Hey guys, my first build on this site.
So basically, I used to love certain champions mid (and I still do), but as it always happens, you play one champ and you'll eventually get bored of it.. so, as time passed, I played less Ryzes, less Karthuses, and tried some new stuff, which involves Kayle. Needless to say, I fell in love with her from the first game.
Of course, I didn't know how to build her right of the bet - instead, I consoled the guides on this site, and came out disappointed - in two words, **** Gunblade. That item is basically trash before the late-late-late-late game, and there is absolutely no reason to build it before your other items. Another problem with their builds is that you either go AD and your CDR rely on pots+blue buff (we'll get to that later), or the hybrid build relies on some bad items, which give you a small bit of sustainability/survivability in exchange for terrible DPS (in comparison to my current build).

Basically, this is the best build I managed to find for Kayle, so, on to the guide!

Pros
- Amazing farming potential.
- Strong all game long, from early to late.
- Good escaping/chasing mechanism
- One of the, if not the strongest single target DPS lategame, when properly farmed.
- Hybrid DPS, hybrid penetration, so unlike an AD Kayle, your DPS wont drastically fall if enemies stack armour.
- Ultimate is useful at all times, and at lv16 with 40% CDR the cooldown is 24 seconds.
- In case you got shut down, you can always act as a secondary support.

Cons
- Extremely skill based, both micro and decision making.
- Farm dependent.
- Naturally, she's slow as ****.
#Currently - Lots of whiny b****es when you say you go mid as Kayle.

This is the first variation of runes. Basically, attack speed comes to remedy Kayle's early game AS issues, HP/Lv comes to remedy her squishieness, CDR comes to help your cooldowns (later I'll talk why Blue Pot addiction and Blue Buff dependency are bad), and speed helps with your ridiculously low speed, which you'll retain until late game.

Marks: Can also be Greater Mark of Magic Penetration or Greater Mark of Precision, in case you like penetration. I personally use the first one, and it works. I still prefer attack speed though, and if I had those runes on my current account I'd be using them.

Seals: Greater Seal of Armor is also an alternative, but mainly if you are top, since mid champions will be AP based.

Glyphs: You can, if you want, get 3 Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction and 6 Greater Glyph of Attack Speed. I personally prefer my flat CDR, since even though it overlaps a bit with the CDR/Lv mastery (meaning, I waste 3% CDR at level 18), I get to the 40% cap earlier, which make my mid-game better significantly (worth the lack of the 4% AS/8 MR/Whatever).

Glyphs You could, of course, get Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration, Greater Quintessence of Precision or Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed. but from personal experience, you'll NEED the movement speed in an incredible amount of situations, so I prefer to get it.

This is basically the best combo you can have, under normal circumstances.
Flash - I don't think I need to explain why this spell is a must-have on almost any champion in the game.
Exhaust is good because not only is it an offensive spell (and better than Ignite in most cases), but it's also defensive, allowing you to chase, escape, and shut down dangerous enemies, all in the same time.

Alternatives (To Exhaust)

This is the most common spell to go with Flash on Kayle.
While this spell is good, I found exhaust tends to be more useful in offensive (or 1v1) situations, unless the enemy is regenerating health in an insane pace (aka, Dr. Mundo). Still, there is no shame in taking this spell, but you'll have way less survivability versus ganks.


I haven't used it, but I heard this is an amazing spell. Surge gives you attack speed and AP, and has a relatively low CD, so I'm pretty sure that if the enemy doesn't have a lifestealing/regenerating champ, this is better than Ignite late-game and around as good early game. Needs more testing, though.



Late-game, if their team is stun heavy, using this during teamfights (to get out of a stun, nonetheless) will make you do way, way higher damage in that fight and also potentially to stay alive. However, this doesn't have any offensive capabilities, and you got your ult for survival, so I personally prefer Exhaust. Still, this spell is good.



This spell overlaps with , so I don't think it's more useful than any of the abilities above, but Kayle does benefit from the MS, so I'll leave it here.

Starting Items
You always, always start with Boots and 3 Health Potion. There are just no better items for you to get.
Get back at 950~1060 gold, and get x2 Doran's Ring and optionally a Sight Ward plus some Health Potions. Than, next stop back, finish your Berserker's Greaves.

Mid Game
Build a Blasting Wand into a Guinsoo's Rageblade. Follow up with Daggers into Stinger into Nashor's Tooth.
Next on, get a Zeal and work your way to Phantom Dancer. Congradz, mid game is over. At this point, you might have already won, but if you didn't, here's the followup.
Note: NEVER get Hextech Gunblade or Trinity Force before any of this. EVER.

Late Game
Recurve Bow will turn your insane AS into something completely broken. Now, it all depends on what you feel you need.
If you feel you only need more sustainability, get a Hextech Gunblade first.
If you always get focused down, get Guardian Angel.
Else, finish your Madred's Bloodrazor and go on to buy one of the Above items.
If the game STILL doesn't end, exchange your shoes with a Trinity Force or another Phantom Dancer.



Why Pots Are Bad (most of the time)
Potions, for just 250, give you a big advantage for 4 minutes. Is it worth it?
Well, lets take a look:
They are too expensive to be used early game, when you're still getting the basic items.
Mid game, they are great, and this is probably the only time you should buy them as Kayle (if you need them).
Late game, all your slots are full, so in order to buy a pot you have to sell an rebuy your boots - that's already a much higher price for the pots, and you'll seriously have to question whether this is worth it.
I personally never get potions at all on Kayle, unless I desperately feel we need some fast advantage.

Blue Buff
You need your blue buff early game - you need it badly. The CDR and Mana regen are exactly the issues you'll be having (CDR til Nashor's Tooth, Mana issues til the end of the game).
At mid game, it'll help you alot as well, and as the mid you should have the highest priority to get it.
At late game, you'll not have any CD issues, but you'll have troubles with mana - teamfights will drain most of your full bar, and it'll regen too slow. So basically, a blue buff late-game will save you a few Recalls, which is quite big.

So, has this yielded any results?
Well, I can say I almost never lost a lane (apart from certain champions who either counter Kayle, or you can't kill them while they can't kill you), and I have a solid 62% win ratio with her in Ranked, 2nd to only Jax (out of champions with 10+ games). if you don't include the few times I was forced to support (support Kayle is bad, and I'm not even used to play her like that), you can make that around 70%.
Here are some results:

On lane, you just use Reckoning and attack him (with E on) while he's slowed. When you're far and you know he can run back, you can sometimes catch him with Divine Blessing - use it, rush to him, and do your harass combo.

This is more or less how you're gonna roll all game long, only exceptions are when you're low on mana. At those points, your skill/expirience with Kayle will show, as you'll have to make the right decision on whether to use E, maby help chase with W, or hope you can cath him and use Q, or maby you need to save mana for the Intervention? That's all situational, and what you decide defines how good of a Kayle player you are.

Your most important skill, and when to use it:

Tower Diving
To use: When somebody is taking too much damage, and would otherwise die, use it. You can also dive an enemy that is low hp and doesn't have blinks/stuns/heavy slows left, than use the Intervention to survive.
Not to use: Don't think this grants you CC immunity - the duration is very short, so if he slows/stuns you, or blinks away, it'd be a waste of ulti.

Skirmishes
To use: Your teammate is escaping, with very low hp. If you know he only needs an extra sescond to get to safety, but the enemy{ies} has a nuke, you can shield your ally. You can also use it when you know somebody is gonna eat a **** ton of nukes in the next second.
Not to use: Your teammate is on low HP, trying to escape, but he's getting chased by too many enemies, and is getting slowed so he's going to die. Thus, it wont matter if you give him 2 extra seconds, he'll still die, only that you'll also waste an ulti.

Teamfights
To use: In big teamfights, you shield only the main damage dealer. This means, you'll only be using this on either yourself or the AD carry (or AP carry, if you were top), depending on the situation.
Not to use: Your tank is initiating, and is going to eat all the enemy nukes! Should you shield him? Absolutely NOT. The more the enemy focuses the tank, the better. That's his job. You only save your ult for the carry or yourself, and in 9 out of 10 situations it'd be completely ******ed to waste your ult on a tank.

(Early-Mid Game)
F**k Akali. This is the most annoying champion you can lane again. Her sustainability, burst, invis, and on top of all no mana will make you unable to kill her on the lane, while the way she works you can't really beat her with the ult, since her damage is fully done in bursts. If you see her against you, either go to another lane or only farm, trying not to die.


(Lane)
You can't do anything versus him on the lane, but he can't do too much against you either. I remember one time I was just hitting him (with E), while he was just hitting minions, and his HP didn't move.
If you lane versus him, just focus on lasthiting and wait for ganks.


(Early Game)
Laning versus her is always gonna be bad, especially if you're Kayle. Your ult also wont cover all of her ult, and absorb 2 shots at best. Don't go top if there is an Irelia there.


(Lane)
You'll have very, very hard time laning versus this guy. Luckily for you, he'll be pushing, so you should request as many ganks on him as you think you need, and shut him down this way. Don't let him snowball and you'll be fine.


(General)
Her ranged silence can really, really **** you up sometimes, especially if you need to ult or re-use E. Nothing to do against this, but it doesn't completely shut you down either, so just live with it.


(Lane)
Few are the ones who can beat him 1v1 top, and Kayle is not one of them. Just use the bush to kite his ghosts, try to lasthit and wait for a gank.

1/10/2012 - Final version posted on Mobafire.
1/20/2012 - Added the Blue Buff topic I forgot to paste.
1/20/2012 - Added another forgotten part, the counters.