap assassins currently have just to be on par with the usual mid mages. I just don't want to sink 50+ games into Cass and have it be for nothing.

MisterHealYoGirl1 votes

I mean, I personally am as Bronze as hell (I play mostly ARAM), but that's my personal experience with Cassie.

TNHA Baritone1 votes

She is worth picking up because a good Cass is just.....gross late game. She will pick you with one combo and theres no escape and her ult is REALLY nice in team fights although it makes her get up close which is why rylais is reallllllllllly good on her :)

Nahui1 votes

{quoted}

She is worth picking up because a good Cass is just.....gross late game. She will pick you with one combo and theres no escape and her ult is REALLY nice in team fights although it makes her get up close which is why rylais is reallllllllllly good on her :)

Well a good Kassadin can be too. Just his early game is abysmal. Is that the situation with Cass too, or can she do damage early game and be relevant too?

FutaNami23301 votes

she certainly can but you REALLY need to whittle down your opposition with q's before you go in. Another thing to consider is to ignore your opponent altogether and just farm, sometimes its just better to do so than go for kills. that being said Cassiopeia 's passive requires you poison champs to get stacks, which takes from your CS, which means less items......

see the problem that im having? its hard to build stacks AND cs at the same time, so be ready for LOTS of practice.

RyzeRework1 votes

cass is pretty strong if u can learn if ur new the first few games u might not do so well shes mechanically intenseive i mean sure u can ult somone and wqe them for a kill but to be really good you need to learn how to get maxim e's expecally while kititng if u can kite while with her and hit her e's allot then shes pretty amazing i cant hit her e's so well i try and ill get killed lol

Hexs Fortune1 votes

Im happy to see so much vocal support for cassio. The main problem with cass is she's always been unreliable. Weak slow, E dependant on poisons, heavily countered ult, skill shots and squishy.

The upside is if you play her perfectly you get sustained AP rivaling ADC.

I'd like her to get some quality of life buffs to make her more accessible to the general public

The Queen Viper1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Captain Rand0,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=oiHHMdWQ,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-10-06T21:57:35.210+0000)

So I have a question, and I want lots of feed back from anyone really.

Is Cass worth picking up? ... So is she worth learning?

For yoloQ? Unfortunately not. Not because she's supposedly bad, even though she's not... but because currently you really are at the mercy of your teammates (like Nasus)... if they fail, feed and tilt during the early game, it's pretty much GG since it puts you so much behind that you are not able to recover and do something useful in teamfights. It's hard to play a late game carry if you never get into the late game to begin with. However if you find that in your elo, the average match length is over 35 minutes, then sure, you could give her a try.

Is Cass like Orianna in the fact that she needs her team to be able to carry, or is she a well built mage?

Unfortunately Cass is quite like Orianna in that regard... they both exceed in teamfights, however Cass is a bit more vulnerable. Cass needs her team to not fuk up the early game.

Is she worth learning or should I stick to Viktor, Xerath, Vel Koz, etc?

For yoloQ, you are better off playing Viktor actually... unless you really want some challenge. ^^

Nahui1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Snąke on bush,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=oiHHMdWQ,comment-id=0007,timestamp=2015-10-07T11:46:10.676+0000)

For yoloQ? Unfortunately not. Not because she's supposedly bad, even though she's not... but because currently you really are at the mercy of your teammates (like Nasus)... if they fail, feed and tilt during the early game, it's pretty much GG since it puts you so much behind that you are not able to recover and do something useful in teamfights. It's hard to play a late game carry if you never get into the late game to begin with. However if you find that in your elo, the average match length is over 35 minutes, then sure, you could give her a try.

Unfortunately Cass is quite like Orianna in that regard... they both exceed in teamfights, however Cass is a bit more vulnerable. Cass needs her team to not fuk up the early game.

For yoloQ, you are better off playing Viktor actually... unless you really want some challenge. ^^

I already play a lot of Viktor, I just want a different mage because he is so common now that everyone knows how to readily counter him.

Earl Eulrich1 votes

she´s still pretty strong and can punish mistakes incredible hard, though if you compare her to the likes of vel´koz or Xerath she´s certainly a tad more risky.

CasterGilgamesh1 votes

shes ok i guess but if you want good mages go for Lissandra she brings so much CC to the table for teams lacking it and she is a pretty good all around pick for must comps Azir is great since he has one of the longest ranges of a mage plus very good sustained damage Anivia is great for the same reasons and lissandra but she is much more mana hungry but if you can chain her spells right she deals a surprising amount of damage that's almost guaranteed to catch people off guard Veigar is pretty great since he scales so hard into late game and has a way to farm mana letting him hit power spikes much faster then most mid laners Brand is very good against teams with a lot of tanks since he deals % max health damage per second and also he is great for team fights with his ult dealing incredible damage also he has a new skin coming out that is so awesome and making him worth playing for that skin alone
TwistedFate is very strong but takes some skill since you need to learn to draw the right card at the right time but learning him is very rewarding with how good he is in team fights plus in duels bewar his weakness is assassins which is why you dont see him that much when they were strong Viktor is great he has medium range and a strong AOE ult building him is weird but you get over it he has good burst and a decent poke tool and he is pretty fun

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