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Kayle Laning Phase Speculation/Analysis

Asakyun··1 votes·1,394 views

By now I'm sure most of you have seen the new kit and their corresponding numbers. I want to take this opportunity to talk about how Kayle's laning phase might work, and compare her to live Kassadin, which I think is the most similar champion to PBE Kayle as of now.

I'll start by talking about Kassadin, his trading patterns, and how his skill set allows him to survive the laning phase.

Kassadin in general takes Fleet Footwork as his keystone and Domination secondary with Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter. These runes combined give Kassadin incredible sustain in the laning phase, especially when he starts Corrupting Potion. Though there are runes that may work better in combat as Kassadin (i.e. Electrocute, Dark Harvest), the primary concern is to survive laning phase because when you can apply a 3.6 ap ratio (with Lich Bane) in under 0.5 seconds, you honestly don't need more damage.

So how does Kassadin survive lane? We've already talked about his choice of runes, but his kit is also well suited for making it through lane. Kassadin can put pressure on the opposing laner by spamming Q, but not only that, in trades, smart usage of Q can mitigate a whole spell. So imagine if you're playing against a Lissandra, and her trading pattern is auto Q auto or Q auto, if you can Q when you see her Q come out, you win the trade because your Q outdamages her auto. Kassadin's Q is targeted and out ranges most autoattacks so he can easily use it to proc Taste of Blood as well.

Moving on to Kassadin's W, it's very similar to PBE Kayle's E (as a last-hit assist ability), but it costs 1 mana vs Kayle's E costing 50. It doesn't give him 550 range, but it does give him 50 extra range and significant extra damage which can surprise the enemy laner, because they may not be in the proper position to punish you for CSing.

Post 6, Kassadin is basically unkillable in lane unless he's fucked up badly due to his ult, though he can still get bullied if he's behind.

Now I would imagine Kayle's early gameplan and laning style would be highly similar to Kassadin's, at least in the mid lane. She would most likely take Fleet Footwork with a Domination secondary using Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter (alternatively boots and biscuit in the Inspiration tree) - however I suspect Kayle's laning phase will be even weaker than Kassadin's because she doesn't have damage mitigation like Kass does in his passive and Q. Furthermore, E is costly to use just for CSing, while Kassadin can use his W as he pleases, as I've described above. Also, Taste of Blood will be slightly harder to proc for Kayle than it is for Kassadin, again because his Q is targeted and longer range than most autos, while Kayle's Q is a skillshot and can be blocked by minions.

If Kayle was released onto live as she is now, I would still definitely pick her up, but with the knowledge that she's a Kassadin that continues to struggle in lane until 11. If I was to make any changes, I'd suggest looking at her E. Again, I'll compare it to Kassadin's W.

Kassadin's W active has a 0.8 AP ratio which is a crucial part of his burst combo. At 3 items Kassadin would have around 300 AP, and thus Kassadin's W adds 240 damage. With rank 5 E, Kayle can only do 240 damage if the enemy is missing 1,200 hp. At full build, Kassadin would have 800+ AP and his W would do 640 damage (ignoring base damages). To do the same damage Kayle's target would need to be missing 3,200 hp.

Kayle's E doesn't necessarily have to have 0.8 AP scaling like Kassadin does, or even have any AP scaling at all, but consider the trading dynamics of mid lane. As a melee champion, Kayle will struggle to hit the enemy champion more than a handful of times in the first 6 levels of the game. Having her E scale on missing health and not current or total health means her E is a glorified AA reset because 99% of the time, Kayle will not have been able to harass the enemy laner enough for the missing health damage to even factor into a damage calculation. Furthermore her E doesn't have any base damages beyond its passive. If we compare her to Kassadin, if Kassadin gets into melee range somehow, an auto W combo from Kassadin does ~225 damage when all things are considered, but Kayle's same auto E combo would do 160ish at best. This is because Kassadin's W actually has a base damage, while Kayle's E has nothing.

With these things in mind, some suggestions I have for E are as follows:

  • Mana refund if it kills the target (somewhere between 80 to 100% refund)

  • Partial CD refund if it kills the target (I'm thinking around 50% cd refund, though this may not be necessary as long as she has the mana refund)

  • If the above would be considered "broken" when considering E's AOE at level 6, push the AOE back to level 11

  • and I'd personally prefer an AP ratio (0.5 or 0.6) and a base damage (40/60/80/100/120?) rather than the missing health damage she currently has.

3 Comments

Karn Bishop1 votes

Unless they purposely gut her spells and add on dumb penalty's laning will likely be her secondary role with jungle as primary or if not primary at least a secondary role, shes potentially good in 1v1's has a slow, a heal, both things good in the jungle.

She also likes the attack speed item junglers can get, and being a jungler lets her pick her fights while also getting the most utility out of her ultimate early based on how it works.

I do hope they don't break her jungling legs as traditionally she has been a popular jungler except for right this instant due to several changes to the jungle that old kayle struggles to deal with.

Asakyun1 votes

I'm not too optimistic about her ability to jungle given she has very little AOE and no hard CC to break Scuttle's innate resistances. She would be a powerfarming jungle but Karthus, Graves, and even Yi do the job better. For her to be a viable jungler they'd need to swap the innate and level 6 Exalted bonuses.

Karn Bishop1 votes

Any slow breaks scuttles resists including red buff how else do you think champions like nidalee and kindred clear scuttle?

passive does not appear to be champion specific so it can trigger off of anything you attack so great for clearing.

Q now shreads mr and armor and applys a 3 second slow while also having a small aoe to help clear raptors n wolves.

W is useful for jungle sustain AND a decent gank enabler as it adds 6/32/38/44/50 (+1% per 10 AP) Movement Speed for 2 seconds to yourself and ally targeted.

E is just bonus damage until level 6 which will make it slightly aoe for clearing, more damage is good for clearing.

Then there is her R with a 3 second invulnerability + its damage centered on target which is a great ganking tool even if you yourself cannot get in range for any other spells.

Shes a strong champion with a kit that is decent at jungling unless they go out of their way to break her legs like a few other champions who otherwise would have made decent junglers.

You really should take another look at her on surrender because i think you have misread or misunderstood a few of her skills.

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