AP Assassin Mid
Researched, pending verificationItems
Starting
Boots of Speeddefault: dodge skillshots early
Health Potionx3 with boots, x1 with ring
Doran's Ringalt start: more sustain and AP
Boots
Sorcerer's Shoesdefault: magic penetration
Mercury's Treadsvs heavy CC or AP
Core build path
Rod of Agesmana pool + scaling for Riftwalk
Rylai's Crystal Scepterslows so the combo lands
Zhonya's Hourglassdive in and survive it
Void Staff
Situational
Buy these only when the game calls for it. They are not part of the core path.
point-and-click burst combo
Deathfire Graspthe classic Kassadin one-shot
to weave autos after Riftwalk
Lich Bane
snowballing, or for more raw burst
Rabadon's Deathcap
vs an AP-heavy enemy
Abyssal Scepter
vs heavy poke or CC ults
Banshee's Veil
Summoner spells
Flash
Igniteor
Teleport
Max order
- Q
- E
- W
R at 6/11/16, always the moment it is available. Early W point at 2 for mana; W maxed last.
| Ability | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Q | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||||||||||
 W | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||||||||||
 E | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||||||||||
 R | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Runes
Marks
9/9
9× Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
Seals
9/9
9× Greater Seal of Armor
Glyphs
9/9
9× Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Quintessences
3/3
3× Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
Masteries
Offense / Defense / Utility
Offense
21
4/4
4/4
3/3
1/1
3/3
1/1
4/4
1/1
Defense
0
Utility
9
1/1
3/3
3/3
2/3
Notes
The scaling terror. Kassadin is deliberately one of the weakest laners in the game before level 6: you survive, farm, and abuse Void Stone against any mage. Rush Catalyst the Protector and finish it into Rod of Ages, which is the perfect Kassadin item: health to hold the lane, the mana pool that pays for Riftwalk, and ability power, all of it growing as the game goes. After 6 and that spike he flips a switch. Riftwalk puts him on top of a carry, Null Sphere silences them, Force Pulse and the burst finish it, and he blinks out before the enemy team can answer. His only real limit is mana, which is why the whole build funnels into a huge mana pool. He hard-counters immobile mages and melts squishies, but lockdown before he can Riftwalk out kills him.
Not hand-checked yet, so treat these values as provisional. Source: Season 3 MOBAFire community guides (pre-3.14 rework, 2013), AP assassin mid build.