Kai’Sa has always been a strong Marksman in League of Legends, and alongside her damage, the variety in her build paths has made her a hallmark of this champion. You can build critical damage like a typical Marksman, AP, attack effects… for her and still be strong, simply because Kai’Sa’s skill set interacts exceptionally well with those stats.
However, one of the few items that Kai’Sa does not typically use is the Critical Damage item, as she is not strong early game, which is the peak time for this kind of item. Nevertheless, we need to reevaluate this when one of the best Marksmen in Korea, Ruler, often applies the Critical Damage playstyle for Kai’Sa, even building the Duskblade of Draktharr very early.
With the current common build being Manamune, Kai’Sa will be very weak in lane because the Tear of the Goddess does not provide any damage or attack stats, and upgrading to Muramana takes a lot of time. The problem in solo queue is that when you are too weak in lane, opponents will find ways to continuously take you down, and being unable to build Manamune can easily happen.
Therefore, to address this issue, Ruler has used the Duskblade of Draktharr to increase damage while laning. This item costs only 1100 gold but significantly boosts the power of Q – Icathian Rain, increasing the win rate in 2v2 skirmishes in the bot lane. Moreover, the Duskblade of Draktharr provides 30 AD, and with just one major item, the Soulreaver, you can upgrade your Q, and of course, the damage will be higher with the Critical Damage stats.
So from being a champion that is completely “useless” during the Manamune stacking phase and strong in the late game, now with the early build of Duskblade of Draktharr, Kai’Sa will be much stronger in the early game while still ensuring damage in the late game with critical damage items. You don’t need to upgrade Duskblade of Draktharr immediately; just hold onto it until the late game and buy a Cloak of Darkness for some defensive items.
In summary, purchasing Duskblade of Draktharr early for Kai’Sa will compensate for her weak strength during the early game. It fits the solo queue playstyle with continuous and extremely surprising skirmishes, allowing you to participate in fights early without spending much time “farming for teammates” like before.