Introduction

Hello,

I am SoulCalbur, I am primarily a Kayle OTP (since riot ruined evelynn) with my goal for season 8 being to get into masters by only using Kayle (master tier is very boring). I have played since December 21st of 2009. But I have been playing Kayle since season 1. As a fair note, this is my first serious guide, so if you see any problems or have constructive criticism for me, please post a comment. Anyways, here is my guide.

What Is Kayle?

Kayle Kayle is a battlemage champion with strong utility and a marksman-like playstyle. Kayle is very similar to Teemo in the sense that she has a lot of on-hit damage and burst. but unlike, Teemo, Kayle can use very powerful utility to aid her in battle. One of her most powerful utility spells is Intervention which temporarily makes her or an ally immortal. This makes Kayle have a lot of versatility in team-fights and 1v1s. Where Kayle lacks in range she makes up for with raw power. Her late game powerspikes such as Guinsoo's Rageblade make her practically impossible to fight one on one. This makes her a very powerful top lane split pusher, but this guide is for mid lane, so I will primarilly be covering her as a mid laner.

Pros/Cons

Pros + Has a lot of impact on the map when roaming + Shoves lane well + Has good sustain + Has a decent slow + Can directly out trade most opponents + Very good ultimate Kayle is a very strong roamer, and playing her mid lane optimizes her ability to impact the map. The fact that she shoves lane really well with Righteous Fury adds to her roaming capabilities. Her sustain in lane with Divine Blessing is very good and makes her practically immortal if the enemy jungler doesn't step in. She also has a decent slow from her Reckoning that gets up to 55% and does not decay. She can win a lot of extended trades because her DpS is very high. And her Intervention is one of the strongest ultimates in the game providing immortality for 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds. This can be absolutely game-changing if your enemy slips up and you use Intervention properly.

Cons - Weaker early game - No hard Croud Control - Very mana dependent (jungler better give 2nd blue) - Low range (Cass E has 700 range) - Has to commit to get rewarded - Only has a movement speed buff (no escapes) Kayle, like all champions, has weaknesses, one of these weaknesses is her mediocre early game. she can win trades if she gets in range, but for the most part, you will just be shoving and roaming. She also has no hard Croud Control, this is a pain in the butt late game. Her mana costs are very high, but you shouldn't have many problems provided your jungler gives you blue buff. Like previously stated, her range is low even for a battle-mage. You have to commit to what you start to get picks. And finally, she has little to no escapes, the only escape you have is to one shot your enemy or slow them/speed up with Reckoning and Divine Blessing

Rune Explanation

I take Press the Attack over Lethal Tempo because it just feels inconsistent to me, and I like consistency. Since you are mid Press the Attack is a lot better because you will be teamfighting a lot more than top lane Kayle, and the extra damage from all sources can make a big difference. I take Triumph because there's nothing else to take in this garbage slot. I take Legend: Alacrity for the bonus attack speed. And Coup de Grace for more damage/chain-kill potential.

I take Transcendence for the extra cooldown reduction to make Righteous Fury more consistent, and lower the cooldowns on the rest of my abilities including Intervention. For the last one, I either take Waterwalking to make roams more efficient or The Ultimate Hat to make Intervention have a lower cooldown throughout the game. It all comes down to preference, just pick what you like more. And finally, if I'm in a tough matchup, for example, a Veigar matchup I take Nullifying Orb

Summoner Spells

Flash: is a very standard summoner spell that is always used. Very few champions get away with not having flash, an example of a champion that does not use flash would be Hecarim.

Barrier: This summoner spell is great for baiting people out in low elo, it adds survivability that compensates for your lack of escapes. A lot of the time you can use Barrier instead of Flash when ganked, which I think is very nice.

Teleport: I don't really recommend this summoner spell as much because you are not top lane where you have to teleport to get anywhere efficiently. You are mid, which means it never is an inconvenience to roam.

Kayle's Abilities

P

Holy Fervor (Passive): This passive makes Kayle's auto attacks, and Reckoning get rid of a percentage of her opponents magic resistance and armor this passive is really only useful if your enemy has over 100 magic resistance. The armor part is pretty uselsss because you mostly deal magic damage.

Q

Reckoning (Q): This ability does mediocre damage early game, but late game it becomes a pretty strong nuke. It also provides a potent slow (35-55%). Reckoning has a relatively high 60% AP ratio, but it's nothing to go crazy about.

W

Divine Blessing (W): Divine Blessing is your primary form of sustain. Divine Blessing heals you for 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 with a 45% AP ratio. It also grants you 18 / 21 / 24 / 27 / 30% (+ 7% per 100 AP) bonus movement speed, this should be used when you start roaming to another lane so that by the time you get there you will have it up again for engage/gap closing.

E

Righteous Fury (E): Righteous Fury makes Kayle's auto attacks ranged, and deal bonus damage. Righteous Fury also makes them deal aoe splash damage . Righteous Fury is Kayle's bread and butter when it comes to shoving lanes for roams. You can also use the splash damage to get cheap damage on your opponent.

R

Intervention (R): Intervention is Kayle's ultimate. This ability temporarily makes Kayle or an ally invulnerable for 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds. I think in the mid lane, Intervention is a lot more useful because it provides a lot when she roams, you can use Intervention to bait out your opponent, or you can use Intervention to flat out tower dive. Intervention is especially great in solo queue, where your teammates can make a lot of mistakes.

Skill Sequence

> > > I max Righteous Fury first because it is Kayle's core identity. She can't be a mid laner without it. I max Reckoning second because by the time you start putting points into it, you will have a more ap items to add damage to it. Divine Blessing is your primary source of sustain, it is completely situational whether you max it second or not. And I put points into Intervention at levels 6 / 11 / 16.

Items

Nashor's Tooth is the bread and butter for Kayle no matter what build you are running. Nashor's Tooth gives 80 AP to add to your damage, as well as gives 50% attack speed, and 20% CDR. This item has a crazy amount of synergy with Kayle's kit so it has to be the first buy.

This item gives both mobility and attack speed. Berserker's Greaves are by far the best offensive boots for Kayle, because of how much dps is provides her. Definitely something you rush alongside your Nashor's Tooth

This item takes all of the on-hit damage Kayle has (including from her Righteous Fury and Nashor's Tooth). Asides from the great increase in on-hit damage, this item also brings up your attack speed, attack damage, and ability power by a crazy amount, making it a must by for full ap Kayle as well.

Rabadon's Deathcap, in my opinion, is the best buy for this slot for 2 reasons. for one this makes Guinsoo's Rageblade do more a lot more damage (because the item has an ap ratio now). The other reason is because it makes your utility such as Divine Blessing heal more, and provide more movement speed. (this means you can be more aggressive and max Reckoning second.

Why a second Guinsoo's Rageblade? Well the reason is because the on hit that scales so well with Rabadon's Deathcap is not unique. This means if you buy a second one, you are practically doubling that on hit damage that is being doubled. That is why this is such a strong buy.

Lich Bane is great after all of your raw damage items. It adds a lot of burst damage from your auto attacks after using an ability. Lich Bane provides 80 AP which is pretty good, everything else about this item is minor, it's just here to provide extra burst damage.

Void Staff is a great item to replace your berserker's greave's with late game if your enemy is stacking MR. If your enemy has enough magic resist items, this item can easily increase your damage by over 40%. There isn't that much to cover here other than it's great against people who stack magic resist items like Adaptive Helm.

Early Game

Kayle doesn't have the best early game but, I don't think she has the worst either. Your main power as Kayle in the early game is shoving the lane and roaming. The way I shove the lane is, I first go for the caster minions using Righteous Fury on each one of them. I then kill the melee minions with my melee attacks or wait for Righteous Fury to come back up. I then go through the river to another lane, on the way, I usually place a deep ward at any one of the jungler's camps to ensure that there won't be a counter gank. Use Divine Blessing once you start running through the river so that Divine Blessing will be back up once you get to the lane.

Mid Game

Once you reach mid game you should have a Nashor's Tooth and be building towards a Hextech Gunblade or Liandry's Torment at this point of the game you should be looking to pick off valuable targets, for example, a marksman like Jinx or Jhin. Your second highest priority is to gain a vision lead by sweeping wards and making full use of Zombie Ward. This helps you pick off people on the enemy team as well as give your team the confidence to start fights or secure objectives.

Late Game

Kayle has one of the strongest late games in league of legends and you should be able to delete any squishy on the enemy team in an instant with your full build. You should have a Guinsoo's Rageblade and be building the rest of your items. Once you have no more room for Control Wards you should replace your Farsight Alteration with Oracle Lens. and do the same thing you've been doing in the mid-game, except you a lot more power with the more items you have.