League of Legends best Cassiopeia build guide: Itemization, Counters, Strategy, and more

The best Cassiopeia build paths and items make her a teamfighting powerhouse in League of Legends 14.11. She is one of the best scaling Mid Lane champions at the moment and can take over fights once she gets a few core items under her belt.

The longer a game goes, the stronger Cassiopeia gets. While it takes some time for her to ramp up and start having an impact, she is incredibly rewarding once you reach her item milestones and kite efficiently around a skirmish.

Cassiopeia can melt through neutral objectives, allowing her to have some of the best setups around them. This is why the Serpent’s Embrace is one of the best Mid Lane champions to climb rank with, in League of Legends season 14.

Contents:

• Best Cassiopeia build
• Pros and Cons of playing Cassiopeia
• Cassiopeia tips and tricks for Early Game, Mid Game, and Late Game
• Cassiopeia counters, matchups, and Champion synergy

League of Legends 14.11 Best Cassiopeia build

Runes 

Itemization

Spells

• Flash
• Teleport/Ignite/Cleanse/Ghost

Skill Unlock Priority

Q: Noxious Blast	1			4	5		7		9
W: Miasma			3											14	15		17	18
E: Twin Fang		2						8		10		12	13
R: Petrifying Gaze						6					11					16

Cassiopeia Pros and Cons in League of Legends Season 14

Pros:

• Cassiopeia scales incredibly well into the Late Game and starts to hit like a truck once her best build is done. She can melt through the enemy frontline with her Q+E combo. Boasting one of the highest DPS  outputs out of all the meta Mid Lane champions in Riot’s MOBA. So if you position her well, she can take over skirmishes with ease.
• Cassiopeia is amazing at securing neutral objectives. Additionally, her Noxious Blast and Miasma work as tools that zone the enemy team out of the pit. As her W cancels out all forms of movement abilities like Flash, Dash, and Blink, it makes it very difficult for the enemy team to contest the Baron or the Drake.
• The Serpent’s Embrace has great wave clear. With a single rotation of spells, she can take out a wave of minions, making it difficult to siege against her. Hard forcing against her can also be troublesome because of her ultimate ability, Petrifying Gaze. It can CC the entire enemy team giving her team enough time to engage on them.

Cons:

• Cassiopeia is extremely mana-hungry. If you are playing aggressively during the laning phase, constantly trying to harass the enemy laner, then you are likely going to run out of mana. This will force you to take early backs and lose out on CS and XP. A Cassiopeia “from behind” is not a fun experience.
• Cassiopeia is comparatively squishy even though her best builds allow for some tanky options. Her lack of mobility tools also makes her quite easy to gank in the Early Game. She can be focused down with some point-and-click CC and then taken out. So it’s going to be difficult to push the lane with her if you are not aware of the enemy Jungler’s positioning.
• Cassiopeia is very hard to master. She has a high skill-ceiling and will take a fair bit of practice from your end to get used to her kit. Cassiopeia’s impact in a fight will depend on how well you are positioning her. You will have to constantly kit around a fight, and play her like an ADC and not as a traditional Mid Lane mage.

How to play Cassiopeia: Tips and Tricks for League of Legends Season 14 

Early Game:

• While Cassiopeia is pretty strong early, her mana-hungry nature will not allow you to play too aggressively in the lane. She is quite item-reliant and will need her Tear and Rod of Ages to stack before she has enough mana to keep spamming her Q+E combo. So when the game starts, you will usually just focus on last-hitting minions and staying relevant in fam and XP.
• If you are against an aggressive or an assassin Mid Lane champion, you will usually be pushed back into the tower. Learn how to last hit minions with her Twin Fangs, to have an easier time farming and hitting her core items faster.
• If you were able to secure early leads in lane and have reached an item spike, you can look to push the wave in and roam the map. Cassiopeia’s Miasma is great at setting up plays, so feel free to help your laners out. Getting off successful ganks will help your team get gold leads and snowball off of it.

Mid Game:

• The Mid Game is when Cassiopeia’s best build starts to come online. She starts becoming more relevant in teamfights along with being a side lane threat. So stick to the side lanes and keep threatening tower damage when not much else is going on. Group up with your team only when they are positioning for a fight, or setting up for a neutral objective.
• Cassiopeia can melt through neutral objectives at this stage of the game. Try helping your jungler in securing the Herald, Drake, and Baron if you have gotten some early leads and have pushed in the lane. Time your Q and W correctly to make it difficult for the enemy team to contest the objective.
• Once you have her core items done, don’t shy away from looking for a fight. Cassiopeia can 1v1 almost any champion in the game when played right. So if you are feeling confident about dodging skillshots with her you can look to force an engage. She has a nice little Flash+R mechanic that hides the R animation behind the Flash animation. It can catch the enemy off-guard, giving you some time to cast a rotation of spells.

Late Game:

• Cassiopeia truly starts to shine in the Late Game. She keeps stacking damage and is capable of melting through the enemy frontline when her best build is done. She has one of the highest single-target DPS while boasting a range of AOE spells. So your aim in the Late Game will be to kite around a fight and keep chipping at the enemy.
• As Cassiopeia is still comparatively squishy, she can be bursted down instantly in the Late Game. So try to position her in a way that makes it difficult for the enemy team to engage. You will need a fair bit of practice to pull this off. But once you learn how to kite with her, you can control the tempo of any teamfight that breaks out.
• Try not to prematurely use her Petrifying Gaze. Cassiopeia’s R is one of her best teamfight tools which can completely turn a skirmish around. So wait for the right time before pulling the trigger, and catch as many enemy champions as possible in the AOE.

Cassiopeia counters, matchups, and Champion synergy

Countered by:

• Galio
• Xerath
• Heimerdinger
• Zilean
• Irelia
• Ahri
• Syndra
• Anivia

Cassiopeia has a much harder time in lane against control and burst mages.

Favorable Matchups:

• Katarina
• Kassadin
• Zed
• Azir
• Annie
• Ryze
• Sylas
• Vel’Koz
• Twisted Fate

Cassiopeia has a much easier time in lane against the above picks.

Champion Synergy:

• Singed
• Twitch
• Morgana
• Yuumi
• Teemo
• Amumu

Cassiopeia’s kit pairs extremely well with these champions.