Kai’Sa’s passive, Living Weapon, explained

Kai’Sa has one of League’s most interesting passives. Aside from her quadra-stack passive, Kai’Sa’s abilities evolve as she builds certain stat items. So let’s explore how exactly that works.

Kai’Sa’s Q, Icathian Rain, is evolved once you’ve built 100 bonus AD.

Once you’ve evolved Icathian Rain, it will shoot 12 missiles, instead of only six. This effectively doubles the damage of this ability and increased the probability that it will hit targets you actually want to damage.

Kai’Sa’s W, Void Seeker, is evolved once you’ve built 100 bonus AP.

Once you’ve evolved Void Seeker, the skill shot will stack Plasma three times instead of just two. Additionally, the cooldown is refunded by 50 percent if you hit a champion with it. The triple stack effectively means that nailing a champ with Void Seeker will allow you to ult in and auto only once to proc your percent of health passive.

Kai’Sa’s E, Supercharge, is evolved once you’ve built 100 bonus attack speed.

Once you’ve evolved Supercharge, Kai’Sa will turn invisible as she activates the spell. This effect only lasts for 0.5 seconds, but it will effectively cover the entire charge up time. Kai’Sa gains so much from attack speed that this is usually the first upgrade players should achieve.

The charge time of Supercharge is also reduced by attack speed. The faster Kai’Sa attacks, the faster she can stack her passive. Being able to turn invisible and move extremely quickly also allows her to reposition in fights as she gains attack speed.

Unless you’re using a very creative build, you likely won’t see all of these upgrades in a single game. However, each upgrade has it’s own merits and promotes its own kind of playstyle. Learning to adjust your build while also achieving your desired upgrade path is key to learning how to Kai’Sa properly.