Can we give Kalista a gameplay rework too?

Zeanix··24 votes·12,702 views

Kalista would be such an amazing champion if she gets reworked into more of her theme the vengeful spirit marksman, rather than the kiting marksman she is. Legends of Runeterra did her vengeance theme so well and its sad that she isn't played anymore and how unpopular she became.

I would not mind an Ezreal styled rework on her gameplay. Tbh, in my unpopular opinion, I think her Martial Poise should be reworked into an ability, rather than her passive, like Tristana's Q, and create something fitting for her and her duo. The idea of the Oathsworn isn't expanded properly in gameplay, only with her W passive (which is they attack the same target, the target receives bonus damage) and Ultimate. Something like when her Oathsworn dies, she gains a buff of some sort when she attacks the killer only. Just something to make her quite viable to play again or something fun.

I reached level 7 on her a while back, before all of the nerfs and changes they did, and it just feels off playing her now every time I get to chance to play her (which is very rare)/. I hope she gets attention one day and a hopeful rework

22 Comments

BLIGHTBRINGER11 votes

Both Kalista and Varus could use the same kind of rework, to improve their gameplay satisfaction while also making them more rewarding to learn if they become a harder to play.

Funny thing is I don't really like that both Varus and Kalista almost share the exact same alia's.

Kalista - The Spear of Vengeance Varus - The Arrow of Retribution

Zeanix1 votes

{quoted}

Both Kalista and Varus could use the same kind of rework, to improve their gameplay satisfaction while also making them more rewarding to learn if they become a harder to play.

Funny thing is I don't really like that both Varus and Kalista almost share the exact same alia's.

Kalista - The Spear of Vengeance Varus - The Arrow of Retribution

Varus is also a lil bit iffy, but I think he’s way better than Kalista however and also healthier but he does needs some touch ups. I just want a voice over update with him.

And yeah I hate how similar his alias is too with Kalista.

Metal Janna5 votes

I fucking love current Kalista. You realize all marksmen are kiting marksmen right? They're the DPS class. If one doesn't have to kite then the developers fucked up by giving them too much burst.

Zeanix5 votes

[{quoted}](name=Metal Janna,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=0Wzk5KzG,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2019-10-24T14:49:27.435+0000)

I fucking love current Kalista. You realize all marksmen are kiting marksmen right? They're the DPS class. If one doesn't have to kite then the developers fucked up by giving them too much burst.

I think you misunderstood. I’m not saying to remove her kiting together, but instead focus on the Oathsworne aspect of her kit and which is not expanded at all other than ult and w passive. Yes, marksmen are supposed to kite, keeping the martial poise aspect as an ability can make her a bit healthier, as before, once a pro can use her, she’s unstoppable to some players, which was seen especially in worlds, and of course was gutted for solo queue. Having a set period of time to use her martial poise, like Tristana’s Q and Kog’maw’s W, she could have a healthier weakness.

we havent met1 votes

No you dont, youve never even played kalista in 3 seasons according to op.gg No one likes playing kalista. Shes been dogshit for like 3 seasons because they dont know what to do with her

Metal Janna1 votes

[{quoted}](name=we havent met,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=0Wzk5KzG,comment-id=00020001,timestamp=2019-10-25T21:15:33.269+0000)

No you dont, youve never even played kalista in 3 seasons according to op.gg No one likes playing kalista. Shes been dogshit for like 3 seasons because they dont know what to do with her

I play support. I fucking love supporting Kalista.

we havent met1 votes

You play support meaning uve never touched kalista. meaning u know nothing of how horrible she feels to play. just shut up! just shut it down!

Hammermancer3 votes

I've always wanted her to be less oathsworn focused, and give more usage of the Q

maybe change how her E and W passive work, completely replace the ult, keep Q, E(mostly), and passive

AmWhaleIRL2 votes

This poor champ, gutted due to pro play

Z3SIeeper2 votes

I still think her passive should be flat out removed and her W - Soul Marked passive put there instead.

The hops have never been something they could balance. So instead of keeping it overpowered, they made it underpowered. There's simply no in-between with this mechanic.

Possibly if there was downtime on it, allowing them to restore the non-gutted hops of old Kalista for a few basic attacks since it'd no longer be a permanent effect and would instead be a "window of power".

CaptainAntiHeroz1 votes

True, shes so out of place right now its not even funny, which is a pity because she SOUNDS really cool

Its just she doesn't really fill that in game

GinoSoldier1 votes

The only thing i'd like out of a Kalista rework is some added utility and an Ashe-level reliable form of soft crowd control, hear me out;

Kalista's theme invokes a relentless hunter for the sake of people who were betrayed, but in game, most champions are fully capable of doing that themselves. Kalista then has (or at least i think she should have) the option of taking a back-seat to the hunt as an AD support with an entirely unique dive-denier/safety net ultimate, free vision and unique tag-team mechanics.

What i propose is to have her W's bonus damage on targets hit by both Kalista and her Oathbound to proc as damage coming from whichever one has the most AD of the two (or Adaptive if they can make that work?). Then add distance/time/vision size on her W scouts scaling with either AP or HP, and increase her new CC (probably a slow on Q?) very slightly with either AP or HP.

Oh and the ability to change Oathbounds somehow.

Basically no change to ADC Kalista, or nothing that can't be fixed as part of a mini-rework, and a whole new world of possibilities.

Wild Geese1 votes

Her passive really holds her back, it should be removed altogether or this champion is forever just doomed. Yes it's a unique ability and part of her identity, but it's also the entire reason she's been in such a state since day 1 and has been iceboxed for years now. The skill burden is way too high, be bad with it and she's useless. be good with it and she's way too strong; thus she has to be weak as hell at everything for the sake of the top 10% of Kalista players.

Even Draven doesn't suffer such bad fate, you can be bad with his Axes but you can recast his axes. Being good with Draven axes has never made him insanely good.

(prepared to be downvoted, whatever,.)

Olath Quortek1 votes

Man, I've always wanted her to be more "Oathsworn" focused... :/

BBKong1 votes

Honestly I'm on board because she's another one of those champions where her passive is so strong that when she's not nerfed into the ground she's OP. We already saw that happen with her and seeing some limit to the jumping could make her a lot healthier and able to be allowed to be stronger without being stupid.

Charmy Bird1 votes

I'm rl ignorant in kalista tbh so I'm srr if I say sth stupid but what I see from her is she's op af in the right hands and unplayable in those who can't play her.its not bad having so champions that need extra time to learn. I also see lots of discussion around her how she is in a bad state. Can someone explain?

TiltedSquare41 votes

yea she really does need some sort of rework. I use to be a Kalista main (LVL 7 before her major nerfs ) until riot threw her into the grave and haven't looked back in 2+ years all-cause pro players would abuse the shit out of her. (kinda like how Akali is being treated, it'll be time before they over nerf her and she'll be useless for another few years, no joke) I really liked her abilities and playstyle however it's obvious that it needs to be changed. Nowadays if I play her she just feels like she does no dmg no matter how many times you've speared an enemy and E. I just hope next season they do something about her.

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

im not sure how well u understand Kalista or how the game is balanced, but champions that work very well with allies will ALWAYS get abused in Pro play, and then nerfed for that. For this reason they haven't expanded on her Oathsworn mechanics, not to mention it some issues become very apparent if u have a portion of ur kit is in working with a specific ally...and then that ally isn't very good at working with you, what happens when u or the ally wants to roam, or the O.S. sucks or goes AFK? then a portion of ur kit is now useless.

There's a good reason the oathsworn mechanics are limited is all im saying

In terms of Martial Poise, they simply need to gate it so its not unstoppable, getting Hard CC'd should put it on a CD, and the dash distance should scale with current MS up to a cap so that Slows and reduce her dash distance. Additionally it should have a warm-up/ramp up time where she has to AA a champion like 3x before she activates the dashes. that should do it, thats really all the work shes needs. Gate the passive so you can buff the rest of her it a bit, and do NOT touch the O.S. mechanics they are fine.

Corvega1 votes

Yeah so much of her power is in that passive. Also the fact that it takes a team with good comms to make the most out of her kit means she has to be weak in solo queue so she isn't op in pro play. Once I got her in ARAM and I thought it would be cool if my oathsworn took a percentage of the damage I take for me, like a knights vow but only one way, but that would lead to the problem of people not picking tanky supports when you pick Kalista or vice versa, picking Kalista when your support locked in an enchanter.

Ionian Vulpix1 votes

Kalista has too much going on with her that people would want to keep that people would be angry about being removed. Some people play her for the bonding with an ally. Some play her for sweet execute damage on E. Some play her for the hops. If they try and rework her, they need to focus on 1 thing and cut power elsewhere, but there will be one side that won't like it. See literally every Rework. Even if a champion is much healthier, has a more interesting kit, and gains a personality (Old Aatrox had the personality of a sock, old Galio sounded like he wanted to shoot himself), people will complain their champion got ruined. Hell, I've seen people dislike the Ezreal rework who liked him before.

I feel the hops were just completely unnecessary for her theme. But now that she has it, people will demand it stays no matter how unhealthy or impossible to balance it is.

floo1 votes

I actually like the idea of making her mobility a timed ability. It would cost her mana to be agile, but she can keep being the best kiting adc in dire situations, while also giving her a weakness of downtime. That means the negative aspects to her auto attacks wouldn't be necessary either (up to testing). Q could remain as is too since it was always bound to mana and cd in the same way.

BrokenRayquaza1 votes

Honestly, maybe just buff her damage imo I have seen some really good kalistas and they smoke people, Maybe give her some damage to help her out a bit but thats all she needs (I think)

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