This would seem like a blue pill build. You can stack the rifts for free at the fountain, then rift yourself anywhere on the map by using it every few seconds. The closer you are to your base, the more powerful Kass becomes. Once the enemy is inside your base, you can unload your entire mana pool into a single Rift that Aces their entire team.

Also, you can take teleport and have someone drop a ward/mushroom/turret/bushwhack/JitB/what have you. If you teleport into a team fight, you should be able to drop 3 to 4 ten-stacked riftwalks with 4k mana.

I'm pretty new to Kass, but in my limited experience, using Lichbane doesn't require you to stay in sustained melee any more than you usually would. Just melee hit after an ability whenever you get the chance, no need to stick in the middle of a teamfight or anything. It's great for chasing because you can just riftwalk-hit-ability-hit-riftwalk-hit-ability-hit, etc.

I do agree about force pulse, though, I didn't even catch that.

Can you please list your preferred items in an actual order of acquiring them rather than just stating them so I can decide whether or not to **** on this? Thanks.

I list the items so you, as a player, can decide what you need to get depending on who you're laneing against and who their carry is. As I said in a previous post, there is no "best" guide or "buy items in this exact order" to win strategy. You need to analyze your opponents, their play-style, their item purchases, their aggressive/passive nature and adjust your build order accordingly.

If you just blindly build your item set each game, you will win some and you will lose some. That's a fact. Hence why almost every player has roughly 50% w/l ratios (give or take). I always build against my laneing opponents for my first item, until I determine who their carry is. It's not always Yi, or Ashe. They may perform poorly and say Rammus is doing really well. You need to keep tabs on how team-fights progress and shop accordingly.

Blind purchasing, or DPs syndrome as it's been commonly called on these forums, is at the heart of why some people say a specific guide "sucks". Have fun playing, it's a game. =)

To the guy who said level 10-11 = 3 to 6 kills, that's only like ideal situation. Going squishie and melee is hard to pulll out correctly against any aoe team with any hero.

I mostly always solo mid with my Kass, eating alot of heroes on 1v1, but force pulse level 1? Not sure. Unless you are against/laning with a spammer, you might only shoot it once before you get level 2.

Right now I lke to glass canon alot and I am pretty successfull with it, but what made me laugh is that its mostly the build I was using when I started to play Kass It totally works, but I found out that higher the Elo, harder it is to actually hit with your sword without dying instantly. Only catalyst won't help that much on survivability and since you don't seem to finish roa soon, its mostly your only health source. That said, good timing and good positionning can always save you.

Also, you often can rift-in and survive until your cooldown come back, but if you team is not clearly dominating, riftwalking a second time in their team will probably kill you.

And high Ap gives you also good dmg on towers. It's not comparable to lichbane, but it makes you hit of 250-300 on inhib in end game.

The reason Force Pulse is my first choice is because I usually find myself in a situation where harassing an enemy results in little-to-no damage done (due to heal abilities, heal spell, damage reduction shields, etc) as well as 'wasted mana' just hitting a single minion. I'd rather last hit a minion with Force Pulse AND do the same damage to the rest of them in range. It results in clearing minion waves faster and ultimately results in tower pushing/pressure that most people are not expecting from Kassadin early-game (1-5).

As for Catalyst, there are two main reasons it's in the build:
i. You gain health and mana when you level, which can keep you in your lane longer; even save your life if you level at the right moment
ii. It becomes a great anti-CC tool (Veil) or stacked stats (RoA) depending on how the game is playing out

I used to play pure AP Kassadin and it was great fun. But as you start ranking up your ELO, you start facing people who understand how to shut you down. I started to hybridize the build and eventually ended up with this build. It's not tanky, it's not glass-cannon-y, it's a solid build that suits how I play. As I stated before, this guide wasn't meant for every person playing Kassadin. It's a niche build, just like every guide is. Have fun with the game. =)