Hey guys I'm Shok, multi rank 1 challenger mid laner for LCO team Dire Wolves. I've played League professionally since 2017 and have been rank 1 in multiple seasons, as well as rank 13 on the NA ladder in season 9. Syndra was one of the main champions I played when I reached challenger for the first time. In the current meta Syndra is a bit hard to blind pick, but she's an extremely good counterpick and if mastered you should be able to win almost any matchup.

I upload regularly on YouTube, and stream occasionally on Twitch so feel free to follow me on either of those platforms :)

Season 10Season 9
Season 9 NA

PROS:

+ Really high snowball and carry potential
+ Insane CC in teamfights
+ Really good 2v2 and gank setup
+ High burst damage
+ Can catch people out easily
+ Extremely strong lane phase

CONS:

- Very immobile
- Countered by assassins
- Advanced mechanics
- High skill cap
- Weak from behind

When playing Syndra you have 3 primary rune trees to choose from and these will also determine your secondary runes. Against easy lanes you will want to run Electrocute and Ignite. This gives you the highest snowball potential and adds on to the huge kill pressure Syndra already has. Make sure to play around your Electrocute cooldown and proc it when you go to trade. Combos to proc electrocute are in the combos section.

Taste of Blood adds up to a lot of extra health over the laning phase and is pretty much a must take.

Most of the time you will be getting a lot of kills and assists on Syndra and you should be able to stack it quite easily. You can also consider Ghost Poro but it takes longer to stack but you might find the vision useful and it's generally better in low kill games.

Ravenous Hunter is quite good on Syndra and will bring you a lot of healing especially in the mid to late game. Oftentimes it can save you a base around a crucial objective timing. This is especially important if you aren't running Teleport.

When you take domination primary the majority of the time you will want inspiration secondary and you have a lot of choices here. Biscuit Delivery is the best over all for its max mana and lane sustain. You can also take Minion Dematerializer to help you clear cannon waves faster or even experiment rushing lost chapter with Future's Market. Overall I find Biscuit Delivery to be the best.

Time Warp Tonic is your default choice here for the extra movement speed from corrupting potion. This is very useful especially against skillshot mid laners and just for moving around the map. You can also take Cosmic Insight if you really value flash cooldown or the enemy mid laner doesn't have any skillshots.

The second setup is inspiration primary. Unsealed Spellbook should only be used rarely on Syndra, mainly when you vs champs that you need a defensive summoner but don't want to give up Teleport. I recommend checking out the threats to decide whether to take Unsealed Spellbook or not, but most of the time another keystone is better.

This is mainly personal preference between Magical Footwear and Commencing Stopwatch. Personally I find Magical Footwear to allow me to get to my 1 item powerspike faster which is very important for snowballing the game. Commencing Stopwatch can be very useful against assassins.

Mostly the same reasons as previously mentioned. It is worth noting that when taking inspiration primary you will most likely have Manaflow Band secondary, which makes the max mana from biscuits less important and easier to take Minion Dematerializer or Future's Market. It's also much easier to rush an item with Future's Market when you have Teleport.

Most of the time if you have inspiration primary you will be against very difficult lanes. The extra move speed from Time Warp Tonic is essential for dodging harass in these lanes.

Manaflow Band is really good on Syndra. Since your Q is only a 4 second cooldown if you have access to mana you can use it to harass the enemy constantly. With Manaflow Band after your first base you should have no mana problems at all.

Transcendence Is your default choice on Syndra here as it gives you a lot of ability haste which allows you to poke more often. Another good option is Celerity. Combine Celerity and Time Warp Tonic and you'll have a ton of extra movespeed which is very helpful in the early game.

Arcane Comet is my default rune choice on Syndra. It's very good in skill matchups where any small extra power can tip the scales in your favor. You can normally guarantee a comet hit with your W or a Q E combo but even proccing it with Q is fine as it will hit a fair amount of the time. You can also opt to take Phase Rush if you feel like you need the mobility, mainly depending on which jungler you're vs. Champions like Olaf will be countered super hard by Phase Rush.

Manaflow Band is really good on Syndra. Since your Q is only a 4 second cooldown if you have access to mana you can use it to harass the enemy constantly. With Manaflow Band after your first base you should have no mana problems at all.

Transcendence is your default choice on Syndra here as it gives you a lot of ability haste which allows you to poke more often. Another good option is Celerity. Combine Celerity and Time Warp Tonic and you'll have a ton of extra movespeed which is very helpful in the early game. If you are taking Arcane Comet you can also consider taking Absolute Focus to smash your lane, it's personal preference.

Scorch synergizes well with the rest of the early game power you are bringing to the table and adds up when you can proc it often.

Again with Arcane Comet early game power is the name of the game and Biscuit Delivery can provide you with a little bit more mana.

The extra move speed from Time Warp Tonic is essential for dodging harass, especially in mage vs mage matchups.

You will be taking Flash every single game. It will help you both defensively as Syndra is very immobile but also aggressively to Flash ult people to outplay them.

Teleport is the standard summoner for Syndra in solo queue. It will help you sustain through your mana issues early and keep applying pressure on your lane. It can also be used to pick up some early kills in the side lanes if they push up too far.

Ignite should be taken with Electrocute when you're playing a lane that you can easily bully and snowball off. You can also pick up early kills in skirmishes that you otherwise wouldn't.

I very rarely take Cleanse but you can take it against mid jungle combos with really high CC such as Elise and LeBlanc, Fiddlesticks and Syndra etc. Just look at their mid jungle champions and evaluate if you need Cleanse to allow yourself to play the game. Oftentimes you can just take Unsealed Spellbook and swap to Cleanse at level 6 and be fine.

You have a couple viable starts on Syndra The most common is Corrupting Potion because it gives you a lot of sustain in terms of mana and HP. It also synergizes really well with Time Warp Tonic.

Since Syndra is a lane bully a lot of the time you can opt for Doran's Ring over Corrupting Potion. This will allow you to bully your lane extra hard, if you're in a matchup where you will get harassed a lot or are taking Time Warp Tonic then Corrupting Potion will be better.

You almost always want to pick up a Dark Seal as soon as possible in the early game. It's really easy to get stacks in solo queue and it makes the item insanely gold efficient.

Slightly lower in priority to Dark Seal are tier 1 Boots. Boots make a big difference in early game for dodging skill shots, chasing people down and avoiding ganks.

If you didn't start Corrupting Potion I would highly recommend picking up a Refillable Potion on your first base to help sustain you through lane.

Ideally you want to buy one of these every base, but if you can't get an important item because of it don't do it. Control Wards help a lot with surviving ganks early which is important for an immobile champion like Syndra.

Lost Chapter is arguably the most important item for your early game, but because of its cost you generally won't be able to pick it up on your first base and will instead opt for Dark Seal and/or Boots. That being said, if you do base with enough gold to outright buy a Lost Chapter I'd highly recommend doing so.

Seeker's Armguard is necessary in some matchups but you don't want to buy it vs every AD mid. With Seeker's Armguard you will have massive mana problems and won't be able to pressure the lane, but you probably won't die. I'd recommend it against AD mids with insane all in like Qiyana, Zed or Talon.

Sorcerer's Shoes are your go to tier two boot option on Syndra. They provide the most damage and gain even more value if you are the only AP on your team.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity give you added summoner and ability haste. They're especially good when you really need your flash up to fight for example against champions like Jarvan IV. They can also provide more damage overall if your team is heavy AP and you know the enemy team will stack a lot of MR, making the flat pen from Sorcerer's Shoes less valuable.

It's important to buy Mercury's Treads if you're vs double AP mid jungle or if they have a lot of CC. Playing against a double AP mid jungle like LeBlanc and Diana will make you much harder to kill and it's less committal than buying a Verdant Barrier which will slow down your build a lot. If you're vs double AP but low CC you can instead just sit on a Null-Magic Mantle and build different boots instead.

After your items in the early game section you will want to complete Luden's Tempest and your tier two boot option as soon as your gold allows it. Most of the time you will want to go with Luden's Tempest over other mythics such as Liandry's Anguish. This is because of the insane value of magic penetration on Syndra as well as the damage proc's synergy with your burst. There are some cases where you should build Liandry's Anguish which will be covered in the situational items section. With preseason we have been blessed with Crown of the Shattered Queen which is very strong against assassins and other diving champions. It's very strong and I will cover it in the situational items.

Complete your tier two boot option either before or after your Luden's Tempest, it mainly depends on what gold you base on but both are really good items.

For your second and third item (or third and fourth if you bought a situational item) you want to pick up both Void Staff and Rabadon's Deathcap (assuming you aren't picking up any of the situational items). Both of these items are insanely broken and should be picked up every game. The order you buy them will depend on a few things but most of the time you will want to get Void Staff before Rabadon's Deathcap. This is because it's much cheaper, spikes earlier and is a strong item even if the enemy team doesn't have much MR, but becomes absolutely godlike if they do.

If you have gained a lot of AP from other sources Rabadon's Deathcap becomes very efficient, a fully stacked Dark Seal or Mejai's Soulstealer or even a stacked Eyeball Collection can push Rabadon's Deathcap over Void Staff as a second item. Ultimately just try make an informed choice between Void Staff and Rabadon's Deathcap as to which one you get first, but since you will be buying both it isn't the end of the world if you get it wrong.

With preseason now out, Shadowflame looks to be a really strong item even if the enemy team doesn't have shields, as long as they are relatively low hp targets. This combined with Luden's Tempest and Sorcerer's Shoes gives you a ton of flat magic pen. I'd recommend trying it out as a second item in the preseason, but it definitely needs more testing before I can guarantee it's the best.

Horizon Focus looks also to be a strong second item in the preseason and less reliant on the enemy having shields or all being really low hp. I'd recommend trying out both this item and Shadowflame because there are definitely pros and cons to both, and will likely be dependent on how balancing goes in the preseason.

Crown of the Shattered Queen is probably the best items mages have gotten in the preseason, it's extremely cheap and very worth buying against any assassins or diver champs on the enemy team. You will do less damage but makes you virtually unkillable if you don't let your shield get popped before the engage.

At this point in your build you will probably be wanting to round it out with some situational items (if you haven't bought any already). Zhonya's Hourglass is quite effective against AD heavy teams or teams that have lots of hard engage. Most of the time if you do need a Zhonya's Hourglass you will need to buy it straight after your Luden's Tempest and then proceed normally into buying Void Staff and Rabadon's Deathcap after that. However if you didn't need it early and mid game it can still be a good buy later in the game.

Similar to Zhonya's Hourglass, if you are buying a Banshee's Veil it's likely that you need it as your second item before building Void Staff and Rabadon's Deathcap. Banshee is good against AP heavy teams or teams that rely on an important ability to win the fight.

You do apply grievous wounds pretty well on Syndra so you can pick this up if your team desperately needs healing reduction. However, it's normally better to just purchase an Oblivion Orb.

Mejai's Soulstealer is an insanely overpowered item. I almost always buy this no matter where I am in my build if my dark seal gets 7 or more stacks. If you do buy it you have to be careful not to die. If you use your E effectively you can be safe enough to stack it all the way to 25 making it insanely gold efficient.

If they have lots of tanks or if your team is heavy on AP (so the flat pen from Luden's Tempest means less) you can look to buy Liandry's Anguish instead. Some people do just prefer this item all the time because of the ability haste, but I think playing for a stronger one shot is generally more effective.

For advanced combos on Syndra I'd recommend checking out this guide below by FasTheMagi.
Play Video

Syndra has a very strong laning phase so you will be looking to actively pick up solokills, especially after level 6. Even if you can't quite pick up a solokill you can generally build a healthy CS lead in just about any matchup. Syndra's lane phase is a skillshot check so if you get good at landing your Q you will find it very easy to push people out of lane. Unless you are planning to all in at level 3 I also recommend putting a second point in Q at level 3 instead of W. It helps you harass a lot more in the early game. You can also fish for Q E combos which allows you to get a big chunk, but if you use your E and miss you can be in trouble against certain champions so make sure you think about when you're going to use it.

After level 6 you want to line up stuns by putting down 2 balls on the ground and Eing them with it. Refer to the combos video for an example. If you hit a stun with a couple of balls on the ground at level 6 you can almost 100-0 people, so any small chunk you get on them before that can put them in lethal. Do be careful of spamming Q on the wave as it can quickly run you oom before you have Lost Chapter.

Generally in the mid game you want to be able to pick up as much farm as possible. Syndra is fairly strong in the side lane and pushes waves quickly. You can also farm camps pretty quickly on Syndra which can accelerate you ahead of the clock in CS.

Try push side waves as far as you can before grouping, especially if you have Teleport. Don't push too far if you don't have vision since Syndra can be easily caught and killed. You can easily make picks and chunk before dragon fights so make sure you are there before to setup. Syndra has really strong zone control so it will be very hard for the enemy team to walk into the dragon if you are already there.

Make sure to balance this with farming. Don't worry if you can't do this because it does take some practice. Just keep in mind that you want to both have high CS and be at objectives in time to fight them with your team.

In teamfights and skirmishes you want to be either killing off a key squishy target with your ult, or using your ult to setup a really big stun (refer to the combos video for an example). You can also save your E to counter key enemy engage as it's really hard for certain champs to engage on your team while you're holding your E. Syndra is very vulnerable to getting engaged on so most of your teamfighting skill will come from your positioning and how well you use your E. If you don't have Flash make sure to play the teamfight much more carefully.

Thank you for reading my Syndra guide and I hope you guys learned something from it. If you have any questions you can ask here or message me directly.

I upload regularly on YouTube, and stream occasionally on Twitch so feel free to follow me on either of those platforms :)

If you're interested in individual coaching contact me on discord Shok#8163.