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Popular or not, IDC - I love the new Kayle. You nailed it Riot! THX! [Long]

Titanium70·3/13/2019, 5:15:19 PM·3 votes·2,169 views

I've seen alot of criticism and concerns about the new Kayle on board lately so I'll leave my 2 cents as well.

I play this game for a long time now, my home is the midlane and I've seen alot from Silver to Diamond over the years. I always considerd Kayle as well as (old)Swain my favorite Champions in the game in terms of art, lore and gameplay-fantasy. But unlike Swain I rarely played Kayle (I get on this later) and I always hoped for a Kayle rework at some point. Obviously I was hyped to hear she's on the list of incoming reworks. Few years(?) later and after the removal of the Swain I liked (RIP never forget) the Kayle rework hit and it is...AMAZING.

So, why do ! think the way I do? Old Kayle had one big problem that never made want to play her. ABUSIVENESS! That's how she found success:

  • She abused Items: On-Hit is not really healthy Itemization and breaks Champions over and over again. Fizz Varus Neeko Kayles only difference to others is that she was balanced around it - not balanced to avoid it. Leaving her in a spot where she has exactly one viable build punishing everyone who tries something else and making her completely dependend on the state of those Items. With Rageblade rivaling Ryze in terms of reworks that is an issue!

  • She abused matchups: Squishy - Scaling but also Snowbally Champion - that's what you want as your top - right? Not exactly! Just like Teemo noone really wants to play with such a Champion on their Top, but more importantly NOONE wants to play against it. Still - that's how Kayle worked! You picked her into the most abusive Melee VS Ranged matchups you could find, making your opponents live hell and instead of actually playing the game, you basicly won by simply not allowing your opponent to play. That's something I really despise and my main reason to not play her Top. Sadly - those matchups were exactly what she was balanced around and so playing her into anything that could actually hit back (in Mid or Bot for example, where a squishy is much more reasonable) felt quite horrible.

  • She abused Teamcomps: Did you know "Funneling" existed far before the term was actually made? Kayle-MasterYi says hi! And it was just as shit and just as toxic as the funnel we all love so much lately. How to play Kayle, get Duo mate, make him pick low counterplay stuff and render "low counterplay" to "NO counterplay" by pressing R on him over and over again! And guess what? Just like in Points #1 and #2 she was also balanced around THAT! Legit 50% of her entire powerbudget was on this damn Ult! xD

Kayle was balanced around the most ABUSIVE ways to play her. Always! Leaving her with NO other successfull playstyle! I always hated that - and the really cool fantasy of this sometimes melee, sometimes ranged late scaling hyper-carry was burried beneath it.

Now the Rework hit - and all I hoped for was getting rid of some parts of this abusive playstyle - and what I got was... I have no others word for it:** SO DAMN GENIUS DESIGN! ** My expectations were low. You murdered Swain. You turned the once unique Xerath into the most generic shitshow of a mage imaginable. And your latest "achievement" called Akali is still around...

But you guys surprised me, big time! In one strike EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM I mentioned above was fixed!

  • Items: Hard anti-synergy with On-Hit and AS itemization, making the current versions not bad but also not mandatory on her! Additionally anti-synergy with any form of Pen due to the True-DMG further decreasing the value of Rageblade (as long as it has the Pen) and making her ALOT more free in terms of Buildpaths!

  • Matchups: Super vulnerable early making her an actually SCALING Champion! Who ever did this: Take a look at Vayne Yasuo next!

  • Teamcomps: Being nearly unpunishable due to AFK waveclear while building item 3504? Good luck! Guess the funnels still work but now you need at least some skill to execute!

Ok now - how to play the Champ we got?

Guys, read her abilities judge what to do with it! That's important! If I see one more Kayle in my games starting D-Ring maxing E, wondering why she wents 0-10 and than wents board complaining how bad she is I'll loose it!!!

  • Lane Choices: I don't think Kayle's now unviable at Top but it's definitely no longer her most interesting role. She simply cannot deal with Bruisers or Juggernauts! They zone you, they all in you at any given opportunity! She can deal with scaling Champions like Vlad or Tanks. But she can deal even better with Champions that rely on a mana bar! Mages. YES, they poke you, but this game has a hilarious amount of sustain tools you can use! Just like Kassadin you can use those in Midlane to get to your end-game-fantasy! item 2033 item 1082 are amazing! Biscuit Delivery and TimeWarp Tonic are perfect additions! You can also consider Fleet Footwork as Keystone for even more sustain (You have the full melee heal when using E!!), but I prefer Lethal Tempo.

  • Mid-Laning: Until 6 you're weak, but so are a good portion of your enemys in this lane! You can use this! Not only beeing even in farm but also winning the lane! MaxQ! Learn its terrible Hitbox and poke with it. Get AP over AS early! Double AP in runes! item 1082 into item 1052 during your first backs! E max and Daggers can be considered in 1 out 10 matchups but dont do it every time!

  • Build: I could start a discussion twice as long as the wall I already typed considering every possible Item... I won't! They amount of creaticity and options you now have on Kayle due to rework are beyond anything I've ever seen in this game. Even without any Patch touching Kayle it will take MONTHS to figure out her best builds and I will not act like I have deep insight into this... All I do i sharing the route I testing out currently: item 3115 item 3006 item 3146 item 3046 item 3031 item 3089 ---or--------V---------or--- item 3285 item 3085 item 3100 But there is so much more you can do with her! Theorize! Experiment! Don't be a Sheep!

Closing I want to leave some concerns / criticism my selfe:

  • First of all: I'm honestly surprised her ability to Ult Teammates survived the Rework! That eats alot of power budget and if it turn out to be problematic at some point... look at it instead of nerfing something else! Stuff like a CD punishment when ulting others, can be considered.

  • Her Q: Who made this INDICATOR??? Who considered it GOOD??? Look at Graves Q than look at Kayle Q! Look at Lissandra Q than look at Kayle Q! Fix this already! It took a solid 100 uses to get a decent grasp where this damn blade actually deals DMG! And the Visuals... Dont help A DAMN THING! The amount "WTF that hit" and "WTF that missed" moments for both ME and MY OPPONENT are just unacceptable for a 2019 Champion!

  • Her state of balance: Flexibility in Builds and Roles is good but usually also a sign of a troublesome state of balance. I don't think that's actually the case. But also judging on how balanced the Champ is from simply playing it is simply and utterly impossible! Kayle is delicate Champion that can only ever be balanced by analysing the 'big data'. I'm quite curious where this will end but I have one favor to ask: Dont balance her for the top 0.000001% of players like you did with Aurelion. He was fun to play from time to time - but right now you have two choices with him: ONE-TRICK or delete from your memories! I'd hate to see Kayle ending up the same way. Although this time.. I'd choose the one-trick side. ^^

Quite a wall - isnt it? Those are my thoughts on our latest addition to the game. ^^ Feel free to share yours.

4 Comments

DeepFriedPengu3/13/2019, 6:12:40 PM1 votes

I agree with most of this. The rework did fix a lot of problems she had and over all I do enjoy it. Although I dont think the "scaling" champion portion of her was really thought out enough. She goes from being half a champion to almost instantly winning the game at level 16. Hell, even 11 is pretty nutty in power difference between any other portion before. Yes she should scale and her passive does that well but I dont think it should be as heavily focused as it currently is. Some kind of power shift would be nice to make her early game not basically nothing.

Another point I disagree with is her ult being able to be used on allies. The main issue I personally had with her old ult was her ability to auto attack for the full duration of it. She basically wins any fight if she does this and the focus on a more support usage for her ult is a huge plus. More counterplay or power shifting from her old toxic ult is welcomed.

Her Q is complete ass. It's not fun, doesnt flow with her other abilities (honestly her E doesnt either but at least its ment to execute people) and that fucking delay is awful. This turned me off from maxing it and the extra damage from your E passive is huge. The passive applies twice on your main target you are attacking once you have your fire wave shit from level 6. The wave and your auto apply the damage. So not maxing E cuts back on your consistent damage by a large number.

Oh, and corrupting pot is great for her.