Try again:
- Athene's Unholy Grail 15%
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity 15%
- Sorcery 4% (This is on your cheat sheet)
- Elixir of Brilliance 10% (This is on your cheat sheet)
- Crest of the Ancient Golem 20% (You definitely know this exists since you say she's reliant on blue buff)

As for her early game/late game, yes, I read your guide - the emphasis was purely on her lack of passive making her weak early game but technically having 3 passives makes her have "one of the best" late games.

Since you don't bother to actually justify what's so good about her passive bonuses, your argument about her "weak" early game and "strong" late game is 100% reliant on the reader already agreeing with you about the strength of her passive. You do not explain what is so gamebreakingly good about these bonuses that makes her "one of the best" champions late game, you merely restate what the bonuses are. Restating the bonuses means you assume that the reader will automatically accept that these bonuses are super super good and make her have "one of the best" late game phases.

But her passive has issues. The bonuses aren't all of equal strength or impact. Her best bonus is on Dark Sphere, and you're going to have that at level 9 which is not "late game", that's like early game still. A two second long 45% slow is hardly anything to ****** about, and Scatter the Weak's width is too random a variable to seriously consider it a factor in making her have "one of the best" late games. You would probably not even notice if there were no bonuses on Scatter the Weak or Force of Will. I certainly don't notice their effects enough to be able to say that their effects give her "one of the best" late games. I actually max Scatter the Weak over Force of Will, and I do notice the cone width when I farm a billion minions in 10 minutes, but not in team fights.

Her ult is very much an assassination skill by design because it's a single target nuke. A single target nuke is the perfect type of spell to remove a pesky carry from a team fight. You want to setup spheres and nuke someone important. (I mean, what else exactly are you going to use a single target nuke spell for it not for big damage in a short period of time?) But then at the same time she's not much of an assassin by design because her she lacks mobility outside of moving while casting. She is much better in lane than she is in team fights. She can harass people, chunk them, and has massive presence in lane once she hits 6 with the threat of her ultimate and Ignite.

And this is all without a passive.

Her passive was seemingly designed to make her better in team fights, as if Riot knew her team fighting was lackluster - more AoE damage to champions, longer AoE slow, bigger AoE on her knockback/stun. But do these effects contribute as much as you think they do? Calling her "really bad" is probably overly critical of me - you could say that she is "all around" and that her design gives her a little bit of everything without really specializing in something. But when she has low mobility, situational burst, situational zone control, and she isn't exactly a sustained damage dealer either, it's pretty easy to see how other mages outclass her.

As for your comments about Athene's Unholy Grail, the recent patch definitely made Syndra smoother to play, but it also removed Deathfire Grasp's CDR which affected her itemization. The cooldown is part of what makes Athene's Unholy Grail such a good item on her. ( Athene's Unholy Grail is an all-around incredible item for mana-based pushers and it will probably be nerfed in season 3.) Yes, like you said, she does benefit from CDR. But like, why would you build a pure CDR item ( Ionian Boots of Lucidity) when you could build an item that you already have an ingredient for ( Chalice of Harmony) and that gives the same CDR but with AP and mana regen? It's an inefficient use of 2 item slots.

Anyway, if you don't want to argue/reply about it, then don't. Just play the game.

Like I said, farming a Chalice will help you stay in lane. I don't see why Syndra needs to build Athene's when she won't be making that much use of its effect than she would in mid~late game.

With Syndra, CDR is a must as it allows you to use your Q more often, which is essential to her burst and makes it a little more convenient to use her ulti. I can see your point, but that's also why I put Sorcerer's Shoes as an option in my build.


- Ionian Boots of Lucidity (15%)
- Athene's Unholy Grail (15%)

I don't see how Syndra has an assassin ult at all. She needs to set up her spheres before ulting. Her range on her ulti does pose a problem, but that's why it needs to be used during combos.

Alistar's banned, but other permban champions will be on the same list as him if that's why he's in the bottom 10. In terms of Veigar, the nerf did hurt him, but it also hurt every other AP burster that relied on it like Evelynn or Annie. Yet their win-rate hasn't been fazed at all after the nerf.
I said Syndra's win-rate was steadily increasing. When she was released she was at ~25%, now she's at 39%.

My guide actually did, and criticizing you for not reading carefully isn't an insult. I'm not going to even bother about pointing out that the CDR is 30%, I also already explained why she's best at late-game. Lastly, I don't really want to fight at this point. If I did offend you then I do apologize.

#1: It's inefficient to build Rabadon's Deathcap if all you do early game is farm. Athene's Unholy Grail rush is powerful for farming. At high ELO, there are more Athene's Unholy Grails on Syndra than there are Rabadon's Deathcaps.

It's also inefficient to build Ionian Boots of Lucidity if you are actually trying to "maximize your damage". Sorcerer's Shoes would actually be maximizing your damage. Saying you build Rabadon's Deathcap to maximize your damage while building inferior boots doesn't make any sense.

#2: Your CDR is not 30%.

#3: Syndra is incredibly bad. She is not underplayed or considered bad because of what you perceive as her "skillcap". Her laning phase is actually really strong because of her harass while moving and casting. Her ult means she's pretty good at dueling - being reliant on ult for killing people is hardly a negative. You have tons of lane presence at level 6 if you can chunk someone down pre-6 then ult and Ignite them once you hit 6.

The buffs helped, but they didn't change what skilled players think is fundamentally flawed with her: Her kit design. Her late game is considerably worse because she has an assassin ult but she is not an assassin. There is basically no reason to pick her when there are many other AP carries who don't pose this problem.

#4: Alistar is constantly banned. I used to play Veigar a lot, but I don't think he really fits in right now, and the Deathfire Grasp nerf hurt him. Syndra's win rate has not been "steadily increasing." I don't know where you get that statistic from. She's been in the bottom 10 for a while now.

#5: No, your guide really does not explain anything I asked. Insulting me for "not reading" doesn't help your case either when you can't even count your CDR, nor can you even explain what you mean about her late game being "one of the best."

I can see where you are coming from, Admittedly, I haven't spent as much time with the AP oriented build than my Standard one. The DFG nerf also didn't help and I'm thinking of removing the second build altogether. Also I didn't add a 6th item because I wanted to leave that up to the player's choice.


If you've noticed, I put Chalice of Harmony before Rabadon's Deathcap. This matters because Chalice is quite cheap and provides mana sustain and MR which helps loads during the laning phase. I placed Rabadons after as I want to maximize Syndra's damage as soon as possible once I've remedied her mana issue. I like to build Chalice into an Athene's last as I feel that Athene's unique passive (Restoring mana on kills) will be most useful during teamfights, which happen most mid~late game.


What are you talking about? My build only adds up to 30% CDR lol.


Syndra's weakest early game because she doesn't have a real passive until level 9, this phase of the game is where her mana problems are most visible and she won't deal much damage without the bonus on her Q. Syndra is also reliant on her ulti for kill combos.
Also, there are plenty of reasons why Syndra isn't popular. IMO, probably the main reason is because she was known for underpowered during release. The buffs, however, helped her loads but people still seem to carry the mindset that Syndra's still weak as before, the fact that her skillcap is quite high doesn't help either.



I don't see how statistics and win-rates automatically determine if a champion is balanced or not.

Alistar and Veigar are on the lowest win-rates as well, yet they're not bad at all. Syndra's win-rate has also been steadily increasing due to the buffs and people learning how to play her.

I also don't understand how whether a champion's played often or not can determine his/her balance. Lee Sin and Graves are in the top for most played, yet their win/loss ratios are negative.

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Apart from the AP build, all of your arguments were already answered in the guide itself. You should really read more in-depth :I

CDR boots big nono

With good reason.

And 9th least played champion. :D

http://www.lolking.net/charts?region=all&league=ranked&type=champion-loserate&range=monthly

The third lowest win-rate champion, actually.

What is the point of "Standard Build" versus "AP Oriented Build"? Are you implying that Syndra is not AP oriented? o_0 There aren't even many differences between the two builds aside from the boots and the "AP" one has no 6th item. Your standard build order is also heavily inefficient. You say that Syndra is a good farmer, but your build order has Rabadon's Deathcap before Athene's Unholy Grail. And why would you build Ionian Boots of Lucidity? You say you want capped CDR, but you have like 64% CDR and the cap is 40% so this looks pretty silly. Also, how is Syndra "weak early game" and "one of the best" late game champs? It's like the complete opposite. Her early game is much better than "weak" (but not "mind blowingly stellar" either), and she is not "one of the best" late game champs. She's far from it, and that's why few people play her.

I'll take note of the Kage's, I included it in my old build but might add it in again.

As for matchups I'm thinking about making detailed, champion specific ones when I have the time later on.

+1!
I am not a Syndra player myself but, I am sure you will get more gold if you build an early kage's lucky pick since you build it kinda late and it will acumulate a good amount of money and your match-ups aren't that good, make some detailed ones!!

I disagree. It's important to maintain your damage on syndra to stay a threat. Going an early rylais will crush your damage and cost you kills mid game.

This is a great guide, extremely informative. I personally would take 2 points out of butcher and 1 point out of ap mastery and put 3 points in AD mastery. It will be extremely useful against melee champs, and it's almost as good for last hitting (1 damage less than 2 in butcher), but I believe the AD gives you a bit more utility and damage early game.