Hey all, I just wanted to add a bit more about stacking Kassidin's rift effectively. This build relies heavily on blue buffs, getting items such as , , and then building Catalyst into asap. For stacking rifts you need a really big mana pool.

Also, keep in mind that building differently may be a bit more effective--like choosing to skip the tear all together, but when you go tear you prepare yourself more for mid/late game. The reason that is the most important to me is that this build is very fun and rewarding when executed properly.

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• Great mobility with
• Slow/Silence
• Great ganks
• Can snowball like crazy

• Weak laning phase
• Can be abused very badly during the early game
• He has a melee auto attack
• Depending on build to excel
• Extremely blue dependent

Health 433 (+78)
Attack Damage 52.3 (+3.9)
Health Regen. 6.95 (+0.5)
Attack Speed 0.638 (+3.7%)
Mana 230 (+45)
Armor 14 (+3.2)
Mana Regen. 6.9 (+0.6)
Magic Res. 30 (+1.25)
Range 125
Mov. Speed 315

I call this Havoc'd because many people have been switching to 3 ad instead of 3 in Havoc, but on he is melee and already has his to help him last hit. I feel like it is necessary on other champions like or , but for this champ I go Havoc.




T1- For masteries I go ahead and get improved ignite for the 5 bonus ap, and 3 into Mental Force for bonus ap. You are an AP Assassin, so this is the most logical thing to choose.

T2- Four points into Sorcery for CDR. You will not be needing attack speed on or Demolitionist. With this setup and blue buff you have a decent amount of CDR which is great on any AP caster.

T3- 1 Arcane Knowledge. With and Arcane Knowledge you will have ABOUT ~50% spell pen. Also, 3 in Havoc, which is explained above.

T4- 4 into Blast. AP per level is amazing. You will not find yourself needing lifesteal since you do not have the prequisites for AD. As explained above, does not need ANY AD!

T5- 4 into Archmage. 5% into ability power so as you get more and more AP as the game progresses. You can get a decent amount of AP for just speccing into this. Also, in this same tier is armor pen again... does not need armorpen or AD so they are a complete waste

T6- Get Executioner. This is great because 6% damage is a significant amount in comparison to things such as Havoc which is 1.5%. That means Havoc is 1/4th of this final talent tree for a single point. Also, that one extra point will not make a world of a difference if placed in defensive tree or utility tree.





T1- 1 point into Summoner's Insight. The 15 second cooldown reduction could be the difference in life and death for you--or your penta--or that ONE KILL that would have happened if you invested in this. Next is 3 points into Expanded Mind. 216 mana at level 18 is a decent amount and will help stack later on. Also, it is a prerequisite for Meditation.

T2- 3 points into Meditation for mana regen. Since you are a caster you can't go wrong with being able to cast more. Put 1 point into Swiftness or Good Hands--it really depends on personal choice. I prefer the .5% movement speed.

T3- 1 point into Rune Affinity for Increased neutral monster buffs. As I state a few times throughout this guide, blue buff is very important on .

Reds: You want magic pen. for obvious reasons.

Yellows: These help you harass early and be able to farm with q and e if necessary (Kass' laning phase from levels 1-5 isn't the best.)

Blue: Magic resistance is a great combination with Kass' . This makes your lane phase a bit easier.

Quints: Flat AP for obvious reasons.







Sometimes you may need a defensive rune page because the pressure mid can be too much and you may not be able to farm at all. Also, there is a possibility that they may try to 2v1 you.



Yellows: Armor OR HP Regen

Blues: Flat MR

Quints: Hp Regen


Use whatever you feel is appropriate for whoever you are laning against.

Standard for burst the enemy and then igniting.

to combo on stacks.

Another Option

This can compensate for the early buy you may or may not have to do depending on how rough the begining lane phase is. Also, you can stack with it OR you can combo ganks.

Kassadin takes 15% reduced magic damage and transforms this damage into bonus attack speed.





It's a great passive in combination with some magic resistance or a . makes it hard to kill with magic damage. This is especially nice when some comps have AP heavy junglers, double AP, or even just a very high burst mid champion such as .




Kassadin fires a void bolt dealing 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+70% of ability power) magic damage and silencing the target for 1 / 1.4 / 1.8 / 2.2 / 2.6 seconds.

Cooldown 9 seconds

Cost 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110mana

Range 650



Great for shutting down enemies trying to set up ultimates and delaying the enemies' AP from bursting your team. The greatest part of the spell is its ability to burst down the priority targets before they can get off their combinations. With a bit of focus from your team, you can entirely shut down a squishy opponent from potentially cc'ing or killing you or your allies.




Passive: Kassadin's melee attacks draw energy from the void, restoring 8/11/14/17/20 mana each hit. If this effect is triggered from attacking a champion the amount of mana restored is tripled.

Active: Kassadin charges his nether blade, gaining 30/45/60/75/90 (+0.15 ability power) bonus magic damage dealt on hit for 5 seconds.

Cost 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 mana



Nice for last hitting and getting mana back. However, this is the last spell to max. and If you purchase it works particularly well with that. Keep in mind that this gives one stack out of six for your , so you can use it more often.




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 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+70% of ability power) magic damage and slow enemies by 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50% in a cone in front of him for 3 seconds.

Cooldown 6 seconds

Cost 80 mana

Range 400



This is usually leveled first, but there are always exceptions to the rule. Do not spam this or it will be hard to charge it. If it's charged for team fights you'll have lots of damage, great range, and a slow. Using will give it 1 out of 6 stacks, so keep that in mind!





Kassadin teleports to a nearby location dealing 60 / 90 / 120 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to surrounding enemy units. Additionally, each subsequent Riftwalk in the next 7 seconds costs 100 additional mana and deals 60 / 90 / 120 additional damage.

Cooldown 6 / 5 / 4 seconds

Cost 100 mana

Range 1000




At 6 your lane is much easier, but it still takes a lot of mana. Once you hit 16 or even 11 and have maintaiend blue buffs to stack mana, then you can begin to rift stack. Rift stacking is very important for mid/end-game so you can kill squishies. If played properly, you will be able to 3 shot people.

Maxing E

You may have to max instead of . Some mid laners do not spam very often and it is too difficult to get your stacked.

In all cases, you will always want to max last. It is definitively the least effective spell and you can get away with just one point in it to help with your last hitting and getting some mana back.

All the items chosen to build early are for level 11+ where you can and SHOULD be having blue buff so you can spam your rift.

Do not die, get your mana items, hit 6, and don't lose your blue buff. Kass' laning phase from 1-5 is brutal and you are extremely weak at this time. Just try to farm as effectively as you can and don't get ganked. You have one shot to get out of a gank early and that is your . Once that is down, farming in melee range is very risky.

When you hit level 6 and get , you can now follow up if necessary with . Usually, the laning phase will be extremely difficult for you. So, as I stated above, you can possibly go just to compensate for the early game or use it to gank.

If the mid's magic damage is too much to handle, a is all you need. It will set you a bit behind on and . However, it will make it so their AP mid won't be able to hit you that hard.


Your + mr runes + = OP!

By now you should have a , , and the start of a

Now, as far as play style goes, you should have hopefully had blue buffs and have been charging . Farming + ganking other lanes are also two priorities of yours--especially since, by now, you should have a decent sized mana pool.

During team fights you can catch supports out of position with when they are trying to clear wards, which can lead to your team engaging or insta-gibbing the support.

Alternatively, you can charge a few while you are in lane and try to assassinate the dps / squishies.

It is very important that, in these team fights, you in and out at proper times. Getting caught in CC such as an ult should not happen because you should be around the back side tossing slows and silences.

This is where you stack as I said above. To stack effectively you will need to use .


You either do one of two things onto an unexpecting carry...



1) Charge from afar, , then on top of them.

2) If the enemy team is close to the carry you want to kill, you won't be able to get out since your will be on too long of a cooldown. Then, you can on top of the carry, insta-gib, and out. It's much more risky, but sometimes it will work, especially if you have a . (This item is optional but makes risky plays just a little safer.)

is an assasin, so you want to silence / apply pressure on enemy dps or delay them from engaging by slowing/silencing champs such as . This allows for your team to position better, disengage, or even burst the enemies down.

A lot of match-ups come strictly down to when you hit 6 to dodge ganks / gank and getting sorc boots / blues so that you can keep constant pressure. They will not be able to trade while silenced so as you trade over and over you should be coming out ahead.
~very key that if you do plan to play so aggressive, THEN WARD BOTH SIDES OF RIVER!


Kass is a great against ziggs but the early game is incredibly rough. Ziggs has really great range and his passive does a chunk of damage. Once you can hit 6, get some and a blue buff then things will begin to go in your favor.

Also not too bad of a lane can chunk her out of lane but it could become very difficult to farm against her as well. A foxfire maxing ahri 1-5 will make it a bit rougher but you should be able to hold your own til 6.

1-5 dodge iceballs, if you get hit by stun combos your early laning phase will not be good at all. Once you hit 6 to the side of the glacial storm and silence anivia. This will stop her ult and make you be able to back out without being poked.

1-5 again like a majority of most match-ups go in the enemies favor. Brand applies a lot of pressure while spamming his e and auto attacking. Just do not die it's ok to fall behind a bit on cs. Dodge the pillars and DO NOT GET FIRE BALLED! Once you get blue and sorc once again, things will be going much much better. to dodge pillars, fireballs, and get away from creeps so that the ult doesn't bounce makes the brand lane much easier.

More to come~

I will not be going really in depth, but this guide is to explain the stacking situation. To be honest, there's not much more to add onto my explanation.

To riftstack effectively... Rift stack, and before cooldown ends do it again. Once you are at about 50% mana and have 3-4 stacks, then be aware of how much your next rift will do + have enough for a onto
followed by an . You'll be able to kill most APs and ADs by doing that combo.


Again, the most effective mid/end game is one that knows how to properly rift stack. Which, along with this guide, I more or less also gave you an extremely effective item build to use as well.

Sure, sometimes it may not be the best early, but as the game progresses this build is great and the most important thing is that it is really fun!