Kayn is League of Legend ’ s newest champion. A hybrid monster, blurring the lines between assassin and jagannath. Interesting, cool looking and fun vitamin a hell to play, Kayn could be League ’ s best modern ace this year. The motion then comes devour to : what can he do and how well can he do it .
well, he can do a lot … and he does it identical well .
Update, 8/11:
Kayn is a bizarre character that brings reasonably of a bracing, if not frustrating aspect to the jungle role. Kayn ’ mho Darkin for feels far more powerful and more utilitarian than his Shadow Assassin form. This is partially meta based of course ( a tank bull with CC and lifesteal is obviously mighty correct now ), but Kayn ’ s Shadow Assassin just seems weaker than early assassin characters in the jungle. Currently, Kayn silent feels wyrd in the bet on. Powerful, fun to play, interesting and very frustrating to play against .
The Build
Like all things Kayn related, we have to talk in two. Because Kayn changes so drastically based on which form you evolve into, we are going to list off two different builds .
Shadow Assassin
Start:
Hunter ’ s Machete, potions
Jungle item:
Skirmishing Smite Warrior
Boots:
Boots of Swiftness/Mobility
Build:
The Black Cleaver
Duskblade of Draktharr
Death ’ s Dance
defender Angel
Darkin
Start:
Hunter ’ s Machete, potions
Jungle item:
Chilling Smite Warrior
Boots:
Ninja Tabi
Build:
Black Cleaver
all in Man ’ s Plate
Spirit Visage
Titanic Hydra
Ability maxing
- Umbral Trespass (R)
- Reaping Slash (Q)
- Blade’s Reach (W)
- Shadow Step (E)
Runes and Masteries
For runes and masteries we want to take AD marks, tanky glpyhs and seals and attack speed quints .
Our masteries are going to favor AD damage with the Fervor keystone while granting us a little extra tankiness and confirm through the 12 points in the Resolve tree .
The Kit
Passive – The Darkin Sycthe
Riot’s Tooltip:
What does it do:
Kayn ’ s passive is a little unique. At its base shape, when you first start the game, it will allow you to collect perfume from enemies. once you have adequate kernel, you will be able to transform into either the Darkin or the Shadow Assassin. The march of effect gather and transformation is a little strange, so we have a wholly branch usher to help clarify things .
If you decide to go Darkin, you will heal for a significant helping of the damage you deal with your abilities. The Darkin kind is a juggernaut, whose entire determination it is to deal with tanks and beefier characters. As such, the excess confirm will help keep you about when the going gets tough. Think Warwick .
If you choose the Shadow Assassin, you passive is all about collapse. Basically, when you first enter combat, you will deal significantly increased damage for a abruptly time period of time. This lets you very take advantage of your kit and surprise the hell out of some spongy champs on the foe team. Think Kha ’ Zix .
Q – Reaping Slash
Riot’s Tooltip:
What does it do:
Kayn dashes forward, dealing price as he goes. When he reaches his address, he spins his scythe in a circle, dealing damage in a wide-eyed area. This ability does bonus damage to monsters.
Reaping Slash is Kayn ’ s main kind of damage. It provides a very little come of mobility and feels fantastic to use. It is on a identical short cooldown and is used for both clear and catch-up. Kayn is already hard to get away from, and this ability barely makes things worse for his victims. You will spend most of the game spamming Q .
Darkin: Deals percent of health damage when Kayn is in Darkin form, allowing him to bust tanks.
W – Blade’s Reach
Riot’s Tooltip:
What does it do:
Kayn stretches out his arm and slashes down with the scythe, dealing price in a line in front man of him. Enemies who are hit by Blade ’ s Reach become slowed .
While Kayn is solid and mobile, he doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate in truth have much range. While Blade ’ s Reach may not seem like much in the roll department, it goes a long way to ensuring that the Shadow Reaper can hit enemies who get a little excessively far aside. Blade ’ randomness Reach is big for finishing kills, but it can besides be used to catch back up to an opposition .
Shadow Assassin: Range is increased and the ability casts while Kayn is still moving.
The second partially there is what actually matters. basically, you can add another ability into your assassin rotation without slowing yourself down at all. No wind up, no slow down, no fall back kills. This keeps your momentum going, allowing you to focus more on keeping up with your enemy .
Darkin: Enemies hit by Blade’s Reach are briefly knocked into the air.
This provides Kayn with some much needed CC. now, Kayn can interrupt abilities, stop those following him in their tracks and set up kills for his allies. This is one of the chief reasons why you want to choose the Darkin form. It is a fast and strong form of CC that catches enemies off guard .
E – Shadow Step
Riot’s Tooltip:
What does it do:
Kayn speeds up, allowing him to travel through walls as if they didn ’ t exist at all. Kayn is besides healed when he foremost enters a wall .
This ability is reasonably square ahead. Kayn can walk through walls, and mess people up because of it. This allows Kayn to gank from odd places and path through the hobo camp extremely cursorily. It is besides a small form of sustain, giving him a little bit of health between camps. The cooldown starts eminent, but goes down importantly as the ability is leveled up .
Shadow Assassin: Movement speed is increased and Kayn cannot be slowed while in walls.
R – Umbral Trespass
Riot’s Tooltip:
What does it do:
When Kayn damages an enemy ace, he marks them. If he is within compass, Kayn can leap into the bodies of champions that he has marked, riding along with them wherever they go. finally, Kayn will get kicked out of the body, dealing massive damage on his manner .
This ability is excellent for dodging incoming damage and finding a safe seaport for a competitiveness. similarly, it is the best direction to finish off person with low health, securing the toss off by living inside of them. The ultimate is fairly square, but it gains quite a moment depending on the transformation you have chosen .
Shadow Assassin: Resets your passive cooldown.
This requires a bit of notice on Kayn ’ south part, so that you don ’ thymine waste it. Basically, when you pop out of an foe, the game will recognize it like you are entering combat for the beginning meter. This will grant you a long ton of outburst damage for a few seconds, allowing you to promptly target another enemy or finish off the body you were just inhabiting .
Darkin: Deals damage based on max health and heals Kayn significantly.
The tank buster damage is, of course, a huge aid. however, the heal is probably the most significant aspect of this especial ability. If Kayn can jump into a tank car with a lot of health, he can heal for a significant dowry of his health legal profession. Kayn can start the contend by diving hard, and then refresh himself via the enemy tank. It allows him to keep going long after he should be gone .
Conclusion
From a gameplay perspective, Kayn is one of the cool and most concern characters in the League of Legends roll. The ability to pick up a champion and change your playstyle completely based on the trajectory of the game will be a massive profit to both solo queue players and professionals .
What matters more than any of that, is that he is a blast to play. thematically, he feels perfective. The way he looks, sounds and acts all fits nicely with how he plays. Considering that he is coming from the same gameplay run as champions like Tahm Kench and Lucian, this international relations and security network ’ t particularly surprise .
With Kayn, Riot is continuing to prove that they have a bunch up their sleeve. He is evocative of champions like Bard or Ivern, not in playstyle, but in philosophy. Bard opened the populace of League to ultimates that could aid or harm both supporter and foe ( paving the means for Tahm Kench ). Ivern took a simple automobile mechanic like jungle clear and flipped it on its steer. Kayn brings a fluidity between assassin and juggernaut that we have previously only seen in ailing balanced champions. This clock time, it is on function and it is spectacularly fun .
Kayn continues the bequest of encouraging us for the future while besides making us fear for our present. He is actually two, childlike champions resting inside one complex beat. He is fast to pick up and easy to understand when you are behind the controls. however, I fear that Kayn is going to take some dangerous time to learn counters for. once he has been out for respective weeks and people understand what he can do, life sentence should be a small easier, but for now, fear the harvester.
Last updated on 8/11/17
Relocated the ability maxing suggestions. Added a trace for runes and masteries, the information of which came from Champion.gg. Finally, added some gameplay thoughts that I have formulated after playing Kayn in a be environment .