Kayle top and Master Yi jungle synergy

BojoGangster··3 votes·32,816 views

All right, this is a teamgame and what's best than to carry the game with your duo? There's nothing bad about it unless the strategy used is broken.

By broken I don't refer to something as starting the enemy buff, clearing his jung camps with your top laner and jungler and then cheesing the enemy top and getting somewhat of an early lead. By broken I mean a synergy between two champions that is just not counterable in SoloQ.

It is understandable that when you are ahead you can get items and reach your power spikes. Usually those items cost tons of gold AND you need a lot of farm/significant amount of kills to buy them early on. Well, this is not the case for this situation. A Kayle top starts with CDR runes and 0/18/12 with points in all healing masteries, maxes heal (W), and rushes >Ardent Censer< This item is commonly used by supports with heals/shields to boost their adc and it only works on the target, not on the user. It increases significantly the attack speed of the target.

Now why would Kayle need it if she makes no use of it herself? Well, that's where Yi comes in. Our favourite right click champion has to do nothing but farm for his >Skirmisher's Sabre< and >Berserker's Greaves<. Once he hits level 6 he goes top and the Kayle just uses the heal (w) on him. With Ardent Censer, Master Yi gets a boost on his movement speed (W), attack speed AND gets magic damage on hit. Combined with red smite and his E, the amount of damage thrown at the enemy is way too high this early in the game. To top it all, add the Kayle ult on Yi for the dive. No top laner can survive it, neither Jax with his dodge, nor Fiora with her parry, and even Illaoi, the strongest pusher of the game.

But this isn't a one time thing, no. The duo doesn't even need to farm from this point on. They just sit top, rush herald/baron if up and push. Don't even need to focus the rest of the map.
The real issue here is how fast they can achieve their power spike. Ardent Censer is just 2300 gold for Kayle and skirmisher's + berserkers are 2100 gold for Master Yi. So more or less by 8-10 min mark you will have your items, even if you just afk farm.

In the current meta, this is not countarable. Champion kills award more xp/gold and farm doesn't mean anything, meaning if your jungler is to steal the whole jungle of the enemy Yi it will bring him nothing. The game can be closed really fast with this setup.
Most likely, by the time your jungler realises what's happening you will be 2 towers short (maybe a death) and he will flame you, cuz it's solo Q and everyone looks only on their screens.
But even if you do get help, the 2v2 is winnable by the Kayle + Yi fairly easily. And if more people go top then they would have to leave their lanes and lose their own towers. The amount of pressure put on the map is just too much for a mere 2300 gold power spike.

My personal experience: I met this combo 2 times in plat and 2 times in diamond.

In platinum : -We won once (i was fiora) since our bot just devastated the enemy and the game went long enough for other people to get their items and somewhat counter. This was pure luck, i by no means carried. I played averagely and abused the enemy mistakes (the duo was inexperienced and had mechanical mistakes in executing the dives).

  • I met another similar duo again just 2 hours later. Fiora again, this time i warned my jungler and he laughed (well, it's solo Q so don't expect coordination). The game was well fought, but there's nothing to do without inhibs. We managed to kill them but there were no towers up and we hardly could do anything but sit in base and try to save the nexus

im not a retard fiora, i have 78% winrate on her in 45 games on that account, so i'd say im fairly consistent (for those who think it was my fault for loosing)

In diamond:

  • i was already well used to this strategy and i picked Jax as last pick. Jax can negate both of their damage with his E. The issue is Kayle can just slow you with Q and the Yi with double speed boost (kayle w + his ult) just walks out of the stun range and then goes back in, untill he auto attacks you straight to the fountain. The game was lost really badly and there was nothing to do. the jungler wasn't giving two damns, altho i warned him, and the mid tried to follow only to die and lose his own tower.

I have 600 jax games over the last 2 seasons, so yet again, i don't think it was my mechanical misplay that lost it. the enemy combo was just devastating.

  • the last time I met the same duo, i picked Illaoi. she is a devastating early game demolishing machine. A champion that is really bad outside of lane but really good near her tentacles (passive). She is undivable, trust me, or so i thought. I had 3 tentacles around the tower, and when i got dived i ulted which spawns 2 more. I hit my E too (taste of spirit) and the amount of damage i was putting out was insane, the only problem is that the kayle ult stopped it all. Kayle flashed away and with 5 seconds of immunity Yi deleted me. There was nothing to do. that game was even worse than the previous, no comment. Everyone was flaming once again, ignoring completely what i said at the start.

120 illaoi games on my Diamond acc this season, deja vu, but i don't think it was my mechanical misplay that lost it, it was the enemy combo.

TL:DR With people in solo Q being arrogant and selfish, nobody will bother to help you and by the time they realize the issue your inhibitor will be done, you will have no farm and be severely behind. The jungle meta means you can avoid farming and just gank and you will benefit more from it so the Yi doesn't need to worry for no farm (he will farm lane creeps anyways). Hypercarry power spike achievable way too early, for both Kayle and Yi, at the cost of just 2300/2100 gold. Game breaking combo in soloQ, not sure for a coordinated 5v5, but in soloQ it's a disaster.

fix pls.

11 Comments

BojoGangster2 votes

After further investigation, it turns out the strategy is even more common than i thought. Even in Master tier they would abuse it. The only counter is in this video * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-CLWyDF-CU&feature=youtu.be&t=7m3s * Legit 2v2 top, both junglers ignore completely their camps (why am i not surprised) Since udyr is better early game jung he had more pressure top and the trick2g + sirchez duo won.

But they were a coordinated duo, in pure soloQ you will not have your jungler listen to you. Also note that trick was already used to it.

when your2 votes

this thing has ruined my games

ChoC0Iate2 votes

Played with/against this combo about 7-8 times for the last few days. Nothing more than ruining my league experience, either freelo or freelose depending on which team they are. 18th minute 0-0-17 kayle and 17-1-1 yi diving everything and everyone, went 2v4 and got quadra under the 2 turrets against us. Pretty shitty game it has became, yeah?

Valanthos2 votes

Yeah, I just exeperienced this shit and you can't do a single thing. They just sit top for the whole game and you get dived everytime you move out of your base. The ardent censer really needs a nerf and/or a modification.

Tranoze1 votes

The problem is not sitting in Kayle or Master Yi. You can even pick Lulu top and do this. It not in the item 3504 either, it's not built in any support right now due to how weak it is. The problem is the jungle and how exp work right now. It's so unrewarding for jungler to clear their own jungle because it give so less EXP and gold, and it give so much gold and exp to laners. Back to old season 1 2 3 4, the reason they have atleast 1 jungler in their team and not doing 2 top, 1 mid, 2 bot is that there are good amount EXP and gold in jungle there, but now, it so unrewarding for farming in jungle that even if you sit in onelane and does nothing, you still gain the same amount of XP, and if you can kill/assist, you gain more amount of gold. If this synergy in season 4 for example, your jungle will ahead 2~3 level of you whole team because how much free camp he can take and when you and your jungle reach level 6, yi + kayle just level 5 and you can easy win them at that point. Now, the jungle reach level 6, Yi almost reach level 7, ofcourse you cant 2 v 2 at this point anymore.

When will people realize that now it the meta of another ADC/Support top lane due to how much they nerfed jungle gold and exp?

If you think this synergy is OP, image a botlane with yi and kayle, can that bot win alot? No, the situation is different in 2 v 2. Now image you vs ADC+ support top with no enemy jungle, Will it change the fact you will get shit in lane due to you are mele and they harass you inside the turret? can jungle gank them? maybe, but most of the time they will win anyway.

BojoGangster3 votes

Jungle has been highly downgraded with this season, i would always jung in lower elos until E reached my actual elo. Jungle was the role that distinguished skilled players who can close the game early from those who just play for the lategame and teamfights. The decision making and the map awareness are the key, even more than actual mechanics. Be it an ADC diamond player or support challenger, every high elo smurf would play jungle to climb fast.

My guess is that Rito didn't want a single role to be so determining in the game's outcome. Well, as i mentioned in previous posts, old friends from Master tier last season who want to level their smurfs and did just as me, spamming jungle, now are forced to play another role (ADC or something more hypercarry-like, since games are oriented towards the lategame and this is the time the carries shine) since jungle just does not do enough for you.

The Kayle + Yi duo is a consequence of how useless the jungle camps are If you can just kill your enemies . I, and many others, do not agree with how jungle works atm.

ShadowPledge1 votes

even though i am a low tier jg (s3) i have noticed that the jg just isnt what it used to be in s5 (when i started). I hate the nerfs that happened to the jg, and i have a post about it too. I like the plants however, jg camps offer too little exp and gold compared to lanes to bother staying there mid game. Actually, lately ive been trading with people, when i give them a buff (ie red or blue to adc or mid) i tell them ill take a wave. They dont always like it but i have so little gold and xp and they are taking some from me, i need more.

However, people who dont take smite get the same gold, they dont get the same xp tho, so to even out the laning vs jg they should incorporate gold gain in the jg items. Unfortunately this could cause issues with early game jg's, like lee.

Sand Clone1 votes

ardent is stupidly strong are you serious?

TheGoomyGamer1 votes

Taste of Spirit

BojoGangster1 votes

I've played several games with Kayle support 0/18/12 with healing mysteries and mana reg runes. Rushing Ardent Censer as first item and maxing heal (W), next i would build King's Vow and Michaels.

This build makes Soraka mains Jelly due to how superior Kayle is. I've won about all lanes, the heal amount if just rediculous, the speed boost allows your adc to escape all ganks/chase down low enemies.

If by any chance he decides to get greedy i would just ult him/michael for extra heal. The amount of utility is just too much, and it's way too cheap. The real issue is the support items giving so much in return for really few gold. And Kayle's support power is just absurd.

Basically, you don't even need to do it with top + jung You can just support + adc and it will do well.

12 KDA kayle. I don't even support. If I do get autofilled tho, i know what to pick. The lane will never lose and my adc will never die. My enemies will run out of mana trying to poke and my adc will be safe and sound. And naturally, after ardent censer the lane is automatically won.

I might be blobbing too much but this item is just broken atm. People might not realise it but it's a fact. It's not meta yet but when awareness is spread it won't be long before it's nerfed.

Rexxiee1 votes

This is what happens when support items are broken, ardent is so ridiculously broken and the only reason it stays like that because its a support items and those are "allowed" to be overpowered.

Adcs arent the only carries in the game, a 4 + item yi can destroy whole teams with some setup.

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