League Of Legends has just surprised the internet after a dreary three-day weekend with its newest marksman champion, Kai’Sa. A little girl who was dumped into the Void, the angry purple hellscape where Kog’Maw, Cho’Gath and Kha’Zix dominate, she learned to survive among the monsters. She’s got a plethora of augmentations, including a needle gun straight out of Halo and a booster pack, and is ready to dominate Summoner’s Rift.
Kai’Sa combines high mobility with stealth and a ridiculous damage output, like a mixture between Vayne and Xayah . Marksmen with on-hit passives and stealth can be deadly, and I see this femme fatale being a highly contested champion once she hits the live servers. Riot Games has been adding little gimmicks to all their champions recently and Kai’Sa is no exception. Whenever she reaches a set amount of AP, AD or attack speed, a pre-determined ability gets stronger. This means you can hypothetically build her any way you want, but players will find the strongest option and stick with it.
What makes me most excited about Kai’Sa is that she could be the long lost daughter of Kassadin. In the early days of League’s lore in issue 14 of the Journal of Justice, a brief article mentions that Malzahar sacrificed Kassadin’s daughter to appease the Void. For years, fans theorized about when she’d show up again and if she’d be one of the game’s newest champions. When the lore rewrite happened in 2014, it didn’t look good for Kassadin’s daughter. His new lore mentioned that she was sucked up by the Void and that he was spending his time wandering around the world to get her back.
Aurelion Sol’s lore claimed looking at the Void would drive you mad, meaning if somebody was stuck inside they’d have to be coo-coo bananas.
In January, hopes rose again with Swain’s rework. One of the Noxian’s general’s lines was “so he’s heard the rumors, the girl who came back” when using an ability on Kassadin. Fans started to theorize that the next champion might be Kassadin’s daughter, though Kai’Sa might just be another girl that had to live inside hell. I’m betting on this connection and excited to reunite father and daughter once she goes live in patch 8.5 or 8.6