Kha'Zix/Strategy

Lanes and Roles

 * is most of time played as an AD assassin. Due to his high scalings and only decent base damage, he is generally played with only offensive items (save for a defensive item like and ). However, if required, Kha'Zix can also be used as an off-tank, or even as a full tank (save one offensive item). Due to recent changes on his ultimate, however, this is not recommended as a general build; you should only build Kha'Zix as an off-tank or full-tank if your team specifically needs such champion.
 * Due to recent nerfs on his damage and his isolation radius, Kha'Zix has a much harder time on lanes; he is easier to counter than ever, as in the mid lane, there are many mages that can harass him from range and punish him for jumping, while the top lane has too much bruisers that can outdamage Kha'Zix (even when they are isolated). As such, Kha'Zix is generally played by most players on the jungle, where he doesn't risk facing a counter, and he has good ganks due to his long range jump (especially when evolved) and his ultimate stealth, allowing him to surprise ganks post 6, while becoming a threat late-game with a full-build.
 * Kha'Zix is still viable on lanes against some matchups. When going on mid lane, specifically, it is also possible to roam and gank other lanes, just as if he was on the jungle. Keep in mind that Kha'Zix is still very weak early game, and he is less effective at actually killing targets due to his damage being lower than the average damage for an assassin. However, Kha'Zix has much shorter cooldowns than other assassins, and generally doesn't become useless after a kill.
 * Kha'Zix is as an AD caster; as such, it is recommended to invest on attack damage, armor penetration, and cooldown reduction, over stats such as attack speed and lifesteal, which doesn't benefit Kha'Zix as much as other champions.

Skill usage

 * Enemies are considered isolated if they have no allies within a short distance. The damage of is massively increased against these targets.
 * This includes neutral monsters so it can be worthwhile to kill off the lesser monsters first so the tougher, final monster will take considerable extra damage from . However, this tactic should be used selectively as it does not noticeably reduce clear time, and you may even incur extra damage by letting the tougher monster live longer.
 * works well with allies who punish enemies for staying close together such as  or.
 * He also works well with allies who have abilities that can separate and isolate enemies, such as and.
 * activates when cannot be seen by the enemy team, so you can reactivate it by using brush or . This can be used as an effective form of harass in lane or to provide steady but heavy damage output.
 * can also be an effective way to check for wards as will only receive the buff when the enemy team loses sight of him.
 * Use the multiple periods of stealth granted by to juke enemy skills.  gives  incredibly high mobility.
 * If you have invested an evolution point into, you can use the extended stealth and additional charge to further juke and chase down enemies, making Kha'Zix a very persistent predator.
 * When ganking before level 6, try to keep available in case the enemy uses  or other escape skills.
 * From levels 6 and up, use as soon as you leave the brush in order to surprise the enemy. Use the second cast (or the third, if evolved) for its mobility in case you need to chase or flee.
 * If you evolve Leap its cooldown refreshes on kill or assist. You can double (or even triple, quadra, or penta) jump if you leave wounded (including damage from you) enemy to be killed by your allies. In this case you jump just before your foe dies and seconds after cooldown of your leap is refreshed meaning you can jump multiple times. Use this trick to surprise your prey when they leave their allies to death not expecting you travel such a great distance in such a short time.
 * When you evolve abilities you are adapting for 4 different play styles:
 * Evolving grants you massive burst damage against isolated champions on low health; useful for counter jungling, defending against opposing counter jungling or landing a quicker killing blow on an isolated champion.
 * Evolving grants you a very powerful harass and farming potential early game. The slow works both defensively and offensively to slow enemy champions. The explosive radius of Void Spike is effectively tripled, if shot correctly, allowing for maximum damage output. (Enemies can only be damaged by one explosion, the same goes for the heal on )
 * Evolving grants you immense ganking potential, due to the extreme range (roughly two times ) and the instant refresh on killing/assisting a champion. A useful tactic is to jump to an isolated enemy, slow them with, do maximum damage with  and following the kill your  will be ready for another gank.
 * Evolving grants you an extra use of the Ultimate before going on cooldown; essentially granting you an additional use of the passive, the speed bonus and 1 more second of stealth. This allows Kha'Zix to more easily chase down and evade enemies, making it easier to attack selective targets.

Build Usage

 * Because Kha'zix's abilities all do physical damage, armor penetration is ridiculously good on him. and  are well advised.
 * You can then upgrade the Brutalizer into / (Youmuu's is preferred by many players for the chasing ability).
 * Furthermore, you can go dmg/utility items that proc bonus physical damage - /, and /. Although not as useful for AD ratios, their bonus physical dmg goes great with the armor penetration and their utility (bonus movement speed from two sources and mana) is second to none. This build comes with two speedups to catch up with prey, along with some movement speed from . It is also worth noting that Muramana procs on all autoattacks AND single target abilities, including the BOTRK active.
 * Another possible mana item to use alongside Muramana is . This item offers no damage, but it has cooldown reduction, and the armor and passive allows Kha'Zix to better deal with auto-attack based champions, mainly ADCs.
 * However, this build makes Kha'Zix early game very weak, as he can't buy strong AD items like Ravenous Hydra and start to snowball. He is also likely to become vulnerable to early game harass and zoning, and lose a lot of killing potential over its enemy. At late-game, however, this build has the most survivability and teamfighting potential out of all builds that Kha'Zix can use.
 * is a very good item, as it grants all the core stats he needs to perform his role as an assassin.
 * When going top, it’s possible to get a . The DoT passive is good for exchanging damage in lane, and the increased damage on monsters helps when you steal camps from the enemy jungler.
 * It is a good idea to get if there are a lot of crowd control champions on the enemy team. This item is especially useful against  and  since their ultimates can spell death for Kha'Zix.
 * However, if the enemy team doesn't have a lot of crowd control, and you still need protection against magic damage, is a better choice. This item's passive allows Kha'Zix to survive the burst from champions like  and . It can be later upgraded to  for better assassination.
 * Building on  if you are doing well is an excellent choice. Because of its movement speed boost, damage-multiplier and higher crit chance it synergizes well with his two main damage sources: his auto-attacks and his.
 * also procs the damage buff every time you activate, if you wait for the two-second cooldown of the item between one activation and another. So if you evolve Active Camouflage, when you use your ultimate you'll get three bursts of damage within 4-5 seconds.
 * However, if going a more defensive route, can be very effective with the added armor and cooldown reduction, and is a great alternative if you can't get the gold for a  fast enough. The added slow can also help isolate champions better by zoning them out and focusing in on them.
 * benefits much more from spell vamp than he does from lifesteal.
 * Out of all the spell vamp items, the one most viable at the moment on  is .  Although AP should not be a priority on him, it is by no means wasted thanks to the strong heal from  and the damage from, both of which he should be constantly procing. He can build a  early, and it can be upgraded to  later in the game when cost efficiency is not that much of an issue. Apart from the stats, the active from both items is very useful.
 * provides cheap mid-game stats and gives additional healing from and any lifesteal or spell vamp you have built.
 * As for boots, offer cooldown reduction, and thus are the best boots to use on Kha'Zix.
 * Because Kha'Zix is very vulnerable to crowd control, however, may be a better choice. These boots are also good if there are a lot of magic damage on the enemy's team.  is also viable if Kha'Zix is against an AD champion that pokes a lot.
 * If you are jungling or if you plan to roam a lot, is another viable choice, but you should sell this boots late-game for one of the above options, when roaming becomes less relevant for the game.
 * Kha'Zix already has low cooldowns on and, so he may not need Ionian Boots that much. Keep in mind, however, that cooldown reduction can make a difference during trades, and that  and  still have long cooldowns.
 * is the best lifesteal item for Kha'Zix. Despite Kha'Zix being encouraged to fight isolated targets (and thus, wasting this item's passive), Ravenous Hydra's active effect adds to his burst damage. Another reason to use this item is because when not evolving W, Kha'Zix cannot clear minion waves efficiently.
 * This item's passive is also great if Kha'Zix is jungling, because when combined with, this allows him to clear and sustain from jungle camps very fast.
 * is still a viable choice because of the shield and because it offers more lifesteal. This item's passive is also not wasted when the target is isolated, and it also offers slighty more AD.
 * There is also as another lifesteal item. This item doesn't offer the clearing and burst capabilities from Ravenous Hydra, nor it offers as much lifesteal as The Bloodthisther, and doesn't offer a shield. However, Essence Reaver allows Kha'Zix to regain mana and take away the need to stack . Also, it offers cooldown reduction.

Countering

 * deals bonus damage to targets that are isolated. Take the advantage by fighting near allied champions, or turrets.
 * Avoid fighting in 1v1 scenarios as his  allows him to excel in dueling.
 * and have long cooldowns and Kha'Zix is very vulnerable when these are not available.
 * Don't fight against near brush, as  resets each time you lose sight of him, allowing him to increase his damage output by moving in and out of the brush.
 * appearance changes slightly every time he evolves; watching him closely can give you a warning as to which of his abilities are evolved.
 * If his claws are longer and serrated, then has evolved, Gaining bonus damage for it and his passive  along with increased basic attack range.
 * If the two rows of spikes on his shoulders have gotten bigger, then has evolved, causing him to shoot three pairs of spikes instead of one, covering a wider area.
 * If a pair of wings are stretching out of his back, then has evolved, greatly increasing its range and instantly refreshing it if he gets a kill or assist.
 * If body has changed color then he has evolved, allowing him to cast it three times before going on cooldown instead of two and takes reduced damage.
 * Note that all these evolutions will also show up as buffs if you click on himself.
 * When laning against, placing wards in the bushes can prevent him from using his passive , reducing his overall damage output.
 * Whilst he is evolving an ability, he will have a small period where he cannot act. Use this time to initiate on him, if possible.
 * In general, revealing when he stealths using  will cripple Kha'Zix a lot, as he will lose his advantage on trades, his ganks can possibly fail, and if his  is on cooldown, he effectively has no escapes. Using items like  and  is thus, recommended.


 * Counterpicks to include champions who can CC and damage Kha'Zix when he uses his, as he can't jump on them safely. For example,  can use  to escape from Kha'Zix range, applying a stack of , then throw a  and activate  to stun and heavily damage Kha'Zix. Another example is : she can counter his Leap with  then unleash her entire combo on Kha'Zix.
 * Even champions who can disengage from Kha'Zix after he uses his Leap, and then kite him, are good picks. Examples include,   and.
 * Keep in mind that if the champion you are using cannot CC Kha'Zix after he uses Leap, or if Kha'Zix has some tenacity or a, he can still chase you using the extra movement speed from and the slow from.
 * It's also possible to counter Kha'Zix using champions who have pets or clones, as those prevents Kha'Zix from having the isolated bonus from his . Examples include,  (Omens of , , and ) Shaco (Jack In The Box) and
 * is a nightmare for because not only her  can reveal Kha'Zix while he uses, but she also has a lot of CC and can use  on Kha'Zix's target to greatly mitigate his burst. In short, Lulu negates all of Kha'Zix strengths during a teamfight.
 * and can also reveal Kha'Zix using  and, respectively. Also, because they are very tanky while still doing a lot of damage, they can generally win duels against Kha'Zix, even when they are isolated.
 * Kha'Zix excels at counterjungling because of his which allows him to 1x1 most junglers due to increased damage when isolated. There are a few champions who can beat Kha'Zix even when isolated, however.  is one of them, as due to his enormous sustain with  he can win in 1x1 against Kha'Zix, which will lose the trade due to having mediocre sustain early game.
 * Due to its, can actually counterjungle Kha'Zix effectively, as the box will make Shaco not be isolated.
 * For the same reasons as Shaco, can also counterjungle Kha'Zix, as her  negate Kha'Zix's isolation.

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Kha'Zix/Strategy