TFT Kai’Sa (New Unit Guide, Patch 9.19)

TFT Kai’sa Overview

With the recent announcement that Kai’sa will be joining TFT, the development team seems to be nearing their champion pool cap for this rotation of champions. Once again, the new Kai’sa will be a 5-cost unit, so never try building your team comp around her, but rather, use her as a supplement for your team when she appears in the shop.

Kai’sa will be a void, ranger, assassin unit, combining 3 favorites into one unit. With the new patch, void assassin will see definite changes without Kassadin being able to hyper carry as well as the changes to the void passive synergy. If you are unaware of the changes, read our article on the TFT patch notes analysis for more information.

• Origin: Void
• Class: Ranger
• Class: Assassin
• Cost: 5
• Health: 700
• Armor: 20
• Attack Damage: 55
• Attack Speed: 1.25
• Starting/Total Mana: 50/125

Ability: Killer Instinct

What makes this interesting is that since Kai’sa is already an assassin, she will initially jump, then after gaining mana, will dash once more to the furthest target.

At level 2 though, Kai’sa will gain a whopping 60% attack speed for 3 seconds, combined with her new highest base attack speed (beating out Kayle), her ability guarantees her 2.0 attack speed for 3 seconds.

That’s not even considering if there are any rangers on your team. On top of that, she gains a shield that will greatly help her survivability.

Recommended Items

Most 5-cost champions are able to use almost any item efficiently, and by the time you are able to hit a level 2 Kai’sa, your item choices may be quite limited. However, it is clear that some items will be better than others when it comes to this new champion.

Core Items:

Infinity Edge – Infinity Edge builds from B.F. Sword + Sparring Gloves which greatly increases Kai’sa’s critical strike rate without relying on assassin passive. Combined with her fast attack speed, she will dish out immense damage with IE.

Rapidfire Cannon – While Kaisa is an assassin, she is also quite squishy. By using RFC on Kai’sa, you can position her to attack the frontline, ensuring that she doesn’t jump to the back immediately and possibly receive aggro. This will also allow her to attack from farther range after she ults, keeping her at a safe distance.

Giant Slayer / Guinsoo’s Rageblade – For her third item it can be quite flexible. Here we have two of the strongest offensive items you can possibly build on her, but it is also possible you will want more defensive items in her third slot.

Situational Items:

Yuumi – If Kai’sa appears in your shop while you are running a brawler sorcerer comp, a Yuumi on Kai’sa will allow her to gain mana (much like Spear of Shojin), and her shield will also scale based on her AP and sorcerer bonus.

Darkin – This will function similar to Spear of Shojin and Yuumi. This will allow her to gain mana as well as possibly fit into your demon comp.

Runaan’s Hurricane – This item will be amazing if paired with Giant Slayer or any other CC item such as Frozen Mallet or Hush. This item may not be as required as some of the others but will be amazing as a possible 3rd item.

Many other items will work and be great on Kaisa, but keep in mind that while her attack speed very high, her damage is somewhat low for a 5 cost unit.

As such, items with Recurve Bows will greatly increase her attack speed, but also BF sword items will increase her overall DPS after a certain point.

Keep in mind that AP will also buff her shield, and mana generation will allow her to be even more annoying, popping her attack speed buff and shield over and over.

Recommended Team Comps

Any Ranger Comp

Kai’sa fits naturally as a replacement for Vayne in any of the Ranger team comps. Since most ranger teams utilize the 4 ranger bonus, Kai’sa will seamlessly take Vayne’s spot in all of those teams.

6 Assassin / Rengar Carry

Void Assassin will be undergoing major changes, so it’s hard to predict whether or not a 4 void assassin comp will be viable throughout the game. With the recent buffs to ninjas, it will be very possible that we will see lots of Akali being the main assassin carry.

Also, with the changes to RFC, Rengar might see more play with wild bypassing dodge. In either case, Kai’sa can be a great DPS addition to any assassin build looking for a replacement.

Positioning:

Since Kai’sa is an assassin, she will jump to the farthest enemy possible. Keep this in mind when placing her as you will always prefer that she jump to a certain side depending on your opponent. Also, keep in mind if she has RFC she will not jump if there is a target in range for her to attack. (Her auto-attack range is 2 hexes compared to the many ranged units that have 3 hex range).

Early Impressions:

Like many champions released before, it is entirely possible that Kai’sa will be extremely overtuned on release. Her enormous base attack speed combined with her offensive and defensive ability kit will make her a scary force at level 2.

It is important to note though, that with another 5-cost unit added to the game, the chances of finding a specific level 2 5-cost unit will decrease. With Neeko’s help, though, people are certain to try and go for it anyway.

Thanks for reading! Let us know what you think of Kai’Sa in TFT in the comments below.