Hey everyone, my name is Shakarez and this is my first build guide.
I decided to cover Kayle since she's an underappreciated champion that I find rather powerful, provided you know what you're doing. She’s a really good solo-top and can hold her own against a lot of champions.

Also Kayle is one of the only champions that can actually do all 5 roles (AD Carry, Support, AP Mid, Top Lane and Jungler). She might not be the best mid laner or support, but she is still viable.

However, in this guide I'll be focusing on solely 3 roles: Top Lane, Bot Lane (as an AD Carry) and Jungle.

Top lane is undeniably Kayle’s best role, however, Jungling and AD are really good to confuse your enemies and make them pick a counter for a possible top lane, which is awesome because then your teammate can counter that pick.

Throughout the Guide I'll talk about each build separately.

spaaaaaaace

Pros + Her Righteous Fury makes her ranged + Her Reckoning is a pretty good slow + Great Counter to solo-top bruisers + She’s a hyper carry, shines late game and does pretty decent early game + Invincibility Ultimate + Versatile (can do more than top lane)

space

space

Cons - Somewhat squishy (compared to bruisers at least) - Not that much range which doesn’t let her keep that much of a distance -Has 6-7 solid top lane counters - Will get focused, sometimes even before the carry - Somewhat item dependant

Kayle’s Passive is pretty nice. It might not be as good as her old one, but shredding armor and magic resist per hit is awesome, especially when combined with Reckoning to amplify damage. Combining this passive with an item like Black Cleaver will improve your armor shredding further.

A pretty decent slow that also amplifies the damage you do on a single target. When on a 1vs1 duel open up with Recknoning and then follow with Righteous Fury to ensure maximum damage output. Its only downfall is its mana cost, which I find a tad too high.

A very interesting ability that functions as a heal and at the same time as a haste ability. If you’re not playing as support you should not see this as an ability to provide sustain, but as an ability to catch up or gain distance from targets. Of course that healing yourself when ignited can keep you from dying, but mostly you’ll be using it for the other situations I just mentioned.

The skill that makes Kayle unique. It gives her range and splash damage. Be careful using this ability on minions though because you don’t want to push your lane too much. Furthermore, when near an enemy tower do not hit minions near an enemy champion as you will splash damage on him and the tower will start targeting you.

This ultimate is great. You can target it on any allied champion or yourself. Just don’t use it on the support. Save it for the enemies’ high-target priorities such as the AD carry, the AP mid or even yourself. Remember though a good Kayle uses her ult not only to avoid dying when she or anyone else is low but also to soak up tons of damage. You can use your ultimate as bait in a team fight. If you target yourself or your ally on time you’ll make the enemies’ focus on a certain ally of yours completely useless.

Flash: I take flash 99% of the times, It’s a great option for both offensive and defensive purposes, jumping over a wall with Flash or even flashing so you can place your ultimate on someone in time are just some out of many examples.

space

Exhaust: I usually pick Exhaust over Ignite when I play top lane. I think that it synergizes very well with Kayle’s kit. It’s a slow that can be used for either offensive or defensive purposes. I usually take it when I’m playing against melee champions

space

Ignite: It’s always a solid pick, with that extra bit of damage. I take it when I go bot lane as an AD carry with a champion like Soraka or if I feel like playing more aggressive. I also use it on top lane against champions like Dr. Mundo or Vladimir because they have self-healing abilities and you can use Ignite to cut the healing effects.

Heal: I use Heal when I’m playing as an AD carry on bot lane and that’s pretty much it… On top lane I really don’t find it too useful.

space

Ghost: You can swap Ghost for Flash but overall I think you’re better off with the latter. You also already have Divine Blessing as a haste ability, which lessens the need for Ghost.

space

Smite: Pretty self explanatory, take it when jungling.

I use the same seals and glyphs for all 5 builds, so writing it 5 times would make it redundant.

• Greater Seal of Armor: A solid choice to fight against enemy carries or AD bruisers. Plus it’s one of the only viable seals for Kayle. Sure you could get mana regen but Kayle isn’t too mana hungry
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: You probably won’t be facing AP casters early on, so this will help you more later on.

As for the rest I will talk about it separately

• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage and Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Kayle already has the highest base AD of all ranged AD champions. Combine this with these runes and you'll do some serious early game damage.
  Optional:
• greater quintessence of desolation and greater mark of desolation: You can always use armor penetration instead. You can also mix both of these setups.

• Greater Quintessence of Critical Chance and Greater Mark of Critical Chance: The builds aim is to get as much crit. chance as possible. Marks and Quints combined will give you 14% crit chance.

• Greater Quintessence of Health: These runes will make Kayle less squishy and giving her more room to maneuver. If you feel like the sustain is unnecessary you can always go for more attack damage or ability power.
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration or Greater Mark of Attack Speed. Magic penetration will help you early game, especially since you’re building hybrid. Attack speed is equally valid or if you want something more late game oriented, armor penetration is alo good choice.

• Greater Mark of Attack Speed. Attack speed is simply awesome on Kayle. It’s useful on any time of the game. Combined with Beserker’s Greaves you’ll have a lot of attack speed early game
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage. 3 of these beauties will make you hit very hard, especially when combined with your base damage, which is the highest of all the ranged AD champions.

• Greater Mark of Attack Speed. You’ll need the attack speed to put in more hits in less time on the jungle creeps. I have already tried without these runes and I can’t do the whole jungle in one go. It’s an offensive option but it’s a way to counter your low sustain. If you hit faster you kill minions faster, which means they’ll get less hits on you
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage. Again, AD will make you hit harder. Another good choice would be more move speed to synergize with Divine Blessing and to make ganks better. Greater Quintessence of Healthare a good choice as well, to give you more sustain.

Kayle is a Very Strong AD Carry. She has the highest base damage out of all the AD ranged champions, plus her Righteous Fury does some extra attack & magic damage (the splash damage) that even makes her stronger. Plus she has more base HP than your average AD carry.

The only downside to Kayle as an AD carry is the time between her E Righteous Fury. For approximately 5 seconds (give or take) she will not be able to hit from afar, which means you may lose some last hits and you'll need to time when to start the spell for teamfights or for trading with the enemy carry. Cooldown Reduction can be used to fix this, but overall I think that Magic Resist per level for glyphs are a more solid choice.

Builds one and two can be used for both Bot and Top lane.

I decided to include this because many people play Kayle with a normal AD carry build and whether it's on top or bot lane, it sure works.

No need for a description on this build because it's pretty self-explanatory.

Runes are also what you would see on a typical AD carry, with either Greater Mark of Desolation or Greater Mark of Attack Damage.

As for masteries, just remember if you're taking Heal be sure to allocate points on your mastery tree accordingly.

So lets move on to the good stuff, and what make or break a good Kayle.


Starting with the Items, this build is an adaptation from the ever so famous SIV HD guide, Critamat Kayle. His build itself works really well but I've made a few tweaks so it is usable for ranked games and games where you want to play more seriously.

Anyways here's the link:
These are the general items, I will also talk about other good items that can be used.

• : Pretty obvious, the best boots for Kayle
• : It's a crit build, this gives you 12% crit that combined with your masteries will give you 26% crit chance early.
• : Almost mandatory for nearly every carry, especially if you're stacking crit chance.
• : Move Speed, Attack speed and Crit Chance. Need I say more?

Late Game:

• Damage
  
• A great item that will give you some more tankiness, a perma slow and damage. I go for it many times, as my 5th slot
• Not so great anymore, but for a crit build it's still good, giving you armor, crit chance and damage. You can place a Guardian Angel here if you prefer
• Late game sell Avarice Blade and buy this, it's awesome because it gives you crit, life-steal and an Ignite type active ability.
• If you're willing to give up some crit and gain damage instead, go for it. This is also to buy after selling Avarice Blade
  
  
• Survivability
  
• This is a great item that will give you the needed Armor and Magic Resist. Not to mention it's passive which is great and will make enemies focus you less.
  
• Other Items
  
• Tiamat is awesome, you can add it on early game, after your Avarice Blade or Infinity Edge. It makes you a split pushing god(dess). I put it in other items because a lot of people seem to see it as a troll item.
  SIV HD will probably kill me if he see's this off the main build

Pretty standard 21/9/0 page for an AD carry type champion.
If you take Heal instead of Ignite or Exhaust make sure to change masteries accordingly. Allocate a point to the improved Heal and on the offensive tree put a point on extra minion damage.

Kayle is a hybrid champion, so building a Hybrid build is more than natural. I usually do this build when my team is very AD focused or when I feel like the build suits my opponent better. For example if I'm playing versus a counter, like Irelia, Fiora, Malphite, Wukong or Jax I'll use this build.

Why?
Well they have instant gap closers (not Malph but he's a pain in the a**) and as Kayle you want to keep them AWAY from you, so you won't be able to hit them from afar with you Righteous Fury without them counter-attacking you. So you should focus on building AP early game and maxing out your Reckoning so you can use it to poke them, instead of using your ranged auto-attacks.

• : Stacking these early game is nice for survivability and AP
• : Standard boots for Kayle, nuff said
• : Kayle's dream item if you're playing Hybrid. You use all the stats, AD, AP and increasing AP and attack speed per hit.
• : A good item on Kayle. It gives you a lot of useful stats, especially when played hybrid

Late Game:

• Damage
• : Attack Damage, Life-steal, active slow, Ability power and Spellvamp... This a very good item on Kayle
  
• Survivability
• : I put this on the survivability items because of the magic resist. It's a good item overall for Kayle because it gives her massive attack speed. You can also trade this for an Ionic Spark
• See info from build 2.

Since It's a hybrid build you'll be grabbing Alacrity and Weapon Expertise because Kayle improves a lot with attack speed. The other masteries are the normal ability power ones.

Another build for top lane! I find this build really good if your enemies are stacking armor.

• : Stacking these early game is nice for survivability and Damage
• : Standard boots for Kayle
• : It gives you AD, Attack Speed and reduces your enemies armor for 5 seconds, up to three times. This paired with your passive Holy Fervor will completely shred your enemies armor and some magic resist and you will hit them really hard.
• : See build 2 for info about it.

Late Game:

• Damage
• : Attack Damage and Lifesteal, it's just awesome on Kayle
• : A good item on Kayle, maybe not so good as before.
  
• Survivability
• : See build 3 for more information
• See info from build 2.

Pretty standard 21-9-0 Masteries for AD champs...

At first I was not going to cover this, but I did a lot of games and I've been testing it out and now I can say for sure I found the right build and how to jungle Kayle successfully. Picking Kayle jungle is a very smart pick. Your enemies will expect you to go top lane and will try to counter you. Then your real top can counter them.

Start with Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion. Start at wolves and ask for some damage. Then do blue buff, ask for a generous pull. More damage = more sustain for the other camps. On the wraith camps, always try to place yourself in the middle of all 4 wraiths before you start attacking. This way you'll splash attacks on all 4 of them

Ganking is pretty simple. Use Divine Blessing to close in on the enemy and then use Reckoning to slow them down. Then you can activate Righteous Fury and kill them easily, especially if you have Red Buff.

• : Again, standard boots for Kayle but you can also go with Mercury Treads
• : This item gives you attack damage, armor, lifesteal and that awesome smite type passive. Kayle's an aggressive jungler and she needs to clear quickly, so this is a solid pick
• : As a jungler you'll be one of the champions on the front lines so being able to take some damage without dying is important. With Wit's End you get attack speed and magic resist, so it's a very complete item to finish your core, along with Wriggle's Lantern that provides armor.
• : Perma-slow and attack damage. Plus now you can let your other team-mates grab the red buff.

• OPTIONAL:

  : You may want to get one of these after Wriggle's Lantern and Berserker's Greaves for extra tankiness and the nice gold per 5

Late Game:

• Damage
• : A very good AD item. Late game buy this and sell Wriggles Lantern
• : A good item for more offensive purposes, although it still has that much needed armor
• : As stated before, a dream Item on Kayle since she benefits from every stat
  
• Survivability
• See info from Build 2.

Masteries are pretty similar to the ones from my AD top lane, just allocate points to improve smite, and remove from improved exhaust, ignite etc, because you won't use it.
I run 21/9/0, focusing on AD on offense and Armor, Mres and HP on Defense.

EDIT: I've been trying an alternative 15-15-0 and I find it a lot more solid than the 21-9-0, so I changed the masteries accordingly.

Kayle is a very good jungler and very similar to Shyvana in terms of build and play-style. When you get the hang of playing Kayle as a jungler you can easily counter-jungle due to her high early level damage.
I’m going to approach 2 different routes for Kayle a more traditional one and a second one for counter-jungling.
Route 1:

• Start at wolves, ask for your teammates to damage them so you can do them and get to blue buff before it spawns.
• Ask for a generous pull on the Ancient Golem. After you finish you can gank top/mid (purple team) or bot/mid (blue team). If no lane looks gankable, head to the wraiths
• On the wraith camp make sure that you’re standing in the middle of all 4 wraiths so your Righteous Fury hits all of them.
• Do the red buff or golems (depending if Smite is up or on cooldown.) After one or both of these camps you should gank if you haven’t already.

Route 2:

• Start at wolves, ask for your teammates to damage them so you can do them and get to blue buff before it spawns.
• Ask for a generous pull on the Ancient Golem. You want to be quick so you can get to the enemies red buff early. You can take either one of the routes presented. If you’re on blue team be careful with the tri-bush route, as the enemy support may have already placed a Sight Ward there and will see you coming in. If you’re on purple team both routes are pretty safe.
• When you arrive at the enemy red buff you can do one of 3 things.
  • Do the buff quickly before he appears (if it’s a slow jungler).
  • Wait for him to come and Smite the buff to steal it. You can after flee or try to kill the enemy jungler.
  • Wait for him to kill the buff and then kill him for first blood.

These combinations are to be used when you’re playing Kayle as an AD carry.

1. Nunu & Willump. I absolutely love Nunu & Willump as a support, he’s really solid since he can give you an attack speed and movement speed buff which go really well with any carry and he has 2 slows, his Ice Blast and his ultimate Absolute Zero. Plus he’s really tanky and his Consume help him keep his health up.
Combined with Kayle's slow you can stop the enemy carry completely, forcing him to stay and fight, not to mention Nunu’s Ice Blast will diminish the enemy carry’s attack speed.
From level 6 onwards, you can afford being aggressive. Nunu & Willump has his all-mighty Absolute Zero that slows and does massive damage, will many times grow aggro from the enemy ( Alistar, Vayne, Sona etc) to stop him from doing so. Even if they do stop this, it gives you enough time to kill them while they’re busy. If something does go wrong you always have your ultimate to shield from incoming damage.

2. Leona is an excellent support since she can keep the enemy completely immobilized for a quite long period. Kayle has a lot of sustain, partly due to Divine Blessing so she goes well with any type of aggressive support.

3. Nautilus. Just like Leona he will keep the enemy carry/support in one place for a very long time. Nautilus has 4 Crowd Control effects, more than any other champion so you can probably picture why he’s good with Kayle. He’s basically an improved version of Leona in my opinion.

4. Volibear. Yep, Volibear. Believe it or not, this is such a fun combo. It’s a complete rape-train, especially when you’re facing a defensive support like Sona or Soraka. I have a friend that plays Volibear and we once decided to try this. Needless to say, with so much combined CC and burst damage you’ll get your opponent killed pretty quick. Your lane mate should start with boots and 1 health potion and only a ward. Securing an early kill is very important to gain early lane dominance.

5. Alistar. Alistar is pretty solid as a support and also very flexible, you can play him with many AD carries, but he shines especially with Vayne. He’s pretty good with Kayle though since just like other supports I’ve mentioned, he can keep a target immobilized for a long time. Another benefit is his heal, which boosts even more Kayle’s sustain in lane.

6. Janna. A defensive option, but she has a slow and a knock-up. If you’re playing with a good Janna that hits her tornado’s you’ll be successful. Not my favorite pick, but it’s doable.

7. Soraka. If you’re new playing with Kayle or with any type of AD carry for that matter, Soraka is a good pick. This combo has a ridiculous sustain with 3 heals (plus your summoner spell Heal if you decide to take it). If you’re experienced and you feel safe enough with Soraka take an Ignite. If you feel like surviving a brutal 3 on 2 tower dive every single time, take Heal. Combined with Soraka’s heal and you’re ult I’d say your chances of survival are pretty high.

Kayle is a very interesting champion for top lane, since she completely destroys the bruiser Meta.
Her kit allows her to harass from afar and run with her [[divine blessing]in case of emergency.
Furthermore she always has her ultimate that can help her safely tower dive taking little to no damage, survive a gank or even turn around a 1 on 1 turret dive (If you take Exhaust with you, you can easily shield yourself and exhaust the enemy champ rendering him useless)
Counter picks are a huge part of the game, especially on top lane, where you can find the best 1vs1 duellists.
I’ll talk about the most frequent top champions vs. Kayle individually, if I miss anyone, or if you want me to cover anyone please leave a comment in the comment section.
Use Ctrl+F to find the champion you’re facing, it’s easier to find.
Duel difficulty:
• Braindead
• Easy
• Medium
• Balanced (will depend on player skill, jungler activity etc)
• Hard
• Impossibru

Akali – Easy. Haven’t met many Akalis on top lane when I pick Kayle, but the ones I have, I turned out victorious every single time. You have more sustain than her. When she tries to get close, open with Reckoning and a couple of auto attacks with Righteous Fury. When she uses her AoE stealth ability Twilight Shroud simply get some distance from her to avoid her mark and gap closer. If she uses her ability near her own minions start auto attacking the minions with Righteous Fury. The splash effect will damage her and force her to make a move: retreat or close on you. If you manage to keep engagements on your “half” of the lane it’ll be very easy.

Cho’gath – Easy. You’ve got range, just stay away from his knock-up and you can easily harass. A good [[Cho’gath] ]will resort to bushes so he can use his combo on you. DON’T fall for it! If he stays in the bushes last hit minions and if you push the lane too much ask your jungler if you can go do golems or even wolves if you’re on the bottom base.
Darius – Braindead/Easy. Darius’ pull Apprehend isn’t very good and as long as you avoid it, you’ll destroy him. Just don’t get too cocky, if you start pushing too much the enemy jungler will gank you and you may lose an easy lane.

Dr. Mundo – Medium. Mundo is annoying as hell. Try to avoid his Infected Bonesaw by standing behind your minions and whenever you can, harass him. From levels 1-6 you should try to secure a kill/assist and out farm him, because from level 6 onwards he’ll just pop his ultimate Maximum Dosage to regain health. Taking Ignite over Exhaust is also a good idea to cut off his ultimate.

Fiora – Medium/Balanced. Maybe I’ve only been getting good Fioras but it’s a tough lane since she has that instant gap closer. Try to keep her distance from her and farm minions. A good Fiora will know that you have good damage output and buy life steal so she can heal off the damage with minions. A good jungler will definitely turn the tide on this matchup.


Fizz – Balanced/Hard. I personally hate Fizz. His high mobility and ridiculous damage output make him a hard matchup. Plus he has a solid gap closer Urchin Strike and his Playful/Trickster lets him harass near your tower without taking tower hits. Try not to push the lane and keep it on your half. A good jungler on your team can help turn the tide on this fight. Whenever he ults you ( Chum the Waters), use your own to soak up the damage, remember a good Kayle uses her ult not only to avoid dying when she’s low but also to soak up tons of damage.

Galio – Medium? Really don’t know how to play against Galio top because I’ve never faced him. I have however faced him on mid lane and he’s really annoying. Best advice I can give is to keep things on your half of the lane and farm away. Ask your jungler to come and gank because Galio is an exceptional farmer with a lot of sustain.

Gangplank - Medium? Again, haven’t been seeing many Gangplanks lately but I definitely think this is a lane where Kayle can win. Sure his ranged attack is a bit annoying and he can use Remove Scurvy to heal, but he really can’t do much to you. Try to keep him from farming minions.

Garen - Easy. He doesn’t have range to hit you. If he uses his Q to close in on you, use [Reckoning] and if you need to, use Divine Blessing to keep your distance from him. He will resort a lot to bushes, so stay at all times away, to avoid a surprise attack with his silence. Garen is also very tanky, so sometimes wasting time harassing him isn’t worth it (unless you’re negating his farm).

Irelia – Hard. Irelia will be one of your worst nightmares. She has an instant gap closer so the fact that you’re ranged won’t help much. It’s a really tough lane and you’ll probably lose more lanes that you will win. Only a very unskilled Irelia will not play aggressive. A skilled Irelia will make your life hell. The only thing I can suggest would be to get early life steal or armour, a whole bunch of potions, the river well warded to avoid ganks and keeping your distance from her at all times. Going for a hybrid build will also help you since you can deal some extra damage with Reckoning because, let’s face it, you won’t be hitting her that many times with Righteous Fury. A very present jungler can help you get the upper hand, but I’ve been 2-0 and lose a 1 on 1 duel against her.

Jarvan IV – Medium. Jarvan IV isn’t that hard to face. Sure, he can get close with his flag and his spear knock-up but if you keep your distance he will never get that close to you. However from level 6 onwards he may ult you and combined with a gank from the enemy jungler he may get the kill on you. That’s why you have to ALWAYS bring Flash and try to save it for those occasions.

Jax – Hard/Impossibru. Just like Irelia he will make your life hell. An unskilled Jax can probably win against Kayle without having too much trouble. An experienced Jax will completely destroy you and there’s not too much you can do. My suggestion would be same as Irelia but Jax has the added problem that’s he’s hybrid, although most start with AD items. Ask for your jungler to help you, if he doesn’t, pray you can hold off Jax and try to farm as much as you can. It’s extremely important you don’t let him kill you once or else he will quickly snowball.

Jayce – Easy/Medium. Maybe I haven’t been getting good Jayces because he’s a fairly new champion but up until now, I’ve won every single match-up. To me Jayce is like a sh** version of Kayle. You can deal more damage than he can with range. If he gets close back off and strike from afar.

Lee Sin – Easy/Medium¬. No real secret to defeat Lee Sin. To get close he needs to hit you with his gap closer. Provided you dodge it he loses a lot of burst damage to harass you. Be careful though, a good Lee Sin will safeguard/iron will to a friendly minion if you’re close to it and he can then catch-up pretty easily.

Malphite – Balanced/Hard. Malphite as a top laner is rock solid (pun intended) and it will be a very balanced lane. He can use his Seismic Shard to steal movement from you and get close, and from level 6 onwards he has that very powerful ultimate, Unstoppable Force, that combined with a gank from the jungler secures many kills. Play on your side of the lane to avoid getting slowed and caught and buy early life steal so you can heal off minions. A jungler can turn the tide to ones favour on this lane, so ask for an early gank to secure a kill and gain advantage.

Mordekaiser – Medium. Meh… Mordekaiser isn’t too troublesome, just hard to harass due to his shield. Just stay away from your own minions to avoid getting hit by his AoE skills. You’ll easily win this lane if you play with some caution

Nasus – Medium. People seem to think that Nasus can stop Kayle because of his Wither. I totally disagree. Reckoning and Divine Blessing will keep him away from you and then he’s an easy target to harass. Try to negate his farm as much as you can. This means harassing a lot every time he tries to use his Siphoning Strike to farm a minion. If you can get an early kill on him, it’ll make him even easier.

Nidalee – Medium. Nidalee has no CC to stop you, she might be hard to kill due to her high mobility, but I’m sure you can win most trades against her. Avoid Javelin Toss by standing near your minions.

Nunu & Willump – Hard/Impossibru. Most people wouldn’t think of Nunu & Willump as a solo-top. But he’s one of the best against Kayle and now he’s even better with his recent rebuff. I’ve faced him twice and I have to say, it didn’t go well for me. His Ice Blast will completely cut off your movement and attack speed and every time you harass him, he’ll simply use Consume to heal it off. Best advice I can give is to play under your tower, try to farm as much as you can and hope your jungler comes soon enough for a gank. Even if he does and you do get a kill, you’ll still have a very hard time laning against him.

Olaf – Easy/Medium. Not too much of a surprise here. Olaf can only throw you Undertow in order to harass from a far. You’ll have to dodge a lot of axes, provided you manage and you don’t get the lane too pushed he won’t be able to catch up on you to use his Reckless Swing. Never walk in on a bush with Olaf inside. He will resort to that many times to try to get the better of you, don’t fall for it

Pantheon – Hard. Pantheon is a very good counter against Kayle. Again, just like Irelia or Jax he has that instant gap closer, Aegis of Zeonia and then he can follow it with Heartseeker Strike and it will melt your health quickly. My advice is just like in the other cases, to build early armour or life steal ( Wriggle’s Lantern is a good example), do not push the lane and ask for an early gank to try to gain advantage. Also, do not forget to check his shield stacks to make sure your Reckoning isn’t blocked.

Renekton – Medium. Renekton doesn’t have any ranged ability so it’s easier to keep him away from you. However he can dash up to two times and he can use that to get close to you or to run from you, hence the ‘Medium’ difficulty. Just like many other champs, don’t run stupidly into the bush he’s in because Renekton can do significant damage with his combo.

Riven – Medium. Pretty similar to Renekton. If you play your cards well she won’t touch you. She can use her Broken Wings combo and dash ( Valor) to get close to you but other than that she really can’t do much… Make sure you’re away from the bushes at all times because she’ll resort to them a lot. A bush ward isn’t a bad idea, but generally I’d rather cover the river and tri-bush instead.

Rumble – Balanced. Haven’t been getting many Rumbles (thank god, because up to his recent nerf, he was a very strong champion). I expect a very balanced match-up; He has range with his Electro-Harpoon and The Equalizer, plus his jet-pack ( Scrap Shield) to close in on you. If he ever gets close, the first priority is to dodge Flamespitter, because it does massive damage. Keep your distance; harass him when he comes to kill your minions. If you get an early kill you’ll gain the upper hand, so ask for a gank.

Shen – Easy. Shen is a very common solo-top nowadays. I have fun destroying them every single time, they can try to dash to taunt you, but let’s face it, you have more range than that so he’s easily harassable. Just a shame he’s so tanky and can escape with ease from you. I’d take Exhaust to help to secure the kill.

Shyvana – Braindead. Do I need to say anything? She really can’t do anything. Just don’t get too cocky because you can get killed if the enemy jungler ganks you well.

Swain – Hard. To win against Swain you’ll have to dodge many Nevermores. So buy early movement speed to ensure it. He’s very hard to kill after level 6 because he’ll just use his ultimate, Ravenous Flock to heal off minions. Let him push the lane and try to get a kill early with the help of your jungler to gain advantage.

Sion – Medium/Balanced. 2 difficulties, why? Well that depends if Sion is playing AD or AP. If he’s AD it’s quite easier. He’ll use Cryptic Gaze to stun you and then start auto-attacking you. Needless to say, he’ll never get that many auto-attacks on you. If he’s AP it’s a whole different story. [Cryptic Gaze] will hit hard, and then he only needs to get close to explode his shield Death’s Caress on you. Try to farm as much as you can. If he’s AD you can afford to harass him more. If he’s AP try to harass when his shield is in cooldown or immediately after his attack on you.

Teemo – Medium. Just like Nasus, people seem to think that Teemo is a good idea against Kayle… Bad call. You’re both ranged and you do have more damage output than he does ( Kayle has the highest base AD of all the ranged AD champions, if you consider her ranged). Against Teemo I’d probably build Hybrid. Your Q will do massive damage and you shouldn’t be relying too much on Righteous Fury because he’ll blind you (you’ll still do splash damage though). A kill before level 6 will help a lot. From level 6 onwards, don’t walk into bushes; they’ll be full of mushrooms.

Tryndamere – Medium. I find Tryndamere an annoying champion, but you definitely have the advantage on this one. Stop him from getting close with Reckoning and try not to turn your back to him to avoid getting slowed. Try to secure a kill before level 6, because then he’ll have Endless Rage.

Udyr – Medium. Similar to Riven and Renekton. No ranged ability to harass you from afar, but he can use his Blazing Stampede to get close to you and stun you. A smart Udyr will probably max his Iron Mantle first to gain more sustain and to ensure he doesn’t let you get a kill on him. However, you’ve got the upper hand, so make an effort to out farm him, especially if he’s specialising in defence early. An early gank from your jungler wouldn’t hurt.

Vladimir – Easy. Vladimir is used a lot as a solo-top to counter many melee bruisers... It won’t stick with Kayle though. You can easily win this lane. Try to go for an early kill, I’d probably take Ignite for this match-up, to cut off the health he can regain with his skills. After level 6 remember that if he uses Hemoplague you only get damaged after a few seconds, play aggressively and save your ultimate until he uses his.

Volibear – Balanced. Harder than a Riven, but not as hard as Jax or Irelia. Provided you do not get caught by his gap-closer and then his pancake flip (it totally looks like it) you’ll be fine. If he comes running in your general direction, you know the drill. Slow him and use Divine Blessing to regain some distance. Harass him a lot to avoid him from farming

Warwick – Braindead/Easy. One of the easiest lanes you’ll get as Kayle. He can’t do anything to hit you and you can harass for as long as you like. Be careful with ganks though, especially after level 6 where he can suppress you with Infinite Duress and wait for the jungler to come. Still an easy lane, I’ve never lost against Warwick and I do not intend to.

Wukong – Hard. I find Wukong a hard champion to play against, maybe I’ve only been getting really good players but he can easily use his Nimbus Strike, smash you with Crushing Blow and then use his Warrior Trickster to run away without taking any damage. Keep things on your side, try to bait a kill when you’re low near the tower (after level 6 of course), build life steal and armour and ask for ganks is the best advice I can give.

Yorick – Balanced. I bet you were expecting a hard/Impossibru on this one, however in my honest opinion; Kayle and Yorick are a very balanced match-up. A good Yorick will harass Kayle a lot but both of them will have a hard time getting their opponent killed. Yorick might win the lane, but he won’t be able to shut her down. Jungler activity will completely decide the lane. In the meantime, play defensive, try to farm and avoid pushing the lane, since [Kayle] is a natural pusher, but then again so is Yorick. Try to harass early game, when he still doesn’t have his Tear of the Goddess.

Warding takes on a big role in the game, with correct warding you can successfully stop a gank and ensure that you don’t get shut down, it can protect you from ambushes or help you steal a buff, whether it’s red or blue buff or even a dragon or baron.

As a top laner, you should always have at least ONE active ward near the river, to prevent ganks. But since Kayle is a champion that should be played aggressively in lane, I usually have 2 wards, to ensure maximum security in lane.

However, global ultimates like Pantheon’s Grand Skyfall, Twisted Fate’s insert here, Nocturne’s Paranoia can easily get through your defenses. Stealth champions like Shaco, Evelynn and Twitch are also very dangerous, so you should consider having Vision Wards instead.

Here’s a map with the most commonly used warding spots on the top lane:
When I have enough gold I’ll usually buy 2 wards to put in the places marked with a Blue and Purple circle.

These wards will cut off nearly any gank attempts. If you pay enough attention you’ll always see the enemy jungler coming up from the river/blue jungle and you’ll always see him coming from the purple jungle with the tri-bush ward.

As for the orange wards they represent other optional wards you can put.
The one on the tri-bush near the blue turret is to prevent tower-dives if you’re on blue team.

The ones in the top lane bushes are to control a certain champion that is using it way too much, whether if he’s hiding from your sheer power and dominance or if it’s to lure you to then counter attack like Teemo or Garen. It can also prevent a lane gank if you’re being pushed, but that shouldn’t be the case because Kayle is a natural pusher.

If you only have enough gold for 1 ward, I’d advise putting them in one of the places marked with a yellow circle.


The one on the left will grant you some vision if he comes from the river or from tri-bush, but it won’t give you much time to run whilst the one on the right will give you more time to react if the enemy jungler comes from tri-bush to the river.

However these wards give you very little time to run from a gank and if you’re dealing with a fast jungler it’ll be very hard to escape. Furthermore, if you’re playing against a smart jungler and you’re on blue team, he can easily do this if you’re only using one ward:

…and lane gank you.

And if you’re on purple team, this:

Now, let’s talk about how one should lane as Kayle.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to play aggressively as Kayle. If you’re not playing against a counter like Irelia or Jax you should be always harassing your opponent whilst last hitting the enemy minions. You should try to negate the enemy’s farm as much as possible.

Kayle is also a natural pusher, so take care when playing her. You’ll want to leave the lane balanced so your jungler can aid in early ganks. You won’t always need the junglers help though.

If you’re playing as an AD carry on bot lane you should also be careful not to push too hard. You have the advantage over most of the other AD carries so use it. You have more base damage and more base health, however you have low range and also a 5 second gap in which you can’t activate Righteous Fury, so you may have some trouble against high range carries like Tristana, Caitlyn or Kog’maw.

Kayle’s role in a teamfight depends on what role she’s playing. It also depends on the team’s composition.

• Solo-top: If you’re playing Kayle on top lane you’ll almost always function as a second AD carry late game (somewhat more tanky though). This means that you should have a jungler that can take a beating like Rammus, Shen, Lee Sin, Dr. Mundo, Skarner, Nautilus etc so you can attack from afar. Your positioning in teamfights should be similar to the AD carries. The main focus should go for the enemy AD carry and AP mid. With two AD carries you can probably take the squishies down pretty fast, provided you don’t get killed too soon.
  I wouldn’t advise having someone like Shaco or Fiddlesticks in the jungle because late game you’ll have difficulties due to the absence of a bruiser/off-tank. If this happens, you’ll probably have to build tanky and function as a the frontline champion, although it’s not recommended
  
• Bot-lane: If you’re playing as an AD carry your positioning is behind your tanky teammates, like the solo-top/jungle bruiser and behind the support if it’s someone like Leona Nunu & Willump Nautilus or Alistar. Focus is pretty much the same, AD Carry and AP mid first.
  
• Jungle: If you’re jungling, you may have to take a more frontline position in battle, especially if your solo-top is someone like Teemoor Kennen (which I wouldn’t advise). Anyhow you’ll need to protect your AD carry from the enemy team as much as possible.

Thanks for reading my guide, I hope you enjoyed it and from now on you can use Kayle proficiently.

In the future I will post some scores and clips using Kayle. I just haven't had enough time to do so.

In the meanwhile you can enjoy this almost Pentakill I got the other day, playing Kayle as an AD carry.
Play Video
Good Luck Summoner!
Shakarez

20/7/2012 - Guide Created
10/8/2012 - Minor Changes and spell check
21/8/2012 - Major Change to the guide, to make it easier for the reader.
2/9/2012 - Added warding, general laning info, teamfight info and jungle routes

I wanted to thank jhoijhoi for her Making a guide

My coding improved a lot and thus, so did the presentation of this guide, making it easier for the reader.

I also wanted to thank PluckinPenguin, TehAsian and Icecreamy for the very constructive criticism that has also helped me improve this guide