@RiotRepertoir do you believe Kassadin needs any big changes or a rework

Chespin2013·Aug 12, 2015·6 votes·2,346 views

Because he just feels weak. Yes there is always gonna be a champion at the bottom of the winrates and such but how kassadin is right now needs some love. I think the buffs to his ult on the pbe are a step in the right direction but I just think his laning is a absolute mess that and he needs like 4 items or so to be relevant in a game is kinda bad for a champion. Do you guys have any plans in the future for Kassadin? Because he really isn't fulfilling his role as a antimage where every mage can pretty much beat him?

4 Comments

RiotRiotRepertoirAug 13, 20157 votes

So I'll say straight up that I don't know exactly what the long term vision for Kassadin is, but I think I can accurately describe the issues we need to overcome if we were ever to be comfortable with him being in a position of power.

Everyone knows that extreme mobility is Kassadin's thing, and that's cool. It's powerful, but that's okay. Unfortunately he has two "sub-identities" to him that seem to be in stark conflict with each other. First, he has his anti-mage element, and then he has his late game power fantasy. An anti-mage element suggests that he should be winning lanes against mages, and the late game power fantasy means he goes off in most cases where he wins his lane. I honestly don't know he can have both of these. If someone told me I had to try and balance Kassadin tomorrow, I would probably first look to figure out whether anti-mage or late game power fantasy was truly more important to the core of the character, and then go from there. In my opinion, as long as we are trying to somewhat support both, he can't really be confident in him being powerful, since a character that has an affinity for winning a large portion of matchups and then scaling like a monster means he's probably just the best pick.

SuperLuigiLXIVAug 13, 20153 votes

{quoted}

So I'll say straight up that I don't know exactly what the long term vision for Kassadin is, but I think I can accurately describe the issues we need to overcome if we were ever to be comfortable with him being in a position of power.

Everyone knows that extreme mobility is Kassadin's thing, and that's cool. It's powerful, but that's okay. Unfortunately he has two "sub-identities" to him that seem to be in stark conflict with each other. First, he has his anti-mage element, and then he has his late game power fantasy. An anti-mage element suggests that he should be winning lanes against mages, and the late game power fantasy means he goes off in most cases where he wins his lane. I honestly don't know he can have both of these. If someone told me I had to try and balance Kassadin tomorrow, I would probably first look to figure out whether anti-mage or late game power fantasy was truly more important to the core of the character, and then go from there. In my opinion, as long as we are trying to somewhat support both, he can't really be confident in him being powerful, since a character that has an affinity for winning a large portion of matchups and then scaling like a monster means he's probably just the best pick.

I think, if you had to pick one or the other, there's enough late-game monsters already, but there's only one champion currently that makes three- and four-AP comps cry, and that's Galio. But Galio is more or less the opposite of Kassadin, an immobile anti-mage tank who will wreck an entire team if he can get into position. If Kassadin was reimagined as a high-mobility "mage assassin" who had the tools/passive to shred down AP users and mitigate/avoid magic damage, while being less effective but not INeffective against AD types, I at least would be happy with it.

As for Kassadin's late-game fantasy, perhaps you guys would be willing to see if you can't apply that fantasy to Veigar? With his ult, he's already kinda-sorta fulfilling the same "more mage than thou" thing that late-game Kassadin did, and from what I've seen, people weren't happy with his mini-rework. Maybe take another look at him with the intent of turning him into the late-game super mage if you remove that aspect of Kassadin.

McAllisterAug 13, 20153 votes

You're absolutely correct: he can automatically have the upper hand in lanes against mages, or he can dominate games where he wins lane, but both is obviously problematic.

That said, I want both. Well, to be specific, I want to keep the anti-mage angle, and I want to keep the mad scaling, but I think it should be possible for him to win lane without transitioning smoothly into the late-game power fantasy. My thoughts:

– Just because he has an advantage against mages doesn't mean he's got to win the lane. His pre-6 gankability is a serious window of vulnerability that could be further widened by weakening the self-peel of his E. What if it only slowed people who were moving away from him, or otherwise didn't help him survive a gank? I think the tactical-level gameplay of LoL is fantastic, and I want more attention paid to the strategic level: vulnerability to ganks or lane swaps is important vulnerability.

– Another laning consideration is that he should be susceptible to the "push the wave to tower and roam" strategy, since he has trouble clearing it back. How could you change his laning such that traditional mages can clear a wave against him post-6 without opening themselves up to an all-in? Essentially, is it possible to maintain his advantage over mages in a protracted situation like laning without him having a powerful all-in? I feel like if any assassin needs a weak all-in, it's this guy. Maybe you should lower CDs, mana costs and damage numbers so he's got the same damage over time, but doesn't frontload it as well.

– You know what I loved about Ryze? Mana scaling. Now his scalings are all muddled, and there aren't enough mana items that he wants to buy since he's been told forcefully to leave Frozen Heart alone. Kassadin already has some mana scaling. I think more mana scaling could help because, outside of Seraph's and Rod of Ages, there isn't a lot to buy with mana and AP. Replace some of his AP ratios with mana ratios, which leads me to...

– Delaying the late-game fantasy. Just because he's won lane doesn't mean he's in position to be powerful in the midgame if he's put his gold into slow-burn items like RoA. What if he was forced to choose between rushing AP items for the faster power spike with a lower peak, or buying the slow-developing mana-oriented items for a weaker midgame and that lategame fantasy? Maybe the mana ratio on his ult could scale with level so that the full power of Seraph's and RoA only unlocks at 16.

So, in short, I like the anti-mage, I like the scaling, and I'm willing to sacrifice burst damage and midgame power to achieve it. How's that sound to you?

NekusenAug 13, 20151 votes

About being strictly anti-mage, that kinda messes him up in blind picks, get a yasuo or zed in your lane and you will be making your team a favor by going afk. So his small niche becomes even smaller as you can only use him as a counterpick, and even then he struggles.

Some suggestions:

Passive- Void Stone Kassadin takes 15% reduced magic damage and ignores unit collision.

-NEW
In case Option 1 is chosen for spells: Kassadin ignores unit collision and takes 5% (+5% per 100 ability power) reduced magic damage.

In case Option 2 is chosen for spells: Kassadin ignores unit collision and each time Kassadin casts a spell, he gets 1 charge, a charge is consumed when Kassadin will receive magic damage. Consuming a charge shields him from 50 magic damage. 2.5/2.3/2 seconds cooldown between charge production. Kassadin can have a maximum of 1/3/5 charges.

** Q- Null Sphere** Kassadin fires a void bolt, interrupting channel spells and dealing 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to the target enemy while granting himself a shield that absorbs 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+30% of ability power) magic damage for 1.5 seconds.

-NEW Fires a void bolt, (silencing (see options below)) the target and dealing 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+7% of maximum mana) magic damage to the target enemy while granting himself a shield that absorbs 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+3% of maximum mana) **damage ** for 1.5 seconds. (**OPTION **2: Change from 70% AP ----> 30%AP + 4%max mana)

(Silence Options) 1- 0.75 silence on target 2- makes the target cast slower for 1.6 seconds, adding a casting time for it's abilities of 0.4 secs. 3- reduce the sight of the target to melee range. 4- shield negates the first negative spell cast on Kassadin (like banshee)

** W- Nether Blade** Passive: Kassadin's basic attacks draw energy from the void, dealing 20 (+10% of ability power) bonus magic damage. Active: Kassadin charges his Nether Blade, causing his next basic attack to deal 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+60% of ability power) bonus magic damage and restore 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 % of his missing mana (increases to 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 % against champions).

-NEW Passive: Basic attacks deal 20 (+1% of maximum mana) bonus magic damage. Active: His next basic attack deals 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+6% of maximum mana) bonus magic damage and restore 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 % of his missing mana (increases to 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 % against champions). (**OPTION **2: Change active from 60% AP ----> 30%AP + 3%max mana)

E- Force Pulse Kassadin draws energy from spells cast in his vicinity, gaining a charge whenever a spell is cast near him. Upon reaching 6 charges, Kassadin can use Force Pulse to deal 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 / 180 (+70% of ability power) magic damage and slow enemies by 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 % in a cone in front of him for 1 second.

-NEW Gains a charge whenever a spell is cast near him. Upon reaching 4 charges, Kassadin can use Force Pulse to deal 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 / 180 (+7% of maximum mana) magic damage and slow enemies by 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 % in a cone in front of him for 1 second. (**OPTION **2: Change from 70% AP ----> 25%AP + 3.5%max mana)

R- Riftwalk (No changes)