I had a build lined up for Pyke from League of Legends, but since I did a rogue build just two weeks ago, I opted to share a different League build that I've had kicking around and is a little unique. I'm continuing the Free Archetype Suggestion part, so be sure to lemme know what you think of that. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in an attempt to fit the character. These choices might not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Let's get into the build for Kai'Sa, Daughter of the Void, from League of Legends!
KAI’SA, DAUGHTER OF THE VOID
CHARACTER Kai'Sa
SOURCE League of Legends
GOALS
o The daughter of Kassadin, Kai’Sa was lost to the Void when she was a young child where she managed to survive through sheer tenacity and strength of will
o She became a deadly hunter before entering into an uneasy symbiosis with a living carapace
o Her symbiote is able to launch bolts of plasma
o Second Skin has several components, the first being Living Weapon which causes her other abilities to evolve. It also has Plasma, dealing extra damage based on Plasma stacks and then consuming them to deal extra damage
o Icathian Rain launches a swarm of missiles that strike nearby enemies. Living Weapon increases the numbers of missiles she launches
o Void Seeker fires a long-range bolt that damages and reveals enemies hit by, with Living Weapon reducing its cooldown
o With Supercharge, Kai’Sa increases her movement and attack speed. Living Weapon causes her to become temporarily invisible when she uses Supercharge
o Her final ability is Killer Instinct where she shields herself before dashing to an enemy that she has marked with Plasma
o Outside of the game’s mechanics, the Void suit that Kai’Sa wears has demonstrated the ability to enhance her senses as well as grant her the ability of flight
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Versatile Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Gloomseer
o General Feat: Fleet
Background: Magical Experiment
o Ability Boosts: +Constitution
o Skill Increase: Occultism (trained), Academia Lore (trained)
o Background Ability: Enhanced Senses (darkvision, thoughtsense)
Class & Subclass: Way of the Spellshot Gunslinger
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Medicine (trained), Stealth (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Cover Fire
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 10)
To start off Kai’sa’s build, despite the changes she’s underwent, the human ancestry made the most sense for her though doesn’t entirely capture her merging with a Void symbiote. None of the other heritages seem like a good fit aside from potentially ganzi given its association with chaos or the tiefling heritage with the Riftmarked ancestry feat to tie her to the qlippoths. However, going versatile human for this particular build, Gloomseer seemed the most appropriate for her time spent in the Void though it is restricted by a character’s ethnicity. Her heritage nets her Fleet, increasing her Speed and playing slightly into Supercharge. Magical experiment fits with the general idea of her taking a chance on bonding with the symbiote, but it unfortunately only gives her a Constitution boost. It does get her darkvision, since she picked up low-light with Gloomseer, and thoughtsense to capture the weirdness of the Void though there might be a better option to reflect the enhanced senses that her suit provides.
Finally, the best class fit for Kai’sa seems to be gunslinger using the Way of the Spellslinger class archetype, which will let her Recall Knowledge and reload and infuse her shots with energy at the start of combat. Regrettably for this particular build, dual wielding isn’t entirely practical or effective. To capture the dual shot feel of her attacks, a double-barreled musket seemed a decent fit to start with but it’s no something she’ll keep forever. For players that want to dual wield with her, swap out Cover Fire, which she took due to a lack of better options, for Dual-Weapon Reload but it won’t be as useful down the line for this particular build.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Spellshot Dedication
o Skill Feat: Survey Wildlife
o Gear: 1
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Stealth (expert)
o Gear: +1 weapon, 1, 1
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Running Reload
o Skill Feat: Forager
o Gear: 3, +1 weapon, 2, 1
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 12)
o Ancestry Feat: Know Oneself
o Skill Increase: Survival (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking weapon, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1
Her gunslinger’s way means that her first class feat has to be the Spellshot Dedication, which allows her to Conjure Bullet. Given the character’s mobility, Running Reload is an appropriate grab. Kai’Sa survived the Void by avoiding its predators and learning to hunt its prey, making Survey Wildlife and Forager a solid start for her skill feats. Feather Step plays slightly into the ghosting effect of her Supercharge while the Know Oneself ancestry feat helps her keep her mind intact against the corruption and influence of the Void.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Beast Gunner Dedication (Arcane)
o Skill Feat: Arcane Sense
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – acid splash
o Gear: +1 armor, acid drake rifle, 4, 3, 2, 2
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Stealth (master)
o Gear: 6, +1 armor, 5, +1 striking weapon, 3, 3
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Basic Beast Gunner Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Swift Sneak
o Spell Repertoire: 1st – magic missile*; 2nd – invisibility; 3rd – haste
o Gear: 7, 6, 6, +1 armor, +1 striking weapon, 4
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Aeromancer
o Skill Increase: Survival (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient armor, 7, 7, 6, 5, +1 striking weapon
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 19, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 14)
o Class Feat: Drain Vitality
o Skill Feat: Planar Survival
o Gear: greater shadow armor rune, +1 resilient leather armor, shock weapon rune, tentacle cannon, ring of the ram, ring of acid resistance
As a spellshot, Kai’Sa can pick up the Beast Gunner Dedication and its feat with her archetype feats, starting her on an acid drake rifle to give her a relatively long range, the Spellsling action, and a cantrip that she can use with it. There isn’t a solid energy type to reflect plasma in Pathfinder 2e (Starfinder uses fire + electricity for plasma weapons) but acid seems to be a popular secondary type of damage for the Void and its inhabitants, leading to its prevalence in this build. If this doesn’t fit your idea, feel free to pick something you feel is more appropriate and alter your spell selection accordingly. The long range of the drake rifle coupled with Spellsling helps achieve the effects of Void Seeker in the sense of it being a long-range ability that deals more damage than her basic attacks. She’ll eventually swap out the drake rifle for a tentacle cannon as that feels appropriate for a weapon from the Void, but is, as always, just a suggestion. Since she picks up Basic Beast Gunner Spellcasting, she gains all three of her spells right away, two of which are utility spells and both of which play into Supercharge. Magic missile, especially with it being a signature spell, captures the effects of Icathian Rain. Her final class feat for the block, Drain Vitality, is based off of the shield provided by her Killer Instinct.
Continuing to play into the enhanced senses granted by her suit, she picks up Arcane Sense. When Kai’Sa uses an evolved Supercharge, she enhances her speed while also going invisible, and Swift Sneak helps fulfill that idea. Finally, Planar Survival officially helps her survive on different planes such as the Void. Incredible Initiative plays into Kai’Sa’s general swiftness while Shory Aeromancer, which is yet another ancestry feat with a conflicting ethnicity requirement, lets her fly, as per the capabilities of her symbiote armor as seen in other media.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Arcana (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking weapon, 9, 9, +1 resilient armor, 7, 7
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Expert Beast Gunner Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Foil Senses
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – acid arrow*
o Gear: +2 resilient armor, +2 striking weapon, 10, 9, 8, 8
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Shory Aerialist
o Skill Increase: Arcana (master)
o Gear: +2 greater striking weapon, +2 resilient armor, 11, 10, 9, 9
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Soulforger Dedication
o Essence Power: Adaptable Persona
o Skill Feat: Eye of the Arclords
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – fly
o Gear: 13, +2 greater striking weapon, 12, +2 resilient armor, 10, 10
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 12, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 16)
o General Feat: Breath Control
o Skill Increase: Nature (trained), Stealth (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient armor, 13, 13, +2 greater striking weapon, 11, 11
Expert Beast Gunner Spellcasting increases her spell options, especially a higher level spell that she can use with Spellsling, while the Soulforger Dedication is meant to represent her symbiote armor, using the Adaptable Persona to give her another means of flight since all her options of doing so are limited. The Arcana skill increase will help her pick up a particular feat down the line, but does allow her to grab Eye of the Arclords for those enhanced senses. Given that creatures of the Void have senses beyond the ken of man, Foil Senses seemed an appropriate boost to her Stealth feats. Between Stealth and Survival taking a slight priority to allow her to better survive in planes and Arcana having a tertiary importance, Kai’Sa wasn’t able to raise her Acrobatics high enough, making Shory Aerialist an important grab for her. Some builds might prioritize Acrobatics and understandably so (it’ll help with the ’ghosting’ of Supercharge), but the Survival focus is meant to reflect her ability to not only live in but thrive in inhuman environments. Which Breath Control is also meant to help with!
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Rapid Manifestation
o Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak
o Spell Repertoire: 6th – chromatic ray
o Gear: 15, +2 greater resilient armor, 14, 13, +2 greater striking weapon, 12
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Dragon Spit (produce flame)
o Skill Increase: Survival (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking weapon, 15, 15, +2 greater resilient armor, 13, 13
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Master Beast Gunner Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Legendary Survivalist
o Spell Repertoire: 7th – disintegrate*
o Gear: apex, +3 greater striking weapon, 16, 15, +2 greater resilient armor, 14
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Incredible Scout
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient armor, apex, 17, +3 greater striking weapon, 15, 15
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Black Powder Embodiment
o Skill Feat: Schooled in Secrets
o Skill Increase: Society (trained)
o Spell Repertoire: 8th – shocking grasp
o Gear: +3 major striking weapon, +3 greater resilient leather armor, mercurial mantle, major tentacle cannon, speed weapon rune, major shock weapon rune
With the Rapid Manifestation feat, Kai’Sa can immediately summon her symbiote over here at any sign of danger. Naturally, she’ll be rounding out her spellcasting capabilities with Master Beast Gunner Spellcasting, but instead of taking one of the capstone feats, she will pick up Black Powder Embodiment from her spellshot feats. This will allow her to effectively teleport to a creature that she hits with her shot, giving the effects of her Killer Instinct not covered by Drain Vitality. If she is confident in her Stealth ability, Legendary Sneak is a decent stand-in for the casting of the invisibility spell for her evolved Supercharge while Legendary Survivalist allows her to survive indefinitely even in the harshest of environments. Finally, Schooled in Secrets helps Kai’Sa learn about cults and secret societies, such as those led by Malzahar. The idea behind the Dragon Spit ancestry feat, aside from just continued refusal to acknowledge the ethnicity requirements, is so that she gains just one more cantrips that she can Spellsling with.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: If playing with the free archetype rule, you have the opportunity to pick up your Beast Gunner Dedication and Soulforger Dedication earlier and should even have room to pick up Soul Arsenal to give her a soulforged weapon, likely using the Heroic Heart or Planar Pain as her essence power, with the latter another good way for achieving the effects of her Plasma. Since she can use free archetype to pick up her spellshot and beast gunner feats, she can pick up some regular gunslinger feats instead, such as Risky Reload, which she can use the turn after Spellslinging to reload and then fire. She will also be able to pick up Perfect Readiness at 20th level instead of having to take Black Powder Embodiment. Blood in the Air and Deadeye help achieve the revealing effect of her Void Seeker. And to help capture the feel of the range of that same ability, she can use Unerring Shot to ignore the penalty of its range increment without change its maximum range.
CONCLUSION
With her investment in the Survival skill as well as feats from it such as Planar Survival and Legendary Survivalist, Kai’Sa is capable of living in the harshest of environments, such as the Void. The beast way I could find to get the feel of her living carapace is a mix of the magical experiment background as well as the Soulforger Dedication. Meanwhile, the bolts of Plasma it can launch is achieved through her Energy Shot as well as Spellsling. Icathian Rain is rather simply accomplished through magic missile with heightened versions of it achieving its evolved ability (specifically, casting a 3-action 7th-level magic missile will launch 12 missiles). Void Seeker is slightly harder to capture the feel of, but Spellsling and a longer ranged weapon helps with the idea slightly. Supercharge is mainly accomplished with a casting of the haste spell and its evolved form can be achieved with invisibility or a good Sneak attempt. Somewhat fittingly, she doesn’t fully achieve Killer Instinct until the end of her build. Drain Vitality captures the effects of the shield from it, but it takes Black Powder Embodiment to capture the effects of her dash. Finally, the flight capabilities of her suit as well as the enhanced senses it grants are achieved through the numerous ways that she gains the fly spell as well as her darkvision and Arcane Sense for the latter.
Be sure to lemme know what you think of the build!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerd, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and are trying to get some milestones made up for. Next week I come out of my shell and start a series of builds celebrating one of my favorite franchises of all time.
Until then, have a fantastic Friday!
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