How to play Kali in the Solo lane

Guide to playing Kali in the solo lane

Kali can be amazing in the solo lane if you know how to play her. She has a great passive, a strong aoe stun, a jump/escape, an ult that makes her invincible, some great wave clear, insanely fast basic attacks and a bleed. If built right she can put out so much damage and with all the in built lifesteal and survivability she can get kills and get out fast without dropping too much, or she can restore 80% of her health if her opponent is her passive target.

Building
Starting with her you build Death's Toll, rank 1 HoG, rank 1 boots and a health and mana pot. You get mana with the jungler and try and get a decent start over your opponent (obviously everyone wants that but just try your hardest to get first blood so you can start snowballing over your opponent) When you can you need to get boots finished and move on to either ‘Hastened Fatalis’ or ‘Quin’s Sais’. I personally like ‘Quin’s Sais’ but it's situational which one you get first really, if you are playing someone with slows you’re going to want ‘Hastened Fatalis’, if not ‘Quin’s’ will work great.

Next go into ‘Jotunn’s Wrath’. The cooldown is great along with the decent penetration and physical power. Now build ‘Rage’ and ‘Deathbringer’ for them godly crits and you're almost done. Now if you havent built ‘Hastened Fatalis’ due to it not being needed against the enemy team your last item is going to be a situational item such as ‘Magi’s Blessing’ or ‘Bloodforge’. I personally quite like ‘Hydra’s Lament’ as Kali’s damage output will rely on both her basic attacks and her abilities.

Death's Toll should be used as a starter item for additional mana regeneration through basic attacks

 

A Kali finished build

Abilities

Marked for Death,
Passive,
A random enemy god is selected as Kali's Death Mark. Kali gains 10 (+1 per level) physical penetration bonus against that god, and if she lands the killing blow, she heals for 80% of her maximum health and receives a +25% gold bonus. A new Death Mark is selected any time her current target dies, or if Kali dies, it is set to whoever last hit her.

Nimble Strike,
1st,
Kali leaps forward, damaging enemies in the target area for 70/120/170/220/270 (+80% of your physical power), and healing herself for 20% of the missing health from the most injured enemy hit.
Cost: 70 mana.
Cooldown: 12 seconds.

Once this is rank 1 it won't need to be ranked up as much

Lash,
2nd,
Kali throws 3 blades that converge upon the target location. Each does 30/40/50/60/70 (+20% of your physical power) damage and causes bleed, which deals 5/10/15/20/25 (+5% of your physical power) damage every 0.5s for 3s. This bleed does not stack. Kali gains 5/10/15/20/25 physical lifesteal against targets affected by this bleed.
Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana.
Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 seconds.

Level this over every other skill excluding 'Destruction' so you can clear waves best

Incense,
3rd,
Kali hurls her incense at her feet, exploding it. Enemies hit are stunned for 1s, while Kali gains a 10/20/30/40/50 physical power bonus for 4/5/6/7/8s.
Cost: 70 mana.
Cooldown: 18 seconds.

Worth levelling when you can as the buff is good but not over 'Lash' or 'Destruction'

Destruction,
Ultimate,
Kali becomes an unstoppable force of destruction, creating a damage aura around her of 20/25/30/35/40 (+5% of your physical power) every 0.5s for 4/4.25/4.50/4.75/5s. During this time, she can be reduced to 1 health, but cannot die. She is immune to knock up, slow effects and protected from root, but still vulnerable to stuns. If Kali is under 15% of her total health at the end of the duration, she will heal to 15% health.
Cost: 60/70/80/90/100 mana.
Cooldown: 90s seconds.

Prioritise leveling this!

Clearing waves

See the picture but basically you use ‘Lash’ and make the blades converge on the archer minions.

Engaging an enemy in 1v1
A typical Kali rotation would be to use ‘Nimble Strike’ to leap onto an opponent. This will do damage and lifesteal for 20% of Kali’s health. Then use ‘Incense’ for a 1s stun and a physical power buff, now basic attack the enemy God, the crits from your build should help you to nicely kill your opponent (Granted he/she isn’t a Guardian/Warrior that can soak up that damage). Now if they are too far away, combat blink or an escape, try to close the gap and use your ‘Lash’ to apply a bleed and hopefully they will die depending on their health.

Escaping at times when you would usually die
We all have times where if you could stall for another few seconds you would have lived, well as Kali you can, her ultimate, ‘Destruction’ will allow you to be reduced to 1 hp and use your abilities during it, this can allow you to use ‘Nimble Strike’ to get away or better turn on your target to get 80% of your health back. If you have anything below 15% health when you finish ‘Destruction’ which lasts between 4s at rank one to 5s at rank five, you will be restored back to 15% health which can mean the difference between life and death.

Team Fighting
Kali can do some insane player damage, especially later game. During teamfights she can sit on her targets, allowing her to keep alive whilst working down a whole team, one after another getting all her health back. She can initiate with her ‘Nimble Strike ‘ into her ‘Incense’ to stun everyone in the area, allowing her team to focus and pick off priority gods. She can also use ‘Destruction’ offensively in fights as it will make her immune to CC (Excluding stuns) and will do damage to anyone in its radius every 0.5 seconds. This can be great as you can ult into a stun and then apply bleeds to targets.

Try not to stomp too many games as her as I don’t want your opponent's rage getting back to me!!

Karma out!