Your problem is that Kayle is hard to farm with and she relies on assists/kills to get the items she needs.

She can really only play support or tank.

For support, don't expect to get over 5 kills. At all. Your job is to do minor heals and increase peoples' movement speed. Then you have Reckoning. Which can do some damage AND slow them. Her ranged AoE skill really isn't worth it.

As for a tank, Kayle is a godly tank. She can invuln herself, which lets your carries wail on them and dominate a team fight. She can heal herself while increasing her movement speed. Which just allows for her to get away or get in faster.


AP Kayle really has no viability late-game. The only thing Kayle is useful for late-game is, as you said, a walking invuln potion. All she does is invuln carries and slow people down. That's it. She's nothing more. Just have to get use to it.

Sheen/Lich Bane on Kayle is a trap. Sure she's a "hybrid", but her cast-then-attack ability is sustained, unlike, say, Poppy's. My build is more like Berserker's Greaves, Mejai's Soulstealer, Phantom Dancer, Nashor's Tooth, Stark's Fervor, and Infinity Edge. The build order is pretty difficult since each item adds so much that you need.

With this build, you are more than just an invulnerability potion. You will never be wrecking things, though, unless your team is doing better than the other one and you're a bit overlevelled, in which case you will be.

How do you ever finish such a build? I find that the game is almost always over when i get:

Nashor's, Berserker's and Lich bane and elixer of brilliance. That's a bit over 7k gold. You are either a farming god, or play very long games if you can complete that build you propose often. (or i am doing something wrong)

With the build i usually go with (as presented above) I do 500 damage with reckoning, instant 300+ heal and about 500 damage per hit after casting a spell with righteous fury up. This makes Kayle quite viable, even in late game imo. (her ulti can change the outcome of teamfights, but this is the same with any build)

Her biggest drawback is that, with 2200 health and no armor, she is quite fragile. However, while you inflict most of your damage ranged, this should not prove to be problematic.

The order i get my items, if you are interested is the following

Meki + Health pot

Sheen

Berserker's greaves

Meki -> fiendish -> nashor's

Sheen --> lich bane

I might write a full guide later...

At lvl 5, fury gives +30 damage + (.4*AP). Since you have no AP in this build, that's just + 30 damage. That is nowhere near good enough to base an entire build on. This build would work way better for Mater Yi for example, who can double his base damage for a while and has an ulti that increases his AS even more. So all together, I'd say this is a pretty stupid build.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmyOverlord Your problem is that Kayle is hard to farm with and she relies on assists/kills to get the items she needs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antimodus the problem with using Kayle as a tank is that she can be safely ignored by the rest of the opposing team. Kayle with invuln on herself and tanky items is almost completely harmless, which makes it basically a 4v5 fight for your team.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceDive At lvl 5, fury gives +30 damage + (.4*AP). Since you have no AP in this build, that's just + 30 damage. That is nowhere near good enough to base an entire build on. This build would work way better for Mater Yi for example

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceDive Her biggest drawback is that, with 2200 health and no armor, she is quite fragile.

• Slowing at early level ganking.
• Invulnerability to other heroes in a fight.
• Spending her money on items such as starks fervor, Aegis of the legion, and items to improve her survivability.

Hmm, I also agree that Kayle as AP isn't really worth it. If you want to deal some damage, other champions offer way better qualities in this area.

I play him a lot on EU with a build I've read in the US forum quite some time ago. Here is the item build:

Start:
1. Mana Manipulator 475 (Becomes Soul Shroud later on)

First visit at shop with 920;
2. Meki Pendant 390
3. Boots of Speed 350
4. Faerie Charm 180

Next items are hard to time as it pretty much depends on your situation when you get to the shop the next time with what money:

5. Fiendish Codex 855
6. Heart of Gold 975
7. Soul Shroud 1850 (as Mana Manipulator is already bought)
9. Berserkers Greave 570 (Basic Boots are already bought)
9. Stinger 720 (Faerie Charm was already bought)
10. Nashors Tooth

After that I usually go for Aegis of the Legion but even Nashors Tooth doesnt always gets finished. After that I have planed to buy the abyssal scepter but I never came that for so long.

The playstyle:

Pump out as much Reckonings as you can to keep your opponents low on HP and drive them back. You should get an advantage when you harrassing as hard as you do and hopefully has the skills to do so too (But she can lane with almost everyone). As the mate is having a benefit from the mana manipulator too there are not many combos that dont get pushed back against this playstyle. (Enemy Sorakas can be pain though as you're damage gets pretty much compensated)

With a bit of luck you will get an assist or kill until ~ lvl 5. With lane mates like Sivir you might be even able to destroy a tower quite early. Both events make it possible to go back and get the first 920 gold item bundle. Whether you gain this extra gold or not, try to stay on your lane as long as you got 920.

After that, the critical time beginns. You will be able to spam quite some heals/speedbuffs + Enemy Slows which are a great addition to early time fights. The bubble is something you can hardly explain but feel during the when it has to be made. Using the bubble for offensive moves requires good comunication with your mates.

You can also stay at the front in situations where others have to leave. I like to compare her from her style to the old football player Franz Beckenbauer (Der Kaiser). She needs to rotate between the several places of action, always ready to heal/bubble or slow to catch loners during the rotations.

Also her Auras (her passive, Soul Shroud, Aegis of Legion) give the team a deciding buff, which also compensates her general lack of damage in the late game. In this item config you shouldn't be as fragile as with an AP build too even though you should not forget that you're still not a tank.

Anyway, I could extend this quite a bit but this is generally quite theorycrafted. Try the item build and make your own thoughts. For me it works quite well. In this style, Kayle is one of those chars that couldn't look any more ****ty on the scoreboard but still couldn't have a greater influence to the outcome of whole team.

Don't expect to be the top ganker with this build that will be celebreated/hated by your mates/enemys. You are support in a very unspectacular but effective way.