Kayle
Matchup Summary
Renekton completely destroys Kayle early, providing him a clear objective of trying to deny her as much gold as he can to prevent her inevitable scaling threat. Renekton's only threat from Kayle early consists of her level 1, where she will try to force a fight with her lethal tempo and Q start. Renekton simply should play for his level 2 powerspike, which allows him to skill W or E, allowing him to completely burst or kill Kayle if she's playing wrecklessly. Post level 3, Renekton needs to always play the wave states on his side of the map, as he can abuse Kayle's low range from being able to touch the minion wave. Each time Kayle steps up, Renekton can force double dash trades, using his heavy damage to easily out trade and punish Kayle for stepping up. Each time Kayle is low near her tower, Renekton can force tower dives against her. If Kayle has R, Renekton can fake tower diving by walking into her with or without W active, allowing him to easily bait her R to dive her by the next minion wave. After stomping Kayle, Renekton should try to roam the map and use his lead to hard win the mid game. Failing to end before level 16 and 3 items, Kayle will completely uturn the game and force her stong damage to win the game.
Detailed Tips
- 01
Respect Kayle Level 1 - Kayle’s level 1 is one of Kayle’s misunderstood strengths, as she can easily out duel you with either Lethal Tempo or PTA. Kayle can actually hard bully Renekton level 1, meaning sometimes we might have to defensively take W just to keep her at bay. By level 2 and 3 Renekton can play the lane normally, but make sure before reaching that point you space adequately and avoid trading auto attacks at all costs.
- 02
Level 1 Q or W Start - As mentioned through other notes, playing off Q and E both require different plays, however in this match up you can essentially do either of them and have pretty good success. Q start is preferred if Kayle isn’t posturing aggressively, allowing you to hit the wave and reach level 2 before her. If Kayle is aggressive posturing, skill W to AA > W her, into moving towards your side of the minion wave. Wait back for W, then look for an empowered W trade if she tries again.
- 03
Play For Level 2/3 Kill Angle - Once you chunk out Kayle you're most likely able to kill her with your W, Dash or Flash up. Look to shove the wave around your kill timer, so you're able to make Kayle lose a lot more.
- 04
Abuse Kayle’s Early Game - Renekton can practically do whatever he wants to Kayle once he reaches level 3, so make sure you play specifically to keep waves on your side, while looking for heavy trades and aiming to tower dive her when she is low. Alternatively, playing to deny her and set her back is very important, to which you should always aim for this instead of playing for hard pushes and trying to search for kills. If you freeze vs Kayle, the kills will most often come to you.
- 05
Play Wave On Your Side - Playing the wave on your side essentially means playing wave states on your side of the map, via abusing wave manipulation tactics or freezing on your side of the map. Simply use this to help you combo on your laner, taking away any space from them being able to trade you back (This also helps prevent the enemy running you down with their extended or sustained movement speed abilities). You can also use this wave state to run down your opponent with your abilities up, helping you obtain kills a lot easier vs stalemate or ranged match ups. Look to do this when your opponents are below 50% HP, or potentially make a mistake to provide you an all in opportunity to run them down.
- 06
Heavy Trades - Being that Renekton carries a lot of high damage, Renekton is able to just jump on his target nearly at will. Whenever your laners present you with the ability to jump on them, simply take the opportunity to burst them as much as you can. If you didn't kill them already from that, use your options of freezing or your tower diving ability to help you finish off your opponent.
- 07
Rush Tier 2 Boots - A good Kayle will most likely rush boots into Renekton, making her overall trading and kiting ability a lot more infuriating if you’re playing strictly for item rush. I personally prefer building boots, as my combat ability is only improved once building them. As long as I can stay on top of Kayle that’s ultimately what matters, as Renekton’s base damage with abilities and R is also enough to still give me damage to successfully kill her.
- 08
Respect And Punish Kayle R - When playing against Kayle, it’s very important to understand the pattern of how she uses her R. Kayle will either R when she’s in her enemies kill range, if she’s trying to protect and peel for her carries, or use her R to block any major damage abilities. As Renekton, we’re able to bait out her R in a low of ways, as we can successfully mind game her by either: Baiting a trade against her with our E when she’s low HP, allowing us to bait her R then hold our damage until it goes away. Or. Walking up to Kayle on low HP activating our W, baiting out her R before we use our own W. Later on, Kayle may instantly use it at full HP when you dash onto her, in which you should hold your abilities, then use them right after her R cast ends.
- 09
3 Points Q > W Max - This playstyle allows you to constantly have W’s to help you stay onto Kayle while abusing your high damage ratios, allowing you to easily snowball and permanently shutdown Kayle within all stages of the game. Make sure to put 3 points into your early wave clear and poke, then look to max W throughout the rest of your points. Once completed, max your E for additional mobility to help enable your up close stun abusing playstyle. Overall, W max allows you to stun Kayle longer to prevent her auto attacking playstyle, allowing you to have more duelling power in the ability to fight Kayle in longer periods of the game.
- 10
Build Eclipse, Stridebreaker or BoTRK - Go Eclipse for consistent power through mid game and damage mitigation with the shield. / Go Stridebreaker to cripple Kayle’s mobility and provide teammates with additional utility. / Go BoTRK to one shot and snowball with a damage focused build.
- 11
Mid Game + Teamfighting Tips - Kayle’s overall power within the game solely depends on how good your laning phase was, as if you play it correctly you will be able to hard put Kayle behind, to the point where she is unable to join any fights or play towards any objectives. Renekton’s overall goal within the Kayle match up is simply hard putting her behind, then using his early game lead to completely dominate the map, with the objective of ending the game before Kayle scales. Within most cases, regardless of her lead Kayle will always try hard to farm towards her level 16 and Deathcap powerspike, as at this stage she will be literally god tier level of powerful. If Kayle is split pushing, try to either kill her with your fed lead or get your team to jump onto her before any major objectives, as this will allow you to prevent her using her late game advantage. Within teamfights, try to either one shot Kayle as fast as you can, otherwise she will try to use ult and then auto attack with it active. Try to get your teammates to fully commit to Kayle, by playing off your flash W with the intention of all jumping on her. Alternatively, if Kayle isn’t there in the fights, you should try to instantly look to fight as not having Kayle in these situations is absolutely gigantic. Overall, Kayle’s late game can be hard to manage, so do your best to find winning plays and play to kill her in isolation, or play to kill her team and secure Baron.