Thoughts on Kayle Rework - Gameplay/VO/Skins
First off a little context. Kayle was the first champion I ever bought in league. As a new player, when I saw her old splash, I was instantly in love and bought her without a second thought. Unfortunately her play style was hard to pick up as a brand new player, and I gravitated towards the ADC role, so I wouldn't consider her a main of mine. Despite this, I have tons of love for Kayle and have been excited for her rework ever since it was announced! Now that the rework has finally landed, I thought I'd give my thoughts on her.
Gameplay ------------- After playing Kayle a bit on the PBE, I've got to say that I'm very happy with her gameplay overall. Definitely going to try to play her more regularly when she hits live. She feels very fluid and fun, and her kit naturally lends itself to an aggressive playstyle. I was surprised by how close her kit manages to feel like live Kayle, without being all clunky or weird. I'm also pretty happy that it still scales with AP and AD, instead of shutting you into one or the other. She plays like an adc, and I have a feeling that she's going to need peel from teammates to get the most out of her. The "evolving" mechanic from putting points into your ult is very cool and makes reaching 16th level very satisfying.
I don't have many concerns about her gameplay, but her early game feels very weak. She feels like a farm until level 6 champion, and doesn't really pick up until level 11. This is definitely meant to balance out the late game hyper carry she becomes, but personally I'd like to see a little more power shifted into the early game. Keep her fun at all points of the game and make it less of a slog to hit late game.
VO ------------- I think they hit the nail on the head with this. I think the voice actress fits her perfectly, and I love that her VO really embraces the harsh-judgemental-seraph while also keeping in a soft spot for Morgana. I love Kayle's strive for perfection and her commitment to her idea of justice. I love how self-righteous and self-assured she is. I've seen some folks complain that she's too cold or comes off like an asshole, but I think that's the point to a degree. She has good intentions and a noble goal, but sees the world in black and white. Personally, I find her very likable and wouldn't change a thing about her personality. It's worth mentioning that her personality contrasts wonderfully with Morgana's. One of my friends pointed out how Kayle is harsh and unforgiving towards everyone but Morgana; while Morgana is forgiving towards everyone, but holds a grudge against Kayle. The only thing I would've liked to see from the VO would've been more interaction with other aspects, ascended, and the Darkin.
Base Skin ------------- The six wings are awesome and the most breath taking part of her. I can see the direction they meant to go with her hairstyle, but it really needs cleaned up. Tone down the chunkiness and make it more stylish and cohesive, like Morgana's. Kayle's face texture needs work too, Morgana has a beautiful freckled face in the teaser, while Kayle's just looks unfinished. I'm also surprised she doesn't have a helmet toggle; a feature requested for years that should've been added. I don't have a problem with her helmet coming off, but I firmly believe we should have the choice to keep it on too. I like all her emotes except for her dance. Her dance is cute but her wings stay in place during it, making it look awkward and stiff? I think her wings should move with her.
Now this horse has been beaten to death, but her armor. I'm very sad to see the Samus Metroid look go. For 9 years Kayle was the only fully armored female champion, with armor that left her gender ambiguous. It was a unique niche that only Kayle had that a lot of people were drawn to, myself included. Being raised on D&D and the fantasy genre in general, I adore armored characters, especially plate armor like Kayle had. Kayle was the only champion that really embodied the knight fantasy for me in league, and to have that replaced with skintight armor that emphasizes her curves is a huge disappointment for me. It's also disappointing that none of her skins really maintain this aspect of her either.
Other than that, I'd like to see some red brought back into her armor. Possibly replacing the purple in her first form with a purple-red gradient, so she still ties into Morgana. Then the red can be carried into her 6-winged form and lose the purple like she does currently. Her pauldrons are also awkwardly shaped, and I'd like them to look more like pre-rework Kayle's pauldrons. The white parts of her armor don't look like armor, I think it could be replaced with another metal like silver/copper/bronze, then become gold when she gets her 6 wings. I also find it unfitting how much of her shoulders/back/neck show in her 6-winged form, and would like to see some of her armor brought up more there. I also think having that bit showing would be really cool if she had white feathers growing along her shoulders/back, so I'd be down for that if the armor isn't brought up to cover it more.
Silver Kayle ------------- This skin lacks the stone/silver tones that the splash has, and needs the white toned down. I think the in game model would benefit from having some warm grey tones added to it, instead of exclusively cool blues. The white hair gets crowded out by all the white in other parts of the model. The in game model also lacks the flow-y fabric behind it, like in the splash. The golden VFX would do well to get replaced with silver VFX imo. The recall could also have its VFX recolored, but I'm surprised such a rare skin didn't get its own special recall.
Viridian Kayle ------------- I think the helmet for this one is shaped weird, and the pink/green on the wings clash a bit. I think working the pink and green into bigger sections would be more pleasant to the eye. I was expecting something more Elderwood but I'm not necessarily against a wood elf skin. I do wish some of the pink would've stayed on the wings when Kayle hits 16th level and the colors of her wings become straight up yellow. I think the current VFX works fine. A nature-inspired recall would've been cool.
Transcended Kayle ------------- I like the Greek/Roman influence on this skin. I don't really have much to say about this one other than I'd like the hair to be more in line with the splash art. Current VFX works fine, although I wish the yellow effect didn't cover all of the wings, as the light creamy color of the wings is actually pretty nice. Like silver Kayle I was a bit surprised that this one didn't get its own recall, but it doesn't really need it either.
Battleborn Kayle ------------- I actually really like the Norse/Valkyrie direction of this skin. The blade is kind of big when wielded as one blade, but looks really nice when split in two. The rune designs on the wings are a nice touch. The one thing that'd really make this a great skin is if the ability and recall VFX got changed to look more frosty/blue. The bright yellow does not compliment the rest of this skin.
Judgement Kayle ------------- Really nice colors, but again the bright yellow VFX doesn't compliment the rest of this skin. This skin would've been good for some fabric flowing behind her. I'm not sure what color I'd like to see the VFX be, but smokey/ashy effects could be cool. I think a recall with her holding the scales in the splash art would be nice.
Aetherwing Kayle ------------- I didn't care for Aetherwing before the rework because sci-fi isn't my cup of tea, but I actually really like it now. The armor in the later stages looks great and gives me a Samus vibe. I love how the last form is black. The wings in the last two forms look a bit odd so I can see where some people would take issue with them, but personally I like them. The emotes and recall are nice and the VFX is cool. Voice over is funny and lighthearted compared to the base VO. The only complaint I can think of is that the attack/movement animations don't feel as unique as they did before. One of the top 3 skins out of Kayle's rework imo, others being Inquisitor and Pentakill.
Riot Kayle ------------- Off the bat, the mustard yellow hair needs to be made a more natural color. I wish the VFX and model had a little red thrown in, so it wasn't entirely blue. Bright yellow VFX doesn't look great with the skin. The wings look slightly clunky looking when there's four of them. Glad they kept the recall similar to the pre-rework recall. Overall, I do think the skin is an improvement on her pre-rework Riot skin, just needs some polishing.
Iron Inquisitor Kayle ------------- Definitely came out very well from the rework, and is one of Kayle's best skins imo. The only real improvement would be fiery VFX and SFX to match the rest of it. I do wish it got a unique recall to round out the skin, but being a 750 skin, I understand why it didn't happen.
Pentakill Kayle ------------- This skin looks fantastic, and I really like how this one changes with her passive. The only thing I have to nitpick is that it is currently missing the SFX it had on the recall before the rework, but I figure it just hasn't been patched in yet.
If you read all of this, thank you! I'd love to hear anybody else's thoughts on Kayle's rework, particularly on my suggestions to improve it. TL;DR --- Gameplay is good but the early game might be too weak. VO is good but would like to see more interactions with other champions. Wings are awesome, armor/face/hair needs work. Most skins could benefit from VFX, and there was a surprising lack of new recalls.
