Kha'Zix is a melee assassin. He has a very similar play-style as Rengar due to how his skills and passive work together. After playing a many games as Kha'Zix on the PBE and normal servers, I have come to the conclusion that these items bring out his full assassin-like potential, allowing you to quickly crush squishies in your path.

NOTE: I might add a more bruiserish Kha'Zix build if enough people request for one.

---

Kha'Zix's passive is Unseen Threat. when Kha'Zix leaves the line of sight of all enemy champions, his next basic attack on a champion deals bonus magic damage (+0.5 AP) and slows them by 35%.

---

Kha'Zix's Q is Taste Their Fear. It's a single target nuke that deals 70/100/130/160/190 physical damage. If the target is far away from its allies, Taste Their Fear deals 100/145/190/235/280 damage instead. Targets that are isolated are marked on your screen with a flashing reticle. When playing against Kha'Zix, you will see a flashing symbol over his head, indicating that you are isolated.

---

Kha'Zix's W is Void Spike. It's a 1000 range line skill shot that does 75/115/155/195/235 AoE physical damage at reaching the end of its line, or when it comes in contact with an enemy. If Kha'Zix is within the AoE effect, he regenerates 40/70/100/130/160 health (+0.5 AP).

---

Kha'Zix's E is Leap. He jumps to a target location with a range of 600, and deals 65/100/135/170/205 AoE physical damage in an small area around him.

---

Kha'Zix's ult is Void Assault. He goes into stealth for about a second and gains 40% increased movement speed. It can be used twice within 10 seconds before going on cooldown.

---

Kha'Zix's ult also allows him to evolve one of his skills* each time he levels up his ult. Each skill can only be evolved once, and evolving a skill gives him a graphical upgrade:

Taste Their Fear: Receives a large damage buff equal to 12% of the target's missing health, increases the skill range, and your auto attack range is increased as well. His claws grow larger.

Void Spike: Fires 3 spikes instead of 1, and applies Unseen Threat. The spikes protruding from his shoulders become larger and more numerous.

Leap: Greatly increases his leap range by nearly double and refreshes Leap's cooldown after getting a kill or assist. He grows wings out of his back.

Void Assault: Can be activated 3 times before going on cooldown, and while in stealth, he takes 40% reduced damage. He becomes red.

*Apparently, if you can score a pentakill with Kha'Zix, you receive a forth evolution point. Also, if you kill a fully stacked Rengar after your third evolution point, you can also get a fourth point.

All of this can be seen in this ability mechanics video by Ciderhelm:
Play Video

---

I take my Q first for strong level 1 harass. The mana cost and cooldown is very low (25 mana all levels and ~3 second cooldown) making it a reliable source of damage. This is also Kha'Zix's largest source of damage, so I max it by level 9.



I get my W next, for some lane sustain and more damage. I max this second, because it also does a large amount of damage, but has a longer cooldown, and higher mana cost.

or

At level 3 and 4, you can either get his Q or E. I take another point in Q for even more burst, but if you need his E for a safe escape mechanism, get it first. Max his E last, because it's mostly a utility spell.



At level 6, 11, and 16, take points in his ult.

EVOLUTIOON ORDER: -> -> or

At level 6, evolve his Q. At level 11, I suggest evolving his W. At level 16, you can either evolve your E or your R, depending on your situation. If you need the utility of his ult to be a better assassin, evolve it, but otherwise, evolve his E. The refresh and range on your leap helps you to get onto high priority targets faster and then leap again after you've killed them.

---

and

I take Flash and Ignite. Flash helps me get out of sticky situations or chase enemies, and Ignite helps me to finish off targets.

or or

Exhaust can be used to replace ignite if you need the cc. Ghost can replace flash, if you feel the movespeed is more effective than the blink. Teleport is a spell that any top laner can take.



Get Smite only if you're jungling.


Avoid summoner spells like Revive, Garrison, Promote, etc.

---

Flat damage marks and quints for extra damage.
Flat armor seals to help counter most top lane picks.
Magic resist per level glyphs to make me tankier.




Armor pen marks and quints would also work.

---

AD masteries in offense, and Veteran's Scars in defense. These masteries help me do large amounts of damage, without sacrificing too much defense.

9-21 masteries could also work if you were going for more of a bruiser build.

---

and x3

At level 1, I get Boots and 3 Health Potions, for high mobility and sustain. The boots allow me to jump in and out of line of sight quickly, therefore taking full advantage of his passive.

and or

Next time I go back, I start building a Phage and finish my Mercury's Treads. The phage gives me more sustain and damage, as well as the slow, and the tenacity from the merc treads helps me get out of cc quickly. If the enemy team doesn't have much cc, and has a lot of AD, then Ninja Tabi would be a good alternative to Mercury's Treads

and

Now, I get The Brutalizer and a Sheen. The Brutalizer gives me a huge damage boost and cdr, helping me bully my lane opponent and spam a little more. The Sheen procs also give me more damage, and combined with his low cooldown Q, I can deal huge amounts of damage early on.



Now, I complete my first main damage item, a Trinity Force. This item greatly increases Kha'Zix's damage output, which is why I get it first. If you manage to get a full build, the trinity force procs can deal a bonus 250 damage, nearly doubling your auto attack damage at full build.

or

The next big item I get is a Hextech Gunblade. Now why would I get a Hextech Gunblade? It doesn't really make sense does it? Wrong. The damage and lifesteal are welcome, but the AP is also good. Combined with the Trinity Force, you have a total of 100 AP, allowing your passive to do an extra 50 damage, and your W to heal you for an extra 50 health. It doesn't seem like much, but it stacks up. The active is also great for chasing down fleeing enemies, or engaging a fight. Also, all of Kha'Zix's abilities proc spell vamp, allowing you to have even more sustain when using your skills.

If you don't find the Hextech Gunblade to be a strong item on Kha'Zix, even after my explination, you can build Bloodthirster now, and later, when you're supposed to buy the bloodthrister, get an Infinity Edge instead.



If you need some tankiness to survive fights, now would be the time to get a Guardian Angel. The revive well help you stay alive, and the armor and resists will keep you fighting just a bit longer. If you don't need the Guardian Angel, then go straight to Youmuu's Ghostblade.



Now I turn The Brutalizer into a Youmuu's Ghostblade. The damage, crit, armor pen, cdr, all help you to be a stronger assassin, and the movespeed/attackspeed active gives you the boost you need to take down enemies.

or

My last item is Bloodthirster. When fully stacked, the damage and lifesteal are amazing, allowing you to do huge damage, and heal a large amount in the process. If you took Bloodthirster instead of the Hextech Gunblade, get an Infinity Edge now.



Other good items include Last Whisper and Maw of Malmortius which will help you do more damage.
Randuin's Omen, Force of Nature, Warmog's Armor, Atma's Impaler, etc., can help your survivability.

---

When laning, you need to be very aggressive and farm a lot. Kha'Zix is a snowball champion who needs to get ahead in levels and get items to be able to help at all in fights. If you get behind, you will become completely useless: too squishy to survive fights, and no damage to get kills. After getting in lane, begin farming. If your lane opponent gets close, throw a Q and an auto attack at them, then pop in and out of the nearest bush to get your passive back up. If you do this correctly, harass trades should always go in your favor, putting big damage and pressure on your opponent while letting you farm unopposed. If they continue to try farming, poke at them until you get them to around 30% health. At this point, if they are still in lane, jump onto them, slow them with your passive, Q, W, and clean them up with your ult if they try to run away.

---

Kha'Zix can jungle very well due to the sustain on his W and his damage, and his ganks are definitely scary. If you do decide to jungle, I suggest a wolves start, then going to blue. After blue, you can continue clearing your jungle, or look for a level 2 gank. When you're in the jungle, you're never in line of sight with the enemy team, making your passive always ready before ganking. The slow helps you to stick on your target and do damage to them with your teammates. Also, after level 6, your ganking reaches a whole new level, allowing you to sneak around your target, or do a bush gank completely undetected. The only problem with jungle Kha'Zix is that, as an assassin, he's very gold reliant in order to do anything at all, so you need to be getting kills for you to be of any use to your team.

A good jungling route can be seen in this Kha'Zix jungle video by stonewall008:
Play Video

---

Now for those of you wondering if AP Kha'Zix is viable, I have both good and bad news for you. AP Kha'Zix is very farm reliant, needing items to really be able to do anything. Also, his early game is rather weak, and you can be pushed out of lane by champions such as Jayce, Riven, Kayle, etc. However, after you accumulate several items, you can actually do some great damage. At full build, with around 600 AP, your passive can hit between 300-400 damage, a Lich Bane can do 600 damage, and a Deathfire Grasp can hit nearly 50%. If you do his damage combo correctly, you could potentially kill any champion in around 8 second. This is achieved by Q -> Lich Bane/passive AA -> R -> Lich Bane/passive AA -> R -> Lich Bane/passive AA -> R -> Lich Bane/passive AA.

---

PROS:

• Strong damage
• Good ganks
• Good sustain

CONS:

• Squishy until you build tanky items
• Gets destroyed by hard cc
• Somewhat reliant on items

---

Overall, Kha'Zix is a really interesting champion to play. If you liked Rengar, you'll enjoy Kha'Zix just as much (if not more). Pick him up in the store when he comes out, and have fun stomping people with this build.