2 changes to make Kalista (more) balanceable

ApplyForAGrant··2 votes·417 views

Kalista is broken as hell, but I don't want her to get Azir'd (mindless nerfs across the board without addressing core kit issues). She will never be fun to play against as long as she has this passive, but there are ways to make it better. One major thing that ruins the fun is the lack of countering mechanism to some of her abilities. Here are my two proposed changes to fix it.

  1. Passive jump distances are reduced by slows - Reduction in jump distance corresponds to the amount of slow (e.g. 60% slow result in a 60% shorter jump). Rationale: Kalista can only be reliably locked down by two rare mechanics: point and click hard CC & gap closers. The result is that only a select few champions are playable against her (Liss, Irelia). Slows are fairly plentiful and most of them are easy to land, so this change will double or triple the amount of viable picks against Kalista.
  2. Add a delay to her ultimate - After Kalista casts R, there will be a short delay before the Soulbound becomes untargetable. During the delay, a mark appears above the Soulbound to inform everyone, and a special effect will be visible for the Soulbound only (similar to Zilean ult). Hard CC such as knockup, stun, or root will delay the untargetability until the CC effect ends. Rationale: There are currently no gameplay associated with this ability AT ALL. You press R for a get-out-of-jail card for your Soulbound and the enemies can't stop you from doing it no matter what. That's not healthy for the game at all. The enemy needs options in dealing with this ability. This change will give them a choice: they can either focus the Soulbound down before untargetability applies or back off. This will also give a warning for a potential engage.

What these changes focus on is essentially giving the opponent more options. It is ok for a champion to excel at things, but only if it's through smart decision making. If your decision making cannot change the outcome not matter what (e.g. Akali ), the kit becomes toxic and the only way to stop it from ruining the game is to gut it. Kalista has that kind of kit atm, but I believe it is improvable if not fixable.

Some of these suggestions are not original ideas, but I cannot find the original thread and I want to bring them up again for more visibility.

EDIT: Added extra points to round out my rationale.

3 Comments

Fauxfire1 votes

I completely 100% love the idea that slows affect her jump, but maybe not as harshly.

the Anarchit3cht1 votes

I agree with your first idea, but maybe not so effectively(it'd have to go through some testing to see how it actually plays out) but not the second one at all. The whole idea of her ultimate is for it to be instant. Having it not instant or unable to work through CC ruins it. It's not that hard to work around, to be honest. That being said, I wouldn't be entirely opposed to a (small) delay, but it should still work through CC--Kalista initiates it, so unless she is CC'd then why can't she have access to HER ability? Should we also prevent Kayle from ulting someone if they are CC'd? It's not like it makes them invulnerable while they continue to stomp your face in. That being said, I'm opposed to the delay/mark above their head because if they see that they're going to just back off making the second half of her ult also useless. Granted they can back off when the soulbound gets pulled in, but they have significantly less time to react in that situation whereas if a mark appears above the soulbounds head everyone is just going to back off the instant they see that and thus be out of range for the knock up.

To state my views on her ult more concisely: It's fine as is. It has more than enough counter play. If she uses it to save a low health soulbound they aren't exactly going to launch back into the fight and it loses its second purpose of the knock-up. Conversely, if it has a delay/mark, not only is using to save a soulbound useless, but so is using to launch a soulbound into the fight. They see it, and they are going to back off. It might give it more "counterplay" but it would also make it useless. You have enough time to react between the soulbound being pulled in and launching out.

qetzel1 votes

I would change the second one to "cannot be used while the soulbound is CCed.

The first change will never happen, though. While something should be done, having a range change mid fight is incredibly confusing for all involved. Clarity and consistency are key here.

A member of Riot did say something about testing how she would work with a longer attack wind-up. Basically, she attacks just as fast, and jumps just as far, but she stands still for longer before jumping.

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