Kalista Build Paths

Introduction: Hi I am Zyra the Plant. I recently have picked up Kalista, and she is by far my favorite adc to play. So far in ranked I only have 18 games on her, but 18/49 games is somewhat high. Out of those 18 games I have won 12. With playing Kalista so far I have climbed from Bronze 1 to Silver 1 in just the 49 ranked games I have played.

 Regardless of my ranked games played, I still have played her quite a bit in normals. Something I find really unique about her is the multiple ways in which different people build her. In this post, I'll be explaining and analyzing different builds and the pros/cons of each. I'd also like to hear your guyses thoughts, because part of the reason I'm making this is because I can't find out which one is the best build overall.

Note: In alot of these match historys that I have provided, I do not follow the build path that I have recommended in this guide. I still build the same items, but out of order.

Here are some builds I've tried: 1) Ghostblade Build

1a) BT Build Path: BT, Greaves, Ghostblade, PD, LW, Defensive Item BotRK Build Path: BotRK, Greaves, Ghostblade, PD, LW, Defensive Item Double Lifesteal Build Path: BotRK, Greaves, Ghostblade, BT, LW, Defensive Item

Lategame one can sellout ghostblade and replace it with a better item such as IE or PD.

LW is situational and should only be built if the enemy has armour.

1b) Pros: Early Damage, Ghostblade active is amazing, Consistent damage throughout game

Cons: Single target focused, lower damage crits unless IE is built

  1c) I have very little experience with this build and haven't had much time to experiment with it. I know C9 Sneaky usually builds Ghostblade on Kalista, and it seems to work very well. The one game I played with it went well, and the damage in this build is pretty consistent throughout the whole game.

 1d) http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1785255944/207092661?tab=overview

2) Typical "ADC" Build

2a) BT Rush: BT, Greaves, PD, IE, LW, Defensive Item IE Rush: IE, Greaves, PD, BT, LW, Defensive Item

In "IE Rush," BT/PD are pretty interchangable. If you need the sustain, go BT, if you don't then go PD first. I personally like PD first as it gives more attack speed which means more stacks, more damage, more hops, and more kite.

As always LW is situational. If they are not stacking on armour, I personally like going double lifesteal.

2b) Pros: Lategame, High single target damage

Cons: Lower hopspeed/attack speed, No early sustain, Lacks AOE

2c) Personally, I don't like this build. I have only tried it a few times, but I can't seem to do well with this build. I tend to do better with builds 1 and 3.

2d)http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1785346118/207092661 (We only won cause they threw)

3) The Double Lifesteal Build + Runaan's

3a) BT Rush: BT, Greaves, Runaan's, BotRK, LW, Defensive Item BotRK Rush: BotRK, Greaves, Runaan's, BT, LW, Defensive Item

3b) Pros: Early sustain, AOE Damage, High Attackspeed, Insane Lifesteal

Cons: Low on-hit damage, Runaan's can target minions, Damage falls out lategame, Needs to get ahead in lane for this build to do well, no crit chance

         3c)I have experimented with this build the most (even though I was building it differently than I stated). So far it has seemed to work, but the build faulters towards late game since Runaan's takes away alot of potential damage that items like PD and IE have. By building Runaan's you do have AOE but having the Crit on PD/IE amplifies single target damage by alot which is why I think pros are leaning away from it - they would rather have greater single target damage than AOE. This is my favorite build, although I have hardly gotten to experiment with the first build.

Closure: So out of these 3 builds, I definitely favour the third one. Problem is, with build 3, if the game drags out 35+ minutes, your damage falls off by a large amount. If you guys have any Kalista builds that you would recommend, please let me know. I plan to climb into Gold with Kalista and hopefully Plat during summer.

If you have any tips for me or feedback for my builds, please let me know! I by no means claim to be an expert at Kalista or with item builds, as I am only Silver 1 currently! If any of my information is inaccurate, please let me know! This is not only to teach others, but I am looking to learn as well!

Thanks for stopping by! ~Zyra