King Cobra is the top solo queue Cassiopeia player in North America, if not the world. With over 1000 ranked games on her in season 4 alone he has played her into every matchup and every team composition imaginable. In addition to his expansive knowledge of Cassiopeia he is skilled at other mid laners such as Syndra and Lissandra and considers himself a strong mid laner, not a simple one-trick pony.

What kind of mindset does it take to want to play almost exclusively one champion?

King Cobra: Hahaha, I can't speak for all of the players who play almost one champion exclusively, and I'm not sure what the right word for my mindset is, but I guess 'extreme' and 'driven' work. I really dislike to settle for average in everything I do whether it be school, work, or playing something - I strive to be the best at it. While being the best at League of Legends isn't a realistic accomplishment for me, I can certainly try to be the best at Cassiopeia (not saying I am!).

What drew you to Cass in the first place?

King Cobra: I'm a big fan of reptiles so when I first started playing League and I was going through all of the champions she really stuck out to me. I didn't know what she did at all so I went on YouTube and found two really helpful Cassiopeia videos. One of them was a Cassiopeia tutorial video by Reginald and the other was a video from 2012 IEM Kiev where Ocelote teaches Ben "MrBitter" Nichol how to play Cassio. Those two videos were what REALLY got me into playing Cassio.

Do you consider yourself a "one-trick pony" (or snake) or do you think you can play other champions at a master/challenger level?

King Cobra: If you were to look at my ranked champion stats, you'd probably said I'm a 'one-trick pony', but I can definitely play more champions at a master/challenger level. I think one of the most frustrating things in League is to have to play with a true 'one-trick pony' that refuses to play anything but 'their' champion. While I definitely prefer playing Cassio, I won't hesitate to pick a different champion or role if it will benefit the team. Just don't make me ADC please.

Is that because Cass can't ADC?

King Cobra: Ok, so truth be told I'm actually really good at ADC....once I have about 2.0 attack speed. At that point ADC's are just easier to play versions of Cassio. I'm so used to having '2.0 attack speed' on Cassio (Twin Fang resets) that trying to kite with anything less feels horribly clunky to me.

Where do you feel Cassiopeia's strong and weak points are?

King Cobra: As a champion, Cassio is somewhat unique in the fact that she brings extremely high single single target magic DPS to a team so she really excels in a team that has hard engage/pick potential (since she lacks short CD hard CC of her own) and also good peeling capabilities. She largely plays out like an extremely potent magical ADC. I think UOL put together a really good comp with Cass when they played her to qualify for LCS - Jarvan, Maokai, Corki, and Thresh.

They had good pick, good cc, superb engage, and they could peel for Cass if they needed to. Cass doesn't too well when her team can't make things happen for her because of how immobile she is. Of course, she can always make plays with an ultimate + flash combo, but ideally you really want to hold onto those spells for when you need them. I really think the only comps she actually struggles against though are extreme poke comps when her team lacks engage (if her team has engage she's a pretty good pick IMO) and triple threat comps (something like Irelia, Kha'Zix, assassin mid) where she can get dove by more people than her and her team can peel. It's hard for me to say what comps she's weak in because I think I can make her work into really anything.

What about her strengths in lane?

King Cobra: In terms of how she spikes in power, right now Cassio is pretty strong early, mid, and late. While her early game is arguably her weakest point, she has a pretty powerful level 2-3 all in. Depending on her itemization, her mid game may also be on the weaker side or it may be on the more powerful side. A Rylais' rush really makes her potent in small midgame skirmishes because it makes her somewhat tanky and lets her lock people down and kite them indefinitely. Her late game is absolutely bonkers. Once she gets 500 stacks and Deathcap, she can 1v1 anybody in the game - Fizz, Zed, Akali, w/e. She winds up nearly 1-shotting most assassins with a single Twin Fang late game. It's disgusting.

Do you think Cass will see competitive play this season?

King Cobra: While strong, I think Cass is still largely a niche pick. There are a lot of other midlaners that are either safer than her or more capable of making the picks/plays that are favored in competitive play. That being said, I know there are a few professional players that have been playing her so it's definitely possible that she'll see some screen-time.

Her immobility and lack of hard CC on a basic ability makes it difficult to fit her into a lot of comps. Perhaps we'll see some Cassi-centric teams though if she becomes popular. She's a tough champion to learn, somewhat easily countered, and is unforgiving if you aren't playing well so I'm not sure she'll be worth the investment for a lot of professional players.

Have you been giving any secret Cass lessons to pros?

King Cobra: Let's just say I have made a lot of new challenger friends since the patch 4.21 buffs to her.

Any closing comments or remarks?

King Cobra: I stream sometimes. Feel free to message me on twitch or on reddit (/u/lol_king_cobra) if you have any questions or ever want to chat! Oh yeah, and I don't have an account on any server that isn't NA so if you play with some guy named "King Cobra EU" or whatever and he's claiming to be me....it's not me.