For those who weren’t following the League of Legends PBE changes on Kassadin, the full rework details are out. With the new changes, players will now have to relearn his whole kit. Other than Force Pulse the entire kit works vastly different. Force Pulse just received a damage reduction. I’ve described the biggest changes below, for the complete details check out the 4.4 patch notes.
Null Sphere:
The first huge change to Null Sphere no longer silences enemies on hit. Instead, this attack now grants Kassadin a shield that scales with AP. Null Sphere also interrupts channeling spells. This skill received a damage reduction, now dealing 80/105/130/155/180 with a 70% AP modifier.
Nether Blade:
The mana restoration was removed from the passive and replaced with a bonus magic damage buff. Using the active resets Kassadin’s auto attack and charges up his next attack to do additional bonus magic damage. In addition, the charged attack restores a percentage of Kassadin’s missing mana which increases if he hits an enemy champion. There is no mana cost and a six second cooldown on Nether Blade now.
Rift Walk:
Rift Walk’s scaling is now based on maximum mana instead of AP. The later level cooldowns are now lower, with a three-second cooldown at the third tier. Maximum stacks for Rift Walk is now 4, with mana cost doubling per stack.
My Thoughts On Kassadin:
I think the days of Kassadin mid might be over, considering how weak Kassadin was early game before this rework. We will likely see Kassadin move to the jungle and top lane roles sporting items such as Seraph’s Embrace and Rod of Ages. As it stands Kassadin is no longer a guaranteed ban, at least until people get used to his new kit.
I want to try the new Kassadin as a jungler and a support. It will be an interesting change of pace to the normal picks. For more details on Kassadin and the rest of the changes be sure to check out the official 4.4 patch notes.
