Champion Guide - [Kayle] - [Everything]

WORK IN PROGRESS

[Introduction]


Hey guys, I'm xp3r1a, a new DLP member and Plat IV league player bringing you what I hope to be a fairly comprehensive guide to Kayle.

Kayle is a very interesting champion in that, unlike many others, she has a lot of very distinct playstyles and item builds that can all legitimately work (unlike your ad-crit support fiddlesticks and whatnot). She has an incredibly versatile and powerful kit, and is one of the few champions that can be adapted to play in literally every single role in the game, in multiple different ways.

[Kit]

Passive - Holy Fervor

An incredibly underrated passive. It shreds both armour and magic resist of enemy champions whenever Kayle basic attacks and her Q (Reckoning) by 3% per application. As this is a shred , it works differently to armour and magic penetration, instead functioning more like the Black Cleaver's passive; that is to say, the reduction in armour and magic resist applies to the enemy champion, not your damage, and so will increase your entire team's damage to any champion you hit.

This ability counts as an on-hit effect and a spell effect, so devourer will apply it twice when it procs, and it won't be blocked by spellshields (not that anyone would actually try)

Notes: Her passive adds a lot of hidden power to her kit, and, in a meta where resistances are too bloody cheap, is really damn helpful in slicing through those annoy tank Ekkos that dance around your team, outputting tons of damage whilst being mostly unkillable.

Q - Reckoning

A point and click slow with a hell of a lot of damage behind it. The ability slows the target for three seconds for a percentage of their movespeed, depending on its level.

Cooldown: 8 Seconds
Damage: [60/110/160/210/260] Base Magic damage, with an additional 0.6 AP and 1.0 Bonus AD ratio
Slow: [35/40/45/50/55]%

Notes: Simple, effective, does what it says on the tin. Use this when chasing, when running away, or just whenever you want to deal a ton of damage to an enemy. Do note that it does have a slight cast time, and will stop you from moving during the cast animation, so if you're being chased and they are extremely close, using it can sometimes get you killed (if on low HP).

W - Divine Blessing

An absurdly powerful heal and movement speed buff over three seconds that scales with AP, which can be used on both Kayle and her allies.

Heal: [60/105/150/195/240] Health, plus an additional 0.45 AP
Movement Speed: [18/21/24/27/30]%, plus 7% for every 100 AP
Cooldown: 15 Seconds

Notes: This ability is absolutely broken. The heal scales like nothing else, and you can get to ludicrous speed with even a small amount of AP. And get this: IT DOESN'T HAVE A CAST TIME! You can use this ability and it won't interrupt any movement commands, as well as applying instantly, making it perfect for running away and repositioning, or giving to an initiator to send them hurtling through space at 2.98x10^8 teemos per second towards the enemy team to really ruin someone's day.

Whoever at Riot gave this ability scaling movespeed, you were a fool. A wonderful fool, but a fool nonetheless.

E - Righteous Fury

Kayle's bread and butter. This ability turns your auto attacks from melee to ranged (for a total of 525 attack range) for 10 seconds, giving you bonus on-hit magic damage, as well as applying AOE magic damage to a fairly large radius around the target. It also give you a small amount of magic damage on hit as a passive, which makes last hitting somewhat easier.

On-Hit Magic Damage: [20/30/40/50/60] plus 0.3 AP
Splash Magic Damage [20/30/40/50/60] plus 0.3 AP, and [0.2/0.25/0.3/0.35/0.4] Total AD
Cooldown: 16s

This ability has a literal metric fuckton of interesting interactions and mechanics, and the most important ones are listed below.

• The ranged attack has no projectile, so it will pass straight through Yasuo's windwall and Braum's shield.
• A basic attack with the ability active will apply 3 stacks of Fervor of Battle instantly, due to the auto attack and spell portions of the ability.
• The AOE splash damage counts as a spell effect, and works with Rylai's
• Pantheon's passive and Jax's counterstrike will block the physical damage from the autoattack, but not the additional magic damage.
• Since it is an on-hit effect, Runaan's bolts will generate AOE splash damage.
• You need exactly 37.5% CDR to have this ability active constantly

Notes: This ability defines Kayle, and allows her to give the finger to most melee matchups. Do note that, in earlier levels, when this ability is on cooldown, a decent laner will be to trade with you, and you will most likely lose said trade. Always be aware of the remaining duration, and back off when it's on cooldown.

Also, due to the AOE splash damage, this ability will naturally push the lane when you use it, which can leave you in a position where you are susceptible to jungle ganks, so keep your bushes warded and pay attention to your dang minimap (which you should be doing anyway but...).

R - Intervention

Makes either Kayle or any of her allies completely immune to all damage for up to three seconds.

Duration: [2/2.5/3] Seconds
Cooldown: [100/90/80] Seconds

Perhaps one of the most game changing abilities in League if used correctly, and a source of endless frustration for those playing against a good Kayle. Ideally, you should use this directly before the majority of the enemy's burst is applied, to block as much damage as possible, instead of when you or your target only have a sliver of health remaining.

Sadly, it doesn't block Pure damage from the fountain laser, so no safe fountain dives at the end of a game...

Important Stats on Kayle

In order of importance:

Tier 1 (You absolutely need these in your life):

Cooldown Reduction - allows for greater uptime on your E, lets you use your Q, W and R more often, to potentially gamewinning effect. Especially important as none of Kayle's abilities save for her ult decrease in cooldown as you level them up, and even then its only to a marginal degree.

Attack Speed - Lets you apply the on-hit damage from your E more often, as well as stack your passive faster.

Ability Power - More damage, more heals, more movement speed. Nuff said.

Tier 2 (These are quite nice to have):

Magic Penetration/Reduction/Shred - Synergises with your passive extremely well, can potentially bring a squishy to zero magic resistance.

Movement Speed - lets you kite and reposition more easily, as well as catch up to fleeing prey.

Resistances (Armour/MR) - depending on the opposing team composition. A small increase in either makes your heals more effective and makes it just that bit more annoying to kill you.

Attack Damage - More damage on your autos and Q, never a bad thing, just not especially important.

Health - Never hurts to have, resistances are worth more, however.

Tier 3 (Not important):

Critical Strike Chance - Your on-hit damage can't crit, and you don't generally build massive amounts of AD, so this stat isn't that important. Extra damage is nice, but overall, not worth focusing on.

Mana Regen - as long as you don't spam your Q and W needlessly, with one or two doran's rings as well as the meditation mastery and blue buff, you should never really find yourself running out of mana in lane.

Mana - As above. None of your abilities are very costly, and frankly flat mana is an awful stat to itemise for on Kayle.

Tier 4 (Alternatively, what the fuck are you doing):

Spell Vamp - Why. Just why. You have no need for this, and your precious item slots are better spent on something else (unless its a gunblade, which is just a nice statstick for kayle, if they have a very kiteable team)

Lifesteal - Same as above, unless you're going a traditional AD Carry build.

Tier ? (I don't know how effective these are. Calculations Required):

Armour penetration - you actually do a fair amount of physical damage on kayle with Fervor of Battle. Magic penetration is better, but if you're doing something crazy it could possibly work out.

Masteries

The masteries for Kayle can vary wildly depending on your build (and tbh you can make most work), but the most common setups are 18/12/0 with Fervor of Battle, or perhaps in some situations 12/18/0 with thunderlords,

Keystones:

Ferocity:

• Warlord's Bloodlust - Not great at all, you really don't need the lifesteal.
• Fervor of Battle - The absolute best keystone mastery on Kayle in most situations and matchups, granting up to 112 bonus physical damage on hit at level 18. Kayle can get this to max stacks very quickly in fights due to the interaction with her E.
• Deathfire Touch - Never actually tried this one, you could make it work, but its really not worth taking over FoB.

Cunning:

• Stormraider's Surge - Highly, highly underrated mastery. The movement speed granted can be a lifesaver. You can definitely make this work.
• Thunderlord's Decree - A potential alternative to FoB, in matchups where you either won't have time to stack it, or want to burst as fast as possible.
• Windspeaker's Blessing - Useful for support Kayle.

Resolve

• Strength of Ages - Can be ok on jungle kayle, not worth taking over FoB.
• Grasp of the Undying - this mastery is absurd on most champions, since the in-lane sustain it grants is absolutely ridiculous. You could possibly take this for harder matchups, or for tank kayle (¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - iceborn gauntlet/sunfire cape op)
• Bond of Stone - You're squish. You don't need to be taking more damage.

General Masteries

18/12/0

Ferocity:

1. Fury - You like attack speed. A lot.
2. Feast/Expose Weakness - The lane sustain from feast is very nice, and expose weakness synergises with your passive. Take whichever
3. Natural Talent - Extra AD and AP, can't really say no to that.
4. Oppressor/Bounty Hunter - Either can work. Oppressor gives you bonus damage if you use your Q to slow someone, bounty hunter gives you bonus damage for each unique enemy you kill. Oppressor is generally better, but if you're confident, take bounty hunter.
5. Piercing Thoughts- You like magic penetration.
6. Fervor of Battle - Hands down the best keystone on Kayle.

Cunning:

1. Savagery - helps you last hit more easily
2. Runic Affinity/Secret Stash/Assassin - All three can work, though I personally prefer secret stash, because biscuits can be a lifesaver.
3. Merciless/Meditation - Again, either can work depending on your preferences. I prefer meditation due to the increased mana regen if you happen to run low in lane.
4. Dangerous Game - Perhaps the best non-keystone mastery. I can't even count the number of times this has saved my life.

If 18/0/12:

Resolve:

1. Recovery - A little extra HP5 never hurt anyone. Unless you're playing mundo, in which case, it can do a lot of hurt.
2. Explorer/Tough Skin - Explorer is nice if you plan to roam a lot, tough skin is good for ranged matchups or when jungling.
3. Runic Armour/Veteran's Scars - the former makes your heals more powerful on yourself, the latter gives additional flat health. Both are nice, pick one or the other.
4. Insight - Reduces the cooldowns of your summoner spells by 15%. I don't need to say how powerful that is.

If 12/18/0:

Cunning

1. Precision/Intelligence - Pick your ambrosia. Both are incredible; precision grants a huge amount of flat penetration, and thus a ton of extra damage, whilst intelligence raises the cooldown cap to 45%, and thus, all of your cooldowns, increasing the number of times you can perform an ability rotation in a given period of time.
2. Thunderlord's Decree - Useful for matchups where you only get the opportunity for short trades, where you proc it for the damage and back off, or if you're going the full AP lichbane burst build.

Builds

Basically every item in the game can work in some way, shape or form on Kayle, and thus there are a ton of different builds to choose from, depending on your playstyle, lane matchup or enemy team composition. I'll be going over some of the most popular ones, though, to be honest, you could probably play ultimate bravery and still manage to make it work.

'Korean Attack Speed/On hit'

This is a new build currently being played in high elo over in Korea, and is essentially based around stacking as much attack speed as possible to synergise with the absurdity that is Guinsoo's Rageblade. Its very fun, and once you hit three items, your damage goes through the roof.

Skill Order

R>E>W>Q

You want to have E maxed first for the additional on-hit damage, then W for the heal and bonus movespeed, though Q can be maxed second if you are dominating in lane. R obviously should be levelled whenever possible (6, 11, 16), since you gain an additional 0.5s of invulnerability per level, which is massive.

Masteries

18/12/0

Runes:

9x Attack Speed Marks
9x Hp/Level Seals
9x CDR/Level Glyphs
1x CDR/Level Quint
2x Attack Speed Quints

For a total of 20% CDR at level 18, 216 HP at level 18, and 15% attack speed.

Starting Item:

Doran's Ring - the mana sustain given by this item is incredibly helpful, not to mention the additional health and AP on top. If you're having a rough lane, or mana issues, pick up a second one.

Core Items:

Nashor's Tooth - Everything Kayle could ever want. Attack Speed, CDR, AP, additional scaling on hit magic damage? It has it all. Incredible item on Kayle.

Guinsoo's Rageblade - Absurd item. Additional attack speed, AD and AP as you auto attack? Yes please! And what's this, you say? At 8 stacks, it gives you MORE on hit damage, in an AOE? UWOT.

Boots:

Depends on the enemy team composition and how you're feeling on the day. Beserker's Greaves, Merc Treads, Swifties and Ninja Tabi can all work depending on the situation.

Additional Items:

Runaan's Hurricane - Highest attack speed item in the game bar a fully stacked Guinsoo's. The crit and movements speed are also kinda nice, not to mention the passive. The mini-bolts stack fervor and your passive, as well as having mini-AOEs themselves. Unfortunately they don't help stack Guinsoo's, but that might be asking too much.

Wit's End - Useful against magic damage heavy comps. The additional MR shred can bring a squishy to 0 magic resist, and 42 bonus on hit damage is nothing to sneeze at.

Phantom Dancer - Super attack speed, and the damage reduction is very nice. Also, fuck creep block.

Rylai's Crystal Sceptre - AOE SLOW ALL THE THINGS. This item is great for kiting enemies, survivability, and additional damage.

Mercurial Scimitar - Get if you're getting CC-focused in fights. A well used active can turn games around, and the extra AD is very very nice. Rush the QSS component if facing a malzahar.

Other Items that can work:

Abyssal Sceptre - You can grab one against a triple magic damage threat team. The AOE MR reduction can actually bring the opponent's MR into negative values.

Zhonyas Hourglass - Because you have never have too much invincibility.

Rabadon's Deathcap - AP. ALL OF THE AP.

Void Staff - if there is heavy MR stacking on the enemy tanks. Percentage pen is amazing.

Build order

Generally, you build the Stinger component of Nashor's first, then build Guinsoo's, and finally finish your Nashor's, buying and upgrading boots whenever you see fit. From there, Runaan's into whatever the hell you want next, depending on the enemy comp and game situation. By three items you should be dishing out absurd amounts of damage to multiple targets in teamfights, and no one should be able to 1v1 you, unless you get cc'd.

'AP Burst Kayle'

This is my personal way of playing AP burst kayle. You use this when the enemy is stupid enough to pick a team of mostly squishies, and maybe one tank, because, once you get three or so items under your belt, they will literally evaporate, and probably spend the next twenty minutes of the game playing grey screen simulator.

Skill Order

R>Q>W>E

I generally put two or three points into E early game to aid with last hitting, then max Q post level 6. This build is all about burst, so you want to be able to output as much damage in as short of a period of time as possible. W is maxed second because, since you build obscene amounts of AP, the heals and movement speed start to get pretty ridiculous.

Masteries

12/18/0

Runes

9x Attack Speed Marks
5x Armour Seals
4x HP Seals
9x CDR Glyphs
1x CDR Quint
2x AP Quints

For a total of 15% attack speed, 5 armour, 32 HP, 10 AP and 10% CDR. The seals may seem a bit odd, but I ran some calculations, and, pre-6, 5 HP seals and 4 armour seals gives you the most effective HP against physical damage. If you don't have health seals, run 9x armour, since its just a minor thing.

Starting Items:

Doran's Ring - as above

Core Items:

Nashor's Tooth - as above

Lich Bane - this item allows you to output an absurd amount damage in a very short period of time once you get some AP under your belt. Late game, a simple Q-auto will likely put a carry out of a fight, if not killing them outright.

Rabadon's Deathcap - AP. All the AP. You want this, because more AP means more death, faster.

Boots:

Sorcerer's boots, since you cap out on CDR with Nashor's + Sheen, Ionian's aren't that great. The flat penetration will make squishies cry.

Additional Items:

Rylai's Crystal Sceptre - The slow is kinda redundant, as they will be dead, and thus can't move anyway, but the 100AP is really nice.

Abyssal Sceptre - MR reduction

Luden's Echo - 100AP, purple goop proc just adds to your damage.

Void staff - Percentage MR penetration. Because why not.

Zhonya's Hourglass - I heard you like invincibility, plus 100AP

Build Order

One or two Doran's into Nashor's tooth, then Lichbane, then preferably Rabadons, though the third item is flexible (and even the second item, to some extent). From there, just buy all the AP you can get your hands on, and people should start evaporating around you.

More builds to come

Playing as Kayle

Laning:

Kayle actually has a very weak level 1-5, due to her rather low base stats, so this period of the game should be focused around getting as much farm as possible. If you are facing a melee champion, feel free to harass them when they go to cs, but be wary of your E cooldown, and don't overstep your bounds. When harassing at early levels in top lane, try to duck in and out of the bushes at the top of the lane to avoid creep aggro when you hit the enemy, since that damage adds up, and can turn an initially favourable trade into a losing one, especially against a Grasp of the Undying laner.

If you push to reach level 2 earlier than your lane opponent, and you take ignite, you can potentially try for a kill. In a solo lane, the first creep of the second wave will grant you level 2 (assuming you got all the xp from the first wave), so prepare for that, and if your opponent steps too far forward, capitalise and send him on an express trip back to the fountain. This advice goes for any lane, since, if your opponent is level 1 whilst you are level 2, you have around 600G worth in extra stats, plus an additional ability, making it the perfect time to lay down the law.

However, be careful for jungle ganks past the three minute mark (or even 2:30 if they try and level 2 cheese), since, as Kayle, you will naturally push, and are squishy, making you a prime target for a drive-by Lee Sin gank. If you aren't careful, its very, very easy to give over first blood, especially in top lane where the lane is longer and you have a greater distance between you and your tower.

Just remember, as kayle, you want to scale up as fast as possible, so focus on farm above all else - don't initiate trades if it means you will miss creeps (though if your opponent initiates, you need to trade back). A rough target you should try to aim for is at or above 8 CS per minute, or 80 CS at 10 minutes. Of course, its completely possible to achieve much higher than that through extensive pilfering of your jungler's camps* (See: Froggen). Newer Kayle players may find it difficult to CS when her E is active - you need to know how much damage the AOE is going to do, and think about how it will affect the rest of the wave. Be patient and methodical, and never auto attack just for the sake of it (you need to try and keep the wave balanced, and prevent it from moving towards the opposing side of the lane, where you are much less safe.).

* I take no responsibility for any flaming, afking or general childish petulance should you steal a jungler's camps without their permission. Do so at your own discretion.

Post 6

Post 6 is where many matchups turn in Kayle's favour, and where she truly starts to shine. With your ultimate, you have a two second window where you can block a significant portion of any champion's burst, so fighting or even attempting to kill your lane opponent now becomes an option. Be wary, however, that, your ult at level one has an extremely long cooldown, and attempting to fight without it will probably mean that you're going to die. You need to time your windows of aggression around its cooldown, to get minimise the risks of feeding your lane opponent unnecessarily.

In higher elos, you can be sure that your lane opponent will keep track of Intervention's cooldown, and act accordingly - either with heightened aggression, or by calling in a jungler to gank. You could potentially take advantage of this by calling in your jungler for a gank or countergank, and turn their predictable moves in your favour.

Midgame

By the time midgame comes around, everyone should have gotten to at least one and a half items, laning begins to break down. Map wide movements, rotations and objective pushing become the priority, and skirmishes and teamfights start to become the norm. Your role here as Kayle is crucial, and it can take a number of different forms. If you took teleport as your second summoner spell, you can splitpush very effectively (especially with lichbane) and apply pressure across the map. Very few people should be able to 1v1 you if you play it right, so they either have to group and try to kill your team, or send multiple people to deal with you, which opens up opportunities for your team around the map.

If you didn't take TP, I would recommend pushing your lane and roaming, to try and net yourself some kills from either of the lanes, or use a numbers advantage to push and take turrets or dragons with your team (Eg. if you see one of their champions grabbing farm on the opposite side of the map). Just be careful to not to overextend and get yourself caught and die. You aren't a god yet, and you can't solo carry 1v9.

Mid-Late

Much the same as above, but messing up can be much more harmful, and a death can lead to giving up baron, or inhibitors, which can swing the pacing of a game massively. Ensure that minion waves are always in your favour (ie. pushing towards the enemy team) by setting up slow pushes, which are created by only killing the caster minions of the enemy wave. This causes your minions to build up, forcing the enemy to either clear them, or have them die to towers and lose all the gold, whilst you make plays on the elsewhere on the map as the wave is building. You can either take advantage of the man down by forcing a fight, or pushing on the other side of the map, or simply rotating down to the monster wave and using it to take towers.

Late Game

When the game reaches its final stages, where you have five or six items, you will be an absolute monster. If it gets to this point, you need to stay with your team, and keep the highest priority person on your team safe from any encroaching assassins, whether that's you, or your AD carry. A mistake a this point will cost you the game, but, luckily for you, you probably have the damage to melt through most of their team 1v5. Unluckily for you, however, all your damage means jack shit if the enemy team manages to lock you up and kill you before you have a chance to deal it, so stay in the backlines and evaporate anything that comes towards you. It's not your job to dive the backline and kill the enemy carry (though if they fuck up, you can probably kill them in under a second). Keep calm, focus on outputting as much damage as possible, and negating their key burst as best as you possibly can, and you should come out with a win.

Jungling

I can't profess to know much about jungling, as its my worst role, but kayle's clear is extremely good with E max, and it ends up being relatively safe since you can kite the camps around.

Also, devourer OP.

Matchups

Aatrox

Overall, not a hard matchup. His level 2-3 is one of the strongest in the game, so be sure to respect that. Once you get 6, he can't really do shit. Pop his passive, call in a jungler, snowball.

Ignite and executioner's calling destroy his healing.

Ahri

Honestly, this lane comes down to whether Ahri can hit her charm or not. If she misses and its on cooldown, take advantage of that and go aggressive. Punish her mistakes. If she does hit it before you ult, you can be in some trouble, as the charm goes up to 2 seconds, more than enough time for her to burst your squishy arse.

Consider abyssal sceptre/QSS/wit's end

Akali

Very annoying. You can bully her pre-6, but once she hits that point, you can't fight her until you can reliably burst her down in the window of your ult.

Also, tank akali. We don't mention tank akali. It's bullshit. You can't really do much.

Alistar

Midlane AP alistar does one thing, and one thing only. Ult his WQ combo and he does nothing. You may be able to push him around a bit early, but be cautious pre-6, as he does have high base damages, and can set up perfectly for a jungle gank.

Anivia

This cryo-phoenix is an absolute bitch. You won't be able to kill her solo. Farm, and dodge her Q so she can't kill you. Her RW combo hurts like shit, so take care not to get tagged, and call in your jungler to jump all over her immobile butt.

Annie

Not fun. Just by being in range to damage her, you're within range of her divination - or an instant giant flaming bear stun being dropped on your head. Farm up, keep track of her passive and flash cooldown, and roam.

Aurelion Sol

I haven't played against this guy much, but he is fairly binary. His stun is very slow, and, unless it grows to be the size of the lane, you should be able to dodge it with ease. Watch out for his roams messing up your team, and ult his ult. Aside from that, I haven't found it too hard.

Azir

His range is much longer than yours, and you can't ever feasible get close enough to damage him without being outtraded. Farm up, destroy his team.

Brand

You have to dodge the stun, and attempt to shield his W and Ult. His E is incredibly annoying in lane, and buy extra magic resist would go a long way in reducing your pain. You can, however, kill him if he wastes his shit, or misses it.

Cassiopeia

The definition of level 2 powerspike. This bitch will ruin your day with her poisons and deathfire touch. Try to farm.

Cho'Gath

You can dodge his knockup, and attempt to push him around in lane, though actually killing him will likely be very difficult due to his passive. Be wary of his silence and ult, especially if he has flash up.

Corki

This guy is all about powerspikes. He's strong once he hits trinity force, you're strong once you have a few more items under your belt. You can attempt to fight him once you hit 6, but be wary of the package, since that shit hurts.

Darius

Diana

Dr. Mundo

Ekko

Ezreal

Fiora

Fizz

Galio

Gangplank

Garen

Gnar

Gragas

Graves

Hecarim

Heimerdinger

Illaoi

Irelia

Jarvan IV

Jax

Jayce

Jhin

Karma

Karthus

Kassadin

Katarina

Kayle

Kennen

Kha'Zix

Kog'Maw

LeBlanc

Lee Sin

Lissandra

Lulu

Lux

Malphite

Malzahar

Maokai

Master Yi

Mordekaiser

Morgana

Nasus

Nautilus

Nidalee

Olaf

Orianna

Pantheon

Poppy

Quinn

Rammus

Rek'Sai

Renekton

Rengar

Riven

Rumble

Ryze

Sejuani

Shaco

Shen

Shyvana

Singed

Sion

Skarner

Swain

Syndra

Tahm Kench

Talon

Teemo

Trundle

Tryndamere

Twisted Fate

Udyr

Urgot

Varus

Vayne

Veigar

Vel'Koz

Vi

Viktor

Vladimir

Volibear

Warwick

Wukong

Xerath

Xin Zhao

Yasuo

Yorick

Zac

Zed

Ziggs

Zilean

Zyra