Cassiopeia Counters: Who Beats Cassiopeia

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Cassiopeia counters are mages who out-range her poison, lock her down before Twin Fang starts healing, or simply avoid the stun on Petrifying Gaze. She’s a 550-range mage with no dash, so her whole game is getting close enough to poison you and staying there.

Each of the five below was matched against her patch 26.21 ability text. We didn’t touch win-rate data.

Why are Cassiopeia counters needed in mid?

• Serpentine Grace (passive): every Move Speed bonus is more effective on her.
• Noxious Blast (Q): poisons an area after a brief delay and gives her Move Speed if it hits an enemy champion. Cooldown 3.5.
• Miasma (W): clouds of poison that slow, ground and lightly damage enemies passing through; grounded enemies can’t use movement abilities. Cooldown 24/22/20/18/16.
• Twin Fang (E): an attack that hits Poisoned targets harder and heals her for part of the damage. Cooldown 0.75.
• Petrifying Gaze (R): stuns enemies in front of her who are facing her, and slows those with their backs turned. Cooldown 120/100/80.

Twin Fang is the engine. It comes back every 0.75 seconds, hits harder on anything poisoned and heals her every time, so a Cassiopeia who lands Noxious Blast on you can stand there spamming E and win most trades. Miasma grounds you, which shuts off any dash you were going to escape with. That sounds bad. It is, up close. Her problem is distance: no dash, a 550 range basic attack, and every one of her spells needs her near the target. Counters either keep her out of that range or stop her before Twin Fang gets rolling.

Who are the best Cassiopeia counters?

Anivia

Anivia has 600 range to Cassiopeia’s 550, and Crystallize (W) builds a wall that blocks all movement for a short time. Cassiopeia can’t dash over it. Flash Frost (Q) flies forward, chilling and damaging along its path, then explodes to stun anyone nearby, and Frostbite (E) deals double damage to targets recently hit by Flash Frost or by a fully formed Glacial Storm. Glacial Storm (R) damages and slows an area for as long as she keeps it up. Reached anyway? Rebirth’s egg soaks it. Honestly, a wall between Cassiopeia and her target is the matchup in one sentence.

Viktor

Viktor fights from the edge of her reach. Hextech Ray (E) cuts across the field in a line, damaging everything in its path, and Gravity Field (W) slows anyone inside it and stuns those who stay too long, which suits a champion who has to stand still to spam Twin Fang. Siphon Power (Q) damages a target and shields Viktor, absorbing a slice of her poison. Arcane Storm (R) interrupts channels and keeps damaging nearby enemies, redirected as he likes. Glorious Evolution (passive) augments one ability per 100 Hex Fragments. The catch? His range is 525, shorter than hers, so he wins by using the Ray’s length, not his basic attacks.

Malzahar

Nether Grasp (R) suppresses one champion over a damaging zone, and suppression ends Cassiopeia’s Twin Fang spam on the spot. Silence comes next. Call of the Void (Q) fires two portals that silence, which means no Twin Fang and no Petrifying Gaze for the duration. Malefic Visions (E) deals damage over time and refreshes with his other spells, while Void Swarm (W) summons Voidlings that attack nearby enemies. His passive shrugs off the opening hit too. Miasma’s grounding barely bothers him, since he has no movement ability to lose.

Lux

Light Binding (Q) roots up to two enemies, and a rooted Cassiopeia stands still for Lucent Singularity (E), which slows an area and detonates for damage. Then Final Spark (R) fires a long beam that damages everything in it and refreshes Illumination (passive), the bonus damage her next attack ignites. Prismatic Barrier (W) shields any friendly target the wand touches. She has 550 range, the same as Cassiopeia, so neither side wins on basic attack reach alone. In practice the root does the work. Hit it, and Cassiopeia loses the trade before she starts it.

Zoe

Zoe trades from a distance Cassiopeia can’t match. Paddle Star! (Q) deals more damage the longer it flies in a straight line, and Zoe can redirect it in flight, so she lands big hits from far away. Sleepy Trouble Bubble (E) makes the target drowsy, then puts it to sleep with lowered Magic Resist, and the first damage that wakes it is doubled (up to a cap). Portal Jump (R) blinks her forward for 1 second, then back, which gets a Paddle Star off from a better spot without staying in range. Spell Thief (W) lets her pick up enemy summoner spell and active item remnants and cast them once. More Sparkles! (passive) adds magic damage to her next attack after a spell.

How should Cassiopeia counters play the lane?

• Dodge Noxious Blast. It lands after a brief delay, and without poison on you, Twin Fang does much less.
• Turn away from Petrifying Gaze. It stuns only enemies facing her; those with their backs turned are slowed instead.
• Don’t plan on dashing out of Miasma. Grounded enemies can’t use movement abilities.
• Trade from range. Her basic attack range is 550, and she has no dash to close distance.
• Punish the Miasma cooldown. Once the clouds fade, she waits 24 seconds at rank 1 before she can pin anyone again.

What should Cassiopeia counters build?

Grievous Wounds and Magic Resist. Twin Fang heals her on every cast, so Oblivion Orb early and Morellonomicon later apply 40% Wounds on magic damage and cut that healing hard. Mercury’s Treads give Magic Resist and Tenacity, which shortens Miasma’s slow and the Petrifying Gaze stun. Banshee’s Veil blocks one enemy ability (pop it before she ults), and Zhonya’s Hourglass stops her poison combo with a few seconds of stasis. For what it’s worth, every item here is in our LoL item list.

When is Cassiopeia weakest?

Early, before she has Mana and items to spam Twin Fang freely. Every Twin Fang costs Mana, and she only gets Mana back when a Twin Fang kills its target, so poking her before she can last-hit comfortably hurts her the most (Anivia and Zoe both do this well). Can she bully early? Only if she lands Noxious Blast, and a mage who sidesteps the first two or three of them takes most of the pressure out of her lane before level 6.

And without Miasma. It’s her only tool to stop enemies from walking or dashing away, and at 24 seconds on rank 1 it leaves long windows. To be fair, once she has Rylai’s-style slows from items, that window shrinks.

New to mid lane? Our walkthrough of LoL roles covers it. More champions are covered in the guides list, and her cosmetics are on the Cassiopeia skins page. Long story short, Cassiopeia counters keep their distance and turn away from the gaze.

FAQ

Who counters Cassiopeia the most?

Mages with range, walls or hard crowd control: Anivia, Viktor, Malzahar, Lux and Zoe.

How do you avoid Cassiopeia’s ult stun?

Petrifying Gaze stuns only enemies facing her. Turning your back to her turns the stun into a slow.

Can you dash out of Miasma?

No. Walking through the poison clouds leaves you grounded, and a grounded champion has no access to dashes or blinks.

What is the cooldown of Twin Fang?

Twin Fang has a cooldown of 0.75 seconds.

How were these Cassiopeia counters chosen?

Each pick had to out-range her, lock her down, or block her movement with terrain, judged from patch 26.21 ability text. Win rates were not used.