League of Legends - Kayn Champion Strategy and Item Build Guide

Kayn

Basic Information

Champion Stats

Lore

Skills

Icon	Description
	The Darkin Scythe PASSIVE: Kayn wields an ancient weapon and fights the darkin within it, Rhaast, for control. During each game, one will consume the other. Kayn hones his shadow skills by hunting ranged opponents, while Rhaast fuels his bloodlust by going toe-to-toe with melee enemies. If Kayn wins the struggle, he ascends to become the shadow assassin. If Rhaast is the victor, the darkin consumes his host and takes center stage. Shadow Assassin: Deal bonus magic damage during the first few seconds of combat with champions. Darkin: Heal for a chunk of all spell damage dealt to champions.
	Reaping Slash ACTIVE: Kayn dashes forward, striking nearby enemies at the end of the dash. Both the dash and the strike itself deal physical damage. Reaping Slash deals bonus damage to monsters. Darkin: This ability deals bonus percent-health damage against all enemies except minions.
	Blade’s Reach ACTIVE: Deal damage in a line that significantly slows all enemies hit. Shadow Assassin: Leaves behind a living shadow that casts Blade’s Reach in Kayn’s stead. The living shadow’s Blade has increased range. Darkin: Blade’s Reach briefly knocks up struck enemies.
	Shadow Step ACTIVE: Kayn gains a burst of movement speed and the ability to walk through walls for a few moments. When he first enters a wall, he’ll heal for a small amount and the duration of Shadow Step will be greatly extended. Kayn won’t get the duration extension if he’s in combat with enemy champions. Shadow Assassin: Gain additional movement speed and immunity to slows when activating Shadow Step.
	Umbral Trespass ACTIVE: Kayn may infest any nearby enemy champion who he has recently damaged. Trespassing into a champion makes Kayn untargetable for a few seconds. Reactivating the ability during this period ends the effect early. Kayn then wrenches himself free from his victim’s body, dealing a burst of damage. Shadow Assassin: Umbral Trespass can be cast from further away and resets the bonus magic damage from The Darkin Scythe after Kayn’s exits his victim. Darkin: Umbral Trespass deals extra damage as a percentage of the victim’s maximum health, healing the Darkin in the process.

Strategy

Kayn is typically a Jungler Champion. Click here to go to our Jungling Strategy Guide.

• Check the enemy team’s composition in order to decide whether you’re going to transform into Darkin or Shadow Assassin form out of his Darkin Scythe (passive). If the enemy team has a strong front line (i.e. tanks or health-stacking champions), it is best to transform into Kayn’s Darkin form; if the enemy team comprises of carries, it is best to transform into Kayn’s Shadow Assassin form.
• If you happen to complete the stack needed for Darkin Scythe (passive), but the souls you’ve collected are not the ones you need to transform to either Darkin or Shadow Assassin, you can wait for a certain time before you can change into the desired form you want.
• (Q) Reaping Slash is a good initiating tool, as it deals decent physical damage to enemies. It also has a good cooldown which can be used for dueling and chasing down enemy champions.
• (W) Blade’s Reach slows enemies in a line. However, it leaves him unable to do any other skill once he casts this skill. Be wary when using this offensively, at you are susceptible to disables such as Stuns, Slows, Taunts, Fears, etc.
• (E) Shadow Step is a great ganking tool, as it lets you walk across impassable terrain and structures and gain movement speed. Use (E) Shadow Step to gank lanes at unique angles to avoid conventional detection.
• (E) Shadow Step also heals Kayn for a certain amount each time he passes through impassable terrain. Use this to get some health regeneration and continue your jungling path, gank or when you need to escape.
• (R) Umbral Trespass only works if Kayn has dealt damage to enemy champions. Keep this in mind when engaging and diving enemy teams when you need to eliminate key targets.

Darkin Form

• Darkin form’s (Q) Reaping Slash gains bonus health-percentage damage to enemy champions. This is good against tanks and enemies who stack heatlh bonus items.
• Darkin form’s (W) Blade’s Reach knocks up enemies it hits. It is best to combo this with his (Q) Reaping Slash for maximum damage during ganks and team fights.
• Darkin form’s (R) Umbral Trespass deals an additonal percentage of the enemy’s maximum health to Kayn’s target, healing him when he jumps out of his opponent. Use this to gain health when you are in a pinch.

Shadow Assassin Form

• Shadow Assassin‘s (W) Blade’s Reach allows him to move freely while a ghostly visage of him continues the skill. Use this to close in on enemy targets and slow them to further deal massive damage with your (Q) Reaping Slash and auto attacks.
• Shadow Assassin‘s (E) Shadow Step renders him immune to slows, which greatly increases his chasing potential.
• Shadow Assassin‘s (R) Umbral Trespass has a longer cast range, allowing him to use it at a distance. However, you still need to damage an enemy champion to activate this skill.

Runes & Masteries

COMING SOON

Summoner Spells

Jungle
Smite	Flash

Item builds

Jungle

Starter Items
Hunter’s Talisman	Refillable Potion	Warding Totem

Starter Items

Hunter’s Talisman – A standard starting jungling item, he often uses (Q) Reaping Slash to quickly dispatch of neutral jungle monsters. Its item passives enable him to spam (Q) Reaping Slash to steal health and regain mana, making him last longer in the jungle.

Refillable Potion – This item enables Kayn to regain health and mana as he transitions between neutral camps. It also helps him heal in the event of encountering the enemy jungler or when setting up for ganks.

Core Items
Stalker’s Blade	Ninja Tabi / Mercury Treads	Duskblade of Draktharr

Stalker’s Blade: Warrior Enchantment – This jungle item enhancement gives him initial bonus Attack Damage bonus and cooldown reduction. His skills also scale with this item well.

Ninja Tabi / Mercury Treads – Ninja Tabi is a good item option to address Attack Damage-heavy champions. Likewise, Mercury Treads provides decent magic resistance, as well as lessens the duration of crowd controls against Kayn.

Duskblade of Draktharr – This item increases his ganks and ability to dispatch priority targets. Since most of the time, Kayn comes in from the jungle, Duskblade of Draktharr’s passive will almost always be available to enhance his damage. Keep this in mind when ganking lanes or during team fights. It also can be used to scout contested areas for wards.

Full Item Build
Stalker’s Blade: Warrior Enchantment	Ninja Tabi / Mercury Treads	The Black Cleaver
Duskblade of Draktharr	Guardian Angel	Sterak’s Gage

The Black Cleaver – This item gives bonus health, cooldown reduction and Attack Damage, making him a bit more tanky while dishing out damage. It also gives him armor reduction, further increasing the damage of his (Q) Reaping Slash and (W) Blade’s Reach on enemy champions during ganks, skirmishes and team fights.

Guardian Angel – This item provides Kayn with bonus Attack Damage and armor. More importantly, it gives him the ability to be resurrected should he take fatal damage from enemies. Kayn is relatively squishy, especially when focused by the enemy team, which is why Guardian Angel is an excellent survival item for him.

Sterak’s Gage – This item bolsters Kayn’s health while providing him good attack damage bonuses. It also makes him a bit tankier, thanks to its bonus health passive whenever its user’s health drops to a certain point.

Situational Items
Edge of Night	Lord Dominik’s Regards	Phantom Dancer
Maw of Malmortius	Youmuu’s Ghostblade

Edge of Night – This item provides bonus health, damage and an active spell that provides a shield against one crowd control spell. Edge of Night can be useful to take out carries who have some form of crowd control. Both Darkin and Shadow Assassin forms benefit from this item, as it gives the ability to thwart initial stuns, fears, and slows on his way to eliminate his targets.

Lord Dominik’s Regards – This item is often taken to address enemy teams that build health-intensive items or have high health attributes. Lord Dominik’s Regards uses the enemies’ health bonus against them as additional damage for Kayn’s damaging skills.

Phantom Dancer – Kayn’s Attack Damage comes from his skills and auto attacks. Phantom Dancer provides additional Attack Speed, Critical Chance and allows him more power when dueling with single-target carries who are usually potent to stand toe-to-toe against individual champions.

Maw of Malmortius – This item provides more coverage against AP burst-champions. It gives bonus health, Attack Damage and Magic Resistance. Maw of Malmortius also gives a protective shield that mitigates magic damage and gains potency based on Kayn’s health pool. This item synergizes well with The Black Cleaver and Edge of Night, allowing Kayn to survive opponents’ magic damaging-skills.

Youmuu’s Ghostblade – This item provides tremendous Movement Speed, allowing Kayn to maneuver into the right place and deal damage against enemy champions.

Playing Against

• Back away if you see a dark circle hovering on the edges of walls in your lane – that is him using his (E) Shadow Step attempting to gank your lane.
• He is weak early game because he needs to collect souls before transforming into either his Shadow Assassin or Darkin form. Try stopping him as early as possible and back away to avoid him from getting stacks.
• If you are a squishy champion, ask the support to peel for you when he evolves into his Shadow Assassin, as he can deal a ton of damage to you. If he is in his Darkin form, avoid extended fights with him because he can cause significant damage with his (Q) Reaping Slash + (W) Blade’s Reach combo.
• Avoid taking damage from Kayn because he can cast his (R) Umbral Trempass on you.
• His (W) Blade’s Reach has a short and thin range that can easily be avoided.
• In his Darkin form, (W) Blade’s Reach has a knock-up that can potentially disable multiple enemies. It is best to spread out when Kayn decides to dive in.
• Always check on his form when fighting against him. A Kayn passive can sometimes be very hard to track especially if he is very passive in ganking and joining team fights.

Hard Counter

Shen – Shen can easily outtrade Kayn in the Shadow Assassin or the Darkin form. Shen can cast Spirit’s Refuge in a teamfight to deny him damage for his stacks. Kayn is also weak against a champion with a hard crowd control, and Shen’s Shadow Dash is enough to limit his damage output.

Garen –  Kayn relies on getting close to enemy champions with his kit, and  that is where Garen thrives. Garen can cast Decisive Strike to silence Kayn from using his skills. Garen can also cast  Courage when his matchup uses Umbral Trempass,  greatly reducing the damage on his ultimate.

Strategy Video

COMING SOON

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