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Syndra Build Guide by

[10.10]And They Said I Lacked Balance, Ha!: Luxeøn Style

Updated on

9.2

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37 Comments

Syndra Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (37) More Syndra Guides

Choose Champion Build:

Electra-Syndra
Sorcery Syndra

Runes: Sorcery Secondary

1 2 3

Domination

Electrocute

Taste of Blood

Eyeball Collection

Ravenous Hunter

Sorcery

Manaflow Band

Transcendence

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist

Spells:

1 2 3 4 5

Teleport

Flash

Teleport

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Standard Build

Snowball-Damage Build

Defensive Build

Alternatives

Ability Order Standard

1 2

Syndra Passive Ability

More Syndra Counters

Table of Contents:

General
‣Introduction
‣Pros and Cons
‣Conclusion
‣Changelog

Pre-Game
‣Domination Rune
‣Sorcery Rune
‣Summoner Spells

During Game
‣Main Items
‣Alternative Items
‣Itemization

Gameplay
‣Syndra's Spells
‣Combos
‣Detailed Matchups

Introduction

Hey everyone, my name is Luxeøn and I'm a Diamond mid main. My main champions are Lux, Syndra, and Ori, as well as other mages/assassins like Ahri and LB. I've been playing Syndra since season 4, and I have grown with her. I started playing Lux, who is my best champion, but wanted someone else to tag along with her. Syndra got the lucky pick for it!

Other Guides

◍ Lux Support Guide

◍ Lux Mid Guide

Enough about me, let's go onto Syndra and why you should pick her up or master her!!

Pros and Cons

Pros:
o She is good in almost any comp.
o She has good CC with her slow and stun.
o She has both burst and poke potential.
o Amazing single burst damage!
o She is so fun to play and works well in solo queue!
o Pretty good bullying in lane.
o Her true damage from her maxed W will really help with tanks.
o She has really nice skins!!

Cons:
x Pretty immobile besides her CC/flash for escaping
x She is all skill shot oriented, besides her ultimate.
x It is pretty hard to learn her effectively.
x If you miss your skillshots/they dodge, you become extremely vulnerable.
x She can be a little squishy.

Domination Rune

Here is the rune path if you choose Domination!

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ELECTROCUTE

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This rune is still really strong since Syndra is a burst mage and this does just that! I always use this in lane to poke and do a lot of damage before all in-ing. It's also on a much shorter cooldown now which is nice. Side note: If they're squishy with no escapes, I try to poke them down at levels 1-2, so right when I hit 3, I can all in them with electrocute and ignite. Try it out, it works wonders and gets you ahead early!! If not, you poked them out of lane and they're forced to play defensive or go back. You then want to freeze the lane if they stay so they miss minions or when they go back, push and go back to reset as well so they lose minions to the tower.

DARK HARVEST

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With the nerfs, electrocute is just all around better now. This can still be decent if you feel you will fight A LOT and can stack it, but Syndra is looking for early/mid game snowball leads so this doesn't do her justice.

PREDATOR

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Not recommended since it does absolutely nothing for Syndra.

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TASTE OF BLOOD

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This rune is on par with cheap shot, it really just depends on what you want. I like taste of blood since it helps with sustain in lane, but cheap shot is JUST as good since you might take inspiration and have so much lane sustain alerady, and Syndra is SUCH a lane bully that cheap shot makes sense.

CHEAP SHOT

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This rune actually works well with Syndra, as she has both a slow and a stun. Plus, the cooldown is 4s, so you can proc it constantly! Giving Syndra a bit more true damage is dangerous, and this rune especially helps when you're leveling W last and won't get the true damage from that until level 18.

SUDDEN IMPACT

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Not recommended because Syndra doesn't have a leap/dash/etc. It does work with flash, but flash has a long cooldown, making this rune pretty useless.

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EYEBALL COLLECTION

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This rune rewards you for getting kills and assists by giving you AP, which works perfect for Syndra.

ZOMBIE WARD

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This seems super cool but the problem with this with Syndra is that the only time you will be killing wards is with your control ward. Mid laners normally (unless they're assassins normally) buy a blue trinket at level 9, not a red trinket, meaning Syndra won't ever really get the AP from this.

GHOST PORO

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This is a cute rune but again, it doesn't do much for Syndra. Eyeball collection is the best one for Syndra in this slot.

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RAVENOUS HUNTER

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This is the best to take for Syndra since it gives her health sustain. Remember, the healing is reduced by 1/3 since Syndra’s spells are AOE (BUT her ultimate does count as a single spell so it won't be reduced!!). I just love taking this because even if you get chunked a bit in lane, you can heal up a bit of the damage with your spells just by farming or even attacking the enemy. Plus, there have been so many times where at 6 or at any point, I have been fighting someone and used my ultimate to kill them and my ultimate HEALED me because of this rune and I survived! You won't notice it much early on but later on in the game, the sustain this gives you is crazy!

RELENTLESS HUNTER

◍ This is a really good rune since Syndra is such a lane dominate champion, that you can use to get back to lane a bit faster or to roam/be present around the map since she is so slow in general.

ULTIMATE HUNTER

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I love this rune but Syndra's ultimate isn't anything crazy long and the other two runes do her more justice than having her ultimate up a couple seconds faster!

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Secondary Runes

Tbh all of these secondary runes are strong. Inspration is strong if you want a lot of sustain and bullying in lane with the mix of time warp + buying a corrupting potion as your starting item, with biscuits if you choose (or if you need perfect timing for a zhonyas/shorter zhonyas active time). I personally love sorcery because the two runes you take work all game and are effective for mages, plus there's good alternatives if you don't like the two. Precision is also good if you are partial to precision, but these two offer so much more! Never take resolve !!

Sorcery:

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MANAFLOW BAND

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Due to taking domination, your best bet is to take manaflow band to help with mana control.

TRANSCENDENCE

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I take this to pair with manaflow band since CDR is always helpful on Syndra! If you don't want/need CDR, feel free to take a below option.

NULLIFYING ORB

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This rune is actually really strong vs those hard AP matchups like Fizz or Ekko since it works like a free hexdrinker. If you don't like this nor one of the options above, is also strong as well!

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Precision:

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COUP DE GRACE

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I really like this rune because it's the old rune, but on steroids. This can ensure your combo will kill that squishy, especially when paired with !

PRESENCE OF MIND

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I actually prefer this rune over triumph because you have health sustain from the Domination tree and you aren't taking manaflow band and so you might not have the mana regen you need unless you get blue buff. This really helps with mana, especially in extended fights where you need to keep your Q up! However, if you don't have mana problems at all or if your duo is the jungler and you're guaranteed blue or something, is extremely strong as well!

CUT DOWN

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This can be taken instead of coup de grace if they have at least 3 tanks on their team (ex: Galio mid, Sej jungle, Leona supp, bruser top). This + your true damage from your W plus if/when you buy is a really good way with dealing with tanky teams!

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Inspiration:

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TIME WARP TONIC

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I love having this mixed with biscuits + corrupting potion. You have a lot of sustain in lane, which only helps your ability to bully the other laner!

BISCUIT DELIVERY

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This rune is good because you get quite a bit of sustain every 3 minutes for basically all of laning phase, which helps a lot. Plus, it increases your mana cap, which can really help out!!

PERFECT TIMING

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This is a very important rune to take in those really hard matchups where you're needing to rush zhonyas. This rune also reduced zhonyas cooldown by 15%, which is extremely helpful!!

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Bonus Runes:

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OFFENSE

Adaptive AP

I'm SUPER impartial to scaling CDR but AP is normally better because Syndra is a lane bully, so you want the early AP to punish the laner even more. However, scaling CDR also works VERY well here and is also very helpful if you have transcendence to either reach 40%CDR or get extra AP!

FLEX

Adaptive AP

I think Adaptive AP works best here since you want some AP to start out with. However, ONLY in hard matchups, feel free to take the armor or magic resist for early resistances.

DEFENSE

Magic Resist

The standard is to take magic resist just due to going against mages in mid. Change this out for armor if you are vs an AD matchup.

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Sorcery Rune

I actually love love Sorcery on Syndra but she is a burst mage, so electrocute makes more sense. However, feel free to choose sorcery if you are looking for constant poke istead of burst!

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ARCANE COMET

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This rune is actually strong on Syndra because she can use her Q quite often, making the cooldown much shorter than a lot of other mages. The reason I take electrocute over this in most cases is because Syndra is all about bursting and 100-0ing a champion, which makes electrocute a lot better. You can also push them OUT of your comet with your E and it isn't the most reliable to hit! However, this rune is still really good on her if you prefer the Sorcery tree and want a lot more poke vs all in.

SUMMON AERY

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I still love this rune and take it if I want more poke rather than damage from Comet, but Comet scales a lot better, aka why it is recommended.

PHASE RUSH

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This sounds good on paper but really isn’t that good in game. Syndra wants damage, not some temporary movement speed.

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MANAFLOW BAND

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I like this since it really helps with Syndras mana/mana regen and it also gives you a good incentive to poke early on! It also works really well in extended team fights since Syndra can run out of mana quick sometimes if shes spamming her Q to set up plays.

NIMBUS CLOAK

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This rune can be decent if you want to use it offensively or defensively, since she is an immobile mage and flashing away WITH movement speed can really help! However, manaflow band is usually what were looking for here since she is a mage that requires mana to cast her spells.

NULLIFYING ORB

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I take this if I feel I am going to have a really hard lane (fizz, looking at you) and they can burst me before I can do anything.

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TRANSCENDENCE

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I personally believe this is the best rune for Syndra because CDR is important on any mage- it means the cooldowns of their spells are lower, aka more damage! I really like this as well because if you have Ludens + the 10% from your runes + this, that's already 40%! Meaning if you get blue buff and/or another CDR item like Zhonyas, the extra CDR will be converted into AP!!

TRANSCENDENCE

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This isn't recommended because Syndra doesn't get MS items and even if she did, it's not really worth it. I very highly recommend transcendence.

ABSOLUTE FOCUS

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As I've mentioned, I don't like that this requires a health threshhold for some AP, and I think CDR is much more important. But feel free to take this if you want that extra AP and don't feel you need the CDR.

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GATHERING STORM

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I am not a huge fan of scorch now that they changed it and this can give some MASSIVE AP as the game goes along, aka why this rune is better. It also meshes really well with at later stages. Remember that it does NOTHING until 10m in though, so if you want specifically early game dominance with no hopes for late game, scorch is better.

SCORCH

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Scorch can be okay if you want full on early-game-finish-in-20m-or-make-them-surrender@15, but it's really not as useful as GS, and descales very fast.

WATERWALKING

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Even if you are roaming, it doesn't exactly do enough to be worth it. Save this for junglers.

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Secondary Runes

There are options for secondary runes! Domination is best since you want that health sustain but Precision is good and inspiration is there for specific situations/matchups.

Domination:

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RAVENOUS HUNTER

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I like taking this rune since Syndra has the mana sustain and she dishes out a lottt of dmaage, but she has little to no health sustain. This really helps with that. Her abilities reduce the healing to 1/3 but her ultimate is a single target ability so that doesn't! It really helps when you're dueling the enemy in mid after 6 or if the jungler ganks and you want to throw your combo to survive.

TASTE OF BLOOD

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Take this second to add to the health sustain!

ULTIMATE HUNTER

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If you don't want any health sustain and just want damage in this tree, take and ! OR if you want a mix of both, feel free to take with since you will have that extra poke or all in true damage but also the health sustain from your spells. with aren't bad either if you want your ultimate up more for a bit less health sustain. Domination offers quite a lot for Syndra, so feel free to choose what fits your style or the specific game best.

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Precision:

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COUP DE GRACE

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I really like this rune because it's the old rune, but on steroids. This can ensure your combo will kill that squishy, especially when paired with !

TRIUMPH

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I take triumph here because were in the Sorcery tree and not the domination tree, meaning the sorcery tree offers us NO health sustain! This helps Syndra keep on her toes in teamfights or survive a skirmish when she kills an enemy. If you don't want any health sustain, feel free to take !

CUT DOWN

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Inspiration:

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PERFECT TIMING

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this is usually the reason you take inspiration, not only because you get a free stopwatch and save some gold, but it also reduces the CD of Zhonyas by 15%. I only take this if I know I'm getting Zhonyas early on (looking at you zed) and I will need it up more.

BISCUIT DELIVERY

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This rune is good because you get quite a bit of sustain every 3 minutes for basically all of laning phase, which helps a lot. Plus, it increases your mana cap, which can really help out!!

TIME WARP TONIC

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With taking Sorcery primary, I really do recommend taking Domination. However, if you like inspiration better, if you don't need stopwatch, this item + biscuits will give you that sustain you need. This is a strong rune since you get MS under the effects and you get half of your potion instantly. Works VERY well with biscuits, as well as a or even if you buy !!

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Bonus Runes:

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OFFENSE

Cooldown Reduction

I personally prefer CDR on this first slot literally only because of Transcendence. Ludens+Zhonyas+ Transcendence means 40% CDR, so if you take this 10%CDR, this will be converted into up to 20AP total, which is more than the 10 adaptive AP you can also get from this tree! Plus in a lot of games, I don't get Zhonyas until last
or second to last item anyways, so the little extra CDR I get from leveling is small but can definitely make quite a difference! However, feel free to just take the adaptive AP if you don't want the CDR/potential double AP and want the adaptive AP straight from level 1.

FLEX

Adaptive AP

I think Adaptive AP works best here since you want some AP to start out with. However, ONLY in hard matchups, feel free to take the armor or magic resist for early resistances.

DEFENSE

Magic Resist

The standard is to take magic resist just due to going against mages in mid. Change this out for armor if you are vs an AD matchup. OR, sometimes, the mix of health from this and the armor/MR from the previous rune can be good so feel free to do that as well!

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Summoner Spells

Ignite
This is preferred because Syndra is a very aggressive control mage and ignite gives her the upper edge. With Syndra, your goal early-mid game is to put the enemy laner behind and dominate, that way you can burst the carries down later on. It is especially important in matchups like Vlad or Swain until you get your ! I do not take this in matchups where they have a lot of range and I won't be able to get in range to ignite them often.

Flash
This is the MOST important spell that YOU SHOULD TAKE 100% OF THE TIME!! Flash gives you so many opportunities to either escape, catch up to a champion, dodge spells, and more. Syndra is too immobile to not have it.

Cleanse
Cleanse is situational, but still VERY important. First, look at their mid laner or team. Take this spell if you are worried about certain spells like from Veigar, a gold card from TF, a from Varus, from Ashe, and so forth. Next, look at the jungler. I always take cleanse on junglers such as or , and it's even more important if both the mid laner AND the jungler have a lot of CC. Also don't forget your cleanse can take off !

Exhaust
Exhaust is a good spell versus assassins, like , , , and so forth. Using this spell right before their combo is extremely important, so try to time it correctly!

Heal
The movement speed is mostly why I take it, as it can get you out of sticky situations and is a good defensive summoner spell. It also helps a lottt when its 2v2 with your jungler in the midlane. I don't take this spell when I know the enemy mid laner takes ignite!

Barrier
This can be important if you need someone to help against another bursty mage!

Teleport
This really helps you stay in lane, gank other lanes, or be present during fights over objectives. The main reason it's taken is also so you can get back to lane faster and keep your dominance in lane. It's also extremely helpful when you know the enemy mid laner has it too, that way they can't use the TP advantage against you.

Ghost
I love this summoner spell. It's truly an amazing item for kiting, chasing, running away, getting to objectives, and so forth. However, it takes time to ramp up and is good if you need consistent movement for chasing/kiting. Syndra is a burst mage so it's not as good.

Smite
I actually do Syndra jungle and it's a TON of fun, but this is a mid guide so don't take smite!

Spells

Before I show you Syndra combos, let’s look at her spells individually:

Transcendent
Each of Syndra’s abilities gain an additional effect at max rank.
: Dark spheres deal 25% BONUS damage against champions
: Force of will deals 20% BONUS true damage.
: Area of Effect is 50% wider.
: Cast range is increased by 75.

Dark Sphere
Syndra throws a dark sphere in AOE damage at a location. These spheres can be manipulated by her other spells.
Syndra conjures a Dark Sphere at the target location, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit, which then remains for 6 seconds.

Force of Will
Syndra picks up a dark sphere or enemy minion/jungle creep/pet, and can throw it in an AOE area to slow enemies.
Syndra telekinetically grabs a dark sphere, enemy minion, or monster for 5 seconds. If a dark sphere is grabbed, it’s duration is refreshed.
Syndra throws the dark sphere or enemy to a targeted area. The projectile, if it’s an enemy, and any enemies struck take magic damage and are slowed.

Scatter the Weak
Syndra knocks back anyone in front of her and gets stunned if they get hit with a dark sphere.
Syndra knocks back all enemies and dark spheres in front of her, dealing magic damage to anything hit. Launched dark spheres also stun all enemies in their path for 1.5 seconds, dealing ’s damage to enemies who weren’t effected by the initial cast.

Unleashed Power
Syndra takes all dark spheres, including the 3 swirling around her, and throws them at a single champion. Each ball hit does damage.
Syndra hurls all of her dark spheres at a target enemy champion, dealing magic damage per sphere. This also utilized the three spheres orbiting her. All dark spheres remain on the ground for 6/8 seconds after Unleashed Power is used.

Skilling Order

#1.
6 / 11 / 16

#2.
1 / 3 / 5 / 7 / 9

#3.
4 / 14 / 15 / 17 / 18

#4.
2 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 13

> > >

is maxed first because it's your ultimate ability and you NEED to be maxing this first for the extra damage.

is our main source of damage. It has a low cooldown, so we can use it frequently and it helps with our ultimate! Level this first (besides your ultimate at 6/11/16). I personally put a second point in Q at level 3 because it's her main poking ability but taking W @ level 3 is okay too!

is maxed last normally because it gives us more damage (true damage) late game when we need it. HOWEVER, vs tanks or if I feel I won't need the utility from my E, I will max this over E!

We level third because the utility stun is extremely important and Syndra is vulnerable without this spell. Reducing the cooldown and upping the damage (and range at max level) is SO important!

Combos

I made a couple videos to show how Syndra's combos work!:

➛➛Auto

-This is the sole reason I like to personally take E over W at level 2. You get the quick burst and don't get hit in return because they are stunned! This is an older video so it shows Thunderlords procing, but the same applies if you take Electrocute!!

➛➛

-This combo is by far my favourite, but it takes some SERIOUS practice. However, it can be used when your jungler is ganking because the enemy laner (hopefully) won't notice it until too late! Here is another really good example of Bjergsen using the same combo. Ahri had her ultimate but didn't dash because she didn't think she needed to. It scored them the kill!

...➛➛➛

-This combo is one I use really often, honestly. I use my Q to farm quite a bit in lane, so they never know when I am about to whip one out there at 'em. Remember that you need to be angled straight from your ball and them or else it won't stun and won't really do much. The ball has to hit for it to stun! You can use this to start up your combo, and even use your ultimate if you have it available!

....➛➛➛

-Here's another basic burst combo! Notice how I have a ball in lane ready, and pick it up with my W. Remember that if you pick a sphere up, it'll refresh that 6 seconds you have. I then throw it and E for the stun, Q, and then ult. This combo gave me a total of 5 spheres- one from what I threw with my W, one from cast before I ulted, and the three Syndra always uses! If you want, you can wait two more seconds and Q again before ulting- this will give you 6 balls. However, it might give the enemy champion a time to escape or retaliate, so this combo is very good for an all in.

➛➛➛➛

-This one was honestly really hard to make because a friend helped me and I had a bot lol. However, the idea is to Q and then R in order to get all the balls out, then E into the enemy team. I've gotten 3-5 people stunned in teamfights many times before! It really helps a lot if you can't burst down anyone yourself or have the utilities from your team to follow up and win the teamfight (, etc).
Also, you can totally use your before . The AOE damage goes really well with them all being stunned in one place. I just like to use my Q whenever possible because it has good damage and is on around a 2-3 second cooldown or so.

Itemization

Starting Items

Doran's Ring + 2 Pots

This is the best way to start out. Doran's Ring gives you ability power, health, mana everytime a unit is killed, and base mana regen. This plus the two health pots should be enough sustain for you to get to level 6.

The Dark Seal + Refillable Potion

This is a good alternative ONLY if they're a poking champ (like Xerath) and can't all in you. Dorans gives you health and that is super important early on, so you don't want to give people who can all in an easier way to all in you. However, this is so good vs those poke champs because with the dark seal and refillable, you can restore a ton of health! Not to mention, the small amount of AP you get from the stacks you can get are small but good. Also, this item sells for a really good price so it's worth buying it and selling it later on.

First Back

It's hard to explain what exactly to buy because every situation is different and you'll always have a different amount of gold on your first back each game, but here are some ideas of what to buy and when.

1300G Buying a lost chapter is definitely the goal here. but with the gold changes, it's pretty pricey. If you can buy it on your first back, go for it! If not, read below for more options.

850G If you plan to get Seraph's and either didn't go back with enough gold for lost chapter or you know it will be more of a farming game and you can/need to start stacking your tear earlier, feel free to get it here!

350G Sometimes you might get an early gank or the laner pushes you out of lane and you don't have enough gold for a . Instead of buying another Doran's ring, this item is better. I even buy a with this item for the sustain in lane. Even if you don't get , this item gives REALLY good stats for how cheap it is and is sold for a good price. I get this item in quite a bit of my games.

450G Vs certain matchups, you might need to get some early magic resist. You can buy this either by itself or with other items (this + dark seal + refillable for 950G is a great buy if you have the gold) and it should help out a lot. You can later on upgrade it to a / or sell it if it comes to that point.

300G Movement speed can be important in certain matchups, so this can be a really good buy. Depending on how much gold you have, you can buy above items with the boots of speed (if you didn't take magical footwear)!

150G I cannot fathom how important some type of sustain is. I personally always buy a refillable bc paired with , I pay 150G and get ~313 health per fill up with dark seal. I've also had it where a fight starts and the health saved me from the last tick of an ignite or a spell! If you don't buy a refillable, at least have one health pot with you and if you find yourself buying a lot of health pots in games, remember that the refillable is a more cost effective buy! , as explained above, is also strong if you need it!!

75G Last but not least, if you can, ALWAYS try to buy a control ward on your first back/every time you back -if possible. Vision is extremely important and having a control ward means one less place the jungler can gank you from + it gives your team better vision control of the map since control wards are limited to 1 per person!

Sample Builds

*Please remember that these example builds do NOT have to be the exact order you build them and can also be swapped out for other items- they rely on how each SPECIFIC game is going. I also have section below this on detail about each item and when it can be good to buy it. I know a lot of this is preference and these are examples so do what you think is best (ex: I put Liandrys into that core snowball build but a lot of games I get Zhonyas for survivability so substitute it, etc)*

Items

Standard

Pros: Healing reduction and early magic pen, defensive item that can be flexible to get early or late, CDR
Cons: Low MS, can't deal with tanks as much

When do I use this build? This is 100% the best setup for Syndra in most cases. I like to get Oblivion orb for the early MPEN but then not upgrade the full Morellos until later- unless they have a lot of healing, then definitely upgrade it early. Feel free to buy Zhonyas earlier/later in your build
if needed.

Items

VS tanks and healers OR full snowball

Pros: Tons of MPEN and burn damage if against tanks, works really well vs healing comps, lots of poke and burst damage
Cons: Low MS, not much or full CDR, NO defensive item aka can be one shot instantly.

When do I use this build? This build is really good when you're up against a lot of tanks that can also possibly heal and you need the burn from Liandrys and the healing reduction from Morellos. This build is also good if you are wanting to go FULL damage and not worry about resistances or any kind of survivability.

Items

Defensive Build

Pros: Early CDR, defense if needed
Cons: Lower damage early on, can't stop early healing or tankiness since you have to rush Zhonyas instead of Morellos/Liandrys

When do I use this build? This build is ONLY used if you need an early defensive item. Get Zhonya's vs say, a Zed, or Banshee's if you need the magic resist or early spell shield. ONLY GET AN EARLY DEFENSIVE ITEM IF YOU NEED IT!! Morello if they have healing or Liandry's if they have a lot of tanks and you need the 10% damage and burn effect. If they have healing and are tanks, I really recommend Morellos over Liandrys because your W already does true damage later on, which will really help out with tanks, but healing could be a huge issue once everyone scales and has huge healing abilities (Soraka, looking at you). I personally like to get Rabadons after Zhonyas because you lose quite a bit of damage, so this helps repair that, but get Morellos immediately after if they have healing, Void staff if they have a ton of magic resist already, or you can even get just the Oblivion Orb just for the MPEN and then not upgrade until later.

Items

Spellbinder

Pros: Good MS, good burst potential
Cons: Low CDR, NO defensive item aka can be one shot later on.
When do I use this build? This build can be good if you need the movement speed and want to try to burst someone down with spellbinder. Syndra is immobile so the movement speed can really help her, especially in some sticky situations!
The rest is very standard. If they have lots of healing or you want the MPEN, keep Morello's. If they have a lot of tanks, get Liandry's! If they have healing and are tanks, I really recommend Morellos over Liandrys because your W already does true damage later on, which will really help out with tanks, but healing could be a huge issue once everyone scales and has huge healing abilities (Soraka, looking at you).

All Item Choices

Above were just examples of builds (since there are so many possibilities now), but this section will cover what are good items and WHEN you can buy them and why.

Sorcerer's Shoes: Let us start off with boots. These boots are the boots you will be buying in most of your games due to how strong 18 magic penetration can be. Buying this and or even means you will be doing almost true damage to anyone who doesn't buy magic resist!!

Mercury's Treads: Make sure to take them ONLY when necessary because you don't want to lose out on the MPEN if possible, but these can also be EXTREMELY important. Syndra is an immobile mage and the enemy team having lockdown CC can mean instant death for Syndra. Getting these boots means you can get out of CC faster, meaning you can move to safety faster or use your spells to push them away or even flash before they kill you.

Seraph's Embrace: Next up is mana items! GLP isn't very good so I wouldn't recommend it, but the big argument here is between Seraph's and Ludens. Seraph's is very good if you are going to be stacking for a lot of the game or if you need the shield, but otherwise, it kinda kills Syndra's early-mid game pressure and potential snowballing aka why it's not in the general build.

Luden's Echo: We are a burst mage and want burst, so here it is. This paired with 20%CDR makes Syndra strong after just this one item!

Rabadon's Deathcap: Syndra has pretty high AP ratios on her spells, making this an important item to have that you SHOULD have in your build somewhere. Never skip over this item! I like to get it early but that can't always happen so get it when you have the opportunity.

Morellonomicon: Syndra works really well with Magic Pen, making this a really important item. If you rush the early, pair that with your Sorc boots and you will be doing almost true damage to anyone who doesn't have magic resist! This is also a really important item because it puts grevious wounds on someone for 4 seconds when they get hit by your spells. This can be especially important into that Vlad matchup or if they have a Soraka on their team.

Spellbinder: This is a very hit or miss. It gives good stats and has what looks like a good active, but there is just better options. I'd rather have the magic penetration from Morellos or the 10% more damage with a burn from Liandry's than being able to do a little more on your combo. Or, if you are snowballing, just buy a Rabadon's instead of this! I always prefer the consistency of always having the item work than having a cooldown and having spikes and that's what this item does. HOWEVER, this is still a good item on Syndra so feel free to buy this if you want the MS/active, as the base stats are really good for how cheap it is and the active can ensure those squishy targets will die with your combo!!

Twin Shadows: This item is pretty good since you can get a pick with the ghosts and the MS/CDR is always nice. It doesn't give a lot of AP but can be a CDR item if you don't want a defensive item. NOTE THAT THIS ITEM IS VERY GOOD vs stealthed champs like Eve or Twitch and also assassins like Talon as well!!

Zhonya's Hourglass: This item is essential vs champions like Zed because you can negate his ultimate with the active. It's also a really good item because if the Camille or other AD with a gap closer tries to jump on you, you can Zhonya's and you team will back you up. This item is also really good if you're against a full AD team and need armor. This isn't in my core build it is situational, but can still be crucial in specific matchups.

Banshee's Veil: This item can be important for either ult/CC purposes (Ashe arrow, Sej ult, etc- but I usually take cleanse for those), OR if they have a heavy magic damage team and you need the MR. This item isn't bought frequently but can be important if you need that survivability.

Liandry's Torment: I am actually a huge fan of this! I would buy and not upgrade it until either you need it vs tanks, or it's your last item. You moreso want the 2-10% damage while in combat and you get that from just guise!

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: This item can be good if you need to kite or constantly slow someone down. Works in VERY specific situations and pairing this with Liandry's means constant 2% burn all the time since the slow from Rylai's will double the burn!

Detailed Matchups

A B C Matchups

D E F G H J Matchups

K L Matchups

M N O R S T Matchups

V X Y Z Matchups

Conclusion

That's a wrap for my guide. I will keep trying to add more and more stuff as time goes by, like I did with my Lux guide, but I hope you enjoyed it and +1 if you like it/it helped you in anyway!! Good luck with the Syndra, and keep checking back as I update everything since the meta always changes and I try to update it as best and fast as possible! :)

-Luxeøn

Changelog

03/28/2017: Started guide
04/01/2017: Published guide
04/02/2017: Added "Itemization" section.
4/12/2017: Fixed grammatical issues.
5/5/2017: Changed Abyssal to Banshee's and erased Abyssal and GA altogether out of the guide.
5/8/2017: Updated some minor spellings and codings.
6/1/2017: Edited the whole guide to make it more presentable and accurate!!
11/26/2017: Updated new runes, as well as some minor fixes in the guide!
12/7/2017: Updated even more stuff!- especially some details in the matchup section
2/24/2018: Updated guid with new mage itemizations, and cleaned up a lot of stuff :D especially the rune section! Also went through and updated the matchups section as well, since some things were outdated, especially adding things like Zoe or changing some stuff around!!
4/1/2018: Updated some of the rune choices and items
4/8/2018: Updated to 8.7 patch with new presence of mind!
4/19/2018: Updated Ahri and LB matchups since my other mages got changed :D
5/4/2018: Updated her Q. Will be doing a huge update soon!! It needs it lol
7/21/2018: Updated a LOT of stuff, including runes. Will update matchups and other sections soon!
8/9/2018: Updated runes completely and switched Sorcery as the main rune to Domination!
8/16/2018: Ahhh changed it back to Sorcery as the main rune lolol rip Electrocute.
9/4/2018: Added the time warp tonic/corrupting potion meta into guide.
10/24/2018: Updated it back to electrocute since I've been taking it way more and it's much stronger tbh
11//15/2018: UPDATED all the runes and took away corrupting potion and time warp due to the changes/nerfs.
11/27/2018: Updated all to the new preseason patch, adding Dark Harvest as an alt and other edits.
12/21/2018: RIP DH, updated guide fully again.

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[10.10]And They Said I Lacked Balance, Ha!: Luxeøn Style

[10.10]And They Said I Lacked Balance, Ha!: Luxeøn Style

Choose Champion Build:

Recommended Items

Runes: Sorcery Secondary

Spells:

Flash

Teleport

Flash

Ignite

Cleanse

Flash

Exhaust

Flash

Barrier

Flash

Items

Ability Order Standard

Transcendent (PASSIVE)

Dark Sphere (Q)

Force of Will (W)

Scatter the Weak (E)

Unleashed Power (R)

Transcendent (PASSIVE)

Dark Sphere (Q)

Force of Will (W)

Scatter the Weak (E)

Unleashed Power (R)

Recommended Items

Runes: Standard

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Cleanse

Flash

Items

Ability Order Standard

Transcendent (PASSIVE)

Dark Sphere (Q)

Force of Will (W)

Scatter the Weak (E)

Unleashed Power (R)

Transcendent (PASSIVE)

Dark Sphere (Q)

Force of Will (W)

Scatter the Weak (E)

Unleashed Power (R)

Threats & Synergies

Ahri

Akali

Anivia

Annie

Aurelion Sol

Azir

Brand

Cassiopeia

Diana

Ekko

Fizz

Galio

Karma

Karthus

Kassadin

Katarina

LeBlanc

Lissandra

Lux

Malzahar

Morgana

Orianna

Ryze

Taliyah

Talon

Twisted Fate

Veigar

Vel'Koz

Viktor

Vladimir

Xerath

Yasuo