Oh, where do I start with you, Kalista? Is it your zombie walk that attracts me so? Or the way you can just poke the crap out of champions? Don’t forget about her awesome CG video…
Just thinking about it brings me shivers!
I wanted to address some concerns that I have been reading about all over the League world.
Her Passive: Martial Poise.
There have been concerns as to why Riot didn’t question such an “over-powered” passive. Will she be the new Lucian of patch 4.14? Will she be a new hypercarry that is an updated version of Vayne?
Nope, Kalista is Kalista.
But here are some things to consider.
Kalista as a champion is very unique in her design mainly due to her dash-hop passive – in fact, there is not one ADC quite like her. That is why she is a pain to play, but also oh so rewarding. The design of Kalista as an ADC is one that requires preemptive cognitive skills – in other words, you have got to know where you are going to be going next if you want to play this chick. Her massive poking skills are mainly reliant on her passive which allows her to safely enter and reenter combat without being caught necessarily as she can move side to side and back and forth. This is where it gets complicated: no one knows how to play her or rather, in this case, knows how to use her hop.
So does this mean she is a flawed champion?
No not necessarily, it just means she needs a quite a bit of work in order to truly wield Kalista as a playable ranked champion. Quite like Azir, Kalista is a champion based on mobility. She does not have a massive base Attack Damage (will now be referred to as AD), starting at 53 AD and scaling to 104 AD at level 18 without items or runes. She definitely is not like Vayne or Lucian.
Kalista is reminiscent of Nidalee with her Q: Pierce which does not guarantee damage since it is a skill shot.
Kalista, in a sense, is also like Ashe. A utility ADC with her W: Sentinel acting as an overextended Hawkshot. But also triggers extra damage on the champion who has been attacked by her or her Oath Bound.
Ultimately, her E: Rend (Think of Twitch!) is what makes her such a formidable champion. Along with her long range kiting ability and her hopping passive, Kalista can very easily chase down folks thanks to her unlimited stacking ability Rend which allows not only extra damage to be applied but it also slows the ones affected.
Her Ultimate: Fate’s Call is just something that needs to be seen in action to actually determine the use of the ultimate. In the right situation, it is the best engage ever.
Kalista is neither broken nor weak.
Will she be a hypercarry? I honestly do not know. But I do think and believe she is a champion that is truly unique and fun to play.
My Diamond ADC Friend who has played Kalista has said, “She’s hard to CS with. I don’t think I’ll be playing her anytime soon in the future.”
But that is one of many opinions. Let me know what you guys think.
Based on her design and difficulty, but ultimately her fun-tastic scale:
I give her champion design: 7/10.
