Talk:Kassadin/@comment-2.226.118.241-20130117122415/@comment-178.166.24.118-20130118011649

Depends a lot on matchups, but Kassadin's three main points are 1) a long duration silence, which allows him to unleash full burst without immediate retaliation, 2) best mobility skill in the game and 3) a passive that allows him get out ahead of trades against most AP champions. That said, there are some things you should notice. Kassadin's lvl 1-5 is among the weakest in the game. He doesn't have an answer to autoattack zoning nor any escapes aside from flash. It's critical to shut him down as hard as possible at this time. Your best bet is to rely on a gank-oriented jungler with strong CC moves at early levels (Maokai or Amumu come to mind). If you can't rely on your jungler then you should play champions who can farm safely at some distance and poke hard with autos and skills while he's trying to farm (Kennen, Orianna, Swain, Ryze, etc.). These are of course safe picks against a Kassadin, since they should get ahead pre-6 and then just push lane and farm all day without a problem after the first blue buff. If you want to counterpick Kassadin as hard as possible just pick an AD assassin who don't care about his passive and have less trouble with silences. Pantheon or Talon are champions guaranteed to make Kassadin rage quit unless his jungler stays mid all day. If you dont want to play an AD assassin it's fine, Cho'Gath, Galio, Fizz, Morgana or Mordekaiser are champions who don't give a damn about Kass in lane. Finally, if you simply pick first and get hard countered by Kassadin in champ select you probably should buy Giant's Belt and Negatron into late Rylai's and Abyssal. You won't do much damage early game but the point of laning when you get counterpicked is avoid feeding, not necessarily deal tons of damage asap.