Update 10/24/12: Playing AP kayle now. Build 4 will show the items and sequences. Its a lot funner and easier to play. Easier to build than AD Kayle. Check out the brief AP Kayle section on how to rip out some damage.

UPDATE: 9/4/12. Put in some more kayle vs, champion stuff in the tips and tricks.

UPDATE: 7/10/12. Playing around with build 4. Its nice. It gets its MR from runes, sacrifices mobility (boots) for tremendous damage output. I haven't found a solution for the squishy factor though.

UPDATE: 6/28/2012. After getting tired with build 1 and 2 and a pretty good winning streak, I started changing it up...bad idea, at least for my play style. The worst was when I got whelped by two other Kayle players. I have comeback to build 1, and it rocks.


Build 1: This build is the passive gold build. If you are not going to do a lot of champion killing, this guild is for you.

Build 1A: Keep the Ionic Spark and don't get the Phantom Dancer. You essentially sacrifice 30% critical chance and some movement speed for 110 magic damage. Doing so gives more of an On Hit structure that is effective against tanks.


Build 2: This build is a more aggressive build. If you want to seriously harass in early game, build 2 is for you. The only drawback is that getting the last items takes a little bit longer because you've already sold your gold per second items.

Build 2A: Not actually a separate build, more of just a different option. If you scroll down, I suggest getting a Ionic Spark. You can skip the spark entirely and build Executioner's Calling right after philosopher's stone and Boots of Swiftness. This gives less laning power mid-game but lets you build quicker to the end-game items. Try both and comment on which one is better.

Build 3: Why build mid-game items when you can adequately prepare for end game? Build 3 is a result of playing with the builder at Leaguecraft. Essentially it focuses on damage and crit, which you get up to 75%. You sacrifice mobility though, since there are no boots. Also, its designed with the idea that its useless to waste gold on things you wont have in end game. I do start out with a Philosopher's Stone, though. Then get Madred's Razors, a Zeal, two B.F. swords, and a Chain Vest, IN THAT ORDER. To finish, finish the Infinity Edge, Black Cleaver, Phantom Dancer, Madred's Bloodrazor, Thornmail. If I have a choice, I do the infinity edge first. Finish off whichever one you need more of (speed, crit chance, or armor).
At the end, sell your stone and buy a Cloak and Dagger. You'll notice there are no quints. I haven't decided what would be best. Any ideas?

Build 4. I don't have the time right now to fully describe how AP Kayle works. There are much better people to explain it to you. Needless to say, focus on harrasing with Q, don't show off your E, surprise them with it. Just go STRAIGHT AP and spam your Q


I apologize for not having all the cool icons and making it look flashy, but I promise that the information will help you become a strong Kayle player.

Question or comments? I would love your feedback. Guides are only as useful as people are willing to try a new style of game play. Not to boast, but I have only lost one match when I got all of the items in my build. My scores are not flashy (4-1-7 was my last score) but I was the first to level 18 and we won.

Playing AP Kayle is like doing what you are supposed to do and getting rewarded for it.



Start out with a Doran's Ring.

On your next trip back buy a Blasting Wand. If for some reason you don't have enough for it, buy some boots.

Finish Guinsoo's Rageblade

Upgrade to some Sorcerer's Shoes.

Build a Rabadon's Deathcap. If you are dying build a Zhonya's Hourglass for armor or a Abyssal Mask for magis resist, depends on your situation.


Playing AP Kayle

Harass with your Q.

Last hit minions, don't farm ( it takes too long at early levels) with [Righteous Fury] until you are at higher levels.

Do not attack enemy champions unless both Reckoning AND Righteous Fury are both up.

Lead with your Q for burst damage and wack away with your E.

You MUST time the use of Intervention. Time it to absorb the most damage from your enemy. Sometimes that is at the beginning of an encounter and sometimes at the end. At higher levels, you can knock someone out with two attacks of your Q, so it's more about surviving until it gets off cool down.

This section is the most useful for new Kayle players, so its at the beginning. The nuts and bolts of the build will come later.

When soloing a lane:


You have several goals as a mid:

In a duo lane:

Mid Game

Don’t knock it ‘till you try it, however, since this build requires time to develop, bot games may be too short to get all of items. You will have to try it out in a real game or with teammates that don't rush a bot game. Just right down the item build sequence and follow it as you go throughout the game.
Here are some results from the build.


And

True, their LeBlanc was not that great (we mided together)but it was a 4v5.

Pros

INCREDIBLE late game destruction!
Allows you to have an aggressive play style.
Good lane pusher. Ionic spark + phantom dancer = dead minions
The combination of critical strike, physical damage, and magic damage lets you be aggressive against tanks.

Cons

Dependent on gold production: toys are expensive
Things don't fully lock in until you get the infinity edge.
Forces you to think as team player.

Runes are a personal choice. They are better used to fill in the holes of your personal playing style. If you find yourself too weak to magic, physical attacks, or you are too slow, your runes will help you overcome the deficiencies.

My personal choices are:

( Greater Mark of Magic Penetration) Flat Magic Penetration marks:Good for early game harrassment.
( Greater Seal of Gold) Gold/sec seals: Because toys are expensive.
( Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist) Magic Resist per level glyphs: Even with the nerf, they are still required for late game survival.

My quints are:

( Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed) Two flat attack speeds: Your main mode for destruction is your auto-attack, so the quicker you can strike the better.

( Greater Quintessence of Health) One flat health: Lets you stay in the lane longer during the early parts of the game.

Many players prefer flash over ghost. I believe that it is based on personal playing style. Here are some arguments for choosing ghost over flash.

1. Ghost lets you get back to the lane faster. Once you get your Boots of Swiftness, when you pop your W( Divine Blessing) on yourself and Ghost, you are pushing 500 + on speed. I used to save my Ghost and only use it to escape from sticky situations, but I noticed that I was not using it very often. If you don’t overextend yourself, what good is it for?

Furthermore, the cooldown on the Ghost is a good timer of how long you should stay in lane before going back to base.

2. Flash is a two trick pony: Get in fast or get out fast. Ghost does both of those. Not as fast as flash does, but ghost lasts longer. When a champion is about dead, they run away. You can chase them down with flash or you can use Ignite as they are getting out of range. Then you don’t have to chase them down.

3. There is one big plus side to Flash, though. It lets you get kills in enemy turret range. Sometimes champions hug their turret for protection when they should be going back to base. Running in, getting the kill, and then flashing out is gutsy. Remember Flash vs. Ghost is more about play style. Find one that suits you and exploit it for everything it has.

Where do you stand on the Ghost vs Flash? comment below.

In offence, I max out summoner’s wrath, Brute Force , Sorcery, and Arcane Knowledge .

In defense, I take 1 of 3 in Resistance , and full on Hardiness and Vigor .

In utility, I max out Good Hands , Swiftness , Greed , Wealth , and Improved Recall .

Its fairly easy:

Righteous Fury is your main weapon. Max it first.

Divine Blessing replaces health pots and boosts your speed. Max it second.

Intervention is the reason kayle is kayle. Max it third.

Reckoning is more useful for its slow effect. Get one early but max it last.


Many players argue that it is important to get all three early, but I disagree. Be smarter than the build:

• If you are going to fight your laning enemy in the very early game (levels 1-6), get Reckoning sometime in the first three levels.
  
  
• If you are going to focus on farming and your adversary is not super aggressive, you can literally wait to level 7 to start leveling up Reckoning. Doing so lets you get to the higher damage levels of reckoning earlier.

Throughout the game, only attack with your E ( Righteous Fury). Your regular attack is too weak to be of much help unless you are last hitting. Even then, using your regular attack to last hit requires you to get close to enemy champions and incur damage.

Playing a as a ranged champion gives you some flexibility in choosing a lane. Most of the time, you should try to solo. By using you Righteous Fury to farm minions, you can stop a wave fairly quickly in early game. Use Intervention to harass enemies quickly followed by your E to delve out some damage.


Since the primary spell you will be using is your E ( Righteous Fury), the time between cool downs is enough to regenerate your mana (even with something as simple as a Faerie Charm), unless you have to use your W ( Divine Blessing) to heal yourself or a teammate frequently or you are leading an attack with Q ( Intervention).

At some time before starting play, inform your team that you will not be playing a support role.

Constantly be watching the life of your teammates.

Do not complain that somebody is stealing your kills. As long as the enemy champion is dead, you will be up on top.

Do it and do it often. The key is to ‘not die.’
If you are being chased, make a decision as to whether you can run away or not.

1. Thou shalt never overextend yourself.

• It will only result in death.

2. Thou shalt never tower dive.

• It is a waste of an ult ( Intervention) and you will more than likely die anyway.

3. Thou shalt ult ( Intervention) champions who are on the verge of death,

• but only if together you can win the battle or they need a little extra time to escape a bad situation. Using Intervention on a champion who is surrounded by 5 enemies is typically a bad idea, unless your teammate or you are op and you just needs a little extra time to get the penta kill.

4. Thou shalt not apologize when you didn’t ult ( Intervention) a champion and they died.

• Inform your team that it is their responsibility for not dying, not yours.

5. Thou shalt farm:

• minions give you gold, gold gives you better stuff, and the right combination of stuff makes you awesome. In mid game, Kayle has incredible lane pushing power. Use it to make surprise attacks on turrets, but only do it when you know most of the other team is elsewhere

6. Thou shalt be in every team fight, not in the middle, but on the edge.

• Be ready to ult ( Intervention) whoever is being targeted but only if the above rules are met.

7. Thou shalt use Q ( Reckoning) as a slowing spell.

• In a regular fight, lead with Reckoning but then rip damage with your E ( Righteous Fury). Sometimes you can use Reckoning as a last-hit spell. Don’t use it to farm; it is a waste of mana. Getting items to max the power output of your Q is lame.

8. Thou shalt never chase a champion by yourself.

• You typically can’t chase them down for various reasons. Your Q ( Reckoning) has a short range. E( Righteous Fury) attacks are basically auto-attacks and require you to come to a complete stop before attacking during which they are running even farther away. Plus, late game, chasing is bad. You will nearly always get ganked and then you will die. Always be with your team. Use Intervention on the champion closest to the enemy.

9. Thou shalt auto-attack.

• Put yourself in a position where enemy champions have to come across your effective range as they run away. No mad button clicking, just point to the guy you want to kill and click once. For some crazy reason, your first strike takes longer than subsequent auto attacks. Button mashing is just going to move your character between strikes and you will not attack as quickly. Twitch players are excellent at this skill.

10. Thou shalt never, ever, EVER, give up. Never give up! Never surrender!

• It takes time to put together all of the items for Kayle. Until you get ALL of the items together, you will not own anything other than your LOL T-shirt. There will be games when your team is down by 15 kills that are still winnable as long as you get all of your items. Surrendering is for losers. You are not a loser. You are the hidden weapon.

For some reason that I cannot explain, the order in which you buy the items is very important. Perhaps it is because the items are linked to the type of game play required (early, mid, late) at different points in the game.

All of the numbers here are the gold required to purchase the items. Regrowth Pendant is 435 g or rather, it takes 435 gold pieces to purchase said item. Knowing how much item costs helps a lot in knowing when to recall back to base.


1. Start by getting a Regrowth Pendant (435 g).

• That’s it. When you have 725 gold, get some Boots (350 g) and a Nomad's Medallion (365 g). It is very important that you get back to fighting as soon as possible. I normally use Divine Blessing on myself and use Ghost. Teleport is another option.

2. Get your Boots of Swiftness (650 g).


3. Save up for and buy a Recurve Bow (1050 g).


4. Buy the Ionic Spark (1180 g).

• Use your new toy, coupled with your E ( Righteous Fury), to really start farming minions.

5. Buy an Executioner's Calling (1350 g).

• You can buy it in pieces ( Brawler's Gloves (400) and Vampiric Scepter 450) or outright, depending on your gold. If you buy it in pieces it will cost 500 gold. You can now start getting decent damage against other champions.

6. Buy a Kage's Lucky Pick (765 g).

• It is cheap; get it as soon as possible after getting your Executioner's Calling.

7. Buy a Phantom Dancer (2845 g).

• Normally you will do this in two steps, first a Zeal (1195g) and then the Phantom Dancer (1650 g).

8. Wait until you have nearly 2000 gold and sell the Ionic Spark (1610 g). Buy a Thornmail.

• By now, you are becoming squishy again. Thornmail will cure your squishiness.

9. When you have 3600 gold, sell Kage's Lucky Pick (283 g) and buy an Infinity Edge (3830 g).


10. When you have 3400 gold, sell your Philosopher's Stone (400 g) and buy Madred's Bloodrazor (3800 g).

• When your team is ready, yell out “ZERG RUSH!”, and begin the pownage.

Every hero has a kryptonite. Kayle’s is blind or silence. During early game, you can ignore silence and blind. Nukers cant kill you outright, but once enemies can wipe you out with attack sequence, you need to start playing differently.

For example, enemies pop out of nowhere. You could kill them but you have to activate your E ( Righteous Fury), which of course, you can’t. You then become the recipient of some crazy burst damage. You can survive if you can ult ( Intervention) yourself, but you can’t. Sad day.

Some champions are very good at silencing. The only advice that is helpful, at least for late game, is:

SPACE

AS SOON AS YOU SEE THEM, ult ( Intervention) yourself and attack.

SPACE

Using Intervention on yourself and running away seldom works since you are also slowed most of the time. When your ult wears off, you are just going to get creamed.

In reality, the above only happens when you have overextended yourself. Do not overextend yourself; you will always die.

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