Riot will have to nerf Kalista pretty creatively IMO.

ABlueQuaker·Feb 13, 2015·20 votes·22,718 views

Her kit works well as it is, but then there's overbearing parts of abilities that probably need to be addressed.

What I Expect Riot to change (Something along the lines of these.):

Put a damage cap on her Rend vs. Monsters for the sake of Dragon's and Barons getting nuked for 1k+ HP.
Remove/Reduce Mana Return on Rend.
Remove/Reduce Application of Rend stacks on multiple targets via Runaan's Hurricane. E.g. Kalista AA = 1 Stack, Runaan's Hurricane Bolt = 1/2 Stack. This would slow her wave clear but still keep it relatively intact. It would also put more emphasis on Kalista focusing targets rather than just spamming auto attacks and Rend'ing anyone that's marked.

EDIT: 4. Reduce Kalista's Attack Speed per level by ~0.5.

69 Comments

RiotMeddlerFeb 13, 201532 votes

What we're currently looking is reducing the amount her attack wind ups get faster when she gets attack speed.

When champions get attack speed they both make more attacks per second and each individual attack takes less time to perform. In Kalista's case that means she's spending less time in her attack windup and so she gets to dash more often/doesn't spend as much time preparing to dash. Attack speed's making her more mobile than we think's appropriate, so we're going to adjust that.

As per usual we'll then see what sort of spot she lands in after that change, assess whether other changes are appropriate too or not.

RetillinFeb 13, 201510 votes

So you don't think her rend over shadows the idea of smite? If a Kalista is attacking baron does it basically mean there is no chance (counter play) for a baron steal?

Imperial JapanFeb 13, 20153 votes

You could 1. Kill her 2. Contest dragon/baron so that Kalista can't over smite it

TomA3XFeb 14, 20152 votes

Lets be fair, If she's attacking baron, she's not attacking your team. Surely you can capitalize on the fact that their ADC isn't doing any damage and go for a fight? I haven't played Kalista before, does her rend stack on multiple targets simultaneously? Because if it does, you could make rend only stack on EITHER a minion/monster or a champion(s). That way she can't take baron whilst killing your entire team. Idk.

Imperial JapanFeb 14, 20151 votes

Actually, I'm not too sure. But I'm pretty sure she can't. Let me check

Lovely PantsFeb 14, 20152 votes

It does stack on multiple targets. That might be a good change to alleviate some excess power, but on the other hand it does also add another level of clarity problems to a champion whose damage is already hard to read. Certainly wouldn't be a quick fix to be implemented either. Thematically, I think it would be better if the ability only stacked on one target at a time. That would hurt Kalista's waveclear quite a bit...but I think she doesn't really need to have that as a strong point.

One thing to also keep in mind is that it may still be problematic for a champion to have too many options compared to other champions. People (who have a reasonable understanding of the game) don't complain as much about Lee because he is numerically OP, for example, but because he is so incredibly versatile.

One of the big questions about Kalista's balance is whether she threatens to entirely push more team dependent play-making carries like Ashe or Varus (and perhaps Ezreal) out of their already small niche in the game. If Riot wants to emphasize Kalista in the direction of a very objective focused champion, though, it would certainly be better if it was more of a pressing decision when it came down to those moments.

TomA3XFeb 14, 20151 votes

Yeah I agree with that, She's got quite a lot of utility as is, no need for her to have the ability to slow the entire enemy team whilst moving at 100m/s

Imperial JapanFeb 14, 20151 votes

Naw, I would say when she has ranuuans hurricane she can only hit one big monster (drake and baron) at a time or the other team because I do agree being able to kill the other team while doing drake/baron is a bit too op. But no, her rend should target every one on the enemy team if she has ranuuans

DreadlocksFeb 13, 20154 votes

Seeing as she builds item 3085 .. an attack speed item. This fix or "change" will only be a stable to the bigger picture. The guy's right. Please consider these suggestions.

NobSaibootFeb 13, 20159 votes

{quoted}

What we're currently looking is reducing the amount her attack wind ups get faster when she gets attack speed.

When champions get attack speed they both make more attacks per second and each individual attack takes less time to perform. In Kalista's case that means she's spending less time in her attack windup and so she gets to dash more often/doesn't spend as much time preparing to dash. Attack speed's making her more mobile than we think's appropriate, so we're going to adjust that.

As per usual we'll then see what sort of spot she lands in after that change, assess whether other changes are appropriate too or not.

Why are you working on that when her E is invalidating smite at all points of the game?

This is the reason the game is so poorly balanced. You guys blatantly ignore incredibly pressing issues (You remember the Lucian rework? Kassadin in S3?) and instead try to make the most asinine changes in the world (Ahri's massive buffs to areas that weren't affected by DFG, making Nidalee the new Lee Sin.)

Stop messing around, and deal with the problem.

RiotMeddlerFeb 13, 201532 votes

We're confident that the amount of extra mobility Kalista gets from attack speed is a problem, so we're addressing that, given how effective she can be against some melee champions especially. Regardless of what changes it might or might not be appropriate to make to her E we believe this change is a good one.

As far as her E and Smite go creating an ADC with really strong objective control if she can spend a decent chunk of time attacking a target was something we wanted to try out with Kalista. Various other ADCs are great for objective control too, they do it by helping you kill baron or dragon really fast though (think Vayne or Kog for example). We wanted to offer objective strength in a different way and Kalista's certainly doing that. Whether she's too effective in that role, in terms of forcing the enemy to deal with her rather than trying for a last minute steal, is a great question. It's certainly possible her E might need to be capped against monsters, we're not sure if that's the appropriate call at this point though and would like to avoid homogenizing champions if there are healthy ways to avoid doing so.

NobSaibootFeb 13, 201511 votes

{quoted}

We're confident that the amount of extra mobility Kalista gets from attack speed is a problem, so we're addressing that, given how effective she can be against some melee champions especially. Regardless of what changes it might or might not be appropriate to make to her E we believe this change is a good one.

As far as her E and Smite go creating an ADC with really strong objective control if she can spend a decent chunk of time attacking a target was something we wanted to try out with Kalista. Various other ADCs are great for objective control too, they do it by helping you kill baron or dragon really fast though (think Vayne or Kog for example). We wanted to offer objective strength in a different way and Kalista's certainly doing that. Whether she's too effective in that role, in terms of forcing the enemy to deal with her rather than trying for a last minute steal, is a great question. It's certainly possible her E might need to be capped against monsters, we're not sure if that's the appropriate call at this point though and would like to avoid homogenizing champions if there are healthy ways to avoid doing so.

Except Kalista doesn't only "do it effectively" or is just "great at it like Vayne and Kog'maw".

She's the best at doing it hands down and not only that, she does hilariously better than everyone else while she's at it.

That's a giant problem and you guys know it. Why you let it infinitely stack on creeps to begin with is way beyond me.

YfrappefortFeb 13, 201510 votes

{quoted}

We're confident that the amount of extra mobility Kalista gets from attack speed is a problem, so we're addressing that, given how effective she can be against some melee champions especially. Regardless of what changes it might or might not be appropriate to make to her E we believe this change is a good one.

As far as her E and Smite go creating an ADC with really strong objective control if she can spend a decent chunk of time attacking a target was something we wanted to try out with Kalista. Various other ADCs are great for objective control too, they do it by helping you kill baron or dragon really fast though (think Vayne or Kog for example). We wanted to offer objective strength in a different way and Kalista's certainly doing that. Whether she's too effective in that role, in terms of forcing the enemy to deal with her rather than trying for a last minute steal, is a great question. It's certainly possible her E might need to be capped against monsters, we're not sure if that's the appropriate call at this point though and would like to avoid homogenizing champions if there are healthy ways to avoid doing so.

I'm sorry Meddler but there will need to be a cap for monsters on that E. Why would she be allowed to outsmite junglers who work hard to provide that objective control? Even the casters agree that this is overbearing and that there is nothing the enemy team can do. It needs to be addressed.

FatedTitanFeb 13, 20154 votes

Definitely not about Kalista, but you mention securing Dragons/Barons as a unique thing you think is interesting, so I wanted to bring up an old ability interaction that was taken away and your opinion on it.

So Trundle, pre change, could use his ultimate on Dragon and Baron. This allowed him to be fantastic at securing objectives for his team, as the targets were weaker and he could tank very well. After his changes, that was taken away from him.

Do you believe that it would not be healthy for him to regain that unique feature to his kit? In all fairness, we don't really have a jungle/bruiser outside of Nunu that specializes in securing objectives. And Nunu's is more about the burst at the end, not the quick takedown during. Just wanted to see if you thought that might help Trundle out a bit in an objective-heavy meta.

Lovely PantsFeb 13, 20158 votes

I'm not sure if this has been addressed in detail before, but since we're talking about dangers of homogenizing, I'm curious what you guys think Kalista's identity is really supposed to be?

She has her passive which adds a very different form of mobility and a unique power in this aspect than no other champion has access to. She has her Oathsworn which to some degree gives her a dependency on her partner. I'd personally say this really feels like an auxiliary piece of the champion with how much her power is notable in other places. She has a good deal of strong Crowd Control available in her kit compared to most ranged AD. She has reasonable kiting range and power. She also feels like a really strong duelist who will ramp up into a kill if allowed an extended trade.

I feel like this last point is actually supposed to be the strongest identity point of the champion, but it really feels like it is in contest with the other pieces of the puzzle that make up Kalista. Do you think her identity is as focused as it needs to be right now? Are you okay with where other AD carries who might be picked for their strong team supporting abilities are in relation to her?

I'm mostly just curious. I don't have a real vested interest in either nerfing or keeping the champion where she is since I haven't really been committing myself to League so much at the present time, but there do seem to be some compelling concerns for her place in the roster and it's always interesting to revisit where the balancing point of the ranged dps class as a whole swings at any given time as the game changes and philosophies shift.

Nameless VoiceFeb 13, 201510 votes

This really strikes at the problem with Kalista - she doesn't have a single, solid identity. She is basically two champions mashed together.

Her entire theme is about vengeance in cooperation with her Oathsworn. The unique part of her kit is binding the Oathsworn. She is a utility / cooperation carry, with high stacking damage. There is enough there to make her a unique and interesting champion.

But then, she has her hopping passive randomly tacked on. It doesn't fit into her kit at all, nor does it fit her thematically. What is revenge-oriented about being able to hop around like a kangaroo, to kite and attack enemies with impunity?

The embodiment of revenge should be about hunting down enemies, chasing them down or laying traps for them. Imagine something like the Terminator - cannot be reasoned with, cannot be stopped, will inescapably come for you in the end, but you can maybe outrun it for a while. That is what Kalista should be like, not a ghost on a pogo stick.

NarasimhaFeb 13, 20151 votes

This is entirely a shot in the dark, but I think Kalista's passive comes from the idea that as a Spirit of Vengence, she can go anywhere she needs to go. If her preferred mode of transportation is hopping around like a bunny given sugar, that's her life choice. I can see why they'd leave it out of her legends though.

Nameless VoiceFeb 13, 20153 votes

In horror films, you run away from the evil that's chasing you, race away until you've left it far behind, finally find a place that looks safe, lock the door behind you... and then you find your pursuer already there and waiting for you.

Now imagine every time something like this happens, that the antagonist got there by hopping on a pogo stick.

More seriously, though, you expect a spirit to move great distances when you're not looking at it, or to slip into the shadows and appear somewhere else - something more like Katarina's Shunpo instead of this constant hopping.

NarasimhaFeb 13, 20154 votes

I don't know man, if I saw someone chasing after me on a pogo stick, I'd be pretty damn terrified. You know how hard it is to ride one of those? If he manages to catch up to me, thats a feat in itself.

Dorans HatFeb 14, 20151 votes

that's basically cottontail teemo.

HellioningFeb 13, 20156 votes

I feel that there are certain changes that Riot is too hasty (especially when it comes to new champs; 'Azir is underperforming, clearly it's because he's weak and not because he's new and has a bunch of bugs' anyone?), but I also feel that there are some changes that Riot has said 'we agree this is a problem' but then either put it on the backburner or spend so much time looking for a perfect solution that it appears they put it on the backburner. (the fighter rework, lee sin, etc.)

That's honestly one of my biggest complaints about balance right now; it just feels really uneven.

ArgentanFeb 13, 201510 votes

{quoted}

We're confident that the amount of extra mobility Kalista gets from attack speed is a problem, so we're addressing that, given how effective she can be against some melee champions especially. Regardless of what changes it might or might not be appropriate to make to her E we believe this change is a good one.

As far as her E and Smite go creating an ADC with really strong objective control if she can spend a decent chunk of time attacking a target was something we wanted to try out with Kalista. Various other ADCs are great for objective control too, they do it by helping you kill baron or dragon really fast though (think Vayne or Kog for example). We wanted to offer objective strength in a different way and Kalista's certainly doing that. Whether she's too effective in that role, in terms of forcing the enemy to deal with her rather than trying for a last minute steal, is a great question. It's certainly possible her E might need to be capped against monsters, we're not sure if that's the appropriate call at this point though and would like to avoid homogenizing champions if there are healthy ways to avoid doing so.

I don't think homogenization is really in order here. Simply make it so her Rend's damage caps at the same amount of damage that a Smite would do at her level. That way there's still a chance for the enemy jungler to make a steal, and it allows her and her jungler to coordinate these two skills together to burst down the Dragon/Baron. 2k+ damage from Rend is just ridiculous and negates the point of having someone with Smite on your team.

5G8Nri0B54Feb 13, 201512 votes

You mind also making Kallista not such a toxic champion to have around as well?

If Kalista chooses me for her Black Spear, I CAN'T REJECT IT and it's a hard CC on top of that. As for her R, it's disruptive as hell and it's one of the thing I hate the most when I play a combo mage like Vel'koz or Brand bot.

I know uniqueness homogenizing yada yada, but I feel this is one instance where I really really wish she'd get an Ultimate that doesn't make things so bloody unfun for the person she made a hostage out of with her Black Spear.

In short, unless the Kalista and her soulbound are DuoQ's, it's frustrating.

hashinshinFeb 13, 20159 votes

{quoted}

We're confident that the amount of extra mobility Kalista gets from attack speed is a problem, so we're addressing that, given how effective she can be against some melee champions especially. Regardless of what changes it might or might not be appropriate to make to her E we believe this change is a good one.

As far as her E and Smite go creating an ADC with really strong objective control if she can spend a decent chunk of time attacking a target was something we wanted to try out with Kalista. Various other ADCs are great for objective control too, they do it by helping you kill baron or dragon really fast though (think Vayne or Kog for example). We wanted to offer objective strength in a different way and Kalista's certainly doing that. Whether she's too effective in that role, in terms of forcing the enemy to deal with her rather than trying for a last minute steal, is a great question. It's certainly possible her E might need to be capped against monsters, we're not sure if that's the appropriate call at this point though and would like to avoid homogenizing champions if there are healthy ways to avoid doing so.

So Kalista gets to remain equal to other ADCs 1v1 while also negating melee champions, being super strong against skill shot champions, and being outright immune to non-gap close melee and melee that relies on slow? Well I guess that IS one way to do design, "my champion gets all the superpowers!"

KeevalroyFeb 13, 20155 votes

How about removing that disgusting hop as well? She's a ghost, not a kangaroo... An easy place to start is by taking out the most toxic part of her kit and replacing it with the percent damage on her W.

ProxyDamageFeb 13, 20155 votes

{quoted} As far as her E and Smite go creating an ADC with really strong objective control if she can spend a decent chunk of time attacking a target was something we wanted to try out with Kalista. Various other ADCs are great for objective control too, they do it by helping you kill baron or dragon really fast though (think Vayne or Kog for example). We wanted to offer objective strength in a different way and Kalista's certainly doing that. Whether she's too effective in that role, in terms of forcing the enemy to deal with her rather than trying for a last minute steal, is a great question. It's certainly possible her E might need to be capped against monsters, we're not sure if that's the appropriate call at this point though and would like to avoid homogenizing champions if there are healthy ways to avoid doing so.

Don't take this the wrong way but... Do you actually play your own game?

I'm not trying to be a dick, and I totally understand the idea of "making Kalista a strong in objective control" is an interesting path for a character... BUT, here's what makes me wonder if you even play the game: Do you understand why every other such ability is capped against monsters? Or why Smite has always been a thing in the jungle even back when you didn't necessarily need it to survive and clear? Why Smite would still be a jungle auto-lock even if you removed all the little Smite-bonuses many jungle mobs have?

Because of objective securing. Because of how important that is.

Because, up until Kalista came around, Smite did the most damage to any jungle objective, and thus was a way to guarantee them barring player error. It was the reason Junglers were important and had presence late game and why killing a jungler generally results in really high jungle pressure.

Enter Kalista. Kalista makes an objective "unsmiteable", uncontestable. Once Kalista starts an objective Smite is literally no longer a threat as Kalista can simply outdamage it.

You think this is healthy for the game in any way, shape, or form? Kalista starts an objective and the only possible threat you can level against the team is a full team wipe. If you can't threaten that it's a completely free objective even if their jungler is dead, or securing something else.

Now, you could also "unlock" similar skills in different characters, like Cho'Gath, but the ability to secure objectives is so crucial to high level play that I guarantee you, with no shadow of a doubt, that as long as a character has such an ability and isn't completely terrible/unusuable outright, they will be a top pick/ban. Which is the beauty of having Smite be the highest damage, "objective secure", utility - any character can use it.

Same is going to happen to Kalista. As long as she has the 100% guaranteed objective secure she is going to remain a top pick/ban unless (or until) you nerf her into the ground.

I get that you want more diversity, but there is good and bad "diversity", good and bad "homogenization". A character that would have an easy to hit, 3 second cooldown, 100% guaranteed kill, targeted spell with no mana cost would be pretty unique. Also pretty broken. Which is what Kalista is right now - Broken. Regardless of her overall power one facet of what she does breaks the game. That's not healthy in any way, shape, or form I can possibly imagine.

RetillinFeb 13, 20154 votes

Well what's the defining mark about her?

Is she a hyper mobile adc?
Is she a super safe adc (she gains Sentinel charges every few seconds and they can cover a large area of jungle/river)
Is she objective control?
Is she anti tank?
Is she an utility adc? (ult to start engages/save a support also large number of slows are possible)
Is she a duelist?

It seems every adc is strong in some areas and weak in others. She is strong in all of them. So is was the goal while creating her to over shine every other adc, or did no one actually do testing during creating to see that she is vastly better than every other adc?

Educated FishFeb 13, 20153 votes

Can I express a wish or something like that regarding Kalista's E ? Right now, I have a hard time to appropriately time the activation of E during teamfights to finish off enemies with the E. I know, in theory I could just count the times I've thrown spears at particular enemies, but in general I have a thousand other things that need my attention. In practice, I end up pressing way too early, or not at all.

So, I was thinking: If Zed has a "marker" hovering over the target of his ultimate ability when he already dealt enough damage to kill it, would it be possible to somehow signal the point when Kalista has stacked enough spears in a target to finish it off?

The potential benefit I see here is a) clarity for the Kalista player, and possibly b) clarity for the targeted player. You could make it visible to everyone, so basically the guy knows when to back out of a fight.

If this actually makes her too strong, I'd be even fine if she only has this extra information for a brief duration immediately after she activated her ultimate.

tl:dr : counting during intense teamfights is serious business, and I screw up too often and it keeps frustrating me : can I please have an indicator for the "optimal" finish-off use case? Please?

AnonagonFeb 13, 20151 votes

{quoted} As far as her E and Smite go creating an ADC with really strong objective control if she can spend a decent chunk of time attacking a target was something we wanted to try out with Kalista. We wanted to offer objective strength in a different way and Kalista's certainly doing that. Whether she's too effective in that role, in terms of forcing the enemy to deal with her rather than trying for a last minute steal, is a great question. It's certainly possible her E might need to be capped against monsters, we're not sure if that's the appropriate call at this point though and would like to avoid homogenizing champions if there are healthy ways to avoid doing so.

While I definitely think that the unlimited stacking E is a cool thing, and that it does bring a unique form of objective control, I question why you would put this on Kalista's kit specifically. She already has two identities, the teamwork-ADC and the super-kiter, so the objective control thing seems really tacked on.

Why put it on Kalista instead of say, putting it on Twitch, a ADC already known to jungle? It would give him better clearing after the way jungle leashing changes hurt him, and it would provide him a unique way to scale into lategame instead of just relying on cheesy level 2-3 ganks to snowball. Or why not put in on another champion entirely, perhaps an ADC designed for the jungle?

While it may seem like its too late to get rid of it, I don't think it is. It would be very easy to give Kalista's E a stack limit and balance accordingly. Perhaps the stack limit could increase based on an enemy champion's maximum health, giving Kalista a way to deal with health stackers since the cap isn't unlimited anymore.

Jesus is SaviorFeb 14, 20151 votes

{quoted}

We're confident that the amount of extra mobility Kalista gets from attack speed is a problem, so we're addressing that, given how effective she can be against some melee champions especially. Regardless of what changes it might or might not be appropriate to make to her E we believe this change is a good one.

As far as her E and Smite go creating an ADC with really strong objective control if she can spend a decent chunk of time attacking a target was something we wanted to try out with Kalista. Various other ADCs are great for objective control too, they do it by helping you kill baron or dragon really fast though (think Vayne or Kog for example). We wanted to offer objective strength in a different way and Kalista's certainly doing that. Whether she's too effective in that role, in terms of forcing the enemy to deal with her rather than trying for a last minute steal, is a great question. It's certainly possible her E might need to be capped against monsters, we're not sure if that's the appropriate call at this point though and would like to avoid homogenizing champions if there are healthy ways to avoid doing so.

Capping it against monsters similar to Nunu's Q (being equal to level 18 smite at maximum rank - 1000) would be neat.

Then, at least, late-game it's whoever has the better timing wins. Not "whoever has the Kalista wins, because she can press the button and insta-kill baron at 2k hp".

The only other person who can really do more damage to monsters than the jungler is Cho'Gath, and he has to build a LOT of AP to out-damage level 18 smite, and he also has a cast delay. And he can't just autoattack the monster a bunch of times to use an infinite scaling execute without actually itemizing for it, like Kalista can.

freeformlineFeb 13, 20156 votes

That sounds like a fair nerf to test out. It's always nice to see Rioters participating in new threads, and to see them addressing the mobility complaints that dominate the front page.

I think some form of damage cap on Rend would be nice, but it should be left reasonably high to give her the strategic niche of strong objective control, especially if her mobility is brought down to make her less of a kiting demon.

Spacesuit SpiffFeb 13, 20155 votes

Guys, guys, her rend DOES have a cap. She can't stack more than 255 spears (iirc). Guess why.

But in all seriousness, I'm fine with what she can do to Dragon/Baron. It lets the jungler save a smite and gives her an incentive to actually help with dragon (we've all seen adcs that just sit bot and farm while a dragon fight happens, a lot more than we'd like to). Keep the interesting aspects of the champs, balance afterwards.

643643734775743Feb 13, 20152 votes

There's no reason for Kalista to have it. Objective control is not what makes Kalista unique and if we let her keep it then it's only going to make it more difficult to balance Kalista since we have to keep her strong objective control in mind.

Also dragon alone is already a big incentive to help secure it. If any adc doesn't help with dragon then that's a problem with the player.

TenBladeFeb 13, 20154 votes

Any plans to buff azir?

ABlueQuakerFeb 13, 20153 votes

I think that's too much of a change if you're taking a step-by-step approach to altering her power budget. I honestly like her mobility - it's unique and fun yet also manageable due to her short range. Honestly just take a look at my suggestions and use them as a starting point.

Deal with the unnecessary things in her kit before you look at altering her iconic elements. Objective control is something that shouldn't be in the hands on an AD Carry so suggestions 1 and 2 would be the first changes I'd implement. Suggestion 3 is a good next step if you want to address her teamfight presence and pushing potential.

AriafluxFeb 13, 20153 votes

I'm curious, why not just lower her base attack speed / growth instead?

JunkοFeb 13, 20151 votes

Cause it's already one of the lowest in the game?

trivialattireFeb 13, 20152 votes

Not low enough evidently. Make it 0.

Chaotic ReksFeb 13, 20151 votes

not trying to be an ass, but this is literally a copy-paste answer....

What Is SmiteFeb 13, 20151 votes

How about after every 3/5/7 attacks Kalista "accidentally" drops a spear in her foot rendering her unable to hop around for 8/6/4 seconds? I mean if you're going to throw so many spears in a short amount of time you're bound to fumble one when you try to prep it to be thrown and the only thing that it would be able to hit is your foot especially the way Kalista pose's

The5lackerFeb 13, 20151 votes

A champion with a dash on every attack gets more mobile at high attack speeds?

Celeste BenalFeb 13, 20151 votes

I'm not sure how that would make a difference. She will still hop a set distance at a set rate based on boot tier and AS. In order for her entire windup animation to occur within a shorter period, you have to speed it up. So how exactly do you slow down her windup without reducing AS?

The only way I can interpret this is that you want to put a hidden AS cap on Kalista. This would essentially be admitting that her Martial Poise passive is completely broken and should be removed from the game.

edit: in fact, now that I think about it, why not? Remove Martial Poise. Move her W passive to her actual passive. Maybe buff her movement speed a little to compensate. Done.

As far as her E stacking goes, I'm fine with the way it is now. If you want to cap it vs monsters, I won't cry. But it really would be a shame. All anyone has to do is force her off the objective before she gets enough stacks to "smite" it. Versus a squishy champ like Kalista, that shouldn't be a problem. And if she fails, her E goes on cooldown and then your jungler can smite it. Good counterplay isn't always about nerfs and buffs or adjusting game mechanics. In this case, she spent all that time shooting baron instead of the opposing team; a gameplay decision on the player's part.

EPG LenderFeb 20, 20151 votes

Honestly I think that fact that she has so much utility while being a hyper-carry is enough. -Ridiculous Mobility -Vision -Uncapped Damage to out-smite a jungler -A Slow -A knock up that has a incredibly large hit-box and duration/Thresh Lantern -%Based Damage -Long Ranged ability Why does she even need a support? Her mobility alone makes her a hyper-carry. She has a little much. She is also benefiting from the fact that you can't escape from her and it is tough to catch her. There are only a small amount of point and click abilities left, so late game she becomes difficult to lock down. Honestly she sort of took the place of Vayne as a mobile hyper-carry (who took remotely decent mechanics to pull off successfully) while Kalista can just kite back for free. I think that when you guys make some champions you are looking at a small pool of potential counters for the champion but not seeing how the champion just strictly outclasses some others. When I look at champions I look at these 6 categories to decide how strong a champion is- -Utility (Vision, Shields, Disengage, Ally Control, etc.) Notable Champions- Thresh, Orianna, Galio -Mobility (Ability to move around the map through resets, abilities, etc.) Notable Champions- Ahri, Kassadin, Udyr -Damage (Ability to reliably build hybrid damage or do massive amounts of damage, DPS) Notable Champions- Yasuo, Irelia, Syndra -Hard CC (Ability to lockdown dangerous/priority targets, the easier to provide the better) Notable Champions- Sejuani, Lissandra, Rek'sai -Range (Ability to provide damage at a safe distance) Notable Champions- Nidalee, Caitlyn, Xerath -Sustain (Ability to shrug off damage, stay in game without recalling, Self Shield) Notable Champions- Warwick, Garen, Trundle Kalista has all 6 of these categories, 4 of which are strengthen to a good amount through items.

ON A LESS SERIOUS NOTE #BUFFVARUSTOOPSTATUSNEXT2015

KilaneFeb 20, 20151 votes

It's about the rend infinite stacks. It's her bloody infinite tumble that cost nothing as she AA.

Not the attack speed.

HeroSaitamaFeb 13, 20154 votes

i personally think shes fine i don't play her much she is like a hyper carry she is meant to kite tanks. Jinx, twitch and vayne late game destroy kalista.

ReaverCameraFeb 13, 20152 votes

Kalista's objective control is insane. If she autoattacks it enough, she basically just holds it hostage, laughing as the enemy team tries to punily smite it. A simple, possible effective change would be making it proc automatically like silver bolts after a set # of attacks. idk, I ain't one for balancing, but that Rend damage is ridiculous when they're smart enough to know they can level 2 dragon in any game with a half-decent jungler.

UltîmaFeb 13, 20151 votes

Give Zed's treatment to Kalista to prevent her from being quite so efficient by building attack speed. Clean up her auto-attack animation so there is less wind-up at the start and a couple more frames at the end of the animation so there's a more noticeable pause between her hops, cap Rend stacks damage on monsters to 500 but allow her to keep stacking spears for the Q and place stacks on champion, E plays.

Suddenly Kalista doesn't hyperscale so well, can still contest objectives without outsmiting, and her mobility is touched just enough to have small windows of vulnerability between her hops.

She doesn't need to be gutted quite as severely as people think - she just needs limiters.

John Do3Feb 14, 20151 votes

I've seen people commenting on how kalista should move like a ghost with a Katarina -eske shunpo, but disappearing and reappearing like MasterYi doesn't give much room for counter play, but if the hops turned into shadow dashes, I don't think any one would complain. As for her rend, yes runaan's insanely OP's her, that needs nerf, but I would leave the nuke there. If you let her get all those stacks, you deserve a nuke. Counterplay on Kalista should be as intended, hit with stun on a free go, unload every spell in your arsenal, and run like friggin hell (or kill her buddy first, that works too).

UGLY EG1RLJul 13, 20151 votes

Kalista is super fun to play and it requires lots of skill, i had fun playing her, jumping is fun but juking with it is either luck, or lots of skill, and her rend is unique. i dont know how she was before the nerf but let me just say, even tho she is fun to play as, she is pretty WEAK. Like assassins, low hp, harder to play, but lots of damage. So all the newbies who dont know shit and play crap champs like ashe (not bad but easy and crap players make her bad) would ask to nerf her. i wasted 6300 points on her, i like to play her, but i wouldnt want to main her since im not as skilled and stuff. if you gave yasuo 20 kills and kalista 20 kills, and they 1v1, both pros, its most likely yasuo would win no doubt. I played mid a lot and yasuo and katarina are so hard to play against but i dont ask riot to nerf them. Riot is so blinded by greed that they would do whatever lots of ppl demand that their threw away fairness. i never heard a kalista player saying she should be nerfed.