RIOT - What I think about Kai'Sa

fruckyoo·Mar 12, 2018·2 votes·491 views

She is definitely weak. Her Q is unreliable, as it will hit minions and not focus champions. Her E is kind of useless..due to the extremely long CD, making her ineffective at trading, although I guess it's OK once it's evolved and lvl 3+? But that takes awhile. Her Q dmg is great once evolved..but once again that takes awhile and forces her down the standard Essence reaver, zeal item and then IE build when personally I think the on-hit Guinsoo's suits her passive best, but not evolving Q ASAP is detrimental to her burst which is why most players don't build Guinsoo's Rageblade..

Over all she has potential but this is what I think she needs: -Increase range to 525. -Slightly nerf Evolved Q damage, but lower the AD required to evolve it...70 sounds good? This will allow her to "come online" sooner with a simple IE or ER buy. -Allow her Q to focus champions marked by her W? This would make her more effective at trades, and allow skilled players to shine. -Possibly allow "free casting" of her ult, and some kind of bonus if it hits a champion. This way it can be used as an escape, allowing her to perform as an ADC if engaged upon and not just be like, "well J4 ulted me, im dead". -Lastly..Kai'Sa is in no way shape or form ever going to be optimal by building AP, unless you're having fun in an ARAM. This alone makes evolving her W, never going to happen. The most AP I could see her getting is what comes from Guinsoo's..which is being nerfed to 25AP next patch. I think her W needs to evolve off of CDR(making essence reaver legit), maybe 20-30% CDR?

I think RIOT did a great job designing this champion, and probably didn't want to over power her upon release(learning from their mistakes). However if much doesn't change I see her falling into the Quinn/Kindred category "C" tier champion pick pool. I have faith in RIOT, I think they'll do something to help Kai'Sa out =D

11 Comments

KyazaMar 12, 20181 votes

Interesting post,

I've played her a bit, and from my own experience I like to go Rageblade into Hurricane and IE, bu adding Attack Speed boots into this you can get both her Q and E evolved. Personally, i think her Q is in a good place. if you recall Riots original post where they first teased her, they said they would like to make a marksman in the same line as Vayne, a high risk diver ADC, I feel that her kit delivers on this, it forces you to isolate or dive your target in lane in order to get the full extent of her damage, In addition, you can use your Q while charging your E, meaning you are not fully locked out of your dps while it is charging. She definitely feels good to play, however I think my only change would be to her AA animation, especially with low Attack Speed it feels clunky and throws my Last Hitting off.

fruckyooMar 12, 20181 votes

I get where you're coming from @Kyaza, however she is literally dead last as far as win-rate go for ADC's atm, she's at a 43.35% win rate, with the next lowest being Lucian at 46.46%. Lucian before Kai'Sa, was regarded as one of the worst currently. He hasn't been picked in LCS/Pro-play in awhile. The point im making is she is atrocious until that 3rd/4th item, which is when her E/Q are both evolved. With how the current META is, champions like Caitlynn, Xayah, Ezreal are going to stomp you out of lane CS, push into mid game 30-40 CS ahead of you, take your turret then roam mid and take your mid lanes turret(probably 2-3 kills ahead of you at this point), and then snow ball the game out of your control. While you're getting you're 3rd item they have their fourth. If you want to see how bad she really is, play against a good Caitlynn+Lulu or Janna..it's a nightmare for Kai'Sa. Caitlynn will completely take over the game if she knows what she's doing, and if Caitlynn gets any pressure from her Jungler..lights out for Kai'Sa. Her Q is terrible until evolved. Which is why if you check www.probuilds.net 90% of them go essence reaver+zeal+BF to evolve it ASAP. Once evolved, she can start trading and wave clearing effectively. But to wait 20++ mins to wave clear/trade effectively is horrible for any ADC. The best ADC's are the ones who can acquire a strong start, push waves into turrets, take the turret then roam mid. Which is why Caitlynn has ALWAYS been strong(650 attack range). I understand where you're coming from but right now I think she's too high on the "high risk" side, and too low on the "high reward" side. Also, Vayne is at a %50.39 win rate at #5/17 ADC's, Kai'Sa is #17/17 :P. Numbers don't lie.

KyazaMar 12, 20181 votes

{quoted}

you make a fair point, I know from my own experience I have found it pretty easy to bully her around in lane, I think one of the issues is how different she is to a lot of the other ADC's. while a lot of ADC's (Cait, Vayne, Ezreal to an extent) have some form of directed damage, all of Kai'sa's is "random" when compared to others.

I suppose if we are willing to look at changes,

Allow her Q to focus champions marked by her W

of the ones you originally proposed, i agree with this one the most.

as long as her W CD remained high, this would force players to respect her damage as if they dove her while it was up they would get the full salvo, however I feel it would still need to be able to target others even if a plasma marked target was in range, otherwise it may feel bad if 2 or more enemy's dived her

fruckyooMar 12, 20181 votes

Bottom line is she's weak. She feels like Kindred. Torn identity between almost a good jungler, and almost an ADC. I'll say it again #'s don't lie, she's literally the lowest winrate ADC because she doesn't trade well or wave clear well until her Q is evolved, which is 20+ mins into the game. Also, the only +AD that contributes to evolving her Q/W/E comes from items, runes do not contribute - to which I think is stupid. I think nerfing the overall dmg of her evolved Q and reducing the AD required, and allowing runes to contribute, as well as maybe letting her W "Mark" targets would all be steps in the right direction. Even with all 3 of those changes, she has 150 less AD than Caitlynn and could never effectively trade with her. Even if you tried to E - gap close Caitlynn she's going to 90 calibur net you, then headshot you. I hope they do something because I love the idea of the champion and she's a ton of fun but she's stuck there with Quinn and Kindred.

Kai GuyMar 12, 20181 votes

My last few games. Kai'Sa 74% (14W 5L) 3.01 KDA

I'm not sold she is weak.

KyazaMar 13, 20181 votes

{quoted}

what do you mean?, her W adds 2 stacks of plasma if it hits

breakordoom444Mar 12, 20181 votes

Ornn 2.0

KyazaMar 12, 20181 votes

{quoted}

Ornn 2.0

how so?

LuminevMar 12, 20181 votes

She's gonna to be buffed to the next dimension until more and more people see that the Kai'Sa mains are having a field day. Then there will be a mass second and probably a few bombings on the Summoner's Rift.

KyazaMar 12, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Zoe Q is Trash,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=3B3Grq4J,comment-id=000100000000,timestamp=2018-03-12T21:20:33.408+0000)

Ah, is that what Happened with Ornn? I heard he was bad on launch, though i never tried him myself