Boards›Gameplay

Does anyone else dislike supporting Kalista?

Eph289·12/5/2014, 10:19:14 PM·9 votes·3,603 views

I play a lot of support (support and mid main, yo), and after a few games laning with Kalista, I've found that I really dislike playing with a Kalista on my team. Is it just the learning curve?

Here's what I dislike

I don't get to choose whether or not I take that stupid spear. And if I'm playing Nami, I don't really want to be jumping into their team in most scenarios. See that Udyr jungler? I bet he'd LOVE a free ride into the team. Give it to him.
Kalista's Rend passive (could be wrong on the skill) means that using the Targon's procs is a lot harder. The Kalista player has to be cognizant of what she attacks, because even one stack means I don't get the gold. That's the WHOLE POINT of Targon's. And since Kalista synergizes really well with those tanky supports that buy Targon's, that's pretty annoying.
Her ult. Maybe it's one of those things that works a lot better with a coordinated team (I have to be on voice comms with a Kalista), but in solo queue, I find that my ADC randomly slaps that thing down right when I'm trying to ult, or do some other move, only to suddenly be sucked into spooky ghost mode. I've used it . . . once offensively with any success. More often, it's not a bad escape move and I've had Kalistas use it like a Thresh lantern before. But it's pretty dang sad if your ADC's ultimate is reduced to being basically a Thresh lantern that only the support can click.

Meh. She's hard to catch with a skillshot, but I don't actually find laning with Kalista that rewarding or fun. Anyone else want to weigh in, and/or help me figure out how to better work with Kalistas?

19 Comments

The Mormonator12/5/2014, 10:51:00 PM3 votes

They really need to fix that targons...and that would be good enough for me...for now

Jefftiffy12/5/2014, 11:07:53 PM1 votes

Before I say something about everyone pissy about taking the spear. Let me remind of the other possibilities for her ult to be used.

She can pull you out of being trapped
You get invincibility frames while you are in that state
She can even break any form of CC they have on you, including WW ult, Skarner ult, and even Vi ult.
If you have a Kalista your play style should be suited to hers so picking Nami was a bad choice or Kalista if it was the opposite way around

The rend passive does get very annoying considering how many supports that sync with her bring relic/targon.

Teridax6812/6/2014, 12:25:47 AM1 votes

While I think the interaction between Sentinel and the green support item line needs to be fixed, I don't think it's that bad when Kalista ults you, even when you're a squishy champion. Only you get to choose where you want to land, so in the worst case scenario you can just jump back to where you were.

The ability to choose whether or not to take her spear would be nice (assuming it ends up being worth it), but I think the core problem here has more to do with the ceremony around it: it's perfectly fine if you get speared at the fountain, since you're safe and all, but it's massively irritating to get stunned by your own teammate in the middle of a lane (a lot of Kalistas forget to use their spear, too). Champions with cool skins aren't forced to sit through their entire respawn animation every time they resurrect, and I don't think the "death" animation needs to activate outside of base.

7ha7guy77712/6/2014, 1:10:17 AM1 votes

i'm not a fan but i miraculously have only had to play support with 1 kalista so far. i believe i'm better with janna than thresh, but because i saw the adc locked in kalista, i decide i'd be better off playing a tankier champion. i had to build coin because of the way relic shield doesn't work with kalista. the synergy they have is pretty nice, but the ult can be disorienting and i'm glad my kalista didn't pull something like binding me while near the enemy

Leaf of the lake12/6/2014, 2:33:04 AM1 votes

I've been playing kalista almost non-stop for the past week or so, so here's my take on it:

Binding the jungle is useful, yes, and as top lane kalista, I almost always bind the jungle, because it makes ganking her lane a breeze for them. But in bot, I don't feel like it's a viable option. We will never win an engage in our lane if I do that; the 12% max health damage is too important to her to not bind the support. Further, if the support is familiar with it, they can help her last hit and push up the lane, something which is absolutely essential against other heavy push lanes. I recall one lane in which I was pushed to tower for the first 3-4 levels constantly, then one message to the support in chat was enough that we could push back and start breathing again. We ended up winning that lane hard.
It's her Sentinel (W) passive, but yes, the interaction with targons is dumb. I always have to be careful what I'm AAing when my support takes targons. Thresh players should always take coin at the start when they're with a kalista, since it's so difficult to work with relic (and talisman active is amazing anyway).
Her ult is probably the aspect of her kit that I am weakest with atm. In general, I try to use it in two situations: 1) To save the support who is getting focused and caught out (this happens at least once a game, every game, and is 100% worth it every time). 2) To chase with. Kalista lanes tend to snowball pretty hard due to her high damage on W and E, so once you're winning the lane, her ult is a great chasing mechanism to secure the kills. I'm actually trying to learn to use it as an aggressive engage, since it creates a very strong combo with certain supports (e.g. sona or nami ults). The trick is it doesn't actually put you right next to the foe; it bounces you back a bit to land at your max attack range, which is usually the perfect position for a follow-up ult.

As an aside, the best supports for kalista tend to be AA poke supports. Sona, lulu, annie, and soraka are all great supports for her, although soraka has less synergy with kali's ult than the others. Thresh is just a great support in general and works with pretty much anyone, but the double saves and strong engage potential is particularly nice here (lantern kali in -> kali ult -> thresh hook/flay/whatever is absolutely fantastic when thresh is leading a chase). Nami actually has the potential to be a great support for kalista (kali E can make it super easy to land a bubble, and you've got the aforementioned kali ult -> nami ult combo), but you have to actively AA+W poke and not just sit around in bush waiting to bubble like most nami players tend to do.

I've generally won lane when I had a leona support (super snowbally), but I find having a ranged AA is generally better early game so that she can get W procs off, because those things hurt. I haven't played much with braum, but I'd guess it's similar to leona. Morg works, but she's nothing special (kali is good enough at dodging skillshot CC on her own to not need black shield except against stuff like vi or ww ult). In theory, lux should be a good support for her, but I've yet to play with a good lux, so no comment on that one. I want to try playing with a janna sometime, since I think kali ult -> janna ult could be super fun, but the only time a janna's been in one of my games was on the enemy team.

Saevum12/6/2014, 4:49:56 AM1 votes

When she is handed by a bad 'timing caller' noob, then yes. The Ult feels stubborn.

RoflLizard1/25/2015, 11:10:19 PM1 votes

only, If they are bad. And a lot of them are bad. I have seen good ones and I figured this out.

She clearly would work Better If she bound a tank. But, she will have bound the support because in solo. You know how It goes.

So, If It is not a Support tank. Well, you have to play smart.

Which is once again what most bad players lack. They treat her as another adc. So, they treat supports the same. Basically, as cattle to be toss at the foe in a last act to get a kill. They don't warn the support. They just react. Which in the best case gets the support killed or worst both.

Once, again. People who know how to use her. time her ult or even use It to bring the the support into the fight or on top of the foe. Not, as a attack as much as a summon with Stun.

She needs teamwork, and someone who knows when and when not to engage.

Which let us be frank. 75% of LOL players don't.

Pæan1/25/2015, 11:44:48 PM1 votes

If she doesn't bind with you as support then she has no passive on W and no ulti unless the jungler/tank is near. I love playing with experienced Kalistas because of her awesome early game. I play supports like Lulu, Karma, or other pokey supports so I dont want to go straight in either unless necessary.

One great thing about her ulti is that if you're ranged, then after you knock into the enemies you are pushed back to a safer ranged distance. The time of the knockup is enough to disengage if needed also.

All that being said, i tend to only support if I'm in a duo with that person, otherwise the ability of that Kalista is hit or miss.

afmghost3/15/2016, 12:06:36 AM1 votes

If I'm stuck playing support, I have a strict no bind policy. There's nothing worse than using your flash to make a narrow but successful escape only to have kalista force me back into the fight and die anyway. And of course, in Elo Hell, the support is at fault.

ll League God ll3/15/2016, 12:13:33 AM1 votes

if she ults you... you can choose to not use it on the enemys... you can choose where you fire yourself... if kalista ults me, i simply use it to get behind her :-)

DrathTurtle3143/15/2016, 12:20:52 AM1 votes

Targons takes priority over sentinel passive. (unless the support attack first)

YCitizenSnipsY3/15/2016, 12:23:58 AM1 votes

You choose where you land when Kalista ults. All she can do is pull you to her, you are free to throw yourself as far away from her as you wish. Also playing Squishy champions with Kalista isn't that big of a deal. She can throw Janna into a position to use her ult as an engage, and a Soraka that silences you before being thrown at you will be catastrophic as well.

C9 Scott Free 3/15/2016, 12:24:43 AM1 votes

Even when I'm in calls with Kalistas they ult without warning me knowing I am not a support main nor do I usually even play with or as that champion which usually causes me to hesitate.

Navarune12/5/2014, 10:40:05 PM1 votes

Coordination is definitely key to supporting Kal. One of the cool things about her passive proc is the extra harass you get on opponents. This is really useful on a Janna or Morg to improve their AA harass. Even more useful on a Nami, whose range takes better advantage of it and stacks it well with her own E. And on Thresh... Well, in my opinion no one synergizes better with Kalista than Thresh. Kalista's passive proc stacking with his E passive, the incredible initiation potential, and not to mention the ultimate escape duo: Kalista ult-tosses Thresh back who in turn lanterns her to his safe position.

I do think there needs to be some option to refuse the spear, though.

Drackolus3/15/2016, 12:30:01 AM1 votes

Actually, specifically for Nami, getting thrown in is great. It puts you in a fantastic ult-engage position. I can't think of a champion where a free malphite ult doesn't help. And, if she binds with somebody else, it screws her passive damage, since that's a big part of her kit's free poke.
That's how it worked on release, but they fixed that the very next patch. It actually applies her rend damage, then the execute, and if either kill the minion it's farmed. So it's much easier with it.
That's a mixture of you have to know how to do it, but you're completely right that a Kalista can screw up what you're doing. I'd maintain that while communication is important, it was either a right move for you to use your ult and she should have expected it and let you, or it was a wrong move for you to ult and a right move for her to ult, in which case you shouldn't have been trying in the first place. It does place an extra skill burden on you and her, but communication isn't necessary, just helpful. Having played with and without it though, I admit it still helps at least somewhat.