Name is Myouri, I am a EUW player who used to be in plat in season 4 and currently I am in Gold II aiming to get back to my place ( Don't we all say that? :D )

I've played in several positions since I began playing this amazing game back in season 1, I have tried it all, and cannot really say I play only one role, honestly, why choose one when you can have them all?.

I am a mobafire guide-reader-addict and I really like to research as much information as I can about the different champs I play and even about those who I play against as well.

The thing is, when I started playing KALISTA, I researched and didn't find the in depth guide mobafire usually have for pretty much all the champions. Don't take me wrong, there are awesome guides as well out there of kalista but there are some things I personally consider they lack for and that's why I decided to man up and do my very first guide!

Proffesional players says she is tier 2, but in my opinion with some teamplaying with your support she is totally TIER 1, and you will see why as you keep the reading going.

I would like to emphasize this.
Ok, I am going to explain you now how do I play Kalista, and how I do build her (which is pretty much as everybody plays her and) But, honestly I am not a "me too" guy.

If I am not PROVIDING something new I wouldn't put the effort I am putting to write this guide.
What I am going to tell YOU are the TRICKS OF THE TRADE. Those things I always look for in a guide, those things that tell you when a guy have written something quickly to be the first, when a dude has played 10 games with that champion instead of 200, getting to know those little things that difference a good player from an excellent one.

1. Pros and Cons
2. Runes
3. Masteries
4. Offensive Items
5. Deffensive items
6. Skills
7. Your role

Pros
- The highest mobility champ in the game
- 2 OP passives: the amazing movement plus the one you get from your w which I will explain later
- It lets you coordinate amazingly with your support

Cons
-Poor early game
-Relies heavily in her support

They are the standard runes with an emphasis in attack speed and attack damage. Nothing special to point out here.

Spell Weaving and Blade Weaving are not that useful because you don't use that many spells, you focus in attack speed and raw damage.
I personally don't like the Double-Edged Sword , those points are better used in that much needed attack speed with Fury and farming with Butcher .

About the 9 points in deffense, I feel they are more useful here than in the utility tree. It's true you could get more in the offense branch but honestly, the 3% max health of Juggernaut and the extra defense with Block is very welcomed in a champion who have to face and adc 95% of the times.

BILGEWATER CUTLASS


I know what you are thinking. Dude, why the hell should I start building this item instead of attack speed like Zeal or real damage like B. F. Sword?
Well I tell you I have tried them both. Zeal is not bad, you can evolve it later to Statikk Shiv which is also very good in Kalista due to his amazing movement with the passive.
Do you have a healer support who can keep you healthy? go ahead for the item, maybe you will like to buy then a Infinity Edge and go for the crit and attack speed.
But most of the times you will have to be able to sustain in you own, and Bilgewater Cutlass gives you that sustain you need plus some damage to keep the trades going, in addition it evolves in Blade of the Ruined King which I consider it to be godly in kalista.
Don't forget this item has an active, which might not be very powerful mid-late game, but at early levels it can make the difference. Bear in mind that at level 7 an adc does not have more than 1000 HP. Bilgewater deals 100 Magic damage, while your rival most likely wont have a lot of magic resistance so you will deal 10% dmg of his max HP! That comboed with your e stacks on him and you can easily blow him up when he is like 30% HP


BERSERKER'S GREAVES

Nowadays finishing up the boots is not as useful as back in season 2, however, with kalista I feel prone to do it. It gives you that attack speed you seek like a wild boar and your passive scales with the tier of your boots, the higher it is the tier (there are 3 upgrades in total including the enchantments) the higher are you jumps. Keep that in mind.



B.F SWORD


If you are a bad boy and want to stick to your guns and choose to go for the badass B. F. Sword (I feel you bro, don't follow my indications strictly, the biggest things were created innovating), you might want to level first the q and go for the burst dmg not hitting that many times with you e. If you level q first it deals HUGE amounts of damage, it has a nice scalating dmg (PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 10 / 70 / 130 / 190 / 250 (+ 100% AD) ) plus applying an e stack! It could work, of course it could!!
Let's set an example:
You are level 6 and go to trade to a pesky graves. You have your q at level 4 which means 190 + 139 = 229 dmg plus 103.3 dmg from the e dmg level 1... you deal 332,3 dmg. Not bad for a quick trade with a q hmm? :D


BLADE OF THE RUINED KING


If you choose to follow the sensei path you will have this item as your first or second item, in cause you decide to hold off a little your Bilgewater Cutlass and get the Runaan's Hurricane first, which I actually recommend, being the most OP item in Kalista)

Anyways let's talk a little bit about BOTRK. Honestly, they current stats are far from what they used to be, so is the active, but it is still one of the better options kalista has, it gives you all you need; attack speed, attack damage, and sustain plus a more or less useful active and the %HP dmg, never forget it :D


RUNAAN'S HURRICANE


You cannot say you have played kalista until you have bought this item. And you cannot say it either unless you start auttoattacking using the auttoattack move button to do it. It is set in the setting options inside a lol match.
I have binded letter c to do it, and i find it rather comfy. Do not get mistaken, you wont use it every time mainly cause you will attack the closest target and many times you need to be more precise. However is perfect for those pesky situations when an all mighty riven is coming all ham to destroy you. Do you run? Of course you do! you are a adc, but you do it wisely, using your autoattacks, it's faster and the poor riven might end up dying :D


LAST WHISPER

This item is compulsory in every adc, Kalista is not different. This is the cherry you put on the top of a nice cake. In addition with this item we get the exactly the stats that we need, attack damage and armor pen without crit chance :D

QUICKSILVER SASH

This is pretty much compulsory against those long stuns such a ww, lissandra, galio, ahri... those stuns that can change a game. You don't need to evolve it until the very end when all your other items have been completed, and even then you might want to switch it for a Banshee's Veil due to the mr and hp it provides ( you already have enough dmg dude, don't be greedy.


BANSHEE'S VEIL

I think this item is just great in every adc. Even against AD guys. Imagine a Vi trying to get to the back line of the fight ultying you. Well that's not happening and his cd is going to proceed while you keep staring at her with a big wide smile on your face.
Or that Lee coming to insec you but hey you dont have the second part of you q biatch...


FROZEN MALLET

I know it's not usual but that doesn't mean is not right. Especially in an unusual character such as kalista is. Since on temafights you will pretty much be moving around with your passive delivering auttoattacks to whatever is dumb enought to get close to you, what if that target of yours not only gets behind because of your jumps but also get slowed as ****? Yes you would become untouchable! and that's the ADC DREAM dog!

However I cannot reccomend it against heavy ap cc like Lissandra, Ahri, Thresh, or ad cc like Warwick... I would still go with banshee's in those cases.

Kalista Statistics

HEALTH 518 – 1929 ATTACK DAMAGE 53 – 109
HEALTH REGEN. 6.0 – 15.4 ATTACK SPEED [*] 0.658 (+0% – 56.1%)
MANA 232 – 827 ARMOR 19.0 – 78.5
MANA REGEN. 6.3 – 13.1 MAGIC RES. 30.0
RANGED 550 MOV. SPEED 325


MARTIAL POSE



INNATE: Kalista cannot cancel her basic attack wind-up except by selecting a new attack target who's in range; and her attacks will miss if she loses sight of her target before they hit.
If Kalista enters a movement command while winding her basic attack or Pierce, she will drive through that direction when she launches her attack, dashing a short distance. Martial Poise distance scales with Enhanced Movement, and is increased by 25% when dashing backwards.
Additionally, Kalista begins the game with a unique item, Black Spear item.


THE BLACK SPEAR - ACTIVE: Kalista hurls The Black Spear at an allied champion, beginning a ritual that takes a short duration. During the ritual, both Kalista and her target are unable to act and the target will perform their death animation. Upon finishing the ritual, the target becomes Oathsworn for the remainder of the game. Kalista requires an Oathsworn ally to utilize Sentinel Black Spear Soul-Marked, and Fate's Call .

You probably know this but I have the duty to tell this. You get this item which allows you to bond with ANY other champion. The one who is bonded to you (you choose it :D) will become part of 2 of your abilities, as I will explain extensively later.
The usual thing is to bond with you support, but in some LCS games it has been seen a bond with your jungle to do some amazing ganks. It depends a lot of the jungler and the support and the comunication with them of course...
However, in 99% of the times I would reccomend you to go with your support for the bond. He will most likely stick with you so you will be able to take the most from your "shared" abilities.

A special and really powerful combo is having a Yasuo "support" yes, I know it sounds crazy, but think about it. He has a kind of shield Wind Wall like braum's Unbreakable but better (it actually stops any projectile during the whole duration of the shield, brand receives the 2nd impact and hereforth). he has a kind of stun (janna's tornado) and the best part... when you ult him and throw the guy to the battle like a breaking ball with your Fate's Call he can ult inmediatly after to make a fancy combo which can have them wandering in the air for almost 3 seconds. This a pretty terryfing bot, trust what I say.


An indicator appears between autoattacks, showing the max distance Martial Poise can cover.
Martial Poise's dash can be used to clear terrain. The forward dash appears to have comparable range Quickdraw, with respect to what walls it can go over.
In conjunction with Martial Poise Pierce can function as a linear dash - since Pierce does not require a target and Martial Poise is triggered on wind-up and not on-hit.
Though Kalista cannot cancel her basic attacks, she can change the target of her attack during the first moments of her basic attack wind up.




This passive is just amazing. Better than any other adc's passive by far. It gives you an amazing juke capability in addition a lot of survivability, never understimate this passive even though recent nerfs, it's still superstrong.
As it explains above, it has a counterpart though, (nothing good comes alone :D)
It negates an auttoattack if you lose sight of the target, e.g. when somebody enters in a bush your spear thrown gets shamely laid on the ground. It's a pain in the neck especially if it's the autoattack who would end his/her life... but to be honest, how often does that happen? I think it doesn't happen to me more than once every 3 games?¿






PIERCE


RANGE: 1150 COST: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 MANA COOLDOWN: 8

ACTIVE: Kalista hurls a fast and narrow spear, dealing physical damage to the first enemy struck.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 10 / 70 / 130 / 190 / 250 (+ 100% AD)
If Pierce scores a kill, the spear will continue onward, passing all Rend.png Rend stacks from the dead victim to the next enemy it hits.

Pierce is a linear, colliding skill shot that passes through targets that it kills.
This ability is considered to be a projectile for Unbreakable and Wind Wall.


This is a very underrated ability. The scaling damage is pretty good 100% AD plus 250 at level 5? holy molly! It also applies a Rend stack plus a jump through walls??!! Are you ****ing kidding me?
I reccomend leveling this ability first when you go for AD instead of AS at the beginning. In case you start with that thug life B. F. Sword...

There is anothet thing you need to keep in mind, if Pierce kills the target it passes the rend stacks from the first objective to the one behind. This can be really useful when killing cannon minions and the enemy laner is stupid enough to be at range when you kill it with your q.

A last thing tp bear in mind with this skill, you can make procceed the damage from the Sentinel passive when your support lands an autoattack on an enemy. Notice youhave a window of only 2 sec to try to autoattack the same target and it is possible you are not close enough to land it in that time. Dont worry, Pierce is here to save your fat*** once more :D




SENTINEL


RANGE: 5000 COST: 25 MANA COOLDOWN: 30

SOUL-MARKED - PASSIVE: If Kalista and her The Black Spear item.png Oathsworn ally attack the same target within 2 seconds of each other, the target will take additional magic damage equal to a percentage of their maximum health. This effect cannot occur on the same target for 6 seconds. Damage is capped against minions and monsters. Soul-Marked will execute minions with 125 health or less.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20% of target's maximum health
MAX. DAMAGE VS. MONSTERS: 75 / 125 / 150 / 175 / 200
ACTIVE: Kalista commands a soul sentinel to the target location within range, gaining sight in a ~450-length cone in front of it. The sentinel's sight is obstructed by terrain and brush. Upon reaching the target location, it will return to a point within ~1400 units of cast location. The sentinel will perform a total of 7 laps, including the first two lengths. The sentinel is vulnerable from behind and will die if attacked twice by an enemy champion or once by a tower. If the sentinel spots an enemy champion it will scream and stalk them for the next 4 seconds - revealing them for the duration.
Kalista stores a charge of Sentinel every few seconds, and can store up to 2 charges.
RECHARGE TIME: 90 / 80 / 70 / 60 / 50

Additional Information:

When Kalista or her The Black Spear item Oathsworn ally attack an enemy, they will place a mark above the target's head that resembles half a spearhead. The joining attack will complete the spearhead.
The damage dealt by Soul-Marked is credited to Kalista and will benefit from Kalista's magic penetration and spell effects. In the event that the The Black Spear item.png Oathsworn scores a kill using Soul-Marked's damage, they will get a message stating "Kill Secured" in place of the usual gold pop-up.

This is what makes kalista a STRONG laner. And it's the reason why I encourage you to play if possible with a ranged support; the longest the autoattack, the better ( e.g annie's broken aa) Mind that some mage's autoattacks are rather slow, such as janna or the same Annie, bear that in mind to time your autoattack correctly (is not neccesary that you hit the enemy's before your support, anyone of you two can trigger the Sentinel effect.

Oh my friend, of course it has a weakness... you DEPEND of your SUPPORT like BREATHING. Without him you lost 2 skills, Sentinel and Fate's Call...
If he goes afk or starts roaming and let you alone 2v1 you are far more screwed than any other AD carry in the whole wide game. Yes, pretty sad, so make sure he doesn't go afk yeah?. Uhm, anyways, let's be honest... having an afk is most likely a lost game with any other champion so don't blame poor Kalista :D

Remember what we told before, Pierce has an auttoattack effect, so it will trigger the mark of the Sentinel in case you cannot reach them with your autoattack.


REND


Rend COST: 40 MANA COOLDOWN: 14 / 12.5 / 11 / 9.5 / 8
Rend
PASSIVE: Kalista's basic attacks and Pierce Pierce leaves her target speared for 4 seconds. There is no cap on the number of spears Kalista can lodge in her target. This passive is unavailable while Rend is on cooldown.
ACTIVE: Kalista rips all spears from nearby enemies, dealing physical damage and Slow icon slowing them for 2 seconds. Spears beyond the first deal reduced damage.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+ 60% AD)
DAMAGE PER ADDITIONAL SPEAR: 10 / 14 / 19 / 25 / 32 (+ 20 / 22.5 / 25 / 27.5 / 30% AD)
SLOW: 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45%
If Rend scores a kill, the cooldown is refreshed and refunds 20 mana for each target killed, up to 40 mana.

Rend is a point blank auto-targeted ability.
Applies spell effects as an area of effect ability.
Hextech Revolver item Spell vamp is reduced to one-third effectiveness.
Rylai Crystal Scepter will apply a 15% slow.
Rend does [x+1]*[flat damage per spear](+ [x-1]*[%AD per spear](+60%AD)), where x = the Despite is described that Rend's stacks accumulate infinitely, the maximum amount of stacks a target can hold is 254-number of spears.
This effectively means that Rend's max. damage output is 2550 / 3570 / 4845 / 6375 / 8160 (+ 5120 / 5752.5 / 6385 / 7017.5 / 7650% AD). For this is required that, with at least 2.5 attack speed, Kalista maintains attacking the same target for 101.6 seconds.


This is an amazing ability, and if you go for the attack speed it will become your best friend. There is a price to pay though, you really need to learn how to calculate the damage somehow. Don't worry, I will help you out with it.
Have you ever noticed about those little bars in people's HP? I'm sure you have, they mark every 100 HP. The wider bars are 1000HP.
I like to count mentally how many aa have I given with kalista; the first autoattack it will damage with Rend around 120 when maxed and every additional aa around 25. So every 4 aa is a little bar plus the bar from the first rend....

Sounds easy isn't it? The difficult comes when trying to be cold enough in the middle of the fight to keep counting autoattacks and watching you foe's HP while everybody is meanwhile trying to kill you.
I can swear buddy that if you actually master this coldness, you will get really far in this game.





FATE'S CALL


RANGE: 1200 COST: 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 90 / 75 / 60


ACTIVE: Kalista draws her Oathsworn ally next to her, vanishing them and disabling their spells for 4 seconds. Kalista's Oathsworn ally must be within 1400-range to cast Fate's Call.
During Fate's Call, Kalista's Oathsworn can right-click a target location to dash there, stopping at the first enemy hit, Airborne icon knocking up all surrounding enemies and landing themselves at their maximum attack range from the target.
KNOCK UP DURATION: 1.5 / 1.75 / 2

Ability Details
Fate's Call is an auto-targeted buff to the Oathsworn champion. The second portion of Fate's Call is a colliding linear skill shot that has an area of effect.
Does not apply spell effects.
Banshee Veil Spell shields will block the knockup.

Additional Information:

As long as the The Black Spear item.png Oathsworn champion remains held by Fate's Call, they are untargetable and invisible. They are represented by a symbol above Kalista's head until they expend the dash associated with Fate's Call.

If Kalista dies while holding the Oathsworn, the Oathsworn will remain untargetable until they expend the dash or until the 4 seconds for which Kalista may hold the Oathsworn runs out.
Kalista will take her Oathsworn with her if she uses Teleport.


I can't emphasize enough how good this ultimate actually is.

Let's go step by step. First, notice the RANGE, 1400 units, That's a ****ing huge distance. You can call you Oathsworn before the enemies have even see he/her coming, and you can save your Oathsworn from a safe place!(this is what makes kalista a viable support as well, given the survivability you can give to your ADC)

I really feel it's very useful to use flash when having your oathsworn, since it's like duplicating your Flash value, (you flash 2 people for one) and it set amazing killing opportunities/ OP escapes. Another thing I haven't tried yet is the teleport issue, it can prove to be useful too, don't call your oathsworn too soon though, since it lasts 4 sec and teleport 5... you don't want to rek yourself :D

Even if the support doesn't actually know how Kalista's ult works, it will be useful. As soon as you are being chased in a tf just press your R and let that human wrecking ball do his job. You will have a 1.5-2 sec knock up (doesn't affect by tenacity) plus a champ between you and them who is going to be targeted a little at least :D

On work :_D

EARLY GAME PRE-6

Until you get your second-third item all that you really want to do is to farm. FARMING is so important, 20 cs gold is worth a kill more or less, keep that in your head!.
Of course you want to get as many kills as possible but you don't need to rush for them. Rushing is the best friend of mistakes, you need to measure things, know your rival, his strengths and weaknesses, when to hit and when to run.

First af all i always like to test my rival punishing him with an autoattack early on, you can get a lot of information from this: Is he aggressive? does he fights back? Is he reckless not paying attention of the minion's damage? or he is a rather ***** guy who just want to farm? you can decide how to act from here.

If your rival has no sustain I usually max q first after I have a point in the 3 skills, so my poke combo q-e chunks a lot of health when I land the skillshot. As we said before it's A LOT of DMG if also gets the damage from the W passive.

EARLY GAME POST-6

MID GAME

LATE GAME

Well guys, I'm sorry for the english mistakes I'm sure i'have made, is not my mother language, but surely you will get the idea. If you have any questions about the guide please don't hesitate in write me a private message.

I have had so much fun writing this!

If it has been of any use for you at all, please upvote on the right top side, it would really mean a lot to me and it's just a click to you :D

That's all, See you around in the Summoner's Rift. GL & HF