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Kalista
Patch 16.2.1
BotDifficulty
Very Hard
Strength
Early
Mid
Late
Win Condition
Crush the enemy bot lane, take the first tower, and rotate to every Dragon. Use to guarantee every objective and end the game before 30 minutes.
Playstyle
Aggressive lane-dominant marksman focused on kiting and objective control. You win by bullying your opponent out of lane and securing every early Dragon.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- +Infinite kiting potential with against melee-heavy teams
- +Unrivaled objective security— out-damages Smite
- +Extreme lane pressure with passive and resets
- +Versatile ultimate used for both hard engage and saving allies
Weaknesses
- -Extremely vulnerable to attack speed slows which cripple
- -Short auto-attack range (525) makes you a target for long-range mages
- -Heavily reliant on the Oathsworn ally for and power
- -Steep falling off in the late game if you cannot snowball early
Abilities
Your bread and butter. After every auto or , you lunge. This replaces your normal movement—you never just walk in a fight. The dash distance scales with boot tier. Warning: you cannot cancel your auto-attack wind-up.
A fast skillshot spear. If it kills a target, it passes through and carries all existing stacks to the next enemy hit. Use this to 'transfer' stacks from a dying minion to a champion for massive burst.
Passive: You deal % max HP damage when you and your soulbound hit the same target within 4 seconds. Active: Sends a soul to scout. Use this to check bushes or track the enemy jungler's movement through the river.
Attacks leave spears in the target. Activating this rips them out, slowing the target and dealing damage per spear. If you kill at least one unit with it, the cooldown resets and mana is refunded. Always try to kill a minion and hit a champ simultaneously.
You pull your Oathsworn ally into a stasis. They then launch themselves, knocking back enemies hit. This is the best tool in the game for saving a caught-out support or starting a 2v2 fight in your favor.
Teamfight Role
Front-to-back kite or engage
In most fights, use to kite the closest threat. Use to either save your support from being picked or to engage on the enemy backline if they are out of position.
If the enemy has a fed assassin, save purely as a defensive tool for your Oathsworn.
Combos
The Reset Trade
Auto champion -> Auto low-HP minion ->
By killing the minion with , you get the slow on the champion AND your cooldown back immediately. This lets you trade for free.
The Stack Transfer
Auto minion 3-5 times -> to kill minion ->
The spears on the minion transfer to the champion hit by . This is your primary way to 100-0 someone who thinks they are safe.
Standard All-In
-> mid-air -> Auto-attack with ->
Let your support land the knockup, then follow up with your full kit. Use to stay on their flank and save for the finishing blow.
The Double Rend
Auto champion -> while is in flight
A frame-perfect trick where you rip the spears currently in them while the spear is still traveling, adding a fresh stack immediately after the reset check.
Power Spikes
| Spike | Why |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | With resets and kiting, almost no other ADC can win a 1v1 against you at level 1. |
| Level 2 | Adding gives you the stack transfer potential and an extra dash trigger. |
| Level 3 | The % max HP damage from makes your 2v2 trades significantly stronger than the enemy's. |
| Level 6 | You unlock , which is a massive utility tool for objective fights and escaping ganks. |
| Level 11 | Max rank and lower cooldown mark your peak effectiveness in mid-game skirmishes. |
Tips & Tricks
- • can hop over thin walls like the ones around Dragon or Baron pits.
- •If you are hit by an attack speed slow (like Exhaust), your dash animation becomes slower. Sometimes it is faster to just walk.
- •Use to scout the enemy's Krugs or Gromp to see where their jungler is without leaving lane.
- •You can use to trigger a dash even if no enemies are nearby—great for escaping or chasing.
- •'s damage is higher than Smite. Communicate with your jungler so they don't panic-smite early.
- •Build Tier 2 boots as early as possible. Your dash speed and distance depend on them.
Common Mistakes
- ✕Rending too early→If you don't kill the target, goes on a long cooldown and you lose all your kill pressure.
- ✕Ignoring passive→You miss out on a massive chunk of burst damage. Coordinate your focus with your support.
- ✕Jumping into CC→Because you can't cancel the animation, it is very easy for enemies to predict where you will land and hit you with skillshots.
- ✕Using without communication→Your support might launch themselves into a bad spot or be pulled out of a crucial spell cast.
- ✕Over-extending late game→Your short range means one misstep against a late-game mage or ADC results in an instant gray screen.
AI-generated guide • Patch 16.2.1 • Cached