Kai’Sa: Riot ready to break the legs of the AP build
Since Riot decided to revolutionize the item system, Kai’Sa has begun to dominate the League of Legends meta. This is because the Void Daughter excels in leveraging her AP scaling and those of the items included in her build.
In other words, it’s the classic case of a dog chasing its tail. But now, the marksman has become a problem for the developers who have realized, albeit with significant delay, her strength and destructiveness in the game.
Finally, though, the nerfs are about to arrive. And they will be quite harsh and targeted to keep a devastating champion under control.
The new nerfs for Kai’Sa
Statements from Riot Phroxzon
“We’re nerfing AP Kaisa next patch and are changing the Shiv + Night Harvester synergy to require ability hit, like other Item spell effects (Ludens, etc) [for LB]. We’re still continuing to monitor Shiv, but think it’s ~appropriate for most users. (Quinn, Zeri, Sivir, Vayne, etc)”
But why does Riot want to nerf AP Kai’Sa? Well, if you’ve played a few games on League Of Legends in recent months, you probably already have your answer. But if you’ve been absent for a while, let’s recap the situation for you.
Kai’Sa’s Numbers
At the time of writing, Kai’Sa has managed to conquer the LoL meta, carving out a huge portion of players both in competitive and normal matches. Currently, she boasts a pickrate of 40.6% from Platinum and above, paired with a win rate of 51.28% according to U.GG. These are monstrous numbers that showcase the strength of this champion.
Why does this happen? Well, Kai’Sa excels in utilizing the AP scaling of the revamped ADC items (Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Nashor’s Tooth, Statikk Shiv), thanks to the excellent synergy she has with magic power. Add to this her ability to deal damage from astronomical distances (thanks to the 3000 range on her W), and you have a cocktail that is as perfect as it is deadly. For these reasons, nerfs have become necessary, and Riot is already working on them.