Kayn ARAM Build and Guide

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch; ARAM balance numbers come from the League of Legends Wiki’s champion data.

A Kayn ARAM build means bruiser items for Rhaast or lethality for the Shadow Assassin. The mode tunes him rather than nerfing him: 100% damage dealt, 80% healing and 120% Tenacity on the Howling Abyss. Walls to Shadow Step through and a clumped team to Umbral Trespass into both suit him, so you build to survive the first fight and reach the second.

Item picks are ours, from what the items do in patch 26.21. Win rates play no part.

How is Kayn changed in ARAM?

Kayn’s damage dealt is 100% in ARAM, so no change there, but his healing is cut to 80% and his Tenacity is raised to 120%. Those two lines point in opposite directions, and both make sense once you remember he’s two champions. The healing cut is aimed at Rhaast: the Darkin passive heals for a percentage of spell damage dealt to champions, and on a map where five champions stand in every Reaping Slash, that heal gets out of hand without a leash. The Tenacity bonus helps both forms, since a 175-range melee champion on the Abyss spends a lot of time being stunned by people he was trying to reach. Why not just nerf the damage like everyone else? Because the damage wasn’t the problem. The sustain was. To be fair, Riot’s adjustment here is unusually precise.

Why does Kayn fit the Howling Abyss?

Because the lane has walls on both sides, and he’s the one champion who treats them as doors. Riot’s data for patch 26.21:

• The Darkin Scythe (passive): Kayn fights Rhaast for control and becomes one of two champions. Darkin heals for a percentage of spell damage dealt to champions; Shadow Assassin deals bonus damage for the first few seconds in combat with enemy champions.
• Reaping Slash (Q): a dash and then a slash, both dealing damage. Cooldown 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 seconds.
• Blade’s Reach (W): damage and a slow in a line. Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9.
• Shadow Step (E): he can walk through terrain. Cooldown 21/19/17/15/13.
• Umbral Trespass (R): he hides inside an enemy’s body, then deals massive damage when he bursts out. Cooldown 120/100/80.

Picture the enemy team grouped under their turret. Shadow Step takes Kayn through the side wall and out behind them, Reaping Slash dashes into the clump, Blade’s Reach slows the whole line as they try to scatter, and Umbral Trespass hides him inside the carry while four people swing at the air where he was. On Summoner’s Rift that flank takes a minute of walking. Here it’s one wall (no walking required). What does the map take away? Jungle camps, and with them the quiet first minutes he normally spends settling his form, so the transformation happens in the middle of a lane with everyone watching.

What should a Kayn ARAM build focus on?

Two builds, decided by the form, with one shared rule: Health and Tenacity are worth more on this map than on the Rift, because there is no recall and no jungle to hide in. Three items for Rhaast, three for the Shadow Assassin, and a boots choice that’s the same for both.

For Rhaast, Sundered Sky first: 40 Attack Damage, 400 Health and 10 Ability Haste, and Lightshield Strike makes your first attack against a champion critically strike and restore Health. In ARAM the first attack against a champion happens every few seconds (there are five of them), and even at 80% healing that’s sustain between relics. Black Cleaver follows, 45 Attack Damage, 400 Health and 20 Ability Haste, with Carve cutting a champion’s Armor by 6% per stack of physical damage, up to 5 stacks for 6 seconds, and Fervor adding Move Speed when you deal physical damage. Reaping Slash and Blade’s Reach both apply Carve across a group. Then Sterak’s Gage: 400 Health and 20% Tenacity, on top of the mode’s 120% Tenacity modifier, plus Lifeline, a decaying Shield for 4.5 seconds when damage would drop you below 30% Health. Honestly, Sterak’s is the item that decides whether the Darkin survives his own dive.

For the Shadow Assassin, Youmuu’s Ghostblade is the opener: 55 Attack Damage, 18 Lethality and 4% Move Speed, Haunt for Move Speed out of combat, and Wraith Step, an active that grants Move Speed and Ghosting. A Shadow Assassin’s passive deals bonus damage for the first few seconds in combat, so the build is about arriving fast and leaving faster. Eclipse comes next, 60 Attack Damage and 15 Ability Haste, with Ever Rising Moon granting a Shield for 2 seconds after you hit a champion with 2 separate attacks or abilities within 2 seconds. Reaping Slash is a dash and a slash: two hits, one Shield. Profane Hydra finishes it with 55 Attack Damage, 18 Lethality and 10 Ability Haste, and Cleave makes attacks deal physical damage to nearby enemies while Heretical Cleave deals it around you on demand, which on a map where nobody is ever alone is simply more damage per button.

Boots are Mercury’s Treads for either form: 20 Magic Resist, 45 Move Speed and 30% Tenacity, on top of the 120% Tenacity the mode already gives him. A Kayn who can’t be held still is a Kayn who gets to use Shadow Step twice. Take Plated Steelcaps instead only when the enemy team is four attackers and a support.

How do you play Kayn on the Howling Abyss?

• Flank through the wall, not down the lane. Shadow Step lets you walk through terrain, and the Abyss has terrain along both sides of the only lane.
• Reaping Slash through the group, not at one person. Both the dash and the slash deal damage, and in ARAM there’s always a group.
• Umbral Trespass the target your team is about to kill, not the one that’s running. You’re hidden inside the body, and the burst lands where your team already is.
• Blade’s Reach down the line of retreat. It damages and slows in a line, and on the Abyss the line of retreat is the lane itself.
• Max Q. Reaping Slash drops from a 7 second cooldown at rank 1 to 5 at rank 5; Shadow Step falls from 21 to 13 but only as a secondary.

How do shopping and Mark change the game on the Howling Abyss?

No recall means the shop is a fountain-only event: you buy at the start and after each death, and between those visits the lane’s relics are the only healing that isn’t your own kit. For Rhaast that puts Sundered Sky and its on-hit heal ahead of everything, since 80% of a heal is still a heal and the relics run out (they always do). For the Shadow Assassin it’s the opposite problem: no sustain at all, so buy the Eclipse Shield before the second lethality item. The catch is that the form isn’t settled when you first shop, so the opening components should fit both (a Long Sword never goes to waste).

The ARAM-only summoner spell is Mark: a snowball that, if it lands, lets you dash to the tagged champion. The choice locks before loading. On Kayn it’s a second gap closer on a champion who already has Reaping Slash and a wall to step through, which sounds redundant until you count the range: Reaping Slash is a short dash on a 175-range champion, and the snowball reaches targets the dash can’t. In practice the best use is the chain: Mark, dash, Reaping Slash, Umbral Trespass, and the enemy carry has travelled from safe to dead without ever seeing you walk. Funny enough, the thing that stops that chain is a Mark aimed back at you by their bruiser.

Is Kayn good in ARAM?

Yes, and the modifiers are the tell: 100% damage dealt, 80% healing and 120% Tenacity is a mode saying the kit is fine and only the sustain needs a leash. Walls on both sides for Shadow Step, a permanently grouped enemy team for Reaping Slash and Blade’s Reach, and an ultimate that hides him inside the one target everybody is trying to protect. What he can’t do is win from behind; a Kayn who dies before his form arrives spends the game as a 175-range melee champion with ordinary numbers.

The junglers who make his early game miserable on the Rift are in the Kayn counters guide. For what the jungle role is supposed to do in a normal game, read our guide to LoL roles. Patch history and stats for every item above sit in the item database, and the Kayn skins page has the cosmetics.

Put simply: step through the wall, dash through the group, hide in the carry, and come out swinging next to your own team. That’s the Kayn ARAM build doing what it’s for. Then you respawn, finish the Health item, and find another wall.

FAQ

Is Kayn nerfed in ARAM?

Only his healing. The League of Legends Wiki’s champion data for patch 26.21 lists him at 100% damage dealt, 80% healing and 120% Tenacity on the Howling Abyss.

What items does the Kayn ARAM build use?

Rhaast takes Sundered Sky, Black Cleaver and Sterak’s Gage; the Shadow Assassin takes Youmuu’s Ghostblade, Eclipse and Profane Hydra. Both wear Mercury’s Treads.

Does Shadow Step work on the Howling Abyss walls?

Yes. Shadow Step lets Kayn walk through terrain, and the walls along both sides of the lane are terrain. Its cooldown is 21 seconds at rank 1 and 13 at rank 5.

Which form is better on the Howling Abyss?

Neither is wrong. Rhaast’s heal is reduced by the 80% healing modifier but still works; the Shadow Assassin’s bonus damage in the first few seconds of combat is unchanged at 100% damage dealt.

Is this build based on win rates?

No. We took Kayn’s patch 26.21 ability text and the item data and built both lists from that; win rates didn’t come into it.