Kalista the hateful spirit has come back from the dead to wreak death and destruction on any champion in her way. Her weapons of choice are the very spears she was killed with, of which she has unlimited amounts. When the target is sufficiently full of spears Kalista finishes the job by ripping them out of her target all at once.

Despite being a specter usually known for their solitary lifestyle, Kalista can only be played to her true potential with another teammate at her side. By swearing an oath to her, the two then become linked allowing Kalista to common them to her side before she launches them into battle like a living projectile.

The key to playing Kalista well is getting her positioning down, especially Martial Poise which allows her to dash a short distance in any direction after each auto attack. For how to’s on positioning and more, here’s our gameplay guide to Kalista. 

Oathsworn Ally

It’s important to remember to pick an ally as your Oathsworn at the start of the game. If you’re playing summoner’s rift, this will almost always be the support champion who’s accompanying you to lane.

The main reason for assigning your oathsworn is that your ultimate completely depends on it. When activated, Fates call will pull your oathsworn to you if they are within 1400 range. Once the oathsworn have arrived at Kalista, they can then launch themselves out in any direction hitting and knocking up the first enemy they hit. That knocked up enemy can they be easily picked off by Kalista’s spears.

Her ultimate is great for initiating fights, or using your support as a stun missile when you need to make a run for it.

Kiting with Martial Poise

Kalista has a very unique attack animation in that each time she launches a spear, she will dash a short distance in any direction you desire. This direction is set by making a movement command in the direction you want, while she is winding up to throw her spear. When she follows through she will leap in that direction.

This is perfect for kiting enemies by leaping backwards, or using it to circle around a team fight while never taking a break from the auto attacks. Mastering Martial Poise will take a bit of practice, but if you do manage it you will have unmatched mobility without ever having to stop firing.

Sentinel Passive

Another bonus of having your oathsworn nearby is the Sentinel ability’s passive which does bonus damage to a target if you and your oathsworn attack it within 2 seconds of one another. The damage done is calculated as a percent of the targets total health and goes up to a maximum of 20%.

If you aren’t on voice chat with your oathsworn, it may be worth it to point this bit of information out to them at the start of the game. The bonus damage is well worth the effort, especially during the laning phase.

Rend as a Finisher

Rend is a great finisher not just great for finishing off champions, it works extremely well for farming too. If the target is killed when rend is used it resets the cooldown of the ability and refunds half of the mana used. If you want to clear a wave, poke down each of the minions with auto attacks until they are full of spears and on the verge of death, and then rend to kill them all at once.