Hello, and welcome to my suggestion on a guide on how to build Syndra into a supporter. Now you may think "What could possibly make Syndra a good supporter?!" and then some kond of rage afterwards. The answer is... I'm not sure either. But seeing that she has abilities to knockback enemies, drag creeps to aid the ad carry if they're in trouble, AND also slow the enemy's movement seemed like somewhat of a plan to make a support guide to me!

As mentioned before, this is a suggestion as to how you could maybe build Syndra as a supporter. And I know a lot of you would think, that this is not at all a viable supporter build, but give it a chance. Feel free to comment on how it could be improved with other stats, items, runes etc.

The runeset are pretty much a failsafe as of now, because I don't want to over exaggerate with anything fancy and out of the ordinary. Short version; if you want to try out Syndra as supporter without reading this suggestion of a guide, go with these runes(!)

Note: The reason that I have chosen base runes are because I like the start advantage the most. I find the -per level runes to be lacking in value, whereas you can always build differently with the items in order to gain different perks!

Greater Mark of Warding... If someone should sneeze too loud!
Now I know that these are secondary for the marks, but Greater Mark of Magic Resist is a good choise to start out with. The magic resist of Syndra will, just like Karma's magic resist and probably other champions as well, not increase with level. That is why I have added these for a start, just to make sure that the damage from the abilities of Janna or perhaps Nidalee, Soraka, Blitzcrank etc. isn't too great in the beginning. Another option could be Greater Mark of Magic Penetration if you want to be an agressive supporter, or Greater Mark of Vitality seeing that she has lower health as a supporter in lategame. The experience I've had with her lategame is that she often can't escape from 1v1 ganks, so if you want to be safe in lategame, pick Greater Mark of Vitality

Greater Seal of ReplenishmentGreater Seal of Replenishment... Just a little more... bite!
Add these to secure that you can stay on lane for as long as needed. I know that the mana cost is not that big for the skills in the beginning, and there's not really a bigger reason than the first to have these runes. An alternative could be Greater Seal of Armor... which is actually probably much better for protection early game. Whichever you choose, I see the two options as one being an agressive supporter build, and the other being for endurance.

Greater Glyph of Focus... for faster greater balls of fire/shadow!
The ideal pick for glyphs as a supporter is either Greater Glyph of Magic Resist or Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist, and the second option is not half bad. In fact if you build items into something with more armor, the Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist might be your only choice. The only problem with this is that you want to be able to have quick availability to your skills, and Scatter the Weak somewhat demands you to have the cooldown reduction in the beginning. Also, if you have cd reduction runes you'll have a total cd reduction of 35.85% lategame if you follow the item build suggested to start off with.

and last, but not least:

Greater Quintessence of Avarice - Because **** you, that's why!
I like these. But I only like them because I know how to behave in teamfights as a supporter: You're there for supporting, not leading the group. If you want to get more ahead in the teamfights and can't keep your fingers for yourself, I strongly recommend you to get the legendary Greater Quintessence of Health, which is just an extra set of balls for you to shove at them in teamfights. In fact, if not better builds are made, take these at all times! We don't want the team to think that Syndra support is a bad initiative... or what...?

Defensive build

The masteries are nothing out of the ordinary of that of a supporter. If you go with other Marks such as Greater Mark of Magic Resist it would be an idea to add more points in Resistance rather than Hardiness .
To me I think, and also based from inspiration of other supporter builds, that this is the most ideal mastery build if you want to be supporting and also be able to follow the others in levelling, if you're not used to support. Expanded Mind and Meditation is a must for all spellcasters. I think Scout is useless. It takes up a point, and that's a point you could be using somewhere better... like Swiftness . You can reach the warding points faster, and if you need visibility, just add more wards!

ALWAYS REMEMBER: A WARD SAVES A LIFE!

More to this case later.

Greed and Wealth I think is a very important thing for a supporter. Firstly for the head start so you can get Faerie Charm, some extra Sight Wards and a potion of your choise. Along with Greater Quintessence of Gold you won't be falling behind in gold either, even if the team sucks a little more than usual. Not that much anyway.
Awareness , Intelligence and Mastermind is... just very stupid if you avoid these in the build! They add to gain level and cdr for skills. (Duh!)

Aggressive build

If you want to go with an aggressive support build, instead of putting points in defence, put them in offence. Take a point in Summoner's Wrath , 3 in Mental Force , and follow up with Sorcery and Arcane Knowledge for more cdr, which according to the item build just adds up to 40% cdr which is maximum, plus giving you more power... That's what she wants, isn't it? And for Utility, max out Swiftness instead of Wealth . You have to know what you're doing for this to work, so for now go with defensive mastery build.

This section is still up for work, so leave your comments for improvements. In fact, the whole build is open for changes.

Defensive item build

For starters

Sight WardSight WardSight WardSight Ward and or
I always start out with this if I want to build to the Philosopher's Stone first. If you start with anything else it's important that your team knows, and/or that you actually know the team members and that they can provide nice gaming skills. Another start could be a Faerie Charm, three Sight Wards, two Health Potions and a Mana Potion, which will leave you with 5 gold. Either way is safe, but if you fear that you will get zoned a lot in lane and the opponents have a lot of dmg at start, go with option two.

Next up, build Philosopher's Stone with Boots. If you've played the lane right and your partner made some kills you can afford both, but always, and I mean ALWAYS prioritize wards first, which is a basic rule for supporters. Now, I've placed Heart of Gold before Kindlegem, but it's up to you to determine whether of these you buy first, depending on the outcome of the early-game ending. If it went well, go with Kindlegem for optimizing spamming your skills. if not, sustainability would be a better option at first.

From here, it's pretty basic supporter items. Chalice of Harmony can be avoided, but I just can't play a game without it with Syndra, as it always become useful if you're out in the field for a long time. Besides, it can be built to Athene's Unholy Grail later on, and who wouldn't want more ability power, plus cdr!

Offensive item build

I don't really have any good idea for an offensive supporter item build. You'd have to depend a lot on your team to build something more aggressive. Here's a suggestion:

• Amplifying Tome with Healing Potion
• Kage's Lucky Pick
• Philosopher's Stone
• Boots of Swiftness - or basic Mercury's Treads
• Shurelya's Battlesong
• Athene's Unholy Grail
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter
• Abyssal Mask

This is basically just trashing her and making her useless for anything I think, but still...

The skill sequence are as follows:
-> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->

Maximize Force of Will followed by Scatter the Weak, and Dark Sphere as the last. These are the two preferred skills you need to use for supporting.

Force of Will will, when away from a lane, that you have Dark Sphere, so if you're forced to leave the lane before level 4, take a point in Dark Sphere. First of all, you need the slow and harass in lane, so it's a good choice to start out with. Also, and this is one of the initial ideas for this build, if your mate has trouble farming you can always drag the creeps to him, seeming for instance he's a melee AD carry.
Scatter the Weak will be used as a defence mechanism when supporting. If the enemy gets too close to the tower or to your mate, either push them away from them or into the tower, depending on the situation. A good combo, also mentioned in other guides, is to always have Dark Spheres on the ground for stunning the enemy, but personally I think that they are hard to hit anything with when you use Scatter the Weak.
This is where the guide hits the bottom. My eyes are twitching a little bit now, because I honestly myself can't see how to use Unleashed Power in a supportive way, other than killsteal from your mate or from the jungler supposedly ganking bottom lane. The best you can do is just scare them off with some extra damage, and pray that you don't get the kill!

I wouldn't be going further into this section, as this is just basic knowledge as a supporter. I can make a small statement to why I choose what I choose:

and
Flash because it's a must-have in every match I think. If you don't have any other way of flashing or escaping fast like Ezreal, Kassadin etc., this has to be with you at all times!
Exhaust for those tight situations, or for ganking. Heal is also an option here instead.

If you didn't give up during the reading because you though the guide was complete bull****, let me thank you for your time. I look forward for some input as to how to maybe improve this guide, or if you think I should just erase it from existence again.

Now let me rephrase this so you get it clear:

This is NOT a supporter like any other supporter

This is what she is

• She's extra damage for a supporter's point of view
• She can push you away with Scatter the Weak which is kind of the same as Lee Sin's Dragon's Rage, but with lesser cooldown.
• She can slow enemies with Force of Will and somewhat with Scatter the Weak if you use your Dark Spheres right.
• Last but not least, Force of Will as an aid for farming. This could get big y'all!

This is what she is not

• She can't withstand high amounts of damage... but then again who can in the long run?
• She can't heal like Taric, Soraka or Sona
• Her cc is limited and not like Jannas or Blitzcranks

All in all, if you're not used to play support, do NOT start out with Syndra. She's not for small children and small minded. This guide's purpose is to bring new ideas and suggestions on the table. So give me your feedback forum!

Enjoy