Kassadin Top, does it work?

Moodington·Mar 3, 2016·2 votes·2,236 views

Kassadin is one of my favorite champions in league but i rarely get to play him due to my duo partner who mains mid. However he usually plays assassins and I was curious if kassadin could work in the top lane.

5 Comments

ÐelofashtMar 3, 20162 votes

He used to see a bit of play in top lane, so I'm sure you could make it work if your jungler or support is tanky though.

Eks Oh DeerMar 3, 20161 votes

kassadin isnt good in any lane never mind top :P item 3070

MalhammersMar 3, 20161 votes

Pre-rework Kassadin could play literally any role in the game...Those were the good days. Havn't played Kassadin since...

VekknaMar 3, 20161 votes

You can play him there, but you won't be getting any solo kills. He's actually quite good against some annoying AP toplaners like Mao, Malphite, Naut, Vlad, Liss, Akali. As for AD tops (most of them), I wouldn't ever use him against any ranged AD or extremely mobile AD (Fiora, Yasuo, etc). He does fine against most of the juggernauts since it's not too difficult to farm safely against them.

The deal with top Kass is to be the most uncatchable splitpusher ever. I'll probably farm downvotes for this, but I think his best splitpush build looks something like this: item 3027 item 3158 item 3124 item 3100 item 3512 item 3146

Take Fervor and attack speed Ferocity tier 1. Take scaling CDR glyphs unless building Nashor's. Take flat CDR glyphs if building Banner.

Zzrot and Gunblade are interchangeable with item 3060 item 3116 item 3115

Guinsoo's is 100% mandatory because it gives you extremely good wave clear, tons of attack speed, and it's very easy to stack with your AA > W reset. Lich and ROA are everything you want in every situation. Zzrot is for the MS, a little tankyness if you get caught, and bugs buy you time under turrets. Gunblade is to keep you on the map, make up for some loss assassination potential with the active, give you an extra slow to kite, and make you really strong at dragon/baron and troll-clearing enemy jungle.

The thing about Gunblade is that you heal from your AAs, abilities, W passive on-hit, the item's active, Lich Bane procs, Nashor's on-hit if you build it, Fervor damage, and the aoe on-hit from Guinsoo's. Your Q and W active both heal the full 15% which ends up being a ton of healing.

The main problem with this build normally is that you can't assassinate targets as effectively, and you're not really durable enough to get a lot of combat advantage out of your on-hits against tankier targets. But your sustained damage and mobility are extremely high, which makes you a phenomenal objective taker.