Kai’Sa Struggles to Keep Up with the League of Legends Meta
If you have been following the major League of Legends tournaments recently, viewers can easily see the dominance of various Marksmen in the meta. However, a champion that was very strong in the past, Kai’Sa, seems to be left out of the game, resulting in her relatively modest appearance rate. For instance, in the group stage of LCK Summer 2024, Kai’Sa only had a modest appearance rate of 35% and a low win rate of 37% after 46 matches.
The main reason for Kai’Sa being “ignored” is that she hasn’t benefited much from the recent buff to critical strike Marksman items. While champions like Lucian, Corki, Tristana, and Zeri have noticeably strengthened, the power of the Void Bladeswoman remains unchanged. As a result, she is no longer a top priority for professional teams, whether in the Bot Lane or Solo Lane.
The Kai’Sa Rework is Quite Unbelievable from the League of Legends Development Team
Perhaps Riot Games itself does not want this character to be “forgotten,” so in the latest test version, they have reworked Kai’Sa’s W ability – Evolved Icathian Rain. Specifically, this skill, after evolving, will pierce through all objects instead of stopping upon hitting a target as before. Additionally, this W ability will apply 3 stacks of her passive to all targets hit, not just the first enemy.
This will allow Kai’Sa to build Ability Power and have excellent area damage potential in team fights. However, according to tests on the PBE server, this ability will no longer refund cooldown when hitting an enemy. Therefore, players must use Icathian Rain accurately to maximize its effectiveness, as the cooldown for this skill is quite significant.
League of Legends Community Fears the New Kai’Sa Will Dominate ARAM Mode
Immediately after this information was announced, the League of Legends community expressed significant opposition to Riot Games. They believe that if the reworked Icathian Rain is applied to the official server, Kai’Sa could become too powerful in ARAM mode. This is a place where fights occur continuously in a relatively small area, allowing Kai’Sa’s “new” W ability to shine and deal massive damage.
Fairly speaking, the rework of Kai’Sa’s W ability requires players to use this skill accurately to maximize its effectiveness. In traditional 5v5 play, the influence of this change may not be too significant. However, due to the nature of the ARAM map, Kai’Sa could easily become uncontrollable if the aforementioned changes are applied. Perhaps Riot Games needs to conduct more thorough testing before officially implementing the upgraded rework of Icathian Rain into League of Legends.