League of Legends Patch 14.17 has a hidden change to Kai’Sa that is looking to make her AP builds even stronger than before, pushing the champion in a new direction.
Patch 14.17 for League of Legends is currently being worked on by the devs at Riot Games. So far the new patch includes nerfs to jungle champions like Brand and Lillia, who have become far too strong thanks to jungle items Fated Ashes and Blackfire Torch.
However, the developers have yet to document a new change, which involves a massive rework of the ADC Kai’Sa.
These are currently aimed at making her W more impactful when it’s evolved, opening up more builds for her full AP assassin variant.
The update is currently slated for Kai’Sa on the PBE, which sees her W travel through targets and deal damage to all of them. This will massively increase the potency of the ability, as she can now cleave through entire teams with her high-damage spells.
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This, however, will only apply to her W after she evolves it, which means she’ll need at least 100 ability power before she can unlock this version of it. This newfound power comes at a cost, as its previous feature of having its cooldown reduced is being removed.
This can be seen as both positive and negative for Kai’Sa. It shifts her away from permanent poke builds with AP into a more all-in burst playstyle. Currently, Kai’Sa is being played more as a hybrid ADC, with Guinsoo’s Rageblade and Nashor’s Tooth being prominent items.
The update to her W may see the return of AP Kai’sa to the spotlight, a popular mid-lane option until it was nerfed.
Of course, with these changes being undocumented, as well as on the PBE, it could mean that these changes may not make it to the live servers at all. It does mean though that Riot may look to shake up Kai’Sa’s builds even more in the future.