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Recommended Items
Runes: Lethal Tempo
1
2
3
4
Precision
Domination
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health
Spells:
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3
4
5
Shielding
Barrier
Flash
Items
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
Show All
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Ashe
Alistar
Synergies
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Alistar
Table of Contents
Introduction
Greetings! My name is Demonsedge, and I am an avid fan of League of Legends.
As a player primarily occupying the bot lane, I have become skilled at playing as Kalista. My experience with this champion can be valuable to others, so I created this guide. Through my advice on team composition and item selection, you will learn how to maximize your potential with Kalista.
I hope you find my guide informative and enjoyable. So, without further delay, let's jump into the world of Kalista - The Spear of Vengeance!
As a player primarily occupying the bot lane, I have become skilled at playing as Kalista. My experience with this champion can be valuable to others, so I created this guide. Through my advice on team composition and item selection, you will learn how to maximize your potential with Kalista.
I hope you find my guide informative and enjoyable. So, without further delay, let's jump into the world of Kalista - The Spear of Vengeance!
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Why choose Kalista?: - Kalista is a strong duelist and powerful fighter who brings much value to her team. - Her Rend ability can act as a secondary Smite when trying to take over neutral objectives like dragons and baron nashor. Additionally, her rapid attacks make her an effective weapon against turrets. - Kalista has the potential to make game-changing moves, lead her team to victory, and be an invaluable ally in team fights. I enjoy playing her on Summoners Rift and hope you will too. |
Pros & Cons
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Abilities
|Dash Range: 250 / 265 / 280 | Dash Speed: 1,025 / 1,100 / 1,160 | Kalista's Martial Poise enables her to move effortlessly through minions while auto-attacking or using Pierce, making it challenging for opponents to land skill shots during the laning phase. This can be used to your advantage when facing champions such as Ezreal or Jinx. Move through the minion wave to harass and then hop back to your own minions. However, be cautious, as experienced players may predict your movements. The distances gained from Martial Poise while dashing forwards or backward are relative to the tier of Boots purchased. |
| Range: 1,200 | Width: 80 | Cast Time: 0.25 | Speed: 2,400 | Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 Mana | Cooldown: 8 | Kalista launches a spear in the target direction that deals physical damage to the first enemy hit. Should you kill a target with spears with Pierce, all the current spears from the dead unit will transfer to the next target hit. |
| Range: min - 1,400 / max - 5,000 | Tether Radius: 1,100 | Speed: 1,750 |Cast Time: 0.5 | Target Immunity: 10 | Cooldown: 30 | Recharge: 90 / 80 / 70 / 60 / 50 | When Kalista and her oathsworn are bound together, their basic attacks and Kalista's Pierce apply a soul mark to their target, dealing max health magic damage along with granting Kalista additional on-attack effect damage, while her oathsworn deals additionalon-hit damage. Remember to patrol the map using Sentinel's active effect. Try to send it to the jungle to scout through both bushes and river, thus warning for an incoming enemy jungler or other threats. |
| Cast Time: 0.25 | Cost: 30 Mana | Effect Radius: 1,100 | Cooldown: 10 / 9.5 / 9 / 8.5 / 8 | Rend is your bread & butter ability as Kalista. With each basic attackon-hit and Pierce that hits the enemy apply a stack of Rend for 4 seconds. This effect will refresh on subsequent hits and stack up to 254 times. Kalista's ability, Rend, allows her to pull out all spears lodged in nearby enemies, dealing physical damage and slowing them for 2 seconds. The ability consumes all the stacks of spears and refunds its cooldown if it kills the target. Moreover, Kalista regains mana if the ability kills an enemy. Additionally, you can trigger Rend while casting Martial Poise or Pierce. |
| Target Range: 1,200 | Tether Radius: 1,100 | Cast Time: - | Cost: 100 Mana | Cooldown: 150 / 120 / 90 | Kalista's ultimate Fate's Call helps to save your oathsworn ally from danger and hold them in stasis for up to four seconds. During this effect, Kalista's oathsworn is cleansed from all crowd control, invulnerable and untargetable. While held, the Oathsworn disappears and may dash with displacement immunity, ending Fate's Call's effect and reappearing at their chosen target location. After the duration, they will automatically do so at maximum range from Kalista's facing direction. The Oathsworn stops upon colliding with an enemy champion, knocking up all nearby enemies for a duration. - This ability is excellent for team fight repositioning or preventing a teammate from being hit. - You may only activate this ability if your oathsworn is within your range. |
Combos:
Since Kalista depends on her heavily on her oathsworn, her combo setups are less fancy than other champions (mostly auto attacks/ Rend activations). However, since she has a basic combo setup, ensure your spacing is sound while playing Summoners Rift (draft and ranked) games.
Tips & Tricks:
Playing As Kalista
- Since Rend's cooldown is reset if she kills at least one target, try to stack spears on minions as well as champions and then use the ability as the minions are about to die. This way, you get the reset to both farm effectively and harass your enemies.
- Entering a move order once to trigger Martial Poise will not clear Kalista's auto-attack target.
- Due to her passive, Kalista's movement speed is effectively increased by attack speed.
- Her mobility is limited when Kalista is not in combat. However, she can use Martial Poise and Pierce in the jungle, which enables her to jump over small walls. It's handy if she is caught alone and unable to escape from a fight, particularly without the help of her oathsworn. If timed correctly, you'll escape harm or be able to catch a target who is running away.
Playing Against Kalista
- Keep in mind that Kalista's mobility relies heavily on basic attacks, therefore if hit with any form of attack speed or movement speed reduction, her dashing with Martial Poise becomes reduced during the engagement.
- Note that she can't cancel her basic attack wind-up, so use this moment to land your spells and take her down.
- If you can break sight from Kalista after being filled with spears, you can prevent her from using Rend on you, avoiding massive damage.
Game Plan as Kalista
In this section, I will outline the things to focus on/consider at each game stage as Kalista. - 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 into being dived on by the enemy jungle. Kalista has a solid early game; therefore, try to earn a few takedowns to give yourself a better foothold in the mid and later stages. If you don't achieve this, stay alive as long as possible while trading and farming efficiently. - 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 end up with a kill(s) or objective(s) when roaming?
- What could happen to me doing this?
- Does this provide me with a lead or not?
- 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?
- Stay near your oathsworn; otherwise, you will only have two abilities that you can make use of during fights since you will be without Fate's Call and lack the bonus damage effects gained from Sentinel.
- Always be mindful of where you are during the fight (positioning) and observe where the enemy is when attempting to engage with your abilities.
Summoner Spells
Default
Secondary Options
Barrier is an excellent option for Kalista when looking to shield yourself from highly damaging spells/auto attacks or to avoid damage from foes who use stealth as their form of engagement. It is an excellent alternative to consider if you cannot apply Exhaust before the enemy damages you. 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.
Great against a champion with high crowd control effects 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. It removes Ignite, Exhaust, Smite, and 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, defence shredding or grievous wound effects, Cleanse will not remove them. Activating this spell after animmobilizing status hits you (not beforehand) ensures you can break the effect and escape a dangerous situation.
Excellent for Kalista against champions that have high burst such as Draven, Katarina, Master Yi or LeBlanc. It is also great to slow down targets or reduce their incoming damage (includes bonus damage from Sheen-related items and champion abilities). Note that champions who deal true damage through abilities or summoner spells ( Ignite) will not be reduced by Exhaust.
Excellent for Kalista as it provides both sustain and a slight boost in movement speed. It's beneficial for escaping enemy skill shots or getting yourself and a teammate out of a tough spot. However, if your support is already using Heal, be aware that subsequent applications applied to you within the next few seconds will only be half as effective. To maximize the benefits of this spell, coordinate with your support beforehand. |
Vision Control
Stealth Ward
Stealth Ward is your main trinket in all games as Kalista, revealing units within a target location. With a max of three Stealth Ward placements on the map at any given time, you can create sightlines on essential regions of the map. Great when side laning/establishing deep vision in enemy territory or getting an eye on objectives ( baron nashor & dragons).
Farsight Alteration
Farsight Alteration (available at level 9) is a strong option for Kalista in games when split pushing or creating deep vision on objectives and other 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
Control Wards
When removing enemy wards from the map, always consider buying Control Wards. This ward reveals and turns off enemy wards within a 900-unit radius. Control Wards function similarly to the Oracle Lens trinket displaying stealth & camouflaged based champions ( Twitch, Rengar, Evelynn and Senna) that approach them. Though unlike Oracle Lens, if the enemy possesses invisibility in their kit ( Akali, Vayne, Teemo or Kha'Zix) Control Wards won't inform you of their location. |
Stats To Consider
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Which Boots and Why?
Berserker's Greaves > Attack Speed
Berserker's Greaves are the best option when playing as Kalista. They give you plenty of attack speed needed to trade and farm, they offer the best dashing potential when factoring in your passive and provide consistent damage against objectives such as turrets/ baron nashor or dragons.
Berserker's Greaves are the best option when playing as Kalista. They give you plenty of attack speed needed to trade and farm, they offer the best dashing potential when factoring in your passive and provide consistent damage against objectives such as turrets/ baron nashor or dragons.
Zephyr > Attack Speed ( Berserker's Greaves upgrade)
Zephyr offers increased attack Speed, while also providingon-hit mobility for increased kiting potential.
Zephyr offers increased attack Speed, while also providingon-hit mobility for increased kiting potential.
Boots of Swiftness > Slow Reduction
These Boots are effective when dealing with teams that have 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.
These Boots are effective when dealing with teams that have 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.
Plated Steelcaps > Basic Attack Damage Reduction
Choosing Plated Steelcaps is an optimal selection for Kalista when against auto-attack-based opponents or when you need extra armor in combat. Very effective against teams who heavily stack physical damage.
Choosing Plated Steelcaps is an optimal selection for Kalista when against auto-attack-based opponents or when you need extra armor in combat. Very effective against teams who heavily stack physical damage.
Note that Boots of Swiftness, Mercury's Treads & Plated Steelcaps aren't picked often as Kalista when comparing them to Berserker's Greaves. However, in saying this, the other Boots selections can be viable if the appropriate situation arises.
Itemization
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.
If you have a matchup where you can snowball or want an advantage over your opponent, that's when I consider going Long Sword. It's also efficient to go this route to complete your core items early.
Each of these starts can be very efficient but will depend heavily on who you are facing and what items you need to build for each matchup.
On-Hit Build:
Whenever you attack your target, the damage will be a percentage of its current health. When paired with Kraken Slayer and Kalista's Rend, it is an excellent choice for shredding tanks and certain squishy champions. It's also good for sticking close to targets and synergizes nicely withon-hit builds.
My recommended core item for Kalista is Guinsoo's Rageblade. It enhances heron-hit item effects to be applied more often, and along with dealing additionalon-hit magic damage. A solid purchase for Kalista.
Picking up Runaan's Hurricane is excellent for clearing minion waves and is great when the enemy clusters together due to the additional bolts fired. Also effective when paired with otheron-hit item effects ( Blade of the Ruined King or Terminus).
With Bloodthirster, you'll stay healthy in combat and be able to trade well with the enemy. An excellent mid to late game option to survive poke lanes or to handle duels versus assassins or mages who could burst you down.
It provides Kalista with a necessary revive, helping you live longer while carrying in the game. Be mindful when dying with this item effect because after you trigger the item effect, you may die upon reviving again. Therefore, consider your positioning when taking this item.
Immortal Shieldbow is very efficient when looking for a balance of damage and shielding for Kalista. It's a solid dueling & skirmishing option, that doubles as an effective choice when up against burst or
Assassin
champion matchups such as Warwick, Akali, Zed, or Talon, who can deal tons of damage to you in a short window of time.
When paired with Jak'Sho, The Protean, Kalista's durability is improved during extended battles and skirmishes; combined with Conditioning, you'll be more durable during the game's later stages.
Kraken Slayer is very potent when playing as Kalista, granting additional physical damage, increasing in damage upon striking the same target. Combined with Rend, you'll gain improved kill potential during fights and skirmishes.
Lord Dominik's Regards is a great % armor penetration item for Kalista, while also being efficient into armor centric targets.
Great when dealing with crowd control/spell effects (except airborne, Smite, Ignite or Exhaust), 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. It is a practical option when you need to escape fights or dangerous situations easily.
However, due to its long active cooldown, careful ability blocking is paramount.
However, due to its long active cooldown, careful ability blocking is paramount.
Mortal Reminder is a strong % armor penetration option with grievous wounds that applies after damaging your target—an excellent choice for dealing with Kayn ( The Darkin Scythe: Rhaast), Samira, Nami, Soraka, or Sona that have healing abilities or items.
When using Phantom Dancer with Kalista, you'll have more pressure and mobility in duels and skirmishes. Additionally, each attack will grant you on-attack ghosting, helpful for chasing targets within their minion waves.
With Phantom Dancer, you'll be able to stack spears on your target more efficiently and deal more damage overall when using Rend.
With Phantom Dancer, you'll be able to stack spears on your target more efficiently and deal more damage overall when using Rend.
An excellent option to reduce the damage of critical strike auto attacks you recieve in combat. Handy when dealing with champions such as the marksman class, Tryndamere, Yasuo, or Yone who tend to build these items.
Statikk Shiv is excellent when you need to poke down enemies from a distance. The chain lightning effect is also helpful for clearing waves early on, exerting more pressure in fights and skirmishes, and allowing you to rotate to objectives sooner as Kalista.
Particularly helpful when facing opponents like Caitlyn, Ashe, Draven or Samira, where a cautious approach is needed.
Particularly helpful when facing opponents like Caitlyn, Ashe, Draven or Samira, where a cautious approach is needed.
With the execution from The Collector, you can snowball pretty hard in your games. Very useful for cleaning up kills in fights and ramping up gold for you to buy your items and reach your item power spikes sooner. Combined with Rend, kills during team fights and duels are much more straightforward. While not a must-buy compared to other snowball-oriented marksman, consider this option when dealing with a squishy enemy team.
Runes
The following keystone and rune choices are great for Kalista 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:
- Hail of Blades is very efficient on Kalista, granting an additional attack speed upon striking a champion with a basic attack (good for three autos). It is useful for short-burst trades in fights and duels with the enemy. Very efficient when paired with engaging style support champions such as Taric, Leona or Nautilus. - Combining Press the Attack can pair nicely with Rend, making you a combat threat in duels and team fights. Great for dealing extra percent damage to your target after they were made vulnerable. This keystone is potent when paired with an all-in support ( Leona, Nautilus, Braum, Thresh). - Lethal Tempo not only helps to increase Kalista's attacks per second but also improves how quickly she can stack Black Spears into her target before activating Rend, which could lead to some decisive team fight outcomes once it's fully stacked out. An excellent all-around selection for Kalista while also being very effective when paired with enchanter support champions such as Sona, Milio, Lulu or Nami. |
Domination Runes:
- Taste of Blood is a decent sustain option for Kalista, healing you upon damaging an enemy champion. Effective rune option for early lane fights and skirmishes, keeping you healthy for strong early game effectiveness. - When Kalista triggers Martial Poise, or Flash you will trigger Sudden Impact. Once you complete the dash/blink animation, you are granted true damage for the next few seconds. - Eyeball Collection is a formidable Domination rune for Kalista. Grants increased attack damage once maxed out, allowing for more overall damage in combat. - The main benefit of Treasure Hunter is gaining gold (per unique takedown), which helps acquire your core/situational items sooner, making you very strong in skirmishes and team fights. |
Inspiration Runes:
- Magical Footwear allows Kalista to delay building Boots to focus on getting your core items sooner. Once added, gain extra movement speed in your current pair of Boots purchased. - Biscuit Delivery is helpful when you need additional sustain after trades and skirmishes while giving you more max health per biscuit (max 3)—a staple Inspiration rune taken by Kalista in most of her tough matchups. |
Precision Runes:
- Triumph can be very useful for Kalista, restoring health and providing additional gold. It is a nice rune option that helps accelerate item purchases and healing after securing takedowns. - Having Presence of Mind is an effective way to regain mana when damaging your foes in combat or scoring takedowns. It ensures you'll have enough uptime on your abilities for every fight or skirmish. - Using Legend: Alacrity on Kalista will increase your auto-attack damage, allowing for more pressure in fights and consistent damage on enemies. -If you're playing as Kalista and facing off against champions like Zyra, Lux, Soraka or Lulu, who rely on poke spells, consider using Legend: Bloodline. While it may not offer as much healing as other options, it still provides a dependable source of life steal that can help sustain you during and after combat with your opponents. - Coup de Grace for Kalista increases damage against low health targets. This damage amplification can be very impactful when securing kills during team fights and skirmishes. - Last Stand suits Kalista nicely when dueling to your wit's end with the enemy. It provides more damage amplification to Rend when you have stacked a large number of spears into your targets. |
Resolve Runes:
- Conditioning is a good durability rune choice for Kalista, increasing her armor and magic resist. It is helpful when fighting
Assassin
champions such as Akali, Kha'Zix, Rengar, Master Yi or other enemies that make it hard for you to survive fights. - Bone Plating is another solid defensive option for Kalista providing damage reduction from incoming sources of damage when dueling with the enemy. It is useful when fighting against teams of Assassin or other burst-related champions. - While Overgrowth may not be the best option for Kalista, it can still help provide max health (gained from monster and minion deaths) that can stack infinitely. This extra max health makes you more durable, helping you stay alive in team fights and skirmishes against enemy champions. - Consider using Revitalize as Kalista to improve healing & shielding effects you receive. Synergizes with Legend: Bloodline, Doran's Blade, Bloodthirster & Mercurial Scimitar, improving their effectiveness, thereby increasing your resilience in combat and having improved sustain in team fights & duels. Note that Revitalize also improves the shielding effect of the mountain dragon soul. |
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. - Absolute Focus provides more upfront pressure for Kalista in fights and duels, so long as you have sustained healing from Bloodthirster, Blade of the Ruined King or other healing sources to maintain the required threshold for the bonus damage. - Gathering Storm is effective for Kalista by increasing your overall damage every 10 minutes, scaling indefinitely—an excellent option for long games you find yourself in. |
Rune Shards
When deciding on what rune shards (whether offensive or defensive) to pick for Kalista in each of your games, you have to factor in a few things.
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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 Kalista, 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.
Please get in touch with me in the discussion section if you have any questions or thoughts. 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.
I hope you enjoyed this guide, and will refer this to your friends and fellow gamers looking for tips and tricks.
Please get in touch with me in the discussion section if you have any questions or thoughts. 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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