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Kallari, The Silent Dagger

Shortstaff's picture
Guide Updated to Patch #: 
29.0
Cards Sequence: 
Starter Items
First Real Items
Time to stack the Damage
Reaching Endgame
Optional Item to Replace Traitors Touch

Summary (TLDR)

This is my first Guide.  I've had a lot of great results, but I'm always tweaking it. If you have any suggestions let me know, it maybe what I need to perfect this.

New Changes require less R's for instant killing and more for picking off stragglers across the map. More LMB since it now gets a buff with Shadow Walk is now for offense more than ever.

Abilities Overview

RMB ->  Slash Same as it use to be, Your Typical Slash melee.  Hits Pretty hard when you build your damage.

LMB -> BackflipTime to be acrobatic with you high jumps, Double or single great for escapes.  If a Grux is Pulling you in with his Smash and Grab, Jump Once, and then the second time when you are in his reach. Create Distance.

E -> Blood Dagger Now you can Catch your victim, or use to escape your pursuer.  It is now a slow opposed to a bleed.

Q-> Shadow Walk Your Ambush Stealth.  With each upgrade it increases the duration, Reduces your CD, and also increases your the bonus damage gained from breaking.  Use Religiously. (unless you are low mana, than save your Mana Pool incase you need to escape, or use other abilities)

Note: Shadow walk is not an instant stealth, there is a 2 second delay.  You CAN be stunned out of it.

R ->Death Sentence  Your Transporting Ult.  With the change you now can use to see all enemies on the map for a brief period, use again to teleport to one and do 1, 1.5 and 2 RMB damage to them.    Use either to secure kill, or get to a team fight.

Careful, Don't use on enemies who are within range of their turret if you can't 1 shot them and are low in health.  You dead doesn't help your team.

Abilities upgrade priority

R > E > Q > LMB

Abilities Combos

Describe how to combo abilities to get maximum of them.

You Will want to Q Prior to your Assault.  To get into a better position so they don't notice you, The damage buff you receive, and to help with the CD since it begins as soon as the ability is used, not when it ends

  1. Early Game:  You will want to Q prior and wait for the CD so it will be up for an escape or a number 2 attack
    Q → LMB →E,

  2. Mid Game (offensive)
    R (if going for last hit in the distance) → Q → LMB → E

  3. Mid Game (defensive)
    RMB → Q → W
     

Early Game

I'm going to keep it brief.  Depending on who wants to jungle, you should make that your home. Live it, Breath it Become the Jungle.  Plant your harvesters and once you get 3 if not 6 cxp, Head back and grab your first item. 

Mid Game

This is where you start to show your presence.  With your LMB  hitting pretty consistently, your damage per hit will put some pressure on the stragglers, and the non- tanking heroes.  While Jungling, Pick off the enemy Camps if they aren't being used, Just don't get caught.  If you can steal their buffs, do so. Kill the Main dude and stealth away from their white camps.  This way you get the buff, but the camp doesn't respawn, it's a .... Move but it will slow them down.

Late Game

With the main damaging cards maxed, tack on that last bit of Attack Speed, and show some real damage. Pick off the solo-laners if you feel comfortable in doing so. Keep an eye on your teammates if they don't wanna be grouped, and if you see a fight breaking out, Head there.  Stealth prior, hopefully they don't have any wards at this point else you will be seen.  Go after the same target as your team, this way to focus them down and hopefully start on the second threat.  Use your ult to move around and protect objectives and assassinate the enemy.

Card Build

So to start off:

This Set-up is very situational.  If you have someone who is going to do harvesters take the Assassin's Ward.  If there is no other keyer, Take the Stalker's Key than take the Assassin's Ward.  90% of the time, if a player is against a Kalari, they opt for Wards, so you will need wards to clear their wards, otherwise you are unable to roam freely.  No Big Rush to fill your Key/Wards as there is no bonus to filling, but add Life steal as the game progresses, to keep you alive.

If you have neither the Life Steal key or wards for life steal, stick with the Pots You need some Life Regen as you will take some serious damage against fed opponents.

Next Tier:

Windcarver Blade Voidsteel Dagger

Windcarver Blade maxed will give you a decent amount of attack speed to keep your  Slash outputting where you want, and Voidsteel Dagger is a quick upgrade with the 2/1/2. The small amount of Pierce may be useful, i only used because i didn't have any minor strike.  Either will work.  

Next Tier:

Adamant Edge Voidsteel Dagger 

Damage, Damage, Damage.  If you need more HP, go with 2x Adamant Edge, if you don't need the HP, go with another Voidsteel Dagger, Adamant Edge Which ever you have, if the enemy team is building Armour, Go with the Voidsteel and throw in a Pierce to replace the Strike. You need to penetrate the armor.  If you need the Extra Pierce but feel you want some more Health just in case, replace a Strike with a Health. If you are Dead, you are no help to your team.

Final Tier:

More Attack speed and some light damage with the last Windcarver Blade.  This is to finalize and get ready for the last card.  To be honest, I've never gotten to the point where i could really use the Traitor's Touch. You want to purchase this Card as soon as it's readily available (since it's not already giving the bonus damage opposed to it being a fill bonus). Sell your Remaining Starting Card (by this time if you took Ward or Key is should be maxed).With your enhanced Attack Speed the extra damage adds up very fast  3% per hit (use to be 5% and a Fill Bonus) that's huge, especially for a tank who built HP and not armor.  You can decide whether you want to build Lifesteal into this card or CDR.  It's your decision, I've dealt mainly with Lifesteal as you can heal from minions, but if you want to dagger and jump more, go with CDR to be more deadly from above. 

Optional Tier:

I would go this Route for one of four reasons.  

  1.  You simply don't have Traitors Touch
  2.  The enemy Team is destroying you faster than the Lifesteal can save you. Choose the Armour that will help the most (i like the physical as you can do some acrobatics to dodge range attacks).
  3.  You are saving up CP and want the last space filled until you are maxed.
  4.  You don't like the change to Traitor's Touch or the Lifesteal. (Lost 2% damage and less Health/Hit)

If you are all but Number 3, you may have noticed that there are 4 Extra CPs by dropping TT.  This is where you would turn a 2 Cost upgrade into a 3 Cost, or a 1 into a 2. or if you are a fiesty player, a 3 into a 4.

If you choose Bloodsoaked Armor and added the kinetic into the slot, This will allow you to not worry about the Major Kinetic in the 2nd Windcarver Blade as it will produce the same Attack Speed, at a cheaper cost.  You can instead add a Major Strike, in the Wind Carver Blade for more devastation, and put in a Major Guard in place of the normal Guard.  Just remember to keep your count at 60 cps.

Jungling

Start off Laning with someone just to kill time and minions for the first set of camps to spawn.  Pick a side and kill both camps. While transitioning over to the 2nd side, hit up the middle minions and help with the push a bit. Hit the second side camps.  Once dead, go to the harvester and plant, Teleport back and pick up first item. While Jungling keep an eye on the lanes. If you can secure a kill or force someone to teleport back your team gets the advantage

Should be able to grab the Blue after getting your First Windcarver Blade.  It will help with your mana, since you will be spamming Q a lot more for the damage buff.  The CDR will also be very helpful for the ganking in the lanes for a far pusher.  Keep an eye on your lanes, if someone is getting to arrogant, put them in their place. Shut them down, and make them think twice next time.

Laning

Do so before the camps spawn to make sure you don't get pushed in on that lane.  Don't leave a partner stranded if they are 2 manning and they cannot hold it solo.  Also, if you have an aware partner who can do some good CC, like a dekker, go for a kill or a serious injury especially once you get your first stealth, You will definetly force them back to push your lane ahead. 

But Laning is not a strength, as you can be to squishy for their range heroes, but don't let a tower get pushed in. Play smart, take a hit in tower range to for the hero out.

If you need to lane while someone falls back do that.  Be a substitute if your camps on that side are dead, and an ally needs to go back for upgrades of potion restoration. Be Flexible.  

Ganking

This is where you should shine.

Your Small, Be Agile. A moving Target is Much more difficult to hit, and with your tiny stature and high mobility, the Range ADC would have to be quite skilled in their shots

When jungling watch for pings from your team, or watch the lanes, a Quick,] out of followed by a direct(crippling) will really put them on the defensive.  Even if you don't get the final hit. All Kills are valuable. Especially early.

Your Ult was made for this. You're in left lane, You're right lane is pushed, but the enemy is retreating. They hit their sprint and BOOM! Rooted by your sick observation abilities.  This just means they are a goner... if you got a team worth their weight.  They should be following very closely.

You can even take down a full hp TB or Murdock... as long as you don't take to much damage while draining their health.

FAQ

George's picture

@Shortstaff, Hey there. Congratz with the 1st guide!

Glad to see you are using cards short-codes. How abut making them look better by making a new line b/w card images and text? I have made a short update in the first two sections of your Deck description to show what I mean.

Pepan's picture

Great build! Lot of fun with it ;-)
1:1 no chance for enemy late game :-)
What do you think, Is it wise to lifesteal earlier than in your build?

Shortstaff's picture

@Pepan, Hey man, Thanks for the comment, and great question.  I never really had any other Lifesteal cards besides traitors Torch.  But last night i opened up Stalkers Key, and Thirstfang.  If you were having an issue with Staying alive.... which i know we all do, i would swap the Normal Key for Stalkers Key and may ever drop the healing pot for a drain. Bonus damage to jungle... yes, and lifesteal.... yes.  Both will help get red/blue much sooner.  So i think it would be wise to work the Stalker's key for earlier lifesteal b/c once you show your dominance, the enemy will be gunning for you.  I will also update once i play a few games with this strategy.  Good Luck out there.

Feanux's picture

Any reasoning why you don't pick up Blade of Agora over Adament Edge or Fountain Spike? I would think the 50% Crit Bonus would play out better than the 15.2 extra physical.

Shortstaff's picture

@Feanux (not verified),  The only reason i don't take the Blade of Agora is that i don't expect to crit much.  I haven't built into crit rating, so a bonus to crit damage wouldn't be as frequent as the multiple 15.2 physical damage i would be. I find most of my damage opportunities only last 5-8 seconds before i need to gtfo. The more consistent damage is better than a random crit.  That being said.  It is also feasible to substitute the Starting Stalkers Key for Reapers Key, and build some crit, or the second windcarver for a spearhunter and build up some crit rating that way.  You've given me something to think about, and i may even try that in a match or two.  Thanks,

Shortstaff's picture

For some reason, I Can't log into my original account that created this guide.  There are some changes that will be made with the most recent updates. Once i figure it out, This will be updated.


Thanks,

Simone's picture

@Shortstaff, This is because we have switched to authorization through your Epic Games account. Obviously since your account here here at paragon-game.com was not initially created this way we can't automatically link your acc to an Epic identity.

Not it is done. Please try logging in again through your Epic acc.

PalelRider's picture

i read that u haven't update this build, but with this current build didn`t u have problem with ur defence?.... i read the whole guide and theres no card for physhic or energetic armor, do lifesteal help u with that?

Shortstaff's picture

@PalelRider (not verified),  at the time of the original guide, Lifesteal was more than enough to help survive, I was hitting very frequently and the amount of health i was getting back was substantial for the amount of time spent 1v1. I managed to take down a equally fed Grux. Your main objective with my build is to be the guy who kills off the FED squishy adc in the back as fast as you could and then gtfo before the enemy team turned on you.  But with the recent update, AS, Crit, LS, physical/energy damage was all reduced, so this will need to be looked at, especially with more adc buying armour. 

JayTro's picture

How is it possible to grab the key and the ward in the beginning and still use 2x windcarver blade, 1 adament edge, 1 voidsteel dagger and bloodsoaked armor? Even if I discard any of these cards during the game to have enough free card slots, I would go beyond 60 cp, wouldn't I?

Shortstaff's picture

Ideally you would only want to hold one of the items. I prefer the wards. But if you are willing to stand on the harvester for the full amount of Keyless time you can avoid the key altogether.

By end game though, You would want to drop both items and fill it with the Traitors, or an optional. When you discard you recover 100% of the cost of that item. So the Key/ Ward will refund you with 8 CP Each.  Which is nice, When i started, you were refunded 50% the cost.

Shortstaff's picture

But Looking at it @JayTro (not verified), It won't put you over the 60 cp, but you will not be able to take EVERYTHING as it will put you over the 40 item limit in the deck builder.

JayTro's picture

thanks for your answer!
I tried this deck a few times, but I guess it doesn't fit my playstyle. I was out of mana constantly in the beginning. Even in late game there was a lack of mana when I needed it for escapes. The lifesteal in the beginning makes it a lot easier to jungle effectively, but in late game I didn't deal much damage because of lifesteal and armor cards. Imo, Kallari is all about big hits and then gtfo instead of having more sustain and less damage per hit.

Shortstaff's picture

@JayTro,  I completely agree with the gtfo. As with mana, I always kept the blue buff when available, preferably the enemies.  I also had Fountain spike in the build previously for mana purposes, but with more people building in armor, i felt like the Penetration would be more useful.  It's not to often i use armor cards, even today.  Everything is situational.  Appreciate the feedback.

Jaytro_A7x's picture

@Shortstaff, I love using fountain spike on her. But now that I've tried out Khaimera, I don't pick Kallari anymore. She seems to be horribly weak in comparison. Her burst damage is a joke and although Khaimera is squishy, too, he can still take a lot more hits because of his health regen. I feel like she needs to be buffed in order to be more playable again.

Admural Ackbar's picture

Think Kallari may have been nerfed at some point prior to my starting playing a few months ago, but, very interested to try something like this build still!

Perhaps, stacking lots of life steal on your key in the early game is smart, so you can discard that for extra damage later in the game when you're playing 5 sec burst then gtfo tactics? The ward though, surely that's useful throughout the game? At the endgame it's really helpful to see which lane the enemy is heading towards and massing at before they actually attack your inhibitor.

One major question though - not really sure about traitor's touch here? That card's passive would work best on a character stacking all speed and NO damage or penetration - so, double the speed gives double the damage bonus from this card, but swapping half your speed for damage and pen effectively halves the damage bonus from traitor's, making it very expensive at 7 card points. Being Kallari though, surely you'll want to maximize attack damage as best you can to maximize ability damage? Traitor's might work best on someone like Riktor, who could feasibly stack looaads of speed and life drain, traitors for a reasonable damage boost especially against other tanks, and then play support tank with his abilities aimed at crowd control rather than outright damage? Might go try that in a build actually!

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