Kha'Zix Build Guide by dudeguylikeme

Introduction

Kha'Zix; the Voidreaver

This guide is for Kha'Zix, the Voidreaver, played as a jungle assassin. I will warn you now, that this build plays very similar to a mage who uses AD items instead of AP items. If you want to just right click on enemies, this build is not for you. Kha'Zix's abilities scale very well with AD and can do a lot of burst damage, especially to targets who are alone. This is my first guide, so any and all pointers are encouraged! Thanks for reading my guide and I hope you enjoy it! Please comment and feel free to post game results with this build!

Pros / Cons

Below is a list of the pro and cons of picking Kha'Zix

Pros Can output massive amounts of damage in a very short time. Can 1v1 almost any champion of comparable gold levels (given you don't get caught by surprise). Very slippery and difficult to combo thanks to Void Assault. Has good sustain in-lane and can bounce back from heavy pokes such as Infected Cleaver or Death Ray.

SPACE

Cons Very squishy if caught out of position. Susceptible to crowd controls and initiates such as Power Fist or Enchanted Crystal Arrow. Does not clear jungles as fast as others like Udyr or Amumu. Susceptible to counter-jungling. Relys on blue buff and needs gold fast!

Masteries

I go with a 21/9/0 mastery set. If you don't take Smite make sure to change the summoner spell point in defense and give it to MR. Many people might ask why I didn't put any points into Vampirism and my answer is that Kha'Zix does not use basic attacks as the main source of damage. This is the same reason that I do not use attack speed or crit chance items like Infinity Edge or Phantom Dancer. Otherwise, it's all very straightforward for a jungle assasin. Maximize damage and allow for a good start to jungle with armor and hp.

Runes

I use mostly AD runes to account for rushing a Hextech Gunblade. This also makes you exceptionally bursty at early levels. Armor seals is a must for junglers, and MR per level glyphs are useful late game as well to help prevent bursty mages from catching you out of position. If you have something against MR per level glyphs, flat CD reduction glyphs work well here.

Another note: I've been toying with the idea of using 4 armor penetration marks to allow for a faster jungle clear and account for the lack of using The Brutalizer and Youmuu's Ghostblade. Feel free to try those runes out as well if you want to tweak your build.

Summoner Spells

For Kha'Zix I generally take Flash and Smite. Some other spells I condone are Exhaust, Ghost, Cleanse, Ignite.



Smite is an obvious choice for any jungler. It speeds up the jungle clear time, can be used to effectively counter-jungle and gets bonus from spell vamp, which exists on the gunblade.



I like Flash as well for Kha'Zix because it vastly increases his mobility and is extremely useful in conjunction with his ultimate Void Assault. Picture this: The whole team is after you: you ult, then flash over a wall. They think that you've ducked into the bush when really you're already miles away. Also helps chase when the opponent also uses Flash.



Exhaust can be useful, especially if you're ganking bot on a regular basis in order to get your ADC fed and the support in bot lane did not take exhaust. You leap at one, exhaust, proc your passive Unseen Threat to stack the slows and either force a flash or get the kill.



Ghost is another somewhat successful spell on Kha'Zix since it allows him to catch up to faster enemies such as Teemo or Shyvana. It also works well in conjunction with his ultimate, however not as well as flash in my opinion.



Cleanse is fantastic on Kha'Zix against a team with a lot of crowd control. Since Kha'Zix is so squishy, a Cleanse to Void Assault can be just the thing when waiting for your team after being caught out of position. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite offer the same level of survivability as Flash so I advise against it if you're jungling with Smite as you always should.



Ignite can be just the thing to finish off the champions who have easy escapes such as Kassadin or Tryndamere. Unfortunately, I don't like using it since you either have to forfeit Flash for survivability or forfeit Smite, neither of which i feel is worth it. It could be worth it if the other team has no jungle, but that typically only happens in blind picks.

Skill Sequence

Make sure you start with a point in Void Spike. The heal will save your life while jungling. i can't tell you how many times I've gotten away from lizard buff with less than 10 hp left, and I've never died in the jungle yet. Next, I max Taste Their Fear as soon as possible to maximize burst in lane with a point in Leap at level 4. If you're finding it hard to jungle effectively, don't hesitate to put a point into Void Spike at level 3 to improve jungle sustain. Make sure to get a point in Void Assault whenever possible so you can evolve your abilities! The next section is an evolution guide, and is a section unique to only Kha'Zix and his very very cool feature.

I usually start ganking at level 4 (once I get Leap). Unseen Threat makes for great ganks, as does the movement speed buff from Void Assault. Taste Their Fear is useful on isolated targets, so it's easiest to gank a solo top and mid, however a pushed bottom lane is easy to successfully gank as well since the ranged carry is usually alone behind the creep wave. They key here is to always be aware of where the enemy champions are at all times, and gank whenever a lane is pushed to the tower.

Evolution Guide

Typically I evolve Taste Their Fear first for two reasons.

1) It gives additional burst to low hp targets as well as a nice range increase. Many kills have been achieved within the extra 50 range, so it is 100% worthwhile.

2) It combos exceptionally well with Hextech Gunblade's Active. Using the active gives you an additional 36 damage on Taste Their Fear provided they are alone, and if the slow allows you to catch them, the bonus damage from Unseen Threat compounds this bonus. Since I rush a gunblade, I also rush the enlarged claws.

Next, I evolve Void Spike. Giving void spikes extra magic damage makes the poke on this thing amazing. Coupling that with the spell vamp on Hextech Gunblade and the massive bonus AOE from the two extra spikes is incredible.

The last evolution is really a user's choice.

If the enemy team seems to like split pushing, I evolve Leap to give me more mobility and extra chase ability. Since it now resets the cooldown whenever I get a kill or assist, it also means you can sneak away much easier after a successful kill.

If the game has lent itself to more team fights, I evolve Void Assault to give me more slipperyness, more poke with Unseen Threat procs and obviously the extra 40% damage reduction is nothing to sneeze at, even though it is only for 3 seconds total. If you evolve active camo, make sure to use it wisely. Pressing R right before a Final Spark, Demacian Justice or Noxian Guillotine can save you and your team!

Note: There is a rumor that Kha'Zix can get all four evolutions. Let me tell you: this is true. There are two ways to get it (supposedly)

1) You get a pentakill at level 18. Do that and enjoy your 4th evo. (unconfirmed by me, but I've read it on multiple boards.)

Edit: I did this against bots, and did not get the 4th evo. I guess Rengar must be in the game? still have yet to confirm.

2) Get legendary at level 18 and kill Rengar. I have done this and can confirm the 4th evolution. You will get a quest whose objective is to kill Rengar (I think it's called headhunter) and once you do you get the 4th evolution. Iv'e heard rumors that you get rengars head in your inventory and you have to use it. I was full when this happened so it just ticked similar to buying oracle's elixer when full.

Items

This item build for Kha'Zix tends to throw some people off because of the use of Hextech Gunblade. I use the Gunblade because it has spell vamp and attack damage, as well as an awesome active with a great range. Furthermore, he can burst down enemy champions quickly with his abilities, and his abilities generally account for over 80% of his total damage. This means spell vamp gives him great sustain in team fights, especially since his Taste Their Fear is on such a low cooldown and does bonus damage to targets on low health.

When Jungling I start with Boots of Speed and three Health Potions. If you're not getting counter jungled, I rush a Hextech Gunblade. It's up to you if you want to get Bilgewater Cutlass or Hextech Revolver first. I usually go with Bilgewater Cutlass if I'm not getting kills with ganks, since the Vampiric Scepter helps out with jungling, however the full Hextech Revolver is the most helpful overall (jungling and otherwise) since it has spell vamp. If you are getting shut down from other junglers or an annoying top lane who wards your blue buff, I pick up a philosopher's stone for the mana regen and gold per 10. If the struggles continue, don't hesitate to pick up a Heart of Gold or Avarice Blade too. After I finish my first item ( Bilgewater Cutlass, Hextech Revolver or any of the aforementioned gp10 items) I upgrade to mercury treads. Kha'Zix is very susceptable to crowd controls, and mercs help with that a ton. Against a largely physical damage team I get Ninja Tabi instead.

If I'm doing well, I continue on to get Last Whisper, which I believe is a must have on Kha'zix. The added armor penetration will let you kill beefy people who stack armor. You'll get roughly an extra 30% damage against a tank, and that coupled with the 12% of missing health from evolved Taste Their Fear adds up a lot vs. bruisers like Olaf and tanks like Rammus or Shen. If no one is stacking armor, it might be best to pick up a B. F. Sword and turn it into a The Bloodthirster so you can start accruing stacks of damage.

If you're getting nuked down quickly by opposing mages, you should pick up a Maw of Malmortius because it gives you some added durability to Kha'Zix's otherwise large susceptibility to nukes. I finish the build off with The Black Cleaver for the added armor penetration and some attack speed for late game team fights. If the opposing team is largely made up of physical damage dealers, I alternatively pick up a Frozen Mallet and Atma's Impaler for the armor. If I do, I sacrifice the The Bloodthirster and The Black Cleaver. Another great option is to pick up Guardian Angel instead so you don't have to forfeit the damage of one of those two items.

That finishes up the build I discussed at the top of this guide, and I feel I've been most successful with those items. However, there are many other great item builds you can use on Kha'Zix, and I've outlined them below.

SPACE

Trinity Force is very useful on Kha'Zix. His abilities are very spammable and have a convinient ~2s cooldown on Taste Their Fear and the multi-cast on Void Assault. That coupled with the burst damage already granted by Unseen Threat gives you a huge advantage. The extra mana from Sheen helps your mana starvation and the slow from Phage stacks on Unseen Threat. The movement speed from Zeal is also extremely useful. The only reason I don't use Trinity Force is because 30 AD isn't preferable to The Bloodthirster, Maw of Malmortius or The Black Cleaver. If you want to replace something, I definitely suggest replacing The Black Cleaver.



Manamune is also great on Kha'Zix because of his spammable abilities and mana starvation. This item will cut back on your reliance of blue buff so you can give it to your mid lane. If you build Manamune I suggest getting it after Hextech Gunblade and replacing The Black Cleaver with it. The reason for replacing The Black Cleaver is because Manamune gives comparable damage (better even) and the on hit effect from cleaver is rarely utilized since most enemies die after you unload all your cooldowns on them.



Wriggles is a very popular pick up for junglers since it increases your jungle clear time and gives you a ward for late game situations when many people are full and can't buy wards. This is no exception on Kha'Zix. Getting Wriggle's Lantern will massively increase your jungle clear time in early-mid game and help prevent a (or promote your) counter jungle. My only qualm with getting wriggles is that it does not give you adequate AD, and the lifesteal isn't as helpful on him as other junglers like Udyr. If the other team has a lot of physical damage dealers, it might be worth picking up. Otherwise I usually pass for an earlier Hextech Gunblade.



Boots of Mobility are useful on any jungle assassin and again, Kha'Zix is no exception. I use these boots when the enemy typically has their lane pushed (such as a mid casseopia or a top Yorick) so I can roam better and gank more often. That said, even late game I sell them and pick up mercs or tabi.



Ghostblade is a great pick up on Kha'Zix, especially if you had to grab an early Avarice Blade as previously discussed. If you do get one, make sure to use the active frequently to chase. My only problem with this item is that it is mostly used to increase attack speed and crit chance, so it does not scale with Kha'Zix's abilities well. However, it does help chase down pesky Teemos and Garens and the CD reduction does help too.

Creeping / Jungling

I start at blue buff on Kha and continue on to wolves and wraiths. Getting wolves first is preferrable if your team is willing to help, but this is not always the case. If smite is almost off cooldown, I go for red buff, but if it's not I hit golems and back to red. At this point my health is usually low, so I go back and then hit wolves-> wraiths-> golems again. After that start ganking! Remember to constantly grab blue buff and red buff whenever they are up, so you don't get behind in experience or gold. A nicely placed ward in your enemy's creep camps can also give you an edge. Keep an eye on the opposing jungler so you always know where they are! If they are in lane opposite a key buff, take that opportunity to ward the spot or even steal it!

Around level 9 or 10 (or earlier depending on your items) Kha'Zix can solo dragon. Make sure to pick up a Vision Ward or oracle's elixer to clear out the wards so you can sneak it. The enlarged claws evolution is necessary for this, as is at least a Hextech Revolver.

Team Work/Kha'Zix Metagame

This section coming soon!

The key here is that Kha'Zix is extremely good in mid game and can carry a team if fed a few kills early.

In team fights, you should try to be in and out quickly. Use Void Assault to achieve this effectively.

While ganking, try to position yourself so they must run away from their creeps, not towards them. You get a huge bonus if they are alone. Also, when near creeps, since you are at a disadvantage, make sure to Smite one. The spell vamp will give you around 100-200 extra health, as well as bonus gold.

Change Log

10/02/2012: Published!

10/11/2012: Edited the 4th evolution story after I pentakilled bots.