Kai'Sa is a ranged carry with mobility and versatility, with a diverse array of skills that allows her to excel in the jungle. While not necessarily being made for the jungle, Kai'Sa does have access to tools that gives her a solid clear time, with noticeable power spikes throughout the game, giving her relevance in the game up until the final minute. This guide will give a brief outline of Kai'Sa's ideal playstyle as well as show anyone picking her up for the first time, the basics of Kai'Sa jungle.

The precision tree is the obvious main path that we will opt for in this build with some flexibility. For a less sustainable jungle clear but more potent mid to late game snowballing pressure, Press the Attack is a viable alternative to Fleet footwork. For the remaining choices in the Precision tree, Overheal and Legend: Bloodline are both options to increase survivability and allow a more lifesteal focused build, however this is not recommended. The choice of secondary tree is much more flexible than the primary tree. Domination and sorcery are both options, coming down to personal preference. The recommended choices in Domination tree are: Sudden Impact and Relentless Hunter and for the Sorcery tree: Ultimate Hat, Celerity, Waterwalking and Gathering Storm. When to take anything but the recommended is detailed below:

Ultimate Hat - Little CC on the enemy team will a lot of squishy targets
Waterwalking - Against a gank heavy enemy jungler (Maokai) or objective-centric jungler (Nunu)
Domination Tree: For maximising dueling potential against late scaling squishy enemies (Vayne)

With this build path, you will notice some big power spikes. Unlike other champions, Kai'Sa is unique in the fact that her skills and items interact with each other, like Viktor. Kai'Sa's abilities upgrade depending on how high your individual stats (AP, AD, AS) are. Q upgrades from 100 AD, W from 100 AP, and E from 100 AS. Each of these give the ability more potency. The first upgrade that you will be obtaining will be your E, Supercharge. This will be reached after you have built you Berserker Greaves, your fully upgraded jungle item as well as your first or second dagger into your Guinsoo's. You can however obtain it at other breakpoints, through obtaining level 11 with your first two items, or gaining enough Legend: Alacrity stacks from takedowns. This upgrade will change your E in various ways. It will give you temporary invisibility, useful for ganking and escapes as well as a movement speed increase and a channel time reduction, dependent on your attack speed. This will be your most useful upgrade, providing a ton of versatility to your playstyle. Your Q will upgrade once you have completed the item after your Runaan's, this can be a Death's Dance or Mercurial Scimitar. The Q upgrade does not affect the playstyle as much as the E upgrade, as damage is the only thing increased, with more missile added in the upgrade.

With this build, your first 4 items, (Berserkers, Skirmishers, Guinsoo's, Runaan's) will be your core with your last 2 items being your choice.

This level up pattern is the most standard prioritising Q for a faster clear and then E for mid game skirmishing capability. It is possible to max out your E first, however, this may harm your clear and it will be hard to recover from a deficit.

Kai'Sa is a champion that is to be picked when your team is able to facilitate it. Kai'Sa as a champion struggles to recover after being put behind due to her short range, however in the jungle, Kai'Sa does not suffer from this. Due to her fast jungle clears once she finishes her first two items, Kaisa will be able to get back into the game and start scaling into the late game from her fast jungle clears and her speed at clear objectives like Baron and Dragon.

With a Plasma stack being applied to enemies when they are hit by an ally's CC, Kai'Sa will be able to be a presence in team fight, even if she is not there at first. This supports the mentality that you should have when playing jungle Kai'Sa; your role is not that of an ADC, but as a ranged assassin that wants to clean up fights and pick off low targets at the end of skirmishes. This is juxtaposed from the start of team fights, when your main priority is establishing stacks on whomever you can without putting yourself in immediate danger.

Kai'Sa as a champion and as a jungler provides multiple ways to get ahead in the early game, and your priority should be to establish a lead and stick with it. Unlike other assassins, Kai'Sa will not be able to instantly burst a squishy carry without preparation. When entering fights or 1v1 scenarios, make sure you have stacked your Guinsoo's as much as you can beforehand and you prepare your E before engaging or ulting to the backline in a teamfight.

I hope you dominate plenty of games with Kai'Sa and have fun while doing it.