Akali vs Kassadin
You are stronger early. Look to snowball before your opponent scales.
Build vs Kassadin
The champion's reference build, for lack of enough games in this matchup
Recommended items for Akali: Hextech Gunblade, Shadowflame, Zhonya's Hourglass, Sorcerer's Shoes, Stormsurge, Rabadon's Deathcap, Mejai's Soulstealer, Dark Seal.
Starting items
Core build
Standard
Summoner spells
Anti CC
Other options
Power Spikes
Strength by game phase
Kassadin's abilities
Passive, spells and ultimate
Kassadin takes reduced magic damage and ignores unit collision.
Cooldowns
Cooldowns by spell rank
| Level | Q | W | E | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 9s | 7s | 21s | – |
| 6 | 8s | 7s | 21s | 5s |
| 9 | 7s | 7s | 21s | 5s |
| 11 | 7s | 7s | 21s | 3.5s |
| 16 | 7s | 7s | 19s | 2s |
| 18 | 7s | 7s | 17s | 2s |
Playing as Akali
Tips to maximize your impact
- Leave the ring for your auto
After each spell that hits, step out of the Assassin's Mark (passive) ring: your next auto gains range and damage.
- Mark before you leap
Mark your target with Shuriken Flip (E) before leaping with Perfect Execution (R): recasting Shuriken Flip takes you back to them, even after your leap.
- Dive inside your smoke
Cast Twilight Shroud (W) to dive under the enemy tower: inside the smoke you are invisible and untargetable, but an auto or a spell reveals you briefly.
- Save your second dash to finish
Save the second dash of Perfect Execution (R) to finish: its damage grows with the target's missing health.
Playing against Kassadin
How to counter and exploit weaknesses
- Trade before he hits 6
Take as many trades as you can before he hits level 6: without Riftwalk (R), he has no way to move quickly, to engage or to escape.
- Lean on physical damage
If you deal physical damage, lean on it in trades: Void Stone (passive) and Null Sphere (Q) only reduce magic damage.
- Drag it out when he chains R
When he recasts Riftwalk (R) back to back, back off and drag the teamfight out: each quick recast doubles its mana cost, and once he's out of mana he can't blink anymore.
- End the game early
Look to end the game early: at max rank, Riftwalk (R) only has a 2-second cooldown, and he blinks almost nonstop.
Other Akali matchups
Patch 16.21.1