Do you think that Kha'Zix is still a viable laner?

YumaS2Astral··3 votes·1,840 views

So many Nidalee threads discussing that Nidalee should be viable on lane once again. However, there is another champion who used to be a very powerful laner but after so many changes, almost no one plays him outside of the jungle anymore: Kha'Zix.

While Kha'Zix was not as heavily relegated to the jungle as Nidalee was, most of his most recent changes heavily encouraged him to go jungle instead of laning. The most notable example is the fact that towers count as allies for purposes of negating the isolation on his Q. Then, there is the fact that his W has been changed to deal increased damage to monsters. Nerfs to his W also have been made with his jungle capability in mind since lane Kha'Zix would almost always evolve Q first back when his W used to be strong (this was back when they changed his Q to remove the missing health damage).

Almost nobody plays him outside of the jungle. Do you really think that Kha'Zix is still viable as a laner? Sometimes I play him at mid and top lane. However, I don't play him that much at top because almost every fighter is a bad matchup for him. He actually has better matchups at mid lane, but I still don't play him that much at mid because he is AD and I don't want to make my team full AD.

5 Comments

III BAKURYU III 1 votes

I think he could be viable at TOP and when getting kited off the cs or too low to fight for cs or engage can always Void Spike(W). If I played Kha I would get item 3071 first item if I'm against a hard lane to survive or lane against I would try to get item 3044 before more damage for the extra HP and for the movement for early help for my jungler if they get caught.
You can also get more and early cs without getting nervous of the enemy jungler invading if your a laner, and you can invade with your jungler for early ganks as Kha is 1 of the strongest champions at the start of the game.
I would then build tanky as Kha does decent damage but becomes less viable mid-late game mainly due to everyone on the enemy team grouping.
I would say 7.5 out of 10 as a viable Top lane and not so much for MID like you said AP is more needed and viable for MID unless an AP champion is already being played at TOP.
Nice post and Have a Good One.

YumaS2Astral1 votes

[{quoted}](name=III BAKURYU III ,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=h8tEupFn,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-07-20T14:06:32.629+0000)

I think he could be viable at TOP and when getting kited off the cs or too low to fight for cs or engage can always Void Spike(W). If I played Kha I would get item 3071 first item if I'm against a hard lane to survive or lane against I would try to get item 3044 before more damage for the extra HP and for the movement for early help for my jungler if they get caught.
You can also get more and early cs without getting nervous of the enemy jungler invading if your a laner, and you can invade with your jungler for early ganks as Kha is 1 of the strongest champions at the start of the game.
I would then build tanky as Kha does decent damage but becomes less viable mid-late game mainly due to everyone on the enemy team grouping.
I would say 7.5 out of 10 as a viable Top lane and not so much for MID like you said AP is more needed and viable for MID unless an AP champion is already being played at TOP.
Nice post and Have a Good One.

Advantages of going mid:

  1. Better matchups against squishy mages
  2. Better roaming potential
  3. Can potentially have blue buff
  4. His Q does insane damage to the dragon
  5. You are not forced to get Teleport, you can go Ignite/Flash which benefits Kha more

Advantages of going top:

  1. Easier to reset his passive
  2. Easier to get an isolated enemy
  3. The risk of ruining your team composition is lower
  4. The risk of the enemy laner being ranged, and thus harass him early, is lower
  5. Can afford to build tankier
III BAKURYU III 1 votes

yeah what he said XD

SnowLeopard911 votes

I've seen some Kha'Zix top lately, and it does fairly well. He builds tanky dps and is good at dueling, much like Riven. I don't know if it's optimal, but I would say it's definitely viable. You have to play him slightly differently from most top laners, though, and roam more often - use that invisibility and jump to get picks on other lanes after you kill your lane opponent (which isn't hard with your passive making your dueling ability very strong) and then return to lane to catch farm.

YumaS2Astral1 votes

{quoted}

I've seen some Kha'Zix top lately, and it does fairly well. He builds tanky dps and is good at dueling, much like Riven. I don't know if it's optimal, but I would say it's definitely viable. You have to play him slightly differently from most top laners, though, and roam more often - use that invisibility and jump to get picks on other lanes after you kill your lane opponent (which isn't hard with your passive making your dueling ability very strong) and then return to lane to catch farm.

That's the problem with lane Kha'Zix

he should technically be stronger top because it is easier to reset his passive with the bushes and because the lane is longer, it is easier to catch an isolated opponent.

However at mid lane he has way better matchups because at top lane he is going to face tanky bruisers which can just stack armor and/or outtrade him (even when isolated) - Which is not a problem at mid lane where he is going to face squishy mages which fall when isolated, but it is harder to actually get them isolated, especially if they know how to control a wave - it is also harder to reset his passive.

More from Gameplay

More by YumaS2Astral