This guide focuses only on AP build, for better learning how to play Kai'sa, check other guides

Sup, I am KaisAWP, OTP AP Kai’sa top RU/Emerald 3. I'll show you how to play one of the most fun and unique picks you can find in League. Discovered this pick when I saw HappyChimeNoises video about it on YT and gave it a try, with some changes and adjusted to S14 items. I started OTP it about a year ago and I started getting twice as much fun from League, and so will you. I am not really mechanically good, because I play mostly for fun, and there are going to be some general advices, if you know how to do something better, feel free to share your advice, leave comments and I'll reach out to you <3

As you can see, a lot of champions are put into hard difficulty matchup, because you will die if you make 1 single mistake. Kai'sa is weak before she gets her evolves, but do not underestimate Second Skin passive. It deals really good damage and your allies' CC can add stacks to it. All you need is to land a final AA to proc the damage. Further explained in "Laning" section.

p.s. If you ever played CS/Valorant and your sniper skills are good, this build is for you.

PROS



+ Insane damage late game
+ Can solo win games
+ Very fun to play
+ First strike sound goes brr from the full combo
+ Tilted enemies being oneshotted
+ Easier to come back than most of the champions
+ High risk high reward
+ No need to sweat in teamfights, as long as you are hitting your W and keeping distance
+ Doesn't ruin teamcomp, no need for a tank when enemies can't get close, but it's good to have at least 1 frontlaner jungle/supp
+ Top 1 damage in 95% of your games
+Amazing pick vs squish team comp


CONS
- Squishy
- Hard laning phase vs most champs
- No CC
- Tilted teammates thinking you are trolling
- Requires good positioning and prediction skills
- Requires strong mental
- Not good when there are 2 other AP champs in the team
- 1 mistake will cost you a game

, because this is the only "Impossible" matchup. You will deal 0 damage to her, won't be able to farm cs and die in a second. If she is banned, then , because he will delete you with 1 charged Q lategame even if not fed.

All basic trading combos you can find on youtube, but as an AP Kai'sa, your main distance damage combo is going to be W-R-W-AA-Q-E. After hitting an enemy with your evolved Void Seeker, wait for it to go off CD and engage with your Killer Instinct, while casting another Void Seeker point blank, 1 auto-attack, then try to hit isolated Icathian Rain and disengage with Supercharge, and if enemy is very low, engage with Supercharge and just AA him to death, finishing with Icathian Rain off cooldown. You lack attack speed, but Supercharge provides some of it and your damage is still nice. Second Skin passive is a good tool for assasinating low hp tanks, and you also can Supercharge out after collecting the kill.

If an isolated enemy tries to fight you -> W-AA-Q-AA-E-W. You want to start with W to put it on CD asap, then you proc the passive with your autos, E or R(or same time) away and reposition yourself, but most of the times if caught -> dead


Here is a good example, I really wanted that cannon, and was ready for Vayne to engage, I flashed her key ability and unloaded a full combo back with an isolated Icathian Rain with only Manamune + cull
Play Video

Your item order is going to be nearly the same every game, since it gives you everything you need to melt healthbars. There is no Nashor's Tooth in the build, no need to evolve Supercharge, because you are not going to use your autos.

Always start with Cull and Health Potion. It will be finished around your powerspike. Don't sell it before you don't need it anymore for Icathian Rain evolve. Then you look at Recalls section, while building Manamune.

You want to finish your Manamune, and buy a Sapphire Crystal at the same back, which will later go into Luden's Companion. VERY ESSENTIAL THING It is important to buy and extra Amplifying Tome before finishing Luden's, since it will give you your W evolve faster. You can even buy it before Hextech Alternator and evolve W with Lost Chapter + 3 Amplifying Tome. At this point you will usually have finished Cull, which you can sell if not enough money, but check Q evolve stat first (you should have at least 107/100 damage to not lose evolve) And I also prefer Luden's Companion to Stormsurge due to mana from Lost Chapter and it helps you with removing shields if the enemies start building Banshee's Veil or Edge of Night

At this point enemy laner will start feeling a small pain in the ***, because he will have to sell his Plated Steelcaps for Mercury's Treads, but little did he know that you are at the only beginning.

After finishing Luden's Companion, You start building Shadowflame, and your Manamune transforms into Muramana. During this period, you finally start dealing some good damage. Then depending on the matchup you build Void Staff or Rabadon's Deathcap, But since magic resist items are strong af, prioritise buying Void Staff, and wrap it all up with Zhonya's Hourglass + Elixir of Sorcery, also changing your Ionian Boots of Lucidity to Sorcerer's Shoes, if they have hard magic resist.

FIRST RECALL
I recommend doing first back after you have around 620g for Tear of the Goddess and Long Sword, in synergy with Cull it will allow you to lasthit caster minions under your tower.

SECOND RECALL
You want to do a second recall when you are ready to get Caulfield's Warhammer, and if very rich Long Sword it will give you some CD and damage

THIRD RECALL (optional)
You will probably have to leave the lane to regen and you can get last Long Sword, if not acquired before for Manamune Here you prepare to stay for a long time in lane since you will need around 1.2k gold for the next buy, but feel free to recall for regen if feeling it's safe to do.


FOURTH RECALL
Here you need to get Manamune and Sapphire Crystal, it will give you Q evolve once you hit lvl 9.


This is just a plan, and use future market wise, don't go in debt for non-essential things, like Glowing Mote.

During the laning phase, your goal is to get as much gold as possible by any means. If you fall down in gold, you will delay evolves, which will delete you from the game. Sometimes it is worth to die for a cannon, and be sure that enemies will towerdive you a lot, so you can make great plays around it. It doesn't even matter how much you will feed the enemy laner, you will outscale most of your matchups. As long as you are getting cs and not giving away your platings, you are doing amazing. Kills/Assists are good if you can get them, they will decrease your boots timer and spike you faster, so create sutuations for your jungler, and feel free to roam, your Void Seeker range is rly good and it is a good tool for looting frags. I know where the enemy toplaner is, or it's not a risky matchup, I usually wait for enemy first wave to come out of the enemy tower range and start poking the first minion 5 times, before my passive is ready to proc, then I want for my creeps to punch him 1 or 2 times, and proc my passive, finishing it. The wave just collapsed, but it is already 5v6. Then you quickly push waves and bully your opp under his tower, denying his creeps and try to perfectly farm yours. Prioritise it over damaging enemy laner. All you need is to have around 620g to recall for the first time, but look for enemy jg, and try to see what camp they start, because if they start from the closest buff to the toplane, they will probably try to gank you asap. Don't forget, you are playing ranged toplane. Feel free to harass your enemy whenever he wants a cs. Punish him for everything, but be careful, since they scale much faster than you, and every their new back you want to be twice as much careful as before. Also, if you stand against Kayle or Gangplank or any other weak early laner[/color], you can take Supercharge at lvl 2, instead of Void Seeker and all in them, while rushing through the creeps.

If the enemy laner misses his key ability like Apprehend, or Shadow Dash, feel free to AA and harass him back. If they start fighting you back, you E halfway out till they turn back, and then keep AA them. You never want to all in. All you need is poke them down and then just unleash a final burst, or let your jungler do the dirty work, just don't forget to deal some dmg to get an assist.


Levels 6-9 are gonna be the hardest for you, enemy toplaner unlocks his ult and he will not miss a chance to use it. At this point you just want to stay as much safe and take 0 useless risks before you get your Icathian Rain evolve. Lost gold = delayed powerspike. But if you see an opportunity to deal some free damage - do it. it will force them to back in a while and you can push your lane and go help mid or secure grubs.

Depending on the matchup, and current game situation, you would like to push and roam or sit under tower and do some farming, which I do rarely, since your under tower farming is not the best, but if enemy Darius is lvl 7 and the wave is pushing into you, it is wise to do a freeze and farm, while your jg can help botlane and secure a drake.

You can try to organise a 3v1 on top, if playing vs Darius or any other toplaner who has an ability to 2v1 you after 6, since a lot of supports nowadays start roaming to grubs. It would be cool, some platings + free cs and possible voidgrubs, but play like you are playing alone, you never know what your jungler's gonna do, and he better be helping botlane and securing dragons, otherwise you can give a double kill to the same Darius that will end your game.

After you get your Icathian Rain evolve, the lane becomes much easier for you, since you start dealing some damage, and your wave clear improves a lot. Here you wanna keep farming cs and bully your enemy laner since evolved isolated Q melts about 15-20% hp. This is your playstyle before your Void Seeker evolve, after that feel free to bully anyone who tries to come close with your full combo, just watch for passive stacks to maximize damage.


Don't get frustrated if enemy garen used Flash and Ignite to Demacian Justice you. Ping this in chat and return to farm. Remember that he lost everything that he can kill you with and you can dominate him after you come back after some drinks in tavern.

In a lot of games you will lose your tower, due to bruisers' abilities to push, don't worry. Leave lane if it's not Nasus Sion or Trundle and go find some kills, otherwise farm their cs under tower. Play around your isolated evolved Icathian Rain and poppin' Second Skin on enemies.



Try not to trade at cannon waves if you don't have tp, it can cost you a lane, bcs toplaners farm platings fast.

It is a good to know mechanic, and you can trick your enemies with it while engaging, here is a video how to evolve animation cancel by SnipyOCE, legendary ap mid Kai'sa
Play Video
One thing I figured out myself, is that you can also animation cancel during TP. If your evolve and Teleport are ready at the same time, during your tp animation just click on evolve and during the time you are back on lane, you will have an evolved skill. Play Video

Here is your shining point, when you want to have your Void Seeker evolved before big teamfights start to happen, and when all your lane matchups become tiny, since you don't have to come close to them anymore. Start roaming and if you smell an upcoming fight, try to poke your enemies for some health from a safe distance before teamfight even begins. It will give your team a good advantage, and your enemies will have to reposition. Try not to be alone, since you will die from close-combat. Keep your distance and you are pretty much good. If your team has CC, it will give you more possibilities to use your Killer Instinct, so you can escape if caught. Watch for objectives, always have 1 or 2 Control Ward and poke from a safe spot. You are a sniper, so think like a sniper.

Focus on obectives and try to ping your jungler your plans, if you will create the situation, they will react to it. Control Ward around objectives and see opportunities. You need to have fully secured area about 20 seconds before objective spawns, so you will have time to position yourself and start shooting enemies. It's mostly not about how well you predict enemies, but how good your angle is, for example.

Ask your allies to clear cs and camps before you begin to fight, it will make you hit more Void Seekers.

Always try to secure vision around you so you can make sure noone can see and reach you, it will be much harder for them to evade your Void Seeker. If you see a passing enemy, Void Seeker him, your First Strike will give you around 40g from a single shot, and overall find ways to start printing gold, your full combo will grant you big stonks

Also if you were feeding enemy laner during laning, he will have a juicy bounty, in many games you will be lucky to collect your feeding investitions, try to steal him
from your teammates with passive.

Look for easy to shoot targets. If you have a strong frontlane, feel free to start shooting. But make sure your team will react if somebody is able reach you, like Noc's Paranoia
They will fight. And they will die. In an unending curse. For how else is a grandmaster or a challenger to be born?

How to clear waves quickly after evolves. I usually give 1 auto, bcs sometimes 1 creep stays alive
Play Video

If the game goes into deep late game you are gonna have some rough time, because your enemies will have more resists, your damage won't increase anymore and one missed Void Seeker will ruin your game, aswell as not paying attention to your surroundings and surprising blue Kayn out of the wall will delete you from the last teamfight that you will probably lose. Your goal is to delete ADC or any other fed squishy before teamfight even begins. Ward your jg and position well, since at this point anyone will oneshot you. Stick with team, but stay behind. Have an escape plan and ult in only when teamfight is obviously won.

Your job is to cover your teammates with fire while they do all the dirty work, Stay safe, be ready to retreat and keep stooting Void Seekers back. Also think when it's wise to spam it, and when to take some time and shoot precisely.

- During laning, try to zone properly and catch your enemy when he is not near cs so your Q does the full damage and your first strike clings.

- You can cast your W during ult. It is tricky and very risky, but the idea is to use it a few frames before your ult dash ends.

- Don't get greedy for kills. You will start having that lee'sin symptom and ult enemy after you hit your W, it is worth only if all enemy team is dead, or enemy is 100% alone. Save it as an escape/defence tool. I can't count how many games I've lost to using Killer Instinct too early bcs I wanted the kill.

- Don't tilt if you are 0-7 after laning phase, it is going to happen. Try to loot bounties and keep scaling. You will be strong later.

- If you opponent freezes the lane that you can't crash, leave the lane and go for objectives, or (in emergency cases) go farm mid, it will tilt your midlaner, but "Desperatis temporibus desperatis consiliis" and you need gold if you want to win the game.

- Use Control Ward as a bait to land a precise Void Seeker.

- If you can kill 3 melee minions with your single evolved Icathian Rain, you are doing good, if not, search for ways to get richer.

- Never surrender. On this pick one Void Seeker can change the game. Have trust in yourself.

- Use your Icathian Rain and Void Seekers often to finish minions if hard to AA. Isolated evolved Q oneshots a cannon minion

When losing lane /mute everyone, they won't hesitate to blame you for picking Kai'sa top.

Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video

Thanks for reading. I don't stream, but sometimes I upload plays on my Youtube channel here. Have fun and stay calm. Most of the games are winnable on this pick. Your enemies are going to be furious after you just going to delete them from 2 precise Void Seeker in the last teamfight. After starting maining this build, I discovered League from the better side. Cya.

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