Kalista fell on the champion popularity this season. She doesn’t fit that much to the meta. But when she is picked, she is played by Kalista mains, who know what they are doing and can still demolish a game with her. Today we will look at 5 of the best support champions that can counter Kalista hard.
Also read: Best Support Champions That Counter Graves
1. Veigar
Unconventional support but extensively works in bursting ADCs down with his full combo. Veigar can easily lock and burst Kalista down come late game, and his value won’t fall off even if he loses lane.
As a support, you will want to hit enemy champions with your spells often to stack your passive. Once Veigar catches Kalista with his stun, it is pretty much game over for her.
Early Game Play Style
You cannot do much in the laning phase but poke Kalista with your Q and W. When you see the right opportunity. You can use your E to cage Kalita and prevent her from running away from a gank. If she has no flash, then there is no way for her to escape your E stun, and all she can do is stand inside and await her eventual demise.
Mid Game Play Style
Veigar would have a high AP by now and can one-shot Kalista. Everfrost works great on Veigar because he can use it on Kalista if she doesn’t get stunned by the walls of Veigar’s E. It is also a great buy on veigar as it has a mythic passive that increases his AP.
During this phase of the game, try to play aggressively using your E. every time you stun Kalista, do a full combo on her so you can bring her HP down if it’s enough. Use your ult as well to finish her off.
Late Game Play Style
Veigar’s late game is rather funny because he can get the game every champion in the game. How much more for a squishy Kaisa that only has her leap as a means of dodging. Once Veigar’s E is stunned, it will be enough to finish her with just two of your spells.
Also read: LoL season 12
2. Seraphine
A champion with low cooldown poke spells will surely annoy a Kalista player. Seraphine is a recent addition to leagues wide array of champions. She has excellent poke abilities that can double cast.
Her Q is an excellent damage ability that scales with missing health. Her crowd control is also insane as it has a long duration and range. Here are different play styles you can use when playing against Kalista.
Early Game Play Style
You can poke Kalista right off the bat with Seraphine, even at level one. Sera’s poke damage can be severe even at level one because she can double-cast without worrying about her mana that much. She also has a long-range that can beat Kalista’s at any moment.
Once you learn your E, it will be much easier to lane with Seraphine because you can be much more threatening now with the double cast of your E that can root Kalista. Play aggressively until you zone her away from minion range and gain a lead on her that you can lead to a snowball.
Mid Game Play Style
Sera will have even better crowd controls in the mid-game because she can use her ultimate now. With multiple double casts and roots, Seraphine can burst Kalista down to half health with her full combo, and her ADC can quickly finish Kalista off.
Kalista won’t react that much because she will most likely be fighting while stunned. Items like Crystal Scepter provide that provide slow are great as Seraphine doesn’t need to double cast her E anymore to root Kalista, and every time Kalista is slowed, there is not much she can do as she relies on speed to kill enemies.
Late Game Play Style
Look out for team fights and only use your full combo when team fights erupt. The value of your full combo is great because they are all AOE spells. Kalista won’t use her ult if she is taunted with your ult.
Once you lead with your ult and E double cast, surely their hp will be down to half, scepter provides and your teammates can easily follow up with a wombo combo and finish Kalista along with her entire team.
Also read: Best Support Champions That Counter Ezreal
3. Lux
Kalista’s weakness is taking her mobility off, so a lux with a long-range Q root and an E slow followed up by a burst of damage is Kalista’s natural weakness. Lux also has great late-game burst potential, so once she catches Kalista with her Q, she can easily burst her down with an E + ult combo.
Also read: Elementalist Lux Combinations
Early Game Play Style
Lux has great CC and poke potential in the early game, your Q roots Kalista, and you can use this to zone Kalista away from the minion range. Just make sure to regulate your mana usage to avoid running out immediately. If Kalista is not playing with a hook champion, play aggressively with Lux with a hook champion around.
Mid Game Play Style
Always try to do your full combo whenever you catch Kalista with your Q, but only do so when your ADC is there to follow up. Your damage won’t be enough just yet to one-shot Kalista, so always have your ADC follow up on your combo.
Late Game Play Style
Like Veigar, Kalista will be like a minion to Lux in the late game with her insane burst damage. Once Kalista is rooted by your Q, you can simply do your combo on her and watch her HP bar get melted away.
4. Zilean
Zilean excels at slowing champions and pestering them with bombs every second. He also works great against Kalista as he can permanently remove her mobility because of his cooldown resets. Kalista’s Rend last hits would also be useless as Zilean can simply use his ult on his ally that has lots of Kalista spears.
Early Game Play Style
Start the game simply by using your bombs again and again on Kalista. This has a low mana cost, so you can use it again and again, especially if you have a mana flow band and presence of mind equipped.
Play defensively and aggressively at the same time, reserve your E to protect your ADC or to engage Kalista whenever a Jungler decides to gank your lane. It will also be a great counter to her mobility, along with the stun from your Q double cast.
Mid Game Play Style
Look to build an ever frost and items that provide ability haste so you can use your spells more often. With Everfrost and a glacial augment rune, you can constantly slow Kalista down, and this will take her momentum away.
Once you use your Everfrost on her, she will be slowed for a very long time thanks to Glacial augment. Add the effects of your E and the stun of your Q, and Kalista should give up on moving at all. Always use your CC on her, and you can quickly shut her off the game with this tech.
Late Game Play Style
Zilean will have lots of ability haste when the late game comes, and he can move pretty fast on the map. Abuse your E-speed-ups to hit Kalista with your Q poke every time you see her. Once you catch her off guard, you can stun her and follow it up with an ever frost cast. I don’t know what else she can do to avoid getting killed by getting Perma slowed.
Also read: Best Support Champions That Counter Caitlyn
5. Morgana
It will be a hit or miss with this champion because a good Kalista player will know how to dodge a Morgana Q. But when Morgana Hits Kalista with her bind, there is not much that Kalista can do.
Her ult won’t work either, as Morgana can simply cast a black shield on her or her ADC to prevent getting knocked up. Also, every league player knows how long Morgana’s root is, and every time the champion is hit with this. It’s pretty much grey screen time.
Early Game Play Style
Position yourself where you gain control over the bushes in the bot lane. You need this because it will be hard to dodge it if you are hidden while casting your Q. After all, you cannot anticipate it.
Play defensively first so you can reach your power spike as a mage, but walk up to Kalista whenever your Jungler decides to gank and secure the kill by guaranteeing your Q hit on Kalista.
Mid Game Play Style
You can build like a mage with Morgana and there will be no problem, you will still be a great support. Morg’s skill set has many utilities, and building like a mage is also great. When you have your Liandry’s, you can quickly kill Kalista with just your Q + W combo.
You can play aggressively, lead with your black shield and walk up to a Kalista and do your full combo on her. Make sure you have a stopwatch or an hourglass every time you engage her, so you don’t suffer her 1v1 damage.
Late Game Play Style
Morgana is a boss champion when it comes to late games. She can quickly flash in the middle of the enemy team and use her ult and hourglass to stun all of them for 3 seconds. Once she comes of stasis, she can focus on Kalista’s spells to either kill her or lock her down to be finished by Morg’s teammates.
Questions:
Q. Should I always prioritize CC and slow on Kalista and ignore peeling my ADC?
A. Of course, you should always think about protecting your ADC even if you have the lead against the enemy bot lane duo. Sometimes even champions with leads get killed if they make mistakes against the enemy.
Q. What is the best item to counter Kalista that can be built on most champions mentioned above?
A. That would be Everfrost. Most of the support champions you will be picking are mage poke supports. Everfrost also takes away Kalista’s movement, so she will be very susceptible to bursts and gank, making her extremely easy to kill.
Final Thoughts
It is rare to see a Kalista this season but when you see one, always try to counter her because chances are a Kalista one trick is playing her.
Have you ever wondered just how many champions LoL has? Read on to find out!
