Bleeding Edge Cass Gameplay and Guide (read full description!)
What does Cass do? For two minutes she runs around like mad chicken doing nothing. And then her ult comes up, and she kills the whole enemy team with a single button press.
That's it. Simple enough. Go kill stuff.
Seriously. The most important task, THE ONE JOB of a Cass player is not to fuck up this single button press. Because without it, damage-wise, she's just a weaker, short-ranged Gizmo without turrets.
Mods I used while recording this:
— 25% Blade Dance damage. The strongest punch. Adds respectable 150 damage to the ult. It brings total to 750, allowing to 100-to-0 many squishies.
— 30% Sweep distance. Most importantly, this initiates into the ultimate. Best-case scenario is like jump-sweep-ult into ongoing teamfight from above, when everyone has long committed, stuff on cooldown, unable to stop you. Sweep is also an escape and a chase tool, what's not to like.
— 20% basic attack range. Mostly for safety during the "do nothing" part. Helps to avoid temptation to overextend into angry enemy mob. Also to chase people, but that's less important.
Honestly, nothing besides Blade Dance damage is that important here. I prefer utility to all the tiny-%-damage-increase-buffs, though. Range increases make Cass more comfortable to play for me.
(As a side note, concerning the +10% damage after sweep mod. I tested the most obvious sweep-into-ult combo, and the difference is like 40 damage. This is with +25% to blade dance. I'd say not worth the slot. Same with "7.5% damage above 90% health", I suppose. Never tested that one, but on paper it's even worse.)
Random tips I came up with:
— Your melee is not for damage (although it does 20-30% more damage against a dummy). Melee is for CC to stop Gizmo or Kulev from shooting, and Zero from healing. Also, Cass can peel for allies by meleeing a pesky Daemon or Nid from behind.
— Cass should generally not fight 1 on 1. Harass from above and behind. Any attention comes your way, you run away and reposition.
— Best melee combo against a ranged fighter would be: Q-Q-Q-basic attack-repeat. They will not fly away, will not drop to the ground giving them a free dodge. Also last melee attack does less damage. (There's also a Q-Q-Q-Space trick, but it is harder to execute and does not do more damage even against a dummy.)
— Best melee combo against a melee would be: Q-Q-Q-Q, then walk back, kite and shoot. Cass should not try to seriously melee another melee fighter.
— Never pursue a Miko or another Cass. Usually also applies to Zero. You drove them away, that's good enough. Now go win a team fight.
— Miko's dome does not protect against Cass ultimate.
Matchups:
— Cass HATES Maeve with passion. Maeve is the ultimate counter to Cass. Good Maeve on the other team makes me switch fighters.
— Gizmo is doable in melee 1 on 1, unless you fight on top of her T-Ruts. T-Ruts will shred you.
— Nid or Daemon are doable 1v1, but one mistake and you're dead. Even if you win, most likely you'll have to spend same time healing as they will spend respawning.
— Same with Kulev. Doable, but rarely worth it.
— Miko will outsustain you, unless you wait for stasis and then ult. That's a wasted ult, anyway.