Hey everyone, my name is Renascor and I am currently one of the top Pyke Supports sitting at 900 lp Challenger. I have played support since season 3 when Thresh released and have been high elo since s6. If you have any questions from the guide or want to watch me put these theories into play you can catch me on "My stream" or "follow me on twitter" for upcoming youtube guides! I always talk out my thought processes so anyone who wants to learn can follow along easily. Feel free to ask any questions there or comment on this guide!! THANK YOU for reading!

There is only one real rune build (Aftershock is for the weak and Pyke players are Chads).

Domination Hail of Blades This is where most of our early Damage comes from and you are going to want to get used to tracking its cooldown. A level 1 Q into 3 fast autos can force most champions to burn flash. Cheap Shot Extra Damage never bad, This adds damage to our Q and E depending on which we use. Zombie Ward Free Damage and Free vision, compiles well with Umbral Glaive Ultimate Hunter / Relentless Hunter If we are going Lucidity boots Relentless is a must, your movement speed is how your champion thrives, ultimate hunter is a bit more greedy in my opinion and I take it less often. Resolve Second Wind This usually equates to more healing then bone plating, Also helps us in poke matchups. Unflinching Tenacity because we die in stuns easily, Slow resist lets us move faster while charging our Bone Skewer.

As for extra runes we always take double attack damage, we dont need attack speed as we are using Hail of Blades.

Why we play Pyke

Pyke has a unique ability that no other champion does in that he can share gold. Our ultimate Death from Below allows us to generate extra gold for us or our team and snowball games in our favor.

Pros of Pyke

1. Strong roam presence with Ghostwater Dive allowing us to pass over vision unseen.
2. Strong early laning with massive damage lvl 1-6
3. Gold Generation, like hello this is insane
4. Bone Skewer allows us to punish mispositioned enemies and even pull them over walls!?
5. Phantom Undertow lets us move around the map, also it can dodge abilities, also it can stun multiples, also it can go over walls, also it can stun minions waves for freezing without doing damage. Jokes aside this ability is insane LOL

Cons of Pyke

1. We cannot gain bonus HP because of our passive Gift of the Drowned Ones and the ratio to AD is for when we cannot avoid hp bonuses as it is very bad.
2. If you fall behind it becomes very obvious pyke needs to be ahead to carry.
3. Very high risk for the reward (current patch), Pyke can go wrong very quickly.

Gift of the Drowned Ones

Pyke's health cannot be improved except through growth (per level). Instead, he gains bonus attack damage. (This forces us to build offensively and ignore hp items) Pyke also stores 10% of the damage he takes from enemy champions as Grey Health on his health bar, increased to 40% if there are two or more enemy champions nearby and up to a maximum of 60% of his maximum health. (This was to buff pyke support over pyke mid and is how we survive poke matchups in the bot lane) When Pyke is unseen by enemies, he rapidly consumes his Grey Health to heal for the same amount. (This can be walking into a bush or by using our Ghostwater Dive)

Bone Skewer

So our Q has two seperate use effects Tap and Hold. Tap: Pyke stabs and applies a 99% slow to the first enemy hit PRIOTIZING Champions. This means we can tap an Enemy Champion while they are inside a minion wave. This is huge if we need Q damage but they are hiding behind minions. Hold: Pyke charges and then throws his harpoon, distance thrown is based on length held (careful not to let it time out), he then strikes the first enemy hit pulling them a FIXED distance towards him. Emphasis on fixed, this means if they are close we can use it to pull them to the other side of us and even over walls (yes even Challenger players fall for this), if they are far away we can pull them and then use Phantom Undertow over them.

Advanced Tip: This ability can be flashed while charging to catch opponents off guard who think they are safe.

Ghostwater Dive

Pyke dives into spectral waters, entering camouflage and gaining a significant increase to his movement speed that decays over a few seconds. Camouflage hides Pyke from view while enemies remain outside his immediate area. Attacking or casting spells immediately ends camouflage. Our W ability and although it does no damage its utility when properly used is invaluable. The movement speed we gain from this scales with our lethality which is exactly what we want. The invisibility is multi-purpose. Pass over vision like wards/scuttle crab puddle to achieve successful roams and catch opponents off guard. Give our oppponents as little time to react by closing the distance on a gank faster with the extra movement speed. Go invisible to begin healing any grey health we have obtained while fighting. Check nearby bushes for Control Ward This normally will be the last ability we max unless we no longer need the extra damage from leveling our E.

Advanced Tip: This ability gives an indicator when close that means we should only use it as we enter lanes to gank and not beforehand unless we are avoiding vision.

Phantom Undertow

ACTIVE: Pyke dashes a fixed distance in the target direction, leaving behind a Phantom for 1 second. Afterwards, the Phantom returns to Pyke, stunning enemies around it and those it passes through along the way for 1.25 seconds. Enemy champions struck also take physical damage. Note: The stun duration for this ability also scales with lethality (man they really really wanted to kill frozen heart Pyke). So onto this ability and ANOTHER way to express our Pyke skills. We will use this ability for so so many reasons. The basic combo being hitting Bone Skewer and then using this over them to stun into autos. Now lets talk movement, we can use this to reach targets over walls, behind waves, etc. One of the first things we need to learn and how Flash interacts with this ability. If you use this ability and then before the shadow reaches you, flash into a new location, the shadow will then move to that new spot. This means we can "extend" the abilities range with our flash by flashing over our enemies and will be how you catch most opponents off guard.

Advanced Tip: We can use this ability, extend it with flash, then extend it with our Ultimate Death from Below even further for a massive stun range.

Death from Below

ACTIVE: Pyke marks the target location with an X before striking it, executing enemy champions within the area that are below a certain health while dealing physical damage to non-champion enemies and enemy champions whose health is not under the threshold for execution. If Death from Below hits an enemy champion or one dies inside it, Pyke will blink to the center of the X. For the latter case Pyke also gains the ability to recast within 20 seconds at no cost. Each execution grants one Your Cut to both Pyke and the last assisting ally, instead of its natural assist Gold. In addition, each enemy champion killed inside the X by an ally grants Pyke two stacks of Your Cut. Finally, the reason everyone loves and hates Pyke. This will be our main "goal" as Pyke, and we will discuss how to use this ability at the different stages of the game. For now just know how it works, and that you jump to the center of the X.

Advanced Tip: If an enemy is near a wall you can place the center of the X over the wall to teleport yourself to the other side. Don't be afraid to use this ability to dodge skillshots or escape.

Ok..Ladies and Gentlemen it is time. This is our time to shine, this is the moment when you get to show off your skills and make your opponents ban pyke for the next week.

What should you be looking to do at this point? Gain as much of a lead as physically possible. People will tell you "hold your Bone Skewer if your not confident" Nah, thats not for us, im here to tell you that your not going to win games as Pyke if you build a twenty cs lead by sitting in a bush holding your abilities. You need to be proactive.

As Pyke you should be looking for all-in windows. Why? Because once your in, your in. Theres no backing out if you Phantom Undertow forward. You need to be sure you are forcing flash or getting a kill.

All the tips and tricks of our abilities learned in the ability section can be used here to really outshine our opponents. You need to be aware of how other champions interact with Phantom Undertow some can stop it with CC some cannot.

If everything goes to plan you will quickly build a kill lead and buy your boots and start looking for roam windows. If you want to learn when and how to roam make sure to visit my stream.

We need to be using these first 15 minutes to make sure we are helping our jungle pressure the map. Whether that be ganking with him or invading. A lead in bot lane is not enough to win a game. You need to snowball the map, build your a team a lead, and then try to do objectives with your jungle.

Learning when to fix waves is crucial as pyke, its where we will get the majority of our experience and if you dont your level 6 will be massively delayed and you wont be able to snowball effectively.

Ok, now this is where it gets difficult. This is where you need to be decisive. You have very few windows as Pyke in teamfights and there is no room for error with this champion. I will go through the basics.

Rule 1: Stay, alive. You cannot get those huge Death from Below Penta's by diving in and going one for one.

Rule 2: Pressure the edge. What does this mean? This means that the majority of fights your ideal spot is behind or flanking the enemy team. You do this by staying barely out of range and if they attempt to engage on you, you can use your Phantom Undertow and Ghostwater Dive to disengage, possibly putting their (now backside) vunerable to your team. If they decide to engage onto your team you have a straight path to their backline.

This takes a lot of practice to pull off and get comfortable with, and it might not be obvious how much pressure you are applying but trust me when you force opponents into a corner that is when they are most likely to make the most mistakes.

Rule 3 (Using Duskblade): So, as we know Duskblade of Draktharr gives us a brief invis after a takedown. We need to use this to buy time and reposition between Death from Below usages. It takes a lot of practice but its crucial and will let you stay alive much linger.

Overall, Pyke is extremely fun. He has skill expression in every ability and your teammates will be in awe and your opponents in dissarray as you dismantle the game. As always if you ever have any questions about Pyke or any other supports, feel free to bug me on Twitter or Twitch.

We will be making guides on youtube soon so go follow me on Twitter to get those sweet sweet visuals to go along with this guide.

If you have made it this far you have already shown more dedication then 95% of players and I promise you that we can get you climbing and impressing your team fast.

I really hope this helped you! Let me know what you think! Have a good day!