Pyke is a very unique assassin that can be played in the Support role. He offers his team a vastly different style of Support compared to most Support Champions. Pyke accels at bursting a single target and executing low health enemies.


Laning

• Pyke wants to play out the early levels fairly passively. It's either you are landing a high value hook, or doing nothing.
• Pyke has an easy time escaping ganks so long that his E Phantom Undertow and W Ghostwater Dive are up.
• Stay in the Bot lane, roaming early isn't very valuable you can move to assist your jungler be try and stay bot and get level 6 as fast as possible.

Mid Game

• You want to stay in a lane, every level after level 6. Every level you gain will add to your execute range with Pyke's R Death from Below.
• When you can move with your jungler to gank a lane or start a fight in the Jungle. Avoid moving alone or starting fights without allies nearby.
• Carry multiple Control Wards to deny vision from the enemy to easily catch them out.
• Let allies engage and look to show up to fights, rather than over force them yourself.

Late Game

• Late Game you want to look to abuse the fog of war with Control Wards. Set Up in a bush to land a hook Bone Skewer to pull enemies into your team.
• If you don't have be your team's main engage consider staying on your ADC and waiting for fights be in position to ULT Death from Below low targets.
• Carry multiple Control Wards to deny the enemy vision on baron or around it
• Don't get caught, Pyke is very squishy and can't tank multiple enemies.

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Pyke is a unique Assassin that can be play in the Support role. Pyke can build Attack Damage & Lethality items, his abilities have good scaling with these items. Unlike other Supports he has the ability to burst a single target he gets on, or hooks with Bone Skewer.

Pros + High Damage Support + Strong Healing & High Base Health + Execute ULT Death from Below is WILD + Great for Solo Queue

Cons - Burstable / not very tanky - Long Cooldowns on Abilities - Bad Laning Phase - Telegraphed Hook (enemies see the windup

IGNITE Damage Pyke is all about singling out, bursting and killing a target. Ignite lets you secure kills and simply deal more damage.

FLASH Flash is standard on most champions, Pyke is no exception. Pyke has the added benefit of playmaking with Flash with combos such as: Charged Q Bone Skewer > Flash > then release Q E Phantom Undertow > Flash to relocate instantly to land the stun. Flash also comes in handy when trying to get into range for an ULT Death from Below with having to use E Phantom Undertow

These Runes aid Pyke by granting him tankiness he would otherwise not have, and giving him added utility with Tenacity and ULT cooldown reduction on kills or assist. There is no additional functionality added from these runes beyond the tankiness granted by Aftershock.

Resolve PRECISION

Aftershock

Aftershock grants Pyke additional Armor % Magic Resist for 2.5 seconds allowing him to tank a lot after landing a pull or a stun. Other damage keystones don't offer anything widley valuable to Pyke support compared to the tankiness offered from Aftershock.

demolish

Demolish is easily the most valuable rune in this row, it's not widely useful but allows you to have higher tempo by taking down towers early after successful fights.

Bone Plating

Bone Plating simply blocks damage for free and is one of the few ways to make Pyke tankier. Assist any time you are taking damage while it is not on cooldown.

Unflinching

Unflinching gives you Slow Resist & Tenacity when you are fighting, also gives you value when your Summoner Spells are down. Works great in combination with Legend: Tenacity.

Presence of Mind

Presence of Mind has massive synergy with Pyke since you will basically always get a kill or assist when casting ULT. Presence of Mind reduces ULT Death from Below cooldown and refunds mana which is very nice, being without Mid Game leaves a long time for enemies to capitalize.

Legend: Tenacity

Tenacity that builds up for minion kills, assist and Champion Kills. Tenacity in combination with Unflinching makes it very hard for enemies to lock down Pyke

Pyke's kit is very unique compared to most Support champions, but it's fairly simple. He's abilities allow him to catch out enemies and deal damage to them. None of his abilities directly help his allies and are more so focused towards punishing enemies rather than helping his allies.



Start Q Bone Skewer level 1 if you are invading, attempting a pull on say an AFK mid laner, or to stab the minion wave level 1.
Start E Phantom Undertow level 1 if you don't have to leash the jungler, and can start in the bot lane, using E Phantom Undertow on the wave level 1 you can damage all 6 minions therefore helping push the first wave so that you get level 2 faster and can look for an all in.

Combo

Pyke's "Guaranteed" Combo is:
E Phantom Undertow past / toward the enemy champion > W Ghostwater Dive to get movement speed past the enemy, and to read their juke > Stun > Q Bone Skewer > Pull them towards your team.

You can add Flash to this to relocate to land Phantom Undertow

Pyke's neutral combo is:

Q Bone Skewer > Pull and enemy > E Phantom Undertow past them > Ignite > auto attack > auto attack > chase

You have to be spamming the E key as you land a Q Bone Skewer or else Pyke will try to buffer an auto attack on the enemy he pulled automatically, also buffering the E Phantom Undertow will give the enemy less time to react to what is happening setting up for an easier stun.

After you pull the enemy be ready to flash to connect the stun from E Phantom Undertow since the enemy pull will likely be trying to escape.

During the laning phase position to the side of the minion wave or wait for the wave to be cleared before, then throw a Bone Skewer if you throw a hook and it lands but the minion wave isn't right, than your AD won't be able to follow up, or you won't be able to cast E Phantom Undertow without shooting yourself into a huge minion wave.


You can try and play in the bushes, if you get the enemy support to mirror your movement and sit in the bot lane bush, than you can land a charged Q Bone Skewer on them fairly easily since there will be no minion wave blocking it.


Any Bone Skewer charged and not thrown is a huge green light for any Bot lane to start punishing you or your AD, you give away your own threat it you do that, but the same is true for any other hook champion Blitzcrank, Thresh,etc. Sometimes no CC is CC.

Itemization for Pyke is mostly damage items because his passive Gift of the Drowned Ones. He can build Health items, but the health will be converted into Bonus Attack Damage instead. So Pyke is limited in effective itemization. Although you can build defensive items you might as well play other supports if you itemize in similar ways on Pyke with items such as Zeke's Convergence, Knight's Vow, etc.

Pyke wants lethality items so he can achieve more damage, get more movement speed from W and a longer stun duration with E.As a first item it adds additional damage achievable from it's passive. Being able to see wards is nice but not wildly useful.

Similar to Duskblade of Draktharr, offers all the stats Pyke wants AD + Lethality. Use the active for bonus movement speed to initiate or escape from fights.

Generally as a 3rd item Guardian Angel is very effective. You get a 1 time Stopwatch purchase which can be game changing Mid - Late Game. Being able to be more reckful and die during a fight allows you to make plays otherwise unavailable when you can come back to life.

Offers Attack Damage, Magic Resist, and Cooldown Reduction. Gaining a Magic Shield when low on health also makes you tankier than you otherwise would be with just Magic Resist.

You can purchase Quicksilver Sash 2nd item or potentially 1st time if the enemy has to much cc . It also offers Magic Resist.

Gargoyle Stoneplate is an ok defensive item since it's cheap and offers both Armor & Magic Resist, when it's active is used around 3 enemies you gain around +40 AD so this item can still offer offensive value.

Mid - Late Game you can sell Mobility Boots for Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi for extra defensives.

The laning phase is simple for Pyke. Look to punish the enemies when they move to the side of the minion waves to you can land a hook Bone Skewer on them. Any time you move forward while charging Bone Skewer it's like a warning bell, basically every player will simply move away from you and then when cast it will be on a long cooldown. Holding the ability allows you to always have threat over the enemy. Other than landing hooks or threatening them you don't do much as Pyke during the laning phase which is fine. So long that you aren't dying levels 1-5 you are winning most matchups since Pyke spikes so hard level 6 when you get ULT Death from Below and level 9 with max points in Q Bone Skewer.
Pyke can escape ganks very easily with his W Ghostwater Dive & E Phantom Undertow. You should rarely be in positions in which you are to far up the lane and get ganked since Pyke, the only time this may happen is if you are over reaching for hooks. Pyke is in a unique spot where he can bait enemies into him & his tower, E Phantom Undertow away, then hook the stunned enemy into tower.

1st recall purchase Nomad's Medallion if you have enough gold you can purchase Refillable Potion & Control Ward.

During the laning phase Long Swords will help with damage obviously and Boots will help you with positioning to land abilities and to move around / out of Bot Lane.


Mid game is when multiple towers go down on the map, or champions start moving around the map. Pyke gains lots of value from staying in the lane that his ADC is farming. You want to continue to gain levels, every level you gain gives you more higher execute range with ULT Death from Below. It's important not to over roam. Pyke has some strong solo queue ganks with Mobility Boots into the top lane during the laning phase, but in my opinion that's ignorant and is a gateway to non fundamental advantage.

Your Macro skill will allow you to perform in the Mid Game as vision and map movements are how you gain advantages at this stage in the game. Watch the Minimap, watch the minimap, watch the minimap. Move your camera to see where enemies are moving. Keep the enemy jungler potential location in mind. When you are moving around the fog of war play mindfully, think about who can be where you are going, understand the risk, and don't take the risk when it is too high. Would you walk in the enemy jungle when you have no wards in the river, the entire enemy team is missing and your allies won't be behind you? Of course not.

The best way to start fights Mid Game are by setting up in the fog of war with a Control Ward and hooking Bone Skewer enemies that can't see you. Do this around spawning objectives such as Dragon and catch enemies trying to rotate to the objective. Make sure to ping like a mad man while doing so, don't assume your allies have eyes, also don't pull tanks.

So some basic goals for Mid game are:

• Defend ADC in lane so they can CS, and you can get experience / gold yourself
• Move with Jungler to start plays
• Watch the map to respond to plays being made
• Take objectives such as Dragon or Rift Herald with your Jungler when you have control of the map.
• Wait for your allies to start fights then assist them rather than trying to put the entire game on 1 hook.

Pyke is activated late game. With multiple items completed and being around levels 11 - 14 you will have higher damage from abilities. Pyke is very strong because in late game team fights he can execute low targets instantly. Most enemy carries can stay alive with very small amounts of health and keep deal damage, but Pyke doesn't allow for that so long that you can land the ULT Death from Below. Before taking fights be mindful of how strong you and your allies are, you can or can't take fights depending on items. You don't have to start a fight every time you see the enemy, your allies may need time to farm, but when your team has the advantage you should be in position to force the fights. Once you get a good feel for this you will understand how polzerizing it can feel to play Support depending on the game state, you are doing a lot or nothing at all, waiting for your allies to scale and for the enemy to push in.

Pyke's ability to peel for his carries late game is very unique in the sense that you should look to pull enemies away from your allies when the enemy is diving onto them, rather than the standard linear play to pull enemy into your allies.

Don't be ARAMing the entire late game either, if you aren't warding or playing around the fog of war you are just showing yourself to the enemy and hoping they walk into you. It's a lot more valuable to make the enemy miss position when trying to ward the area you would be in, than it is to move at them down the mid lane because they showed up on your screen. Pyke can use W Ghostwater Dive to move up a lane or into the fog of war and Ward without being at much risk.

Regardless of the game state if you get a good fight you can execute enemy after enemy with Pyke's ULT Death from Below and bring games back in your favor, which is very unique to a support. So if you are losing take the game slow and wait for this opportunity.










Roaming on any support is pretty simple, it's when you take a timing window in which your ADC is safe to have an impact somewhere else on the map.

So when should you roam is very, very easy don't overthink it, and don't over do it.

• When the Bot Lane wave is pushed into the enemy tower
• When you have recalled and can move to any lane
• When your ADC is dead / recalling and you would be alone bot lane
• When the enemy laners are pushed up

These are all good times to roam, how effective that particular roam will be is affect by literally everything on the map, the minion wave positions in Bot lane & the lane you are ganking, the likelihood of the gank, the HP, Mana, level values of your ally laner compared to the enemy laner. Moving with your Jungler also helps pull off a gank. Some ADC champions such as Ezreal have abilities to farm the minion wave from long range safely, others such as Kai'Sa will be zoned completely if you leave.

When you do get a roam off, look to either recall and reset bot, or to immediately walk back to the bot lane. Do NOT overstay doing pointless things.

When you leave lane you will also be missing out on gold and experience. The longer you stay in Bot Lane the more levels and gold you will have.

ADC's ability to follow up.

Different ADCs will be able to follow up on Pyke's engage to different degrees, understanding which champions are good and not good at different stages of the lane with Pyke will come with time.

What's more important for you to practice is not only watching the enemy bot laners and trying to punish their mispositioning with an engage, but also watch your Ally ADC to see if they will be near you to follow up on your Grand Entrance.

With any CC champion, if you CC'd a target and got not follow up, you didn't CC them. If you got a 5 man Malphite ULT and your entire team was in another lane, what happens? Nobody dies and they all turn on you and you die.

The power of CC in League of Legends is that it enables your ally champions that otherwise don't have good options of dealing their damage to be given brief timing windows to deal their damage without any counter play from the enemy.

So simply put, don't engage when your ADC in a million miles away from you in lane or you will be wasting your time.


Defensive
Defensive warding is warding on your side of the map
Neutral
Neutral Warding is in the river / lane bushes.
Offensive
Offensive warding is warding into the enemies side of the map (past the river).

When you should or shouldn't ward depends on your allies location and the enemies location / potential location. Look at the map and think.

Control Ward, Control wards are to deny the enemy vision, not to give yourself extra vision. Especially on a champion such as Pyke you can abuse the fog of war to surprise the enemies and engage on them unexpectedly.

Throughout the Mid - Late game there will be moments of no action in which it is optimal for you to drop 3 wards around an objective, then recall to refresh the ward count on your Support item and return to your team.

Since Pyke's abilities are fairly offensive, and he can maenouver / reposition so easily in fights it can be not so linear to understand how to use his abilities correctly depending on the game state and how a fight is going.

For example it's very common to see a Pyke pull targets towards his allies that are low, and then for that enemy target to kill Pyke's ally. Simply because the thought or experience isn't there, all that's going through that player's head is that they should be landing a hook.

So if a enemy is chasing down your low health ally the actually play is let them move past you or stealth around them with W Ghostwater Dive, then pull the enemy towards you; away from your ally.


Pyke's Q Bone Skewer 90% of the time you will be casting it as a pull, but it can also be cast a Stab with the stab dealing more damage. It's not fairly obvious when to cast the pull or the stab. The stab is obviously for more damage, but pulling an enemy closer to your allies deals MORE damage most likely than the stab. You can also be in the rare opportunity in which the stab will hit multiple targets, there for slowing multiple enemy champions rather than just 1 with a pull.