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Is Kha'Zix a valuable jungle champ?

MidnightCo·8/31/2015, 1:58:42 AM·1 votes·660 views

So, i'm a bit new to jungling. I do try to jungle every round I can, unless we need a support or something, and i've been using Pantheon. My builds and masteries are good, though my jungle route is still a bit in the works. Now, Pantheon is fun to play and all, but I don't find him very pleasing when i'm trying to 1v1 in the jungle. He has good ganks with his ult, and can kill people quite easily, but when it comes to getting counter ganked or something just being chased for ages by a mo fukin master Yi then it gets a bit annoying.

This is when I started looking for more jungle champs to play and I came across Kha'Zix.

I watched some vids (most being outdated, like, 2013 or 14 outdated) and thought that he suited my "aggresive/isolate the enemy" playstyle. He also seemed pretty decent during teamfights.

So, what is Kha'Zix actually like? Is he what I imagine? I don't want to be limited to a Pantheon jungle, and is he beginner friendly? I'm just reaching level 20 (so close, 19 currently) and I think he would suit me pretty well since I tend to be aggresive (Not the one to initiate teamfights unless it's a good champ for it) and attempt to pick off enemies who are alone/pushing a lane.

Thanks ahead of time <3

6 Comments

Miror B8/31/2015, 2:27:36 AM1 votes

C9 won a game with him, so he's definitely worth a try.

In all seriousness, Kha is one of those weird champions that kinda destroys all the logic of this game that new players try to get used to (like grouping/team-fighting and not playing risky). On a scale of 1 to 10 in "easiness to master for newer players", I'd rank him about a 6 alongside rengar. If you can get a few early kills and snowball, Kha can very easily carry games and force your opponents to group up just to attempt to stop him. Also should note, going after the enemy JG with him is often a pretty good idea as the power he has when even 1v1'ing most jg'ers is pretty insane (I've seen a few recent games with people playing him against things like cinderhulk lee sin/shyv/fizz, and just chunking the hell out of them as they try to get camps).

Only Play Darius8/31/2015, 4:17:17 AM1 votes

Assassin junglers like Khazix Rengar MasterYi tend to be a bit wonky since the jungle role is traditionally to help the team get an early advantage and promote vision control, somewhat of a supportive role since they are on limited income, whereas these guys actually want to hog the kills in ganks so they can start carrying the game. They are hard to balance because either they can farm the jungle for 15 minutes and start one-shotting squishies without counterplay, or they struggle to get sufficient farm in the jungle and the lack of gank pressure and items on top of limited income makes them useless for most of the game.

Kha'Zix is not in the best of spots, he has been heavily nerfed and really struggles to clear the camps early on (this is mitigated in LCS where people double jg for their Kha'Zix so don't take everything at face value) and relies on his enemies to be wandering around the jungle without friends for him to 100-0 them, something that most people outside of Bronze will never do if they see that Kha'Zix is on the enemy team. He is fun to play though, and I recommend you try him out next time he is on free week. But as a level 20, you have a long way to go and reaching level 30 is just the start of the League experience, I wouldn't suggest you buy a 6300 champion at that level.

Colorized9/1/2015, 12:18:59 PM1 votes

If there's a Rengar on the other team, forget about it. Rengar counters Kha 'Zix and while you might get one two kills early in the jungle, once Rengar gets his ult you might as well stick to krugs. BUT, if you see that Rengo's CS is terrible or that other guy on your team have been killing him, then you should capitalize on that and just invade and hope you catch him by surprise and get the kill.

Merxamers9/1/2015, 8:49:13 PM1 votes

Khazix is viable (i know bc i play him a lot :D) but like any assassin, he can be hard to play if the other team has a ton of bruisers/juggernauts/tanks. He is very mobile, and can outplay/assassinate pretty much everybody if they're foolish enough to chase you into your jungle.

As someone who also plays Pantheon jungle, i have to tell you that Khazix is significantly more complicated than Pantheon. I don't know if you use quick-casting, for example, but Khaz's Q is basically unusable without it. There's a lot of other skill involved with his kit as well. For example; utilizing his isolation/unseen predator passives properly by using your ult and nearby brush; using your Q and Ravenous Hydra mid-E leap; etc. The only reason i feel competent with him is i spent 2 days playing ~20 games with him until i came close to figuring him out. His first clear is a bit rough, to the point where i'd recommend always starting the same side as your bot lane for the extra help, then recall before 2nd buff to take the purple smite for the sustain.

I heavily recommend you give him a try when he's on the free rotation. Playing an assassin like him is a bit tricky; you don't want to be the one initiating the fight, or else they'll just CC you and blow you up. You want to let your tank dive in, and then WAIT for a priority target to be isolated. You can then leap in and either kill them or force them out of the fight. The reset on your evolved E makes you one of the best cleanup champions in the game, so if a fight goes in your favor, cut down your cowardly, retreating foes!

Since you're not level 30 i'll assume you don't have ideal runes, but what you'll want eventually are: AD quints, AD reds, armor yellows, CDR blues (a typical AD top lane page will have MR blues, but that's wasted on Khazix in the jungle, and he needs the CDR).

The best 2 evolutions are, without question, the Q (for extreme isolation damage) and the E (for the huge mobility boost and reset). These should always be evolved first in some order, every game.

My typical build order is:

item 3723 ->item 3074 ->item 3117 ->item 3143 ->item 3071 -> item 3035 ; this gives you a nice mix of tankiness, armor pen, AD, and sustain. the Hydra is especially important; try to build a tiamat ASAP for the sustain and burst.