Hello guys!

This is my first ever guide that I have written, and it's about the newest champ on the rift, Kalista !

In this guide I'll give a glimpse on How-to-Kalista!
Even though she's new on the rift and there wasn't nearly enough time to learn everything there is to know about kalista. I have played about 50 matches with her so far, and I think I got a decent hang of her!

That being said, take a look at her champion spotlight

Play Video
and her awesome Pledge Cinematic! Play Video

Pros
-absolutely punishing kiting ability
-has means of escape due to Martial Poise and Rend
-high burst damage with core items
- Sentinelpassive can be used to easily secure farm
- Rend is off cooldown if it kills an enemy
- Rend has low mana cost
-high range poke with Pierce
- Fate's Call can be used to initiate or to save your soulbound from dying
-Huge snowball potential

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Cons
-is squishy like all carries
- Pierce has high mana cost
-If killed early on, falls behind NOTICABLY
-Her ult is rendered useless if Oathsworn (bound ally) goes AFK or disconnects
-Hard to master

Kalista is an attack damage carry, which means Attack Damage is your primary stat.
That being said, focusing mainly on building critical damage aswell as attack speed can ensure your team a victory.

ALL of Kalista abilities are AD, which means there are no hybrid ability power builds that can be played with her.

In this section I'd just like to explain why some items are better than others. (Ofcourse, I could be wrong, but this is a game with a large item database with endless possibilities so feel free to correct and/or suggest)

Blade of the Ruined King is a nice item for Kalista. However, it doesn't give nearly as much DPS as Infinity Edge does. Although compensating with it's active which can work great with kalista's Sentinel passive, with the full AD runes I wouldn't suggest going for BotRK.
Statikk is a must have item for Kalista. The crit is amazing, and if trading is done properly, you'll deal (Crit->Q->E)much more damage in a short window of time as opposed to the enemy. I buy this item first if I'm falling behind.

Infinity Edge is a must have for Kalista, and any adc to begin with. It offers huge amounts of AD and the crit is awesome aswell ensuring you 2hit every squishy that is near you.
If you can buy B.F. sword with your first back, I suggest rushing this item first.

Phantom dancer is an OK get for Kalista. You can utlize the items passive to kite through minions, although I prefer Statikk much rather than Phantom Dancer.

Runnan's Hurricane is an OK item for Kalista. I prefer not to buy it as when playing full AD burst Kalista, you utilize taking care of 1 threat at a time. Runnan could make the process a bit faster by applying her Rend stacks to all targets in the vicinity at the cost of extra damage. It's a 50% 50% kind of deal. If you want to triple kill all throught the game, Runnan Get!

Banshees' for that pesky Thresh(Blitz,Malzahar,Veigar, etc)

Pick this over banshees if the team does not have a definite CC lock. (An example of this would be Blitzcranks' Q).
Mercurial could be a better choice, for example, if met face to face with Morgana or Jinx.

This is what your runes should look like!
You may choose, if you like, to replace Marks with attack speed for example.
You may also choose to go for Movement Quints for better kiting. Do not Mix though, go one or the either, not both!

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This is what your skill sequence should look like!

Martial Poise

Kalista cannot cancel her basic attacks and they will miss if she loses sight of her target before they hit.

If Kalista enters a movement command while winding her basic attack or Pierce, she will drive through that direction when she launches her attack, dashing a short distance. The distance travelled scales with bonus movement speed, and is increased by 25% when dashing backwards.

Additionally, Kalista begins the game with a unique item, The Black Spear.

The Black Spear - Active: Kalista offers a pact to an allied champion. Should they agree, the item is consumed and binds them together, turning the target into an Oathsworn ally for the remainder of the game. Kalista requires an Oathsworn ally to utilize Sentinel's Soul-Marked and Fate's Call.

Explanation : Every auto-attack you can hop a short distance in any direction. Hopping backwards hops a bit more than any other direction.
Also, if you attack and enemy, and he/she enters a bush (or generally goes out of your sight), your spear will miss causing it to hit the ground and sticking in it briefly.

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Pierce

Kalista hurls a fast and narrow spear, dealing 10 / 70 / 130 / 190 / 250 (+1.0 per attack damage) physical damage to the first enemy struck.

If Pierce scores a kill, the spear will continue onward, passing all Rend stacks from the dead victim to the next enemy it hits.


Explanation: This is your bread and butter skill. It deals massive damage and scales with your AD well, although it has a high mana cost and is not to be used likely to prevent losing your mana pool all-to-quickly. If you are not near a attackable monster/minion/player, and you know that Zap! is coming, use your Q and then dodge in any direction. Use Pierce then dash in the enemy direction to close distance to the enemy, then use Rend.

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Sentinel

Passive - Soul-Marked: If Kalista and her Oathsworn ally attack the same target within 1.5 seconds of each other, the target will take additional magic damage equal to 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20 % of their maximum health. This effect cannot occur on the same target for 8 seconds. Damage is capped at 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 / 200 against minions and monsters.

Active: Kalista commands a soul sentinel to the target location within range, gaining sight in a ~450-length cone in front of it. The sentinel's sight is obstructed by terrain and brush. Upon reaching the target location, it will return to a point within ~1400 units of cast location. The sentinel will perform a total of 7 laps, including the first two lengths. The sentinel is vulnerable from behind and will die if attacked twice by an enemy champion or once by a tower. If the sentinel spots an enemy champion it will scream and stalk them for the next 4 seconds, revealing them for the duration.

Kalista stores a charge of Sentinel every 90 / 80 / 70 / 60 / 50 seconds, and can store up to 2 charges.

Explanation: Sentinel has a great active and a passive. When activated,it will work as a skillshot, sending a Sentinel in the direction fired. The Sentinel will then travel to the location, and back to the location from where it was first casted.
It will remain like this until is destroyed.
You can destroy a sentinel from the back to avoid being discovered.
Sentinel passive works great because it deals a percentage of damage to a target if you attack the target in a 1.5 seconds window range of your support. MEANING : SUPPORT GO BASH BASH, AND YOU FOLLOW RIGHT AWAY TO DEAL ADDITIONAL DAMAGE.

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Rend

Passive: Kalista's basic attacks and Pierce leave a spear lodged in her target for 4 seconds. There is no cap on the number of spears Kalista can lodge in her target. This passive is unavailable while Rend is on cooldown.

Active: Kalista rips all spears from nearby enemies, dealing 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+0.6 per attack damage) physical damage and slowing them by 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 % for 2 seconds. Rend's damage is increased by 5 / 9 / 14 / 20 / 27 (+0.15 / 0.18 / 0.21 / 0.24 / 0.27 per attack damage) for every spear beyond the first that Kalista ripped from them.

If Rend scores a kill, the cooldown is refreshed.

Explanation: if it's off cooldown, it will stack spears in the target. Activating the skill will deal damage per spear and slow the target down. The slow DOES NOT STACK WITH THE AMOUNT OF SPEARS IN THE TARGET.
If Rend kills a target, it's off cooldown right away!

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Fate's Call

Kalista draws her Oathsworn ally next to her, making them untargetable and disabling their spells for 4 seconds. Kalista's Oathsworn ally must be within 1400 range to cast Fate's Call.

During Fate's Call, Kalista's Oathsworn can right-click a target location to dash there, stopping at the first enemy hit, knocking up all surrounding enemies and landing themselves at their maximum attack range from the target.

Explanation: This skill only works with your soulbound ally. Use it to engage or disengage.
You dictate when you want to ult, while your Oathsworn dictates in whom they charge to knock up.

Kalista, when utilized correctly, provides multitude on roles on the Summoners Rift.
I've played her top lane, middle lane, bottom lane and in the jungle.
Due to her high mobility she can have decent sustain on middle lane against most AP casters, any any lane that heavily relies on skillshots.( i.e. Ezrael ).

In this section I will not be covering top,middle lane or the jungle.

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Early Game

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Kalista must rely on early game farming if you want to outlane your opponents.
Early Infinity Edge can help you deal high burst damage in one go.
The key to this is to actually completely forget about your laners and focus on the farming, dodging with Martial Poise as you secure the farm. Use Rend in necessary to prevent missing minions. Don't worry if you miss a few, Kalista attacking takes some getting used-to.After your first back you should have enough for B.F. If you're lucky, maybe for a potion. Now you should be able to try and get the kills. This part is mostly done by your lane support for the first couple of kills. Make sure your Blitzcrank knows you are going to cast Fate's Call . Focus the carry and pay attention to your distance.
If you are too behind blitzcrank, get in range so you can Q->dash in the direction, getting close and hitting at the same time. Do not cast Rend right away. Make sure you stay on that enemy Jinx till you can, kiting and avoiding her spells. Use Rend to slow her, or to disengage her.


Mid Game

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During mid game, is when Kalista shines but only if you've managed to take a kill or two.
Kalista is in a huge advantage if she scores first blood, or even double kill.
Having that Infinity Edge and Statikk Shiv will increase your burst and crit on an insane level.
Make sure you don't Q->step in the direction of the enemy at the wrong time. You will die 80% of times.

Follow your team around and stay behind and lock the kills with Rend. Fleeing targets you finish off by Q->stepping in their direction. Pierce has amazing range.
Make sure you're never alone. If multiple enemies are engaging you use Fate's Call and knock away the enemy team. Thresh for example, is great at disengaging and engaging with his Q->R->E combo.


Late Game

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If you played carefully, by the time you're in late game, you will have atleast 10+ kills.
The reason why is because, Kalista excels at snowballing due to her high burst and kite potential. End game will be a mess for a Kalista because of the enemy focus.
Make sure you're ready for Warwick that's going to lock you, and buy items accordingly.
I have explained the items in the above section.
Rest of the game should be a breeze if you counter-bought items for your biggest threats.

Remember, Kalista can be a good snowballer but she requires a decent Outhsworn.
The knock up followed by a heavy CC will ensure your kills.
If you follow behind and feed here and there, farm until you can out-buy your opponent.