Archived because of the rework. Stacking AP/AD doesn't work as well as it used to now that her AP scaling isn't as good overall and her passive is changed. Post-patch, I guess you build ASpd to take advantage of the buff on her E and forget about stacking serious AP. Madred's Bloodrazor, Sword of the Divine, and maybe Nashor's Tooth. Level up E a lot, take a Regrowth Pendant (and then philosopher's stone) to make up for not leveling Divine Blessing too much. Enjoy farming better.

After playing Kayle a bit, I tried to do DPS, but I didn't really like squishy Kayle. So I tried out this survival + AP approach, and it's a little better. Basically, it's a little bit of everything. Kayle has a lot of support utility, and is at the same time tanky DPS/offtanky, defined loosely as "sturdy but hard to ignore". Her CC isn't great, disqualifying her from the tank role, and she has two support skills, making her not quite the best choice for a carry. But if you have an otherwise-balanced team of 4 that's a little light on support but has a good mix of damage types, Kayle adds a healthy dose of everything to the table.

She does, however, hit like a truck when she dumps all her spells and abilities all at once. Improved Rally is brilliant on a hybrid like Kayle, especially when used in conjunction with Exhaust - keeping them in the Rally radius, and lowing their armor and MRes to complement the increased AP and AD of Rally. In other words, Exhaust is the U to Rally's Q.

This build starts with some cheap items, such as Stinger and Guinsoo's Rageblade. Between Righteous Fury, Stinger, and various survival perks, it shouldn't be hard to get Guinsoo's Rageblade charged up. After Guinsoo's Rageblade, it's somewhat open, but I somewhat like items in the order listed.

So Kayle has been patched, or she hasn't, or... I don't know, it's crazy. When I know what's going on, I'll tweak the build according to how much MP5 is necessary.

Been playing with philosopher's stone , where the first two items eventually get sold near the end. This is plenty of mana, at least in the past. Depending on future patches, it may be wise to get rid of one or both of the first two items altogether. philosopher's stone only gives 8mp5 now, which is still nice, but it's not quite as much of a no-brainer queen of all support items anymore.

If they patch it so bad that you can't even keep your mana up with all of that, then I'll be sad. I hear that they upped the cost on the heal, which is sadface-inducing for sure.

In early playtests, I used to take defensive masteries, but wasn't satisfied. This was before I discovered the Rally/ Exhaust combo, both in their enhanced forms. Kayle's beastliness is massively increased, both generally from the masteries, and especially during the spell dump. I've just felt like more of a presence overall since I've started playing 21/9/0 on Kayle. I still think survival items are a good idea, but the best defense is getting fed early, so I don't take defensive items until I'm farming like a beast with Stinger and Guinsoo's Rageblade. Flat runes all around to get through those slow early levels.

With the nerf to Philosopher's Stone (10mp5 -> 8mp5), you might want to have this. The mana from Trinity Force will make up for having to sell it later. Just get Philosopher's Stone as your second item and continue the build as given (or modify according to taste, of course).

Level Righteous Fury early for synergy. Some attack speed runes might even be a good idea. Stinger really changes your farming game, so you may even want to rush it. But a Faerie Charm at the least on your first recall is probably necessary to stay in a lane. I love that Philosopher's Stone, though - just be good at avoiding damage and waste if you want to rush Stinger.

-> I might playtest this soon, actually. You can skip the Philosopher's Stone, and you won't miss the GP10 if you can make good on the extra farming power. This seems like a fairly strong option, actually - a candidate for taking over the main build.

philosopher's stone early on. This lets you spam Divine Blessing, but don't spam Righteous Fury unless you need it to pick up a couple last hits and/or fight/harass champs. Can upgrade to Eleisa's Miracle if you want to skip Mercury's Treads, or you can sell it and pick up Sheen if you really want to.


1. Farm hard with Berserker's Greaves. Optional Eleisa's Miracle for 25 Tenacity can cover your Tenacity needs if you choose that route later on; the MRes is a little low if you take this, so you can consider Banshee's Veil to replace philosopher's stone either from the start or later on.
2. Early DPS is a little low if you take Mercury's Treads instead of Berserker's Greaves, but the main build is fairly balanced and you can also try taking Zeal a little early if you want. I generally play the build as given these days, though.

Really cost-effective ASpd with some CDR for good measure. Kayle can actually make good use of Nashor's Tooth, but I'd rather just make Reckoning really count when I do use it by rushing...

...and saving the Tooth for later. The extra MP5 and AP from the Tooth don't really make up for delaying this item (especially with Eleisa's Miracle in the build now). Stinger + Guinsoo's Rageblade is almost as good as Nashor's Tooth + Guinsoo's Rageblade.

This is nice. Since Kayle has so much support utility, I like to stay near allies and carry an aura or two. Offer to get this, if no one else wants to. Helps you take a couple hits for the team when it really matters and overall just keeps you in the fight longer, synergizing with Eleisa's Miracle. Postpone if you have a strong advantage and you want to push it, but it's better to be cautious if the game is less lopsided than that.

(Removed Abyssal Mask. I still like it generally, but I don't have room for it in this build anymore. The current build is lopsided in favor of armor, so it's a good replacement for Aegis of the Legion, especially if it's already taken.)

Could get this after Rageblade, but I'm putting it here.

Activate alongside Reckoning when your team's ready for a kill. AD and AP; what's not to like? Take this sooner if you like to play aggressively or otherwise need this more than survival items. Lifesteal/spell vamp help you sustain auto-attacks, especially when you've dumped a lot of of skills and spells. Take this no sooner than Stinger, though.

Optional late-game finish

->
I wouldn't sell the philosopher's stone until the very end, though. I think the MP5 is more useful for most of the game, but if you want to really pack a punch, get Trinity Force at the end. Don't stay out for so long that you're OOM, though - blue buff could help, but mostly just don't waste mana. Sheen helps with mana some, so it should be ok. It would have to be a very long game for you to get this far, though.

Some things I've noticed:

DPS: Not bad. Not a complete murdering machine, but if you use Exhaust and Rally when it really counts, they'll go down. Improved Rally was made for Kayle!

Pretty often, you should be anticipating when to use this. The cooldown is somewhat short, and that 2-3 seconds is enough to prevent an ally from dying, often enough. Note also that you can press R then F1 to quickly cast it on yourself without clicking around. (The other F keys are your other allies, but I've never been good at memorizing who's which on the fly like that.)

Serious lifesaver combo

+ + (for the slow) + optional and/or (more slow)

Optional afterward to weaken the jerks who are ganging up on your teammate. Works even better if help is on the way and you're in good enough shape to be tanking. But sometimes, you just need to just do the first two or three out of that list, depending on how close you can get without getting ganked yourself.

Serious marking for destruction combo

+ (on self to get in position to block escape route and place Rally better) + + + + (right click) + (for more slow or as other slows expire). Better if you have at least one ally helping, but gauge for yourself whether you've got enough power to 1v1 a target given their current health and so on. Kayle gets a serious upgrade from Improved Rally , so you'll actually feel sort of like a carry for a few moments.

Chasing

Use Divine Blessing on yourself if you're too far away from everything. Use Divine Blessing on someone else who's closer and more able to administer a killing blow ( Garen, Renekton, whatever). If you can get *behind* the enemy with Divine Blessing and then slow them with Reckoning and Hextech Gunblade, then you can pop Righteous Fury and get a lot of hits in. Getting behind them first means you get more hits in before you have to start chasing again, thus getting the most out of Reckoning's damage bonus.

Rageblade management

Sometimes you build 8 stacks of Guinsoo's Rageblade and need to spam a skill before the timer runs out, e.g., between minion waves. Divine Blessing and Righteous Fury are good for this, the former if you think you'll have to run far or need health, and the latter if you're not far from the action. If you need both to keep the stacks going, then use Divine Blessing first to avoid wasting the timer on Righteous Fury.

General advice

You might be able to handle 1v1 if you get fed, but you're still kind of supporty. You're not exactly a tank, so don't get crazy. I tend to prefer larger fights with this build: Splashing, Rally, Aegis, support... Sometimes you can 1v1 gank in a pinch, though, if you use both your spells and you catch a squishy alone.

Don't forget that Divine Blessing and Reckoning buff/debuff move speed, respectively. In particular, divine intervention used on yourself at full health is sometimes useful.

Don't play this build if

...your team already has a pure tank and a pure support. If either a tank or a support on the team does good DPS as well, then you'll be fine. This build isn't horrible for DPS, but it just isn't quite enough as a main weapon. If you have two very good DPS/nukes, a pure tank, and a pure support, *maybe* this will work, but if one of your two main DPS chars flop, then Kayle is not quite enough, in my experience. Maybe if you're good at feeding early you can do more, like if you skip the Aegis, but I don't like trying to play like a pure carry.

...the rest of your team is utterly squishy, e.g., three carries + one support. Kayle can tank *some* on the side, but she can't taunt, can't stun... she's useful, but she's not Alistar, Rammus, Shen, etc.

Play this build if

...the other 4 players are already a balanced team. Got two bruisers but no tank? A third bulky DPS wouldn't hurt. Got a tank and three carries on the team? A tanky support DPS fits in.

Try to lane with a DPS or nuke

I've laned with Sona and didn't do enough damage. I've laned with Ezreal, and it went a lot better. Healing, taking a few hits, and doing just enough damage. There might be ways to make a lane with a support work, but in my personal experience, supports are ok for babysitting carries early, and they're good for team fights, but they just shouldn't lane with moderate DPSy half-supports. Bruisers are probably good lane mates, too.

Pros

Balanced
Sturdy for a non-tank
Moderate DPS
Support
Great throwaway pick when you don't know what else to add to a team
Briefly plays like a carry during Rally
Really rewarding feeling when you manage to fire Intervention at just the right time
This build seems to farm better than some other Kayles I've tried out
The only human female in the game with this many health points

Cons

Not a tank
Not a carry
Not a nuke
Not Soraka
Depends on Guinsoo's Rageblade stacks; in particular, CC-dependent
Religious fundamentalist

This one's a loss, but it's not bad for a first PvP run, I guess.

I went 5/5/7 before we surrendered. It wasn't totally hopeless yet, but perhaps getting there. I could blame it on Elo hell and claim that I'm just the best 3var, but judge for yourself. At one point I started chasing Nunu a second or two after it would've been a good idea; I hate when that happens. X-P