Suggested Kalista Rework

I'm not a huge fan of Kalista's current kit. Maybe I'm biased because I like to play melee champions, but I do feel that she's a bit overloaded. Below I offer a revised kit for Kalista that I believe roughly maintains her current play style. I'd love to hear your comments and criticisms (I posted it here for that reason!).

Oathsworn

INNATE: Kalista begins the game with a unique item, The Black Spear .

The Black Spear - ACTIVE: Kalista hurls The Black Spear at an allied champion, beginning a ritual that takes a short duration. During the ritual, both Kalista and her target are unable to act and the target will perform their death animation. Upon finishing the ritual, the target becomes Oathsworn for the remainder of the game. Kalista requires an Oathsworn ally to utilize Soul-Marked, and Fate's Call.

Soul-Marked - PASSIVE: If Kalista and her Oathsworn ally attack the same target within 2 seconds of each other, the target will take additional magic damage equal to a percentage of their maximum health. This effect cannot occur on the same target for 6 seconds. Damage is capped against minions and monsters. Soul-Marked will execute minions with 125 health or less.

Pierce/Rend

(Q: First Cast) Pierce - ACTIVE: Kalista hurls a fast and narrow spear, dealing 5/20/35/50/65(+50% total AD) physical damage to the first enemy struck. Over the next 4 seconds, the enemy bleeds for 5/20/35/50/65(+50% total AD) physical damage. While the enemy bleeds, Kalista may cast Rend.

(Q: Second Cast) Rend - ACTIVE: Kalista rips the spear from the afflicted enemy, instantly dealing 50% of the remaining bleed damage as magic damage. The bleed is removed. If Rend will kill the enemy, the spear glows. Killing an enemy with Rend refunds the mana cost and refreshes the cooldown of Pierce.

Sentinel

(W) - ACTIVE: Kalista commands a soul sentinel to the target location within range, gaining sight in a ~450-length cone in front of it. The sentinel's sight is obstructed by terrain and brush. Upon reaching the target location, it will return to a point within ~1400 units of cast location. The sentinel will perform a total of 7 laps, including the first two lengths. The sentinel is vulnerable from behind and will die if attacked twice by an enemy champion or once by a tower. If the sentinel spots an enemy champion it will scream and stalk them for the next 4 seconds - revealing them for the duration.

Martial Poise

(E) - TOGGLE: If Kalista enters a movement command while winding her basic attack or Pierce, she will drive through that direction when she launches her attack, dashing a short distance. Each dash costs 20+20x mana (x being the number of dashes previously performed in the last 6 seconds).

Martial Poise distance scales with Enhanced Movement.

Fate's Call

(R) - ACTIVE: Kalista draws her Oathsworn ally next to her, vanishing them and disabling their spells for 4 seconds. Kalista's Oathsworn ally must be within 1400-range to cast Fate's Call.

During Fate's Call, Kalista's Oathsworn can right-click a target location to dash there, stopping at the first enemy hit, knocking up all surrounding enemies and landing themselves at their maximum attack range from the target.

I'm not a numbers guy, so I've added what seems fair to me. Correct me if I'm wrong!

The logic behind my changes to Pierce and Rend is to provide a meaningful decision to whether or not Kalista allows the enemy to bleed or bursts them. The reduced burst damage is meant to be an incentive to leave the enemy bleeding, but if Kalista is concerned that the damage will be shielded or healed before her enemy dies or the trade ends she can opt for the burst. This gives her a higher threat in sustained fights (just as her previous Rend did), but also provides her with a (weak) burst solution. Again, the numbers are weird, but it's the thought that counts!

I believe that Sentinel is a strong ability in its own right so I moved its passive portion into Kalista's actual passive. That being said, I'm having trouble coming up with a reason why Kalista would wish to level the ability up without tacking on a passive portion. Maybe the hits required to kill a sentinel could increase? Or perhaps revealed enemy champions could be slowed briefly upon discovery?

Moving Martial Poise to a toggle that costs mana allows Kalista to maintain her mobility, but requires her to pay for it. My current cost system allows for 4 consecutive jumps with a full level 1 mana pool and 8 consecutive jumps with a full level 18 mana pool. The mana cost for consecutive jumps follows the same logic as Kassadin's ultimate, but further limits Kalista who may not choose to build mana items.

Again, I'm not trying to gut a champion or claim that this will solve every problem. I just wanted to discuss a potential kit with my good friends on the Boards! Let me know what you think!