EPT![[image loading]](http://www11.onrpg.com/gamepics/articles/league_of_legends/LoL-Cassiopeia_Siren.jpg)
Siren Cassi skin pictured because that is the only acceptable Cassi skin.
+ Show Spoiler [Stats] +
Damage 47 (+3.2 / per level)
Health 380 (+75 / per level)
Mana 250 (+50 / per level)
Move Speed 310
Armor 11.5 (+4 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+0 / per level)
Health Regen 0.97 (+0.1 / per level)
Mana Regen 1.42 (+0.15 / per level)
+ Show Spoiler [Abilities] +
Noxious Blast (Q)
![[image loading]](http://www.leagueoflegends.com/sites/default/files/game_data/1.0.0.118/content/spell/69-1.gif)
Cassiopeia blasts an area with a delayed high damaging poison, dealing 75/115/155/195/235 (+0.9) magic damage over 3/3/3/3/3 seconds and granting her 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% Movement Speed for 3/3/3/3/3 seconds if she hits a champion.
Cost 35/45/55/65/75 Mana
Range 850
Miasma (W)
![[image loading]](http://www.leagueoflegends.com/sites/default/files/game_data/1.0.0.118/content/spell/69-2.gif)
Cassiopeia releases a growing cloud of poison that lasts for 7/7/7/7/7 seconds. Any enemy that passes through it is poisoned for 2/2/2/2/2 seconds, dealing 25/35/45/55/65 (+0.15) magic damage each second and slowing them by 15/20/25/30/35%. Continual exposure renews this poison.
Cost 70/80/90/100/110 Mana
Range 850
Twin Fang (E)
![[image loading]](http://www.leagueoflegends.com/sites/default/files/game_data/1.0.0.118/content/spell/69-3.gif)
Cassiopeia deals 60/95/130/165/200 (+0.55) magic damage to her target. If the target is poisoned then Twin Fang's cooldown is reduced to 0.5/0.5/0.5/0.5/0.5 seconds.
Cost 50/60/70/80/90 Mana
Range 700
Petrifying Gaze (R)
![[image loading]](http://www.leagueoflegends.com/sites/default/files/game_data/1.0.0.118/content/spell/69-4.gif)
Cassiopeia deals 200/325/450 (+0.6) magic damage to all enemies in front of her. Enemies facing her are stunned for 2/2/2 seconds while enemies facing away are slowed by 60/60/60%.
Cost 120/160/200 Mana
Range 750
+ Show Spoiler [Patch Notes] +
version 1.0.0.115
* Twin Fang cast animation sped up
* Petrifying Gaze
o Cast animation sped up
o Cast range increased to 850 from 700 (effect now roughly matches the particle)
o Damage increased to 200/325/450 from 150/275/400
o Cooldown reduction with rank is now reflected in the levelup tooltip
o More accurately targets enemies that move in/out of the area during the cast time
version 1.0.0.110
* Twin Fang range increased to 700 from 675
version 1.0.0.108
-Base movement speed increased to 310 from 305
-Noxius Blast movement speed buff increased to 3 seconds from 2
-Twin Fang ability power ratio increased to .55 from .45
-Petrifying Gaze slow increased to 60% at all levels from 40/50/60%
-Petrifying Gaze cooldown changed to 130/120/110 seconds from 120 at all levels
For this guide, I'm going to shamelessly plagiarize the format of Southlight's fantastic Kassadin guide. Partly because the champs' names sound similar, and partly because some sort of standardization for the champ threads is probably ideal.
Cassiopeia is an absolutely brutal champion, misunderstood and thought to be bad by just about everybody. Cassi is played less than any other champion in the League short of Karma, and it's pretty easy to see why: she's an AP carry (understood by most as useful only for burst damage) that demands mid lane, is enormously depending on repeatedly hitting a 'skillshot' (q), and is liable to break many users' E keys. I expect part of the problem is that most people don't think of rebinding E to smartcast, and are thus turned off by the apparent clunkiness of the champion.
It's their loss, as Cassi has the following assets:
-Unparalleled laning power. If her opponent does not buy boots+3hp pots, he automatically loses the lane.
-Enormous damage vs champions. Her initial burst isn't quite as huge as, for example, annie -- but over even a couple seconds Cassi starts to clearly take over.
-Great chasing power. If you can consistently hit with your Q, Cassi is incredibly difficult to escape, as you're effectively running at +15% movespeed the whole time.
-Fantastic scaling with items.
-Often overlooked, but she has I believe the best DPS against Dragon and Baron of any champion in the game, including Karthus, just barring AD carries with 3 infinity edges and 3 phantom dancers or whatever. Will crunch the numbers later.
-A huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge AOE CC ultimate.
She's just sort of tricky to play. To start:
If you want to play Cassi, you must bind E to smartcast.
I'm certainly not the best Cassi out there, but I haven't seen anyone better - mostly by virtue of how rare her players are, and how seldom she is picked in ranked games. I assume SYDTKO is better.
So, how do you play Cassi?
You kite. You spend the entire game trying to stay in that narrow band of about 25 range where you can damage the enemies, and they can't touch you. So basically, a lot of chasing and running, as we will see later.
MASTERIES
There's two ways you can do masteries. The first is a 'standard' caster build of 9/0/21, which is pretty self explanatory. The alternative, which I use, is 0/8/22.
Why 0/8/22? Don't you want the 15% mpen for maximum damage?
Damage is great. I love damage. Really, I do. Unfortunately, sometimes it's just not worth the tradeoffs. The start of the game is when Cassi is most potent, and she really needs to pick up the ball right here and start running with it. At level 3, if you go 9/0/21, the only real bonuses you're getting from the 9 points you invest into the Offensive tree are:
-1.8 AP
-3% cdr
~3 magic resistance penetrated on your lane opponent. (Assuming 30 mres, about 10 penetrated by your runes)
...That's not a lot, really. The CDR doesn't make a lick of difference. The AP is sort of nice, but really miniscule, and the 2 mpen just isn't worth it.
If you go 0/8/22, however, you get:
-4 armor (nice against harass)
-6 mres (great against burst casters -- your main worries)
~4 hp5, which adds up really quickly when you're trading harass
-Greed mastery! Yay!
It's preference, I suppose, but you'll never catch me using anything but the latter, especially considering SoS' synergy with the mana items you'll be getting.
RUNES
Because Cassi is, again, all about snowballing out of the early game, your runes should reflect that as much as possible. You need to squeeze as much damage as you can out of every mana point that you spend-- and also get as much mana as you can. Turn mana into kills, or at least pushing your opponent out of lane.
So,
Red: Mpen
Yellow: Flat mp5
Blue: Flat AP
Quint: Flat AP
This is the ideal setup to do as much damage as efficiently as possible at low levels. Obviously, the flat mp5 won't help you much later in the game- but that's alright as your items will take care of that problem as it comes up. The important thing is to stay ahead of your opponent in hitpoints and creep score. The AP from the runes (combined with your Doran's Ring) adds a whopping 35 damage to your extremely-spammable Q at level one. Abuse it.
SUMMONERS
Flash/Teleport or Flash/Exhaust. It pretty much depends on your lane opponent and how much you respect them.
Basically, if you need to carry your team incredibly hard, Flash/Teleport is optimal. Cassi is strong enough in the lane that you don't need the second summoner to win it handily, and Cassi has one of the strongest counterganks in the game with her ludicrous damage and chasing power. Many are the double- and triple-kills I've gotten by teleporting to bot lane during an enemy gank. Teleport is also great to play silly push games later on in the match because Cassi with a lot of AP sort of completely annihilates creep waves. Flash is obvious.
Exhaust is more of a situational idea. Basically if your lane opponent is someone like Annie, Malzahar, or Orianna who can kick your ass instantly and all at once, you should probably take Exhaust to minimize their damage and especially keep you safer from jungle ganks.
I've taken Flash Heal (yes, I know, crucify me later) in a couple ranked games (and won) as an experiment, but it's probably bad and I might elaborate later. Don't worry about it.
SKILL ORDER
R > Q > E > W, no points in W before level 13.
Why?
Basically, W really really sucks in the lane. I've tried and tried to make it work, and it seriously just blows monkey chunks and is more or less totally useless at that point in the game. Its real utility comes in later, especially during running teamfights, and you just don't need it before then.
The ideal situation is one where you are able to get Rylai's at about the same time as W. Then it gets fun, as their synergy is hilarious. W acts sort of like Singed's pool in that the slow is negligible at low levels, and borderline OP at high levels and especially with rylai's. Plus, you know, damage.
PLAY AND ITEMS
Okay, so, you've successfully bought Cassiopeia and her superior Siren skin. You've made an early game dominance runepage and grumbled just a bit while making a 0/8/22 mastery page. You're ready to jump into a game, buy a Doran's Ring, and shit on someone in mid lane. You may want to hold on just a few seconds and read the rest, first.
Bans
The best time to play Cassiopeia is when you're first pick in a ranked game, and have control of the bans. This also minimizes the QQ about what a shitty champ Cassi is, as you can pretty much say 'relax im first pick i know what im doing', and so on. Anyway, if you can, you really want to ban Annie. Not just because Annie is broken, but she is also pretty tricky to deal with in the lane. Hopefully next patch she recieves some significant nerfs so that you can ban your fucking nemesis, Kassadin.
RANT ABOUT KASSADIN
I love playing Kassadin. He's a *cough* pushing nuking snarebot initiator, and a lot of fun to play. But when I'm playing Cassiopeia, seriously, fuck Kassadin. It's like his entire kit was designed to specifically counter you.
-He silences you, preventing you from properly comboing.
-He has huge range, nullifying yours.
-He takes 10% reduced magic damage, wtf.
-He's immune to all damage from Cassiopeia, due to his god damn teleporting.
-Cassi can't space herself or kite properly when Kassadin is around, because Force Pulse is OP.
-Cassi spams spells. She can't do anything but spam spells. Kassadin's OP force pulse is charged by you spamming spells.
-Fuck Kassadin.
So, uh, yeah. If you think that there is even a slight risk of anyone on the opposing team picking Kassadin, ban that teleporting obnoxious blue buff stealing mother fucker. You're doing yourself a favor.
Leblanc is sort of the same thing but nobody plays Leblanc so who cares.
BACK TO PLAY AND ITEMS
Buy a Doran's Ring. Go mid lane. Focus on hitting your Qs and not taking any damage in return. Specific tips and tricks for this all-important section of the game will go at the bottom of this guide. Practice this as much as possible, as it's basically the most important thing about Cassi. If you can consistently hit your Qs in the lane, you can probably consistently hit them elsewhere, as people's tiny dodging and weaving motions are a lot easier to predict in teamfights and between lanes.
Be good at last hitting. If you aren't good at last hitting, get good at last hitting. You really need the farm with Cassi. Don't be afraid to use her spells to last hit, she actually has one of the best kits in the game for last hitting in the lane from a safe distance.
Your core items vary quite a lot depending on your lane matchup, how well you're performing vs. your opponent, your specific money situation on every trip back, and so on. Basically you need:
-Some sort of flat mana item. You need a large mana pool to help DPS dragon and baron down quickly, as well as for extended teamfights. In practice, this pretty much means tear (if you can get away with it without dying in the lane), or catalyst (if you can't).
-Some sort of survivability item to survive opposing casters' burst.
-A lot of AP.
In a perfectly ideal world where you're completely kicking your opponent's ass, collecting kills by counter ganks, and so on, your items go like this:
-Shoes
-Tear
-Sorcs
-Rylai's
-Deathcap
-Archangel
-Wota
-Whatever
If you can get something like a Needlessly Large Rod on any given trip back, by all means do it. Just be aware that it will slow down your Rylai's, and you need to play carefully.
As for your mana needs, they may vary with the specific game. As much mana as possible is great, especially if you're not taking a lot of harass in the lane, but sometimes Tear just isn't viable. One middle-ground route I've found some success with recently is actually getting a Chalice. This item will double your abysmal MRes stat, helping immensely against opposing caster lanes, and it will also cost-effectively minimize your risk of running out of mana mid-teamfight.
As for the Tear, a lot of people give me a lot of guff for it, as despite the above, I still end up getting one in the majority of my games. I spam my spells a lot in lane, with the philosophy that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take -- and you really, REALLY can't afford to run out of mana in a fight. Most casters don't really care as they can sort of blow their load and gleefully run away, but Cassi can keep fighting at maximum power until her mana runs out and then---- she's just a useless neutered duckling wandering around the battlefield waiting to be killed. Don't let this happen to you. Despite Tear not giving any flat health (though it does give you a lot of regen with SoS) or AP, it is often the 'safest' choice for this reason.
You have 2 choices for shoes:
-Sorc shoes (if you have 1100 gold on your first trip back, you are probably winning the lane and these are a must to seal your victory and probably get at least one kill)
-Merc treads (If you're laning against Annie, Malzahar, Orianna etc. and they are a very good player or you're somehow losing the lane, these might be a sad necessity).
I go Sorcs about 90% of the time.
Anyways, the great thing about Cassi in fights is she doesn't really need to ever commit in order to do loads of damage. She can stay near the outskirts, hit people with Q's, and if it's safe, move just a bit closer to rail them with repeated E's before dodging back out again. Your ult is best used in the following scenarios:
-Hit the whole enemy team. Ideally you're following up an Amumu initiation or something and literally get an additional 2s stun on the whole team-- but if you get the chance to just rail a lot of people at the same time regardless of which way they're facing, do it.
-Interrupt an important channel. Notably Malzahar and Warwick. You can usually hit one or two other people with the AoE while you're at it.
-Chasing. Don't be afraid to hit a runner or two with your ulti if you can't kill them alone before they reach the safety of their towers. The 60% slow for 2 full seconds is absolutely massive, and will often let your teammates catch up and help you secure the kill.
-Running. If you're low hp, an ulti in the face followed by you flashing away will get you out of about 99% of hairy situations. For this reason, you should almost never flash in to a fight unless you're trying to kill someone under their tower immediately after you ding level 6 or something.
Uses for your other skills!
Q
-Chasing: Q people, keep chasing, Q them again. Don't bother with E as it will slow you down, unless you can finish them off. Keeping up the Q combo will keep you in range and the enemy losing health.
-Running: Same idea. You should be able to often hit people blind around corners, in bushes, etc to boost your speed and get you the fuck out of there. The bonus you're getting after the cast time is realistically probably more like 5-10%, but often that's enough. Just make sure you don't miss.
-Checking: Check bushes! Check corners! Check for ganks! It's like a short-range clairvoyance that does work and speeds you up!
-Farming: With around 100AP, at level 5 your Q can instantly clear range creeps in an AoE, and clear melee creeps with only 2 hits.
W
-Chasing: After the speed boost from your Q gets you close enough, throw a W in front of the enemy champ and cut him off so he has to either run through it or waste time running around it. Same as a Singed goop, do not try to throw this directly on top of a running champion, just use it to obstruct his path.
-Running: Same thing, but you're getting away.
-Checking: It gives you very brief sight, kinda like Veigar's Dark Matter.
-Farming: Slows down creeps and kills them instantly with some AP and a quick Q? Yes please!
E
-Chasing: If they're sufficiently low HP, you don't need to risk missing a Q. Just hit with E first, and if for some reason it fails to kill em, you can follow up with an auto attack or a Q to collect the kill.
-Running: If you're being chased and you're using your Q/W to maximum effectiveness, often the enemy champion will get low hp without noticing that he's low hp. Depending on your hp, your AP, his MRes, what champion he's playing, etc, low hp could be anywhere from 200 to 2000. Anyways, if you're being chased and the enemy champ has run through enough Q/W's (not as many as you might expect) to become sufficiently low himself, you can often turn the chase around. Sit in a bush, Q/W him again as he comes closer, and rail him with your full RQWEEEQEEE combo. Sometimes you don't even need the ulti. Use exhaust if you've got it, collect kill. You remain totally safe in your bush, and abscond with an additional 400 gold. Chasing Cassi is even more dangerous than chasing Singed, it just hasn't become a meme yet.
-Farming. Even if you hit a dry target with it, E still only has a 4s cooldown. A great skill for last hitting under towers.
Now, finally, the most important section:
LANING
Oh my god we just got hit by the most terrifying fucking hailstorm I've ever seen and I'm sitting here writing this stupid guide. Anyway, when you're laning, you have to hit Q's. If you do not, you lose the game. Here's how you do it.
First, I must clarify: when I say aim slightly behind, or to the right, or whatever of a champion, usually that means to use the AoE of your Q spell so that, if they stand still, they will just get barely clipped by the edge of it. This doubles the number of decisions that your opponent can make that will result in him getting hit by the Q (ie. he can choose to sit still, or to move back, either way he will get hit. He has to choose a different direction in order to not get hit).
Every opponent has a set of predictable maneuvers he makes. Some are very easy to spot, more are much more subtle. Some of the easiest ones are:
1. Lasthitting. Every champ has to do this, and whether they do it with a skill, autoattack, range or melee, everyone will attempt to last hit creeps when they get low. The trick to nailing people when they last hit is this:
a. You have to already be in range. If you move up, they'll see it, and dodge your shot.
b. You have to aim slightly behind them. The moment people see Cassi doing her Q animation, they'll move back, although the exact definition of 'back' varies a lot. Basically, default to behind them as in towards their tower. Observe their movements: if they usually dodge to the left, try aiming your spell just to their left, and so on. If you get enough successful predictions like this, then they'll usually freak out and become more predictable.
2. Harassing. Many champions will attempt to harass you back. Dodge their spells (if you can), and return fire, not necessarily in that order. Also, you may sometimes wish to trade hits if you are certain it will result in you nailing your Q- and if their cooldowns are long enough, you can follow up with an E or two as well.
3. Avoiding the sides. This may seem obvious when put into words, but most champions don't like hanging out near the side bushes, as it leaves them vulnerable to jungle ganks. This means that, on average, most people will juke towards the center of the lane if they are already off to the side. Again, study their movements and just predict. You don't have to be right 100% of the time, just try to be right as often as you can.
4. Coming in for jungle ganks. When people start behaving aggressively all of a sudden, you know their jungler is near. And often, this is the best time to nail them with some Q's if you feel you can do so safely. Do it with care, and try to only do it when your Flash is up, but this can single-handedly win you the lane if done right, as the jungler wastes time, the enemy champ takes damage, and you escape unscathed. Sometimes you can even kill the jungler and flash out if it's before level 6!
5. Your jungler ganks. Obvious. The enemy will run away from your jungler. His movement path becomes 100% predictable, and you get some guaranteed free hits and probably a kill.
Alright, my hands hurt a bit so this is probably a good place to stop for now. I'll answer any questions and participate in this thread as much as I can, as well as edit the OP whenever I feel that changes are needed.
Changelog
v1.00: jesus
v1.01: mpen = mres, ty spine
v1.02: added the meaningless minutiae in spoilers bluuuuuhhhh
