Kayn is fine... BUT RHAAST IS FLAWLESS || Casual Champion Review 

The idea of Rhaast as the smallest but most ferocious dog has me laughing so much. I’m just imagining the Darkin War, Aatrox and Baalkux using massive attacks that rip the earths crust apart and stomping on buildings all the while the human sized Rhaast desperately clings onto Ascended Xolaani’s leg slamming his tiny scythe into it as hard as he can.

Imagine not being able to take over a body in the first five seconds. Rip Raahst

Rhaast is like the youngest sibling in the darkin family who is constantly teased about everything by the others

I just imagine Kayn and Rhaast meeting Varus and having that whole conversation. Like "Oh we're symbiotic now. Two human minds wouldn't have been much a problem but they don't live for themselves and their love is just too power to overcome" And as Rhaast, who is struggling to handle one host, is trying to formulate a response that makes him look good Kayn just bursts out laughing. He's wheezing, he's crying, he can't breathe. Rhaast is so embarrassed and Kayn is just like "What are you so upset about? You just found out you're not the saddest Darkin. The power of love, oh my god"

I love Rhaast’s voice lines but even more Odyssey Kayn’s. Their friendship reminds me of Lewis and how he talks about his brother

one thing I wish they would "end" or update Kayn's story about the darkin corruption is him and Rhaast being symbiotic, much like Venom, Kayn having access to more of Rhaast's power while Rhaast being the proper mentor to Kayn. Much like Kayn is being corrupted by Rhaast, it would be a nice twist that Rhaast himself is getting corrupted by Kayn's (dark) humanity. Odyssey Kayn shows glimpses of Kayn and Rhaast coexisting while Heartsteel Kayn plays it off as a joke, these 2 being together without butting heads all the time (or butting heads for specific scenarios) would be a nice thing What riot would never do but I would still wish for, is denying the option for Rhaast full control and shadow assassin and waiting for a hidden timer, after the condition is met, Kayn and Rhaast basically reach an understanding, gains half and diminished effects of the previous 2 forms but makes him the most versatile out of all forms but generally weaker for drain tanking and in and out assassination at the same time. ps: imma draw this version of Kayn as my headcannon, imma post it at the discord tomorrow or so

Aw at the beginning of the match, the enemy Twitch saying he’s a fan of you made me smile

One thing I liked about the Zed comic is that it shows Zed can inspire honest loyalty. Kayn has massive ambition, but he wants to INHERIT the Order of Shadow; he has too much respect for Zed to either betray him or attempt to take over by force. And it's respect that Zed earned by treating him well and not playing head games with him like his own master did.

The only crime Kayn have when you choose a form is that you loose the banters between those two. Space Odyssey is just peak and having me prefer Kayn over Rhaast simply because he misses Rhaast after purging him out of the scythe.

Base shadow assassin Kayn is just “cringe edgy” but odyssey Kayn shadow assassin is perfect because it fits the phrase “no one mortal should wield that much power.” He captures that feeling perfectly with a completely fractured mind of pure power picturing the galaxy in his pure image and talking to Rhaast even though he isn’t there

The first in about 80 champion reviews that doesn’t start with a sigh, it’s gonna be good!

Rhaast being a darkin baacai is probably one of my favorite fan theories, and also adds to why hes such a little angry chihuahua-esque pissbaby

@NickyBoi One of my favourite bits of Kayn lore comes from the Zed comic, and it's that, when given the opportunity, Kayn does not betray Zed. It would have been so easy to have Kayn be a Starscream like character, but I'm glad they made the dynamic between him and Zed more respectful than that. His base voicelines in Shadow Assassin form even hint that he didn't kill Zed to get the position, rather Zed stepped down. The one non-edgy thing about Kayn seems to be his relationship to the Shadow Order, and it's a good choice imo.

15:40 Funny that you mention Venom cause I think that's the same deal with Movie Venom. He really is the smallest and dorkiest of all the sybiotes that even his own kid towers over him

There's only one way I could see riot taking Kayn's story further that wouldn't split the community, which is to have them progress into more of a symbiosis similar to venom. Currently they are both fighting for control of the body, but if they have some sort of event happen where they have to do the classic anime thing of "by our powers combined, we shall prevail!" type bs then I could see it progressing to them both existing together, freeing them from the lore lock they exist in and allowing them to progress further in the overall story

I will say this till the day I die, we need a janitor Kayn skin where the scythe is a mop and he drags a mop bucket behind him

Oddysey kayn treating kayn and rhaast like disney villains with does hilarious voice lines is one of the many reasons I main this champ😂

if riot forge wasn't dead (rip) it would be so cool to have kayn as the main character in a decision based game with different endings (rhaast or shadow assassin)

TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT KAYN!

I'll be honest, i wish league's darkin resembled the LoR ones, meaning that they don't look like blood-magiked ascended beings. Maybe Aatrox gets closer since he retained the wings. Other then that, Rhaast and all of the depictions of Varus in other media kinda don't show any hints of whatever they could've been pre-corruption. I should mention, they don't have to. Being so different and 'humanoid' than the ascended/baccai could symbolise how too far gone they are. I just think that the alternative (maybe a wing, a beak, some scales, a tuft of fur) would be more compelling, as if they were trying to hold on to their old glory.

Kayn definitely is better when Rhaast is bullying him, they are so silly To me base Kayn is League Sasuke, SA is League Sepiroth, and Rhaast is my silly skrunkly darkin

I know Riot doesn’t like to do holiday skins that much anymore but I still wait for the day we get candy Kayn. I just find the idea of Kayn dressed up like Santa and holding a giant candy cane as his scythe to be hilarious.

I have learned to love playing Kayn as both forms but Rhaast is more fun for me, but he’s another of those champions that I can do ok with yet every other player I see are gods with and omega fed

AWWW YEAH BOI! A RHAAST VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤ Oh yeah and kayn's there too I guess...

Rhaast is basically the Smee of all the darkin

TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT KAYN

Here's my take: Rhaast is not weak, and could actually overtake Kayn with no issue. The reason he doesn't is because he likes having Kayn around. He enjoys the banter, and he likes picking on him. Here's Kayn, who has trained to become the most dangerous assassin, learning shadow magic and mastering countless weapons. And Rhaast likes to tease him. "You worked so hard to become so strong yet you're still so weak." He watches Kayn struggle to "resist" the Darkin corruption, letting Kayn think he actually has a chance of winning over Rhaast. But in reality, if Rhaast sneezes too hard he might take over Kayn's body by accident.

A theory that I built in my mind about Raahst ( and Vaarus) being the weakest of the cast is that maybe the Darkin's influence is powered by their motivation ( Like "Peace" for Aatrox, Control for Xolaani, "Unity" for Naafiri, etc ) which explains why Vaarus and Raahst can't properly dominate their hosts due to their desire for simply vengeance and carnage respectively, which sounds small compared to what the powerful Darkin want.

I love the dynamic between Kayn & Rhaast, it's almost identical to Tristepin de Percedal & Rubilax from Wakfu, a warrior who wields a demon imprisoning blade that shit talks him. I just wish I didn't like playing assassins so much, blue Kayn is so much less interesting as a character compared to Rhaast.

17:13 this had me chucklin out loud hahaha

I like the idea that Darkin taking over a host when separated over different minds mean they are diffused and sectioned, potentially linked to part of the brain. Kayn is; a war vetaran from 10, raised to be a living weapon, has SEVERE attatchment issues, probably at least depression - ignoring the CPTSD. It is very likely that a LOT of his brain is closed off/his memories are blocked internally by his brain trying to keep him from dying. So that, I think, could actively affect how well a possession works in Runeterra? Like, the less access you have to your memories, the less access they will have to taking over from invading your concious mind. Just an idea. I dunno.

Posting this before the video starts, so I hope Nicky never had this thought too: Kayn shoulda been an Aspect, though I have no idea what of. Then he accidentally comes into contract with Rhaast. The Aspect side of him lessens Rhasst's influence explaining why he couldn't auto-consume Kayn. And you have the anime trope of the evil within tempting you with more power. "Use me and you'll be invincible" type stuff. So Blue Kayn would be him rejecting Rhaast and rebecoming his Aspect self, and Red Kayn...would kinda be the same? Never thought on it much beyond this simple concept, so if you're reading this and have ideas, please share them here.

I just recently picked up on Kayn and despite hating jungle, he made the experience enjoyable. + just wanted to say your casual champ reviews have become a weekly thing for me to wait for now, especially since your videos got me through the most hellish parts of my college semester. Now I'm waiting to graduate soon. Thank you Nicky, very cool.

Nicky should do a tierlist of "champions that should get into legends of runeterra" (based not only on the champion and voice lines it'd get, but characters that would be released with that champion, like K'Santes lover or stuff like that)

OMG it's "another Friday, another casual champion review" time! Let's look at all this fan art

Didn't they stated that Kayn is getting help to control Rhaast with the shadow box? I mean you can kind ok see it in the full artwork of the 2 mana 2|2, the one with fearsome and lifesteal

at this rate we gon get arcane 3 before season 7

i love in the fanart section the second piece of art on the bottom to the right XD Blue Kayn is just Leagues Sephiroth 🤣🤣🤣🤣

You ever have those characters that are actually favs, but you can’t help but relentlessly bully? That’s kayn and rhaast for me

The YESS! When you got red form sounded like kayn losing it😂

I completely agree about the narrative talk. Kayn and Rhaast, as they stand right now, are a frozen point in time. I firmly believe that if they want to push their narrative forward, they probably would have to rework them slightly by going the ever so memed purple path were they would "work in harmony". Which, let's be real, would be really boring for, well, both of them, because their banter and somewhat tragic fate are just way too freaking fun of a concept to me at least.

Nikkiboy: i like brusier not hypermobile Me, I'm Merobiba : waits patiently for lilia vid.

There were three members of Pentakill in the second game; this video has been certified Pretty Fucking Metal \m/

RHAAST GAMING

I’m curious, you said his story only has 2 options with one of them conquering the other. But I wonder if there’s the possibility of a third option, with the 2 sides spending so much time together that they eventually find some sort of mutual understanding and find a balance. Maybe switching back and forth or becoming a new form altogether

Kayne: *breathes edgily* Rhaast: SHUHT UP MAHN

Odyssey Kayn is so great because their interactions are hilarious

Even when he likes a human champion Nickyboi will do literally ANYTHING to avoid the human part of said champion as much as he can. He has the most unhinged chronic hatred of humans I've ever seen, I love this man lol

The new red backround part of the mastery makes it looks like an inflamed uranus.

My theory on why Rhaast can't take over the body is the fact that Kayn uses shadow magic. Supposedly this type of magic comes from demons(nocturne's box) and it negates the power of Rhaast. I think it was said that Shadow magic is some sort of anti-magic tho i cant remember correctly (something about it being hollow). And Rhaast actually asks Kayn about the darkness around him (in him), Kayn mentions it being his armor. 2nd argument may be the fact that while Rhaast is so weak at taking over a body is because he excels in other areas as a darkin.

Is there a casual champion review for Shaco?

"Rhaast is the Chihuahua of the Darkin" should've been the title 😂

Almost kindred Lets goooo

I absolutely love the interaction he has with Akali in the Zed comic. Calls him out as being hot, shirtless but crazy in the eyes. 😂

i find it funny that second fight was against all shadow isle champions

I enjoyed Karthus ult having an entire character arc

hmmm when they might progress his story, they could probably do it with a rework and do the thing smite does with his character hel. so my idea is that kayn and rhaast learn to accept each other and he can switch forms (he probably need to be dialed down with his skills and shit) but a character who can a little bit adapt...why not ?

14:50 my personal head cannon to not down play Rhaast is that shadow magic also have a possesive attribute shown by kushou getting corrupted by it and maybe anyone who learn shadow magic is being possessed by nocturn slowly, so Rhaast struggles to possess him is cus it's already hosted + kayn having experience and control about how to not get taken over completely from zed teaching him how to use shadow magic

I think its a duo combination in that Rhaast while not absurdly weaker, is like kayn, an egotistical bloodbath baby, but lets remember as others point out, he was making people insane just by being near him. I view it as willpower is what determines how fast a Darkin takes you over, Kayn has the willpower and even some prep from intel of what he was getting into, and still has partial corruption. Aatrox's will to die is so strong no one can really resist him, and obviously no actual league character has picked up a darkin weapon BESIDES kayn, so I don't think its a stretch to say the average league character has WAY more willpower then the average joe schmoe

Been thinking about this for a while now. But unless I'm mistaken, Darkin are able to 'steal'/learn their host's abilities after dominating them? If that's correct, if Riot wanted to make Kayn not the laughing stock of the Darkin, why not make it so that Rhaast is purposefully trying to hold himself back and not take over Kayn. Like, with what we've soon with Xolaani, she was presumably able to learn some of the Wuju technique from Jun after dominating her. Couldn't Rhaast not see a similar opportunity with Kayn and Shadow Magic? And for the question of 'why not just take over him now since Kayn is already a 'master'?' One explanation would be that because of how Kayn is able to pick up things and learns quickly, Rhaast might be waiting to see what else Kayn might be able to learn. So instead of Rhaast trying and failing to dominate Kayn, it's instead he's trying to stop himself from dominating Kayn and failing. And as far as Kayn as aware, perhaps Rhaast is playing into the bit, going with the idea of current lore where he's failing to dominating Kayn, playing into Kayn's ego. Or perhapes Kayn is aware of what's actually happening and is trying to find a way to rid the scythe of Rhaast and gain it's power and Rhaast doesn't believe that it's possible; urging Kayn to learn as much as he can because that'll mean that he'll live longer. Or maybe it's both of these, Rhaast is trying to hold back, and Kayn is trying to find a cure, each hiding that they're aware of the other. (I know you know) Feels like this way, both characters has agency, both characters have motives, both characters have a story that can lead to interesting conflict, and Rhaast is a real villain. I know that this will get kinda rid of the memes and fairly drastically change Rhaast's personality. But you should be able to keep what's already there, you they can still have their playful/trolling banter. This is something that they could just add more or less to give it some more depth and I don't think that they need to do any real form of resets or rewrites. Right?

21:58 I Actually think they are Lining up to kill Kayn Not Rhaast. I feel like soonish we should be getting the Emergence of the 5th Darkin That will reunite the "Team." I dont see Kayn Winning. I feel like the Darkin War 2.0 Will need Rhaast to join the Fight. I just Really hope the 5th Darkin is the Darkin Aegis Joraal Man. Hes easily the most cool. Aatrox's Second in command ? A Child Host so his Voicelines are Confused and Tragic. In Pain. Let Alone the fact that the Final Darkin SHOULD be a support so we can even out the Roster. And Also. Rework Varus. And give him a second A. But Rework him to match his brothers and sisters. Please Riot.

I play rhaast top, it is very funny and as long as I don't get perfectly counterpicked it also works

Kayn is one of my favorite champions, his concept and abilities are fun and interesting, and I do enjoy edgy characters, even though SA Kayn is a little bit too edgy, but, to me, what settles it is O dyssey, it was the first skin I ever bought, and it makes this champion pretty much perfect, the design, the voice lines, personalities, etc. I don't really play lol that much anymore, but a lot of champions and designs will stay with me for being so interesting and unique

13:44 JORAAL MENTIONED!!!! RAAAAAHHHHHHH

What if Rhaast chooses to stay with Kayn and keep him alive? He pretends to struggle but really, he's not trying. If he wants to just kill things....what better way to do that than remain a weapon. When kayn wields him he can live again, if only briefly. He's not really alone because they can talk to each other. My head canon is that they have a surprisingly complicated and uneasy relationship. There is the question of why would a Darkin choose to remain in their prison and not reunite with the others, which I think could make a good story since a lot of them are psychologically damaged and experience the world in such a different way. Kayn & Rhaast have so much unused potential, imo.

Yay he’s been playing skarner

Swain's noxus is so different from darkwill's noxus. When people say they're not the bad guys they're talking about swain on the helm.

You can tell the fanarts are not related to the reception of the video itself, but the love to the champions respectively

It is fun to think of Rhaast's real power level. Because while you argue he can't take over anyone instantly, isn't he also the only one who canonically would get the magic power of his host AKA shadow magic? I don't think Xolaani got Wuju stuff even a bit from Jun. So if Rhaast can get anyone power if he possessed them long enough, theoretically he would becomes the most powerful Darkin very quickly.

second enemy team went all SI champs. les [frog]in go let us also not forget that even aatrox in lor is slightly surprised that baalkux took over a magical tree with blood magic. really shows just how far down rhaast is on the totem-poll when some of the higher ranking ones can do that

I head cannon that Rhaast is more about resilience than raw power, considering that he and Aatrox heal an ungodly amount of health in league and LoR, kind of like Deadpool or Wolverine, where they don’t shoot giant lasers or anything but they can be reduced to atoms and still come back. The only problem being that Aatrox has both inmensurable power and healing and Rhaast is just the latter.

They always sound like an old married couple and I absolutely love it

And also, Kayn simply removes Darkin from his vessel with shadow magick (damn they use term "magick" in ff12 i think, anyway) which makes shadow magic - easy way out for guys like Aatrox, who would've guessed that Darkin Warlord needs to chase certain noxian instead of destroing world, but his ability to do so - never explained. Applause to Rhaast's resolve though, because of this two he actually can try to leave and take any body what would be much easier to control, but never even considers it, that's how much he wants to wield shadow magic rightfully, his difficulties with weapon wielder , makes him look on punnier side compared to others, Varus is fine with two other people , and anyone to encounter Aatrox automatically obsessed with bloodshed, but this is easy targets shadow powers and bit of insanity (Akali comments on this as well) makes Mortal Kayn that much more troublesome for him, yet have evil Scythe ever complained? Nah!

'' Nightbringer is... There ''

i much prefer to think about darkins ability to takeover a body to be like the one ring, it's practically instantaneous with most hosts, rhaast just happened to find one of the few who can put up a good fight

My take is it's a battle of wills. Someone has to have some legendary willpower to resist the corruption of a Darkin. Kayn is obviously egotistical, he doesn't want to lose to Rhaast. Varus took over two Ionian hunters, Valmar and Kai, one of which is hell bent on saving the life of the other (Varus, it's supposed to be double A, not double Gay) and, it's two people, so Varus is also struggling. And Rhaast is just that. He just wants slaughter. He gets to slaughter even as a weapon, so he doesn't have the drive that Aatrox has. Aatrox wants to die that much.

Base Shadow Assassin Kayne shares the same outfit as Shadow Evelynn

The only thing i remember is '' they are not the bad guys ''

Kayn's future could pull a Naruto (to keep with the edgelord weeb theming, hulk would also work). As he is younger and less experienced with the scythe he is battling for control, but as he develops he starts to use rhaast's power to help him in specific situations. Going into shadow order missions with stealth as an assassin, but tapping into rhaast's power of a situation goes wrong. It would still make gameplay sense and they can progress his story without killing a side

I too don't enjoy playing as blue Rhaast and would rather play Rhaast

Finally a real champion. Rhaast obviously

0 corruption in 2 seconds? rhaast fell off

I think it would be much easier to balance Kayn's gameplay gimmick if he were to be put in 2XKO, there's already an entire archetype of stance change characters and being able to dash through objects or opponents is not nearly as broken in fighting games as it is in a moba, and Kayn is definitely popular enough to be considered for the roster as well as Rhaast being great Darkin rep, only issue with putting him in the game is figuring out what the soul collecting mechanic would be changed to and what would be required to get the form you want, I don't think I've seen a super great idea for that yet

I had hoped that the promitent Darkin would be something akin to the 4 horsemen. Aatrox as war, Rhaast as death. Disappointingly Varus and Naafiri don't really fit the other two (I guess you could stretch it and say Naafiri is famine and Varus is conquest) but Rhaast being hinted at as the weakest darkin also ruins it.

I see Rhaayn becoming cannon

I would imagine that, even if raast is the weakest darkin by himself, after he's taken over kayn he's probably one of the strongest. The game play implies that he retains kayns shadow magic after taking over, and might have learned other things while they were together as well. We make fun of raast for not taking over his host, but kayn by himself seems alot more powerful than what you would expect the average host to be.

wahts ur opinion if they woud bring out a ledendary crampus skin for ivern were dasys santa and iver woud just trash talk santa till he uses ult and is like ah here u go santa ur the best ore smh

I think Rhaast is the weakest darkin because he grows stonger from the body he possesses. I don't personnally think that Rhaast is struggling and that Kayn is strong, I would say that their internal fight is more poker than wrestling. Like Rhaast senses that Kayn has a LOT of potential with his shadow magic and Rhaast just lends his power to allow Kayn to grow stronger so that his new body would be stronger than even the most powerful darkin. Kayn on the other hand either knows that Rhaast is waiting for the perfect moment and he's actually hiding is full power until he can take everything from Rhaast or he doesn't know and he just grow power angry and consumes Rhaast. I think this is best shown with the orb collecting mini game one of the two gets to take over but they can wait letting the other one grow stronger.

He loves Rhaast so much because his head looks like Ivern's head.

You know Nicky hates a champion when he starts hitting the nexus

Even MagikarpUseFly love Rhaast cause of how much he can heal just by ulting the tank. from 5% hp back to 100% the moment Rhaast comes out

Bc of you i started to call rhaast the fun goober 😂

I don't think Rhaast's power matters when it comes to trying to possess Kayn, it's just about the battle of wills and who has the stronger willpower. Rhaast has immedietly taken over human hosts before in lore, it's Kayn himself that's able to resist and have the willpower to not get taken over. Also in mageseeker note he & 4 other darkins are describe as the strongest darkins.

17:20 I feel that could be remeded by lowering the edgyness and giving it a similar simple reason like rhasst just WAY less destructive, Like A chacter from Blazblue Ranga having his character be He loves being egdy because it's cool but that leads to people perciving him as a monster. So as Rhasst simply wants to kill for fun Kayn is more nuanced in wanting to kill to save others while being edgy for style points.

6:40 You thought cutting it out would make us not notice huh? Silly Nicky

I really like Kayn and Rhaast's relationship, shame it inevitably ends in bloodshed.

Kayne is such a gary stue/mary sue. Rhaast definitly the superior character

Kayn and Rhast are like siblings and like everyone hates Kayn and Rhast is a fav child

The only way for them to meaningfully move Kayn/Rhaast's plot forward without killing them would contrive some way to revert after one takes over. With the current iteration of their story, it would be a tremendous cop out. But honestly, I have a problem where most Daarkin are just hand wringing evil villains without enough to actually differentiate them between each other, so I wouldn't mind if they changed the Daarkin in the game to actually have differing characters (they really needed to retcon Varus so much? They couldn't just make the bow some mindless, devouring Daarkin and he is being consumed in body and soul? And introducing two gay lovers just to have them sorta die is weak, Riot)

Fly through wall jutsu is so awful and un engaging to play against. He has almost no consequences and even when he gets fed the game is practically over. Outplaying a Kayn and trapping him just for him to fly through 9 walls and disappear is just toxic and not fun