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Recommended Items
Spells:
Flash
Heal
Items
Ability Order
Divine Ascent (PASSIVE)
Kayle Passive Ability
Introduction
The basic idea behind this build is that your Runaan's Hurricane's 2 little bolts do on-hit effects, meaning they deal the base damage plus a % of your AD, plus your Righteous Fury damage AND the splash damage from it, meaning you can literally 3-hit a full wave with enough AP, and you can do it over and over again. As well as this, the attack speed that is put into the build works beautifully with Kayle's passive, Holy Fervor, which decreases enemy resistances with each autoattack - because there are more auto's being thrown out with this build, your targets are more vulnerable to damage coming from any direction for 5 seconds. As you can imagine, this is pretty damn strong, and as the Lich Bane Kayle build has been struggling a bit since the Lich Bane nerf, I think it's liable to be the strongest Kayle build out there at the moment.
+ Is OP at the moment
+ Low skill required to play it, but has a high skillcap
+ If you're familiar with ADCs, she plays very similarly
+ Lategame MONSTER
+ Probably has the strongest and most consistent waveclear in the game
+ High Utility - can save teammates lives
+ Has pretty good mana levels compared to other midlaners
- It will probably be nerfed soon
- Can accidentally push the wave and make the lane gankable with Righteous Fury
- No innate escapes, gets destroyed by CC
- If you're not good at ADC you may struggle
- Quite prone to ganks
+ Low skill required to play it, but has a high skillcap
+ If you're familiar with ADCs, she plays very similarly
+ Lategame MONSTER
+ Probably has the strongest and most consistent waveclear in the game
+ High Utility - can save teammates lives
+ Has pretty good mana levels compared to other midlaners
- It will probably be nerfed soon
- Can accidentally push the wave and make the lane gankable with Righteous Fury
- No innate escapes, gets destroyed by CC
- If you're not good at ADC you may struggle
- Quite prone to ganks
Flash
This spell is mandatory on 90% of champions, and Kayle isn't an exception. Too good to pass up, and she doesn't have any innate escapes without it.
Heal
The movespeed buff coupled with the heal make this basically a second Divine Blessing for Kayle. Its useful in a pinch and is a good defensive spell when vsing tough laners and is great for escaping ganks.
Ignite
Take this spell when you want to win your lane early on against weaker opponents, and if you're vsing a Dr. Mundo and noone else on your team has Ignite.
Teleport
Take this spell if you're worried about getting forced out of lane by getting too low. It's also highly recommended to take this spell if you wish to toplane with Korean Kayle. Teleport is also great for splitpushing, as you can push an outer lane and Teleport into a fight when you are needed.
Exhaust
Pretty strong at mitigating assassins' and high-burst champions' damage, however if you're good enough with your ult you may not need it.
Barrier
Used to be viable, however I think Heal overshadows it at this point. It is a more reliable defense, however lacks the movespeed buff and the ability to save teammates that makes Heal so great.
Cleanse
Would only be viable in the most strenuous of circumstances. If the enemy team has stacks of cleansible crowd control, maybe you'll want to take this spell to ensure you can get off those clutch Interventions, however I think other spells would be more helpful overall.
This spell is mandatory on 90% of champions, and Kayle isn't an exception. Too good to pass up, and she doesn't have any innate escapes without it.
Heal
The movespeed buff coupled with the heal make this basically a second Divine Blessing for Kayle. Its useful in a pinch and is a good defensive spell when vsing tough laners and is great for escaping ganks.
Ignite
Take this spell when you want to win your lane early on against weaker opponents, and if you're vsing a Dr. Mundo and noone else on your team has Ignite.
Teleport
Take this spell if you're worried about getting forced out of lane by getting too low. It's also highly recommended to take this spell if you wish to toplane with Korean Kayle. Teleport is also great for splitpushing, as you can push an outer lane and Teleport into a fight when you are needed.
Exhaust
Pretty strong at mitigating assassins' and high-burst champions' damage, however if you're good enough with your ult you may not need it.
Barrier
Used to be viable, however I think Heal overshadows it at this point. It is a more reliable defense, however lacks the movespeed buff and the ability to save teammates that makes Heal so great.
Cleanse
Would only be viable in the most strenuous of circumstances. If the enemy team has stacks of cleansible crowd control, maybe you'll want to take this spell to ensure you can get off those clutch Interventions, however I think other spells would be more helpful overall.
Quints
Any combination of Greater Quintessence of Ability Power and Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed is generally fine, but I prefer to run 1 AP 2 AS.Marks
I recommend Greater Mark of Attack Speed. The only other semi viable rune would be Greater Mark of Magic Penetration or, as Vynertje pointed out, Greater mark of hybrid penetration.Seals
Either 9 Greater Seal of Armor, Greater Seal of Health or Greater Seal of Scaling Health, or a combination of these runes. I personally prefer armor as it's generally more useful vs autoattack harass and minions early on.Glyphs
If you have two runepages available, it's best to have one with 9 Greater Glyph of Magic Resist or Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist for when vsing AP champions, and a runepage that has 9 Greater Glyph of Ability Power, Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power or Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction for when the enemy team has no or few magic damage dealers. If you only have 1 runepage available, just choose one of the listed glyphs (AP glyphs will always be useful, whereas the MR glyphs will be wasted against non-magic teams, however you will be missing the MR if you don't take it vs magic teams).
The offensive mastery tree should be left as its listed, but if you find yourself in a tough matchup you might want to forgo the Utility tree and put points into the Defense one instead - 2 points into
Recovery
, 2 into
Block
, 1 into
Unyielding
, 3 into
Veteran's Scars
, and lastly 1 into
Juggernaut
.
Either the Utility or Defense tree can be used, generally preference - Defense if you find yourself dying, Utility if you find yourself going out of mana.
Either the Utility or Defense tree can be used, generally preference - Defense if you find yourself dying, Utility if you find yourself going out of mana.
Starting Items
Strongest Start
Doran's Ring, 2 Health Potion, Stealth WardStrongest start, Doran's gives great HP, AP and mana regen, as well as the two pots. This start will probably keep you in lane the longest, and is best when you're vsing lane with kill potential either way.
Farm Lane Start
Doran's Ring 2 Stealth Ward Stealth WardMore for when you're not worried about taking damage from your laner, but want to provide vision for your team, or they have a scary earlygame jungler.
100% Farming Start
Amplifying Tome Health Potion Stealth WardThis start is more for if you want a headstart on your items. You should only ever do this if your lane has no kill pressure either way and the jungler is not a threat early on in the game. Alternatively, you could start a Dagger instead of amplifying tome.
Core Items
Nashor's Tooth Boots Runaan's Hurricane Rabadon's Deathcap Void StaffTypical Korean Kayle core items. What a lot of people do is purchase the Needlessly Large Rod before the Runaan's Hurricane for a bit more extra early ability power.
Boots Choices
Berserker's GreavesProvides more waveclear, synergizes brilliantly with the core items.
Sorcerer's Shoes
If you intend your 6th item to be a heavy AP item ( Zhonya's Hourglass, Deathfire Grasp etc) you will probably end up doing more damage with these boots (however your AoE damage would be slightly reduced due to less Runaan's Hurricane procs.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
These can be a good buy if you find yourself in need of more CDR, but feel strong enough as it is in the attack speed and AP departments. Be careful you don't go over 40% - Nashor's Tooth has 20% CDR on it and if you get a Morellonomicon as your 6th item or have CDR glyphs you will exceed 40%, therefore wasting precious gold.
Optional 6th Item Choices
Damage
Lich BaneStrong item on Kayle, will allow you to burst harder, but it doesn't quite reach its full potential with this build due to the Runaan's Hurricane instead of an AP item. Still pretty strong if you want a bit more damage.
Morellonomicon
Situationally strong. Take it if you're vsing someone like Dr. Mundo or Warwick to apply the grievous wounds in order to stop the mass amounts of healing being done.
Guinsoo's Rageblade
Personally I'm not a huge fan of this item, but the basic idea behind using it is you drop below 50% hp, ult yourself and gain the bonus stats. It's pretty powerful when used correctly but I don't like the risk attached to it.
Liandry's Torment
Pretty useless in my opinion, only does the extra damage tick on the Reckoning since you can't fit both this and Rylai's Crystal Scepter in the build. Would be a good pick-up if your opponents are stacking the hell out of Magic Resistance.
Deathfire Grasp
I actually don't mind this item with this build, since you do so much magic damage over 5 seconds with auto-attacks. However I have to say that there are much better options as this item is strictly single-target damage, whereas the Korean Kayle build is more centered around AoE damage.
Hybrid Items
Twin ShadowsWouldn't recommend. Situationally good if your team has trouble pinning enemies down, but there are much better choices in items.
Abyssal Mask
Kind of strong since Kayle's foes are often in its range, might be worth picking up if your team has a lot of magic damage but noone else has it.
Athene's Unholy Grail
Not a fan of this item on Korean Kayle. Only take it if you seem to be going oom all the time as Kayle (but perhaps try controlling your mana usage first)
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
I actually really like this item on Korean Kayle as it makes her slightly harder to kill and gives her a bit of utility to the team with her e. It makes her harder to kite, so its good if you find you can melt people, but they keep getting away from you. Also, the extra HP is nice since it makes your HP bar look tanky as hell even though its your only defense item.
Zhonya's Hourglass
Probably my favourite 6th item to get on Korean Kayle. Gives you a bit of a damage spike as well as allows you to go toe-to-toe with AD champions and champions who have predictable burst (so you can use the active to avoid it). Also, because Kayle's abilities don't require much micromanagement, it's relatively easy to make use of the active on her.
Wit's End
Pretty strong on Korean Kayle, but I think damage-wise there are better choices. It's a good choice if most of your enemies have MR and you have a decent amount of magic damage on your team.
Tank Items
Frozen HeartUseful if you're vsing MULTIPLE champions who revolve around both attack speed and AD (AKA Jax, Vayne etc) however I think it should only be taken if you really want the CDR and mana as Randuin's Omen does a better job.
Sunfire Aegis
Useless except for the raw stats it gives. Randuin's Omen is pretty much a direct upgrade. The passive on Sunfire Aegis is useless to Korean Kayle, who already has monstrous waveclear.
Guardian Angel
More of a preference thing than anything else. A damn good item, especially on Kayle, however I'm not a fan of it. If its extremely lategame, consider buying one, and then when the passive has been used, sell it in favor of another item as the passive won't be up for another 4 minutes.
Locket of the Iron Solari
Should only be taken when noone else on the team has it and the enemy team has fed magic damage champs that are destroying your whole team. Still, it's preferred that a teammate takes this item.
Warmog's Armor
Kinda trolly in that if the enemy glances at your HP bar they might think that you're suddenly tanky as all hell. Generally Randuin's Omen or Banshee's Veil are better choices, but if the enemy is dealing tonnes of true damage, Warmog's Armor is Korean Kayle's best friend.
Thornmail
Just buy Randuin's Omen, its more defense effective. Not worth buying Thornmail unless you already have tonnes of armor.
Randuin's Omen
Probably my favourite tank item to build, if you haven't guessed. If you're finding yourself in need of survivability and the enemy team is entirely AD, this is your go-to item. If they only have 1 magic damage threat it might be a toss up between this and Guardian Angel, and if they have 2 or more high magic damage threats it'd probably be more advisable to go the Banshee's Veil route. This item is also great against attack speed reliant champions, and if you find yourself constantly dying to Jax, Vayne, Jinx and other attack speed champions, Randuin's Omen will suit you great.
Spirit Visage
No real reason to get this over Banshee's Veil. Only get this instead when you don't need the banshee's passive AND desperately need CDR.
IF YOU FEEL LIKE I HAVE MISSED A CRUCIAL ITEM, OR AM INCORRECT ABOUT SOMETHING, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT AND I WILL RESPOND ASAP AND PERHAPS AMEND MY GUIDE AFTER TESTING.
Poking Skill Sequence
Intervention> Reckoning> Righteous Fury> Divine BlessingMax your skills in this order if you're in a lane you're comfortable poking with as Kayle.
Farming Skill Sequence
Intervention> Righteous Fury> Reckoning> Divine BlessingMax your skills in this order if you aren't able to poke your laner with Q and you just want to farm.
Holy Fervor (Passive)
Kayle's autoattacks against enemy champions reduce their armor and magic resistance by 3% for 5 seconds. This debuff stacks up to 5 times.
This passive is one of the hugest strengths Korean Kayle has over her burst-oriented counterparts. Due to the amount of attack speed the build provides as well as Runaan's Hurricane's passive, you can temporarily shred off 15% of multiple targets' armor and magic resistance in only a very short period of time, allowing higher dps for your entire team.
Reckoning (Q)
] Active: Kayle blasts a target enemy, dealing magic damage, slowing its movement speed for 3 seconds and applying a stack of Holy Fervor.This spell is her main form of poke in the laning phase, and does terrific damage with a bit of AP under the belt. The slow it provides crucial for Kayle as it provides an increased window for autoattacking. Although more useful to a more bursty Kayle build, it is still very important to Korean Kayle.
Divine Blessing (W)
Active: Blesses a target allied champion, healing them and increasing their movement speed for 3 seconds.This spell gives Kayle some terrific utility. Both the heal and the movespeed buff scale with AP, meaning that a more AP heavy Kayle build gets more use out of this spell. With Korean Kayle, it is important not to spam this spell in lane as you will find you go oom very quickly. Try to rely more on health pots for healing, and instead utilize the spell for the movespeed buff. Lategame the heal and buff will be a big margin stronger, and you can Intervention into Divine Blessing to quickly save teammates who are in a pinch.
Righteous Fury (E)
Active: Kayle ignites her sword and becomes ranged for 10 seconds, granting her bonus magic damage on her attacks and increasing her attack range by 400 (525 total range). Additionally, attacks on non-tower units damage other enemies within 150 range of the target.This ability is just nuts with Korean Kayle. Long story short, Runaan's Hurricane's passive bolts will apply Righteous Fury and the splash damage, causing some stupidly large aoe damage. It just makes your waveclear absolutely bonkers. One of the most important things about getting used to when playing Kayle, especially with this build, is identifying when your e is about to go off activation and when it will be off cooldown. Without large amounts of CDR there will be a window between the two where you become melee, so you must time your engages so this doesn't happen at crucial moments.
Intervention (R)
Active: Kayle bathes a target ally champion or herself in holy light, rendering the champion immune to all damage for a few seconds.This is the skill that separates the good Kayle's and the great ones. It has no mana costs, so if you can cast Righteous Fury then you'll be able to cast your ult, however unlike Tryndamere you cannot ult if you are under any effects of hard crowd control (silence, knock up/back, stun), so you always have to be wary of enemy CC. You can bait enemies into unfavourable trades by fighting them when you appear weaker, getting near death, then using Intervention and turning the table. If you also find you're pushing the lane a lot and are getting good harass onto the enemy laner, you can use this ability to tank tower shots in a tower dive. When I play Kayle I have this ability self-cast smartcast bound to my T key, meaning that if i press T I get ulted on myself. I find this is easier in clutch situations and it's a little hotkey that others might find quite beneficial.
- Avoid pushing your lane early on if the enemy team has a strong earlygame jungler. Just try to last-hit minions instead of pushing the wave as Kayle has tremendous pushing power that can really backfire early on.
- You can outplay your opponents by baiting them with your Intervention by using it on allies and yourself when you are really low in a long, drawn-out trade.
- if you find you cannot kill your lane opponent, don't worry. Korean Kayle is all about being farmed up for midgame, so just focus on lasthitting and just dare your opponent to try and outscale you (protip - he probably can't!).
- You can outplay your opponents by baiting them with your Intervention by using it on allies and yourself when you are really low in a long, drawn-out trade.
- if you find you cannot kill your lane opponent, don't worry. Korean Kayle is all about being farmed up for midgame, so just focus on lasthitting and just dare your opponent to try and outscale you (protip - he probably can't!).
Mid Lane
Ahri
Can be an annoyingly tough lane. Levels 1-2 you can trade with her, but level 3 onwards you must be wary of her Charm. If you hit level 6 before her, and she misses Charm, you have a window where you can play aggressive as her charm cooldown should be long enough at that point to get some serious damage in. Play safe, farm, but punish missed Charms when you can. Lategame, she'll be able to make picks, but you'll be far more powerful in straight teamfights - just be sure to call mias on Ahri and make sure there are plenty of wards on the map.
Akali
Level 1-5 you should only last hit, and autoattack Akali and hit Akali with Reckoning every time she goes to cs. It forces her to either take free damage or farm with her Mark of the Assassin instead of poke you. On your first back, or as a starting item, I'd advise picking up a Vision Ward as it will help you continue autoattacking and win fights when she uses her Twilight Shroud. When you're both 6, if she can all in you at full hp it will be a pretty close fight. It is important to always poke an Akali so that when she engages you she is at a disadvantage. Make sure you keep tabs on her location, too, as she is one of the deadliest midlane roamers in the game. Lategame Akali can be a monster, killing carry to carry, however she can be easily countered with Vision Ward and upgraded Sweeping Lens'. If you play the lane right, you should have a massive gold lead over Akali come mid-lategame anyway.
Fizz
Very bursty once he hits 3. He's melee so try to harass when he goes for cs and only last hit minions to prevent the wave pushing to his tower. Call MIA's and follow him out of lane when he roams as he is a very potent roamer. Be sure to hit 6 before he does in lane as without your Intervention Fizz can destroy you with his Chum the Waters combined with his other abilities.Heimerdinger
Although this is one of the most pain-in-the-rear lanes to vs, in a way it suits Korean Kayle to a tee. Just try to keep up in cs and make sure your jungler doesn't gank the lane if he is low, as Heimerdinger has a knack for getting 1v2 double kills with his turrets. If you keep up in farm/outfarm him, you will outscale him hard and will be far more useful to your team later on in the game. Additionally, if you rush Nashor's Tooth then Runaan's Hurricane you will be able to decimate his turrets AND any minions behind them. Also, be sure to Intervention to block Heimerdinger's Hextech Rocket Swarm as if the whole thing hits you it will deal a tonne of damage.Karthus
The perfect matchup for Kayle. In the lane its pretty even 1-5, although Kayle has targeted harass and Karthus' is a dodgeable, so in a way its skill reliant. Both champions will probably look to just farm, however I believe a Kayle can play quite aggressive early on against Karthus, so long as she is aware of the enemy jungler. Post-6, you should be able to take on Karthus if he overextends, and you should be able to take control of the lane. If you can solo kill him, you'll be able to block his Requiem with Intervention, or some of his earlier damage. Lategame you're his perfect counter. You have better AoE presence with your mass splash damage from your Runaan's Hurricane and Righteous Fury, and your Intervention and Divine Blessing can save allies who would die to a Requiem.WILL UPDATE WITH MORE MATCHUPS AT A LATER DATE - COMMENT SPECIFIC MATCHUPS IF YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TO BE ADDED.
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