s10 Best Kassadin build guides, latest Kassadin counters

I'm going to start this off with a "TL;DR" list of my quick opinion of all of the items. Whether they are buffed or nerfed and whether the new items are good or bad. Also if I post all of the maths here the post will get much, much too wordy so I might write that up to put into the comments.
I'm just a diamond top lane main on EUW so feel free to disagree. I just want to talk about the notion that all tank items are nerfed.
If you need to see the new items here is a useful website: https://lolshop.gg/

Knight's Vow: Nerfed
Zeke's Convergence: Buffed
Abyssal Mask: Adjusted
Frozen Heart: Nerfed
Randuin's Omen: Buffed
Thornmail: Adjusted
Force of Nature: Niche
Spirit Visage: Buffed if you use the shielding portion. Otherwise nerfed.
Deadman's Plate: Adjusted
Warmog's Armour: Small nerf
Gargoyle Stoneplate: Adjusted / Buffed

Mythics I will regard as new items:

Shureliya's Battlesong: Meh
Locket of the Iron Solari: Strong
Sunfire cape: Strong
Frostfire Gauntlet: Meh
Turbo Chemtank: Meh

More detailed analysis:Knight's Vow: (Hard nerf)

Losing 60 armour for 150 HP is a huge amount.
MS is more but only when they are low. Overall the MS change is a nerf.
300% HP regen is a lot but replaces the healing from damage which was significant sustain in teamfights. Potential to be better in poke situations but more situational.
Damage redirect is buffed. 3% damage reduction matters. Unfortunately everything else is so much worse that it doesn't make up for it.

Zeke's Convergence (Buff)

The attempt to open this item to enchanters has resulted in a new stat line.
Trading 30 armour and magic resist for 300 HP is often a buff. This is particularly true if playing a tank with resistance steroids in their kit, but not if playing a tank with a large amount of self-shielding.
20 Ability Haste is better than 10% CDR. 67 ability haste is 40% CDR, so I am evaluating 1 ability haste as worth 0.6 CDR despite being worth more than that early.
The lost of slow field is actually a large part of the value gone...
...but in exchange many supports can accomplish very high uptime on this buff. Leona in particular can easily achieve 100% uptime.
The on-hit damage is less super late game but similar mid game.

Abyssal Mask (Adjusted)

Yeah, uh, losing the 1 item that gave mana with MR is awful. Not going to dwell since this is a wider issue.
Actually gained 5 MR in exchange for its 10% CDR and its mana. 300g cheaper. A nerf overall.
10% team damage amp on CC is IMO stronger than the 15% magic damage since you will usually have physical damage on your team. This is situational and hard to evaluate objectively.
Loss of the eternity passive makes this no-where near as good for laning and means it can no longer fulfil the role of providing some mana sustain for tanks.
Other users, like Kassadin, no longer can use this item. New users like Sion, Poppy, and Leona, however, can pick it up and feel good about it. Even champions like Vi if they need a tanky MR item.

Frozen Heart (Hard Nerf)

Less armour, less CDR, same mana, same cost. Brutal stats nerf.
The new passive is useless against abilities and shared with Randuin's.
Avoid like the plague unless you desperately need the mana.

Randuin's Omen (Buffed)

Losing a small amount of defensive stats for 10% CDR and a 200g cost reduction is actually a buff. You're paying 50g for 10% ability haste.
The new slow on the active is 99%. It reduces AD which means you can mitigate large amounts of damage from assassin combos and the like even when not fighting crit carries.
The damage reduction is usually worth between 4% and 8% damage reduction against crits but varies wildly based on what you and your opponent build. It can be as little as 1% damage reduction and can be worth as much as 10%. I am not a fan of the passive overall, but the item's other strengths are worth the trade off.

Thornmail: (Adjusted)

+100 HP; -20 armour and 200g less is gold efficiency neutral but usually a small buff on effective HP if you spend the 200g.
Thornmail damage does less damage than before and the AS slow is gone. As a result you do less damage and take more.
The grievous wounds is more easily applied to people who will not AA you and for 60% at that... but for only 2s.
I would refer to this as a buff overall if not for the fact that every class is getting access to empowered GW and it's often better uptime and more reliably applied.
All in all, sitting on Bramble feels like a better choice than finishing Thornmail usually.

Force of Nature (Niche)

Compared to new Visage, which has the same gold cost, you lose 100 HP in exchange for 20 MR. Due to MR values usually being lower, this is still usually a small buff on eHP but not if you are building multiple MR items.
Swapping 10% haste for 5% movement speed is a hard comparison to make objectively. Some champs will love that, others won't.
When the passive is stacked you get an extra 30 MS and 20 MR. It feels like this is supposed to "succeed" Adaptive Helm.
Honestly the item just has the wrong stats on it. It's a lot of MR but having movement speed on it is just weird. Who is this for? Engage tanks want movement speed BEFORE they engage. Defensive tanks don't really need combat movement speed except to correct their own positional mistakes.
It is, however, theoretically the item that provides the most MR. This means it is still better than Visage if you have no source of healing or shielding.

Spirit Visage (Adjusted)

15 less MR and 100 extra cost. 10% haste is worth less than 10% CDR. Stats nerfed overall.
Losing 5% on the self-healing in exchange for 25% self-shielding obviously is... hard to evaluate across all champions. For champions like Sion and Poppy as well as divers like Camille or Vi the item is probably better overall since having a stronger shield protects them from physical damage as well.
15 MR is 270g or not even 100 HP so from a gold efficiency perspective you'd only need 400 points of shielding for this to be a buff against magic damage.
If you bought this item for self-healing the item is straight nerfed unless you are being pocketed by a shielding enchanter.

Deadman's Plate (Adjusted)

+50 HP; -20 armour; +5% MS. Gold cost unchanged. Losing 250g of defensive stats for 5% MS. Debatably worthwhile.
Item is hardly changed. Do you want 250g of defensive stats or 5% MS? For engaging this item is maybe buffed. For tanking this item is nerfed.

Warmog's Armour (Nerfed)

Swapping 10% CDR for 10% ability haste is a nerf and it costs 150g more to boot. No other changes.

Gargoyle Stoneplate (Adjusted / Buffed)

In terms of baseline stats, it is gaining 15 ability haste, 20 armour and magic resist. It also costs 800 more gold.
In terms of stats with effect active, it is losing 20 armour and magic resist in exchange for up to 15% armouMR. This will usually give more stats and is less dependent on having 3 people nearby. It also scales off of resistance steroids already present inside of champion kits. Buff overall.
The new shield is for 100% bonus HP. Unfortunately stoneplate doesn't give any HP. Comparing this to the old active is a little weird. If you died inside of the stoneplate window and were full HP when you entered it the new active is worse. This was almost never the case, however.
More versatile/easier to use. Still needs to pre-empt burst but is better reactively now. Gives more stats.
Clearly there was an effort made to prevent engage supports from rushing the item. It is designed to be a late-game teamfighting item that fulfils a similar role to tanks as IE/Deathcap do to other classes. This is a good thing and I am a fan of the item overall but it does suck for supports who were buying this early.

Shureliya's Battlesong: (Meh)

Awkward stats for tanks. The mana regen is useful but 2700g for only 350HP and no other defensive stats will leave you feeling very squishy. The other stats on the item are useful, however.
More designed for enchanters but a viable situational pick-up on engage supports as they cannot afford Turbo Chemtank.

Locket of the Iron Solari (OP)

The aura returns with all of the issues that plagued it before in terms of balancing.
In a teamfight with 0 other items completed the aura is worth ~1000g.
30/30 resists and 200 HP for 2700g does not feel like a lot but the stats are in the aura. 20 ability haste does not hurt, either.
The shield no longer scales off of HP and returns exclusively to scaling off of level. The shield remains substantial and is, again, potentially thousands of gold worth of stats.
It appears as though you can use multiple in succession as long as you have 1 shield expire before using the next. This isn't useful since the aura does not stack and you do not want to build this item in a solo lane but offers an amusing thought.

Sunfire Cape (Strong)

450 HP, 30 armour and MR, 15 ability haste. The item feels grossly understatted at 3200g until you get the mythic passive rolling.
...but it just does so much damage and gives so much CDR. 50 damage at level 9 but per second and on-hit in an AoE. Increased effect against minions and monsters.
CDR reliant tanks as well as tanks who actually want to kill people will likely find this version of Sunfire Cape to be one of the best items they've ever had.
Juggernauts with sustained damage patterns could also adopt this item.
A sad example of tank defensive stats going down in exchange for damage.

Frostfire Gauntlet (Meh)

350 HP, 50 armour and 25 MR, 15 ability haste. Losing 100 HP in exchange for 15 resists leaves this better statted than sunfire cape.
...but you're potentially losing 200+ damage in a duel for a tiny increase in resistances and a pretty weak slow you can waste on minions.
As the game scales this item gives significantly better defensive stats than sunfire. Loss of potentially 20 ability haste for 400 HP can be worth it depending on your champion's priorities.

Turbo Chemtank (Meh)

The most common opponents of tanks are AD champions. 50 M25 Armour split is awkward.
Uniquely has tenacity on it as a mythic passive. This has a lot of potential power on aggressive champions into high CC teams but it is difficult to identify a user.
Don't build this just because you're into AP. Sit on Bami's and buy other MR items if you don't want the Chemtank active specifically.
Similarly, if you're into an AD champion, sit on Bamis, pick up an armour item (or for example bramble+tabi) then build into this.
Honestly this does the "slowing" thing better than Frostfire Gauntlet. The slow is 40% for 2s on-demand rather than the 1.5s 30%(+hp scaling) slow from Frostfire that can be dashed out of. For all your slowing needs, however, Randuins is the way to go.
If you built Righteous Glory before you could definitely consider this. The item isn't bad. I just... have no idea who would actually build it.

The Problem on PBE
First of all there's 2 real problems.
The first is an overreaction to certain things because they sound a certain way or because things have been tuned since people made their judgement that it is OP.
Most notably, Eclipse:
Eclipse does 8% max HP physical damage and offers 4% armour pen per other completed item for a maximum of 16% unless they sell boots. I have seen this brought up to discuss how this means that assassins are going to start assassinating tanks.
Being real, an assassin with Eclipse is going to be hard to kill for the tank especially if they lack Grievous Wounds. But is the tank going to be easy to kill for the assassin? No, not really.
A 1 item tank will have some 130 armour if they go tabi. Eclipse's lethality will negate probably 14 of that and they will not have any %pen yet. Your 8% max HP proc against a 2k HP tank (remember, 1 item) is doing 160 damage pre-resists. A fighter with Trinity Force has at LEAST 80 base AD, plus an extra 30% with the passive stacked up. The eclipse proc is literally doing less damage than a trinity force proc and is on 4x the CD.
As for penetration, Lord Dominik's is currently 35%. Serylda's is 30% and you can get 16% from Eclipse. They stack multiplicatively. This means at full build that assassin has 40% armour penetration just 5% more than they have now and they're committing 2 items to it. And yes, they could go Lord Dominik's Regards for the bonus damage based on %HP. You can combine it with The Collector (which is 5% max HP true damage btw - much more theatening to tanks than Eclipse unless you proc Eclipse like 3+ times) and Shieldbow to play silly memey armour pentration crit builds and those will kill tanks much better than eclipse builds
Secondly, Matchmaking:
PBE games are usually very unbalanced. People lag, play badly and abuse bugs. As a result PBE games are incredibly snowbally and people get very very fed even compared to on live.
So how do I think tanks will be on live?
All-in-all I think tanks will actually come out a little weaker. Mythics have problems with their resist profiles that there isn't a good answer to and it feels like you will rarely want to rush your mythic in the same way that many classes will. Fighters building Divine Sunderer will give you a huge amount of grief at one item and they will likely go into BC second. I think tanks are generally more punishable in lane than they were in S10 and do not get anything meaningful to compensate.
There is also a serious problem with tank mana sustain basically consisting of "corrupting potion" and some kind of mana regen rune that suits the tank in question (Manaflow/PoM/Biscuits). Some AP tanks do ofc get access to Doran's Ring also.
ADCs are a little worse at killing tanks than before due to lower crit modifiers which might make scaling as a tank feel a little better. Kraken Slayer looks intimidating but it mostly just gives a lot of AS. The actual on-hit damage is quite underwhelming and does not contribute a major portion of ADC damage.

[Theorycrafting] Sylas Top Muramana + Riftmaker

Beginner FAQ and Discussions Megathread

This FAQ isn't a comprehensive guide. If you want a more detailed guide on playing Akali PLEASE join the Discord Server https://discord.com/invite/FfThqCh and read the channel #Akali-FAQ. I will be updating this FAQ soon to match the one in Discord.
THIS FAQ IS HEAVILY OUTDATED WITH THE ITEMS BUT RUNES STILL APPLIES, THERE WILL BE A NEW UPDATED FAQ IN THE FUTURE BUT UNPLANNED SCHEDULE SO STAY PUT AND PLEASE USE OUR S11 PRESEASON THREAD OR DISCORD. THANKS.
Hi. This thread will provide as much information for those who are wanting to learn Akali or need more resources into improving Akali gameplays. I'll try to provide as much resource I can find around to help out here. Any newer threads that has similar questions already answered in this post will be removed and redirected with a link to here. You may ask questions in here and hope for someone to answer you. Before I get started, the builds and itemizations were taken from my own analysis from multiple statistical websites such as op.gg, u.gg, Leagueofgraphs, and Lolalytics.
If there is a content creator out there that would love to plug-in their guide or other additional resources then please DM me. I will add it under Resources section, it will be greatly appreciated.
Information before the FAQ
Akali's winrate % data from statistical sites:
https://u.gg/lol/champions/akali/build
https://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/builds/akali
https://lolalytics.com/lol/akali/?lane=middle
https://www.op.gg/champion/akali/statistics/mid (Data strictly from KR region only)
IS AKALI STILL WORTH PLAYING?
The most commonly asked question right now from this sub. I'd say she is definitely difficult and there are way better choices to pick other than Akali. But I've seen multiple success from one tricks. So, if you really want to play Akali, go for it. It will take a lot of losses and time to get better with this champion after multiple nerfs. Remember to always bring Presence Of Mind. She is definitely a really fun champion and that matters more than anything! As for climbing, you can climb with any champions below Diamond elo. But Akali will make it harder to climb with her current state.
^BUILDS:
Akali benefits off better from AP than AD. The stereotypical "Irelia build" is more of a bruiser play but rarely does much compared to AP. So I am only going to give the typical AP build rather than the AD build.
^ITEMS

Starting Items: Doran's Ring or Doran's Shield

Starting items depends on matchup. I advise new players learning Akali to grab Doran's Shield instead of Doran's Ring. The item provides great sustain against ranged matchups and overall a safer starting item to learn Akali with. Doran's Ring is for confident Akali players that are already experienced with the champion and the matchups Dark seal and Long swords are fine to start out but this is more of a preference.

Why Doran's ring?

~~It's a very good early game Item giving a lot of HP and AP so your trades are much stronger.~~ As of our recent nerfs to our Q gut where it's 120 energy cost, I find this a lackluster start and that Doran's Shield should be your primary start to sustain and farm.

Core Items: Gunblade, Liandrys/Morellos (explanations below), Zhonyas
Situational items: Void staff, Morellos, Banshees, Deathcap
Build Path

Gunblade is your primary first item, nothing else. This item gives you the biggest power spike early game. After grabbing Gunblade, go for the component buy of Morellonomicon's Oblivion Orb and hold onto it rather than finishing it, complete it whenever it is necessary (if enemy has champions such as Vladimir, Soraka, Sona, etc.) I will explain why not finish the Orb later in this thread. Zhonyas is a great item giving resistance and a active providing potential outplays and preventing yourself getting caught in crowd control or other threats. Build Liandrys most of the time when enemy team are filled with high health champions. Morellos only when you need it for the Grevious Wound effect. Otherwise, sell the Oblivion Orb and grab Liandrys late game. Oblivion Orb becomes worthless later on in the game cause you need more damage and penetration %

Do I build Cutlass or Revolver first?

Revolver is the priority item here. If you're unable to buy the item as a whole it's best to go 2 Long Swords and then proceed to build for Revolver. You benefit off AD better in early game rather than AP. So before lvl 6 = 2 Long Swords, Near or post 6 = Revolver.

Why just Oblivion Orb?

The item is cost efficient because of what it gives for what you're paying for. Some AP and that juicy flat pen. Pairs insanely well with Sorc's shoes so you're dealing a lot of damage to non magic resistance builders early game. I highly advise you to finish the item ASAP when you're against hard healing champions. If the enemy rushes early Magic Resist, skip the item for Liandry's or Rabadons.

What about building Lich Bane?

As of recently discussing with a EUW Challenger OTP Wahid 3251, he mentioned the item is pretty good once you have built the previous necessity items. The moment you get Deathcap, the item is usable. Sell the Sorcs Shoes late game for Lich Bane if you like.
^RUNES
CONQUEROR SETUP (Recommended)
https://imgur.com/UCAAmbT The main Keystone you should be using. The entire rune path provides the best for Akali's current state. It provides AP bonus before 10 stacks so you benefit off it from her trades.
FLEET SETUP (Recommended, matchup dependent)
https://imgur.com/OymODnI Another popular choice. A lot of high elo players and pro players take this for sustain in lane. Giving movement speed boost from the proc allows her to easily land her passive against your opponent. Take this against heavy poking champion or a champion you need to kite around.
ELECTROCUTE SETUP (Not recommended but is still viable)
https://imgur.com/1KAb4eR This setup is probably her best burst setup, but not really recommended considering her recent nerfs, ConqueroFleet is overall better. Runes you can alternate: Taste of Blood -> Sudden Impact, Presence of Mind -> Triumph. Ravenous Hunter is just overall better than Ultimate Hunter for her hard healings later.
~~https://imgur.com/PdDThyV~~ Not a optimal setup no more due to Q nerf, Presence Of Mind is a necessity.
SUMMONER SPELLS: Teleport/Flash for Top Lane. Ignite/Flash for Mid Lane. You can swap TP with Ignite at top lane but you're crippling yourself for mid-late game rotations.

What about Dark Harvest?

The rune isn't just efficient compared to taking Electrocute or Conqueror. You'll be able to get some stacks but you're losing huge advantage early from taking this rune. You'll need A LOT of stacks for it to compete with Electrocute's number.

What about Grasp?

No.
^GENERAL

What is my skill order? What do I max?

Start with Q, level E second. Level W second if you're not having a good time in lane, W gives you breathing room to farm safer. Max Q>R>E>W.

What lane do I go?

Akali fits very well in both Mid and Top lane. A lot prefers top more due to melee matchups but downside would be tanks rushing resistance builds against you. Mid lane impacts the game more since you're able to roam side lanes for kills and helping around jungler for objectives, this lane is much harder than top because of ranged matchups.

How do I trade my opponent?

Your passive is where you'll be playing around the most for damage output. Simply Q>Auto attack (Passive) rinse and repeat. Add E whenever the opportunity is given and you'll be able to murder your opponent in one full trade. Utilize your W to maneuver around towards your opponent for either dodging their skills or to reach them for harass. You can also use E as a gap closing method to reach your opponent and harass from there. E->Q->W->AA rinse and repeat.

What do I do in teamfights?

Set yourself up by positioning correctly where you're able to flank the backline and murder the prime targets. Akali is amazing at murdering squishies from 100-0 and if you haven't wasted all her abilities you can be able to escape from the frontline safely. Don't forget to use your Gunblade active as it gives bonus damage for your all-in and Zhonyas to dodge CC.

What should I be doing in lane?

Ever since the Q nerfs, your early laning is much harder. I advise you to farm more than you harass. Harass when the opponent is in your Q range, but do so at same time of landing those Qs to last hit minions. Rush for Gunblade. This is vital and super important item for your power spike. With this item you're able to one shot and skirmish greatly mid game.
Top Lane: Harass your opponent whenever you can, unless it is a ranged matchup. This lane is purely solo and requires wave management skills to win here.

What are the hardest matchups for Akali?

Most ranged matchups she will have difficulty with until you're level 6. Any champions that can reveal you in shroud such as Kled, Lee Sin, Twisted Fate, etc. The champs you'll most likely struggle in mid lane would be Kassadin, Galio, Malzahar.
^RESOURCES
Professor Akali's Ultimate S10 Guide (involves every matchups info) https://www.reddit.com/akalimains/comments/ga2kh0/ultimate_season_10_akali_guide_how_to_play_all/
Akali Mains Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/KzFTFKx
Akali Clubs (some may be outdated): https://www.reddit.com/akalimains/wiki/clubs
High Elo Matchup VODs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-TM5XNBRKzQaFVbT3bd3gKs4swauZlB2
Akali Combos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFoEUYS7vnA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avZ2Sb62W-c
Matchups difficulty stats: https://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/counters/akali
https://u.gg/lol/champions/akali/counters
https://lolalytics.com/ranked/worldwide/platinum/plus/counteAkali/
Lictwit's matchup spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTc1HMtUaSbl8IelgSl0CAD7ODOzIWNg0RyYEUNpgF1PidoHywM-0LgYANM9rqnh552rkknY2br0Sbl/pubhtml?gid=949663648&single=true
TakuyaDJ's Hybrid Bruiser Guide: https://www.reddit.com/akalimains/comments/e5bumq/akali_hybrid_bruise

best kassadin runes s10 video

Kassadin build guides op.gg provides builds, counters, guides, masteries, runes, skill orders, combos, pro builds and statistics by top, jungle, mid, adc, support in s11, s10 - including Win Rate, Pick Rate, Ban Rate, Play Rate. Language. Language. English 한국어 日本語 język polski français Deutsch español Nederlands dansk Svenska Build guides for Kassadin on ProGuides. Find Kassadin builds, counters, guides, masteries, runes, skill orders, combos, pro builds, and statistics by top, jungle, mid, adc, and support in S10. Use the Kassadin guide on ProGuides to find Win Rate, Pick Rate, Ban Rate, and Play Rate. S10 Kassadin builds? Runes etc. Just picked up kassadin and was wondering what i should build for him and what runes to take. 1 comment. share. save. hide. report. 50% Upvoted. This thread is archived. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Sort by. best Fleet Footwork is the keystone that synergizes with Kassadin the best. He has a rough time actually getting into the game, and the sustain gives you time to scale up and be able to survive laning phase. The keystone works particularly well with Kassadin, since he is a ranged AP champion. The AP scaling on the rune is very generous, and melee Kassadin Build Guide for League of Legends. Champion guides for the League of Legends champion Kassadin.Find the best Kassadin build guides for S11 Patch 11.3. Our authors will teach you which items to build, runes to select, tips and tricks for how to how to play Kassadin, and of course, win the game! We track the millions of LoL games played every day to gather champion stats, matchups, builds & summoner rankings, as well as champion stats, popularity, winrate, teams rankings, best items and spells. Kassadin build guides - op.gg provides builds, counters, guides, masteries, runes, skill orders, combos, pro builds and statistics by top, jungle, mid, adc, support We track the millions of LoL games played every day to gather champion stats, matchups, builds & summoner rankings, as well as champion stats, popularity, winrate, teams rankings, best items and spells. Upon charging up, Kassadin can use Force Pulse to damage and slow enemies in a cone in front of him. Passive:: Kassadin gains a charge whenever any Ability is used near him. At 6 charges, Kassadin can activate this Ability. Active: Kassadin unleashes a void pulse, dealing {{ totaldamage }} magic damage and Slowing by 50/60/70/80/90% for 1 second. I've been playing him a bit now, and he is really fun. What are the best build, runes, and masteries? Main questions: What is the best first item? RoA, Morello, GLP, or even Seraph's Embrace. Better Keystone? DFT vs Thunderlords. Best runes?

s10 Best Kassadin build guides, latest Kassadin counters

best kassadin runes s10

best kassadin runes s10 - win

Analysis on tank items (PBE)

[Theorycrafting] Sylas Top Muramana + Riftmaker

Beginner FAQ and Discussions Megathread

best kassadin runes s10 video

best kassadin runes s10 top