Arena: Kali, the Goddess of Destruction BUILD

Hello wonderful guide-seekers, I am M4XiiMUS but you can call me Max. This is my first guide in the long time of me being on Smitefire, so bare with me. I have recently gotten back into the game after having a computer that pooped out on me and have been happily re-playing since Christmas! And since I have gotten back I have found Kali to be extremely fun and rewarding. She has a very specific playstyle of pick off, get out. Like most assassins but her niche is that if she does get caught you pop you're ultimate, Destruction, and escape.

+ High burst + Great 1v1 + Good escape + Easy to pick people off + Easy to snowball

- Squishy - Vulnerable to CC - A little tricky to time ultimate - Small mana pool - Weak early game - Item reliant

Ability Type: Passive Marked for Death

A random enemy god is selected as Kali's Death Mark. Kali gains a physical penetration bonus against that god, and if she lands the killing blow, she heals for 80% of her maximum health and recieves a +25% gold bonus. A new Death Mark is selected any time her current target dies, or if Kali dies it is set to whoever last hit her. Her passive is interesting in that it allows you to focus a single person extremly hard, and not worry about the aftermath. Also because of the bonus gold that is granted, it allows you to get your build going faster than your enemies. Spoiler: Click to view Physical Penetration: 10+1 per level Heal: 80%

Ability Type: 1 Nimble Strike:

Kali leaps forward, damaging enemies in the target area and healing herself for a percent of their missing health. This is Kali's initiation and one of her escapes. The ability itself is pretty basic, but the heal that it provides can help in duels. If you're in a 1v1 situation and you're getting a little low on health, as is the opponent, you can jump on top of them healing for 20% of the missing health. This could turn the tables in your favor, but if the fight is already lost using it to escape is never a bad idea. Spoiler: Click to view Ability: Ground Target Affects: Enemies Damage: Physical Range: 55 Damage: 70/120/170/220/270 (+80% of your physical power) Heal: 20% of targets missing health Cost: 70 Cooldown: 12s

Ability Type: 2 Lash

Kali throws several blades, that converge upon the target location. Each does damage and causes bleed. Kali gains physical lifesteal against targets affected by this bleed. Ah we come to Kali's bread and butter, this ability is what allows you to dish out insane damage. This ability by itself isn't meant for damage, but with combination with Qin's Sais it allows you to destroy enemies. The reason for that being the bleed that it provides increases the aditional damage done to your targets by Qin's passive. Spoiler: Click to view Ability: Line Special Affects: Enemies Damage: Physical Range: 70 Damage Per Blade: 30/40/50/60/70 (+20% of your physical power) Bleed Damage: 5/10/15/20/25 (+5% of your physical power) every .5s Bleed Duration: 3s Physical Lifesteal: 5/10/15/20/25% Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11s

Ability Type: 3 Incense

Kali hurls her incense at her feet, exploding it. Enemies hit are stunned, while Kali gains a physical power bonus. Kali's stun is a nice ability that allows you to get off pretty much all of the damage you need in the amount of time given. The stun may be short, but it is of-set by the fact that it gives you a big physical power buff for 8 seconds. Increasing the damage of your Lash and basics. Spoiler: Click to view Ability: Ground Target Affects: Enemies and Self Radius: 20 Stun Duration: 1s Physical Power Buff: 10/20/30/40/50 Buff Duration: 4/5/6/7/8 Cost: 70 Cooldown: 18

Ability Type: Ultimate Destruction

Kali becomes an unstoppable force of destruction, creating a damage aura around her. During this time, she can be reduced to 1 health, but cannot die. She is immune to knockup, slow effects and protected from root, but still vulnerable to stuns. The most trolly move in the game (well, maybe Chronos beats that). This ability allows you to not die for a maximum of five seconds, that being said it does not prevent you from healing. Because of this your passive is very effective when used in combination with this as is Asi, because with Asi you can get on low health and then heal for a lot. And with your passive's heal after kill capability. Another nice thing about Kali's ultimate is that you can still use your abilities, so you using your Lash while having this up would make your DoT even more insane, thus increasing the damage Qin's puts out. WARNING: YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO CC DURING THIS TIME, ONLY ROOTS, KNOCK-UPS, AND SLOWS Spoiler: Click to view Ability: Self Affects: Enemies and Self Damage: Physical Radius: 20 Damage: 20/25/30/35/40 (+5% of your physical power)every 0.5s Duration: 4/4.25/4.5/4.75/5 Cost: 60/70/80/90/100 Cooldown: 90s

Obviously not much explaining to do, getting these for boots, but the cooldown reduction comes more in handy, for really any situation. I have tried Warrior Tabi and from everyone that I heard back from, it isn't an effective choice unless you're facing a heavy tank team.

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This is Kali's bread and butter, it is what makes her tick. By getting this it allows her to emphasize on her bleed (in the Lash ability). Because of the way this item works, you can get your bleed off, stun and then proceed to 100%-0% them. It's just so beautiful that I might cry. I have yet to try Qin's Blade but it just doesn't seem as effective as its counterpart in the wombo combo.

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This is for your lifesteal item, and with more attack speed, it makes your basic's really deadly once you get Rage, and Deathbringer. Also, the passive on this item really works great with Kali's ultimate if you end up in a situation where you are at low health. The penetration for this item helps because it doesn't add much damage, so because you have more penetration the more effective the physical power you DO have is.

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Focused Voidblade

This item is really great because it provides you with more penetration so that you can do more damage, and at the same time giving you more protections Not much else to say, except that if you're facing an all magic team, or mostly magic. Then I guess you could get a Runic Shield, honestly though I don't know how effective this is because I never get it.

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Ok, so I was originally going to put Rage in here instead of Malice because that's how I built her. But it was pointed out to me (by the wonderful Raventhor) that this is a much better choice, and now that I have used it I can see that it is (First game using Malice instead of Rage, ended like this).The critical hit chance is great on Kali because of her attack swing chain, which goes 1/.5/.5 if I'm correct. Allowing her to get off many crits. The extra 5 damage over Rage is nice. And with the high attack speed built up, along with Qin's Sais we can easily crush enemies.

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So, now with all the attack speed and critical hit chance that we have built up, buying Deathbringer is the obvious choice, by making the critical hits we have so plenty of, we are able to dish out even more damage due to its passive. The flat damage that Deathbringer provides is wonderful because we don't have a lot of it. So every little bit counts.

Actives are pretty important to Kali, especially beads. At the start of the game I buy rank one of sprint, this is because it allows me to run if something goes wrong, or to chase it something goes right. Then I might grab rank 2 Sprint or beads at that point. Once you get rank 2 sprint, make sure to buy beads and max it. I do this because at this point I am at the stage in my build where I need to go balls deep without getting interrupted. When I normally end up getting beads is by the time I finish my second item.

I would avoid getting Heabenly Agility because you're not there for a team support, you're there to solo everyone. And getting Sprint instead allows you to get your oh so crucial basic attacks off.

Starting

Ok, at the begining of the game you want to get your starting purchases, which is rank 2 Tabi, one Healing Potion, and two Mana Potions. From there you help your team getting the buffs, grabbing the speed buff for your self. Also, your early game is weak, you have a small mana pool, and you rely on items to dish out a lot of damage. Play kinda passive early game, poke a bit, and once you complete Qin's Sais thats when you can faceroll.

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Battle Plan

Your whole goal is to pick people off, so you isolate them by taunting or baiting them into a 1v1 and then you just destroy them. Or you sneak around the buff area and hide behind them, while everyone is in the middle. Then you find a squishy target them, do your combo (I will explain later) and either use Nimble Strike if it is up, or use Destruction if your low health and feel the need to use it.

Also, grab speed buff whenever it is up, it gives us great sticking power and allows for us to make very effective use of Qin's Sais.

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WOMBO COMBO

The beauty of Kali is how amazingly bursty she is. So time for the most well kept secret (lolno) of all Kali players. Your ultimate combination is initiate with Nimble Strike -> Incense -> Lash directly at your feet (if that is where the enemy is), to maximize your bleed and damage -> into auto attacks if necessary. The other way to do this is to walk directly up to them (if they aren't paying attention) and stun them, saving your leap to escape or follow.

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Sustain or Kills?

There is two different build paths that I found for Kali they both lead into the same thing, its just the order in which you buy them. If you feel you need more sustain, say you're facing stronger early-game gods, then you would want to go for Asi directly after your Ninja Tabi. But if you feel confident enough, you should go and buy Qin's Sais directly after your Ninja Tabi. After you have completed either of the items, you just go and buy the other right after,

When played by the right people, Kali can wreck face, but otherwise she seems mediocre at best. She has very high burst and snowball potential.

Some games of mine that I did good on.

Yes, this is the same one as shown before, not sure my items aren't showing up.