Quick Links

  • K'sante's Abilities
  • How To Play K'sante
  • Picking Your Runes
  • Identifying A Build

League of Legends releases new content regularly, and such content includes balance changes, champion reworks, and new characters. K'sante is a new top laner designed with a tank play style.

Related: League Of Legends: Lux Champion Guide

Even though many tanks have a straightforward kit, K'sante's long descriptions and ability changes can confuse you when you first start. However, he offers a solid kit to help him tank while dealing good damage. To learn how he works, you'll have to understand his abilities, consider his runes, and pick items to work around his design.

K'sante's Abilities

Before effectively using K'sante, you must understand his abilities and how to use them.

Ability

Description

When To Use It

Passive: Dauntless Instinct

K'sante's abilities mark targets and allow him to deal more damage to them on his next attack.

Try to alternate hitting them with abilities and auto-attacking to maximize the damage from this passive. The passive also applies to minions, so you can use them to make your last hitting easier.

Q: Ntofo Strikes

Strike a weapon forward to damage and slow all enemies hit. It then grants a stack for a short time. Once you have two stacks, the next hit pull enemies towards K'sante. The move scales off AD, armor, and magic resistance.

You'll get the empowered third Q if you hit a target with two Qs. You can hit minions twice and then use the third Q to engage.

However, if you can hit them with your Q, you'll slow them, so use it as your primary damage tool and for getting in.

W: Path Maker

K'sante charges before performing a dash, making himself unstoppable and reducing incoming damage. He pulls enemies with him during the dash, and stuns them when he reaches the end location. The damage reduction scales off armor, magic resistance, and health. The damage scales off AD.

Use it when you get on top of the enemy and pull them in the opposite direction they want to go. Since it ignores immobilizing moves, you can use it to avoid crowd control.

E: Footwork

K'sante gains a shield and performs a small dash. The dash increases in range and applies to a teammate if he targets them. The shield scales with bonus health.

Use it to quickly reach an ally or protect them from an enemy attack. You can also use it as a micro dash to stay alive during a fight or disengage during a gank.

R: All Out

K'sante knocks an enemy away and pulls them through a wall they make contact with, dealing even more damage. K'sante follows them and enters All Out mode, improving his damage, but lowering his resistances. The attack scales off AD, the additional AD scales off armor and magic resistance, and the omnivamp scales off health.

You can use it to force an enemy over the wall, though it's not required. You'll want to use it when you plan to kill an enemy or during a gank.

You should use it when your health drops below 55 percent since your health caps at that amount. Don't use it if you think you'll lose the fight, or you need additional resistance.

When you activate K'sante's Ultimate, it changes how his other abilities work. For example, the passive increases the attack and mark damage based on your armor and magic resistance. Q's cooldown lowers by one second, but the first two hits no longer slow the enemy.

W refreshes when you activate your Ultimate, so you'll want to use it before you go All Out. While it no longer stuns or knocks opponents back, the damage reduction increases, the move deals more damage and doubles the charge and dash speed. E has a faster speed, a farther distance, and lets you hop over the wall.

As the name suggests, K'sante's Ultimate changes to let you go all out with your damage and attacks. It exists to deal more damage, turn a fight around, or secure a kill if the enemy runs low on health.

Your skill order will be to prioritize your R, then Q, then W, and then E. Your Q works as your primary engaging tool and source of damage, so level it up first.

W gives you a dash while reducing the damage you take, making it a solid utility tool later in the game. E only increases your shielding slightly, making it the least important skill to level.

Related: League Of Legends: Udyr Champion Guide

How To Play K'sante

Playing as K'sante requires you to work through the early game since he tends to be weak. Since his main damage scales from his bonus armor and magic resistance, you must buy defensive items to deal damage. You'll usually play safe and focus on farming in the early game since most champions will start stronger than you. If you find it hard to farm, focus on last hitting minions with your Q since it only costs 15 mana per use.

As you gain the first few levels, you could watch the enemy and look for opportunities to attack and use your combo. You should land two Qs on the enemy or the minions for prep, dash in with an E, knock them up with the last Q, and use your W to knock them away from their tower.

You can also engage with your Q, use your E to get to the opposite side of where you want the opponent to go, and charge your W to move them there. See if you can get your jungler to gank and secure a kill while you lock down the enemy.

If the enemy ganks you, immediately use your E to dash toward your tower. Hold onto your W until you think they'll use crowd control, so they don't slow you down.

As the mid-game approaches, you'll want to pull the enemy near a wall with Q, use your W and E to place yourself on one end of the enemy and the wall on the other end. You'll activate your Ult once you're in the position to pull an enemy through. You don't have to pull enemies through the wall, so you may want to hold onto your Ult and get those bonuses once your health drops to 55 percent.

Late-game requires you to chase down enemies and initiate team fights. Extend your dash distance by targeting teammates with your E, so you can help anyone if they get pulled into a fight. You want to draw focus to your champion during fights to keep your carries alive.

You'll have damage from your defenses, so you can force the enemy to attack you since you'll deal damage to their carries otherwise. Do your best to stick with your team late-game, so you can pick off the enemy or maximize your success during significant battles.

Picking Your Runes

K'sante synergizes with three primary runes extremely well: Aftershock, Conqueror, and Grasp of the Undying.

  • Aftershock gives you a burst of damage around you while increasing your armor and magic resistance. Since K'sante has his Q, W, and Ult, you can easily activate the rune. It boosts your defenses, increasing your damage for a short time. In short, this rune offers the most versatility, making it great as a go-to rune.
  • Conqueror gives you increased damage and offers healing once you reach 12 stacks. It synergizes well with your ultimate since you'll stack the healing on top of the omnivamp. If you plan long fights with the enemy and engage them constantly, you'll want to try this rune.
  • Grasp of the Undying works well with K'sante because of his Q. If you hit the enemy with your third Q, you can auto them as they fly through the air. That means you can use the first two Qs to prepare the four seconds required for Grasp and then get the health bonus. It works best against melee champions since they can't kite you and keep you out of range. However, you'll find the rune challenging to use if the enemy has a stronger early game or has a long range.

Keystones

If you go with Aftershock or Grasp of the Undying, you'll have Resolve runes to consider. Most Resolve runes work well, so you'll want to choose them in these situations.

Rune

What It Does

When To Choose It

Demolish

Lets you deal additional damage to a tower after standing next to it for a short time.

If you plan to push the lane or are against a weak early-game champion.

Font of Life

Applies a mark to the enemy when you impair them, allowing your teammates to heal off the enemy.

If you plan to leave the top lane or gank often.

Shield Bash

You deal additional damage whenever you get a shield.

A generally solid rune since you get shields often from your E. It also works well with a support who can give you shields.

Conditioning

You permanently increase your armor and magic resistance 12 minutes into the match.

A great rune overall for K'sante since the stats improve his damage.

Second Wind

You'll heal back some of the damage you took from an enemy.

If you go against a poke champion who plans to attack from a distance.

Bone Plating

Once an enemy hits you, you'll take reduced damage for the next three abilities or attacks.

Good against early-game champions who want to fight.

Overgrowth

Each enemy that dies near you increases your health.

A decent rune overall if you plan to focus on your health.

Revitalize

Increases your healing and shielding power. If you drop below 40 percent health, the effect doubles.

If you plan to focus on healing this game or have a support with plenty of heals and shields.

Unflinching

Gain tenacity based on your percentage of missing health.

A good choice for a team with heavy crowd control.

As for a Conqueror build, you should try Overheal or Presence of Mind for the first row, Legend: Tenacity for the second row, and Last Stand for the third row. Overheal works well if you plan to heal and shield while Presence of Mind will minimize your mana issues in the lane. Legend: Tenacity will boost your resistance to crowd control, helping you to stick to an enemy. Last Stand synergizes with your tank play style and Ult, making it a solid pick.

You'll want to pick either Resolve or Precision for your secondary runes. You can choose any of the Resolve runes based on the matchup. For Precision, you could pick between Presence of Mind, Legend: Tenacity, and Last Stand. You could try Domination and go with Cheap Shot and Relentless Hunter since they're good options if you find it hard to start fights against enemies.

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Identifying A Build

K'sante's overall design makes him ideal for tanking. You want to take advantage of the armor and magic resistance scaling on his moves since few champions improve their damage by increasing their defense. With that in mind, you'll choose Sunfire Aegis, Turbo Chemtank, or Frostfire Gauntlet as your mythic items since they provide health, armor, and magic resistance.

Go with Sunfire if you want more damage while having more armor and magic resistance. Turbo Chemtank works well if your teammates expect you to initiate, you plan to gank, or the enemy can outrun you. Frostfire helps you stick to opponents, so go with it if the enemy has no reliable escapes.

You'll need a pair of boots, so buy Mercury's Treads or Plated Steelcaps. Mercury's work best if the enemy has crowd control while you'll want to go with Steelcaps for teams with tons of auto attacks. Merc's offer magic resistance while Steelcaps give you armor, so they'll slightly increase your damage, making them better for your tank build.

The rest of your items depend on your enemies. You'll want to review the standard tank items, think about what your enemy does, and counter them to increase your odds of winning. If you want a balanced build, try these four items along with your mythic item and boots.

Item

Main Purpose

When You Should Choose It

Thornmail

Reflecting auto attack damage and inflicting grievous wounds while providing armor and health.

You'll want it in most matches. You would only avoid it if the enemy has no champions with AD or healing.

Force of Nature

Improving magic resistance, health, and movement speed.

Most teams have at least one AP champion, so the item will help you survive and chase people down.

Gargoyle Stoneplate

Providing plenty of armor, magic resistance, ability haste, and a shield.

Works well against a balanced team, though you want it later in the game since it works best during team fights.

Warmog's Armor

Increasing health, health regeneration, ability haste, and allowing you to heal without returning to base.

Another solid late-game item to balance your build. It helps you survive fights and even recover after skirmishes.

If you want less-common items, you can go with Dead Man's Plate, Spirit Visage, Randuin's Omen, Frozen Heart, and Hullbreaker. They each work for different situations, making them suitable for specific matchups or less-common occurrences.

  • Dead Man's Plate works well against AD teams with high movement speed.
  • Spirit Visage helps against AP teams and when you want to focus on healing.
  • Randuin's Omen helps you reduce auto attack damage and slow the enemy, making it great against AD-heavy and immobile teams.
  • Frozen Heart reduces attack speed, which helps you against enemies who have passive effects on their auto attacks.
  • Hullbreaker lets you focus on pushing your lane, though you lose those bonuses when you have teammates nearby.

While K'sante's abilities may intimidate some, they all synergize well and become easy to use once you understand them. Keep playing K'sante and learning his abilities since he becomes a mid- and late-game powerhouse once he gains his items. As you practice and learn how to adjust your build, you'll find yourself mastering this champion.

Next: League Of Legends: The Best Top Lane Champions