Kayn’s Forms – How They Work and How to Choose?

Has it ever happened to you that an enemy Kayn comes out of nowhere, flying through walls, and absolutely destroys your team? Well, we’ve all been there. 

This article will allow you to understand his unique kit. As Kayn, you start every game as a simple champion with a rather weak kit, but go on to transform into an entirely different monster as the game progresses.

Kayn has two forms – commonly known as red and blue – and you need to decide the right one depending on the enemy team comp.

What Forms Does Kayn Have?

For a bit of a backstory, Kayn’s weapon is so powerful that he consistently struggles with not letting it take over himself. This is how he gets to transform into one of his two forms, which are:

1. Rhaast or Red Kayn
2. Shadow Assassin or Blue Kayn

How They Work

You can transform into either one of the two forms every game once you collect enough orbs for them. These orbs are obtained by fighting enemy champions, every time you get a champion takedown or even damage a champion, and are stored in a bar.

If you know which form to take you can fight champions accordingly. Blue orbs are obtained by fighting ranged champs while you get red ones from fighting melee champs. Once you have enough orbs, you can go back to base and transform by clicking on your champion’s icon.

Also read: Best Hybrid Junglers

1. Rhaast or Red Kayn

If the weapon, the Darkin Scythe, overpowers Kayn’s conscience, he turns into a menacing monster that is red with rage and seeks to destroy everything in his path, and is called Rhaast or red Kayn.

Difference from Base Kayn

In Rhaast form, Kayn’s passive gets 25-35% bonus healing from the damage he deals to enemy champions. His basic abilities also change up a bit.

His Q (Reaping Slash) deals percentage health damage, his W (Blade’s Reach) knocks enemies up and finally, his ultimate heals Rhaast for the extra damage it deals based on the enemy’s maximum health.

Playstyle

Red Kayn is a drain tank bruiser/fighter that loves extended fights. Transforming into this form will give you tons of innate healing with your passive and ultimate. You also get hard CC on your W which improves teamfighting greatly.

As Red Kayn, you excel in teamfights where you can deal damage then press R on a tank to magically heal up all your healthbar again, then rinse and repeat. This form also tends to do better in lategame as compared to the Shadow Assassin which peaks in midgame.

Weaknesses

Since Red Kayn’s teamfighting potential is boosted due to his healing, he can easily be countered if the enemy team builds anti-heal items or items with the Grievous Wounds passive because the reduced healing takes away from his durability.

Red Kayn is also a lot more mobile than the other form, and this makes you a lot more prone to kiting. A good ADC with some CC, like Vayne, is bound to give Red Kayn a hard time.

Runes

To fit his playstyle, you should take Conqueror as your rune keystone with this form which will help you perform even better in teamfights and heal some more.

When to Pick Red Kayn?

The CC, innate healing, and percentage health damage on Rhaast’s kit means you want this form into tanky enemy team comps. If the enemy team has two or more tanks or bruisers, this is the way to go.

Remember, you should know which form you will pick in the game right from the champion selection screen depending on what the enemy team looks like.

Also read: How to Get Rerolls in ARAM?

2. Shadow Assassin or Blue Kayn:

If Kayn wins against his scythe, he achieves his true form of being a Shadow Assassin. As this name suggests, blue Kayn is an excellent assassin that can literally delete enemies before they get a chance to react to his presence. 

Difference from Base Kayn

In this form, Kayn’s passive gives him bonus damage at the start of his combat with enemy champions, which allows him to take out enemies quickly and efficiently. Again, his basic abilities also change a bit with this form.

His W (Blade’s Reach) gets an increased range and pressing W summons a shadow that casts it from there for you, meaning you can do something else, like use your Q while your W is being casted as well. So as Blue Kayn, you can simultaneously get the damage of multiple abilities off. 

His E (Shadow Step) gains increased movement speed and resistances, also getting rid of any slows Kayn is already afflicted with. Again, you can cast abilities while moving within walls, allowing you to kill enemies without letting them retreat.

Finally, his R (Umbral Trespass) gains increased range so it can be cast from further away, and also resets the bonus magic damage from his passive, allowing for higher damage output throughout a fight.

Playstyle

Blue Kayn is one of the best assassins in the game, and as with all assassins, your job here is to pick out squishy enemies and take them out before every teamfight to put the enemy team at a numbers’ disadvantage.

As blue Kayn you should always be on the lookout for isolated targets and free picks. In teamfights, you should decide on a high priority target, like an ADC, which are usually very squishy, and kill them before they can wreck your team. 

Being an assassin, this form has a lot more snowball potential and allows you to close out games more quickly, and if you find yourself in a difficult spot, you just run through walls towards safety.

Weaknesses

Blue Kayn is amazing against squishy targets, but is a bit squishy himself. As such, he is weak against lots of CC and peel because in such a case you will die before you get to kill your targets.

Generally true for all assassins, Blue Kayn also falls off hard in very late stages of the game where everyone kind of just becomes a lot more unkillable. So, if a game extends for too long, you can start to have a hard time as the Shadow Assassin.

Runes:

The Shadow Assassin cannot survive long teamfights and relies on burst damage to quickly finish off opponents. So, Dark Harvest is a good rune keystone which ensures that you don’t fail to take a kill with an enemy surviving at low health.

Also read: How to Fix The Friend List Not Showing in LoL?

When to Pick Blue Kayn?

The high mobility and insane burst damage make The Shadow Assassin an excellent choice against champions that don’t have a lot of durability. As a general rule of thumb, you should pick this form whenever the enemy team has three or more squishy champions.

Again, you need to make sure that you decide on a form right in champ select so you can pick your runepage accordingly.

Final Thoughts:

Kayn is a very fun champion that can also be incredibly strong if you know what you are doing. Let us know in the comments below which form you like playing better and how you play it!