
[11.2] Hanjaro's Pyke: Support your way to Challenger!
By Hanjaro | Updated on January 21, 2021





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Runes:











+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:

Flash

Ignite
Items
Ability Order

Gift of the Drowned Ones
Pyke Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies






Alistar
This is Pykes hardest matchup. Alistars strength over Pyke is his quick engage on the ADC, while Pykes reactive CC is relatively slow. Vs Alistar you never want to stack near your carry, which is normally your best location for quick peel. Alistar combo will CC you both and you will potentially both die if you stand close. Position away from Alistar try to bait his combos on yourself when his AD is out of range for follow up, to provide a safe laning experience for your carry. You CAN look for trades on Alistar, as long as you are not pulling him into combo range of your carry with enemy carry in range to follow up on your carry.


Kai'Sa
Kai'sa has a decent ability to push the wave with Pyke opening up more room to land hooks. She has some built in self peel with her E and her R and she has a lot of burst damage between her q passive and W combo to follow up on your plays. And landing any form of hard CC with her in range will allow her to follow up directly with R to engage on enemy carries.




A little bit about me


I love competitive games and have yet to find anything for me that compares to League.
Aside from League, I am a happily married man, father of 2 kids and I am a beloved pet owner. If you guys have any questions about my guides, champions or really anything in general, feel free to stop by my stream!



If you enjoy playing, or want to learn more about

/r/PykeMains.

Pros
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+ Extremely mobile + Easiest champion to roam on + Regenerates hp in stealth + Physical damage scaling + Outplay ability + Ultimate executes through shields |
Why do I prefer ![]() |
Cons
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- Has no wave clear as of 9.13 - He scales only with lethality - Has to hit abilities to be useful - Ultimate doesn't reset on resurrections |
I have played ![]() |




The reasoning behind









It is necessary to have ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
The extra penetration from this rune will be applied very regularly, as it procs on four of your six abilities, and for that reason ![]() |
Cooldown reduction is always welcome on ![]() ![]() |
|

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Duskblade of Draktharr > DAMAGE![]() ![]() |
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Youmuu's Ghostblade > DAMAGE/MOVEMENT SPEED![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
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Umbral Glaive > DAMAGE/MOVEMENT SPEED As primarily a roaming champion who likes to set up kills, ![]() ![]() |
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Guardian Angel > SURVIVABILITY/UTILITY![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Death's Dance > SURVIVABILITY/DAMAGE Providing us with ability haste, damage and survivability, ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Sterak's Gage > SURVIVABILITY/DAMAGE![]() |
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Edge of Night > SURVIVABILITY/DAMAGE/UTILITY![]() |

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Gift of the Drowned Ones (Passive) COST: 0 mana |
INNATE: When ![]() ![]() If you are not able to regenerate your grey health, that means you are still in enemy vision, or are standing in a brush the enemy has warded. This is a great indicator if the enemy has vision in a brush, and you will know if you need to clear it, or warn allies of it. As of 9.21 ![]() |
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Bone Skewer (Q) RANGE: 400 COST: 70 mana COOLDOWN: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 |
ACTIVE: ![]() Tap: ![]() Hold: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
- Since the pull is a fixed distance,
Pyke will throw enemies behind him if he uses the ability at close range.
- If
Pyke is interrupted during the charge, or the charge completes without reactivation,
Bone Skewer is cancelled and the ability is put on full cooldown but refunds half the mana cost.
![]() |
Ghostwater Dive (Q) RANGE: 600 COST: 50 mana COOLDOWN: 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10 |
ACTIVE: ![]() ![]() Attacking or casting abilities immediately ends camouflage. Movement speed increased per rank as of 9.13 |
- When
Pyke is hidden nearby in his
Ghostwater Dive, sharks will circle underneath nearby enemies' feet and a sound will be played, changing based on the amount of health they have left.
- If you are
Ignited by the enemy, and you believe it will kill you without regenerating health, you can
Flash out of their range, activate
Ghostwater Dive and you will regenerate health typically faster than the
Ignite will kill you.
![]() |
Phantom Undertow (Q) RADIUS: 550 COST: 40 mana COOLDOWN: 15 |
ACTIVE: ![]() After 1 second, the phantom returns to ![]() ![]() |
- This ability can be used in different ways, such as comboing it into your
Death from Below to execute a target, while stunning others.
- You can use
Phantom Undertow to escape over walls.
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Death From Below (Q) RANGE: 750 COST: 100 mana COOLDOWN: 120 / 100 / 80 |
ACTIVE: After a 0.75-second delay, ![]() AS OF 9.14 Deals 50% reduced damage to enemies that survive ![]() ![]() ![]() |
- If
Death from Below hits an enemy champion or one dies inside it,
Pyke will blink to the center of the X.
- If an enemy champion dies in the X, the last assisting ally AS OF 9.14 and
Pyke is granted Your Cut, and
Pyke gains the ability to recast within 20 seconds at no cost. When
Pyke assists on a kill following
Death from Below, he receives 2 Your Cut
- This can be used for following up in a teamfight. If enemies are trying to escape, sometimes I will use this ability simply to catch an enemy. I will
Death from Below to them and then channel a quick
Bone Skewer to throw them behind me, for the wolves to devour.


Basic
![]() |
Using this combo isn't necessarily meant to be an execute, if it is, great! If not, the utility from your stun alone can be enough for your team to clean up a fight. The objective with this combo is to catch the enemy if they are running, but aren't executable. You can
![]() ![]() |
This combo consists of channeling your Q and then flashing to hook a target, can be difficult to do because you must hold the channel while doing other things.
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I will usually reserve using this combo for a guaranteed kill, when my jungler shows up to my lane. Using your E and flashing behind a target is really difficult for them to dodge, or for them to know you are flashing until its too late. Options after this are either, stabbing the target with a tap
![]() ![]() |
With the closest point of your ult on the opposite side of the enemy.
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Similar to last combo but adding a
![]() |
This combo is intended to stun a target beyond the target you are using your
![]() ![]() |




Understanding the matchup you're in to begin with, is one of the most important things to know.
Evaluate level 1 enemy lane strength. Did the enemy team bring 2 ranged champions, and we are 1 ranged and 1 melee? If so, your carry or yourself, are going to get harassed off the wave. I would recommend not pushing here, getting CS from range and allowing them to push in early.

However, if they are not punishing you level 1 for being a melee champ, push the wave and try to get the level 2 advantage - (this does not mean push the wave into tower! Tt will just reset the lead you had, and they can still match you getting level 2.)
The first wave + 3 melee creeps or 2 melees + 2 ranged creeps in the second wave - in a shared XP lane - will give you level 2. When I see I will have the level 2 advantage, I start walking forward as my ADC is finishing off the last minion to level. This way I have a position advantage on the enemy while they are still level 1.
If you can land your abilities here, this will almost always secure a kill or summoners burned on their side (be mindful of enemy jungle position, it may have all been a bait).
During laning phase, monitor enemy jungle rotations and look for your engages on the enemy when you know their jungler is not near your lane. As a support a lot of what you should be doing is tracking enemy players on the minimap.
Everyone else is focusing on CS (except your jungler, of course - he's full clearing, and then recalling, while the enemy jungle ganks every lane, PVE is hard!)
If you have the ability to push your lane into tower, look for roams at this time. See if your jungler is on your side of the map, and looking to invade a camp or, if the enemy mid laner is overextended.
Staying at enemy tower is typically a red flag for junglers to come gank you (unless it's your jungler - they'd rather watch the tower burn than come to your lane - HOW DARE YOU NOT BE WINNING THE PUSH?!)




If you leave the bot side of the map, you need to transfer your wards up near, and between, the objectives you are looking to take next. Not only to watch the objective, but make sure they're placed in a manner that will protect you from ganks/rotations. Once major objectives have been captured, such as

After mindless stomping your enemy across the map ,you are now seeking a way to break into their base. You've captured

Bring


If I'm pushing midlane from the Red side of the map, I will control the small bush leading towards their Red side jungle.


Your team can easily get kills over the wall if you have warded over. If they have

I'm kind of crazy here sometimes but I'm fairly confident in my ability to use


If you used your

Otherwise play safe, use your


I hope you enjoyed, and learned enough from my

If you enjoyed my guide, you can check out my other guides here, in which I've covered more styles of supports, incase you want to branch out on supports such as enchanters (


If you're interested in seeing more of me, please follow my stream! I stream every day but Saturday, from 12:00pm - 11:00pm GMT. I play a wide variety of supports, and I am always engaging with my stream chat.

- 06/06/2019 - Published Guide.
- 06/12/2019 - Added Itemization chapter.
- 06/12/2019 - Cleaned up layout.
- 06/27/2019 - Added Patch 9.13 changes.
- 07/17/2019 - Added Patch 9.14 changes.
- 08/06/2019 - Added banners.
- 10/23/2019 - Updated to reflect 9.21 nerfs.
- 11/20/2019 - Updated for 9.23.
- 12/08/2019 - Updated Itemization.
- 19/11/2020 - Updated for preseason.
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