After what feels like forever, Riot Games has revealed the next champion in League of Legends: Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance.
Described as a marskman, Kalista "cooperates with her Soul-Bound to deal substantial sustained damage, access her full repertoire of abilities and wither her enemies under her relentless assault." Riot teases that her potential "is unlocked by solid communication and cooperation with allies rather than raw mechanical skill." Kalista is plenty capable on her own, although Riot notes that Kalista will miss out on Soul-Marked's bonus damage and effective use of her ult "without direct cooperation from her ally."
For a better understanding of what that means, check out Kalista's abilities below.
Passive: Martial Poise
Rather than cancelling the basic attack animation, a move order hops Kalista in the direction of the click after she completes her attack. Kalista leaps farther when moving away from her target.Q: Conquering Sands
Q: Pierce
Kalista hurls a spear, damaging the first enemy struck and adding a stack of Rend. Pierce also procs Martial Poise.
W: Sentinel
Passive: Soul-Marked—When Kalista and her bound ally attack a minion, monster or enemy champion at the same time, they deal bonus magic damage.
Active: Kalista commands a sentinel to keep watch over an area. The sentinel patrols back and forth in a line a few times. Vulnerable to attacks from behind, sentinels see in a cone in front of them and scream if they spot an enemy champion.
E: Rend
Kalista’s basic attacks and the spear from Pierce lodge in their target for a short time. Rend causes her to rip the spears from her enemies, slowing them and dealing increased damage for each spear rent from the target. Rend’s cooldown resets if it secures a kill on an enemy unit. The spears stack infinitely, only disappearing if Kalista fails to keep up her assault.
R: Fate's Call
Kalista repositions her bound ally next to her, making them untargetable and disabling their spells. During Fate’s Call, Kalista’s Soul-Bound gains a new ability, which allows the Soul-Bound to dash in a target direction, knocking up enemies they strike.
As for Kalista's gameplay, here's how Riot suggests you handle her on the battlefield in all phases of the game.
Laning
In lane, Kalista follows the familiar marksman pattern of farm and harass with one important difference: Martial Poise makes kiting part and parcel of her kit. With it, Kalista can reposition after every basic attack, hopping in and out of danger to attack opponents and gain superior positioning. Soul-Marked allows Kalista and her ally to speedily crush down each minion, forcing their opposition to farm under turret and nearly guaranteeing a level two ding ahead of their opponents. With the lane pushed, Kalista can send a Sentinel up the river to keep watch for incoming threats. This ability takes some vision pressure off her support, allowing both to spend less time at base and more time dictating the pace of the lane.
For trading, Kalista lands Pierce to proc Rend, poking with terrifying speed. While Kalista decides when to answer Fate’s Call, her Soul-Bound, often a support, ultimately decideswhere it’ll make its impact. If either Kalista or her Soul-Bound land significant crowd control on an enemy champion, Fate’s Call makes the perfect tool to damage and lock down enemies, setting Kalista up to sling the fatal spear.
Teamfights
Without massive range or a reliable escape, Kalista relies on backline positioning and attentive protection from her allies. Before any teamfight breaks out, Kalista should use Sentinel to try to spot out sneaky enemies on the edges of the fray. With the battle underway, Kalista metes out strong, consistent punishment with basic attacks, staying safe with precise management of Martial Poise. Given time and dependable peel, Kalista’s spears rocket from the backline of every skirmish and teamfight. The damage and stacks add up quick, making Kalista a decisive executor with Rend.
Fate’s Call
The ult’s versatility makes it good for peel, a wombo starter or a rescue for your Soul-Bound—used to its full potential, it can be all three. Against dive comps, a timely Fate’s Call stops a chase dead in its tracks and serves as a counter-engage for your team to follow up. If Kalista’s Soul-Bound is caught out, a quick ultimate spirits them to safety, burning whatever crowd control the enemies expended and offering the option of dis-or-re-engage. Brave Kalista players (and braver Soul-Bound) can kick off wombo-combos or follow up on a hard initiation, creating the space Kalista needs clean up the fight from the back lines.
Kalista is said to work best with Leona, Janna, and Malphite, while struggling against Zyra, Ezreal, and Master Yi.
I feel like it's been a while since Riot Games released the last new champion in League of Legends. Although Sion recentely received a rework — becoming the Undead Juggernaut — the last real new champion was Azir, the Emperor of the Sands, who was released two months ago. Kalista certainly looks interesting, but she also seems very straightforward which can sometimes feel a bit boring.
What do you think of the newly revealed champion?
