Hardcore Destruction with Kali(s 5.20)

Hi Guys! I am a Kali main and I wanna give this guide in relation to patch 5.20 on how to build kali and some gameplay tips.

I personally feel people have been sleeping on her, as mercury, erlang shen, pele etc do well with not much effort. As Kali, winning the jungle against all these good is kinda easy and I will tell you how to do that.

I will try to include most of the perspectives, so that you guys can benefit from here.

HOW TO MAKE THIS BUILD WORK?

This build will work fantastic when you are up against a jungler who has no self heal in their kit.Biggest example ,Mercury or Loki.

Why does this work? A general build of mercury will pretty much look like this...

Boots + GoldenBlade+ (HastenedKatana/StoneCutting or Both)+ (2 Crit items) +ASI(for Boxing potential and solo-ing objectives)

If you see this build carefully, removal of any item will cause a huge power decrease or will effect jungle clear or lane clear. Thats the reason why most of the time, Mercs dont invest in antiheal.

This is where Kali beats Mercury. Early game initiate with a blink when your ult is up. Try to killsteal(and apologise) so that you get to late as fast as possible. I personally get strong in about 14-15 mins if I am playing properly.

When fighting mercury try to duel him and generally he wont hesitate because of the "MERCURY OP" mentality and also kali is considered completely out of meta so he wont hesitate. He'll try to blow you up with crits. That wont be possible(until he gets really lucky) as all kali's ability have lifesteal and you build lifesteal as well.Also you have an ult that counters DEATH! You will gain hp rapidly as you land your autos. He will pretty much die every time if you have a good mechanical grip over the game and by the time he buys brawlers or an antiheal, you will have a significant lead ahead that it wont matter much.
If things turn into teamfight, go all out on him and kill him by ult. You will escape as your jump will be up as you initiated with it, and your team is still there.

Sell ur golden blade for qin's so that you melt tanks.

The downside of this build is you wont be able to melt tanks early on, as the build significantly lacks penetration. But still it shuts down mercury pretty hard, its worth a try as mercury is so popular these days. I know the general mentality is executioner and qins to melt tanks, but this doesn't work as junglers have so heavy impact on the game, MUCH more than tanks.

1st relic: horrific(for early kill potential)

2nd relic: Blink(it's fun)

I personally feel this meta is all about countering the adc's and damage dealers, not really tanks. The reason is most of the gods that do good in this meta are completely late game oriented, like sobek, baron, kuzenbo, change etc. And they might be the kings of late game, kali is an absolute devil.

against erlang shen you'll do REALLY GOOD. because you'll heal a lot and he wont even if he buys berserkers shield. Also your ult is far better than his for obvious reasons. Same goes for ao kuang, pele etc as you can stop there heal by brawlers, and their brawler's wont matter as your ult will still keep you alive, hence they will lose.

The Major threat is arachne because of her stun beacuse you are still vulnerable to it in your ult. The key to fighting her is outplays and your brain!.The play-style of good arachne players is aggressive. they will initiate with a blink and use spiders or will directly use spiders. Now is your time to shine! without touching spiders, jump on them and start attacking. Arachne players either max there 1 or 3 and you are safe against both, as your lifesteals are better and if spiders are not there, arachne will do significantly less damage. Without her spiders arachne does bad, so you'll win until they outplay you hard.

1st relic: horrific(for early kill potential)

2nd relic: Blink(it's fun)

I play many other assasins too, but kali is special to me.

The key to success with her is knowledge, according to me. The mechanical skill-cap is not that high like serquet or susano, but you have to stay focused during early game. Anyone can play her late, playing her early is what's tough.

for example if you are up against pele, her passive is basically a bancrofts, so use your 3-2 combo when she is below 50%. That way she will die before she even does something.

Similarly try to outplay the other jungler in early stages. I gaurantee you, even if you are an average player, late game no one stands a chance, and thats what your aim is.

Focus a LOT on farming, If your solo is ahead, farm his lane a bit and likewise. This sounds scummy but it would be worth in later stages. Kali is a very high commitment god,either you kill or you die. Its not like you are bastet and you can jump back xD.
That's the reason why you should gank only when you are 80% sure that you can get a kill or assist.

DONT BE AFRAID ON 1v1's in later stages. People sometimes get farmed early game, so they play like a scaredy-cat late too. Let those thanatos mains and fenrirs laugh spam you, because when your time comes, you'll delete them so fast you wont even remember their existence in the 1st place.

In the old days we prioritized qin sais a lot. If you remember, that was in season 4 and 3 were warriors(basically early-aggressive solos) were relevant and they needed to be shut down. The times have changed and your build should change as well. If you are able to completely shut down enemy's damage dealers(what kali excels at), victory is assured!

Please suggest me changes and what you think about this build.

This is not an in-depth guide as I wanted to show her playstyle.

I can gaurantee that this build is still pretty decent as I personally had a lot of success both in casual and in ranked. Primary reason is she is considered weak and underestimated a lot. Stay focused and aware, and there comes success.

Kali is a jungler which does exceptionally well if her teammates can give some early kills and save her early if she fks up. Late game, she can carry all on her own.