How to Beat Kayle Comps in TFT
Set 5 hasn’t been out for very long, but players are already abusing Kayle’s monstrous late game power. It’s a difficult comp to pull off, but once you do, you can feel unbeatable. But what should you do if you’re playing against Kayle comps?
Kayle has arguably the strongest late game of any team comp, so in this article, I’ll go over some tips on how you can overcome the odds and finish first with a different comp.
Sniping Kayle
One of the best ways to deal with Kayle comps is to ignore the frontline and try to take down Kayle herself. However, this can be a challenge for most team comps, especially ones with attack damage carries. Usually magic damage carries like Katarina or Vel’Koz will have an easier time damaging Kayle directly.
- If you’re playing Vel’Koz, make sure to line up his ability so he can shoot through the enemy frontline and hit Kayle. This can be a challenge to do every fight, but try to get close at least.
- When using Assassins, try to get them to target Kayle quickly. Katarina does this very easily with her ability, but it can be a challenge to do the same with units like Leblanc or Viego.
- Other carries like Karma, Teemo, or Heimerdinger have a good shot of hitting Kayle, but it can be much more random each fight.
Resistance Shredding
If you can’t deal with Kayle directly, the next best option is to weaken the frontline surrounding her. 4 Knights are extremely tanky and can be difficult to deal with, but with resistance shredding, you give your team a much better chance at reaching Kayle before she fully ascends.
Last Whisper
For attack damage carries like Draven or Aphelios, Last Whisper will be extremely important to deal with enemy frontlines. A lot of teams run Ironclad in the current meta, so Last Whisper is a great item on almost every AD carry. Without this item, your chance of taking down a 4 Knight frontline is very slim.
God-Kings
If you can’t build Last Whisper or you aren’t running an attack damage comp, you can use some 5-costs to do the same job.
Darius
For attack damage comps, Darius will be your best friend against heavy tanks. His ability will shred the Armor of enemies, making your carries deal more damage. If you can find the space to put in Darius, you should definitely try to if you’re playing against Kayle.
Garen
For magic damage comps Garen will do the same job as Darius. His ability will affect a wide range of enemies, reducing their magic resist. This will help you melt through their frontline and hopefully onto Kayle next.
Crowd Control
Unfortunately, Kayle isn’t as important to CC compared to most carries. Most of her damage comes at the end of the fight, so slowing her down isn’t necessarily important if she stays alive to her final form.
However, the reason CC will help is that Kayle often runs some form of Rageblade. By stopping her attacks or slowing her down, you will still reduce the her attack speed scaling even if you can’t stop her ascension. It can feel hopeless when she reaches her 4th ascension, but if you can slow her attack speed just a bit, you can potentially squeeze out a victory.
In some situations, you may be able to CC her during her 4th Ascension, allowing your team to take her down before she can dish out her damage.
Here’s a quick list of some units that have strong CC against Kayle.
- Thresh
- Ashe
- Zyra
- Diana
- Ryze
- Viego
- Volibear
Watch out for Verdant
One last thing to keep in mind for CC is that you don’t want your Crowd Control to go off too quickly. Kayle comps often have 2 Verdant, meaning that they will be immune to CC during the first 5 seconds of combat. This can be important if your CC units cast too quickly.
If you stack too much mana on a unit like Diana, she may cast too quickly, allowing Kayle to be immune during that time. The same thing can happen if a unit like Volibear takes too much damage too quickly and casts immediately at the start of the fight.
As such, try to give your units some time before they cast their abilities. This way, the Verdant buff will wear off before your units cast their abilities.
Go for Broke
If you’re running a comp with a 4-cost carry, chances are that a complete Kayle comp will outscale your comp. Even if you’re able to hit level 9 to add in another unit, they will still be a difficult comp to deal with.
In this situation, you should try to see if you can go for a risky win condition like a 3-star Draven or Jax. Hitting level 9 will make your team stronger, but going for a 3 star will put you in a strong position to win. You won’t be able to do this every game, but you should consider it when you have the gold.
Mystic
A large majority of Kayle’s damage will be magic damage once she fully ascends. Having 2 or 3 Mystic units in your team will definitely help your team survive just a slight bit longer. If your fights are very close, having an extra Mystic in can make the difference in a team fight.
Units like Kindred and Ryze are also great as their abilities provide a lot of utility to the team as well.
Conclusion
All in all, these small things can give your team just a slight edge when facing an enemy Kayle. One of these things by itself might not make a difference, but combining multiple of these tips will put you in a much stronger position to win.
It can feel hopeless when an enemy Kayle is too powerful, but keep trying to get any slight advantage you can. After many tries, you’ll start to gain just enough advantage to overcome the raid boss that is Kayle.
Thanks for reading! Head to our Team Builder to theorycraft your own counters or explore our best meta comps to find another answer to climb with.
