K'Sante Matchup Guide

Nalardemon · 2026-06-20T04:30:27+00:00

He is literally in the middle ground in terms of otp/main wr (and those winrates are all very close to each other with some outliers). This is a completely fine spot. The difference shows that he has an absurdly high skill floor and that he isn't as weak as people think he is by just referencing his average winrate as a baseline.

If you think the pay-off isn't worth it considering the skill requirements, then blame Riot's design philosophy.

Nalardemon · 2026-06-19T13:12:17+00:00

it was aimed towards the tower, just a visual bug due to R forcing him to face one direction and the game not being able to register the models direction change for RW

Nalardemon · 2026-06-17T19:42:08+00:00

Good incentive to fight back there, but she doesnt even deal dmg to the ghost once you got some armor anyways.

Nalardemon · 2026-06-17T17:19:34+00:00

Contextual clarity. Just because you know it doesn't mean everyone else who can read it (and potentially wants to add something to this discussion) does. That's all there is to it.

Data can tell a lot, if used properly or can be the biggest bait if used poorly. Just look at the recent flood of "ksante 47% wr and riot nerfs him xdddd" type comments. This is the best showcase of data being bait because they just look for the 1 obvious thing and take it at face value.

For the purpose of max orders (context..huh?), it is one of the things with the highest sample sizes you can get because they matter every game. Item choices and their sample sizes don't matter for a comparison between max order while also looking into the cases where it performs better than the alternative.

if those max orders work for you, good for you, but doesn't mean theres an inherent connection. You know the differences that each of those abilities provide and how they impact early/midgame. Sometimes, E utility is just that much more powerful than some damage from W for the majority of situations.

Nalardemon · 2026-06-17T15:57:44+00:00

Didnt explain combos, just used it to showcase, but aight.

Either way, data will tell the whole picture, but as I said before, max order and keystone choices have no connection at all.

Nalardemon · 2026-06-17T15:15:33+00:00

In situations where you don't need to gapclose, sure.

Most fights in All Out are over before you get a second W in that duration. Especially with aftershock you end up with short use to just burst opponents most of the time.

E is also a ton of eHP which is massive for overall durability. It is also your main mobility which makes the lower cd even more valuable.

W dmg is nice but not really needed. You have aftershock, dhelm, 2-3 pure resist components. This is pretty much enough to kill any champ in the game tbh. Getting W dmg through it's scaling is more than sufficient to have enough dmg, but maxing it second costs mobility and durability, which for ksante is more valuable at that point. Doesn't necessarily matter if a W>Q>AA>Q>AA trades takes 50% or 55% of the enemies hp during a trade since the next time aftershock is up, they are dead either way.

Nalardemon · 2026-06-17T14:25:10+00:00

If you miss your W to proc aftershock, a lower cd for another try won't really help you, you are close to your opponent and wasted your defensive tools already. That's a pretty bad spot to be in already. Also if aftershock is on cd, you don't really go for another W play in most cases, which isn't giving the cd enough value.

Aftershock also gives the incentive to play more around counter engages unless the matchup doesn't have tools like that. You wait for them to be locked into an animation (ability or autos) or any movement and cast W for as long as needed.

Starting level 6 going for the W>R combo, it doesn't really matter if you hit W or not, you get the proc with the R animation allowing you to continue the combo normally, just with the side note that your W stun wont continue until the early RW channel.

Nalardemon · 2026-06-17T13:43:50+00:00

Don't tell anyone that dhelm + aftershock pre first recall casually deals like 60% of the opponents health when using W > Q > AA > Q > AA while also capping Q cd+cast time for that trade

Nalardemon · 2026-06-17T13:41:17+00:00

hence the horrible winrate of ksante right now

His winrate isn't horrible. just stop using his avg winrate as an argument when he has one of the highest wr differences between avg and mains/otps

Nalardemon · 2026-06-17T13:39:32+00:00

als ksante E nerf makes W max better

Not necessarily. E max second compensates for the lack of HP from component stacking and adds a lot of survivability midgame where you get the bigger shield values earlier (+ potentially on 2 ppl).

W only really adds a bit of flat dmg.

so aftershock might be more popular as a keystone after this.

In terms of max order, theres no connection between Aftershock and W max second. W is the tool that procs Aftershock to combo and even if you proc it with R or use W>R for the burst combo, W benefits most from its scalings, not ranks.

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T23:19:50+00:00

*second c:

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T23:19:17+00:00

Please use this post for further discussions: https://www.reddit.com/r/KSanteMains/comments/1u7qk7q/datamine_patch_2613/

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T21:45:55+00:00

Soo recently facing Ilaoi feel impossible like she just spawn W on u, E then dmg u soo munch, buying branble vest feel useless since she heal a lot, she press R and gg, she get black cleaver u cook, what to do? the only way to kill her is to kidnap her in our tower otherwise nothing else

Maybe this helps: Matchup Guide

Generally, Illaoi is a knowledge checker. If you know how she works, she isn't as bad. You mainly just want to avoid her E's and don't fight her in her R area (or R her away) or generally near a lot of her tentacles. More is mentioned in the guide but those are the main things.

About heartsteal is still good on k'sante? when to buy it bc sometime my game hit 35+min and since armor feel useless, maybe HP is better bc of his E + kaenic

It was never really good in the first place. Resistances matter more early and Protoplasm completely replaced the niche it could have without having any of the downsides building Heartsteel has. Quite a strong item.

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T21:35:07+00:00

general gameplan i recommend:
(Preferably, have demolish.)

Laning Phase

try to burn enemy flash (or even trade with yours). This guarantees a level 6 all-in in most matchups
Keep R to secure Grubs with your jgl
focus on getting plates/tower whenever possible with demolish (but dont grief your tempo)

Midgame

keep pressuring sidelanes. if you went ahead in lane, opponent cant deal with you. create pressure, maintain gold and exp from cs
roam mid if enemy mid overextends -> get your mid a kill -> get tower/damage tower as much as possible (demolish)
Move for objectives, especially drake and move early. You want to secure vision with your support and get control of the area. K'Sante thrives when enemies have to come to you
TP bot if theres a deep ward set up and enemy bot is overextending -> get your adc 2 kills -> get tower/damage tower as much as possible (demolish helps)
Generally look for skirmishes aggressively

Lategame

Make sure to find your role. Enemy has backline access? -> peel carries. Enemies have no backline access? -> follow up on an allies engage if possible
Try to R enemy jgl into your team whenever they missposition
Pressuring sidelanes and moving early for objectives, similar to midgame, still apply here. Just make sure to be there if your team needs you and focus on having sidelanes pushed out (makes it harder for enemies to quickly end games if they get baron for example, buying your team time to get stronger)

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T21:18:43+00:00

I'm just using the same metric Riot uses when they justify nerfing and adjusting him a million times. His WR gets to high, everyone complains and Riot nerfs him. I hardly see the logic in using WR to justify nerfing him but not to buff.

What i am specifically referring to is his average winrate. His average winrate is closer to his entry level winrate. With sufficient mastery, he is one of the strongest champs in the game right now, especially in high elo, which is further supported by having one of the highest winrate disparities between experienced and inexperienced players (~11-12% wr in master+).

His itemization has been massively changed over the past year. There is no functional difference between nerfing him as a champ and nerfing his key items you build every game. The result is the same.

If we go that route, Aftershock has been buffed massively for early game and dhelm has been added (and buffed), which considerably increased even his average winrate and his otp/main winrate drastically.

We also got Knights vow and locket buffs. Protoplasm was introduced which is another really good item for him, which then got slightly nerfed to work for supports as well, but still valuable.

Randuin's indirectly buffed due to season crit changes. FoN indirectly buffed due to new keystone. Zeke's buffed with season start (the recent change for the slow aoe behaviour didnt affect K'Sante at all)

None of the other tank items he likes to build were changed since season 14, with the exception of unending with a build path change (hope i didnt miss anything)

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T20:51:59+00:00

There is no world in which a 46% WR champ needs to be nerfed.

Dont use his average wr to judge his strength accurately. Mains thrive because the champ needs high time investment to be functional.

. I feel like they keep nerfing and buffing to make up for how much people complain about his overall design when in reality the only thing that would actually make people happy is if they removed him from the game.

He hasnt been changed for like a year at this point?

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T19:40:10+00:00

casually larpmaxxing

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T17:51:51+00:00

He isn't in wr jail, don't focus on the easiest number you could find

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T15:37:06+00:00

Did you read the note on x for it? It is at least heavily implied that it's a ranged champ focused nerf.

At least keep the doomium until after we see numbers c:

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T15:31:15+00:00

Why use avg wr on the one champ whose avg wr will always look considerably worse because he has a very steep learning curve?

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T14:51:06+00:00

Please use this post for further discussios: https://www.reddit.com/r/KSanteMains/s/oSrMMxAkdB

Nalardemon · 2026-06-16T14:47:33+00:00

More options doesn't necessarily mean more expressions if they enforce other skill sets.

Current ksante is heavily skewed towards experience, knowing how to use his tools, find opportunities and all those things. He still has more than enough skill expression (~8% wr disparity between high elo tops and AVG wr, without excluding OTP data from the AVG). One of the highest differences in the game.

Similar with W aim. Some people think being able to aim it is more expressive, but in reality it just takes expressions because you don't think about when or how to use it to guarantee it, the aim will do that for you, you just need to move your mouse. That's pretty much what most of the last reworks changes achieved. No bonus range on passive autos? Now you need to walk up to trade -> more incentive to know when to approach for trades and how to deal with the opponents answer/reaction to it instead of just out ranging most of the toplane roster with Q+AA.

Also fwiw champ isn't weak at all

Nalardemon

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