15.10 Vengeance To All Betrayers

Table of Contents

Introduction

Pros & Cons

Abilities

Game Plan

Summoner Spells

Vision Control

Stats To Consider

Which Boots & Why?

Itemization

Runes

Rune Shards

Summary

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 . 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 .

I hope you find my guide informative and enjoyable. So, without further delay, let's jump into the world of - The Spear of Vengeance!

Kalista - The Spear Of Vengeance
, Bottom Lane

Specialties: Sustained Damage, Ranged
Why choose Kalista?:
• is a strong duelist and powerful fighter who brings much value to her team.
• Her ability can act as a secondary when trying to take over neutral objectives such as , , and . Additionally, her rapid attacks make her an effective weapon against .
• 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.

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Pros & Cons

+ Lane bully
+ High single-target damage
+ Strong laning phase and level 6 all-in
+ Can save another teammate with
+ Good at securing objectives
+ Strong kiting potential (when you can constantly dash with )

- Squishy
- One wrong movement and you're in trouble.
- Very hard to master
- Mana intensive
- Falls off late game if behind
- Low risk/reward

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Abilities

Martial Poise

| Tether Radius: 1,100 | Maximum Target Range: 240 (no boots) / 263 (tier 1 boots) / 280 (tier 2 boots) / 300 (tier 3 boots) | Dash Speed: 1,025 (no boots) / 1,100 (tier 1 boots) / 1,160 (tier 2 boots) |

's enables her to move effortlessly through while auto-attacking or using , 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 or . Move through the wave to harass and then hop back to your own . However, be cautious, as experienced players may predict your movements.

The distances gained from while dashing forwards or backward are relative to the tier of purchased.

's dash speed from is increased by a percentage of her bonus attack speed; therefore, finding your sweet spot (which will vary per player) is imperative for best success.

Pierce

launches a spear in the target direction that deals physical damage to the first enemy hit.

Should you kill a target with spears with , all the current spears from the dead unit will transfer to the next target hit.

Sentinel

When and her oathsworn are bound together, their basic attacks and 's apply a soul mark to their target, dealing max health magic damage along with granting additional on-attack effect damage, while her oathsworn deals additional

on-hit damage.

Remember to patrol the map using '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.

Rend

is your bread & butter ability as . With each basic attack

on-hit and that hits the enemy apply a stack of for 4 seconds. This effect will refresh on subsequent hits and stack up to 254 times.

's ability, , 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, regains mana if the ability kills an enemy.

Additionally, you can trigger while casting or .

Fate's Call

's ultimate helps to save your oathsworn ally from danger and hold them in stasis for up to four seconds. During this effect, 's oathsworn is cleansed from all crowd control, invulnerable and untargetable.

While held, the Oathsworn disappears and may dash with displacement immunity, ending 's effect and reappearing at their chosen target location. After the duration, they will automatically do so at maximum range from '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 depends on her heavily on her oathsworn, her combo setups are less fancy than other champions (mostly auto attacks/ activations). However, since she has a basic combo setup, ensure your spacing is sound while playing Summoners Rift (draft and ranked) games.


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Tips & Tricks:

Playing As
• Since 's cooldown is reset if she kills at least one target, try to stack spears on as well as champions and then use the ability as the 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 will not clear 's auto-attack target.
• Her mobility is limited when is not in combat. However, she can use and 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
• Keep in mind that 's mobility relies heavily on basic attacks, therefore if hit with any form of attack speed or movement speed reduction, her dashing with 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 after being filled with spears, you can prevent her from using on you, avoiding massive damage.

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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 , 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 just outside your ) 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 .

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 (, or ). If there is a chance to grab waves or 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 soul, & 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 , 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 and lack the bonus damage effects gained from .

- Always be mindful of your positioning when fighting (which can be altered by inputting secondary commands with your cursor after selecting your target), and observe where other enemies are when attempting to engage with your abilities.

Key bindings to consider when playing for best success would be "player attack move click" (player movement hotkey) and "attack move on cursor" (interface); these will help you to avoid missing essential clicks on your target.

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Summoner Spells

Default

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

Secondary Options

is an excellent option for 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 before the enemy damages you. Champions that it would be useful against are , , , , or .

Note that 's , 's and 's execute won't be blocked when activating in combat with them.

Great against champions with crowd control effects such as:
• 's
• 's //
• 's
• 's /
• 's

It removes , , , and grounded effects while being ineffective against

crowd control effects such as:
• Suppression: 's
• Nearsightedness: 's
• Stasis: 's
• Airborne: 's

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

Activating this spell after an

immobilizing status hits you (not beforehand) ensures you can break the effect and escape a dangerous situation.

Excellent for against champions that have high burst such as , , or . It is also great to slow down targets or reduce their incoming damage (includes bonus damage from -related items and champion abilities).

Note that champions who deal true damage through abilities or summoner spells () will not be reduced by .

It grants additional mobility, which is helpful when entering or exiting a fight. With the ability to walk through friendly minions, you can attempt to dodge a scary situation you otherwise might not have.

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

Excellent for 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 is already using , 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 beforehand.

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Vision Control

Stealth Ward

is your main trinket in all games as , revealing units within a target location. With a max of three 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 ( & ).

Farsight Alteration

(available at level 9) is a strong option for 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 ), but unlike s, they are visible to the enemy and fragile, meaning they will die the instant they are spotted.

Oracle Lens

It's great to have when dealing with stealth champions who plant traps such as , , & . It's also beneficial against champions who use stealth and invisibility to engage/disengage, like , , or .

Control Wards

When removing enemy wards from the map, always consider buying s. This ward reveals and turns off enemy wards within a 900-unit radius. s function similarly to the trinket displaying stealth & camouflaged based champions (, , and ) that approach them. Though unlike , if the enemy possesses invisibility in their kit (, , or ) s won't inform you of their location.

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Stats To Consider

• Attack Damage: The best stat to acquire for . 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 , helping to increase dashing potential or when looking to stack spears with .

• Life Steal: Excellent stat to have on . Very efficient when applied through auto attacks &

on-hit item effects.

• Omni Vamp: Not something we aim for when itemizing, but it's still useful for healing on .

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

• Ability Haste: Not a stat you need to worry about when playing as your auto attacks are your most significant damage source outside , so it would be more optimal to include another stat option when buying your items.

• 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.

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Which Boots & Why?

Berserker's Greaves > Attack Speed
are the best option when playing as . 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 / or .

Gunmetal Greaves > blessing of Noxus upgrade
offers increased attack Speed, while also providing

on-hit mobility for increased kiting potential.

Boots of Swiftness > Slow Reduction
These are effective when dealing with teams that have slowing effects. They can vary from sources such as 's ///, or other movement impairing slowing effects that would leave you vulnerable and make it hard for you to escape combat.

Swiftmarch > feats of strength upgrade
With , you gain additional power based on a percentage of your increased mobility.

Since tends to purchase items, this will help improve the value gained. Also, with the base movement increase, you'll improve your dodging of skill shots and also assist in travelling the rift faster.

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

Chainlord Crushers > feats of strength upgrade
With , you'll gain increased shielding that blocks magic damage and great against burst or dot comps.

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

Armored Advance > feats of strength upgrade
functions similarly to . In contrast, you'll gain increased shielding that blocks any incoming physical damage you receive in combat.

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

Upon claiming the buff, you can purchase the upgrade to the you are currently using in combat.

Note that , & aren't picked often as when comparing them to . However, in saying this, the other selections can be viable if the appropriate situation arises.

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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 .

If you have a matchup where you can snowball or want an advantage over your opponent, that's when I consider going . 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:

Core Items

Whenever you attack your target, the damage will be a percentage of its current health. When paired with and 's , it is an excellent choice for shredding tanks and certain squishy champions. It's also good for sticking close to targets and synergizes nicely with

on-hit builds.

My recommended core item for is . It enhances her

on-hit item effects to be applied more often, and along with dealing additional

on-hit magic damage. A solid purchase for .

Picking up is excellent for clearing waves and is great when the enemy clusters together due to the additional bolts fired. Also effective when paired with other

on-hit item effects ( or ).

Situational Items

With , 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 or champions who could burst you down.

It provides 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.

is very efficient when looking for a balance of damage and shielding for . It's a solid dueling & skirmishing option, that doubles as an effective choice when up against burst or champion matchups such as , , or , who can deal tons of damage to you in a short window of time.

When paired with , 's durability is improved during extended battles and skirmishes; combined with , you'll be more durable during the game's later stages.

is very potent when playing as , granting additional physical damage, increasing in damage upon striking the same target. Combined with , you'll gain improved kill potential during fights and skirmishes.

is a great % armor penetration item for , while also being efficient into armor centric targets.

Efficient durability and sustain option to consider when dueling heavy magic damage threats such as , , and . Also great into champions like , , and , who have powerful damage output.

Great when dealing with crowd control/spell effects (except airborne, , or ) or champion abilities such as:
• 's
• 's
• 's
• 's
• 's
• 's
• 's

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.

is a strong % armor penetration option with grievous wounds that applies after damaging your target—an excellent choice for dealing with (), , , or that have healing abilities or items.

When using with , 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 , you'll be able to stack spears on your target more efficiently and deal more damage overall when using .

An excellent option to reduce the damage of critical strike auto attacks you recieve in combat. Handy when dealing with champions such as the class, , , or who tend to build these items.

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 .

Particularly helpful when facing opponents like , , or , where a cautious approach is needed.

With , gains increased dueling potential along with increased durability. It's a solid choice when fighting assassins or bruiser champions such as , , or . It also synergizes nicely with other

on-hit item effects.

With the execution from , 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 , kills during team fights and duels are much more straightforward. While not a must-buy compared to other snowball-oriented , consider this option when dealing with a squishy enemy team.

is helpful in duels and good against champions such as , , or , where you need some light durability and trading power—synergizes with her other

on-hit options.

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Runes

The following keystone and rune choices are great for 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:

- is very efficient on , 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 champions such as , or .

- Combining can pair nicely with , 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 (, ,, ).

- not only helps to increase 's attacks per second but also improves how quickly she can stack s into her target before activating , which could lead to some decisive team fight outcomes once it's fully stacked out. An excellent all-around selection for while also being very effective when paired with enchanter champions such as , , or .

Domination Runes:

- is a decent sustain option for , 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 triggers , or you will trigger . Once you complete the dash/blink animation, you are granted true damage for the next few seconds.

- Having additional vision on the map can always be helpful, and does just that by granting increased trinket haste. Helpful at providing more vision/information sooner as to where your enemies are just in case they are trying to dive you.

- The main benefit of 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:

- allows to delay building to focus on getting your core items sooner. Once added, gain extra movement speed in your current pair of purchased.

- is helpful when you need additional sustain after trades and skirmishes while giving you more max health per biscuit (max 3)—a staple rune taken by in most of her tough matchups.

Precision Runes:

- can be very useful for , restoring health and providing additional gold. It is a nice rune option that helps accelerate item purchases and healing after securing takedowns.

- Having 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 on will increase your auto-attack damage, allowing for more pressure in fights and consistent damage on enemies.

- If you're playing as and facing off against champions like , , or , who rely on poke spells, consider using . 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.

- for increases damage against low health targets. This damage amplification can be very impactful when securing kills during team fights and skirmishes.

- suits nicely when dueling to your wit's end with the enemy. It provides more damage amplification to when you have stacked a large number of spears into your targets.

Resolve Runes:

- is a good durability rune choice for , increasing her armor and magic resist. It is helpful when fighting champions such as , , , or other enemies that make it hard for you to survive fights.

- is another solid defensive option for providing damage reduction from incoming sources of damage when dueling with the enemy. It is useful when fighting against teams of or other burst-related champions.

- While may not be the best option for , it can still help provide max health (gained from and 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 as to improve healing & shielding effects you receive. Synergizes with , , & , improving their effectiveness, thereby increasing your resilience in combat and having improved sustain in team fights & duels.

Note that also improves the shielding effect of the soul.

Sorcery Runes:

- 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.

- provides more upfront pressure for in fights and duels, so long as you have sustained healing from , or other healing sources to maintain the required threshold for the bonus damage.

- is effective for by increasing your overall damage every 10 minutes, scaling indefinitely—an excellent option for long games you find yourself in.

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Rune Shards

When deciding on what rune shards (whether offensive or defensive) to pick for 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 and also with increasing the distance of your dashing potential (with ).

• Do I need additional adaptive force? As , we always take one adaptive damage (additional attack damage) for the best success.

• Do I require any ability haste? Since we heavily rely on our auto attacks in combat, ability haste won't provide as much value on when compared to other options. Therefore, it's best to skip it.

Defensive Shards

• Do you need more movement speed? It is helpful when looking to dodge/kite skills shots or run away faster from an incoming enemy champion. Compared to other defensive options, we skip this on .

• Do you need tenacity & slow resist? It is an excellent choice against champions that rely on

immobilizing effects to pin you down.

• Do I require more health? Both scaling health and flat health shards are good options for , especially when going against mixed-damage team comps.

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

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Summary

There are many ways to build , 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.

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

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15.10 Vengeance To All Betrayers

15.10 Vengeance To All Betrayers

Recommended Items

Runes: Lethal Tempo

Spells:

Barrier

Flash

Cleanse

Flash

Exhaust

Flash

Flash

Ghost

Flash

Heal

Items

Ability Order Standard

Martial Poise (PASSIVE)

Pierce (Q)

Sentinel (W)

Rend (E)

Fate's Call (R)

Threats & Synergies

Aphelios

Ashe

Caitlyn

Corki

Draven

Ezreal

Jhin

Jinx

Kai'Sa

Kog'Maw

Lucian

Miss Fortune

Nilah

Samira

Senna

Sivir

Smolder

Tristana

Twitch

Varus

Vayne

Xayah

Zeri

Alistar

Amumu

Bard

Blitzcrank

Brand

Braum

Galio

Janna

Karma

Leona

Lulu

Lux

Maokai

Milio

Morgana

Nami

Nautilus

Neeko

Pantheon

Poppy

Pyke

Rakan

Rell

Renata Glasc

Senna

Seraphine

Shen

Sona

Soraka

Swain

Tahm Kench

Taric

Thresh

Vel'Koz