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Kai'Sa Build Guide by Demonsedge90

ADC 14.19 Exploit Their Weaknesses

ADC 14.19 Exploit Their Weaknesses

Updated on September 29, 2024
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Demonsedge90 Build Guide By Demonsedge90 158 25 648,612 Views 10 Comments
158 25 648,612 Views 10 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Demonsedge90 Kai'Sa Build Guide By Demonsedge90 Updated on September 29, 2024
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Kai'Sa
    On-Hit
  • LoL Champion: Kai'Sa
    Ability Power

Runes: Hail of Blades

1 2 3 4
Domination
Hail of Blades
Sudden Impact
Eyeball Collection
Ultimate Hunter

Precision
Presence of Mind
Legend: Bloodline
Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health

Spells:

1 2 3 4 5
Shielding
LoL Summoner Spell: Barrier

Barrier

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None
Introduction
Greetings, I am Demonsedge.

As a marksman player in bot lane, I possess extensive knowledge of the champion Kai'Sa and can provide insight into how she functions. I will delve deeper into her team setup and itemization options throughout this guide.

My tips and suggestions can enhance your gameplay with Kai'Sa.

So without further ado, let's begin with my guide on Kai'Sa - Daughter of the Void.


Kai'Sa - Daughter of the Void
Marksman, Bot
Specialties: Sustained Damage, Ranged
Why choose Kai'Sa?:
- She has a very skill-expressive kit because her abilities can evolve, unlocking new bonuses and effects.
- She can provide heavy burst for her team that makes her feel impactful in the lanes and when getting objectives ( turrets/ dragons & baron nashor).
- She has great potential to make plays, carry her team and be a good team fight asset.

I always enjoy taking her on the rift when playing league matches, and I hope you will too.

Pros & Cons
Pros
+ Great poke
+ Self Peel
+ Strong against isolated targets
+ Scaling champion
+ Good at securing objectives
+ Evolves abilities for more significant potential
Cons
- Squishy
- Lacks crowd control
- Trouble dealing with heavy poke
- Mana intensive
- Low base attack speed
- Positioning is important

Abilities


Second Skin
|Effect Radius: 2,750|

Kai'Sa applies plasma stacks from Second Skin to her enemies, using basic attacks,on-hit effects, and regular abilities (duration refreshed with each subsequent application). Additionally, her allies can apply plasma stacks to enemy champions withcrowd control effects, such as stun, root, silence, and polymorph. When you trigger Second Skin, the next attack will deal extra magic damage and consume the stacks.

The damage dealt from Second Skin is relative to the target's missing health and capped when attacking jungle monsters.

- Kai'Sa possesses a distinct feature known as "Living Weapon," which boosts her non-ultimate abilities ( Icathian Rain, Void Seeker, Supercharge). These enhancements make her skills more efficient and can acquired by gaining additional stats (from levelling up and obtaining items, not with runes).


Icathian Rain
| Range: 600 | Cost: 55 Mana| Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 |

Icathian Rain is a solid damaging ability in team fights and dueling, along with being effective at aiding in farming minions. However, be mindful not to spam this ability often when farming to conserve your mana as this ability has a high cost per cast.

You can activate Icathian Rain and then quickly use Supercharge to fire rockets during the disarm time.

Living Weapon (100 attack damage): With evolved Icathian Rain, each cast fires additional missiles, increasing the overall damage dealt with this ability.


Void Seeker
| Range: 3,000 | Width: 200 | Speed: 1,750 |Cast Time: 0.4 | Cost: 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 Mana | Cooldown: 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 |

Kai'Sa's Void Seeker is an effective long range poke ability. The first enemy hit will take magic damage and will also get two plasma stacks applied to them, along with revealing them. It's highly effective to use when trying to defeat epic monsters like dragons and baron nashor, or when you want to finish off enemies who have low health during fights.

Living Weapon (100 ability power): After the upgrade, Void Seeker grants increaed cooldown, while also tagging all enemies hit with three stacks of plasma.


Supercharge
| Cast Time: 1.2 to 0.6 (based on bonus attack speed) | Cost: 30 Mana | Cooldown: 16 / 14.5 / 13 / 11.5 / 10 |

Kai'Sa becomes ghosted, gains bonus mobility, and is disarmed. Afterwards, you gain additional speed with your subsequent few auto attacks. This is a great engage/disengage ability should you need to make a quick getaway or close the gap on the enemy you are targeting.

Remember that you cannot engage during the initial disarm period.

Living Weapon (100% attack speed): Once this ability evolves, you'll gain invisibility (it activates during the cast animation).


Killer Instinct
| Range: 1,500 / 2,250 / 3,000 | Effect Radius: 525 | Cost: 100 Mana | Cooldown: 130 / 100 / 70 |

Killer Instinct's dash and shielding are great when engaging the enemy, but sometimes it's repositioning can put you in an uncomfortable spot. Like Vi's Cease and Desist, it can sometimes be better used after baiting out an enemy's Flash or other escape abilities they may have to stop their escape. Depending on the fight, you could also use it in a duel to survive or dodge incoming damage with the shield.

Kai'Sa's ult has two other benefits:
- Her auto-attack timer is reset after the ability ends.
- During this dash, Kai'Sa can cast any of her abilities.


Combos:

In this section, I will share some of the effective combos for Kai'Sa that are simple to understand and that you can apply while playing summoners rift (draft and ranked) games.

Auto - - - Auto - Auto

- Auto - - - Auto - Auto - - Auto

- - Auto - - - Auto - Auto


Tips & Tricks:

Playing As Kai'Sa:
- Remember that you can re-engage with Killer Instinct if the enemy retreats with plasma stacks.
- When targeting enemy champions with Icathian Rain, ensure you aren't within range of their minion wave. If you are, each shot will target the minions instead of the enemy or enemies you hoped to hit.
- It's very efficient to trigger Supercharge before combat with the enemy, gaining a few faster autos attacks during the trade or fight. In addition, once evolved provides a breaking line of sight from targets.


Playing Against Kai'Sa:
- Stay near your minions during a skirmish with Kai'Sa to avoid taking too much damage from Icathian Rain.
- Avoid Void Seeker as much as possible to prevent her from engaging your backline with Killer Instinct.
- Disengage once you've acquired four stacks of plasma immediately because the damage from Second Skin amplified against targets at low health.
- Even though Kai'Sa lacks an escape, she can still effectively disengage with Supercharge.
- Kai'Sa is very good at defeating isolated targets, so grouping will make her assassinations more difficult.

Game Plan

In this section, I will outline the things to focus on/consider at each game stage as Kai'Sa.

- Early game: Your primary focus should be to farm minions, earning as much gold & experience as possible to acquire your core items while also getting ahead in your matchup.

Setting up a freeze (holding the minions just outside your turret) or trading with the enemy can ultimately deny them gold & experience.

Another good tip is to ward often, which helps to avoid overextending and being dived on by the enemy jungle.

- Mid-game: By now, you should be gathering with your team and focusing on team fighting & objective securing ( baron nashor, rift herald or dragon). If there is a chance to grab waves or jungle farm, do so only if you know the enemy's position since getting ambushed while trying to farm can mean certain death for you.

- Late game: If your games reach this stage, you'll want to be with your team at all times since you are vulnerable on your own (unless you have an item advantage on the enemy), Grabbing dragon soul, elder dragon & baron nashor are essential to close out the game if ahead, also make sure to deny your opponent these objectives.


Things to consider:

Before prioritizing early objectives like dragons, one must consider the potential dangers of wandering around the map:
- Do I get any kills or objectives when roaming?
- What outcomes could occure during the roam?
- Do I come out ahead or no?

- If a team fight erupts during your games, always be sure to consider if you will gain anything from it, meaning will you impact the outcome of the battle or objective, or does your team come out on top without you being there?

- When deciding to enter combat with Kai'Sa, you should be mindful of where you are during the fight (positioning) and also be aware of where the enemy is when attempting to engage with your abilities.

Always be mindful of this when playing Kai'Sa.

Summoner Spells



Default

An integral summoner spell for Kai'Sa that's taken 100% of the time in all your games. Another reason it's necessary for her is if you get caught out and can't quickly escape, you can Flash to safety or dodge a crucial ability from the opponent.

Secondary Options

Barrier is helpful for Kai'Sa, providing added protection from highly damaging spells/auto attacks. It is also beneficial against foes who use stealth as their form of engagement, where Exhaust would be unable to hit them before damage is applied. Champions that it would be useful against are Shaco, Akali, Xerath, Kha'Zix, Twitch or Lux.

Note that Pyke's Death from Below and Urgot's Fear Beyond Death excute won't be blocked when activating Barrier in combat with them.

It's best to take this reliable summoner spell into champions with heavy crowd control abilities such as, Lux's Light Binding, Morgana's Dark Binding/ Soul Shackles, Leona's Shield of Daybreak/ Zenith Blade/ Solar Flare, or Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow, along with gaining protection from future disabling effects and increased tenacity for a few seconds. Removes Ignite, Exhaust, Smite & grounded effects while being ineffective againstcrowd control effects such as suppression, nearsightedness, stasis or airborne. These can include: Poppy's Keeper's Verdict, Bard's Tempered Fate and Nocturne's Paranoia.

If you're affected by damage over time, attack speed reduction, armor shredding or grievous wound effects, Cleanse will not remove them.

Note that activating Cleanse before being hit by animmobilizing effect won't save you.

Excellent for Kai'Sa against champions who could take you down quickly, such as Draven, Katarina, Master Yi or LeBlanc. It is also great to use on targets for whom you want to slow down or reduce their incoming damage (includes bonus damage from Sheen-related items and champion abilities).

Ghost can be used offensively or defensively, granting additional combat mobility and helping to enter or exit a fight. The increase in movement speed and the ability to ignore unit collision make it easier to chase down enemy champions and escape bad situations.

(Note: You can't walk through enemy minions with the active effect of Ghost).

It is a beneficial spell for Kai'Sa since it provides early-game sustain and even some necessary movement speed. An excellent choice for Kai'Sa, giving you that little boost needed to escape skill shots or get you and a teammate out of a jam. The downside is that subsequent Heal spells applied to you cause them to be less effective, so avoid taking this spell if your support is getting it, though if you both take it, coordinate them appropriately for the best results.

Vision Control



Stealth Ward

Stealth Ward is your main trinket in all games as Kai'Sa, revealing a target location and granting sight of the enemy. With the ability to place up to three Stealth Wards, you can be ready in case the enemy decides to gank you. Great when side laning/creating deep vision zones in enemy territory or having sightlines on objectives ( baron nashor & dragons)

Farsight Alteration

Farsight Alteration (available at level 9) is picked in 99.5% of games as Kai'Sa when split pushing, getting deep vision on objectives or target locations from a safe distance. Effective when side laning (similar to the Stealth Ward), but unlike Stealth Wards, they are visible to the enemy and fragile, meaning they will die the instant they are spotted.

Oracle Lens

It's great to have Oracle Lens when dealing with stealth champions who plant traps such as Teemo, Shaco, & Nidalee. It's also beneficial against champions who use stealth and invisibility to engage/disengage, like Twitch, Pyke, Wukong or Shaco.

Control Wards

When removing enemy vision from the map, always consider buying Control Wards. Control Wards function similarly to the Oracle Lens trinket, dealing with stealth & camouflaged based champions ( Twitch, Rengar, Evelynn and Senna) that approach them.

Though when fighting champions with invisibility in their kits ( Akali, Vayne, Teemo or Kha'Zix) Control Wards won't detect them and could surprise you, therefore it would be wise to exercise caution regarding their position.

When returning to the fountain, do your best to acquire one or two if you have spare gold.

Stats To Consider
- Attack Damage: The best stat to acquire for Kai'Sa. It scales with all your damaging abilities and gives you more power in fights.

- Attack Speed: The next best stat you can have. Efficient on Kai'Sa and excellent to acquire when possible.

- Ability Power: Useful stat which can enhance her in combat. Building around your passive Second Skin can be helpful.

- Life Steal: Excellent stat to have on Kai'Sa. Very efficient when applied through auto attacks &on-hit item effects.

- Omni Vamp: We have limited item options when buying omni vamp, but it's still useful for healing on Kai'Sa.

- Health: This stat is essential in the grand scheme, but you can focus on something other than this when playing as Kai'Sa.

- Ability Haste: In certain instances, this stat can be helpful on Kai'Sa. Not something we aim for above all others, but it is still good to consider.

- Armor/Magic Resistance: Only get this stat if necessary for survival.

- Movement Speed: Great for kiting and escaping fights, but not as prioritized when compared with other stats listed above.

Which Boots & Why?
Berserker's Greaves > Attack Speed
Berserker's Greaves are the default option when playing as Kai'Sa. They give you plenty of attack speed needed to trade and farm while providing consistent damage against objectives such as turrets/ baron nashor or dragons.
Zephyr > Attack Speed ( Berserker's Greaves upgrade)
Zephyr offers increased attack Speed (synergizing with Supercharge) along withon-hit mobility, improving kiting potential.

Boots of Swiftness > Slow Reduction
Pick up these Boots when dealing with teams with slowing effects. They can vary from sources such as Ashe's Frost Shot/ Volley/ Serylda's Grudge/ Rylai's Crystal Scepter, or other movement impairing slowing effects that would leave you vulnerable and make it hard for you to escape combat.

Mercury's Treads > Magic Resistance & Tenacity
If crowd control could impair your survivability and you can't afford to bring Cleanse, I recommend these Boots for tenacity and magic resistance. Potent against teams who are magic damage heavy.

Plated Steelcaps > Basic Attack Damage Reduction
Choosing Plated Steelcaps is an optimal selection against auto-attack-based opponents or when you need extra armor in combat. Also potent when against teams who heavily stack physical damage.

Sorcerer's Shoes > Magic Penetration
Sorcerer's Shoes are the default pair taken as ability power Kai'Sa. They provide flat magic penetration that can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your abilities, especially when facing opponents with little or no magic resistance in combat.

Note that Mercury's Treads & Plated Steelcaps aren't picked often as Kai'Sa when comparing them to the other two choices ( Berserker's Greaves & Boots of Swiftness). However, in saying this, they can be viable if you feel the extra armor or magic resistance could benefit you in fights or skirmishes.

Itemization
Starter Items
If you are dealing with poke matchups where you must be more patient, take a slower approach, or need the extra health/healing to sustain longer in the early fight and skirmishes, I would consider Doran's Blade.
In games where you can snowball quickly, it's best to go Long Sword. Another reason to consider this start is that you'll gain a faster advantage over your opponent when looking to complete your first item or if you want to evolve your abilities quickly.

Each of these starts can be very efficient but will depend on whom you are facing and what items you need to build for each matchup.


On-Hit Build:

Core Items
Guinsoo's Rageblade is an excellent choice on Kai'Sa to stack up her Second Skin passive while also being very efficient towards evolving Supercharge. When paired with otheron-hit items, it increases the overall damage output you provide in combat, making you a strong fighter during team fights/duels and skirmishes.
Kraken Slayer is a powerful weapon for Kai'Sa to use against tanks and bruisers. Provides additional physical damage every third auto-attack, increasing strength as you strike the same target.
Equipping Statikk Shiv provides excellent wave pressure while also giving you an advantage in most matchups, especially against tough opponents such as Nilah, Samira, Draven, or Caitlyn. It lets you poke from a distance rather than engage in close combat.


Very effective against tanks/bruisers, dealing % current health damage, and slowing the target. When paired with Kraken Slayer and otheron-hit effects, Kai'Sa's dueling potential becomes very potent in team fights and skirmishes.
To increase your chances of survival in combat and heal after battles, equip Bloodthirster on Kai'Sa. With its high life steal rating, and additional shielding, you'll maintain pressure on the map and pose a significant threat to your opponents.

Note that the added damage scales slowly in the mid-game, becoming more noticeable as you approach the late-game.
It provides Kai'Sa with a necessary revive when you want to stay alive longer while carrying in the game; however, be careful since dying in a large crowd means you could die again after the passive triggers. Therefore, consider your positioning when taking this item.
Immortal Shieldbow is a solid defensive/shielding option Kai'Sa players can build for that mix of damage and durability, when dueling assassins or heavy burst mage compositions ( Akali, LeBlanc, Yone, Fizz or Zed.
Lord Dominik's Regards is a great % armor penetration item for Kai'Sa when dealing with champions who are building armor are heavily armored such as Malphite or Rammus.
Mortal Reminder is a strong % armor penetration option with grievous wounds that applies after damaging your target—an excellent choice for dealing with enemies with item or ability healing effects.
Helpful when dueling heavy magic damage threats while providing sustain after being shielded. Great into champions such as Brand, Morgana & Teemo or champions that posses strong magic damage output ( Akali or Katarina) that could instantly kill you.
Since Kai'Sa relies heavily on her abilities in combat, adding Navori Flickerblade is a solid choice. It provides more uptime to your non-ultimate skills.

Great when looking for a powerful option in team fights as Kai'Sa.
Phantom Dancer pairs nicely with Kai'Sa and even more so after you have acquired Guinsoo's Rageblade. Very effective in one-on-one combat, providing more dueling potential in extended trading and skirmishes.
Picking up Runaan's Hurricane is excellent for clearing minion waves and synergizes with Kai'Sa when looking to apply plasma stacks andon-hit effects on multiple targets. It is great when the enemy clusters together in a small area.
By using the The Collector, your gold income will increase, helping you to reach your item power spikes sooner. It allows you to snowball your games quickly, giving you an advantage. It's an excellent purchase for Kai'Sa, as it improves your dueling potential.
Wit's End is an excellent pick against magic damage champions such as LeBlanc, Karthus, Akali or Ekko. This item scales nicely with Kai'Sa when looking to evolve Supercharge while also providing some dueling potential due to its addedon-hit magic damage as well.

Since Kai'Sa buildson-hit items such as Phantom Dancer, Runaan's Hurricane & Nashor's Tooth, you'll get nice synergy when combined with Wit's End.


Ability Power Build:

Core Items
A powerful burst damage option when playing as ability power Kai'Sa. Provides additional mana and stacks charges to unleash on your opponent. It's a highly effective option against squishy champions.
Muramana provides mana sustain for Kai'Sa to spam your skills, keeping pressure on the enemy, and pairs nicely with Manaflow Band. Once upgraded from Manamune, you'll gain bonus auto attack and ability damage. Very effective when buildingon-hit items or when looking to deal more single-target burst damage in fights.
Selecting Nashor's Tooth on Kai'Sa is effective for additional magic damage &on-hit against your target, along with some added ability haste.


Situational Items
When Kai'Sa equips Banshee's Veil, you are protected against the next ability aimed at you. This is handy when facing teams with strong crowd control capabilities, such as those with Zyra, Morgana, Leona, and Nautilus.

Note that Nocturne's Paranoia will consume the spell shield no matter where you are on the map.
Using Cosmic Drive on Kai'Sa can be a powerful choice as it grants a gradual increase in movement speed with every hit on enemy champions during combat. It can be handy when chasing down weakened foes or retreating quickly from the battle.
Cryptbloom is an excellent % magic penetration for when you need sustain for your nearby allies, although if you'd prefer more upfront damage consider Void Staff or Terminus instead.
Eclipse is a strong pick for Kai'Sa, offering high damage, and situational durability. The addedon-hit max health damage, provides increased dueling potential during fights and skirmises.
Lich Bane on Kai'Sa grants additional magic damageon-hit and is a suitable alternative to Nashor's Tooth. It synergizes nicely with her kit, making her burst potential very strong around the later game stages.

Great when paired with otheron-hit items, increasing your dueling power in fights and skirmishes.
When playing as Kai'Sa, Morellonomicon is a useful grievous wounds option in combat. Particularly effective against champions who have healing abilities, like Soraka, Seraphine, and Samira. It can also counteract champions who have healing items, such as Bloodthirster, Blade of the Ruined King, and Riftmaker.
Many players consider Rabadon's Deathcap as the Infinity Edge equivalent for mage champions, and it can be an excellent choice for those playing Kai'Sa this way. Significantly boosts your overall ability power, making you a dangerous threat later in the game.
Shadowflame, is particularly effective for Kai'Sa, providing magic penetration, high burst potential along with increased damage to low health targets.

This makes it an excellent choice against tanks and bruisers, and a powerful option for magic penetration.
Stormsurge helps to improve dueling potential (against isolated enemies) and synergizes nicely with Kai'Sa. It is also a very effective magic penetration option when looking to amplify the damage done from Second Skin or Void Seeker.
It's advisable to acquire a Void Staff when facing teams with tanks or those who have multiple champions building magic resistance items. This strategy can significantly enhance your effectiveness in the game.


Situational Items ForCrit and Ability Power
Upgrades from Quicksilver Sash, and is effective when dealing with crowd control/spell effects (except airborne, Smite, Ignite or Exhaust), while also effective against the following champion abilities: Warwick's Infinite Duress, Skarner's Impale, Urgot's Fear Beyond Death, Malzahar's Nether Grasp, Tahm Kench's Devour, or Sett's The Show Stopper, that would impair or displace you during combat. The active effect is very efficient when looking to easily escape fights or dangerous situations.

However, due to the long active cooldown, careful ability blocking is paramount.
Terminus can be a great choice for Kai'Sa instead of Lord Dominik's Regards or Mortal Reminder. It provides extra durability and increased damage to your targets during fights. When paired with life steal items ( Blade of the Ruined King or Bloodthirster), you can increase your overall survivability.
A suitable alternative to Guardian Angel when looking for more control over your survivability. It is beneficial when fighting champions such as Zed or Pyke that can execute or kill you quickly. It is helpful to dodge skill shots or other forms of fatal damage. A great item on Kai'Sa if you know your Supercharge will be ready after the Zhonya's Hourglass active ends.

Runes
The following keystone and rune choices are great for Kai'Sa and will complement her in combat. Always pay attention to the enemy team comp, plus your item builds when selecting your runes to get the most value in each game.


Keystone Runes:

- If you're playing as Kai'Sa and using ability power, it's worth considering the Dark Harvest strategy. Gather souls by dealing damage to an enemy with less than 50% health, and you can collect more souls immediately upon other takedowns. When combined with Kai'Sa's ability to inflict high burst damage in this play style, Dark Harvest is an excellent choice for late-game scenarios.

- Hail of Blades is very efficient on Kai'Sa for quick upfront burst trades or to all-in your opponent during fights and duels. It is great when paired with tank support champions such as Leona or Nautilus.

- First Strike increases your damage output by a set percentage and grants you a portion of the damage dealt as gold within a 3-second timeframe. It's beneficial if you prefer a steady approach to laning. Additionally, this becomes even more advantageous as time passes, allowing you to become a formidable opponent.

- Press the Attack significantly impacts Kai'Sa's attacks/abilities, especially from the ramping damage of Second Skin. Effective in duels and skirmishes when you need an edge to eliminate your targets quickly. It's a great pickup when paired with all-in support champions ( Leona, Nautilus, Pyke, Thresh).

- Lethal Tempo synergizes nicely with Kai'Sa, allowing for faster applications of Second Skin triggers on your opponent. After reaching the max stacks in combat, you gain added upfront damage, scaling with a portion of your bonus attack speed. An excellent selection when paired with enchanter support champions such as, Sona, Milio, Lulu or Nami.

- Fleet Footwork on Kai'Sa helps by healing you, and provides you extra mobility to help you survive oppressive laning phases. It helps you make better trades in combat while avoiding the need to leave the fight early. It is an option to consider when versus champions with high poke pressure ( Lux/ Zyra/ Morgana & Soraka) or versus ranged duo lanes.


Domination Runes:

- When looking for a decent sustain option for Kai'Sa, look no further than Taste of Blood, healing you upon damaging an enemy champion. It's a very effective rune option for early lane fights and skirmishes and is effective when getting through the early game.

- Kai'Sa can trigger it with her Supercharge, Killer Instinct or after using Flash. Once you complete the dash, blink or invisibility animations from either of these skills/effects, you are granted true damage for the next few seconds.

- Eyeball Collection is a formidable Domination rune for Kai'Sa. Grants increased attack damage once maxed out, allowing for more damage with autos/abilities & getting closer to the living weapon evolution on Icathian Rain.

- The main benefit of Treasure Hunter is that you can gain bounty gold stacks (per unique takedown), which aids in buying your core/situational items much sooner in the game to make you very strong in skirmishes and team fights.

- Ultimate Hunter is strong for Kai'Sa because it allows you to activate Killer Instinct more often when looking to close the gap between you and her targets. Very helpful for increased pressure/dominance in team fights and skirmishes.


Inspiration Runes:

- Magical Footwear allows Kai'Sa to delay building Boots so that you can focus on getting your core items sooner. Once added, gain extra movement speed in your current pair of Boots purchased. Takedowns earned will lower the time it takes to acquire the upgrade.

- Cash Back can be a great pickup to expedite her ability upgrades ( Icathian Rain gets from 6 to 10 missiles much sooner). It assists Kai'Sa by gaining her core build much faster, which makes a huge difference in her damage potential in team fights.

- Triple Tonic offers Kai'Sa three unique elixirs with varying effects to give you a slight edge on your opponent. While these elixirs seem like minor buffs, they aid in additional income, wave pushing and trading power. It's a unique rune to consider for an early-game advantage.

Biscuit Delivery is useful for gaining extra sustain after trades and skirmishes, while also increasing max health per biscuit (max 3). It's a key Inspiration rune for Kai'Sa players aiming to survive the laning phase and scale.

- Cosmic Insight offers us more access to summoner spells, active item effects ( Sheen items) & trinket wards. In addition, we gain access to our survivability tools ( Flash or other summoner spells) faster, providing more opportunities to make game-changing plays during team fights & skirmishes.


Precision Runes:

- Triumph can be very useful for Kai'Sa, restoring health and providing additional gold. Helpful option for Kai'Sa when looking for extra sustain and faster item purchases after securing takedowns.

- Presence of Mind is an excellent way to maintain refresh your mana reserves in combat (applies when damaging champions only), and should you score a takedown, you'll gain a portion of your maximum mana. It's a great choice when running Precision, and ensures you can cast your abilities before/during a new fight or skirmish breaks out.

- With Legend: Alacrity on Kai'Sa, you'll have more uptime with your auto attacks, allowing for more pressure and consistent damage output in fights. It scales nicely alongside Supercharge to evolve the ability or for extra mobility and cast time reduction.

- The life steal from Legend: Bloodline is low early on but builds up nicely into the late game. Helpful for Kai'Sa when against poke lanes or when you need some healing in the early game. An excellent option in duels and skirmishes/team fights.

- Coup de Grace for Kai'Sa allows us to increase our damage to targets who are under 40% health. This damage amplification can be very impactful when we seek to secure kills and dish out damage in team fights and skirmishes.

- With Cut Down, damage is increased against your target(s) until they are below 60% max health. It's a strong choice for early fights and scales well into late-game skirmishes and team fights.


Resolve Runes:

- Shield Bash is a niche rune choice for Kai'Sa it can pair well with the shielding gained from Killer Instinct. Synergizes with the shielding effects from Immortal Shieldbow, mountain dragon soul & Bloodthirster.

- Conditioning is a good durability rune choice for Kai'Sa, increasing your armor and magic resist. Helpful when fighting Assassin champions such as Akali, Kha'Zix, Rengar, Master Yi or other champions that make it hard for you to survive fights.

- Bone Plating is another solid defensive option for Kai'Sa providing damage reduction to the following three sources of damage that come your way. It's useful when team fighting as Kai'Sa, allowing you to escape certain death and leave the fight alive. Consider Bone Plating into teams consisting of Assassin or other burst-related champions.

- Overgrowth Kai'Sa offers an additional source of durability during fights and trades. With every monster or minion killed, her maximum health increases. Just be mindful if your enemy has health damage items ( Blade of the Ruined King, Liandry's Torment or abilities ( Bio-Arcane Barrage or Duelist's Dance) before taking this rune.

- Revitalize for Kai'Sa, increases the total value of shields gained in combat. In addition, it improves the healing & shielding effects of runes ( Shield Bash or Legend: Bloodline), while also boosting the effects of life steal & omni vamp items ( Blade of the Ruined King, Mercurial Scimitar or Bloodthirster) you have acquired.


Sorcery Runes:

- Manaflow Band increases your maximum mana pool, along with providing regeneration of your missing maximum mana. A good rune option since it will prevent you from having to back multiple times for mana and allow for more ability casts in the lane.

- For Kai'Sa, Transcendence provides additional ability haste, then grants another passive that will reduce the cooldowns of your non-ultimate abilities after scoring takedowns on the enemy. This rune is potent in matchups where skill casting is ideal for best success, thus granting more impact in fights and objective control.

- Celerity can be a solid selection for Kai'Sa, though not prioritized comparatively to other choices ( Absolute Focus or Manaflow Band). With the added mobility, you'll have faster rotation speeds to fights or objectives from anywhere on the map. Improves the effectiveness of Supercharge, cloud dragon soul, and any items ( Statikk Shiv, Phantom Dancer, Kraken Slayer) or summoner spells ( Ghost/ Heal) that contain mobility bonuses.

- Absolute Focus increases Kai'Sa's all-around pressure in fights and duels, which is excellent when looking for more aggressive trades. To maintain the added damage gained, ensure you have sustained healing from Bloodthirster, Blade of the Ruined King or other healing sources.

- Gathering Storm is effective for Kai'Sa by increasing your overall damage (autos and abilities) against targets every 10 minutes and scales indefinitely—a great scaling rune option for games you know will last long.

Rune Shards


When deciding on what rune shards (whether offensive or defensive) to pick for Kai'Sa in each of your games, you have to factor in a few things.

Offensive Shards

• Do I need extra attack speed? It assists in making farming smoother.

• Do I need additional attack damage? For Kai'Sa, we always take one adaptive damage shard. Grabbing another adaptive damage shard is risky since she has a low base attack speed out of the gate, so I'd suggest avoiding double adaptive damage shards as Kai'Sa for best success.

• Do I require any ability haste? We don't take this option, so it's best to skip it.


Defensive Shards

• Do you need more movement speed? It can be a strong addition for Kai'Sa, especially when combined with the mobility gained from Supercharge, allowing for easier kiting potential.

• Do you need tenacity & slow resist? It is an excellent choice against comps that load up onimmobilizing effects that inhibit your ability to maneuver around the map.

• Do I require more health? As Kai'Sa, we rarely select the health option. However, both scaling health and flat health shards are still viable choices when facing mixed-damage team compositions.


Always pay attention to the team compositions you are fighting when mixing and matching the rune shards listed above with your Boots and items. It's a sure way to improve your overall survivability in games.

Summary
There are many ways to build Kai'Sa, but hopefully, this guide made it easier for you to understand what abilities/items and runes work well together and how to make the most of her kit.

I hope you enjoyed this guide and will refer this to your friends and fellow gamers looking for tips and tricks.

For any questions or thoughts, please get in touch with me in the discussion section. I'll be happy to discuss things with you and see how I can make sense of anything you need answers for to the best of my ability.

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