So what's the counter to assassins?

Phantom dancer.

PD will hard fuck them.

Easier, though, is just proper positioning. Throw a durable champion in the corner and properly position your other champions. Or inverse positioning, and have your squishies in the front.

Shapeshifter + Dragon + Yordle kind of work against them.

Kayle with mana items as well.

But if anyone has Katarina with Mana + AP items, then you are kind of fcked, because she will cast her ultimate instantly.

if they don't have the 4 wild buff, then yordles and especially can really screw them If a fed kata is involved, trap claw totally shuts her down. As for specific units, morgana and kennen can totally destroy assasin comps, especially with either GA or PD to make sure they can't be bursted befor their cast. Lisandra and swain also can work well.

And don't be mistaken, assasins don't work like on the rift. They aren't anti squishy, they are anti tank. Their trade gives lots of crit stats, and as ADC on the rift show, crit is mostly an hypersaleing dps stat that enables you to shred through any targets. I really don't know why anyone ever though assasins should have an hyper dps steroid, but somehow that's how they roll in any autochess variant...

I got all assassins and thought I was going to tear it up. And failed hard. :(

wouldn't hurt to try throwing a couple hextech in there for a chance to disable the items..

Brawlers or glacial ( if using glacial put the tanks in the back so they get the assassins agro)

Phantom Dancer, crowd control units and items.