I'm Nocsu, a jungle main on EUW.
I climbed to Diamond this season by maining
Kha'Zix
.
About Kha'Zix and his Builds
Kha'Zix is a great champion for snowballing in solo-queue. He's also relatively easy to pick up as a new champion, compared to other assassins.
He has many strengths, but you have to decide which of them you want to reinforce with your build. With "build" I'm not only addressing items but the combination of the following: Runes, Items and Evolve Order.
If you want to main this champion and be able to blind pick him in your rankeds, you should know how to adjust your build depending on the given situation.
Summoner Spells
Spells
Flash
allows you to follow up on enemies and to escape dangerous situations. It's an overall great summoner spell as you already know.
You can also consider to choose
Ignite
instead to maximize your dueling power.
It can give you an edge in the 1v1 against certain junglers, especially those with healing like
Hecarim
,
Warwick
and
Rengar
.
Runes
Standard Runes
These are the standard versions of the three different rune pages you can run. Some choices come down to the composition of the enemy team, your remaining build and personal preferences. Further down I will explain the runes and which of them you can adjust depending on the above mentioned factors.
Classic
First Strike
Bruiser
Rune In-Depth
Remember to adjust your defensive shard according to the enemy team
(enemy mid and jungle matter the most).
The health shard is the most efficient one in terms of gold value, but the matching resistance shard will be stronger against comps with one-sided damage.
Below is a quick summary of the the different rune choices you can make.
Just use the standard versions of the rune pages if you feel overwhelmed.
("Sec." stands for secondary runes)
Classic
First Strike
Bruiser
This rune set-up reinforces the assassin play style, which Kha'Zix is best known for. The "classic" runes lost popularity since the release of
First Strike
but they are still effective.
Electrocute
is also a good option as your keystone.
Every hunter rune is viable.
You have different options for your secondaries. (Inspiration recommended)
Keystone
Hunter Rune
Sec. Inspiration
Sec. Sorcery
Sec. Precision
Electrocute
is the safer choice because it doesn't depend on stacks. The burst damage will always be higher than from
Dark Harvest
(even if it's well stacked). Great for assassinating a single important target.
The reason why
Dark Harvest
is the more popular choice is because it resets on takedowns. It has more potential in teamfights.
Great for cleaning up multiple enemies.
Treasure Hunter
quickly became the most popular hunter rune for Kha'Zix. Hitting your item-spikes earlier is great for further snowballing.
Most high elo Kha'Zix players however still prefer the utility of the other hunter runes over the extra gold from
Treasure Hunter
.
Strong in combination with
Prowler's Claw
and
Youmuu's Ghostblade
. Also reduces the cooldown of your
Oracle Lens
, this allows you to look for flanks and ganks more frequently.
Works with every build. Moving around the map becomes faster, which becomes especially valuable when you're already strong and want to be part of every fight.
Only take this if go R-Evolve 1st. Almost guarantees that you have your R ready for every fight. Not needed if you're building big amounts of ability haste.
Saving 300 gold and getting +10 movement speed is guaranteed value.
Helps you to hit your 2 item powerspike as soon as possible.
Allows you to buy a
Serrated Dirk
after full-clear + scuttle for a nice spike after your first back.
Allows you to upgrade your
Smite
almost a whole minute earlier.
Lower cooldowns on
Flash
and items are also great.
The little extra AD feels nice for the early clear, and becomes valuable for one-shots later into the game.
Together with
Waterwalking
and
Absolute Focus
you're actually getting a decent amount of value early into the game.
If you're feeling extra greedy.
Gathering Storm
only really becomes worth it after 20 minutes into the game. Combined with
Absolute Focus
you're getting big amounts of AD later into the game.
Problem is that most games are already decided before this happens.
This rune is the reason to go Precision second.
Strong against enemies with heavy CC if you don't want to build
Mercury's Treads
.
Having extra execute damage as an assassin is always great.
Most popular rune choice.
First Strike
in combination with
Magical Footwear
and
Future's Market
lets you hit your core items as soon as possible.
It's great to snowball your lead but looses value if you can't find any good fights.
Don't change anything in the primary runes.
You have some options for your secondaries. (Domination recommended)
Sec. Domination
Sec. Sorcery
Sec. Precision
Kha'Zix's AD scalings are insane and this rune stacks fast in low-mid elo.
Take
Sudden Impact
here instead if you're building
Prowler's Claw
.
Treasure Hunter
quickly became the most popular and also successful hunter rune for Kha'Zix. Allows you to hit your item spikes even faster.
You may take any other hunter rune here (look under "Classic")
The little extra AD feels nice for the early clear, and becomes valuable for one-shots later into the game.
Together with
Waterwalking
and
Absolute Focus
you're actually getting a decent amount of value early into the game.
If you're feeling extra greedy.
Gathering Storm
only really becomes worth it after 20 minutes into the game. Combined with
Absolute Focus
you're getting big amounts of AD later into the game.
Problem is that most games are already decided before this happens.
This rune is the reason to go Precision second.
Strong against enemies with heavy CC if you don't want to build
Mercury's Treads
.
Having extra execute damage as an assassin is always great.
This rune set-up reinforces the bruiser play style.
Conqueror
shines in long fights. It's the best keystone against tanks and bruisers.
Legend: Tenacity
if you need tenacity but don't want to build
Mercury's Treads
.
Legend Rune
Sec. Inspiration
The attack speed increases your DPS and helps to stack
Conqueror
and
Black Cleaver
.
Strong against enemies with heavy CC.
Saving 300 gold and getting +10 movement speed is guaranteed value.
Helps you to hit your 2 item powerspike as soon as possible.
Allows you to upgrade your
Smite
almost a whole minute earlier.
Lower cooldowns on
Flash
and items are also great.
Items
How to build
Assassin
Bruiser
Items explained
Core Items
Offensive
Defensive
Smite & Vision
Boots
Prowler's Claw
gives the most damage out of every mythic. It synergizes really well with R-Evolve because the active doesn't break invisibility.
Best Item against extremely squishy comps because of the extra lethality.
Duskblade of Draktharr
is the most popular mythic. The invisibility after takedowns allows for big outplay potential without the needing R-Evolve.
The omnivamp and shield increase dueling power. The %health damage and %armor pen scale well against tanks and bruisers.
Eclipse
synergizes well with Q-Evolve.
Gives more sustain but less damage than
Eclipse
does. Enables the R-Evolve bruiser build by granting enough ability haste to get Q on a low cooldown.
Stacks
Conqueror
and
Black Cleaver
with it's active.
Consider rushing
Youmuu's Ghostblade
as your first item if you managed to get fed early in the game. The passive and active help you to quickly move around the map to snowball your lead even further.
Black Cleaver
combined with
Conqueror
makes Kha'Zix really deadly in long fights because of the armor shredding. It's an all around good item for Kha'Zix.
As an assassin this item is essential to keep your damage high against squishy champions who build items like
Zhonya's Hourglass
and
Guardian Angel
.
Whether you're building it 3rd or 4th depends on the itemization and champions of the enemy team.
Also a good offensive option as a bruiser against heavy armor.
Kha'Zix is one of the best users of this item because he can spread the shield reduction with his evolved W. Build this 3rd as an assassin against many shields.
You can also consider building it 2nd against really shield heavy comps.
It's the only way to one-shot through
Immortal Shieldbow
.
It's a decent item for the bruiser build but not optimal for the assassin build. If you really need heal reduction as assassin I recommend to sit on an
Executioner's Calling
, instead of building the full item to not further delay your core.
Really good item for invading and flanking. The 12.7 buffs to
Umbral Glaive
made it a viable 2nd item for a more controlling playstyle.
Take
Zombie Ward
in your runes if you're planning to build it early on.
Buy this instead of
Serylda's Grudge
if the enemies have 2+ champions with huge amounts of HP and armor, that you have to deal with.
Maw of Malmortius
is a highly cost efficient item and the passive is strong against magic burst damage. Great for assassin and bruiser. Build this against multiple AP threats.
Great for bruiser Kha'Zix because he can heal against the bleed. Also a good option as an assassin if you're against enemy AD assassins like
Zed
or
Qiyana
.
Great item if you're really fed to deny enemies your shutdown. The stats are bad compared to
Death's Dance
, though.
Stopwatch
can be a great mid to late game purchase. Many champions are getting completely countered by it. Buy it if you're looking to maximize your potential for an upcoming important teamfight, or to deny enemies your shutdown.
(You don't have to build
Guardian Angel
out of it, you can just sell the
Broken Stopwatch
)
Build this if your enemies have a bunch of champions with scary engage/catch abilities like
Malphite
,
Lux
and
Blitzcrank
.
This item can also help to kill targets with a single annoying defensive ability like
Vayne
and
Draven
.
Bruiser Kha'Zix has multiple sources of healing, which can be increased with
Spirit Visage
. It's the best purely defensive MR item for Kha'Zix.
Frozen Heart
is an highly cost efficient item, especially against AA based champions. The mana and ability haste are great for spamming your W-Evolve. It's the best purely defensive armor item for Kha'Zix.
Buy this if the enemy
Malzahar
keeps outplaying you with his R-button.
Don't complete the item before you're full build, just sit on the
Quicksilver Sash
until then.
Maximizes your burst and makes it easier to stick on your targets.
Take this if you expect mostly quick + easy fights and enemies who are running away from you.
Maximizes your dueling potential. Build this against enemy bruisers and assassins. If the enemy jungler has it and you don't, you are at a serious disadvantage in the 1 vs. 1.
Always start this and place a ward at around 0:50. Now you can decide to recall and switch to the
Oracle Lens
or to keep the
Stealth Ward
.
Keeping the
Stealth Ward
is recommended if the enemy lanes are really hard to gank and/or you are against a difficult invading jungle match up like
Shaco
or
Rengar
.
You can't really gank without it. You always want to know if you've been seen or not. You should always get it at some point of the game.
Always get one if you have the 75g left. When you're approaching full build, it's more valuable to keep an open slot for control wards than buying
a
Long Sword
.
These boots are really valuable for Kha'Zix, especially for extended fights and clearing the jungle.
Against many AA(Auto-Attack) based champions. You shouldn't buy them if you're going R-Evolve 1st because no champion can AA an invisible target
(except for
Zeri
...).
These boots are your savior against heavy CC. You shouldn't build them if you went for
Legend: Tenacity
in your runes. Stacking tenacity is bad unless the enemy CC has really long durations like
Event Horizon
,
Dark Binding
and
Enchanted Crystal Arrow
.
Swifties are a cheap way to get (and stay) on top of your enemies. They're most popular with the Q-Evolve +
Duskblade of Draktharr
build to make up for the missing gapcloser of
Prowler's Claw
and R-Evolve.
Skill Path
Skill Path
Kha'Zix
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
9
9
9
9
10
10
10
10
11
11
11
11
12
12
12
12
13
13
13
13
14
14
14
14
15
15
15
15
16
16
16
16
17
17
17
17
18
18
18
18
Always follow this skill path.
Evolution Guide
Evolution Overview
Breakdown
Q-Evolve increases clear speed and dueling power. Enables you to take Dragon, Herald and Baron faster. The reduced cooldown makes you less reliant on ability haste.
Q-Evolve is the most consistent 1st evolve because you're always getting value out of it, thanks to the added clear speed. It falls off later into the game because isolated 1v1's rarely happen and you one-shot the squishies anyway.
W-Evolve grants you peel and kite potential. Strengthens your chase and otherwise weak teamfight potential. Spamming it against champions without dashes makes their life miserable. Synergizes well with
Serpent's Fang
and
Executioner's Calling
to spread the debuffs.
You usually want your W-Evolve as soon as the first teamfights are about to happen, which is why it's such a good 2nd evolve.
E-Evolve is great for quick in&out assassinations. Enables you to clean up multiple enemies, this is especially strong in teamfights against squishy champions.
E is a good 3rd evolve. You can consider evolving it 2nd if you're really fed.
R-Evolve strengthens your survivability and dueling power.
Allows you to travel longer distances while being invisible (especially combined with
Youmuu's Ghostblade
and
Prowler's Claw
), which is great for ganking and sneaking up on squishy targets later into the game.
Makes you really hard to track in fights, enemy carries often loose the focus on you. You become really hard to kill for AA(Auto-Attack) based champions, this is why R-Evolve can also be really strong in combination with a bruiser build.
The invisibilitygets countered by true sight. AoE damage and DoT(Damage-over-Time) are also problematic because they let you shimmer, revealing your position.
R-Evolve can be strong at any point of the game.
Recommended Evolution Orders
This is the order I found the most consistent results with. It's effective and easy to play, which is why it's also the most popular choice.
Always follow this order if you're new to Kha'Zix.
The improved clear speed from Q-Evolve lets you hit your powerspikes as soon as possible. Q-Evolve also allows you to build
Eclipse
and defensive boots in difficult games because you are not heavily depending on ability haste for your DPS.
W-Evolve 2nd to become stronger in teamfights.
E-Evolve 3rd against multiple easy to kill champions.
R-Evolve 3rd for added survivability and dueling power.
The huge boost in utility from R-Evolve can turn you into an unpredictable and hard to kill threat. It's definitely harder to play because you're not getting the boost in clear speed from Q-Evolve. Efficient pathing becomes even more important. You will have to build decent amounts of ability haste to keep your DPS high. This evolution order scales better into the late game because you're "skipping" Q-Evolve.
W-Evolve 2nd to become stronger in teamfights.
E-Evolve 3rd in most cases.
Q-Evolve 3rd is only good if you desperately need more dueling power to deal with an enemy split pusher like
Jax
or an enemy tank, who always survives the teamfight.
Examples for complete Builds
Every build presented here is being played by some of the best Kha'Zix players around the globe, proving their viability. Remember that these are just rough examples and that there is still room for variation in everyone of them.
"Skill priority" in the overviews stands for the evolve order!
Your actual skill priority is always Q-W-E.
Standard Assassin
The classic
Kha'Zix
build.
Duskblade of Draktharr
helps you to escape after an assassination.
Dark Harvest
+
Duskblade of Draktharr
+ E-Evolve enable you to clean up entire teamfights. Recommended for Kha'Zix beginners.
Works best against easy to kill champions (squishy champions without much escape).
This build also works great with
First Strike
.
Best Overall Runes
Spells
Skill Priority
Q
W
E
Best Overall Build
One-Shot Assassin
This build is currently the most popular one amongst high elo players.
R-Evolve +
Prowler's Claw
+
Youmuu's Ghostblade
enable you to reach your target while remaining unseen to guarantee your
First Strike
proc.
Easy to kill champions have almost no counterplay once you reach lvl 11 and 2 items.
If you're fed, you're even able to assassinate targets who aren't isolated.
Only works against 2+ enemies that you can one-shot throughout the whole game.
Best Overall Runes
Spells
Skill Priority
W
E
Best Overall Build
Eclipse Bruiser
Currently my favorite build against bruisers, tanks and difficult matchups.
Recommended for Kha'Zix beginners.
Eclipse
is a strong 1 item powerspike, that synergizes well with Q-Evolve.
You'll beat most junglers in an isolated 1v1.
Best Overall Runes
Spells
Skill Priority
Q
W
Best Overall Build
R-Evolve Bruiser
This build maximizes utility and surivability.
Really strong if the enemies have lot of AA based champions. It's impossible for them to focus you down in your 6 seconds of invisibility.
2 items + boots grant you a total of 75 ability haste, making you a menace to deal with.
This build feels weak until you reach lvl 11 because it depends so much on your W-Evolve. You can switch out
Death's Dance
and
Maw of Malmortius
for
Frozen Heart
and
Spirit Visage
to completely commit into the role of an off-tank.
Best Overall Runes
Spells
Skill Priority
W
E
Best Overall Build
Mechanics
Breakdown
Unseen Threat
resets even if you're out of sight for only a split second.
You can use nearby bushes to increase your DPS this way.
If the only thing preventing your enemy from being isolated are some low health minions, you should try to clear them out before using your Q.
If
Unseen Threat
is up and you're chasing an enemy, you should always AA before you Q to apply the slow.
Combo Q+
Smite
to secure objectives.
If you are about to
Leap
on an enemy, you can
Void Spike
first and cancel it's animation with the jump. Use
Void Spike
to check suspicious bushes.
Don't rush this ability. If you're already coming from behind, you should hold on to it, so you can follow up on a flash or dash.
You can use
Flash
and
Prowler's Claw
while jumping but it will cancel the ability.
You can use
Ironspike Whip
and
Goredrinker
active mid-air.
You can cast
Taste Their Fear
mid-air.
You can double jump with E-Evolve if you manage to get a takedown mid-air.
Every activation resets
Unseen Threat
, so make sure to AA between them to maximize your DPS.
Use
Void Assault
to wait for your Q to come back up. A 1v1 should look something like this: AA-Q-W-AA-R...AA-Q-AA-R...AA-Q
Prowler's Claw
doesn't break the invisibility, this enables a difficult to react to burst combo: R-Prowler's-AA-Q-W.
Difficult Matchups
Very Hard
Hard
Items
Just ban him.
He counters Kha'Zix in every way, now that he has true-sight on his
Bola Strike
. A good Rengar will perma invade you, making it impossible to scale.
Nunu is a really difficult matchup because he is the strongest spam-ganker in the game. He will put immense pressure on your lanes while you're just trying to scale. If your team doesn't have good ways to avoid Nunu's ganks like
Black Shield
,
Crystallize
or dashes/blinks, you should consider dodging the game for your own sanity.
Prepare yourself for the good old "jungle diff" in the all-chat.
Nunu falls off once the laning phase is over.
He can invade you without any risk. He is never isolated because of his R and boxes.
A great way to slow down his early game is to invade his Raptors at around 1:00 together with your team. Not to kill him but to trigger the boxes he sets up in the Raptor's pit. You can just
Smite
the first box you encounter, the cooldown will be refunded. (Good Shaco players might expect this).
This is a very volatile match-up. She can abuse your weak early game by snowballing her lanes with her strong ganks or by invading you when her lanes have priority. You are able to 1v1 her with Q-Evolve +
Eclipse
, but it will be close. You outscale her.
This champion guarantees that at least 2 out of 5 enemies aren't isolated. Concentrate on securing dragons, since Yuumi's early lane is weak and your botlane should have prio...*inhales Hopium*.
It's impossible to 1v1 him. He can avoid isolation with his clone, stacks armor with his passive and can hit you with his
Cyclone
while you're invisible.
He doesn't clear much faster then you so it's relatively easy to keep up in terms of tempo.
Clears fast and beats you in the 1v1. You can beat him with Q-Evolve,
Plated Steelcaps
and
Emberknife
, but only if you proc his
Shroud of Darkness
with your W. Most of the time you're better off if you just avoid him.
Death's Dance
makes him impossible to kill.
Lee Sin has every tool needed to abuse your weak early game.
Be careful in your own jungle. Reveals you in
Void Assault
with his Q and E. Never go R-Evolve against him. Try to survive the first 10 minutes by avoiding him.
Emberknife
+
Plated Steelcaps
+
Eclipse
is my way of dealing with him. You outscale him once you reach lvl 11, but the 1v1 will always be difficult.
Never isolated in her spider form because of the little spiders. Is able to put a lot of pressure on the map early on. Get
Mercury's Treads
and don't try to kill her alone.
Udyr
clears the jungle extremely fast and healthy. His early 1v1 is also extremely strong, which is why you should never contest scuttle against him.
He falls off at around 20:00. Your W-Evolve counters him by crippling his movement speed.
You can't really punish his weak early game, but he can't punish your's either.
This means that both of you are going to scale freely. The Problem is that
Zac
hits his spike earlier at lvl 9, becoming a really strong ganker.
Q-Evolve +
Eclipse
lets you 1v1 him easily in the early-mid game.
His teamfight potential is way better than yours.
Zac
tends to engage really deep if he sees an opportunity. His carries will be vulnerable while they're trying to follow up on his engage. Try to anticipate his engages to get a flank on the enemy backline.
You just can't kill him. You don't have to worry about invades, but he will put more pressure on the map than you do.
Avoid to get taunted in a teamfight by his
Frenzying Taunt
at all costs.
Try to anticipate his engage to get a flank on the enemy backline.
Similar to the
Zac
match-up.
Sejuani
isn't as easy to 1v1, though.
W-Evolve is good to peel her off and to trigger her passive
Fury of the North
before the fight happens. Get
Mercury's Treads
.
Diana
is currently strong jungler because of her fast clear speed.
Since
Kha'Zix
has a rather slow clear speed she will always be ahead in exp and gold. A good
Diana
finishes her full clear before 3:15, so don't try to contest scuttle against her.
You should always be able to beat her in a 1v1 after your first back.
Buy a
Null-Magic Mantle
before she finishes
Sorcerer's Shoes
+
Hextech Rocketbelt
, it will cancel out the magic pen. You can decide if you want to build
Mercury's Treads
or
Hexdrinker
out of it, you can also just sit on it for a while.
This item is the reason why most AP carries stop falling under the
"easy to kill"-category at some point of the game. It doesn't help them much if they are completely alone against you. But killing someone with
Zhonya's Hourglass
or
Stopwatch
in a teamfight situation is nearly impossible for you.
Kha'Zix can deal with
Crown of the Shattered Queen
quite well compared to other assassins, once he has his W-Evolve. Trigger it with W, wait for the shield to disappear and then engage. The slow of W-Evolve ensures that the enemy doesn't get far away while you're waiting.
Death's Dance
makes it really hard to kill otherwise squishy champions, especially if they are able to heal or shield themselves like
Yone
,
Yasuo
and
Lee Sin
. Build
Serylda's Grudge
and don't over commit on champions who have it.
Ah yes, the Immortal Cringebow. The best answer to this item is
Serpent's Fang
. Keep in mind that it's not worth it to build
Serpent's Fang
only to counter a single
Immortal Shieldbow
.
Gameplay
General Game Plan
Kha'Zix is a scaling champion, who has his biggest spike at lvl 11 with 2 items. Your main objective as Kha'Zix is it to maintain a steady income of experienceand gold until you reach that point. The reason why Kha'Zix doesn't have good winrates below gold-elo is not because he is a mechanically hard to play champion. It is because people in lower elos waste too much time before hitting their spike.
Successful ganks can enable Kha'Zix to snowball the entire game, while unsuccessful ones are the easiest way to fall behind. This is why you should never try to force ganks and instead be patient until a good opportunity appears.
While it's great to enable your teammates, it's also important to enable yourself.
0:00-1:30
Kha'Zix is really vulnerable to invades because they slow down his already weak early game. Beg your teammates to cover. Place your ward at around 0:50 against possible late-invades, cheeses or early ganks.
(You might have to use your ward earlier to compensate for an afk teammate.)
You can recall at 0:55 for
Oracle Lens
.
Standard Cover + 0:50 Ward Spots (Blue Side)
Jungle Start
There are multiple factors to consider when choosing the starting location of your clear:
1. Kha'Zix prefers to start at Blue.
The Blue start leads to a faster and healthier clear for Kha'Zix. You don't need a leash to finish 5 camps at around 3:10. Another benefit of the Blue start is that you're preserving the Red buff duration for possible ganks. This however doesn't mean that you should start at Blue every single game. A Red start can be preferable considering all factors.
2. You should path towards the lane you're looking to gank.
Kha'Zix
Hecarim
Warwick
Rengar
Jax
