My main character is Kayle. I picked her up because I wanted to play a jack of all trades character, she was inexpensive, and SEEMED simple. I've regularly played her from game 0, until recently, when I hit my 600th game (which isn't too much, sorry). Kayle is an interesting champion. She has a simple kit that can be molded to be effective in many different ways. She doesn't really lack much in any stat, she benefits from all stats, and is fairly item dependent. When I play her, I try to play her as either supportive carry, or as a supportive initiator (Tanky DPS).


TLDR" If you want to be that glue that fills in the blanks of a team, and/or play a strong ganker who can mold herself to fitting your teams needs, Kayle is the champ for you!

// credits/shout-outs

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

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Pros + Good Ganks (explained later) + Tank-killing, whole team damage amplifying passive + Enemy Ult/Ap carry cancelling Low CD Ult (explained later) + Super carry-feel late game + Minion pusher + Adaptive champ

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Cons - Susceptible to counter jungling pre-level 6 - Farm-dependant - Brings no hard-CC to the table - Not as tanky as other tanky DPS - Needs high CDR to be effective - Low range requires building of tanky items to do damage

As most junglers go, I went 9/21/0, picking up the attack speed and ArPen in offense to speed up jungling as opposed to the CDR and Mgpen. I made this choice to increase Kayle's single target/physical DPS, and her DPS as a whole through AS. I believe the CDR gained from Nashor's Tooth is enough, and given the fact that I do not purchase any significant AS pre Wit's End, any early AS is much appreciated.

Brute Force is also taken instead of Mental Force , since Kayle's AP scaling is horrible.

The 21 in defense boosts Kayle's natural tankyness (from stats), Initiator increases ganking speed, Juggernaut helps against the CC that Kayle will most definitely suffer (due to low range), and naturally increases her already high base HP (and synergizes well with Banshee's Veil and Warmog's Armor). Mercenary is one of my favorite masteries, since it helps with her item-dependency (my Kayle score is inflated in assists and kills)

• greater quintessence of desolation Greater Mark of Precision: DP (hahaha) marks for hybrid damage increase, and ArPen quints to improve jungle speed, and to have as much penetration as an AD carry, and then some.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: You can pick up CDR glyphs if you want, but I like these to improve her tanky DPS feel
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Jungle. TankyDPSness. 'Nuff Said.

[Smite]: You need it to jungle. NEED IT. You can go without it, if you're crazy, and have a crazy good leash, but just don't be a fool, wrap your tool (err... pick up smite).

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[Ghost]: I love ghost. It can be used offensively to close distances or kite, and can be used defensively with r + w to get out of a bad situation. When in lane, the scariest thing you can do to initiate is ghost + w, q your opponent, attack with e, and tower dive with r if they run or if decide to fight back. This combo can also be used to escape your foes.

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[Cleanse]: If you don't pick up smite, (AKA not jungling) Cleanse + r = god mode. So good.

• Holy Fervor: Worse than her old faceroll passive, but still: Awesome. Passive. On a target with 200 armor, you increase your whole teams damage by roughly 10% when fully stacked. Not only 10% more damage for you, 10% damage for your WHOLE TEAM.
  
• Reckoning (Q): This is a target marker, pretty much. Slows a target so that you can peg onto it, and slap it a few times with Righteous Fury. Great to use to gank in combo with Divine Blessing as a gap closer. I put one point in this at level 3 or 4 to gank with, and max it late, since Divine Blessing gives more utility, and Reckoning has a 35% slow from level one.
  
• Divine Blessing (W): An alright end game with CDR (~250 hp every ~10 seconds isn't horrible). The short 15%-23% speed boost is where this ability shines. Use it on an ally who is over-extended and trying to run back into position. Use it in combination with Reckoning to catch a fleeing opponent or to punish an overextending opponent. When ganking, if a teammate has a hard CC, use it on him/her to ensure a successful gank.
  
  Both the healing amount, and the speed boost scale with levels, so I get the skill at level 2, and max it second.
  
• Righteous Fury (E): Awesome ability. 60(+15%AP) damage per swing at 9. Gives you a ranged attack for duration. Better than a free BF sword, which is why attack speed early help Kayle A LOT (AD carries usually go IE/BT then PD. You already have the "IE/BT", so get your "PD". I level this first for sustained DPS, to lower its cooldown, and also, because the mana cost does NOT increase with points.
  
• ABILITY FOUR ABILITY FOUR (R): // explanation of ability here

I pump into E, since each level gives you a base 10 more damage, and all items in the build have attack speed. Therefore, out of all the skills, the E is the one that scales the most on items. Also, I don't get CDR at all for a very long time in the build, and the lowered cooldown by pumping into E is very welcome.

Next, why w over q?
The speed bonus on the W is amazing for rushing in and out, and it works very well with high attack speed, with the ability of getting 1-3 hits on someone who over-extended just a little bit too much (couple with the one point q, which slows 35% no matter what). If you didn't realize, the speed bonus on the W increases per point.

Ok, I admit, the items are pretty weird, and don't really offer too too much damage that you can see. But just bear with me. Rushing Malady early game gives you a great boost in damage. Usually I get a malady around level 6 on my first b (Kayle can lane for a VERY long time. Tower hug and e for last hits if you're scared) Level 3 e (about 60 additional damage) + 24 from malady = 80 additional damage per hit (which are made faster).

Boots are listed as a second priority because the damage boost from Malady helps you farm, and the speed boost from w, while not as good as boots, is usually enough in combination with the added beefyness from Masteries/Runes. Usually, though, I don't go back until I can get both Malady and boots.

Next, Recurve Bow to scale that additional damage you've picked up from high level E and get those MR/Armor reduction stacks on faster.

At this point, choose between Sword of the Divine, Ionian's, or Nashor's. Sword of the Divine's Active gives you more of that unpreventable damage feeling, gives a good amount of AS, and the passive 100 extra damage is VERY nice. Ionian's gives you speed, and helps with CDR, and Nashor's helps deal with any mana problems, gives attack speed and some AP. I usually go with Divine, since its additional damage proc feels better early game, and with the attack speed from Malady, you can usually get that proc pretty fast. I get the boots next, then Nashor's, maxing CDR with two items.

After this, your damage should be tapering off a bit, since people are building more health and Armor/MR. I usually counter this by building a Madred's. Again, Attack speed helps all other on hit procs, and the armor + AD is pretty nice.

Finally, The Black Cleaver at the very end is a good ending item. AD for damage, more attack speed, and with Malady + Passive + Cleaver + Active from Divine, you get a boat ton of penetration.

Masteries are VERY weird for Kayle. I saw these masteries on a tanky Kayle build, and tried it out. I find that it gives very good survivability, and a good amount of damage (from Alacrity and Ardor) Archaic Knowledge is definitely a good substitute for improved ghost and Alacrity, but I cringe at the thought of getting too much CDR. As long as you're careful with your mana early game (which means don't take a lot of damage, the heal uses way too much mana), the MP/5 from the flat runes is enough.

I run Magic Penetration marks, since most of my Kayle's damage comes from magic damage effects from items, and my E. Flat MP/5 to deal with early game mana problems, and MR Glyphs, since the survivability from MR glyphs, to me, is a lot more valuable than some more AP, since there's no MR in this build. I might consider switching to MR/lvl glyphs, but I simply just haven't the ip to purchase those.

Also, Ghost and Cleanse, in combination with an ult if needed is my main escape mechanism, so an improved Cleanse and Ghost, to me, is invaluable. Which brings me to...



Ghost works amazing with w's speed buff. Anyone trying to chase you will usually get distraught in the first 4 seconds (length of w's speed buff) and usually give up. Along with improved ghost, Kayle is a speeding bullet. I find that Kayle doesn't really have much of an escape mechanism, so I use ghost as my panic button usually.

The main complaint about Kayle's ult is that it doesn't block CC. So how did I fix that? I got Cleanse. If you can't get away with a Cleanse+Ult+Ghost+W combo, well, they deserved to catch you. And if you're in a team fight when they kills you, they just wasted tons of CC, and the distance you've ran usually brings the greedy carries on their team right into the middle of your team.

I see why clarity might seem like a good choice, but usually after Nashor's Tooth, I feel like Kayle has no mana problems. And its better to learn how to conserve her mana then to waste a summoner skill on it.

Flash might work, but cleanse + ghost is usually a better panic button, and ghost alone is usually a better pursuit mechanism for Kayle (since you get to later use cleanse alone to save you, hopefully)

Anyways, this guide is a work in progress, so I'm definitely going to change this up. Please leave a comment with any inquiries or suggestions, and let's see what we can theorycraft!