Ayla: In-Depth Guide [Updated 11/03/2021]

Overview

This guide will focus on Ayla for both players new to the character and more experienced players seeking improvement.

Introduction

If you want to learn how to play Ayla, or perhaps improve your gameplay with her, this guide is for you! The aim of this guide is to share the knowledge I have acquired on Ayla through playing her as my main character for 900+ hours. Hopefully, this guide can also offer some advice to competitive players who will be able to use Ayla to her full potential.

Terminology

These terms will be used throughout the guide. They will be familiar to experienced players, and will be explained here for newer players.

• AA – Abbreviation for AutoAttack, a character’s basic attack.
• Snowballing – A quick progression from a small lead in solar and XP compared to the enemy team, into a larger and unmanageable lead.
• Lifesteal – An attack that heals the user, usually by a flat amount or a fraction of the damage dealt.
• Brawler/Fighter – A character that excels in melee damage and close ranged combat.
• Sustain – Term for abilities that allow the user to heal constantly and keep themselves at a steady or high amount of health for long peroids.
• Juking – Moving in an unpredictable pattern to avoid attacks and escape from dangerous situations.
• CC – Abbreviation for Crowd Control. Debuffs that can be applied to an enemy via abilities. Debuffs include Slow, Stun, Snare, Time Modifiers, Blind, Knockback, Silence, Amplify, Weaken and Displacement.
• AoE – Abbreviation for Area of Effect. An ability that can apply damage to multiple enemies inside of its effective radius.
• DoT – Abbreviation for Damage over Time. An ability that applies ticks of damage over a duration of time after hitting an enemy. DoT is visible on the player’s health bar, displayed in pink.
• CD/CDR – Abbreviations for cooldown and cooldown reduction. All skills in awesomenauts have cooldowns before they can be used again, and many upgrades offer a reduction in a skill’s cooldown, allowing them to be used more frequently.
• BKM – Baby Kuri Mammoth, a utility upgrade that reduces the potency of debuffs by 30%.
• SKB – Solar Krab Burgers, a utility upgrade that allows the user to regain health from solar coins.
• SLD – Sonic Listening Device, an AA upgrade that allows Ayla to mark critters to gain extra health from them.
• Boots – Space Air Max, a utility upgrade that increases movement speed by 10%.

Basic Information

Ayla is a character that specialises in fighting at close range. Her playstyle has usually been centered around Rage and involved getting close to groups of enemies to deal as much damage as possible. She is a damage dealer with less focus on applying CC, though she does have a potent slow on Evil Eye, a powerful Pull effect on Rage and a weaken upgrade on her AA.

For those who have played Awesomenauts since before patch 2.9, be aware that Ayla has undergone reworks, and from 2.9 onwards she no longer utilises the gameplay style of lifesteal on Rage. Her current Rage ability grants her a shield, which scales (along with damage) with the number of enemies inside Rage, a feature that is vital to her survival and contribution in teamfights.

Ayla is currently a very powerful, high tier character due to the great amount of reliable damage she deals with both of her skills.

Base HP: 1400
Movement Speed: 8.3
Jump Height: 8.2 (1 Jump)
Role: Fighter
Difficulty: Hard

• 2 very high damage skills, one of which is AoE
• Powerful Pull on Rage and DoT on Evil Eye for a devastating combo
• Excellent mobility
• Excellent droid clearing
• Decent push and turret poke

• Not the best at defending
• Countered by anti-melee and tank nauts
• Expensive

Skills

Ayla swings her chain to deal damage to enemies. This attack has a lifesteal effect.

Damage: 80
Attack Speed: 150
Lifesteal: 20%
Range: 2.6

Ayla will mainly use her AA to push and regain health from droids. Despite its short range, it can deal a surprising amount of damage in combination with Rage toggling and apply a Weaken effect to enemies. She has a very useful upgrade on her AA, which allows her to mark critters for herself and her team to gain extra health from them.

Ayla fires an eye projectile that slows her enemies and deals more damage the lower her health is. As of patch 4.1, this ability can be used during Rage, and will deactivate Rage upon doing so.

Health Stages: 100% > 70% > 45% > 20%
Damage: 300 (+84 per health stage)
Slow: 7.5% (+7.5% per health stage)
Slow Duration: 2.5s
Range: 9.2
Cooldown: 7.5s

Evil Eye is a standard burst ability that deals more damage the lower Ayla’s health is. It is best used for initiating and finishing off enemies, but is also good for poking and pushing turrets. Ayla’s main method of engaging enemies involves initiating with Evil Eye and quickly entering Rage to chase them down while they are weakened. It can be upgraded with a devastating DoT effect, and used with a Rage upgrade that pulls enemies into Ayla. There is no downtime to being able to use AA or Rage after firing an Evil Eye, so use this to your advantage.

Rage is a skill that can be toggled on and off with almost no cooldown. While enraged, Ayla can fly and deal constant damage to enemies inside her Rage bubble. She gains extra damage and shielding for each enemy droid or Naut inside of Rage. She takes a significant amount of self-damage and her collision with enemy nauts and droids is removed while in Rage. Displacement and knockback CCs will also have a greater effect on her while she is in Rage mode. Ayla will lose any momentum she had upon entering Rage. Toggling between Rage and AA can be effective for dealing more damage, as well as lowering the amount of health Ayla loses from self-damage in Rage.

Damage: 69 > 79.35 > 89.7 > 100.5 > 110.4 > 120.75
Attack Speed: 240
Self Damage: 40
Size: 5.6
Shield: 10% > 16% > 22% > 28% > 34%
Cooldown: 0.5 seconds

Rage is Ayla’s main damage source and brawling skill, as well as the basis of her playstyle. The extra damage and shield gained from more enemies inside her Rage proves invaluable in teamfights and in fulfilling her damage dealing duties. It also serves as an excellent droid clearing skill. Applying constant damage and brawling enemies while keeping them inside of Rage is the key to success with Ayla.

As of later patches, Ayla has a powerful combination at her disposal; DoT on Evil Eye and Pull on Rage. She can secure kills very easily with the high damage provided by Jail Food, which does not require her to be at low health. Fiery Jawbreakers gives Rage a powerful Pull effect after using Evil Eye, and combined with Jail Food, guarantees a ton of damage on a single target. This combination easily makes Ayla a top tier character.

Playstyle

Ayla’s core gameplay element revolves around Rage and using its scaling shield and damage to her advantage. Her role is to deal as much damage as possible to enemies. She will often be the one to accumulate many kills or assist in kills. She may also die frequently due to her vulnerability, and especially in situations where suiciding can be beneficial to her team, such as to gain a double kill or wipe. She functions best when snowballing, as gaining a lead in solar and XP will allow her to outdamage her enemies while staying alive. Some aspects of her playstyle will differ depending which stage of the game she is in, out of the early, mid and late game stages.

Ayla has many limitations in the early game, so you will need to play safely and stick with your teammates for kills. Evil Eye will be your main burst damage until you have purchased your damage upgrades, so use it wisely. Avoid dying too much during the early game, as Ayla will struggle to function when she falls behind in solar.

In mid game, Ayla should have her damage upgrades purchased and start investing into Pills and utility. At this point, Ayla will start becoming less dependant on her teammates and can begin searching for kills on her own. She should still be careful not to overextend and give her opponents an advantage in solar and XP.

In the late game, Ayla will have purchased all of her important upgrades, and will focus on getting important kills for her team. She must still be careful on when to engage, as a bad engagement will end in very likely death with no benefit to the team. The best times to strike are when the enemies have just wasted their skills, which will be on cooldown when Ayla engages them. The only way they will be able to retaliate is with their AA or by juking Rage.

Upgrades – Evil Eye

1 stage, 180 solar
Reduces the cooldown of Evil Eye by 2 seconds.

Very effective and cheap cooldown reduction, providing spammable poke on turrets and burst in teamfights and 1v1s. Too good not to invest in.

2 stages, 195 solar
Increases the damage of Evil Eye by 10% per stage.

Damage is always good, though quite expensive and doesn’t offer a huge boost at higher health stages. Best purchased around early-mid game.

2 stages, 125 solar
Reduces the amount of missing health needed per Evil Eye stage by 10% per stage.

A decent upgrade that provides easier access to Eye’s maximum damage potential, but unfortunately overshadowed by better options.

2 stages, 160 solar
Increases the slowing power of Evil Eye by 11% per stage.

Though useful against high mobility Nauts, it isn’t used as much anymore due to extra damage being the better option.

2 stages, 200 solar
Adds 105 damage over time per stage to Evil Eye, applied over 4 seconds.

This upgrade is extremely powerful due to the amount of damage it offers with little to no additional risk. Absolutely mandatory in a serious game and should be one of Ayla’s first purchases.

1 stage, 165 solar
Increases the range of Evil Eye by 50% and the projectile speed by 20%.

Situational, niche upgrade. Offers safer turret poke and a potential option against long ranged Nauts, but not very useful in general.

Upgrades – Rage

2 stages, 220 solar
Increases damage of Rage by 11% per stage.

Damage is always important on Ayla’s main skill. Can be purchased after Jail Food and Fiery Jawbreakers or slightly later. It is expensive, but adds a lot of damage to Rage.

2 stages, 135 solar
Reduces self-damage of Rage by 25% per stage.

Though somewhat outclassed by Neon Jumping Rope and Blue Three-wheeler, Ayla’s self-damage has become more of an issue recently, and the recent buff to Rip-apart bear can make it a worthy investment.

1 stage, 175 solar
Increases the size of Rage by 0.96.

An essential upgrade. Increasing the radius of Rage allows Ayla to more easily apply her damage and achieve higher damage/shield scaling, as well as mitigating the main weakness of Rage (juking) and allowing her to pierce through terrain more easily.

1 stage, 180 solar
Increases movement speed while in Rage by 1.6.

Decent utility. Higher speed in Rage assists Ayla in escaping unfavourable situations, chasing down high mobility enemies and returning swiftly to the battlefield. The downside is slightly poorer control of Rage.

1 stage, 150 solar
Leaves a blood trail while in Rage which speeds up Ayla’s allies by 20% for 2 seconds.

Not particularly useful. The speedup is barely noticeable and cannot be applied to droids or Ayla herself. There are much better options for Rage.

1 stage, 140 solar
Pulls enemies towards Rage after using Evil Eye for 0.3s.

Absolutely busted and mandatory upgrade, along with Jail Food. It’s cheap and therefore one of the first purchases. Pull provides guaranteed damage from Rage, shuts down any juking attempts and secures kills like no one’s business.

Upgrades – AutoAttack

2 stages, 150 solar
Increases the attack speed of chain whack by 11% per stage.

Affordable and decent upgrade. Synergises with SLD in that it doesn’t one-shot creeps, though this benefit fades as the match goes on due to damage scaling.

1 stage, 180 solar
Increases the lifesteal effect of chain whack by 15%.

While it provides good sustain from droids late game, Ayla already has SLD and SKB for all her sustain needs, and purchasing lifesteal limits her pushing ability. However, it can still be a useful purchase on maps where critters and solar coins aren’t as readily available, such as AI Station 205.

2 stages, 220 solar
Increases the damage of chain whack by 14% per stage.

Expensive, but decent upgrade for pushing. The downside of no synergy with SLD becomes irrelevant as the game goes on. Offers respectable turret DPS combined with Thief Tools.

1 stage, 160 solar
Adds a weaken effect to chain whack. Enemies hit by AA will deal 15% less damage for 1.5 seconds.

Very useful for brawling in conjunction with toggling Rage. Helpful against Nauts with burst damage, such as Clunk.

2 stages, 160 solar
Increases chain whack damage by 21% per stage when enemy Awesomenauts with less than 45% are near.

Provides a significant damage boost in combination with Rage toggling, though somewhat difficult to achieve due to its conditional nature and AA’s small range. Still a very worthy investment if used correctly.

1 stage, 160 solar
Marks critters, which will drop 250 more health.

An essential AA utility for its excellent sustain and healing not only for Ayla, but her allies too (until level scaling damage causes AA/Rage to one-shot critters). Great on most maps and in almost any situation. Due to its nature as a powerful utility that isn’t on the utility upgrade row, there is almost no downside to purchasing it.

Upgrades – Utility

2 stages, 130 solar
Increases maximum health by 8% per stage.

Absolutely vital on Ayla. She has a lower health pool than other Fighters, and needs to be able to endure attacks on top of her Rage self-damage. Best purchased early-mid game.

2 stages, 90 solar
Increases health regeneration by 90% per stage.

Decent passive sustain which also works while in Rage, but generally unnecessary for Ayla as she already has many useful sustain upgrades. Even when its a suprerior pick to SKB, it is outclassed by SLD allowing Ayla to instantly regain all of her health with just two critters.

1 stage, 135 solar
Increases movement speed by 10%.

Boots are no longer mandatory, but still quite useful on Ayla. Provides a great speed boost in rage, combined with Blue Three-wheeler. It is best purchased when Ayla does not need BKM.

1 stage, 150 solar
Solar coins will heal you, by 60 health per solar.

Absolutely necessary due to providing excellent active sustain for Ayla. Usually the first purchase in any game. Excellent against Gnaw and provides strong lane presence. Offers a little regen when clearing droids with Rage. Also allows Ayla to instantly regain a small amount of health upon killing an enemy. Easily Ayla’s best utility upgrade.

1 stage, 0 solar
Gives 100 solar.

Piggy Bank gives Ayla’s early game a small boost and can help her snowball faster. However, the loss of a third utility slot and BKM can lead to suffering late game and against enemies with heavy CC. Best used when snowballing and when BKM is not necessarily.

1 stage, 110 solar
Reduces the effect of all debuffs by 30%.

Very helpful for Ayla, as her main weakness is CC and knockback, especially while in Rage. Best used against Nauts with strong CC, such as Sentry, Skolldir and Penny. When CC isn’t a significant issue however, Ayla can pass up BKM and get Boots for better movement.

Builds

Normally, Ayla’s build would revolve around Rage due to it being her main damaging ability. As of recent patches, she is now built into two overpowered upgrades and combines them to deal most of her damage. The following items are considered more or less mandatory and should be invested in as early as possible.

Ayla absolutely wants to have Jail Food and Fiery Jawbreakers among her first purchases. Pull in particular makes her far too good at what she does best; killing. She will want Pills nearing mid-game, as her health pool is much lower than other closed ranged Fighters, and she will be enduring constant damage from being in melee range and from Rage. SKB is pretty much always the first purchase on Ayla, and is easily her best utility, as she can regain a lot of health by collecting solar coins around the map and playing actively. Fresh Scrubs is too good to miss out on now that Evil Eye’s DoT upgrade is so important to Ayla.

These upgrades are generally very useful for Ayla, and can be purchased around mid-game. Neon Jumping Rope is usually the best third upgrade on Rage. Size allows Ayla to keep more enemies inside Rage for longer, as well as pierce through terrain. SLD is probably Ayla’s best utility on AA. It is very effective on Ribbit IV combined with Neon Jumping Rope, as she can easily hit two critters with Rage to regain her max health. It can be left as a late game purchase on AI Station 205, as the critters are less accessible than on other maps. BKM is helpful against heavy CC enemies like Smiles, but can be swapped for Boots if the matchup allows it. Prison Guard Keys improves Ayla’s already great brawling capabilities by giving her an edge in 1v1s and reducing the amount of damage she takes from burst damage.

Most of these upgrades can be purchased around mid to late game. Boots or Piggy Bank can be worthy investments when Ayla doesn’t need BKM. Boots will improve her already good movement and Piggy Bank allows her to afford her expensive mandatory damage and get to mid/late game faster. Explosive Neckband is great for pushing, but she can also go for Hungry Zurian lategame for better sustain when critters aren’t in convenient range. Toothbrush Shank and Biter Mask are viable third options for Evil Eye. Toothbrush is damage and more damage is always a good thing to have. Finally, the extra slow on Biter Mask is useful against mobile Nauts and makes Ayla’s job of chasing down her enemies a lot easier.

Note: This is an example build. Certain upgrades may be different depending on matchups.

View on Nautsbuilder[orikaru.net]

SKB is the first purchase as usual. Jail Food and Jawbreakers is rushed since they’re OP. Fresh Scrubs gives the OP combo more uptime. Pills and Angry Drawings are now mid-game items that serve their previous function of giving Ayla more brawling and killing power. Neon Jumping Rope is always a great upgrade, but sometimes Blue Three-Wheeler can be purchased instead. BKM is helpful as usual for reducing Ayla’s weakness to CC, but can be replaced with Boots or an early Piggy Bank without much consequence. As Ayla goes into lategame, SLD will help her stay in the field and PGK will give her the edge in brawls. She can get either Ion Blowtorch or Hungry Zurian for her 3rd AA upgrade. Toothbrush Shank gives a helpful increase to Ayla’s burst damage.

WARNING: This build is garbage. Don’t use it unless Tempas is on your team.

View on Nautsbuilder[orikaru.net]

Strategies

Fiery Jawbreakers is an upgrade that, combined with her Eye damage, makes Ayla overpowered. Use Evil Eye and then immediately Rage to pull in an enemy to secure a kill via Evil Eye. Abuse this whenever you can.

Ayla requires good positioning, map awareness and awareness of enemy cooldowns. She must take any opportunity that arises to deal damage and earn kills. The best positions for using Rage are around large clumps of enemies and droids, in order to gain the highest amount of shielding and damage. The best time to engage enemies in teamfights is when they have just used their skills, so that Ayla can clean up without facing heavy retaliation.

Even when engaging enemies with skills on cooldown, Ayla should not let her guard down. Some characters have excellent AAs to retaliate with, such as Skolldir’s Stun/Lifesteal punch. Ayla will either need to kill off her enemies before they have a chance to respond, or outmaneuvre them while tracking them down. Many characters can juke Rage quite easily. Keeping track of enemies inside Rage and predicting their movements is a skill that will come with time and experience. Ayla also has the option to toggle her Rage on and off at any time, which you can use to your advantage. For example, turning off Rage to chase an enemy that just dropped down will allow Ayla to fall faster than moving downwards in Rage.

Ayla is especially weak to CCs while in Rage, especially knockback and displacement, so be aware of this when brawling and chasing enemies. It is strongly recommended to buy BKM when up against heavy CC. Do not engage on enemies with their skills ready. You will get bursted down before you have a chance to deal your damage. Try to focus more on teamfights and less on 1v1s. Ayla can hold her own but due to the damage she will take and deal to herself, it’s better to conserve health for cleaning up during important teamfights.

At times, engaging suicidally with Rage can be a viable strategy in difficult situations, such as against characters much stronger than Ayla. The aim is to net your team a double kill or wipe so that they can push while you’re respawning. Try to survive teamfights when possible, and only go for suicide kills when there is no other option.

Ayla loses any momentum she had when entering Rage. This can be used to your advantage. For example, she can take a jumppad and enter Rage midway to cancel her momentum for unexpected attacks or escapes. On the flipside, while in Rage, Ayla’s momentum increases when she takes jumppads. This can also be taken advantage of. By turning on Rage just before taking the jumppad at base, Ayla will be sent flying further than usual. This can be useful for surprise attacks on enemies near top back turrets, or just to return to the field a little faster. Be cautious when flying at enemies near turrets, however, as it can lead to a swift death if their skills are off cooldown.

During Rage, Ayla has no collision with enemies and glass platforms. The lack of collision can be useful in certain situations. When at close range of a Raelynn about to use Snipe, Ayla can use Rage’s lack of collision to float inside of Raelynn’s hitbox, making it difficult to hit her with Snipe, while dealing damage in the process.

Matchups – Assassins

Note: These roles are simply general categorizations. Many characters can excel at more than one role.

Assassins are excellent at picking off vulnerable and isolated enemies. Against Ayla, they can be quite effective as she is generally a vulnerable character. However, they also tend to be very squishy and have small health pools, allowing Ayla to hold her own with Evil Eye.

Ayla is very vulnerable to Leon. He can pull her into unfavourable positions and prevent retaliation with silence on tongue. Ayla lacks escape options from such situations, and silence on tongue allows Leon to deal a large amount of damage to her before she can do anything in return. BKM is highly recommended here.

This matchup is relatively even. While Ayla can chase down Vinnie in Rage, his Dive damage should not be underestimated. Dead Seahorse Head allows Vinnie to land a high amount of damage with double spike Dives, quickly turning a fight in his favour. Ayla needs to be cautious when approaching a good Vinnie. If he whiffs a Dive however, Ayla can quickly make sashimi out of the flying fish.

Penny has decent brawling abilities against Ayla, with amplify affecting Rage’s self-damage and silence/stun rendering her more vulnerable. However, she is also very squishy and gets crippled by the Evil Eye + Rage Pull combination. She is also very weak to slow as she loses the ability to juke Rage with her multiple jumps. BKM is good against her CC, in particular Pounce’s knockback, but Boots is fine too for keeping up with her mobility.

Ksenia is a single target oriented Naut, so against her it is ideal for Ayla to stay close to her team and avoid staying on the field at low health, where she becomes an easy pickoff for her. Most of the time though, Ayla outmatches Ksenia thanks to her Eye + Pull combo making quick work of the assassin’s low HP. BKM can be purchased if the silence proves to be annoying.

Froggy is difficult for Ayla. He can not only escape from her easily, but is capable of one-shotting her with his Dash + Nado combo. Be aware of RBAY, as it can launch powerful Eyes back at Ayla. She will want to buy Boots to keep up with Froggy’s excellent mobility.

Be wary of Nibbs’ Firebreath, as she has an upgradable shield and can easily outdamage Rage with it. Her slow on Orb is quite powerful too, and she may combine it with Pull to make Firebreath easier to land. Engage her when she has wasted Firebreath and try to finish her off before she can escape with her Orb. If Nibbs tries to engage with Orb into Firebreath, she leaves herself very vulnerable afterwards, and her movement is very slow without Orb. Before late game, Ayla will generally have the upper hand against Nibbs.

This matchup is slightly in Ayla’s favour. Qi’Tara possesses a very potent DoT burst, and can engage/disengage at will with her Chakrams. Ayla can somewhat offset the DoT with SKB and AA lifesteal, though when fully upgraded the DoT becomes devastating. Although Qi’Tara possesses lifesteal on Seven Star Strike, she is still vulnerable to being bursted down quickly by Eye + Rage. If she wastes either of her skills, Ayla wins the fight. Try to bait out the Chakram so she can’t escape.

Matchups – Fighters

Fighters tend to have an average health pool and are most effective at close range but can also cover more ground with ranged attacks. Ayla fits this role.

In Ayla mirrors, other than skill, the Ayla with more solar wins. Try to outfarm her and capitalise on her mistakes. If she purchases Piggy Bank, she will most likely miss out on BKM, which can be used to your advantage late game.

Chucho is vulnerable to Ayla. She can easily keep up with him in terms of mobility, and chase him down effectively. Chucho can upgrade Nitro Boost with speed and knockback, but she can quickly burst him down with Eye + Pull before he gets a chance to retaliate. He is even more vulnerable off his bike, due to his poor mobility.

Lonestar can hold his own against Ayla. Booming Bullets + Missiles gives him a very potent AA, and lifesteal on Dynamite provides him with good sustain. If he is losing a fight, he can safely disengage with Bull. Avoid getting pinned by Bull, as Ayla cannot escape easily, especially if it is upgraded with size and/or slow. If Ayla can get close to Lonestar and his Bull is on cooldown, she can burst him down quickly, even with lifesteal Dynamite.

Ted deals a lot of damage up close with his Shotgun + Airstrike combo, which becomes much easier to land with stun on Stimpack. The knockback from his Shotgun should also not be underestimated. With that said, Ted is very vulnerable when caught out, so Ayla generally has the advantage with her Eye + Pull combo.

Rocco can keep Ayla at a distance by kiting with his AA and Precision Shot. However, he becomes a very vulnerable target once Ayla gets close, where she can easily burst him down with Eye + Rage.

Swiggins is tanky on top of having a powerful AoE stun and lockdown with his anchor, making it difficult to approach him. Try to strike as soon as his anchor is destroyed and on cooldown. If the anchor lands on Ayla or her teammate, use Evil Eye to break it before Swiggins and his team can capitalise on it. Ayla can use his anchor when it’s on the field to increase her Rage damage and shielding combined with droids and other enemies.

Jimmy has an annoyingly good AA with upgradable lifesteal on the third hit to keep Ayla at bay when his skills are on cooldown. Lux Charge is a dangerous displacement skill which cannot be easily escaped like Bull. It is also Jimmy’s best escape tool. Try to avoid his 3rd AA hit to prevent him from regaining health. Collapsing on him with the team before he can retreat is ideal.

Skolldir’s Throw is a very strong displacement that can result in almost guaranteed death for Ayla. Earthquake can snare and be combined with Throw for a swift kill. His AA having respectable range in addition to lifesteal and stun makes him difficult to approach. However, he is vulnerable to Ayla’s newfound Eye + Rage Pull. Pull can ruin his punch combo and Rage’s lack of collision leaves him struggling to hit Ayla, forcing him to use Throw defensively.

Although Dizzy has low cooldowns on both skills, her Clones are fairly predictable, and even with multiple dashes she still suffers from Rage’s constant damage. Dizzy’s healthpool is low and she lacks CC beyond slow on Clones, further bringing the matchup in Ayla’s favour. The Eye + Rage Pull combo is ridiculously effective due to her low healthpool.

Smiles is tanky and possesses one of the best CCs in the game. His weakness is his slow movement speed, and he is best dealt with by bursting him down when his Hook is on cooldown. Care should still be taken as his Tail Whip has knockback and can deal respectable damage. Avoid approaching him until he has used Trapper’s Hook.

Matchups – Harassers

Harassers are designed with long range abilities with short cooldowns, to poke and wear down enemies from a safe distance. Their capabilities can make it difficult for Ayla to approach them, but they tend to become vulnerable targets when she closes in on them.

Coco can keep Ayla at a safe distance using Lightning Ball’s knockback. She can also get speed on Blaze to escape easily, along with its respectable slow. BKM is an ideal purchase against her knockback, as she will probably buy more knockback against Ayla anyway. Eye + Pull can be useful for bursting her down before she can escape with Silver Coating. Coco isn’t particularly strong otherwise, and is an open target when her Ball is on cooldown.

Be aware of Gnaw’s Weeding Placement damage combined with amplify on Acid Spit. Med-i’-can may seem like an appealing upgrade against Gnaw, but SKB is usually enough. His Weedlings can be used to increase Rage’s damage and shielding, and he is much easier to approach and kill when the initial Spit is avoided. He has an annoying speedup upon hitting his AA, but it isn’t much of an issue for Ayla as she can just pull him into Rage.

Raelynn has good movement speed with her Boots and an annoying time slow ability. She is very vulnerable when using Snipe, and Ayla can phase through her with Rage to make herself harder to hit. She will usually play defensively, but once Rift has been used, Ayla can cripple her with the devastating Eye + Pull combo.

Max is another mobile character with a time modifying skill. Due to his fast movement and flight, he can juke Rage effectively. However, he cannot drop down quickly as a flying character, so Ayla has the advantage in vertical movement. He is also squishy, so a well placed Evil Eye into Rage can burst down the pesky camera quickly enough.

Skree’s AA has a long range and he can buy an annoying amount of slow on all of his abilities. Sawblade deals a surprising amount of damage when retracted. Totem of Power is a great escape tool and can create deadly traps against Ayla. Evil Eye can be used to quickly destroy Totems, though Ayla can also gain Rage damage/shielding from them. Though Skree is fairly easy to chase down, his Sawblade, especially with slow, can make him difficult to approach. He can only aim Sawblade horizontally, so try to use vertical movements in Rage to avoid it.

Rocket is extremely annoying to fight. While Ayla can easily burst him if she gets close, it’s very difficult to get anywhere near Rocket. Even if he doesn’t have Laser Trap off cooldown to deter her, he can instantly launch himself to safety before Ayla can pull off her Eye + Rage combo. Try to catch him out in a position where he can’t launch himself away.

Snork is an even matchup. His burst is significantly more potent than Ayla’s, but he’s much squishier. He also has to use both of his skills to engage, meaning Ayla can retaliate before he’s able to escape. Try to predict when he will engage and counter attack as soon as his shells are down.

Matchups – Supports

Supports generally use their abilities to heal and protect their teammates. Their skills tend to be designed to turn teamfights towards the favour of their team. These skills usually have a significant impact on Ayla’s damage dealing capabilities.

Genji is one of Ayla’s most unfavourable matchups. Blessing, especially with Bronco Yeast, severely weakens her Rage damage. Even if Ayla tries to engage him after Blessing, Cocoon shuts down any attempt at chasing him and leaves Ayla in a vulnerable position for his team to burst down. Ayla’s best bet is to target his team after he has attempted to ambush a teammate with Cocoon or has just used Blessing. He will tend to use his second skill defensively after a failed engagement, so even if a Cocoon lands, it is less likely to be capitalised on while his team is retreating. When Genji is out of Ayla’s reach, it is better to focus on his teammates instead.

Yoolip is considered among the weakest characters in the game. His Gaze is very ineffective against Ayla, as she doesn’t lose her momentum while Gazed, and if within range will continue damaging him. He is even more vulnerable to Ayla when Gazing one of her teammates.

Ayla should not try to engage a Yuri while he is using Time Warp. As well as face Mines and Time Warp, he has an annoying DoT upgrade on AA, and holds the advantage in vertical movement, as he can drop through platforms instantly. Ayla can chase him if Time Warp is on cooldown, but should approach cautiously as he may try to bait her into Mines.

Voltar deals a surprisingly high amount of damage for a support character, and can even hold his own in a brawl with Ayla. He also has access to knockback on his Drones and Healbot to keep her away. She can either kill Healbot before it heals his team or engage him when Healbot is on cooldown, but this is difficult if he has Drone knockback too. It is difficult to approach him with the knockbacks, but pulling him into Rage or destroying Healbot can make Voltar’s life harder. He is best targeted when he is separated from his team.

Ix can juke Rage decently with his good vertical mobility. Although he can lower the damage output of Rage effectively with the damage reduction and shield upgrades on Bond, he is still rather squishy and vulnerable to constant damage. Refract offers damage, amplify and knockback, but his escape options are otherwise limited. Try to bait his swaps into positions that also leave him vulnerable, such as near a friendly turret.

Deadlift can protect his entire team with his Shield, but it does not have a lot of health and can easily be broken by Rage’s constant damage. It is also not immune to CC. In spite of being a support, he deals respectable damage, and Power Lunge is one of the better escapes in the game. A good time for Ayla to engage him is when he has used Lunge aggressively and is using his Shield to retreat. He can still be a tricky matchup for her, due to having better sustain.

Matchups – Tanks

Tanks have a high amount of health to soak up damage for their more vulnerable teammates. Ayla must take great care when engaging these characters.

Clunk is a rough time for Ayla. He has a huge health pool and discourages Ayla from approaching with his snare Bite into Explode. He can also slow her down while charging Explode to limit her escape, and Salvo Pack allows him to deal devastating Bite + AA combos on her without Explode. He is slow and vulnerable when he misses his skills, and Prison Guard Keys can help to mitigate the damage from Explode. It is more important to avoid his Bite and it allows him to out-sustain Ayla’s damage.

Derpl is difficult for Ayla to approach due to his Grid Traps. He also deals a lot of damage in Siege and can use Nuke both aggressively and to defend himself. On top of being difficult to approach and fight, he can escape from Ayla with his knockback upon Desiege. BKM is highly recommended against him. Try to hit Derpl with Rage through terrain and areas where he cannot easily hit Ayla while in Siege. Be aware of his Nuke, while doing so, as it can have a much larger radius than Rage. When chasing him, watch out for Grid Traps placed while fleeing as he can easily turn the fight in his favour with a well placed Snare into Nuke. Also take care when approaching a Sieged Derpl with shielding provided by his Force Field upgrade.

Scoop is also a difficult matchup for Ayla, due to his excellent tanking abilities. Bindings deals respectable AoE damage and Hammer can stop Ayla from chasing him down or escaping him. It is best to approach him when he has Bindings on cooldown, and investing in Evil Eye damage can be helpful in bursting him down.

Sentry has plenty of damage and a heavy silence on his Teleport Beacon, and can use it to Teleburst (instantly place Beacon and teleport next to an enemy). Be aware of this as Ayla cannot turn off Rage while silenced. Black Hole Sun is a powerful teamfight ability, but BKM can help Ayla to escape its gravitational pull. Sentry will generally use his vertical mobility to escape and his AA to zone. DoT on Eye can shut down his Telebursts, but his DoT shield on Black Hole can force Ayla off him in return. Be aware of lifesteal on his AA.

Matchups – Summary

Conclusion

I hope this guide was helpful and informative for those who wish to try out Ayla, or improve their skills with her. Please feel free to provide feedback, things that could be improved on, or any questions you may have in the comment section below.

Special thanks to Marukyu for motivating me to write the guide. I would like to recommend his guide to Sentry X-58 if you’re interested in learning the character.

Thank you for reading!