The 5 Best Supports for Kalista in LoL (Season 13)

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Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance, is one of the most mechanically complex champions in LoL. While she’s hard to master, the effort is worth it, as she can dominate virtually any fight when played correctly. She deals tons of damage, can effortlessly kite, and can save caught-out allies with her ultimate (or set up a clean engage). Plus, she’s great at securing objectives when her jungler inevitably misses smite. Of course, Kalista would be nothing without a reliable support to throw into the fight!

Kalista is more dependent on her support than other ADCs due to her oathsworn mechanic, so it’s important to lock in a champion that’ll truly help her reach her full potential.

We’ve gathered a list of the 5 best supports for Kalista in LoL below. We’ll cover their playstyle, strengths, weaknesses, and what exactly makes them such strong picks with Kalista.

Article Summary: Key Points

Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance, is a highly complex champion in League of Legends. She relies heavily on a supportive champion due to her oathsworn mechanic, and when paired with the right support, she can be a dominant force in the game.
Five of the best supports for Kalista are Amumu, Nautilus, Taric, Thresh, and Leona. Each of these champions has unique abilities that complement Kalista’s playstyle, such as tanking abilities, crowd control (CC), or engage potential.
Amumu’s strengths lie in his ability to tank damage and peel for Kalista. His ultimate ability provides an area of effect (AoE) stun, which works well with Kalista’s ultimate for crowd control. However, he’s relatively weak when his Q ability is on cooldown, especially early in the game.
Thresh is a more difficult champion to master, but offers significant playmaking potential. He can hook enemies, save Kalista if she’s in trouble, and control the movements of enemies. Thresh can also combine his abilities with Kalista’s ultimate to either engage or escape from a situation.
Leona is our top pick to pair with Kalista. She makes an aggressive, fearsome pair with Kalista. They have excellent synergy. Leona’s abilities, particularly her crowd control skills and passive, boost Kalista’s damage output. But Leona has no escape once she engages, requiring careful timing and strategic decision-making.

5 Best Supports for Kalista (Season 13)

Let’s get started. Time to secure some kills for Kalista, no jungler ganking required!

Amumu

Yes. We know. Amumu isn’t exactly a “meta” support, but don’t let that deter you from locking in this sad mummy. He works extremely well with Kalista and can truly transform her into an unkillable god.

He can tank virtually anything thrown at him while peeling for Kalista with his Q stun, allowing her to effortlessly land her damage and kite, no matter the opponent. Plus, Amumu can supplement Kalista’s damage with his own; his W and E abilities both apply hefty damage.

The main reason why Amumu is such a strong support pick with Kalista though is because of his ultimate. It’s essentially a giant AoE stun pool that renders the enemy useless for a lengthy duration, especially if he follows this up with his Q stun. Kalista can ult Amumu and throw him right into the target, resulting in a lethal, inescapable CC chain. It also makes for a great all-in engage during team fights.

While Amumu is tanky, he is relatively weak when his Q is on cooldown, especially during the early stages of the game. Avoid spamming his Q needlessly and try to save it for when the enemy has wasted their own abilities.

Strengths

Tank virtually anything
Giant AoE stun ultimate
Can peel Kalista effortlessly

Weaknesses

Weak when Q is on cooldown, particularly during the early game

Nautilus

If you don’t want to learn the ins and outs of a mechanically complex champion like Thresh, Nautilus is a great alternative support. While he doesn’t have as much playmaking potential, he’s a beginner-friendly support, can still make plays, has a nifty hook, and can peel for Kalista effortlessly. He can also play much more aggressively than Thresh in the early game, which can help Kalista secure kills in the laning phase.

Nautilus has plenty of CC at his disposal. His passive roots enemies, his E applies an AoE slow, and his ultimate is a shockwave that knocks up and stuns his opponent. All of this CC can help maximize Kalista’s damage output, since it allows her to land her rend stacks and play aggressively without being punished by the enemy. Plus, he can use his CC (especially his long-ranged hook!) to secure picks while roaming around the map.

Nautilus’ ultimate also works great with Kalista’s ultimate. Played correctly, and it pretty much guarantees a kill since the enemy won’t be able to escape the chain CC and Kalista’s damage.

To top it off, Nautilus is tanky enough that a single mistake usually won’t leave you looking at the gray screen of death. However, be aware that once he engages he’ll have no means of escape unless he has flash. You’ll need to position carefully in fights and ensure your teammates are in position to follow you up.

Strengths

Plenty of CC at his disposal
Tanky
Beginner-friendly

Weaknesses

No escape once he engages

Taric

Taric isn’t all sparkles and no substance! He has plenty of abilities that can help Kalista survive for long enough to dish out the damage. His Q provides hefty healing, his W grants bonus resistances, and his E stun can stop the enemy in their tracks. Plus, Taric’s auto-attack resets can help Kalista push out lane waves even faster.

Taric and Kalista both have playstyles that revolve around engaging on the enemy. So, it should come as no surprise that when paired together their engage potential is strengthened tenfold. Kalista can use her rend to slow the target — making it easy for Taric to land his stun — or simply ult him forward to create that sweet CC chain.

But what makes Taric a top-tier pick? His ultimate. It essentially makes all nearby allies invulnerable for a few seconds, allowing Kalista to play aggressively, secure the kill, and escape without losing a tick of health. While it makes all-ins effortless, Taric’s ultimate can also be used as a disengage tool if Kalista accidentally overextends.

Taric isn’t a great pick into heavy poke comps, since his Q, while offers healing, has a high mana cost. This is especially the case in the early game when he doesn’t have any items.

Strengths

Can grant healing, invulnerability, and bonus resistances
Help with wave clear
Strong engage potential

Weaknesses

Weak against poke comps
Rather high mana costs

Thresh

Thresh is a champion that’s incredibly hard to master but becomes an unstoppable force if you put in the time and effort to learn his kit. He becomes even more deadly when working side-by-side with Kalista. Every ability in his kit allows Kalista to truly dominate her opponents. He can use his hook to secure picks, his W to save Kalista if she overextends, and his E to control the enemy’s every movement.

What really makes Thresh a great support pick with Kalista though is his hook and flay combo — he can use it to set up plays, prevent enemies from escaping, and also help Kalista apply her rend stacks while kiting. Plus, his E passive works wonderfully with Kalista’s W passive.

Thresh is also tanky enough to withstand hardhitting attacks, especially during the later stages of the game. Due to this, he can offer great peeling for Kalista and allow her to focus on “fancy feeting” her opponents. Thresh can also use his AoE ultimate to easily isolate Kalista’s target or set up a killer all-in engage.

Another great aspect of Thresh is his roaming potential. If his Kalista falls behind, he can make up for this by rotating to other lanes and applying pressure, whether by helping them secure kills or take down turrets.

Thresh synergizes particularly well with Kalista’s ultimate, since she can throw him into the perfect position to land a hook. He can also combine Kalista’s ultimate with his lantern for an effortless escape; Kalista can throw him to safety with her ultimate and then Thresh can throw out his lantern to let her escape too.

Keep in mind that Thresh is very dependent on landing skillshots. So he might not be good choice if you’re after a simple, beginner-friendly support champion.

Strengths

Unrivaled playmaking potential
Killer all-in engage
Can help Kalista escape easily from unfavorable situations

Weaknesses

Hard to master; dependent on skillshots

Leona

Kalista and Leona make one of the most aggressive bot duos in the game. The reason? Their synergy is unrivaled. Leona can body block any hard-hitting attacks with her W ability, use her E and Q combo to effortlessly engage and lock down picks for Kalista, and even increase Kalista’s damage output with her passive. Plus, Leona can easily proc Kalista’s W passive with her Q.

Leona is particularly strong at level 2. When played properly, engaging at level 2 on the enemy pretty much always guarantees a kill for Kalista, giving her plenty of opportunity to snowball the rest of the game.

Even if Leona can’t help Kalista secure a kill early, she just has to wait until she hits level 6. Her long-ranged CC ultimate allows Kalista to lock down any target. Kalista can even ult Leona into the target for an unstoppable CC chain (Kalista knockup followed by Leona Q and ult). Just like Thresh, Leona also has great roaming potential, especially if she builds mobility boots.

Leona’s kit is incredibly simple, which will allow you to focus on the macro side of the game. However, she has no means of escape once she all-ins. Time your engages carefully and avoid tunnel visioning.

Strengths

Aggressive playstyle, particularly in lane
Unstoppable CC chain when played right
Can easily proc Kalista’s W passive with her Q

Weaknesses

No means of escape once she all-ins

Join the High Ground

That’s a wrap of the best supports for Kalista in LoL! As you can see, the supports featured here complement Kalista’s playstyle beautifully. What did you think of our list?

Do you disagree with our picks or know any other support champions that work great with Kalista? Let us know in the comments below and remember to subscribe to our newsletter to hear about the latest gaming news.

The 5 Best Supports for Kalista in LoL (Season 13)