6/18) Realizing I did not know as much about Kayle as I thought I had to make a change to skill sequence. Picking up Reckoning at level 4 to help damage output and harassing top lane. Just something to keep in mind as you are playing top lane against those annoying champs.

Hi guys,

This is my first time building a guide on Mobafire so I hope it is pretty helpful for anyone who wants to run top lane with Kayle. In this guide I will try to explain the purpose of my item selection, runes, skill sequence, how to harass and farm, and any pros and cons of this build.


Enjoy,

I realize that I am by no means a pro gamer when it comes to League of Legends. I'm not even that experienced when it comes to this game. But I was playing as Teemo the other day and I realized that he is played as a champion that builds AP and AS. Why? Because it supports the skills he has and benefits the champion. So I started thinking, Kayle does well with AS. She needs AP to heal and burst. Why not build similar to Teemo and see what happens. This is a result of that random thought.

Pros:

Very good dps
Lots of mobility
Can burst to some degree
R and W spells provide great sustain
Clear minions very well/push lanes quickly
Great lane presence

Cons:

Not especially tanky
You aren't going to be a full support like Soraka so your teammates might get mad about your heals not being as effective
You may get focused because of your damage output

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Pretty obvious choice I think to add some extra oomph to your E spell while harassing early game.

Greater Seal of Armor: Gives you a bit of extra tanky/defensive presence soloing top lane especially since jungles are almost always AD based as well as a lot of other top lane champs.

Greater Glyph of Attack Speed: Helps to last hit easier and harass more with your E spell.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Again the AP here helps with all the spells, why not make use of it?

21/0/9 build with heavy focus in AP. I chose this because it helps all of Kayle's spells as they all have some kind of AP factor associated with them.

The 9 in utility is to round out Kayle as a champion.

Of course if you know who is running top against you and have a decent understanding of the champion they are playing, you could adjust the masteries. So say if you had Riven top against you, it might be more beneficial for you to put that extra 9 into something like armor. Again all of this depends on the champ you lane against but the 21 AP offense masteries are very important.

I like to start with Boots and Health Potion because it gives you more sustain in the lane as opposed to something like a Doran's Ring. I'm sure some of you are thinking that Kayle's heal takes a lot of mana to use and the mana regen from the ring would be helpful. The purpose of the boots/pots start is to give you that mobility and ability to heal while barely using mana to cast Righteous Fury. This start also helps to build into Berserker's Greaves quicker granting you that extra attack speed and movement all of which help Kayle more than a bit of mana regen and AP.

Once you've harassed for a while and got some decent gold, it's time to head back and purchase your Berserker's Greavesand Fiendish Codex. These next purchases are to help you hit more and reduce cool down while giving some AP to boost damage output and healing capability.

Building the codex into Nashor's Tooth offers mana regen, attack speed, and ap, all of which Kayle benefits from. Add on the Malady and you have some good attack speed and AP. On top of that, these two items compliment Kayle's passive (to be explained in Synergy Section) quite well.

Rounding out the build is your Guinsoo's Rageblade, Bloodthirster, and Lich Bane. Each one of these brings useful abilities to the table:

• Guinsoo's Rageblade - Give AP and AD. Oh and just in case you didn't notice it's passive ability, it grants up to 48 extra AP plus additional AD for each hit or spell you land.
  
• Blood Thirster - It takes almost no time at all to build up due to Kayle's E spell and ability to clear creeps. It gives some much needed life steal to help Kayle sustain herself and be able to heal others.
  
• Lich Bane - This item does so many useful things for Kayle but the key focuses here are more AP, extra move speed (this makes chasing a lot easier), and every two seconds you can do +100% AP on the next physical strike. Pretty good deal if you ask me.
  

**Side note: I have found that putting in a Wit's End somewhere can be helpful if you are getting bursted down quickly.

Now that you've got your items it's time to put them to use. Each of Kayle's skills benefits from each of the items (again this is described in the Synergy section). This section will give you a quick run down of the skills, the reasoning to the sequence of getting them, and how they are useful.

• Holy Fervor (passive) - This passive reduces the armor and magic resist of enemy champions by up to 15%. Obviously this is a great skill that help bring down champions even when they stack armor and MR. The best thing is this wears away at both armor and MR and since this build increases both of those on Kayle, there's not true way to defend without sacrificing some damage output.
  
• Reckoning (Q) - Here is your burst skill. With a +100% AP on top of 260 damage, you can really take a good chunk out of a enemy champion. This spell also provides some utility for chasing with a slow factor and increases damage output on enemy champs.
  
• Divine Blessing (W) - This a great skill for sustain on top of the Blood thirster and movement speed buff on top of boots and Lich Bane. It only gives 35% AP bonus on top of 205 (when maxed) so it isn't the same a heal from Soraka. I use this skill more as a chase tool or a small and quick recovery to get back into a fight.
  
• Righteous Fury (E) - Your dps will come from this skill. It brings a lot to the table offering Kayle great benefits such as making her into a ranged champion, adding splash damage, and increasing damage output in the form of bonus magic damage per hit. I use this skill as my main harass tool and damage output.
  
• Intervention (R) - Probably the most powerful spell in the game as far as supporting other champions or sustaining is concerned. With up to 3 seconds of invulnerability, this skill is crucial to team fights.
  

So, with an understanding of Kayle's skills, let's discuss the sequence. I know many of you are thinking that her Q spell would be the first thing to level as it scales incredibly with AP, but I don't think that is always the case (at least not for this build). Instead, I start maxing her E spell first. This gives you great presence in lane without the problem of having to get in a minion's/champion's face. It also helps you to avoid ganks easier as you are a further distance from the creeps.

I start to level my W spell next as more of a utility for increased movement speed to run from ganks and champions chasing me. Again, the purpose of your W isn't necessarily to heal yourself because this will cost a lot of mana. This is why you have bought Health Potions in the beginning, to save mana for Righteous Fury.

Once E is maxed and I've hit level 10, I grab my Q. I wait until then because the scaling with the AP works great...if you have AP. Unless you are fed or rushing some heavy AP item (as this build does not do), you attack speed is your greatest weapon. At level 10, you have some AP to help burst but still not much. Start maxing your Q spell to slow enemy champs and become even more of a threat.

When E, Q, and R are all maxed, then you finish up the W spell to provide yourself the ability to move around better and heal for a bit more. This skill sequence provides very strong lane presence as well as good damage output in a team fight.

Up until now in this guide I've been saying "ignore the fine details of the matter, it will be discussed in the Synergy section." Well you have finally reached that section.

Synergy is basically defined as how things work together <- Very simplified definition.

This is important because building synergy between your champions skills and items can take a weak champion with no damage output to being a serious threat in a match. It doesn't matter how much AP you have if you aren't able to effectively use it.

That being said, let's talk about the items and skills and how they enhance each other.

• Combo #1) Nashor's Tooth and Malady both provide AP and attack speed. If you look at the AP provided, you may notice there are far more powerful AP items that you could purchase. This is very true and great if you want to focus strictly on bursting with Kayle. However, let's take another look at Kayle's passive and her E spell. The passive reduces armor and MR. Malady also reduces MR. Combining those two can decrease the MR of a champion quite quickly. Her E also deals extra magic damage which benefits from a decreased MR. All these defense reductions rely on Kayle landing auto hits which Nashor's Tooth and Malady allow for with increased attack speed.
  
• Combo #1.5) Take the knowledge from combo 1 and combine it with Guinsoo's Rageblade. Each time you are auto attacking with Kayle, you are snowballing your AP and AS with Guinsoo's. Combine that, along with the nice AP/AD increase, with the AS from the other two items and you are swinging that big sword pretty quick.
  
• Combo #2) Bloodthirster is a great item to have if you are an AD carry. Why? Because you attack quickly and a portion of the damage you deal gets returned to you in health. Though Kayle isn't being built as an AD carry here, she still attacks extremely quick and for a fair amount of damage. Combine that with the fact that she can kill minions extremely quickly and build the BT up quick, it is a great item to help you sustain.

So let's tie all this together shall we? In the end, three of Kayle's final six items grant AS of some kind. This allows for Kayle to hit quicker dealing more damage and gaining health back quicker. The increased AS also means building stacks quicker as well. The AP offered by three of the six items grants increased damage per second along with some ability to burst and heal. All in all, each item compliments a skill which compliments another item which compliments another item which compliments a skill which...well you get the idea.

For summoner spells I take Ignite and Flash. Flash is obviously a must for escaping as you won't be extremely tanky. The ignite on the other hand, I take for early game to help dominate lane as well as a utility spell for when I focus a champion. Ignite reduces the healing ability of spells so it comes in handy if you are playing against a Taric or Soraka.

Other summoner spells you may want to consider are:
Exhaust
Cleanse
Ghost
Teleport

These skills are useful for things such as chasing, moving around the map quicker, and escaping sticky situations.

I find that the other summoner spells don't have much worth to them. You could always grab a Heal or Clairvoyance if you really take lots of damage quickly or for some want a support type spell. Other than that there isn't much of a need for the others.

So if you've reached this section I'm really hoping you have liked what you've seen so far and are thinking of/have already tried out this build. These are just a few tips I've learned from playing Kayle against various opponents that hopefully help you win your lane and stay alive.

• Tip 1) First and foremost, wards are a must. I'm sure anyone who has played in any kind of competitive match already knows this, but I can't stress it enough. Being top lane 1v1, if you get ganked and your jungler isn't there to make it a fair fight, you're as good as dead against anyone who knows what they are doing. I usually place a ward in the river bush, especially when blue and pushing lane, because that's where most ganks come from. Playing as purple, I also ward tri-bush to keep and eye open for potential ganks from my own jungle if it has been invaded. Generally if these two bushes are warded you can get away from a gank without too much of a struggle. You could possibly even avoid burning your flash if you are good enough.
  
• Tip 2) Last Hitting: Everyone knows you need to last hit those pesky minions to maximize your gold income as well as to keep your CS up so you can help your team in later parts of the game. Depending on what champion you are laning against and how well you have the lane warded, you could just walk up and auto attack. The second way of last hitting (this also tends to push your lane because of the AoE) is to use Kayle's E spell to give yourself range and extra hitting power. Again this tends to push lane since you hit many minions at once.
  
• Tip 3) Harassing: Kayle is a champion that can do a great job of harassing. Using her E spell to beef up the damage and her Q spell (once you get it) to slow her opponents from getting away works great. To harass, I try to keep at my maximum distance while using her E spell to hit champions when they come in to farm. This does two things:
  • a) denies farm because you will hit very hard
  • b) help conserve mana if you are only using E to hit the enemy champion
    
• Tip 4) Standing toe to tow with enemy top laners: Once the enemy champ has hit around level 6 or so, it's safe to assume he will engage on his/her own to pepper you with some damage. While you aren't super tanky, don't jump back and run at the first sight of danger. If it is 1v1, stay in the fight and return damage. You have a heal and invulnerability spell if you really need it. Odds are, the enemy champion hasn't accounted for you getting that extra surge of energy or being so brazen as to stay in the fight.

Ok, so far you've harassed top lane, you've got your CS up, everyone is grouping, time to join in the fun. During team fights you really have a couple roles to fill as Kayle, even if you aren't playing full support, AD, or AP. You can break these down into further groups or group them up more, these are just my opinions on her roles.

1. Support: You do have two support spells so why not use them? Especially if you have a tank that has a good CC spell or an over zealous carry who hopped into the fight, these spells can support and be useful. In most of the fights, I would say make sure you support your carries the most. Unless you have a very good tank/initiator on your team with good CC, odds are the other team will be smart enough to focus the carries.
   
2. Damage Output: With this build you are able to put out a lot of damage. This is what I consider Kayle's primary role in a team fight. Yes you might need to support some but if you carries are good they know not to charge in recklessly. You reduce armor and MR on all champs...the more attacks you get in the more you help your team who, quite frankly, will probably be bursting and putting out stronger dps than you. They are carries, it's what they are designed to do.
   
3. Pursuit: How many times have you been with your team and that enemy champ just flashes out and is just out of range of a spell? You can easily turn the tide on pursuit by giving an MS buff to yourself or another champ. This will allow you to catch fleeing champions and CC them to pick up more kills.

If you've made it this far I want to thank you for reading my whole guide. I realize it was quite lengthy but I like to make sure I'm thorough about this, especially for my first guide.

To sum everything up that you've read up til now, Kayle is a very versatile champion that deserves to be played like one. Yes you could go and build strictly AD/AS or AP or even support, but why do that when you can roll everything up into one build? It won't specialize in one aspect but be good all around in every aspect.

Thanks for reading this guide. I hope it helps in some way shape or form and wasn't too boring of a read. If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to tell me (again I'm not even close to a pro when it comes to this game). +1's are greatly appreciated too if you really like the guide.

**Side Note: I want to keep on doing guides so if you like how this guide was written and want to see another you can suggest a champ and I will give it a shot.