Talk:Kassadin/@comment-4834593-20120908191407/@comment-88.186.19.90-20120912190545

You pick him primarily against standard AP mids like Cassio, Karthus, Anivia, Arhi, Brand, Annie, etc... In the AP department only Fizz, Galio and Zilean (oh that dude is impossible) really counter you and they don't really prevent you from ganking. There are other AP mids that are harder to play against but if you know what you are doing you can even manage Leblanc pretty easily. Squishy champs are also have a hard time against Kass: You should be able to manage an Vayne, Sona, Gankplank (yep, GP is annoying with his pistol and is hard to kill with Warmogs but if you keep up you poop on him at level 6 and snowball on his fave), Ashe...etc no problem.

Kass is all about dealing unavoidable damage from safety. Anything that can retaliate before, after or during the silence will fuck you over hard, and anything that can zone-harass will drive you insane in lane: things like Caitlyn (crazy range and strong AA+ the "I"m-sorry-but-you-can't-farm piltover; even at level 6 you can't trade), Zilean (puts bombs on you before you even get into range, at level 6 you can barely farm and gank, but barely), Olaf (wtf is silence?), Pantheon (does the same thing as you: unavoidable damage, but he does it first because he has a stun and at a lower level), most bruisers also have a good time. Technically, you can lane against anybody at level 6 and come out victorious, but pre-6 most counters will wipe the floor with you.

Pick him for sure when you know a standard AP mid will go mid and there's a low chance for laneswapping, or if you know you can gank the lanes effectively (remember that tanky chars with no escape like Rumble or Riven are 100% gankable with Kass, tanky=/=survivability). Don't pick him if you know you'll get hardcountered or if there's like Galio mid, Soraka+Graves bot and Yorick top; that just won't work, you'll never be able to kill them during a gank. Any other team comp/situation it's ok to pick him.

If you want a rundown for tactics I suggest you read This.

You build primarily AP on Kassa but you need a form of mana regen as your first item, usually one of RoA for mid game strength, you'll gank very well with it; or ToG into AA Staff when you reach 500 stacks for lategame "I pwn your face with moar AP", it delays your damage and makes you squishy a bit but you remain very flexible with a ToG in terms of damage/mana regen build balance because you can upgrade it early for a decent amount of AP and crazy mana regen: build it when you know you won't be damaged a lot; or Chalice into Athene's Grail good MR, good mana regen, decent AP boost, nothing to complain about. If you don't want to take any risk build this. Boots are obligatory Sorcs boots, you don't need tenacity because your opponent will never be able to click on you and you NEED that damage. Rabadon is CORE on him, doesn't matter when you build it (usually 3rd item but if other items are better you can delay it to the 5th) but you'll notice your damage is severely reduced without it. After that Rilay if you find yourself fighting 1v1s a lot or getting focused because the slow is really nice and applies on Nether Blade. Zhonia is never a bad choice for the AP and the active usually gets you enough time to riftwalk to safety. I don't like DFG because it's more suited to 1-burst mages but if the opponent is getting HP-heavy then it's always a good choice, the AP and CDR are also very welcome. Void Staff is a necessity once the opponents get MR, don't hesistate to interrupt your current item and rush void staff if you see negatrons pop up. Lich's Bane is very interesting and synergises 100% with your kit, but you should build it late as you 5th or 6th item. AAing is not recommended with Kassa, but he has the 2nd or 3rd highest base AD of all the roster, so an early sheen after ToG synergises beautifully if you don't get instagibbed when ganking; when you have more AP than AD you can upgrade sheen to Lich's Bane for a really scary lategame damage output. The MR also helps if you build it as you 3rd item but it's too expensive for the stats alone IMO. It can be used effectively as a survival item thanks to the MS that makes you really uncatchable. Nashor Tooth is hard to place and there's always something better, but if you are down the drain getting zoned and outfarmed you should consider it because it's cheap, cost effective, synergises so well with your entire kit and helps both ganking and farming. WotA I don't recommend unless someone else in your team is getting it, hextech revolver is enough if you need sustain that badly and even then you shouldn't get hit that often anyway. Abyssal Scepter is not a good idea anymore unless you are going very tanky, the range nerf means you might not benefit from the aura if you cast from Q max range (which is something you should always be doing). If you want survivability then it's Warmogs because HP, Guardian Angel because that item is OP or Banshee's Veil because it severely increases your effective HP against magic damage. Frozen Heart can be considered when facing a heavy AD team but is circumstancial.