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Sylas Build Guide by

[9.6] Sylas guide top/mid season 9

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Guide Discussion (1) More Sylas Guides

Runes: harvest full damage

1 2 3 4

Domination

Electrocute

Sudden Impact

Eyeball Collection

Ultimate Hunter

Sorcery

Absolute Focus

Gathering Storm

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

starting items

core

boots option

usually other items you'll want

other options

situationals

standar final build

full sustian build

tanky build

Ability Order

Sylas Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Cassiopeia

Extreme

most stupid thing i ever seen on both top lane and mid lane.

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Champion Build Guide

So in this guide i will provide you the information you need to play Sylas, I have some decent experience with him, playing him a lot on pbe before his launc, as well as on live servers, for now this is an optional guide poorly executed. Sylas is one of our trio meme champions, after neeko camouflage and zoe summoner steals (and i guess we can count pyke which steal kills), here comes the champ which steal your ultimate. Honestly this champion and Kayn were the most waited champs for me, and i can't wait to play them on live server while I will not have a constant 150-300ms. Anyway Sylas is a mage fighter, best dscription would be a bruiser, but an ap one.

patch 9.6 - Sylas got some nerfs on his kit again which make him weaker but still viable in the meta. he got reduced damage and heal on W, reduced regen hp and longer cd on E
- Ultimate hunter give more cdr per stack, which Sylas could use to steal more ults and abuse them
- As enemy laners, Garen, Rumble, Mundo and Urgot got buffed (Cho'gath got few seconds cd reduction on Q too)
patch 9.5 got some adjustments on his W, his AP ratio was increased and he heal more early game now, but a little less at max rank W, his damage ratio was also increased.
unlanched yet right now nothing is worth to mention

Skills

Anyway Sylas is a basically a mage bruiser or a mage fighter, which is kinda interesting to see. Early you may want to use mainly your Q either to farm or poke, if you are against a ranged champion, for ingage you can use your E which can be compared somehow with Riven's or Akali's, Riven's bcs first part is a dash which grant you a shield, but i kinda think of akali when i see it because you can do a dodge-catch play with ABSCOND / ABDUCT, you use abscond to dodge, then abduct to catch them and stun, or you can use abscond to get more close to them and then stun them. Anyway that skill is basically a 2 in 1 .. literally, i kinda think is op. With W you can remain sticky to your enemy, and heal yourself.
Well that would be a summary of his skills, now the long and precise version.

Petricite burst is his passive, after casting a spell, Sylas’ next basic attack will deal an aoe damage, this passive have no cooldown and you can proc it a lot of times in a single trade or fight.

Chain Lash is Sylas's Q, Sylas lashes out with his chains, damaging and slightly slowing enemies. After a brief delay, the intersection of the chains detonates, applying an increased slow and damaging enemies again. excluding your passive and possible ult this is your single aoe tho.

Sylas jump to an enemy target dealing magic damage and healing himself, you deal more damage on an low hp enemy and heal more when you are low.

is the first part of Sylas's E, he dashes gaining a shield, thats all. is the second part of Sylas's E, he throw a chain and if it hit an enemy unit you jump on that enemy and stun him, basically amumu q.

Hijack is Sylas's ultimate, he can target an enemy and steal his ult, after it he can active it on a moderate period of time before his ult go in cooldown, you can see the time remaining on buffs section, you can't steal same ult for 2 minutes +/- your cdr.

that part of guide will look better once Sylas informations will be added to mobafire with his icons and things.

Well most of guides have a nice labeled chapter about pros and cons, i am to lazy to do it so i will do it just texting.
Pros:
- he's fun to play
- have a lot of sustained damage
- can use enemy power against them .. litereally
- good-decent sustain
- have some mobility
- a lot of burst

Cons:
- some ults have really bad synergy on him so are not worth stealing, there are just few but still are.
- he's kinda slow or so it feels for an ap champ, but still have mobility.
- kinda squishy

Ultimate synergy

Before starting there are ults that work great, and ults that work not so great, i will start with the terrible ones

just get some stats, and your first q will make you invisible

you hit the ground

Conditioned activation, you can proc it with your E tho but you will not benefit of bonus penetration cause you need to crit them

not so bad but you have no ball so is basically Diana's W

So we seen what is bad, now let's start with good ones

You get a clone

you can use one of his upgrades

As long you not active it you will can proc his passive for like 2 minutes?! i don't know exact how much you can keep a stole ability without using it

shrooms boi

you kill everyone basically, alerdy having magic penetration and ability power that ult will be as sick in your hands as in malph's

Ofc there are a lot of more things that works great and less great, just wanted to mention some of them.

Spoiler: Click to view

The runes that works the best on Sylas are on domination tree and sorcery, and these would have as keystone Electrocute Dark Harvest or Phase Rush

have a good synergy with his E and W, being able to proc it a lot of times and get the free penetration, and seems like the way to go, but if you prefer some vision control you can pick or and for the last one even or and secondary and for extra damage, or as a more defensive option

	Lich Bane gives you a nice amount of ability power, 10% cdr and some mana and ms, but the best part is its passive which works good with yours for an instant burn, after using an ability your next basic attack will deal bonus magic damage, the passive have a cd of 1.5seconds and i think it is much better than luden which will give some more ap and mana, but in trades the damage from lich will be much more useful than luden's poke
	Luden's echo is basically the core item for any ap, i still see it as a 2nd item on Sylas, its stats are great 90 ap and a total of 20 cdr plus the poke potential from passive, you can start with it if you want, in the end is all about the tastes.
	Morello is indend one of the best options of magic penetration, even if you don't plan to finish morrello early you should pick Oblivion Orb for its nice tankiness, ap and magic pen, also once you finish morello you will apply grievous wounds to enemy, which reudce their healings, basically you will want to rush it against champions like Vladimir Dr. Mundo or Akali
	Rabadon give an insane ap boost, thats all
	Well what can i say, have decent stats, 60 ap is not great but not bad either, the thing why you would buy is its last passive which increase your healings and shields, which mean your E and W will get a lil bust.
	i just like that item, it give a lot of sustain early game.
	Gunblade have a good hybrid synergy, your passive is scaling both ap and ad so it will be a nice adition, its passive heal you for a percent of damage you deal, the active is great too dealing some extra damage and slowing an enemy
	Great defense against ap champions, make you tanky and also boost your heal
	a substitute for zhonya or you can use it with zhonya, depending on how much you need to be alive and how behind are enemies
	a great tanky option, also a great option to fight tanks dealing percent damage of their max health and increasing your damage in fight
	penetration baby

Gameplay

Sylas can be an extremly tricky champion, being able to turn a lot of situations in his favor with his kit. In lane phase you would want to poke your enemy wiht while also farming, and keep for the final, it dealing more damage on low hp enemies and healing you more when you're low seems be the best option to not hurry and use it. Don't try to go all in to early tho, some good trades are always the secret of a certain kill. You can use your E to ingage, roam, escape or catch an enemy, so a lot of flexibility, also you can E W E for a really close battle, absoring possible incoming damage, healing yourself and then stunning your enemy. You can also gank with your stoled ults tho, but i will avoid talking about his ult in gameplay cause that really depend on enemy comp. Also a fun fact, you can cast your while dashing with , you would want to use to poke an enemy which outrange you or finish someone without expecting your range.

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