Introduction
With Kalista's surging popularity both in the casual scene and the professional stage, I think that this is a good time to revisit some thoughts on her and also go over supports that she synergizes with ~
Kalista's Potential
Kalista's potential as a marksman is clearly through the roof. Her ability to jump through walls (see resources section below) coupled with her unique ability to deny support death makes her very flexible. As long as she has the damage to back it up, then she's definitely a top contender.
The most popular build right now by far is the Runaan's Hurricane + Bloodthirster combination as shown below by Doublelift and uploaded by Best outplayed. This build gives Kalista an insane amount of waveclear combined with some great sustain/kiting power.Best Build Path
Generally, these two core items are followed up by Last Whisper and then Infinity Edge, which gives her late game carrying potential a huge boost.
Synergies
As a support main, this is the fun part. At first, I was under the impression that due to the way her ultimate works, melee supports with high engaging power would be the optimal and only supports that synergize with her.However, although melee supports do very well with her, ranged supports can derive more advantage from the passive on her W skill, which gives targets additional magic damage if the support and adc attack the same target within 1.5 seconds once every 8 seconds.
Although there are some people theorycrafting jungler synergy, it's almost always better to link up with your support since they'll be by your side more often than the jungler...hopefully. With that being said, let's go through some supports!
Tier 1: Good Synergy
Annie: Ranged poke combined with a knock-up followed by an AOE tibbers stun is very strong, but requires coordination to make sure Kalista ults you when your stun is charged. The lockdown is extremely high if executed correctly though.Leona: Leona as a whole is I think Kalista's ideal laning partner in solo queue. By throwing her into the fight she draws aggro. As an extremely tanky champion to being with, pushing damage onto her is ideal as it mitigates what's getting thrown at your allies. Her CC lock is also insane and her passive synergizes well with Kalista's attack speed builds.
Taric: Without his own gap closer, Kalista gives Taric a new life by ramming him close enough to ult and shatter, even without using his stun. Taric in turn gives Kalista the ability to sustain in lane, which provides a more flexible playstyle. I'd put him second, closely behind Leona.
Alistar: Alistar performs a similar role as Taric, giving Kalista a more flexible laning phase via his heal. He also synergizes extremely well with Kalista's ultimate, as he no longer has to rely on successfully landing his headbutt pulverize combo to be effective.
Braum: Similar to Leona, he does very well as an all-in role. He also provides some poke and his passive synergizes very well with Kalista's attack speed build.
Obligatory Taric splash art
Tier 2: Decent Synergy
Blitzcrank: Blitzcrank doesn't really need Kalista's help via her ultimate, but it's nice to double knock-up and then pull them in after the flash. This is one of those lanes that uses Kalista's ultimate more as an after-thought rather than as a serious initiation method.Janna: Janna works fairly well with Kalista as she does with most champions. However, her synergy with Kalista's ultimate is questionable as no Mejal's Soulstealer build Janna would willingly throw herself into the middle of a fight just to ult them out of allied AOE.
Morgana: Morgana's synergy with Kalista is good once she gets Zhonyas, but again requires decent coordination as her stun isn't instantaneous like Annie's, and her poke is also much stronger as a catching tool. Her ultimate is also generally used more for peel in a support role, but this lane does have the potential to snowball hard.
Nunu: Nunu as a support is somewhat questionable in solo queue to begin with, but he does provide Kalista some solid early and mid game attack speed and movement speed, which helps her get to end-game faster. I think there are better picks, but as a tank Nunu can also draw a decent amount of aggro with his ultimate.
Thresh: Oh, the ever popular Thresh. Technically speaking, a Thresh/Kalista lane should almost NEVER die to a gank post 6. The reason for that is that they can simply run in opposite directions, then depending on who is in the safer position, lantern or Kalista ult to safety (whichever is more appropriate). However, the combined skill level and necessary coordination of this lane is extraordinarily high. On paper it looks really good, but things tend to backfire when you try to make plays that are too flashy.
Tier 3: Little Synergy
Fiddlesticks: Fiddlesticks with Kalista is a decent lane, but does lack synergy as neither really needs the other to do well. That being said, Fiddle does provide his usual bag of tricks, and I'm not saying that having both on the team wouldn't be beneficial, but it really doesn't offer a huge amount in the way of synergy.
Karma: Similar to Fiddlesticks, simply lacks synergy but isn't a complete miss as a lane partner.
Lulu: Lulu combined with Kalista is particular strange. It lacks synergy yes, but the fact is if Kalista is ulting Lulu into the middle of a fight, Lulu will likely be ulting herself. As a support Lulu, you'll likely want to put your ultimate on a more high priority target.
Lux: Lux's synergy is probably one of the lowest with Kalista as she is inherently a long range casting sniper. The lane can work, but both will mostly just do their own thing.
Nami: Similar to Janna, she'll just perform like she was playing with any other ADC. Slows on Kalista do help her kite better and she provides an excellent amount of AOE peel though.
Sona: Sona can do well with a Kalista ult combo'ed into her AOE stun, but she doesn't really need that kind of engage to hit 5 players. Also, up close it does get difficult to aim and projects her intentions a little more clearly.
Soraka: I think that if you try and ult a Soraka into the middle of the enemy team you're likely going to end up with one very unhappy Soraka and give the enemy team a good chuckle.
Zilean: Similar to Lulu, there's no real good reason to put him into the middle of the fight with his ultimate. Additionally, his speedboost helps with running away, but won't have any affect on Kalistas trying to maximize their passive jumps.
Zyra: Zyra probably doesn't want to be in the middle of a fight either, but she can throw down good damage with her ultimate.Off-Meta Supports
Galio: Good sustain and synergizes well with Kalista, very off-meta but if the enemy team is AP heavy it could work out in your favor.Kayle: Not much synergy with Kalista's ult, but does provide invulnerability, kiting power, and medium amounts of sustain. As mentioned in the comment section, her AOE autos do also proc Kalista's W passive as well.
Malphite: Little in the way of peel outside his ultimate, but initiates twice as far with Kalista ult. Preferably though, he would just knock up with Kalista ult the first time and then use his own ultimate, since using both ultimates at maximum range will likely leave him very far from his teammates in a position of no follow-up potential.
If you have more ideas for supports, feel free to leave them in the comments section. Meanwhile, check out these two videos below for more Kalista goodies!
Thanks for reading.
Resources
Kalista wall jumping by Jeremy GamingCuriousKalista Interrupting Lee Sin's Ultimate Using Passive by Conall Mc Carthy