Kai'Sa, Daughter of the Void: A Kai'Sa Guide
A guide on how to play Kai'Sa, Daughter of the Void, an ADC who has dominated the rift since her introduction.
Introduction
Kai’Sa has been a top tier AD carry since she's arrived onto Summoner's Rift during Season 8. Her mid to late game scaling, ability to shred tanks and strong teamfighting ability makes her a strong champion. Kai’Sa can put out damage extremely fast mid to late game and can even take dragons on her own. Her versatility makes her have a strong impact on the outcomes of games. If you get to late game and don’t fall behind, you will definitely have the advantage in most games. She is known as one of the best hypercarries in the bot lane.
Kai’Sa’s Advantages
Kai’Sa is an AD carry that scales very hard as the game progresses. She hits a powerspike when she hits two items and an even larger spike once she hits three. She has great teamfight ability and kiting, allowing her to do damage quickly and safely. She is also able to build AP. Her AP build isn’t as strong as her AD build due to recent nerfs, but is still viable if your team is all AD.
Kaisa’s Disadvantages
Since Kai’Sa is a mid to late game scaling champ, her early game isn’t strong. Lane matchups against AD carries that do a lot of damage early are Kai’Sa’s weakness. Champs such as Draven and Lucian destroy Kai’Sa in lane.
Kai’Sa’s Ability Leveling
Q-E-W
Kai’Sa’s Q, Icathian Rain, is Kai’Sa’s main damage ability and her main source of waveclear. Her Q does a great amount of damage to single targets and does a lot of damage during team fights and allows her to hit multiple targets. Her E is maxed next because of the attack speed bonus it gives you and the movement speed you gain while charging. W is a great poking tool, but is never maxed second unless you are building Kai’Sa AP.
Rune Paths
Kai’Sa can go in two directions with her runes, and both are in the Precision tree. The first option and usually the best option is Fleet Footwork. Fleet Footwork gives Kai’Sa sustain and helps her trade in lane. The movement speed you get from Fleet Footwork allows you to auto and run away safely. Fleet Footwork is never a bad choice.
The second direction Kai’Sa can go in is Press the Attack. This is used when they have a lot of tanks and/or bruisers. This is also used for when you want to play an aggressive lane. When you have a support with a lot of damage and CC such as Brand or a Zyra, you can kill the enemy laner early with the passive stacks from the CC and the Press the Attack proc from your autos.
The secondary tree will be sorcery with Absolute Focus and Gathering Storm. Absolute Focus gives Kai’Sa additional damage when she is above 70% health and Gathering Storm gives Kai’Sa more scaling.
Starting Items
Doran’s Blade and a Potion: Doran’s Blade is always the safe bet on any bot laner. The 8 AD, 80 health, and 3% life steal guarantee you safe sustain in lane and some damage. Doran’s Blade is useful if you have all-in potential.
Doran’s Ring and 2 Potions: Doran’s Ring is great if you have no kill potential in lane, you are facing a hard-shoving bot lane or you are building Kai’Sa AP. This gives you an extra 60 health, 15 ability power, and +5 mana regeneration per 5 seconds. The mana regeneration allows you to farm safely with your Q and W
Doran’s Shield and a Potion: Doran’s Shield is a must against Draven and AD carries with high damage early. Draven presents the highest risk to Kai’sa in and out of lane. Draven’s high damage output in lane can win lane through hard pushing and trades. The Doran’s Shield provides you with extra health and passive healing after being attacked by an enemy. This gives Kai’Sa more sustain and allows her to stay in lane longer and not have to back and lose farm, therefore, not falling behind.
Build Paths
Kai’Sa is very unique due to her abilities scaling off of ability power or attack damage. With the attack damage build being the best, you will usually take that path. Below I will analyze both builds.
Stormrazor - Guinsoo’s Rageblade - Runaan’s Hurricane: Stormrazor is still the go to first item for most ADCs. The BF sword that builds into the Stormrazor is great for Kai’Sa early and gives her some damage early. Once you build Stormrazor and Guinsoo’s, you will be able to evolve Kai’sa’s Q and E abilities. These two items are the best and most efficient way to get Kai’sa’s evolutions. Runaan’s Hurricane makes Kai’sa a monster in teamfights. Runaan’s applies Kai’Sa’s passive stacks to everyone making her an amazing teamfighter. Below is an example of a final build.
Guinsoo’s Rageblade - Nashor’s Tooth – Zhonya’s Hourglass – Rabadon’s Deathcap: This is the AP build for Kai’Sa, since the nerfs to AP Kai’Sa, this build is inferior to the above build. Either way AP Kai’Sa is viable, but not best. This build is best when your team has no AP damage. Guinsoo’s and Nashor’s is the best and most efficient path to Kai’Sa’s evolutions of W and E. Your W is a great poke tool and with the evolution you will be able to use it more often. AP Kai’Sa shreds tanks and makes your passive even more strong. Below is an example of a final build.
Conclusion
Kai’Sa is a hypercarry and becomes dominant as the game goes on. She has been a top AD carry since her introduction to Summoner’s Rift. She has amazing teamfighting ability and one of the most unique champions in league, as she is an AD carry that can viably build attack damage or ability power depending on her team’s composition. Mastering Kai’Sa takes a lot of time and practice, but when mastered you can win any game when ahead.
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