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Kha'Zix's Evolution; The least adaptable champion based around adapting.

Visigoth··10 votes·1,002 views

The idea behind Khazix is that he is a highly intelligent predator who consumes his prey and assimilates their strengths. He is--in theory--supposed to be able to adapt to the situation. This is why he has 4 possible evolutions; one for each ability, but he must leave one out, thus choosing which 3 are best for that specific situation.

His Q - Taste Their Fear Kha'Zix's main damage ability. Currently, evolving his Q can technically increase your damage literally by thousands. However, isolation has been nerfed so many times (range, Towers canceling isolation) that now being within half a mile of a minion negates that damage. Literally, being even slightly near a minion (including pets and traps such as unstealthed Shaco Box and Heimerdinger Turrets), ally, or tower literally makes it like you didn't even evolve the ability. Pretty ludicrous considering level 6-10 that is the only small chance of killing you have, and pre-6 you have almost no 1v1 potential.

His W - Void Spikes His evolved W basically makes his single Spike shot turn into a triple shot that gives vision and has a better slow. But at its core, it's still just putting poke on an all-in champion. You wouldn't put poke on Fizz, he's supposed to kill the person and leave. And it's pretty commonly considered in the community that all-in champions should have strong poke, so why give him weak poke which is more or less just a slightly annoying form of CC. Either way his evolved W is pretty bad right now.

His E - Leap This evolution allows Kha'Zix to literally sprout his wings and fly. Like his Q Kha'Zix's E is quite necessary for him. Not only is it his only major form of mobility but it also is his only escaping tool for him so he can GTFO after killing someone. If you didn't take this at level 6, 99% of the time you are at level 11, because without it Kha'Zix can be practically useless. Probably the only evolution that has retained its glory since release. In fact, I'm surprised they didn't remove the reset in the 4.10 gut of literally every other one of his abilities. Because, fuck season 4 Kha'Zix amirite?

Lastly, his R - Void Assault His evolved R allows him a third proc on his passive from his ult. Woah baby! Three whole times?!?!!! But wait! You also receive practically useless move speed and invisibility!! Once being Kha'Zix's way of actually living if he were to be caught without his E, in the 4.10 patch Riot removed his 50% damage reduction during invisibility, meaning now every time you go invis the enemy will pink ward you, and kill you. Fun for the whole enemy team!

Now that we've gone over Kha'Zix's evolution, let's pick 3 to take into battle. But wait! We can't just blindly choose, we must assess the situation!

Alright, enemy team has lots of poke? Q so you actually have damage, then E for mobility, then I guess go W for some harass. Hmm, they seem to be all-in champs. Q so you actually have damage, then E for mobility, then I guess go W for some harass. Looks like they're pretty tanky this game. Q so you actually have damage, then E for mobility, then I guess go W for some harass. Man, their comp has tons of CC! Q so you actually have damage, then E for mobility, then I guess go W for some harass. Wow, my team is doing great, we're able to push and overcome in fights easily! Q so you actually have damage, then E for mobility, then I guess go W for some harass. We're getting stomped, we should play defensively. Q so you actually have damage, then E for mobility, then I guess go W for some harass.

Every. Single. Game. Considering he's supposed to adapt, there sure seems to be pretty much one way to play Kha'Zix right now. Almost every other champion has more adaptability, the exception being Nunu, who's kit is explicitly designed to jungle.

And a bonus 30 hp heal level 1 that turns into no bonus heal doesn't do shit. Fix his isolation or buff his evolved ultimate, or else the tank meta will officially have killed this already struggling champion.

18 Comments

Zarxis3 votes

Riot should allow Kha'Zix to gain four evolution points in every game (without the Rengar minigame). Every time they've nerfed him, they've said it was due to him being too powerful with a particular set of evolutions— he's now too weak with any set, though evolving R is the obvious current black sheep. If Kha could have all four of his evolutions, Riot could actually balance him instead of constantly juggling him between a different set of three (which has led to his current weak state, along with the rise of tanky junglers).

CubedJustice1 votes

The point is that he's supposed to adapt to a game. If he doesn't have to do that, his theme is ruined.

Zarxis1 votes

{quoted}

The point is that he's supposed to adapt to a game. If he doesn't have to do that, his theme is ruined.

Does taking the same set of 3 evolutions every game seem like adaptation to you? That's how he's always worked, and it's why Riot nerfed him down to his current state. Riot simply cannot put each evolution on an equal footing. One combination of three will always be the best. The ways Kha'Zix's model and abilities change have always been the heart of his "evolution" theme because he has never had a time in which he didn't have an optimal set of three evolutions.

CubedJustice1 votes

He doesn't currently adapt. But adapting is his theme, and if he's getting a fix, he should still adapt.

Zarxis1 votes

{quoted}

He doesn't currently adapt. But adapting is his theme, and if he's getting a fix, he should still adapt.

I'd be fine with another sort of fix, but it'd have to be a total revamp of his evolution point system. Riot simply cannot balance his current 3-point system— at least, all of their attempts to balance him so far have shown this to be true. Personally, I feel that his model and ability changes do enough to show off his adaptation thematic. They're all he has had in that department throughout his existence, and they've made him seem like a solid character, thematically. If Riot wants to add a new mechanic to enhance that thematic, great, but will it give him enough levers for them to actually balance him instead of nerfing him repeatedly, or will it simply end up being another reason to nerf him? That's what I want to know.

CubedJustice1 votes

The problem with simply giving him another point is that it's literally just his ultimate upgraded, which isn't very good. You need to be making a choice with his evolutions. What do you need most in the current situation. And if they're all pretty bad, the choice is meaningless

Zarxis1 votes

{quoted}

The problem with simply giving him another point is that it's literally just his ultimate upgraded, which isn't very good. You need to be making a choice with his evolutions. What do you need most in the current situation. And if they're all pretty bad, the choice is meaningless

The problem with giving him three points is that he'll always have a "best combination." Right now, that's Q, W, and E. If I remember correctly, it was Q, E, and R last time Kha'Zix was strong (damage reduction during stealth). Riot never likes it when Kha has a "perfect set" and is viable/strong when he uses that set, so they nerf everything repeatedly. Again, Kha has never had a point in time in which taking alternative evolution paths was a wise strategy. Remember when Viktor could only choose one Hex Core? He was held back by his "adaptation" because one was superior to the others. Nowadays, he still gets to choose which order he "evolves" in, but he gets all of his possible upgrades without sacrificing his theme. If Riot allowed Kha'Zix to follow suit by giving him four evolution points, he could be made viable (like Viktor, who has only seen pro play after being reworked, to the best of my knowledge). The idea of making a "choice" with what evolutions you take was a nice concept, but it's the reason why Kha'Zix is in the gutter right now. If he had four evolution points, he could still choose which order to spend his points in, just like how Viktor does now. He'd still be Kha'Zix, but he would also be far more viable. Every Viktor player can tell you that it's very important which upgrade you get first; the choice is not meaningless. I'm not saying that simply giving Kha four evolution points would be enough; I'm saying that it would be a step in the right direction. Riot could fix him if they would stop the downward spiral that is his cycle of nerfing due to having a dominant set of evolutions that they don't like.

CubedJustice1 votes

That feels rather lazy, to me. Kha'Zix is about adaptation. Viktor is about advancement. The same goal, making Kha'Zix stronger, can be achieved with or without keeping his theme.

RainbowIcee2 votes

I agree Kha needs a buff however buffing him too much breaks him very easily. The days kha was king he was truly terrifying.

Rustling Bush1 votes

{quoted}

I agree Kha needs a buff however buffing him too much breaks him very easily. The days kha was king he was truly terrifying.

remember when ap kha zix was a thing, he would jump on a group and 100-0 him then leap away like he was kat. that thing needed to go and once it did, everything was pretty much down hill for poor kha

ZombieNinja War1 votes

before he was ap he could just jump in A and jump out but at least he was played now he is almost a troll pick so sad.

Big Bang Bob1 votes

item 1058 Rengar

Shudders

Kingsgrave2 votes

Lets be honest here now, Kha was never really about adapting. He was just about complete destruction all the time in the only way that Riot didn't gut. He has never really changed playstyle and had more than one viable evolution path or build style at a time.

I don't ever remember a game of Kha where the player would go "Oh so this is happening, Im going to get this evolution before this other one" because you were destroyed if you didn't go his most efficient route. That has always been the case and is hardly adapting or evolving.

It would be more interesting if his first and only adaptation changed the effects of his kit to fit a specific style of play instead of having basically every evolution you would want by endgame. Assassin? Caster? Fighter? Mix of the 3? Choose. None of this "Im a jack of all trades that can do whatever I want and call it adapting" that he was and still is on live.

If they really want him to be about adapting they need to rework him.

Captain Aishi1 votes

there was a time, long ago, where you could choose to either get W or E as your 1st evolution... back when he was the dominant midlaner who just oneshot the entire minion wave with evolved W to then go roam to other lanes, or evolved wings to own the enemy team's jungle with his jungler by his side, before reaching level 11 and then evolving the other ability and start doing both at the same time

MaizeCraze1 votes

Looks like we have similar opinions. Check out my post if you haven't already and let me know what thoughts you have.

The Bearded Bard1 votes

Unevolved W should just be a slow and reveal, then evolve it to add the sustain and triple prong. R should add more MS on top of the additional stealth since it lost the damage reduction. Q and E are fine as they are imo.

Merxamers1 votes

if they did this he would have no sustain at all in the jungle, and would therefore be useless in every position

Merxamers1 votes

I agree with this. I play khazix a lot (even now), and if you don't evolve Q and E first in some order you will lose the game (RIP that time i accidently evolved R first...).

One problem i see is that Khaz is incredibly dependent on his evolutions to do anything useful; without his Q, he does no damage. Without his E, his mobility is laughable. Evolving W is only slightly better than evolving R, because the missiles have been nerfed to death multiple times. They're being buffed in the PBE right now, but it's a bandaid at best.

I think there's room to buff Khazix overall, because now every jungler is a tank with item 3751 ; it's much harder for khazix to do his assassinating/fighting with these health-stacking champions. The bug needs some lovin.

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