Kai'Sa
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Excellent (8.5/10)
High Investment Required
Epic Relics
Kai'Sa is widely regarded as one of the strongest champions in the Shurima region, particularly when fully invested. Her gameplay revolves around accumulating a diverse set of keywords to trigger her Evolve mechanic and overwhelm opponents with massive stats and skill damage. While her power ceiling is exceptionally high, her linear playstyle can feel repetitive. She requires significant constellation investment and Epic relics to reach her maximum potential.
Keyword OTK
Grants Scout, allowing Kai'Sa and her supported units to attack multiple times in a single round.
Provides three immediate keywords (Challenger, Tough, Overwhelm) to instantly accelerate her Evolve condition.
Grants additional keywords including Spirit and Impact, acting as a direct upgrade to Dreams of Yordles.
Strategy
This build is optimized for Kai'Sa's 6-star power. Full Build and Queen's Embrace provide an immediate influx of unique keywords, instantly triggering her Evolve condition upon being played. Galeforce grants Scout, allowing Kai'Sa to attack multiple times. With her 6-star power generating 'Second Skin' every round, you can share this massive pool of keywords (including Scout) with your followers, often resulting in a victory as early as turn 1 or 2.
Skill Damage Sweeper
Increases the damage of each individual missile from her Icathian Rain skill.
Generates additional random keywords every round, rapidly scaling her skill damage.- Provides a strong baseline of keywords to ensure her skill deals significant damage immediately.
Strategy
This build focuses on maximizing the damage of Kai'Sa's 'Icathian Rain' skill. Perfect Hex Core generates additional keywords every round, while Full Build provides a strong baseline. Luden's Tempest is the critical component here, as it increases the damage of each individual missile from her skill, allowing her to easily sweep the enemy board and bypass units with the Tough keyword.
Titanic Mana Ramp
Grants an extra starting mana gem if the champion is Titanic.
Provides the necessary health to reach the Titanic threshold and adds the Sharpsight keyword.
Grants Overwhelm and additional stats to push damage through blockers.
Strategy
Designed to accelerate Kai'Sa's deployment, this build uses Luminous Orb to push her health to the Titanic threshold, activating Starforged Gauntlets for an extra starting mana gem. This is particularly effective before unlocking her 5-star power, allowing her to hit the board and start accumulating keywords much earlier in the game.
Rare Relic Sweeper
- Increases the damage of her skill.
- Stacks with the first Luden's Tempest to further amplify skill damage.
Rallies the moment Kai'Sa levels up, enabling an immediate secondary attack.
Strategy
For newer accounts without Epic relics, stacking Luden's Tempest significantly amplifies Kai'Sa's skill damage, turning her into a potent board clearer. Crownguard Inheritance capitalizes on her level-up condition, granting a Rally effect the moment she Evolves, enabling a devastating secondary attack phase.
Other Relic Options
Provides Fated and Augment, which count towards Evolve, and grants powerful keywords once she reaches 10 power.
Offers Spellshield for crucial protection against removal, while also adding to her unique keyword count.
Can be utilized in specific combo builds to double her stats and secure massive damage swings.
While thematically fitting, this is considered a trap relic. Inheriting the 'Formidable' keyword from a fallen unit will completely ruin Kai'Sa's damage output.
Kai'Sa's relic flexibility is high, provided the relics grant unique keywords. Avoid relics that do not contribute to her Evolve condition or skill damage scaling.
Constellation
Kai'Sa's constellation tree is highly impactful, transforming her from a slow scaler into an aggressive powerhouse. Her path requires a heavy investment of resources, but the payoff solidifies her as a top-tier Shuriman champion.
From Prey To Predator
Round Start: If you have the attack token, grant your strongest ally a random positive keyword.
Voidtouched
+1 Starting Mana. Allies with 3+ positive keywords have +2|+2.
From Prey To Predator II
Round Start: Grant your strongest ally a random positive keyword.
Dragon's Rage
When you summon an ally, grant it Fury. It is a Dragon.Review
Provides a consistent board buff (+1/+1 to all allies) once the 4-keyword threshold is met. This significantly improves her early-game trading potential and helps stabilize the board while she prepares to Evolve.
Voidtouched II
+2 Starting Mana. Allies with 3+ positive keywords have +2|+2, and allies with 6+ positive keywords have +4|+4.Review
This is a unique and massive power spike. It overrides her 2-star power, granting an additional starting mana gem and an extra stat buff when reaching 6 keywords. This completely resolves her sluggish early game, allowing her to deploy quickly and dominate difficult encounters.
Wield The Abyss
Round Start: Create a Second Skin in hand. When you target an ally with Second Skin, give it Kai'Sa's keywords this round.Review
Fundamentally shifts her playstyle by generating a fleeting 'Second Skin' every round that applies her keywords to targeted units, turning any drafted follower into a massive threat. Players disagree about this upgrade. Some consider it an incredibly fun and powerful tool for quick victories. While others feel it detracts from Kai'Sa being the primary carry by shifting the focus to buffing her followers.
Gameplay Tips
- Prioritize Keyword Generation
Always draft units and powers that offer unique keywords. Kai'Sa's entire game plan revolves around reaching the 6-keyword threshold to trigger Evolve as quickly as possible.
- Leverage Second Skin
Use 'Second Skin' as a potent combat trick. You can pull keywords from an ally onto Kai'Sa, or (at 6-stars) push her massive keyword pool onto an unblocked follower for lethal damage.
- Beware of Formidable
Avoid drafting units or powers that grant the 'Formidable' keyword. Because Kai'Sa relies on her Power stat for strikes and Overwhelm damage, gaining Formidable will severely cripple her offensive capabilities.
- Mortal Marks Synergy
In high-difficulty adventures like Lissandra, prioritize the 'Mortal Marks' power from the Ethereal Remitter. When combined with Luden's Tempest and her Icathian Rain skill, this guarantees a complete board wipe upon attacking.
- Support Champion Synergy
Kai'Sa automatically grants the Scout item to her support champions in her adventure drafts. Rerolling your support champion to find one that synergizes well with Scout or provides additional keywords is highly recommended.