Welcome to my ultimate Kai'sa guide.

Kai'sa is probably the best ADC in Soloq. She can act with a very high DPS output as a classic ADC against tanks in a "front-to-back" fight, or as an Assasine she can combo everything that doesn't have more life than Kai'sa!
But it's important to get that far in the game first to really get these opportunities, because unfortunately it's not easy in a meta full of high damage champions.
Once you start rolling, you can almost single-handedly carrien the game, but if you fall behind, it's often hard to come back.

I am an ADC Main in High Dia/Master ELO on EUW and have been playing Kai'sa almost every day since release. With thousands of games of experience I would like to give you a detailed guide to Kai'sa.

Pay attention to my notes in all sections of this guide!

In this guide you will find:

- different Summoner options you can choose depending on the combination of your team and the enemy team.

- different item combination that you can choose situationally and depending on the combination of your team and the enemy team.

- adaptive rune presentation for various situations

- my assessment of ALL ADC-MATCHUPS in the lane from the point of view of Kai'sa

- my recommendation for the optimal/suboptimal choice of support on the side of Kai'sa

- a guide about the gameplay of Kai'sa

- a list with tips & tricks

To go along with this guide, I posted a video on YouTube explaining exactly how to carrien as an ADC in Soloq.
I stream regularly on Twitch. There I try to explain to you in an educational broadcast how and why I make certain decisions, and how to live carry as an ADC.
If you are interested to read this guide in german, here you go.

Kai'sa is one of the most complete ADC champions in the game.
She has a good Burst with her Q-Evolve,
she has Mobility with her Ulti,
and she has Escape with her E-Evolve.
In this section, I'll be going into particular detail about Kai'sa's abilities and showing you her full potential.
Should you be interested in which is the best item build when, scroll up, go to Items, and check out the notes.

Kaisa's Q

You first want to reach the 100 bonus AD for your Q-Evolve.
This is Kai's biggest power spike in the entire game. Once you have your Q-Evolve.

- Push the Waves very quickly and go for a Rom with your Ulti.

Especially in combination with Galeforce, Collector & your passive as execution, you are able to defeat almost any champion not only in 1v1, but even burst it without resistance.

If you want to go for a pick, you should consider certain things:

Are your cooldowns - that is, all abilities/summoner abilities/galeforce up?
You pretty much always need all cooldowns to go for such a pick!

Is an objective like Drake or Baron up again in the near future?.
If an objective is up again in the next minute, think twice if you really want to go for a pick. Your Galeforce/Ulti Cooldown is down for at least 90 seconds and therefore not available for the next fight for the objective. Better safe than sorry!

Kaisa's W

The W is very useful for getting a stack of passives on an enemy champion so you can use your Ultimate on the opponent.
A classic combo for this is:
W -> E- >R -> Autoattack(AA) -> Q(optimally single-target) -> 3xAA -> Passive.

An alternative combo is:
W -> R -> AA -> Q -> E -> 3xAA -> Passive

In Season 8-10 it was regularly the case that you also evolved the W of Kai'sa. While this is still possible in Season 11 with items like Nashor's Tooth, it rarely makes sense to build AP on Kai'sa anymore. Therefore, I won't go into more detail about the W Evolve.

Kaisa's E

Heading into your third item, it's important that you buy an item that includes enough attack speed so that you get 100% bonus attack speed and thus your E-Evolve.
The invisibility on the E is attack & defense at the same time:

- On the one hand, with 100% bonus attackspeed, you have a very high DPS and can now trigger your passives quickly

-

on the other hand, with invisibility you can reposition yourself in a fight or dodge/escape important abilities of your opponent.

Kaisa's R

Your Ulti is Kai'sa's most important ability in the entire kit, next to the Q. Besides being able to use her Ulti to take down enemy champions as an Assassin, Kai'sa can also use the Ulti very well in 5v5 battles:

- If you play in a team combo that has a good Engage like Hecarim Ulti or Leona Ulti, you can use Kai'sa's Ulti to jump on the enemy carries together with these champions.

- If the opponent has a good Engage on you, you should use the Ulti more defensively and try to escape important abilities of the opponent with your jump on the Ulti.

The ability got nerfed in 11.7 (110/90/70 seconds ⇒ 130/100/70 seconds)- but still does not change anything at all. You obviously cant make plays as often as before due to the longer cooldown on rank 1/2.

Laning Phase | Early Game

Kai'sa is a good laner in certain combinations. With supporters like Nautilus or Rell and the rune Hail of Blades, she can do a lot of damage very quickly.
If you want more information about good lane combinations/strong opponents of Kaisa in the lane: scroll up and have a look at the notes at Treats/Synergies..

Still, Kai'sa has the problem that her Wave Clear is only average at the beginning of the game. So should she play against laners like Caitlyn, it can quickly happen that you are constantly pushed into your own Turret. On top of that, her trades with her Q are usually relatively weak, that when she trades inside the lane, the Q bounces off both the opposing champion, and any minions around, so the dmg on the opposing champion is often reduced. Therefore, optimally try to fight the enemy ADC when there are no minions/other champions in the immediate vicinity so that you can maximize your damage.

However, this is not a problem in principle. I generally recommend playing the lane safely until you get your Q-Evolve. This is Kai'sas bigger Powerspike in the early game. For that, I recommend you get to level 6 first before going for a 2v2 fight on the botlane. The Ulti not only gives you Mobility to escape a certain ability, but it additionally gives you a shield, which can give you a big advantage in a 2v2.

You should always try to farm safely, and play around your team. Kai'sa is designed to act as a follow up. Wait for an action from your team before going in!

Midgame

As I wrote in the Playstyle section, you can go for picks on the opponent with the Q Evolve and the combination of Galeforce, Collector & your passive. Preferably, you should focus on the enemy ADC, as you can usually finish them off the easiest.
With your third item, definitely try to get the E-Evolve - this gives you an escape/play-making potential in both 1v1 and 5v5.

If you feel like you can't go for an Assassin pick in this game, there is another alternative that I highly recommend:
Once you get the second rank of your Ulti at level 11, you should try to push the Minionwave in the middle as fast as possible and then try a play with your Ulti on the Bot/Toplane. It is especially important that the champion on the sidelane has a CC so that you can use your Ulti. Only in rare cases will you manage to get an Engage on the opponent on the Sidelane with your W.

Lategame

Kai'sa is also a very strong carry in lategame due to her passives (% Magic dmg + execution).
With your Ulti + E, you have two very strong hedges that can save and reposition you from many of your opponent's Treats.

But: her burst - especially due to the Q - drops, your autoattacks are now your biggest dmg!

You can - analogous to the idea in midgame - support a teammate on the map with your rank 3 Ulti for almost a quarter of the map and set a gank. This could be the play that wins you the game with a 5v4 advantage!
As a rule, you can't go for Assassin picks in the lategame anymore, because both teams play (almost) only grouped in the lategame, so the possibility to go for a 1v1 doesn't arise anymore.

W-Cancel

If you already have your passive on a target, you can interrupt the animation of Kai'sa's W with the Ulti, surprising your opponent with even higher burst.

Optimal use of the Q

Your Q is in some ways a finishing ability, as your Q makes more dmg on targets that have low life.
Make sure that when fighting a target, wait until the target has less than 50% life first, then use your Q for maximum damage.
If you use your Q late, you have the additional advantage of getting guaranteed maximum damage output on the target. This is also the case if the opponent flashed away or is out of range.

Evolve Cancel

You can cancel the animation of your evolve without interrupting the evolution. For example, you can do this by pressing Ctrl+Q and B at the same time on the Q-evolve.