I'm going to be completely honest here, 12.9 was a very hard nerf to Pyke. Pyke mid is in a pretty bad spot right now and the meta is also very bad for him. He could become more viable if the meta changes but right now I would not suggest picking up Pyke mid if you're trying to climb. The matchups may be inaccurate because 12.10 changed laning phase a lot.
Ahri
Charm is the only thing you really have to worry about. Her R will make her nearly unkillable in lane, but you can outroam them and are able to kill them very easily if they don't have R or if you have a jungler who can help CC lock them. Don't try to solo towerdive them and don't full commit solo if you're below half health. Late game she will nearly do all your health if she lands charm so try to let your team tank the charm first.
Akali
One of the four characters I would suggest perma banning. If Akali does not take shroud lvl 2, you want to actively look to e through them and make them use their pots early. Be aware of her lvl 6 as she can easily kill you and is arguably the best champ at keeping on top of you. Shroud in general makes it almost impossible to get a good trade in on her and you should look to roam or spam ping for ganks.
Anivia
Very annoying champion. Her R makes it almost impossible for you to roam without losing a ton of XP and gold, and she can easily punish you if you fail to kill her on an all in. It is not hard to survive in this lane but is very hard to kill her with her passive up (especially earlygame). Ping for jungle to come when she has you shoved in and it should be a relatively free kill. Take Doran's Shield and secondary resolve runes.
Annie
Look to E through lvl 1 to get their pots down, from then on you literally can not do anything in lane without your jungle, unless they're really bad or you're ahead off roams or if you hit everything when your summs are up and theirs are down. Luckily her waveclear and range are not the best so you should be looking to roam consistently. Ping your jungler if you're shoved in because she can really only deal with 1 person at a time. Do not try to engage in lane solo because she can stun you before you're even on top of her or just run out of your E with speed/shield ability. If you mess up trying to kill her you will almost for sure die, especially if they have ignite up.
Aurelion Sol
Honestly I very rarely see this character but what I have seen of him has been pretty meh. Really the only upside for him is that he can roam just as well as you, if not better (and of course waveclear but literally every character can do that better than Pyke). Big hitbox = easy to hook, not the tankiest either so they're not a bad execute target.
Azir
Always take Dorans and resolve in this matchup because his poke is almost as bad as Xerath. You can use W to make the soldiers stop attacking you, which will make him either have to play close or just not be able to kill you. Save W for after an E engage as he will most likely try to trade back as you are running away. Hook him to bait his E, then go in with your E if possible, or just E through him to force him to go sideways to escape (Azir will hit you with his dash if you're in the way of his sentries). Very easy to execute and great trades if you start them.
Cassiopeia
Look to E her lvl 1 as she doesn't have much range. Watch for miasma and her R, if you get R'd you will die if they have more than 5 games on that champ. If you get Q'd just W or E away because she wont be able to chase. If you get ahead this matchup becomes very easy because she is very immobile and has pretty low health. After Eing through them post 6, don't turn around immediately because I find Cass will R you most of the time right after you do it.
Diana
Immense amount of poke, damage (with alternator), and can very easily stick on you. After she engages post 6 you have to wait for her R to go off because if you E immediately there is a 50/50 chance you get pulled right back in from her R mid E. Try to get an E off Lvl 1 then after that you will have to play for hook poke. Her W will make her win basically all trades. Ask for ganks as it is the only way to kill a competent Diana in lane. She also perma shoves and pokes you under tower 90% of the time. Many dianas overextend and you can kill them under tower if you play smart.
Ekko
Start E and look to get an early trade with it but wait for him to use Q before you do. Q->E or looking to engage with E will not work because he can E out. If the Ekko does not seem too good, then you can go for a reaction test when you are both 6 and just try to R him while his is still up, but it's not recommended and should only be done if he is about to escape while you can execute (don't do it at all past gold elo). If he reacts once don't do it for the rest of the game. (And NEVER do it if a fight even has a chance of breaking out)
Fizz
Trading is relatively equal pre 6 so try to look for Q->HoB autos. Corrupting pot makes it hard to kill him so you will need ganks. Never E engage unless you know he didn't start E lvl 1. Fizz can easily kill you lvl 6, you want to constantly have your finger on E to dodge his R or else you will probably die. Letting him get ahead will make the lane unplayable and you will probably lose the game because he will contribute far more than you. Never try to R him unless you know for a fact his E is down and never all in him solo. Ganks are essentially the only way to kill a good Fizz. You can take Doran's Blade or Longsword Refill if you're confident that you can solokill them early.
Galio
Galio is very hard to kill, can potentially outtrade you and can roam just as well as you can. Start E lvl 1, free way to do half his health early. After that you don't want to E him to trade because he will CC lock you and do over half your health. He can keep you shoved into tower and match your roams easily. Big hitbox makes hooking him easy which makes ganks very easy. If he's running aftershock then it'll be nearly impossible to solokill him.
Heimerdinger
Turrets are like Azir's, they can't see you themselves and wont shoot you in your W unless Heimer sees you himself. Don't try to trade with him at all, you will never win it unless you somehow hook him, but he can just block it by placing a turret in from of himself. Once he's 6 he can basically do over half your health under tower if he hits the stun. Once you see the missile version of his R just E away as fast as possible. Ganks are hard to pull off without a jungler with easy cc.
Irelia
Can easily stick on you, does tons of damage and build relatively tanky. Never go for E because they will just dodge it with their Q. Executing them is a problem because they can dash around a lot and heal a ton. Roaming is a good way to get ahead but they can shove pretty fast. Ping for ganks because they can't get away but they are very capable of 2v1ing especially because it will be hard to land anything on them with their dashes. Best case is to gank while you're shoved in. Starting longsword is viable because they have little poke, it will make trades better.
Jayce
Low pick rate mid so I don't have a ton of info for this champ. Don't engage with E. Look for hooks and try to poke him out until you can all in. He's not too tanky but he does take lethality and can easily kill you. Make trades short and save E to get out. Stay behind minions so you don't get hit by his Q. Ganks make him easy to kill.
Karthus
Ask for ganks, e through wave then hook him and you win if your jungler listens. if not then you can't really do anything if they're a good player.
Kassadin
Hard outscales and has surprisingly good trades. Look to E him lvl 1 and consistently up until he hits 6. Once he hits 6 he will be hard to kill and will trade evenly with you. You do tons of damage to him since you are an AD champ but be aware because he can dish out a lot himself.
Katarina
Does a lot of damage and can stay on you easily. A good Katarina will be very hard to play into. Go for E lvl 1 as it will do half their health as long as they don't start E. Look to walk up then Q->HoB autos, E out if they try to full combo you in retaliation. Hitting R is very hard because they can E to almost anything so save it until you know they don't have it (daggers on the ground reset the cooldown when picked up). Ask for a gank but make sure not to engage when their wave is coming or else they'll just E out.
LeBlanc
Incredibly annoying. Don't go for E's on them, they will dodge it then chain you. Look for hooks but don't let them combo you because it will do a ton of damage. Save E for their chain, they can W out of your hook slow so don't try to Q->E. Try to roam, your waveclear is relatively equal to theirs to you can usually roam more than other matchups. Matchup is decided on whose roams are better.
Lucian
Very annoying and deadly, especially with kraken slayer. Don't walk up into auto range or you will take half your health in damage. Spam for ganks or you will lose, it's essentially up to your jungler whether you win or not. Don't engage because he will E away from your E, you will never be able to hook him without taking massive amounts of damage, unless he's just standing in the open for no reason. Once you get ahead you can try to all in to kill him because you will have the damage to do so without hitting E, but you will have to hit everything else or you will die. Go tabi first item because you wont be hitting him anyways, plus having your jungler is more than enough to kill him even without dmg item. If your jungler refuses to come and you're not too far behind you can go prowlers to guarentee an E and probably a kill, but I don't recommend this because duskblade is way better out of lane. Go resolve secondary or you're going to have a horrible time. (This champ has been nerfed mid and I have not seen him since)
Lux
Annoying but easy. If they get ahead it can get rough but other than that it's very Pyke favored. You can walk up to hook -> e them at any point. Exes are easy, ganks are easy, she can shove you in easy though.
Malphite
Literally unkillable and ungankable post 6. There is no way you're wnning this lane unless you roam. His wave clear is not that great so you have to roam whenever you can. Tell your lanes not to shove and try to coordinate ganks on other lanes with your jungler. He will probably go AP malph since hes the midlaner and if he does you need to wait for his r in every fight. If you try to get a gank he will R away. If he gets enough AP he can 1 shot you easily with R. Always keep your finger on your E or flash so you can try to react to his R.
Malzahar
Incredibly annoying. Early levels will be easy but as once he gets 6 the lane is hell. He can shove easily and can kill you easily. The only way you kill this guy is by getting ahead early and snowballing or through ganks. auto or hook his shield early and look to E through and get him low. Look for hooks consistently but don't take to much damage in doing so. Only overextend to get his shield off when your jungler is coming and they have cc in their kit. Never try to E through him post 6 even if his shield is down because he will just R and kill you instantly. Buy QSS if he is focusing you or you are solo carrying.
Morgana
Look for E's lvl 1 and 2 to get rid of their pots. Black shield is horrible for Pyke and is the main reason she's up this high on the threat list. She will Q you if you look for hooks and just black shield herself if you even land it so it's not really worth it to try unless the shield is on cd. Ask for ganks and roam, her waveclear is like a better version of lux. Don't E in after lvl 6 because she will chain you with R. Your R goes through blackshield so if you do enough damage to her in it don't be afraid to Exe her. She goes stopwatch and zhons so make sure you know when they're up. Mercs are a necessity because her Q goes to around a 3 second root at max lvl.
Neeko
Start E and look for trades. She has low range but good burst, stay to the side of your minions so her E doesn't stun for longer. Post 6 do not E through because she will R and get a huge shield on top of the long stun. Walk up and Q->HoB autos if you can post 6 and bait the R then E out. She has a very low ult cd so assume it's always up every time you first see her.
Nocturne
Just walk up and Q->HoB autos, that will be the only trade you can do this matchup. Shield has long cd so look for hook into e if he uses it. Don;t get feared or you have a good chance of just dying. He has better roams and waveclear than Pyke. Ganks are a free kill if your jungler/supp also has some cc, he will most likely try to shield your hook. Go longsword refills so you do more dmg with early trades and get lethality faster.
Nunu & Willump
Not very common anymore but Pyke is probably one of the best champs against Nunu. Position a little past your own minions and off to the right or left lvl 1 and try to hook nunu when they come to snowball the first wave. Any time they walk out of lane do this because they will most likely be charging another snowball. Spam ping when they leave lane because that's the only good part of picking their champ mid. If they fall too far behind and get no roam kills it's over for them. Don't all in for trades because you will lose it, look for hooks into E and q->HoB. Go for longsword because dshield wont be necessary because they don't play for lane anyways.
Orianna
Look at how they play lvl 1 and try to go for an E but don't start with it immediately, if they don't walk up at all just go Q and look for a hook into HoB. Consistently look for hooks and e's if you can without taking too much poke damage. Ping for jungler because you can hook them into a kill easily. Later on she does tons of damage with her qs and will be able to kill you at about half health with her R. Roaming will be limited because she can easily shove you in.
Pantheon
Only take short trades and stay away when he can use empowered W. All short combos will work on him but walk away if he E's. His Q has an incredibly low CD and does a ton of damage considering. He can match roams, ping if he walks out lane and one of your lanes are shoved. Wait for his shield before going for an exe. If you position your exe correctly, you can exe Panth while his shield is up. Steelcaps arn't bad if they have a lot of other AD here.
Qiyana
Start E and abuse her incredibly weak lvl 1 and 2. She may go corrupting pots and if she does you want most of them gone before shes lvl 3. She has crazy damage output and can very easily kill you at half health, and if she lands everything she will kill you at full health. Look for hooks but don't walk into her e range because if you do you will be locked in the animation and she can easily combo you. After lvl 3 don't look to E through her because she can jump away or e through you at an angle. Go longsword because she cant spam her qs at you early or she will run out of mana.
Ryze
Go E and look to get early damage off. You can walk up to q -> e or hook into e, but if you don't land it you will be taking a horrible trade.
He can match roams pretty well with his R but is easy to kill with others around. Ask for ganks because he has no escapes.
Sett
Matchup is up to your jungler but you're never going to die in this lane. Never all in him unless he's behind and you're way ahead. Big hitbox so he's easy to gank since you can just hook him. You can never really kill him without a gank because of his healing and the items he builds. Roam if your jungler wont come and you'll be fine. Steelcaps cut a good amount of damage off of his autos but only take them if there is a lot of other AD.
Swain
Play in front of your casters, if he e's it wont go through them. Start E because he has low range and zero mobility. Look for hooks and E's when you can. You do a lot of damage to him especially if you get ahead. If he uses R, just E away and wait it out.
Sylas
This is by far Pyke's worst matchup and I highly recommend perma banning this champ even though I personally don't. If you see Sylas picked and you locked in Pyke, dodge. He can take your ult in team fights and wipe your whole team easier than you can. Along with this, he can beat you in lane easily. Don't try to trade early because he almost always starts E first so you can't hit him with hook or E. He will have corrupting pots so he will be full with 1 or 2 more remaining afterwards. Look for hooks into autos, don't Hook->E because he will dash out. Lvl 6 you will get completely destroyed as he can take your ult. He can dash to avoid your ult, heal out of it or just out damage you. Look to roam and ask for ganks if you're shoved in. In the end, he will outscale you and wipe your own team with your ult.
Syndra
Start Q and look to hook them and get autos. Post 3 just walk or W up to them then hook or stun them, release your hook asap because they can cancel it with their shove. Immobile, susceptible to ganks and squishy. Roam if they play under tower. May want to take hexdrinker later in the game.
Taliyah
See Syndra. Watch out for the rocks because you will take a ton of damage if you E through it. She can also match roams with R. Watch for her W and you should be fine.
Talon
Start E and get early damage. Look for hooks and q's to make sure he is around 50% hp at all times so that he refrains from roaming, he has huge burst so don't kill yourself doing it. He will shove you in and roam all lane, assume he is coming if you go to roam. E away if he R's and don't engage with E if he has R. Steelcaps arn't bad here if they have a lot of other AD but you want to go mobis to match his side lane pressure most of the time.
Twisted Fate
Point and click CC is not good for Pyke. Start Q and look to hook him or just q into HoB. You can trade with him easily before he gets items because he doesn't do too much damage. He can match roams easily and hard outscales you. Ask for ganks if he shoves you in because he has no mobility. He is very good at enabling ganks though so make sure you're alone or your jungler is near before you go in. Mercs or QSS are very good into TF almost always.
Veigar
Very easy early game, start E and play very aggressive without taking too much damage or making yourself too gankable. Walk past wave and look for hooks if you can. If he refuses to walk anywhere near you then roam. You will NEED a hexdrinker this game unless he is literally 0/10. Stay aware of his cage if you're going after someone near him. Don't use flash for kills later in the game because you will need it to get out of the cage. QSS isnt bad but don't build too defensively. If you don't get fed early you will probably lose.
Vel'Koz
Start hook because he wont walk up close enough for E and look for a hook. After 3 you can W up to him into either ability or e through the wave into a hook on him. Watch out for his E because he still does good damage.
Viktor
Start Q, E is too risky since he gets MS. Look for hooks at all times and try to avoid his laser. Don't try to e through him unless you just hooked him. Ask for ganks, he is very easy to kill with most junglers.
Vladimir
This matchup is usually stomp or get stomped. Take E and play very aggressive early on. Look for an E->flash ignite play to get ahead or the lane will hard post 6, make sure not to do it when pool is up. If the lane is even then you lose, he hard outscales and outfarms you.
Xerath
See Velkoz. Literally the same thing but his kit is better with dealing with you. Watch out for his R when you roam.
Yasuo
Start Q and try to hook him, the shield will absorb your q and part of your first auto. Never E through him because he can dodge it very easily or just windwall it. Ask for ganks because you never win 1v1 unless ahead and half of your kit is countered by windwall. Roam if possible but he can shove really fast so be careful not to lose too much. Steelcaps are really good if they have more ad on their team.
Matchup is a 4 in threat if he has other champs with knockups on his team. Dodge if he has a diana on his team.
Yone
Start E, after lvl 1 play safe because he outtrades you unless you hook->e him. E away from his E if he's too close. Ask for ganks because he has no escapes. Same waveclear as Yasuo so make sure to get back quick if you roam. Steelcaps alright if they have a lot of AD, however, Yone does mixed damage so it's not fully effective.
Zed
Used to perma ban this champ because of how much I would see him and how annoying he would be. This matchup may be closer to a 4 in actuality but it feels like a 5. Start longsword and E. You beat him 1v1 1 and 2 so look to e, hook or just walk up and q + autos whenever you can. Once he hits 3 position so you cant get hit by his W+2q's. Never E on him unless his W is down. You can walk up and q auto to trade with him but he has a lot of DPS so watch out. When hits 6 and uses R, walk towards your tower and e a second before he comes out. This will hopefully stun him under tower and if not he will be forced to R back and lose all the damage he would do. Ganks can be hard to pull off unless you have something like a hecarim. Steelcaps arn't bad if they have a lot of AD.
Ziggs
See Velkoz. Same thing but he has a better escape, try not to take too much poke and look for hooks so you can all in.
Zilean
Literally unkillable at all points of the lane, especially after 6. You can't catch him in lane so the only way you can kill him is through ganks. Only go for trade with hooks, avoid walking up and taking too much dmg before your jng gets to your lane. Try to roam but don't lose too much XP. He will counter you and make you useless for the whole game with his R if he's good. Not ban worthy because of his very low pick rate but it is dodge worthy. Take sorcery secondary and roam. (I would really suggest dodging if you're in ranked, he makes it literally impossible to chain R)
Zoe
Dodge E and you're fine. Go E if she walks up early, if not then look for a hook. Whenever she R's you can E over where she did it and get a free stun or just wait for a hook. You both can kill each other very easily, although Zoe needs more items to do so. Get hexdrinker or QSS if they get ahead.
Seraphine
Start E and look to chunk her early, if you can't then start q and hook her. She will have to use all pots if you pull it off and then you can hook-> e to bring her back to low health. Flash e + q to confirm the kill and snowball the lane. Serpents Fang can be good since Seraphine provides a ton of shielding. Later on she makes it very hard to kill other enemies so focus her.
Karma
Don't try to trade unless your jungler is coming soon. Look to farm and stay healthy so you can kill her with jungler. Go Doran's Shield, she should never be able to solokill you in lane. Always save E for her chain and make sure to account for her shields and movement speed before going for an execute. Take your time on using R. She makes the game a lot harder for you later on in the game, it's similar to Zilean but not as bad.
Viego
Start E, wait for him to Q then E through him. His Q has a 4ish sec cd so get your HoB then leave. He can poke you but can't really kill you unless you overstep. Watch for his flash W and you should be fine. Save E for his R and look to hook him into tower if he's close enough. Don't fight in extended trades and ping if he roams.
Garen
E when he starts running at you, that's all you really got to know. Don't trade you will almost never win unless he's horrible (well it's a garen player so it's likely). You can never reliably stop his passive so just play for roams and don't fight him. He will one shot you if he gets on to you. Ganks work well if you have the damage for it.
Lee Sin
DODGE. Literally unplayable. One of the only champs that can solokill you easily. Trust me just dodge. (I have not seen him since the lane nerfs to him but his kit just hard counters you so I would still dodge tbh.)
Akshan
He can roam well and deals a lot of damage. I wouldn't try fighting him just roam. His revive counters you if you get multikills so stay safe after using R. E to him or over him to force hookshot then you can R, he can jump off at any point so its not worth predicting most of the time.
Renata Glasc
Not a mid champ but her W cancels your R and its a basic ability w/ like a 20sec cd (before CDR). Ban this or Zilean if you don't care about the matchup in mid.
Kayle
Abuse them early and tell your jungler to come. Post 6 the matchup is kinda unplayable unless they're far behind, look to make plays around the map because she will outfarm and outscale. Wait out her R in teamfights so she doesn't counter yours. Do what you can to delay her CSing.
Fiddlesticks
Similar to amumu but even better. Need more coordination with R compared to amumu but does way more damage than him and equal/more amounts of cc.
Alistar
A good ali can roam mid and net you free kills by knocking them away from tower into you, but don't expect this to happen unless you're duod with one or in high elo. Uncoordinated, ali can knock them out of your ult.
Hecarim
Watch out because his ram can push enemies out of your execute so wait for him to use it before you R.
Zac
Can gank from far away and excellent cc. Watch out for his pull or R because it can knock enemies around and can make you miss R.
Amumu
Really good to play with, good multikill potential but unfortunately this champ isn't very good currently.
Rammus
Very good with pyke, decent damage for no reason and has a ton of cc and ability to chase, plus he can easily tank tower. Not a great champ higher elo however.
Malphite
Good R, good engage, free CC lock if you E over whoever he ults.
Thresh
A TON of cc and lock down capability. Incredibly easy to hit R's. Watch for flay and hook because they move the enemy around.
Diana
Arguably my favorite champ to play with. Her R combo will almost always put squishies into execute range.
Karthus
Tell them to use their R during the fight if they can, will make it easy to chain exes if they have AP.
Kindred
No CC (except a slow), R can lose games and has their own execute. Just not really that good to play with unless you're duod.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Fiddlesticks
Similar to amumu but even better. Need more coordination with R compared to amumu but does way more damage than him and equal/more amounts of cc.
Alistar
A good ali can roam mid and net you free kills by knocking them away from tower into you, but don't expect this to happen unless you're duod with one or in high elo. Uncoordinated, ali can knock them out of your ult.
Hecarim
Watch out because his ram can push enemies out of your execute so wait for him to use it before you R.
Zac
Can gank from far away and excellent cc. Watch out for his pull or R because it can knock enemies around and can make you miss R.
Amumu
Really good to play with, good multikill potential but unfortunately this champ isn't very good currently.
Rammus
Very good with pyke, decent damage for no reason and has a ton of cc and ability to chase, plus he can easily tank tower. Not a great champ higher elo however.
Malphite
Good R, good engage, free CC lock if you E over whoever he ults.
Thresh
A TON of cc and lock down capability. Incredibly easy to hit R's. Watch for flay and hook because they move the enemy around.
Diana
Arguably my favorite champ to play with. Her R combo will almost always put squishies into execute range.
Karthus
Tell them to use their R during the fight if they can, will make it easy to chain exes if they have AP.
Kindred
No CC (except a slow), R can lose games and has their own execute. Just not really that good to play with unless you're duod.
Hello, my name is Politan (was Avucado). I was a Masters Pyke Mid OTP (currently diamond) who started playing at the start of season 10. Although I haven't been playing the game as long as most other players, I have over 1,000,000 mastery points on Pyke and a lot of knowledge on this champ. Peaked rank 2 NA and rank 10 world on Pyke based off of leagueofgraphs.com or porofessor. Reached masters with a 62% w/r on Pyke with normal lp gains (15+/-) in season 11. Reached masters for a bit in March(?) of season 12.
This guide will be going over the pros and cons and items and when to build them.
(This Guide is still in progress, I plan on making this an even more in depth guide but I wanted to put this out in the meantime because it will still provide a lot of information and help anyone interested in Pyke.)
Links: Twitch (I would really appreciate a follow :). I stream my ranked games in League and Valorant) OP.GG
Pros/Cons
Pros
- Up to 3x the gold from ult
- Great engage and escape
- High mobility, great roaming and invisibility
- Game winning R
- Hooks, slows, and stuns
- Huge outplay and 1v2 potential
- Passive can let you come back into teamfights multiple times
- Very good midgame teamfighter
- Fun!
Cons
- Team bounties always happen
- Falls off hard
- Can't build health/very squishy
- Feast or famine playstyle
- Becomes useless if teammates are too behind
- Kit is dodgeable, CC bot without R
Pyke, although being very squishy, can escape almost any situation given you are able to react or predict. His resettable execute makes him a priority target which can be a blessing or a curse. Pyke's hook is a good way to pull enemies out of position and enable kills in team fights at all stages of the game and his speed can let him easily position to get an advantage or rotate to skirmishes faster than expected.
Items
Duskblade: Build this basically every game. Allows you to heal your grey health after every kill and can help you escape after using R. Can be paired with Ghostwater Dive to guarantee the passive hit on Duskblade which will help you E or Hook them after Enables greater outplay after a kill as well. Not much else to explain, it's just the best item Pyke can build.
Umbral Glaive: Makes roaming easier and detection harder for the enemy team, making it safer to roam around the map. Controlling vision is extremely important in games, especially when you're in enemy/neutral territory as a squishy champ. Provides decent stats as well for a moderately cheap price.
Youmuu's Ghostblade: Take second only if you are going CDR boots first, if not, take third or fourth. Ghostblade provides even better roaming capability and makes your roaming incredibly more effective. It also has a lot of lethality and a good amount of damage.
Edge of Night: Very solid item on Pyke. Gives you a spell shield which can block one ability. Used correctly, this can completely change the way a team fight goes by letting you survive and execute more enemies or let you get in to get an essential pick. The extra health on the item will turn into AD so the damage from the item isn't as low as it seems. This is a good third item on Pyke if there is a lot of CC or high damage spells with longer cooldowns.
Ravenous Hydra: Don't build this item anymore. It is useless on Pyke.
Deaths Dance: Really strong on Pyke and can be the deciding factor of if you win a team fight or not. Build third after duskblade most games. Killing someone with this item will get rid of the ignore pain damage from DD and heal you for a decent amount. Really good in midgame and makes you unkillable if you're far ahead. If you have a big bounty early you might want to build GA first then DD.
Sterak's Gage: Do not build this on Pyke.
Serpent's Fang: Only build if there are a lot of shield on the enemy team. Very situational but usually decent into enchanters(Ex. Lulu Seraphine). Provides a lot of lethality.
Hexdrinker: Build into AP burst. Upgrade into Maw of Malmortius when at full build.
Executioner's Calling: Can be built first item into Sylas or other champs that heal a lot early in lane. But really only build if your ADC or team refuses to buy it themselves, Pyke doesn't hit enough people to warrant him buying it himself.
Mobility Boots: Preference pick, if you aren't great with roam timers or wave management then I would opt for these boots so you lose less when roaming. If not always go CDR boots they are much better for more experienced players.
Plated Steelcaps: Take into all AD comps or into AA champs (Ex. Yasuo)
Mercurys Treads: Take into heavy CC or AP.
Lucidity Boots: These are the best boots on Pyke because they allow him to go ghostblade second and survive easier because of the insane amount of CDR and low price of the boots. Still keep in mind that Mercs and Steelcaps are very good into mostly ap/ad respectively. (Check mobi boots section if you are new)
Guardian Angel: Use when you have a big bounty. If you are good at keeping bounties and they don't have champs that cant get close to you then you don't have to build this. I would recommend this for almost everybody if you have a 700g bounty though because giving it away could easily lose you the game.
[12.10 Pyke Mid Guide] War Crimes in the Midlane
Build Guide By Avucado
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