Hi guys, welcome to my guide to 9.5 reworked Kayle. Kayle early game is a melee poke champion, a bit like Gangplank, so her runes are best built around that playstyle. At level 6 she gains waveclear, and at level 11 she becomes a hypercarry marksman, although her scaling is very unique compared to similar champions.

She can be built either full AP (her autoattacks have a total 40% AP scaling with her two passives), or full crit (her passives scale with AD and her fire waves can crit).

She is NOT an on-hit champion however, don't try to be Kog'maw. Her fire waves do not apply twice with Guinsoo's Rageblade, and she needs large amounts of AD or AP which the item doesn't give, making rageblade an outdated item.

Kayle is IMO best played as a toplaner, her lack of early game impact is way too punishing for her to be a jungler or support, and while she is viable midlane, ranged poke is too punishing there. In the toplane, her kit is good for short trades and poke, and her disengage makes her pretty good at dealing with bruisers. She is also a natural split pusher, with her strong waveclear, high building damage, and split pushing is the fastest way to farm XP for a fast level 16.

Have a nice read!

Pros :

- Godlike late game DPS, one of the highest in the game
- Can be built both AP and AD, so fits any team comp
- True damage. Destroys tanks, impossible to itemize against
- Sustain in lane
- Fast farmer, can clear jungle camps early
- Great teamfight presence, with peel, utility and tons of AOE damage
- Great splitpusher, high AP + sttack speed melts towers
- Both hyper support and hyper carry


Cons :

- Very weak early game, basically useless in a gank or teamfight before level 11 (!!)
- Weak to poke matchups in lane
- Lacks a good escape, weak to ganks
- Ultimate disarms her (!!)
- Limited range and lack of mobility makes her very weak to CC

Running Grasp of the Undying over a sustained damage rune like Press the Attack might be confusing to some people. The idea is that Kayle needs an early game keystone, since she deals massive damage late game anyways. And since she is melee, she won't land several attacks which trigger a rune like PTA. Grasp fits her playstyle of doing short trades with Starfire Spellblade perfectly. Yes, the effect does get reduced when she uses it with her E since it makes her ranged, but you proc it a LOT so it's completely worth it (think grasp on Gnar which is a common build for example). Essentially Kayle early game is designed to slowly chip at your opponent's health with Q and E while sustaining with heals, and grasp fits that playstyle perfectly.

Early plating gold.

Defensive rune against champions who want to all-in you.

Counters CC, which is one of Kayle's biggest problems.

Kayle scales hard with both AP and AD so you want lots of it. She has lots of sustain so you will easily stay full HP for absolute focus.

An alternative to grasp, which gives you more healing but doesn't deal damage. Fits a more passive sustain playstyle in lane, typically against ranged opponents.

Works with your W, your keystone, Hextech Gunblade in the AP build, and Legend: Bloodline is the crit build.

Always take this over Legend: Alacrity when facing CC, you can't attack anything if you can't move anyways.

More DPS

Take this in the crit build.

More DPS, and perfect synergy with the execute from Starfire Spellblade.

Duh.

Kayle is not a very good TP ganker before level 11 but TP is still good to get back to lane and stay in the game early when camped. Even then she still has her ultimate, E and heal to contribute to a fight. Post 11 however, TP truly shines since she is both a great splitpusher and a great teamfighter, so TP'ing to a fight after forcing an enemy champion to defend against your split can be a game changer. Combat summoner spells are not worth it on Kayle.

Q is best used for poke and disengage/kiting, it's not the best chasing skill. It doesn't scale as well with levels as E but scales better than W.

I put two points in Celestial Blessing early for the sustain, but otherwise the skill doesn't scale as well as your Q, so max Q second.

Kayle has two on-hit effects : single target damage from her E and the fire waves from her passive. Both scale with your level in that skill. That's why you max Starfire Spellblade first, since it also increases the %HP damage, which is your poke in lane.

Divine Judgment can be confusing because it disarms you when you cast it (coded as a 'pacification', so also prevents spellcasting). It will always disarm Kayle herself, regardless of whether you cast it on yourself or on an ally. The ally won't be disarmed. Also the invulnerability lasts longer than the disarm, so even if cast on yourself you can still attack for 0.5/1/1.5 second while invulnerable after the disarm wears off.

Kayle can be built either AP or AD. AP Kayle deals purely magic damage and turns into a tank-shredding build that deals heavy true damage at level 16. While AD Kayle can put out massive physical DPS against low armor enemies. The point is to adapt to your team's lineup, if you have lots of AD in your team play her AP and vice versa.

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The perfect starting item on Kayle, gives both sustain and poke combined with your E.

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Stacking AP is a great build on Kayle because of her two passive on-hit effects which both have a 20% AP scaling. With Nashor's Tooth that's a 55% AP scaling on each autoattack. Gunblade gives both AP and AD (she scales with both), tons of sustain, and a disable which Kayle lacks.





Rabadon's Deathcap and Spellbinder just stack lots of AP. Rylai's Crystal Scepter is an amazing item on Kayle, applies the slow in an AOE with her fire waves, allowing her to permaslow targets she's attacking. Banshee's Veil against heavy AP teams to not get bursted down. Elixir for even more AP, increased with deathcap.

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Kayle's fire waves can crit, and her on-hit effects have AD scaling, so full crit Kayle is a thing.





Phantom Dancer is a great item since it gives lots of chasing power as well as a shield. Runaan's Hurricane sadly doesn't apply the fire waves but still applies the Starfire Spellblade passive making it a solid pick. Infinity Edge also increases the crit damage of fire waves.





Defensive AD items depending on game. Maw doesn't stack with Phantom Dancer so if needed you can go Statikk Shiv instead.

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- Guinsoo's Rageblade : Outdated item. Starfire Spellblade passive does proc twice with it but fire waves don't, so very underwhelming.

- Wit's End : You don't need MR reduction since half your damage is true damage. Much better to stack AP, which it doesn't give.

- Void Staff or Sorcerer's Shoes : You deal true damage, don't need penetration, just stack AP.

- Trinity Force : There are people who advocate this on Reddit, I don't know what they've been smoking. Lich Bane is way better in the AP build, and Zeal crit items are way better in the AD build.