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Choose Champion Build:
-
Attack Damage
-
Ability Power
Recommended Items
Runes: Lethal Tempo
1
2
3
Precision
Sorcery
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health
Spells:
1
2
3
4
5
Shielding
Barrier
Flash
Items
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Kog'Maw
Alistar
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Alistar
Table of Contents
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.
As a


My tips and suggestions can enhance your gameplay with

So without further ado, let's begin with my guide on

![]() |
Why choose ![]() • 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 ( ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() • 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. |
Abilities
|Effect Radius: 2,750|![]() ![]() Her allies can apply plasma stacks by using ![]() The damage dealt by ![]() ![]() ![]() • ![]() • ![]() • ![]() Each gaining a new or upgraded effect. |
| Cost: 55 Mana | Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 | Cast Time: - | Range: 600 |![]() ![]() You can activate ![]() ![]() Living Weapon upgrade bonus (attack damage): With evolved ![]() |
| Cost: 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 Mana | Cooldown: 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 | Cast Time: 0.4 | Range: 3,000 | Width: 200 | Speed: 1,750 |![]() It's effective when dealing with epic monsters like ![]() ![]() Living Weapon upgrade bonus (ability power): ![]() |
| Cost: 30 Mana | Cooldown: 16 / 14.5 / 13 / 11.5 / 10 | Cast Time: 1.2 to 0.6 (scales with bonus attack speed) |![]() ![]() Living Weapon upgrade bonus (attack speed): Gain invisibility (activates during the cast animation), helpful to break enemy vision. |
| Cost: 100 Mana | Cooldown: 120 / 90 / 60 | Range: 2,000 / 2,500 / 3,000 | Effect Radius: 525 |![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() • Her auto-attack timer is reset after the ability ends. • During this dash, ![]() |
Combos:
In this section, I will share some of the effective combos for

Tips & Tricks:
Playing As

• Remember that you can re-engage with

• When targeting enemy champions with



• It's very efficient to trigger

Playing Against

• Stay near your



• Avoid


• Disengage once you've acquired four stacks of plasma immediately because the damage from

• Even though


•

Game Plan
In this section, I will outline the things to focus on/consider at each game stage as ![]() Early game: Your primary focus should be to farm ![]() Setting up a freeze (holding the ![]() ![]() 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 ( ![]() ![]() ![]() 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 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Things to consider:
Before prioritizing early objectives like

• 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

Summoner Spells
Default
An integral summoner spell for ![]()
Secondary Options
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Note that ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() • ![]() ![]() • ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() • ![]() ![]() • ![]() ![]() • ![]() ![]() ![]() • ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() • Suppression: ![]() ![]() • Nearsightedness: ![]() ![]() • Stasis: ![]() ![]() • Airborne: ![]() ![]() If affected by damage over time, attack speed reduction, armor shred or grievous wound effects, ![]() Note that activating ![]() ![]()
Excellent for ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Champions that possess true damage in their kits won't have their damage reduced by ![]() ![]() ![]() It also helps increase kiting potential to dodge important skill shots from enemies such as ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The only downside is that subsequent activations of ![]() ![]() |
VIsion Control
Stealth Ward
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
Farsight Alteration
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
Oracle Lens
Control Wards
When removing enemy vision from the map, always consider buying ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() However, when facing champions with built-in invisibility like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() When you return to the fountain, try to purchase one or two ![]() |
Stats To Consider
|
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.





Gunmetal Greaves >
Berserker's Greaves feats of strength upgrade
Gunmetal Greaves offers increased attack Speed (synergizing with
Supercharge) along with
on-hit mobility, and 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/
Rylai's Crystal Scepter/
Serylda's Grudge, or other movement impairing slowing effects that would leave you vulnerable and make it hard for you to escape combat.
Pick up these






Swiftmarch >
Boots of Swiftness feats of strength upgrade
With
Swiftmarchs, gain damage equal to a percentage of your total mobility.
As
Kai'Sa loves to build
Zeal items such as
Kraken Slayer,
Runaan's Hurricane,
Phantom Dancer or
Navori Flickerblade as part of her core build, she'll gain value from
Swiftmarchs during team fights and skirmishes.

With

As







Chainlord Crushers >
Mercury's Treads feats of strength upgrade
With
Chainlaced Crushers, you'll gain increased shielding that blocks magic damage and great into heavy burst or dot
mage comps.

With


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. It is also potent against teams that heavily stack physical damage.
Choosing

Armored Advance >
Plated Steelcaps feats of strength upgrade
Armored Advance functions similarly to
Chainlaced Crushers. In contrast, you'll gain increased shielding that blocks any incoming physical damage, making it an excellent way to deal with auto-attacking comps.



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.


Spellslinger's Shoes >
Sorcerer's Shoes feats of strength upgrade
Spellslinger's Shoes are an excellent dual penetration option for
mage builds, offering increased damage potential not only against squishy targets but also being effective with more durable targets.



To acquire the feats of strength buff, you'll need to complete any two of the following actions during your games:
• Killing three epic

• Acquire three kills
• Destroying the first

Upon claiming the buff, you can purchase the upgrade to the

It's important to note that





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.

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.









Selecting
Nashor's Tooth on
Kai'Sa is effective for additional magic damage &
on-hit against your target, along with some added ability haste.



Very effective against
tanks/bruisers, dealing % current health damage, and slowing the target. When paired with
Kraken Slayer and other
on-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.


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.









Even though the components are expensive, you can still get excellent value in combat.

Since
Kai'Sa relies heavily on her abilities, pairing
Navori Flickerblade with other attack speed items (ex:
Guinsoo's Rageblade,
Phantom Dancer or
Runaan's Hurricane), will provide increased uptime and increased damage output during skirmishes, team fights and duels when using
Icathian Rain,
Supercharge and
Void Seeker.











Picking up
Runaan's Hurricane is excellent for clearing
minion waves and synergizes with
Kai'Sa when looking to apply plasma stacks and
on-hit effects on multiple targets. It is great when the enemy clusters together in a small area.




Equipping
Statikk Shiv provides excellent wave pressure while also giving you an advantage in most matchups, especially against tough opponents such as
Caitlyn,
Draven,
Nilah or
Samira. It lets you poke from a distance rather than engage in close combat.













Since










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.






Selecting
Nashor's Tooth on
Kai'Sa is effective for additional magic damage &
on-hit against your target, along with some added ability haste.



When
Kai'Sa equips
Banshee's Veil, you are protected against the next ability aimed at you. Very handy when facing teams with solid crowd control capabilities, such as those with
Leona,
Morgana,
Nautilus and
Zyra.
Note that
Nocturne's
Paranoia will consume the spell shield no matter where you are on the map.






Note that


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.









Great when paired with other

When playing as
Kai'Sa,
Morellonomicon is a useful grievous wounds option in combat. Particularly effective against champions who have healing abilities, like
Samira,
Seraphine and
Soraka. It can also counteract champions who have healing items, such as
Blade of the Ruined King,
Bloodthirster 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.






This makes it an excellent choice against





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.


Effective when dealing with crowd control/spell effects (except airborne,
Exhaust,
Ignite or
Smite).
It's also useful when dealing with the following champion abilities:
•
Ambessa's
Public Execution
•
Malzahar's
Nether Grasp
•
Sett's
The Show Stopper
•
Skarner's
Impale
•
Tahm Kench's
Devour
•
Urgot's
Fear Beyond Death
•
Warwick's
Infinite Duress
The active effect is very efficient when looking to escape fights or dangerous situations easily. However, due to the long active cooldown, careful ability blocking is paramount.



It's also useful when dealing with the following champion abilities:
•


•


•


•


•


•


•


The active effect is very efficient when looking to escape fights or dangerous situations easily. However, due to the long active cooldown, careful ability blocking is paramount.







A suitable alternative to
Guardian Angel when looking for more control over your survivability. It is beneficial when fighting champions such as
Mel,
Pyke,
Urgot or
Zed 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.








Using the
Elixir of Sorcery on
Kai'Sa grants you increased
mana regeneration and amplifies not only your abilities (
Void Seeker and
Second Skin) but also your effectiveness when sieging
turrets and dueling champions.






With
Elixir of Wrath, you'll get a small amount of damage but also gain
physical vamp, that applies healing based on all physical damage you deal to enemy champions. A very efficient sustain option for
Kai'Sa to acquire either before an important
dragon/
baron nashor fight or once you have reached full build.





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.
Domination Runes:
Inspiration Runes:
Precision Runes:
Resolve Runes:
Sorcery Runes:

Keystone Runes:
- A great scaling keystone for
Kai'Sa, with excellent synergy when paired with her ability power build. Gathering souls by dealing damage to low health targets, with the ability to collect more souls immediately upon other takedowns. When combined with
Kai'Sa's ability to inflict high burst damage in her kit,
Dark Harvest is an excellent choice for late-game scenarios.



- With
First Strike, you'll increase not only your overall strength in trades but also acquire some extra gold, which can help reach your power spikes sooner. It's beneficial if you prefer a steady approach to laning. While the damage early isn't as impactful, it becomes much more substantial 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 engage
tank champions such as
Leona,
Nautilus,
Pyke or
Thresh.








-
Lethal Tempo is one of
Kai'Sa's best keystones for combat, not only to increase
Second Skin triggers but for the improved damage it provides in extended fights (scaling with bonus attack speed). It's an excellent choice when paired with enchanter
support champions like
Janna,
Lulu,
Milio,
Nami, or
Sona.









-
Fleet Footwork on
Kai'Sa helps by healing you and provides you extra mobility to help you survive oppressive laning phases. It enables you to 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,
Morgana,
Soraka or
Zyra).







- 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.




-
Grisly Mementos grants
Kai'Sa increased trinket haste based on champion takedowns. It will allow for more frequent ward placements across the summoner's rift, increasing the likelihood of spotting enemy dives or flanks sooner.
When playing on
aram (or other non-rift game modes), gain increased cooldowns on summoner spells instead.


When playing on

- 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. It is an excellent option for increased pressure/dominance in team fights and skirmishes.




-
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 12 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.



- Each biscuit you acquire from
Biscuit Delivery grants extra sustain after trades and skirmishes while increasing your overall max health. 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.




-
Presence of Mind is an excellent way to 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. It is helpful for
Kai'Sa when against poke lanes or when you need some healing in the early game. It is 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.


-
Shield Bash while niche for
Kai'Sa, grants bonus power in combat once shielded. Shielding sources that
Kai'Sa can apply the effect of
Shield Bash include
Killer Instinct,
Immortal Shieldbow,
mountain dragon soul or
Bloodthirster. It also applies when shielded by ally effects, such as
Thresh's
Dark Passage, or
Locket of the Iron Solari.











-
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. Stacking indefinitely from
monster or
minion kills, increasing her maximum health. Just be mindful if your enemy has items (
Blade of the Ruined King,
Liandry's Torment or abilities (
Kog'Maw's
Bio-Arcane Barrage or
Fiora's
Duelist's Dance) that deal damage based on maximum health 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,
Bloodthirster or
Mercurial Scimitar) you have acquired.








-
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 (
Kraken Slayer,
Phantom Dancer,
Statikk Shiv) 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
Blade of the Ruined King or
Bloodthirster, other healing sources.




-
Gathering Storm is effective for
Kai'Sa by increasing your overall damage (autos and abilities) against targets, scaling 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 ![]()
|
Always pay attention to the team compositions you are fighting when mixing and matching the rune shards listed above with your

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.

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.
To view my other
marksman guides click on one of the following icons below:

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