Kayle Build Guide by chronus000

Introduction

Welcome to my beginner's guide on the "ranged" champion Kayle. Kayle is an extremely versatile champion, capable of playing a lot of roles. She can ranged from ADC to hybrid DPS to bruiser to support roles. In this guide, I will focus on the hybrid DPS option.

If you're new on Kayle, or haven't used her much since you've bought her, I will show you how to play her hybrid form with ease and yet utmost effectiveness. Using this guide, I wish to show you the wonders of how a Righteous Fury-based Kayle can efficiently farm, control the flow of lanes and, ultimately, dictate the game.

With the drastic changes in Season 3, I've though about how those changes will affect Kayle, and so, I've changed the way how I played her. So before you downvote on how I am missing some "solid core" items in my build, please check out how I thought about them.

Before the Guide: Nashor's over Guinsoo's

"Consider whether Guinsoo's Rageblade or Nashor's Tooth is a better item for your champion. Both items offer fairly similar stats, attack speed and ability power, and the decision may come down to whether you prefer mana regeneration and cooldown reduction or attack damage and the unique passive's survivability." (leagueoflegends.wikia.com)

This part of the guide is what would probably earn me of some downvotes. Hopefully, I can reason my choice and defend my case well.

On paper, the new Guinsoo's Rageblade seems to be specifically catered for hybrids like Kayle and it sure is. Come on, this item is one of the most efficient ones in LoL, providing +30 damage, +72 AP and 32% AS at full stacks. And with the addition of the new unique passive, which provides 10% lifesteal and spellvamp that triggers at 50% HP, the synergy with Kayle's Intervention is clear.

But let's take a closer look. Rageblade is, without a doubt, and early-mid game item. While it is cost-efficient and effective, it will be completely overshadowed by other items in terms of late game effectiveness. You must therefore rush Rageblade or not buy it at all as it will surely be sold later on in lieu for better items.

The current item cost is now 2600 gold. Rushing it would mean that the only items in your inventory would be this and your Boots of Speed. The new Rageblade comes in very big, inconvenient parts, namely Pickaxe and Blasting Wand, so before its completion, you will have a hell of a time capitalizing on what you have. Also, Rageblade's passive sustain has a 30 seconds cooldown and, without any regeneration, every engagement will leave Kayle with less HP and mana. If your enemies know how to take advantage of this window of opportunity, you will surely have a hard time.

As for the alternative, Nashor's Tooth is an overall great item for Kayle. While it does not provide damage, lifesteal or spellvamp, it does provide decent +65 AP (for increasing Reckoning and Righteous Fury's damages and Divine Blessing heal value), +50% AS (for more hits with Fury), +20% CDR (for shorter periods in melee form) and +10 mana regen (for more ability casts). Its parts, Fiendish Codex and Stinger, are effective by themselves and its combine cost is extremely cheap for the added boosts (250 gold for 10% AS, 35 AP and 4 mana regen).

I will discuss the benefits of Nashor's Tooth later, as this foreword is getting a bit long. For me and for my playstyle, Nashor's Tooth is simply better than Guinsoo's Rageblade.

Pre-game Options: Runes, Masteries and Summoner Spells

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For runes, I run the mainstream combination of Seal of Armor and Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist for defense and Mark of Attack Damage and Quint of Attack Damage for offense. If you're not laning, the offensive rune options are much more flexible so use what fits your playstyle best.

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For masteries, I capitalize on the new Utility Tree. As a hybrid champion, investing the bulk of your points into offense can be troublesome since you will be adapting and you're never sure if you will be truly needing every offensive mastery you put point into. Rather, put points into utility as it has very nice stats to offer:
Greed and Pickpocket will amount to some cheap gold earnings.
Intelligence , combined with Sorcery , will give an easy 10% CDR.
Nimble and Wanderer will provide useful MS.
Vampirism will be utilized well due to your hybrid nature and Meditation will help in easier laning.
Note: Skip Sorcery if you are hell-bent on getting Iceborn Gauntlet. Remove a point from Runic Affinity or Greed then allocate those five points into Deadliness and Weapon Expertise .

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For summoner spells, I use Teleport, for better lane control, increased numbers during skirmishes and split-pushing power, and Flash, primarily for escaping purposes. Summoner's Insight and Mastermind masteries will back these choices extremely well.
As for other spells, Smite is taken for jungling (will include a jungling sometime in the future) while Exhaust can be considered to counter very heavy bruisers.

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Ability Sequence

Obviously, Intervention is taken whenever possible as the duration increase and the cooldown decrease are invaluable. Since we're maxing CDR in this build, you better have a maxed up Righteous Fury as soon as possible since you will have the opportunity to keep it up forever. Have your Reckoning maxed second to increase the beating your opponents will receive from your flaming sword.

If you're jungling, you might want to switch up your Reckoning for more points into Divine Blessing. You will surely not be the main damage dealer so you're better off providing much needed utility everyone expects from a jungler. The better MS boosts and heals you'll get from leveling your W are damn good utilities.

Itemization

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HYBRID LANER

Starting Items: Boots of Speed + Health Potions
Basic starting items. One might argue that having boots early doesn't make much of a differences due to Season 3 changes but, then again, there is no better alternative for Kayle. Doran's Blade and Doran's Ring don't provide any sustain while Doran's Shield doesn't help in your early harassment.

Core: Nashor's Tooth, Berserker's Greaves, Phage
Nashor's Tooth take an absolute first spot due to the amount of lane control, dueling and farming capability it provides. The CDR and mana regen helps in constant ability usage. The significant AP and AS boost will allow you to clear waves and camps extremely fast with your Righteous Fury as well as provide you with enough power to engage in early combat.
Berserker's Greaves provides you with AS and MS for mid game purposes. Upgrading it quickly is a must to provide more significant distinction between your MS and the MS of your bootless enemies.
Phage is taken to supplement your chasing capability and your survivability. As a DPS character, you will be on the thick of things and, sometimes, the focus of things. The any additional HP that comes with a bit of offense is welcome and Phage provides just that.

CDR Extension: Zephyr
This item is god-sent. While it does cost a bit of gold, it provides stats which are all useful to Kayle. The 10% CDR makes Righteous Fury permanent, the AD and AS increases your damage output, the significant MS boost makes you a quick angel and the TENACITY (oh my gosh!) seals the deal.

Post Core: Hextech Gunblade, Frozen Mallet and Mercurial Scimitar
Gunblade is a must for hybrid characters, providing you with immense in-combat sustain as well as a combination of AD and AP. The active also helps in keeping enemy in range or out of the way. Mallet is another great addition, amplifying whatever your early Phage provides. The new item, Mercurial Scimitar, is quite nice on Kayle, which gives significant increases to your MR and AD. The Cleanse effect is perfect when people try to CC you down when you've activated your ultimate.
Note: The Scimitar active provides MS to melee champions. If you want to utilize the boost, make sure your Righteous Fury is inactive.

Enchantment: Enchantment: Distortion / Enchantment: Furor
Distortion is great if your team duty becomes backdooring and split pushing. Furor can be considered to keep your speed up during battles.

Alternative Combinations

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Playstyle

Since I don't like telling a story of a whole game from early game to late (which most readers probably just skip altogether), I'll just use a bullet list of what to remember when you're playing as Kayle. Much easier for all of us, eh?

Early Game

- Farm your heart out. Grab those last-hits like a boss. This is the whole essence of laning.
- Use your Righteous Fury when you're doing something. The only exception should be safe early game last-hitting. Why go melee when you can be ranged and splashing?
- Control the lane. Harass with auto-attacks, harass with abilities. Make sure your opponent fears you and is zoned out like a b*tch. Reckoning and Righteous Fury should help in doing so.
- In case your opponent has the upper hand or their jungler seem to like you, don't get zoned out too much. Last hit with Righteous Fury from a safe distance, ward the river or simply let the lane get pushed a bit so you can last-hit under the safety of your turret.
- If your opponent leaves the lane and will probably be away for sometime (low on HP, went down the river to gank, etc.), call MIA then push the lane as hard as you can. Mince their tower every time you have the chance.
- Once their Outer Turret is down, you can go ganking. Otherwise, prioritize laning over ganking.
- Use Teleport. Nothing is worse than an unused summoner spell. Don't save it for the golden opportunity, use it when you need it.
- Always have Sight Wards. Have Vision Wards if needed (stealth junglers, especially Evelynn, or annoying Akali).

Mid Game

- Have your core items ready: Nashor's Tooth, Berserker's Greaves and Phage.
- Adapt, build your item extensions according to who your enemies are and what they're buying.
- Get ganking and get pushing. Kayle excels in both so you should do both.
- Use Divine Blessing on your lead disabler for easier ganks.
- Take advantage of Holy Fervor. Tell your team who you are going to focus so they know who will be receiving the resistance shredding.
- You Intervention is totally bad-***. Bait around, save an ally, save yourself, kill everyone.
- Timing is key for all of the perfect Intervention. It is not for running away, but for staying and fighting. Communicate so you can make the most out of it.
- Don't get out of position. You don't have any escape mechanisms so you pretty much dead if you're ganged up by three champions.
- Kayle's damage is huge and quite underestimated by some people. Use it to your advantage.
- Know your combo. Reckoning, auto-attack, ... Well, actually that's pretty much it.
- Always have Sight Wards. Have Vision Wards if needed.

Late Game

- Stay with your team. The only time you should be away from them is if you're split-pushing, not farming. With Kayle's superb late game kit, she should not be the one defending and away from a potential fight.
- If you're already item-locked, get ready to sell if there are certain items that will surely trump their game and will be keys to your success.
- Push and push hard. At this point, pushing is the name of the game.
- Intervention can turn fights around. Know when and who to use it.
- Don't ignore the use of Divine Blessing. It is as potent as your other abilities in terms of initiating fights, chasing survivors and saving allies.
- Win.

Last Words

I will be adding a jungling section and build and perhaps a lane match-up list in the future. Some screenshots, videos and endgame pictures too, most probably.

I hoped you liked what I've done so far. Really sorry to the lack of eye candy and formatting, I'm still learning on the whole BBcoding thing. I am open to critiques and suggestions. Downvotes are also welcome as long as they come with valid reasoning.

Always remember, guides are just here to help you with your games. I don't want you to follow the guide to the exact letter, I'm just here to share what I've learned in my games with Kayle. Guides comes with games just as knowledge is useless without practice. ^^