Kalista and Taric have seen a spike in play in League of Legends in Season 10, even though both champions, in isolation, were once considered weak. Together, they make for arguably the best bot lane in the game right now, and here’s why.
Kalista and Taric have been neglected for years in League of Legends. Kalista used to be the best AD carry by far, before nerf after nerf made her spears feel more like foam arrows.
The other side of the rising duo, Taric, lost his charm as other supports started to outclass him, although he did see a brief stint in the mid lane with funnel compositions.
However, together in Season 10, they have made for one of the most lethal bot lane combos, and pro players and solo queue heroes are flocking to the duo in spades.
It all started when Gen.G’s Park ‘Ruler’ Jae-hyuk and Kim ‘Kellin’ Hyeong-gyu employed the strategy against KT Rolster. The duo had been tearing up Korean queue with Kalista-Taric with a win rate of over 80%, and it didn’t stop on stage.
People thought it was just a Gen.G thing. Ruler has a 74% win rate on the champion in pro play, and so teams just started banning it away. However, more regions started picking it up. Kalista-Taric jumped over to the North America LCS, before moving onto Turkey, Vietnam, and Europe’s LEC.
Now, it seems like it’s one of the most contested bot lane picks, which has seen heavy nerfs dished out to Senna, Miss Fortune, and Aphelios recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZClO_7IP1Sc
However, even without those nerfs, there’s a few reasons to explain why Kalista-Taric is still one of the strongest — if not the strongest — bot lane in League of Legends right now.
The combo is insanely strong in lane. Kalista and Taric can dictate waves with ease, thanks to Taric’s auto attack resets and Kalista’s E passive making wave clear a breeze. They also have plenty of engage potential with spears and stuns.
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It’s hard to walk up in lane to them, as if you get hit by Kalista’s Rend, it’s awfully hard to dodge the stun from Taric with the slow. They can brawl well in lane, and it only gets more difficult to deal with late.
We take Baron after @Carzzylol's Kalista gets us a 4 for 1 trade! #goMAD #MADWIN #LEC pic.twitter.com/1eR6fr0aGQ
— MAD Lions KOI English (@MADLionsKOI_en) February 22, 2020
Getting this infinite lane priority can translate into objective control. Kalista and Taric can take down dragons, Rift Heralds, and towers incredibly quickly. Kalista’s Rend can act as a smite on the all-important neutral objectives, freeing up junglers to do other things.
Plus, if things get murky, they can bail each other out with their ultimates once they hit level six. It makes them an incredibly slippery duo to counter, and even harder to beat late game without some sort of heavy dive or crowd-control chain.
While the duo is only just now getting play in major regions, with a 3-1 record across the Big Four of LCS, LEC, LCK, and LPL, it’s also being driven up the ban priority list after nerfs took away power from other potential bot lane picks.
With the spotlight now shone on the Kalista-Taric duo, and people realising their power in the objective-focused meta, they’re both seeing a spike in play. Kalista is often paired with Thresh, Nautilus, or Sett, while Taric is super strong with other lane bullies like Miss Fortune.
If you want to pick up Kalista-Taric for yourself in solo queue, do it with a duo partner. Being able to coordinate Taric ults and Kalista engages is part of what makes this combo so good.
The pairing of Kalista-Taric might have been inseparable at the start, but it spawned a bigger movement within the bot lane meta. In a time where newer champions thrive, these two high skill-cap characters can still take over games after years of being dormant, and players need to be wary of their power.
