I. Preface
II. Introduction
III. Skill Explanations
IV. Summoner Spell Explanations
-- Considerable Summoner Spells
V. Rune Explanations
-- Alternative Runes
VI. Mastery Explanations
-- Offensive Tree
-- Defensive Tree
VII. Core Item Build Sequence
-- Situational Items
VIII. Closing
IX. Special Thanks
X. FAQs
XI. Change Log





This build is designed to make Kayle a tanky supporting character that shreds away armor for the rest of her team to take down each target. You can go either duo bot, or solo top with this guide. Kayle going mid I don't see as viable due to the rework. There are just too many threats.

Abbreviated Terms AA = Auto-attack (Basic Attacks) AD = Attack Damage AP = Ability Power AS = Attack Speed AoE = Area of Effect CC = Crowd Control (Stun, fear, slow, snare, etc) CDR = Cooldown Reduction CS = Creep Score or Creeps Slain (How many Minion Kills you have) DoT = Damage over Time ELO = Elo rating (Rating system designed by Arpad Elo that is now used in gaming communities worldwide) FB = First Blood GP10 = Gold Per 10 HP = Health LS = Life Steal MD = Magic Damage MP = Mana MR = Magic Resistance MS = Movement Speed OOM = Out of Mana SV = Spell Vamp DPS = Damage Per Second; also: Strong Auto-attacker MDPS = Magical Damage Per Second; also:Strong spells; casters MP5 = Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds HP5 = Health Regeneration per 5 seconds ArPen = Armor Penetration MPen = Magic Penetration

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This Kayle guide will be geared at maximizing her sustained damage while keeping her tanky to not 'waste ults' on yourself.

Pros:
- No more early game issues (Used to be due to my old build, now RIOT fixed it themselves with the rework)
- Very high damage output
- Shreds resistances
- Speed boost

Cons:
- Need to have a good farm
- Ult usage is a bit complex, needs a bit of communication
- Regardless of the build or role, she tends to get focused quick
- Heal is now worthless

Holy Fervor is Kayle's passive, and it is fairly negligible throughout the game unless you have some complimentary shred or penetration to accompany it.

Reckoning Wow, I really don't know where to start with this skill due to the rework. Although I would have to say, it kinda gets left behind because AP Kayle is dead. You cannot play her like you used to and the 100% AP bonus gets wasted. Better left to a support Kayle to prioritize this because of how good of a nuke it can be. Also, regardless of how much AP you have, you still get the 5% damage increase and slow, which is all we will really be using this for now anyways.

Divine Blessing Another beautifully crafted spell falls waste with the rework patch. The heal is useless, the only reason you get 1 point in this early is for the move speed. Not as OP as it once was. Not much else to say here.

Righteous Fury USE AND ABUSE! This baby right here is the reason behind everything. It is really much more powerful than it was before and you can take advantage of that, so do it. Max it ASAP and get to headhunting.

Intervention basically makes you or someone on your team god for 3 seconds. What this requires is a ton of communication though. Because what you will see happen in 99.9% of solo queue cases (or just low ELO in general) is someone get low, you ult them while they are still in the fray fighting, then they turn and run. That is bad. Big no no. You need to inform your team at the BEGINNING of the match what your ult does, and to not run when they get ulted from you. Then when you want to ult someone, simply say "R on ____" then they know to stay and fight for those 3 seconds of being god.

Also, it is too late to ult someone if they are already running. I know its on a really low CD, but still. save it for yourself when they kill your running teammate. The goal of Kayle's ult is not to use it on a fleeing person. Try to use it like Tryndamere uses Undying Rage where he goes invincible then proceeds to 1v5 your team.

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This is a great example of TIMING YOUR ULT. That Kayle outlasted the entire ult from Warwick. Just due to an amazingly timed Intervention

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Priority for Intervention:
Teammate with the highest killing spree > Yourself > Tank

Flash: Its a bit hard to choose between this and Ghost on any champion. But it is especially hard on Kayle, which is why most people choose to run them both. But the way I see it is she has a built in movespeed buff with her Divine Blessing (which did get a huge buff to the amount of MS it provides, being 3% higher at level 1). Also, she has a slow in Reckoning if she ever does need to chase/run.

Ignite: This is what will greatly increase your damage output early game. It is especially effective versus characters that have a heal or high health regen.

Ghost: If you are deadset on running ghost, you can definitely go for it. I just think its a bit overkill with a 25% slow and 12% MS increase. If you take this, get the mastery for it.

Teleport: Teleport is also a choice, helps with needing HP/MP or just buying items and getting back to lane.

Cleanse: When you stop them from killing your tank or your carry, im sure they are gonna start focusing you. Dropping lots of disables on you to shut you down, and cleanse is much more "affordable" than getting a Quicksilver Sash

Greater Marks of Alacrity Attack Speed, ahh, how wonderful. It lets us put a beating on the opposing lane early and also helps with last hitting. Greater Seals of Evasion Why not armor seals? Well, because 13 armor at level 1 is great, but 13 armor when you already have 184 when build complete, is nothing. Armor runes are great to start with, but don't scale well into late game, Dodge on the other hand, are great throughout the game. And will keep you alive more times than you can count. Greater Glyphs of Shielding Adds to her overall tankiness so you can stay in the fight and shred resists.

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Greater Quintessence of Vigor Greater Quintessences of Vigor Some people may ask why these. Well, to be blunt, her heal is utterly worthless now. Getting the flat HP quints would be silly if you don't have the sustain anymore. But for those of you who are still wanting the hp quints, here is a little math lesson for you: 3x Flat Health Quints = 3 x 26 health = 78 health 3x Flat Health Regen Quints = 3 x 2.7 HP/5 = 8.1 HP/5 (or 81 HP/50) So, in just 50 seconds the Regen Quints have returned more HP than having a full set of just flat health quints. In 2 minutes, you have regened 200 health. A free potion.

Although the marks and Quints aren't too interchangeable for what we are trying to accomplish, there are a few choices for Seals and Glyphs that we can use in place of the ones I have listed.

greater seal of vitality Greater Seals of Vitality
These are completely viable if you feel the need to go this route, Kayle is on the squishier side and these keep her up quite well all throughout the game. You just have to have great mana management until you pickup that chalice.

Greater Seals of Resilience
Ahh, the most famous armor seals. These really work with any champion especially Kayle as she has absolutely terrible resistances. With a base 84 and 30 Armor and MR respectively, it could be quite smart to bulk up if you do not feel comfortable with your durability.

greater seal of regeneration Greater Seals of Regeneration
Now, I actually don't have a set of these, but I've been doing some theory crafting and these could actually be quite beneficial. They indirectly conserve your mana by reducing the frequency of self heals you are throwing down. Now, why per level? Easy. These guys pass the flat HP regen seals at level 4. Remember that this is a solo lane build and you should reach level 4 quite quickly. At level 18 Kayle has pretty mediocre regen as is, and that does make her retreat to heal herself if she gets wailed on for a bit. As for values? You would have 38.32 HP/5, which per second comes out to 7.764. Pretty damn good. Now it wont save you if you get focused, but if you are getting kited and turn on your heal (MS boost woohoo!) you should be in the clear with that extra regen.

Kayle now relies heavily on attack speed and being able to stay in the fight for extended periods of time. This is why we will go for an Offensive/Defensive split with our masteries. I am still working out the kinks, please stop by to check for updates to the masteries section.

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Tier 1 - 3 in Deadliness for an early chance to get some lucky crits, 1 in Archmage's Savvy . A bit self explanatory, we aren't going AP so that would be quite the worthless mastery. Tier 2 - 4 in Sorcery for that early CDR and 4 in Alacrity to help with harassing with Reckoning. It also has amazing synergy with our Greater Mark of Attack Speed. Tier 3 - Pick up the single point in Archaic Knowledge because although we are building AD, a great deal of her damage is magical. Then put 2 into Sunder which will help ripping through tanks and squishies alike.

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Tier 1 - 3 in both Resistance and Hardiness . These masteries are a bit underrated but in my eyes they work on almost everyone because of the way resists work early game. You get more bang for your buck so to speak on every point of armor and MR early game as it is slightly tapered in the range on reduced damage. Tier 2 - 4 in Evasion which will pair will our Ninja Tabi and make us a Jax-like monster to go up against. Tier 3 - 1 point in Nimbleness for the added movespeed since we should be seeing dodges quite often. Then take another point into Harden Skin which will allow us to move deeper into the tree. Why Harden Skin over Defensive Mastery ? Because Harden Skin blocks damage from any source of incoming attacks, not just minions. Tier 4 - 3 points in Veteran's Scars to add to your health and make your greater quintessence of vigor useful in conjunction with Doran's Blade

From my experience with the Kayle rework, she doesn't succeed as AP for a number of different reason. So I find it is more beneficial to go this route.

As you can see with my build, there are only 5 items. Why? Because I feel that these can technically all be core, and the last item that I was going to put up ( Wit's End) is fairly situational. Which brings us into my next point.

Although you see the item build in that order, your situational item could be made at any time during the game. If you feel that you need dual shred, don't wait until after you have finished your atmas to buy a Malady. Buy it when you feel you need it. Whether that means before Aegis, or after Black Cleaver, it is up to you. Hence situational.


Defensive

This gives a solid amount of attack speed for being a defensive item. Especially as being a resistance shredder, this is a very great choice on her. Not only does it give you that much needed attack speed, but it also gives a great amount of MR for cost.


This guy could actually fall under the support section too because it eliminates you having to waste an Intervention on yourself. I would only suggest this if you aren't dying too often. (Not only because it has a long 5 minute CD, but also because you would be better off picking a more solid defensive choice over it)


If you're facing a team that has lots of CC, pick one of these up. It keeps you going pretty well with the mana from it, but that is pretty lackluster compared to the other stats that it gives you. Honestly, I'd get Hexdrinker over it earlier in the build if you see a team that you'd opt for a BV


This is personally what I would grab if you see a ton of enemies with lots of CC.
Mainly because you control when it negates the effect. It won't proc from a lame Ashe Volley like Banshee's Veil does. And the best part is that it can eliminate ults that are hazardous to your health. Hemoplague and Children of the Grave fall into this category.

Support


You may be wondering why I put Frozen Heart in this section. That would be because it slows people that attack you. And I feel that debuffs are support. If you get a brunt of the hurt from the enemy, and they happen to rely on auto attacking or have a bit of AS, pick this guy up. It will not only help you live longer since they are attacking slower, but it will help your team live longer and be able to burst them down quicker (not really, but it will feel quicker since you didn't take as much damage)


This is a good choice, but usually if you make it this far and have multiple AD carries that would benefit from it, one of them have it. If not it makes a great gift when they are chilling around you and magically healing themselves.

Offensive


Oh the Beloved Malady. If your team has lots of AP, you may want to get this. Nothing better than watching the enemy melt faster.


This, is a godsend. It will keep enemies in range for your REAL damaging ability, Reckoning. Not to mention keep the slow on them permanently. This is a good buy when you are lacking a bit of survivability and have a hard carry that has priority for red buff over you.


Kayle can definitely hold her own, and keep her attack speed up quite high, and although you shouldn't be the one on your team that gets this, you could still do it incredibly well.
Just ask before buying one of these though, you could make more use out of something defensive or supportive for your team if someone like Kog'Maw is getting this

I know that this is getting out there a bit late, and I do intend to keep it updated even past the Kayle rework that is coming up in the next patch. (sadface)
But I do hope that I have enlightened people on how Kayle can work and be very effective all throughout the game as a threat, not just when she has a Guinsoos, or her Nashors.

I do look forward to reading the (few?) comments I may get before the changes take effect, but regardless, I am still proud of this Early Game Kayle guide being my first.

Thank you to everyone who stuck with me for this incredibly long journey. I appreciate it so much.

It was quite a process to create this guide, and I know I couldn't have done it without these people:

Jebus McAzn for pointing me in the direction of a guide template
SixSonatas for his guide template
Searz for his guide template
Jhoijhoi for her informative and in depth review and criticisms of my guide as well as recommending it
wRAthoFVuLK for recommending my guide
Bayne66 for being a pain in the ***

Q.) What about Exhaust?

Hmm, I've never really thought about exhaust. I personally don't find it useful on Kayle. You have a 25% slow that lasts 4 seconds that is on a 4.8 second CD with max CDR. Could you take it, yes. I'd probably choose to run it over flash if I did, but that's just me.

Q.) What would you say to Magic Penetration or Armour Penetration runes on Kayle?

Her early game is already ****, and flat armor pen or magic pen is pretty negligible (other guides have them, I've used them on her, but it doesn't make too much of a difference) especially since she has an amazing passive we can abuse with the help of runes.

09.05.11
-Added a build 2
(need to rework the guide to outdate build 1 and work in build 2 as the main)

08.26.11
-Added a few items to the Situational section.

08.17.11
-So tired, cant even list all the changes that took place, basically reworked the guide to fit the rework.
-Unarchived, but listed as under reconstruction

08.16.11
-Redid the items

08.09.11
-Masteries are updated
-Removed the Rework section as it is now in place.
-Updated the Introduction, Skill Explanations and Rune Explanations sections

07.28.11
-Redid the masteries to accommodate for the rework
-Added new Item Build, still in testing and will remain unpublished

07.26.11
-New image host for pictures
-Added the Release Notes for Kayle v1.0.0.122

07.23.11
-Removed 2nd build
-Added Rework section

07.22.11
-Rune Explanation section is no longer centered
-Added some Alternative Runes
-Added 2nd build

07.17.11
-Added a few items to the Situational Items section
-Removed Black Cleaver from Situational Items

07.12.11
-Added some pictures and columns to the Mastery section
-Added an Alternative Runes section
-Got to working on some in-depth changes with help from Jhoijhoi

07.10.11
-Made minor additions and edits to a few sections

07.09.11
-Finished the Core Build Item Sequence
-Published

07.08.11
-Started work on the Core Build Item Sequence

07.07.11
-Added color to the tooltips
-Fixed some spacing issues
-Added a Special Thanks section

07.06.11
-Guide Created
-Wrote everything up to the Mastery Explanations