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Syndra Build Guide by Vapora Dark

Middle Vapora Dark In-Depth Mid Syndra Guide Season 10

Middle Vapora Dark In-Depth Mid Syndra Guide Season 10

Updated on October 28, 2020
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Vapora Dark Build Guide By Vapora Dark 82 7 1,262,711 Views 45 Comments
82 7 1,262,711 Views 45 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Vapora Dark Syndra Build Guide By Vapora Dark Updated on October 28, 2020
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-Table of Contents-
Introduction
About Me




Syndra
Abilities
Items



Gameplay and Extra
Early Game
Out of Lane
Conclusion

Hi, I'm Vapora Dark, a veteran player that's been playing since season 1. During that time I've hit Master tier as a mid lane main in season 5, as an ADC main in season 7, again as a jungle main in season 8, and once more in season 9 playing a mix of all those roles including mid and Fizz. I can play every role to a very high level and have a very good understanding of the general aspects of the game on top of that.


I've been writing guides on MOBAFire since 2011, among which my achievements include winning the MOBAFire guide contest multiple times, achieving the highest score on the site multiple times with multiple guides, achieving the most comments on a single guide of all time by a very large amount which hasn't come even close to being surpassed in the 3 years that it's been archived, and having the most collective guide views on the site by a very hefty amount. I've also written some champion guides for Riot Games on the Lolesports site.



Domination & Sorcery



Electrocute
Electrocute: The large amount of burst this keystone offers makes it the best choice for Syndra. It's easy to proc thanks to how you burst someone down and the damage is second to none for the early-mid game which is where Syndra shines.

Taste of Blood
Taste of Blood: Syndra has a fairly dominant lane but has 0 self sustain. Being able to get some health back before stacking Ravenous Hunter in poke trades is incredibly valuable.

Eyeball Collection
Eyeball Collection: This option is the most consistent way to gain extra AP. The other 2 options are situationally good but you're looking for consistency.

Ravenous Hunter
Ravenous Hunter: As Syndra has 0 sustain, being able to heal from fights and minion waves is super useful. It also has full effect on your ultimate Unleashed Power.


Sorcery


Manaflow Band


Transcendence
Manaflow Band: Syndra has fairly decent mana costs with low cooldowns, so being able to get extra base mana and eventually missing mana regen helps massivley. Especially if you can't get blue buff from your jungle.

Transcendence: As with most mages, Syndra likes CDR. Usually you only get 30% from items, and sometimes you don't get Zhonya's Hourglass until later meaning you only sit on 20%. This rune means that together with a blue buff you can hit 40% with just your Luden's Tempest. It also means that if you have 30% CDR in items and get a blue buff, you'll overcap and get some extra AP making this rune have 2 benefits.

Offense:
9 Adaptive Force
Flex:
9 Adaptive Force
Defense:
15-90 Health


|| FLASH || This is the best summoner spell in the game, almost every champion takes it and it's completely irreplaceable. It's the best defensive summoner and the best offensive summoner all at once. The fact that you see all 10 players take this in 99% of games just goes to show how strong it is. Syndra has no mobility and no easy way of defending herself aside from Scatter the Weak, so this is absolutely essential on her. ||

|| IGNITE || This is the second best summoner spell for Syndra, in my opinion. It'll add even more kill potential to her pre-6 and post-6, and increase the strength of her burst in team-fights. ||


The next best alternative to Ignite. Sometimes you'll be laning against assassin champions who can one shot you very easily if you don't have a way to dodge or outplay it. Syndra has 0 mobility and her CC can be dodged easily if the enemy is looking for it. Barrier offers a large shield that can help against these champions, at least until you get a Zhonya's Hourglass. It's also fantastic for baiting people as the cooldown is very short.
||
-Skill Order-

> >
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Q W E Q Q R Q W Q W R W W E E R E E
Transcendent
Transcendent: Each of your abilities gain an extra effect at max rank.

- Dark Sphere: The spheres simply do 15% more damage to champions

- Force of Will: Now deals an additional 20% true damage. All this means is that your Force of Will will do extra damage once you max it, and this damage will be unaffected by MR or damage reduction.

- Scatter the Weak: Cone width is increased by 50%. This means it's very easy to kite and stun champions.

- Unleashed Power: The simplest of them all. Cast range is increased by 75, from 675 to 750. Basically, you can cast it from further away, which can sometimes come in handy for when you'd otherwise not be able to get close enough to cast it.
Dark Sphere
Dark Sphere: This is mainly what makes Syndra such a strong lane bully. By casting Dark Sphere as your enemy is last-hitting you can easily land it consistently, and this harass comes with a cooldown of 4 seconds. When you have Unleashed Power available you can start spamming spheres to prepare powerful ultimates, and you can use them to prepare great AoE stuns with Scatter the Weak as well.
Force of Will
Force of Will: Syndra grabs either a minion or a pre-existing sphere placed with Dark Sphere (or Unleashed Power) and throws it at an enemy. It's important to note that this spell has a massive hitbox and is much easier to land than Dark Sphere, so you can use this to harass and then once the enemy is slowed it also lines them up for an easy Dark Sphere. One more auto-attack and you can proc Electrocute on them too!
Scatter the Weak
Scatter the Weak: This spell pushes away enemies or spheres. Used on enemies it knocks them back a short distance and deals damage; used on spheres it pushes them back a large distance and damages + stuns any enemies hit. So naturally you'll want to use this to knock back spheres rather than directly champions whenever possible.

Unleashed Power
Unleashed Power: This spell has extremely high burst potential. With 7 spheres in max rank, Unleashed Power has 1260 base damage with a 140% AP ratio. At 600 AP, Unleashed Power alone deals a total 2,100 damage; you can see why ADC's complain so much about having to face Syndra! Generally, being hit by Unleashed Power results in imminent death. And even if they survive it, they'll definitely be taken out of the fight.

However, it's generally important that you pre-prepare a sphere or two before casting Unleashed Power to maximize its damage. With blue buff this is easy, since you can spam Dark Sphere 24/7, but otherwise it'll take specific preparation right before you know you'll get a chance to hit someone with Unleashed Power. It's worth noting that with Force of Will you can extend the lifespan of a sphere for a few seconds.
Doran's Ring
Doran's Ring: The best starting item for almost any mage. All the stats it gives are great for a mage in the early-game, and it allows you to pick up 2 Health Potions to sustain yourself with.
Luden's Echo
Luden's Tempest: All the stats this item offers is perfect for Syndra and will always be your rush item. CDR, AP and mana are great but the passive is also really powerful as it helps with waveclear and burst damage.
Sorcerer's Shoes
Sorcerer's Shoes: The best boots for Syndra as they increase her spells' damage. None of the other boots benefit you as much as this, since magic pen synergizes greatly with Syndra's damage, which is almost all she brings to the table.
Morellonomicon
Morellonomicon: Syndra is a burst mage who's sole purpose is to execute squishy targets quickly. This means flat penetration and ability power are her best friends. This item offers both so you should buy it second almost every game. The only exception to this is if you need a Zhonya's Hourglass to fight a Zed or something, then you get it third.
Zhonya's Hourglass
Zhonya's Hourglass: You'll want to get this most games as it's an amazing defensive item. If you're playing against an AD mid laner like Zed you'll even want to rush the Seeker's Armguard as you build Luden's Tempest if they're a good player, and a Stopwatch can very easily stop his snowball by preventing an ultimate kill.
Rabadon's Deathcap
Rabadon's Deathcap: Syndra likes ability power and this item is just that in spades. A multiplier and large price tag means you can't really get away with buying it early but third if you're super ahead but more likely fourth/fifth item.
Void Staff
Void Staff: As the game goes on, people will buy magic resistance to stop you kill them. Hexdrinker, Mercury's Treads and Quicksilver Sash will be your bane. A Void Staff in conjunction with all your flat pen will give you a massive amount of damage against any target. You should only get this fourth at the earliest because there are often more important items you need to buy first.
Mejai's Soulstealer
Mejai's Soulstealer: As a snowballing burst mage, a Mejai's Soulstealer can be an absolutely insane purchase if you're able to stay above 10 stacks (hopefully more) for the price. You want to close games quickly with how Syndra plays normally so being able to snowball is a must and Mejai's Soulstealer is designed for that exact purpose.

Early Game

At level 1 you'll be taking Dark Sphere to begin shoving in your enemy and bullying them as they go for CS. The best time to cast this is when your enemy is going for a last-hit, as they'll have to stand still as they do it and will have to choose between getting the CS or dodging the skill.

Optionally you can instead opt to take Force of Will at level 1 and just harass your opponent with their own minions. The reason for this is that despite having a much longer cooldown, it has a much bigger hitbox that's extremely hard to dodge, so it's almost a guaranteed hit, whereas Dark Sphere is easily dodgeable by cancelling your auto-attack and side-stepping it. This is especially good against enemies with high CD level 1 spells, who won't be able to abuse your Force of Will downtime by forcing trades with their more spammable spells.

At level 2 you take Force of Will (or Dark Sphere if you started the former) for higher pressure. At this point you can throw Force of Will for an easy hit because of it's huge hitbox, and then once the enemy is slowed by Force of Will you can also land an easy Dark Sphere as they're too slow to dodge it. If possible, one more auto-attack will proc Electrocute.

At level 3 you'll want to put a point in Scatter the Weak for a few different reasons: It'll help you aid ganks, it'll help you escape ganks, and it'll give you kill pressure on low HP enemies.

After level 6 is when you're at your most dangerous, as you gain access to Unleashed Power, which can do a max of 630 (+140% of AP) damage at rank 1.

When you're going for a kill combo, it's best if you can stun your enemy with Scatter the Weak with a pre-existing orb rather than using the Dark Sphere -> Scatter the Weak combo, as this way you get to use the Dark Sphere right on top of the enemy for Dark Sphere's damage on top of getting to use it as an extra orb for Unleashed Power.

As you begin to have a lot of points in Dark Sphere you'll have a lot of pushing power, so it'll become easy to shove the wave and look for roams if you think a lane looks gankable. Roaming is especially good when you're ahead. The most common lane you'll want to gank is bot lane, since both enemy bot laners will be 1-2 levels below you at all times, making them easy pray. However, never discard top lane if the enemy top laner is over-extended and a champion that isn't too hard to kill; top lane tends to have far less wards than bot lane since it doesn't have a support with an eye item to ward constantly.

During ganks it may seem logical to open up with Dark Sphere -> Scatter the Weak; don't fall for that bait. You only open up with this combo if they have no dashes (mainly goes for the ADC), and you know for a fact that they have no Flashes. If they do have Flash up, or you think they might, you'll want to Dark Sphere on top of them and if they have Flash up, they'll usually burn it here. Whether they do or don't, you'll then pick up your orb with Force of Will, then go for a Force of Will -> Scatter the Weak combo, and this far more likely to succeed in stunning them than by opening up with Scatter the Weak.

Out of Lane

Outside of laning phase, you'll just simply want to group with your team. As Syndra you'll want to constantly try and create picks with Scatter the Weak stuns, and using Unleashed Power on any squishy champion unfortunate enough to get stunned by you. Even if you don't kill them (most likely because you didn't have enough orbs up, since you can't spam them 24/7 due to mana restraints), you'll at the very least probably force them to back, most likely netting your team a free objective or a won team-fight.

In team-fights you'll want to disrupt the enemy team with Scatter the Weak stuns; the more orbs you push at once, the more enemies you're likely to stun. If you have a high number of spheres up you can even consider using Flash -> Dark Sphere -> Unleashed Power onto the enemy ADC if you can immediately reach them after the Flash; it's recommended for you to have Zhonya's Hourglass if you want to do this, since while it's very likely to kill the enemy ADC, it's also going to leave you in the middle of the enemy team, where you're easy to focus. Going into Zhonya's Hourglass right after your combo will also leave you unable to be Exhausted, making it an aggressive move as well.

Remember you don't always have to go for the ADC though. Any semi-squishy enemy that you can get your hands on is a prime target to unleash your load on. Riven, Irelia, Elise (when Rappel is down), etc. You won't one-shot targets like these usually, but single handedly chunking them out for 60-70% of their HP any time they try to get near a team-fight can make them absolutely useless. And here's the cool part; Unleashed Power leaves 3-7 orbs at the feet of whoever you ult. If you're ulting a frontline, you can then Scatter the Weak these orbs for a massive stun onto all nearby enemies, turning your burst combo into a massive AoE disruption combo as well.
Hopper is Bae
That's it for my Syndra guide. I hope you found this helpful and learn to play Syndra as well as you want to.

Special thanks to Hopper for banners and coding. (Go check her shop out!)

If you ever want to see how I personally play Syndra, make sure to follow me on Twitch.
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