Hi, I'm NoYeahMaybe. I play on NA, but I'm unranked. So why am I posting this guide? Well, Syndra is one of the most underplayed AP champs out there. Not many people know how to play her, and is not often seen in ranked play. In my opinion, she is one of the most fun champions to play, and does amazing in early game.

Pros:
- Very strong early game.
- Tons of CC.
- Spellshields only blocks the first orb from ult.
- Strong burst.
- Push is great for saving teammates.
- AoE damage is great lategame.

Cons:
- Not very mobile.
- Weak against champions with a blink (i.e Kassadin/LeBlanc)
- Not very strong lategame.
- Mana-hungry earlygame.

I usually run 21/0/9 because you need to be VERY aggressive, especially earlygame. Masteries are standard for AP.

OFFENSIVE TREE

Metal Force - Max this for more AP. Every single amount of AP you have helps a lot earlygame.

Sorcery - Get this for the CDR.

Arcane Knowledge - This is a very powerful mastery, especially lategame, when champs have built MR. 10% magic pen helps earlygame too.

Havoc - Self explanatory. You want TONS of damage.

Blast - AP, AP, GIMME MORE AP.

Archmage - Same reason as Blast. You wants.

Executioner - This mastery is especially strong for Syndra. In Syndra's ult, each orb's damage is calculated seperately. That means, that say, the enemy champ has 50% hp. Each orb after you lower the guy's hp to under 40% will deal increased damage.


UTILITY TREE

Good Hands - Every second spent not dead helps.

Expanded Mind - This is helpful, but the only reason why you want it is to get Meditation

Meditation - Syndra is incredibly mana hungry earlygame, so the extra mana regen goes a long way.

Greater Quintessence of Potency - With all three quintessences, you have 26 extra AP. That is more than a Doran's Ring.

Greater Mark of Insight - With the extra mana pen, you can deal a lot more damage against the squishier AP mids.

Greater Seal of Intellect - With more mana comes more orbs. This way, you can harass a bit more often.

Greater Glyph of Potency - With 11 AP, combined with 26 AP, as well as materies, is more than two Doran's Rings, enabling you to have 70+ AP after two Doran's Rings. I cannot stress how much extra damage you have over the enemy mid.

Now, you may be wondering, "Why don't you get any defensive runes? You're going to be squishy AF!" And that is true. But, Syndra's strongest period is her early game, which if played correctly, can win every single lane for your team. With constant roaming, you will have huge pressure on the enemy team. If they know you can burst them down instantly, they will be extremely conservative, allowing your teammates to farm safely.

Strong Summoner Spells

Flash - In my opinion, the strongest summoner spell available. Can be used offensively, to get closer to champions, or defensively, to flash through walls.

Ignite - Lets you finish of enemies that your burst is not enough. Also effective against champions with high health regen, like Mundo.

Alternative Summoner Spells

Ghost - Another good all around spell. I prefer Flash over Ghost, because you are more likely to get away from champions by flashing through walls, rather than just running away with high ms.

Teleport - Very strong for roaming around the map. Enables you to have a strong presence in teamfights, and can also help save turrets with enemies that are trying to backdoor.

Clarity - Helps with sustain in lane, but Ignite is a stronger overall choice. Lategame, you will not need Clarity.

What do the skills do?

Dark Sphere - Conjures a Dark Sphere at a target location, dealing magic damage. The sphere lasts for up to 6 seconds and can be manipulated by Syndra's other abilities.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 60% AP)
TRANSCENDENT BONUS: Deals 15% bonus damage against Champions.

This is the spell that enables your entire combo. As long as you do not have a sphere down, the rest of your skills do not deal as much damage, or have as much effect.

Force of Will - First Activation - Grabs a dark sphere, enemy minion or neutral monster for 5 seconds. If a dark sphere is grabbed, its duration is refreshed. Dragon and Baron Nashor cannot be grabbed by this ability.
Second Activation - Throws the grasped Dark Sphere or enemy at a target area. Enemies struck take magic damage and are slowed for 1.5 second.
Transcendent Bonus: Increases the slowing duration to 2 seconds.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 70% AP)
SLOW: 25% / 30% / 35% / 40% / 45%

This skill is very powerful. With it, you can position your orbs to their full effect, say, to land a stun on every champion. It can also pick up EVERY MINION, like Tibbers, helping reduce the damage from Annie. It is useful for utility, and can be used for defense.

Scatter the Weak - Knocks enemies and Dark Spheres back, dealing magic damage to them and any enemies they collide with. The distance of the knockback increases depending on how close the affected units are to Syndra upon cast. Dark Spheres that are knocked back also stun all enemies in their path for 1.5 seconds.
Transcendent Bonus: Spell width increased by 50%.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 40% AP)
MISSILE SPEED: 2500

This skill is INCREDIBLY powerful. Not only is it your only escape tool, but if used correctly, can stun the entire enemy team. Lets say you put down your ultimate with four extra orbs. You now have seven orbs on the field. With a maxed out E, you can push ALL the orbs, and if aimed correctly, could possibly stun the ENTIRE enemy team. This is what makes Syndra an dangerous enemy in teamfights.

Unleashed Power - Draws upon Syndra's full cataclysmic power, harnessing all Dark Spheres to deal magic damage to her target per sphere. Unleashed Power will use the three spheres that orbit Syndra, ensuring a minimum damage.
All Dark Spheres remain on the ground for 6 seconds after Unleashed Power is used.
DAMAGE PER SPHERE: 90 / 135 / 180 (+ 20% AP)
MINIMUM DAMAGE (3 SPHERES): 270 / 405 / 540 (+ 60% AP)
MAXIMUM DAMAGE (7 SPHERES): 630 / 975 / 1260 (+ 140% AP)

Syndra's ultimate. Does massive amounts of damage, and if you have all seven orbs on the field, lets you burst down almost every other champion earlygame. What makes this ultimate special, is the fact that spellshield (i.e Sivir's shield, Nocturne's shield, Banshee's Veil) only blocks the first orb. That means only part of the ultimate is mitigated, letting you deal tons of damage, regardless of the shield.

What skills do I get first?

Max Q first, then W, then E, and grab R whenever possible. Why? Well, maxing Q and R is self explanatory. Dark Sphere is your bread and butter damage skill. Your ultimate lets you deal ridiculous amounts of burst damage. The reason why you want to max W next, is because it gives a significant slow, which makes landing the rest of your shots that much easier. Sure, stunning the enemy makes it a lot easier. But if you can't even land the stun, what's the point?

Skill Sequence

Put down 2 Dark Spheres, pick up the first one you put down, and slow. Land the stun with the second orb, put down one last sphere, and finish off with ultimate. That combo should be able to burst down most non-tanky champions.

I always start out with boots for the mobility. It allows you to dodge skillshots and helps escape enemies with really low ms, (i.e Heimer, Annie) The reason why I grab 2 mana pots, instead of only grabbing health pots, is because generally, in laning phase, I harass a lot, so having extra mana always helps, especially when your jungler is mana-dependant, and can't really give you the blue.

I grab Blasting Wand over Sorcerer's shoes for some extra AP, because I find it more useful earlier. because noone really builds mr earlier, except for say, Galio.

Deathfire Grasp is great for bursting down the enemy, but if you are really fed, grab Rabadon's Deathcap first. If the enemy is hurting you too much, grab Abyssal Scepter first. The order you get the second item is really depends on situation.

However, always get Deathfire Grasp, Rabadon's Deathcap, and Abyssal Sceptre. These are your core items. Everything else depends on the enemy team.

Say, you are getting bursted down too hard, or being focused. Grab a Rod of the Ages, or a Rylai's. If you are getting extremely fed, grab a Mejai's. Always check what the enemy has, and adapt accordingly.

Laning Phase - The laning phase is a very important period. It is the beginning of the game, and usually ends around the 15-20 minute point. In most cases, it will dictate how well you do in the game. Focus on last hitting. NEVER last hit with your spells, unless it is mandatory. Poke when they get too close. When you get to level 6, try and run your skill sequence. If all goes well, the enemy will be dead, and you will have more gold. If unsuccesful in killing, the enemy will be at least at low health, enabling you to roam around.

Roaming - Roaming is one of your important jobs. You need to go around and put pressure on enemy lanes, securing kills when possible. Kills for your team always helps anyways.

Teamfights - Your job is simple. Burst down the enemy carry when you see them, and attempt to stun everything in sight with E. With all your spells being AoE except your ultimate, you need to try and hit every single champion. But remember, bursting down the carry is the priority. An important part of being good in a teamfight is positioning. You cannot stay at the front, or else you will be focused. Move around, and try to hit as many people as possible.

Heimerdinger - Difficulty Level: 3/10

Heimer is an easy matchup mainly because of his incredibly slow movement speed. Landing all your spells is very easy. Generally impossible lose, unless the jungler babysits mid. Just pick up his turrets, and throw them around the place.

Annie - Difficulty Level: 5/10

Annie is a medium level matchup because after level 6, her burst becomes dangerous. However, as long as you throw Tibbers away, and land your skill sequence, you will win.

Diana - Difficulty Level: 7/10

Diana is a hard matchup generally because of her tankyness and post-level 6 burst. Ask jungler for constant ganks.

LeBlanc - Difficulty Level: 8.5/10

LeBlanc is a nightmare to fight against, because of her incredible mobility. She can easily dodge skillshots with her blink, and her silence is incredibly annoying. Stay away, and poke constantly. You need a lot of ganks for this one.

Kassadin - Difficulty Level: 7.5/10

Kassadin is annoying to fight against because of his silence and blink. Pre-level 6, you have to just stay out of his range for his silence. After level 6, fighting him is hard, because he will blink away from your skillshots and silence you. Try to get a kill as soon as possible, so you can avoid feeding him after level 6.

Zyra - Difficulty Level: 6/10

Fighting Zyra is just making sure you land your skillshots. You both have pretty big range, and a lot of cc. Dodging her skillshots is the key here.

Ryze - Difficulty Level: 4/10

Ryze is not hard to beat, because he has a rather weak laning phase. Snares will not stop your from shooting him, and your range is a lot bigger than his.

Mordekaiser - Difficulty Level: 5/10

In this lane, you can't really win, but you can't really lose, because of his tankyness, and your range. He can effectively nullify your damage, but he can't really hurt you because of your superior range.

Kennen - Difficulty Level: 6/10

Kennen is hard to fight because of his high mobility. He can effectively run away from all your skillshots. Slowing constantly allows you to hurt him a lot. Try to save your push when he attempts to ulti you.

Malzahar - Difficulty Level: 4.5/10

Malzahar is pretty easy to fight, mainly because you have more poke than he does. His minions can't do much, as you can throw them away from yourself. However, make sure you stay away from him at all times, so he cannot suppress you. If he does, you are dead.

Lux - Difficulty Level: 5/10

This lane is a pretty even matchup, because you both have rather large range. Dodge all skillshots, and try to stay behind minions, because her snare cannot go through them.

Elise - Difficulty Level: 5/10

This matchup is meh. Stay behind minions so she cant hit you with her skillshots, and try to poke. She can dodge most of your stuff in spider form, so wait until she leaves it to engage.

Ahri - Difficulty Level: 6/10

Ahri is only difficult to fight post-level 6 mainly because when she engages, her ultimate allows her to dodge your skillshots. Try to poker her down to around half hp, so when she attempts to fight you, even if you miss your sphere, the added sphere will help your ultimate kill her.

Thanks for reading the guide. I hope you enjoy playing Syndra. Please PM me if you have any questions, or points to give. If you liked the guide, rate it up, and if you didn't, try to tell me what you think is wrong.

Changelog

11/8/2012 - Guide posted.