Kha'zix or was that Quhzks

Very Relevant, all I can think when I hear Kha'zix

 

Kha'zix, first impressions

It looks like riot has been all about vision recently. They made Rengar with a leap passive that works from the unseen brush. Wards are getting a nice particle makeover and now we have one of the coolest champions I've seen in a while getting released. Kha'zix functions much like Akali and Kat but with more focus on breaking line of sight to really mess up people's spells, attacks and overall focus. Throwing a champion like this into the mix brings up a lot of questions about how he will really play. Questions like will he be best suited as a jungle tank much like nocturne is currently built, or will he be a nasty pure damage output assassin that is capable of instagibbing a carry?

While speculation is fun the whole idea that Kha'zix is based around is a really good thing to look at, vision. More specifically how vision affects spells, the chaining thereof and auto attack dodging. To get the most out of Kha'zix it looks very much like you will need to play the game of dodge into bush and out x20 when fighting enemy champions due to the passive that Kha'zix has that deals bonus damage on his next attack while he is hidden from the enemy team.

The second part of his passive is that when he hits a champion and deals the passive damage, Kha'zix also slows them by 35%. Think about this, all of a sudden you are jumped on by a bug that does nice upfront burst and slows you, now imagine that without flash. 

Before I even go into abilities lets talk items
Thinking about playing Kha as a jungler I would probably say Boots, Wriggles then Trinity Force as it will proc a good bit especially with the ability to use ult 2 or even 3 times with evolution. Beyond that tanky as usual with randuins and FoN/Banshees then Guardian Angel or Maw. Swap out wriggles for a bloodthirster at the end and you have a reasonably balanced build to rock out to. However this is a pre release build that will need testing because the numbers on his abilities really say that building AD is beneficial so maybe an early hex or brutalizer would snowball things beneficially.

Kha'zix's abilities are quite nice and the evolution point is an interesting mechanic to be messed around with. Having a leap is awesome, having a leap that refreshes and has a nice distance is amazing for a melee champion.

Unseen Threat (Passive): When Kha'Zix is not visible to the enemy team, he gains Unseen Threat, causing his next basic attack against an enemy champion to deal bonus magic damage and slow.

Taste Their Fear passively marks champions that are isolated and will take bonus damage. On activation it deals amazing damage with really good AD scaling, but the damage is increased if the target is isolated. The bonus to Taste with an evolution point further increases damage to isolated targets by 12% of their missing health, which is insane. Think about it, a carry missing 1500 hp, Taste will do ~400-500 + 12% of 1500 which is an extra 180 damage. This makes Q a great assassination tool, imagine it with a sheen or trinity force proc another 100-200 damage bonus, crazy.

Void spike is a skillshot but it does some really nice damage, could be a good finisher or just a good opener when combined with leap. Void spike evolution makes it fire more spikes and consume the passive to slow enemies. Void spike also heals Kha if he is in the radius when it hits an enemy. 

Leap is just like Tristana's Rocket Jump and with an evolution point works just like it too, refreshing on kill or assist. The range is better with an Evolution point so a nice combo would be Void spike, Leap and Taste. That alone should be amazing burst when done from brush. 

Void Assault is Kha's ult and passively gives evolution points to use on other skills. On activation it gives 40% move speed and a second of stealth, think of it like Vayne tumble while in Ult. The purpose is to break vision and get another hit with passive bonus. Void Assault can be used twice, the second time within 10 seconds before it goes on cooldown. This allows for some really nice options when fighting, you can use it after engaging to prevent counterattack and reposition for the second wave of burst and then for the third if needed or to run. With an evolution point Void Assault can be cast 3 times so that opens up even more options for how to deal with engagements. Think of how amazing Kha'zix will be with sheen now, 3 free charges from ult alone during a fight.

 

 

The New Visual stuff

Well visually this patch is giving a nice handful of things.

Skins that are being shown are Sultan Tryndamere, and Mecha Kha'zix.

Thoughts? Sultan Trynd is pretty cool actually although I don't play him very often I do think the skin is really nice. Pentakill Olaf is amazing, a metalheads dream. The particles and effects for his skills are sweet and the overall skin look is badass. Mecha Kha'zix reminds me a lot of Xion the Unborn from Bloody Roar which is a great thing because that dude looked so cool. Mecha Kha'zix takes all the void effects and replaces them with mecha effects just like Battlecast Prime Cho'gath. It is a really cool skin with great work put into the spell particles.

(courtesy of IGN)

Soraka also got a visual update with a new model and updates to her particles. She looks gorgeous and the amount of work that went into the update makes me very excited for all the new champions and skins riot will put out at that level. 

Wards also got some visual love with new particle effects to show that they are normal or vision.

Old vs New

 

Minor Champion / Item Changes

Zhonyas is getting a slight buff to the statis time from 2 -> 2.5

This is a pretty big buff, the extra half second will be huge for people using zhonyas to negate enemy abilities or avoid a spell chain.

Syndra is also getting a buff on both Q and R, yay buffs! The Damage and scaling will be nicer now and should put her with top tier APs.

Dark Sphere ( Q ): Damage increased to 70/110/150/190/230 ( +.6 AP ) from 60/100/140/180/220 (+.5 AP). Mana cost also reduced to 40/50/60/70/80 from 50/60/70/80/90.

Unleashed Power ( R ): AP scaling increased to by .2 from .15