Pyken's [Grandmaster] S14 Pyke Guide

🔴 Pyken's Pyke Montage

Who is Pyken?

GM OP.GG

Hi, my name is Pyken & I'm a GM Pyke main with over 8 mil mastery points on . My personal achievements would be hitting rank 1 Pyke on the NA server 3 separate times, and peaking rank 2 Pyke in the World. I like to innovate new builds & playstyles which I don't recommend doing if your main focus is to climb (just use this guide since I've already cooked for you). I also have a Youtube Channel where you can find Pyke related videos :)

Table of Content

Pyke Noob?

pyke (champion spotlight)

If you're already experienced with , you can skip this chapter.

If you are new, allow me to give you some beginner advice which can help save you hundreds of games. I'll also give you an idea of what to expect when playing Pyke Support.

1. Goto practice tool and spam your Rs on target dummies. Don't just R the dummies with your cursor directly on top of them. Try R'ing them from max range, using the tip of the 'X' to touch the target on all sides.

Now move the dummies around and try again. Notice that the 'X' is stationary and will always be just an 'X' on the screen that doesn't rotate. This means aiming to reach an enemy champion with the tip of your 'X' will involve moving your cursor based on where your target is. This becomes increasingly more difficult on moving targets as Pyke's R has a .5 sec cast time which is sufficient time for enemies to simply walk out it's range. Tldr: Pyke's R is no normal ability as it's stationary and shouldn't be treated as though it has a circular hitbox.

visuals

Note that regardless of which part of your R touches an enemy champion, Pyke will always blink to the center of the 'X'. You will only blink to the X if it touches an enemy champion before they're dead (whilst the animation is still in effect).

After familiarizing yourself with the basics of Pyke R, spam your E across walls all around the map to see where you can and can't use your Es. To fully understand how Pyke's E works, normal cast Pyke E from a terrain or structure and if the full range is over half the length from one side to the other, Pyke will be able to dash across. This interaction works the same way Flash works but much longer. Essentially it's deciding where you'll land in the middle of a terrain or structure, and it'll push you out on whichever side is closest to where your max E range is from the closest terrain/structure.

visuals

2. Understand that Pyke is extremely team-reliant and his R is designed to be centered around teammates setting up executes for him. Pyke is a feast or famine champion so he either wins hard or loses hard. This means that Pyke is a terrible champion to 1v9 games in low elo with, BUT he does becomes progressively more impactful as you climb the ranked ladder.

pyke plat+ v14.21 (Stats)

pyke diamond 2+ v14.21 (Stats)

Not only is Pyke reliant on his teammates, he's also reliant on team compositions and can easily be countered by all sorts of champions if certain items are meta or certain champions are buffed.

3. Pyke is weak, will continue to be weak, and will always be nerfed to keep him from being self-reliant. Riot has failed Pyke players as he's been continuously net nerfed since release with 0 remorse.

4. With all that said, Pyke is still extremely rewarding and oppressive if you play gim to his full potential. A good Pyke with human teammates, and a good composition will make Pyke feel unbeatable.

5. Pyke has great mobility, sustain, and snowball potential. He thrives off getting early leads to close out a game ASAP. However, 1 single int and all of your hardwork is gone. The game continues and you'll have to constantly fight against time as you fall off by the second.

Skill Order

You can start Q or E first depending on the situation. For exp, if you can stun mutliple targets E start can be good but you might have to burn to connect your stun -- which will result in chunking enemies or even killing them if you have enough follow up damage. Or you can simply start Q to hook a target for a quick & easy trade/kill. Q start lvl 1 can also help zone enemies with the threat of your Q being up. Regardless, it's best to never level up your first, second, and even third ability until you need to use the ability.

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Always prioritize maxing R > Q.

E max after Q for more damage & lower CD, and W max after Q to match CD with E when you're playing passively and not fighting as much.

Put points in R whenever you can.

You can also put 2 points in Q/E at lvl 3 if you're looking to maximize dmg. However, if the extra dmg isn't lethal, it's always better to have all 3 abilities at lvl 3.

Pyke Abilities TLDR

Passive: Any bonus HP (aside from level) is automatically converted to bonus AD. Any damage you take from enemy champions is partially stored as gray health, when out of enemy vision, you'll rapidly consume your gray health and heal for the same amount. Your gray health is increased by 40% if there are 2 or more enemy champions nearby.

PASSIVE details

Q [Tap]: A quick stab that deals dmg & slows the first enemy target hit.
Q [Hold]: Your Q begins to channel, quickly gaining max range as it transforms into a hook. During this channel, you're slowed but still able to move. Release Q to hook towards where your pointer is at the first Champion/non-epic monster. If your hook lands on a Champion/non-epic monster, they'll be pulled towards you (by half the distance of your max range Q).

Q details

W: Gain bonus decaying movement speed and Camouflage for 5 seconds, warning any nearby enemy if he's nearby with sharks apearing around them and an audio cue. It'll also warn them if they're executeable with a more threatening audio cue. During camouflage, you'll proc your passive as long as the enemy team does not have true vision on you (exp. Control Ward, Cait R).

W details

E: Dash a set distance, leaving behind a Phantom. After 1 second, the Phantom will return to Pyke, dealing dmg to all enemy targets & stunning them if they're not an Epic Monster.

E details

R: Mark an area where you'll automatically begin casting your R in the hitbox of an 'X'. If you're not in range, your champion will walk towards the marked area and automatically cast R whenever you get in range. Casting any movement commands or actions will cancel your R's auto-cast. If your R hits a champion .5 secs after the initial cast, Pyke will blink to the target dealing dmg and executing champions if they're within a certain HP threshold.

R details

Enemies executed will grant '' to the last assisting ally, instead of the natural assist gold. If enemies die during the cast time, Pyke will recieve '' instead.

Upon each successful execution, Pyke will be granted a recast of R with no mana cost for 20 seconds (20 sec timer resets on enemy execution).

Note: You'll only blink to the middle of the 'X' whenever it touches an enemy champion, or executes an enemy champion.

Thoughts on Pyke In Each Role

IMO

Top: not ideal as you're locked in an island. Sure, you can TP to fights and occassionally roam a bit but you'll definitely have a hard time verusing certain champions who's sole purpose is to take down turrents like & .

There's 2 realistic ways to play Pyke Top.
A. You play standard where you farm and look to punish enemies. Push sides and rotate/tp to fights. Maybe solo kill the enemy top laner if you can hook them under tower. Don't get too attached to defending T1 tower if it means being able to impact the map elsewhere.
B. You cheese Bot Lane lvl 1 making it a 3v2 lane & roaming mid after or tp'ing back Top. This playstyle is much more fun but it relies on punishing enemies and isn't consistent.

Jungle: Entirely revolves around spam ganking early to obtain some form of lead since your jungle clear is non existent until . Pyke is quite mobile and has great gank potential but if he can't get an early lead he'll be quite useless.

Mid: Extremely viable into certain matchups. However, there are just as many hard matchups as easy ones and Pyke Mid is entirely reliant on your Jungler & Support to gank your lane. You'll have to have in-depth matchup knowledge if you want to find success in the middle lane as Pyke.

ADC: Extremely OP as you'll be funneled gold and have even more kill setups from your support, jungle, and mid. You can skill check your counterparts with matchup knowledge that only you'd know. You'll have less experience than if you were in a solo lane but in return you have more sustain and can even start longsword refillables in most matchups for an early powerspike. The only downside to ADC Pyke is the occassional freak Supports you get, making your experience miserable.

Support: The most ideal role for Pyke as all adjustments are focused on this specified role for Pyke. Riot designed Pyke to be a Support, and will balance him around this particular role. Pyke Support is extremely reliant on an ADC who can match his aggression. If they can't, the lane is as good as over and you'll have to just abandom them because they're just not good enough. Unfortunately, this will create a toxic environment which can spiral into an early FF if everyone has a weak mental and low IQ (which is quite common). With that being said, pray that your ADC walks up when you do, grows a pair, and drops their ego.

Although I do have a good amount of games played on Pyke in every role, I won't be discussing off-meta roles for Pyke from this point onward, as my main focus will be fully directed on Pyke Support.

Some Quick Tips

Here's just the tip of the iceberg on the information I'll be sharing with you in this guide.

1. In patch 14.10 Riot buffed Sudden Impact for Pyke as it now does more damage everygame when compared with Cheap Shot. Sudden Impact procs off of your W/E/R and does 20 − 80 (based on level) bonus true damage. Whereas Cheap Shot only deals 10 − 45 (based on level) bonus true damage to enemy Champion icon champions affected by certain crowd control effects.

2. You can cancel your Q/W with any other abilities. This is useful if you want to immediately halt your Q channel to stop it's animations while simutatenously casting a different ability. W's effect can also be canceled with Recall, enabling you to prevent warning incoming enemies from getting the audio cue when Pyke's nearby in camouflage. Here are 2 examples of useful scenarios you can apply this trick on:

A. You begin channeling your hook on a low target champion who isn't quite in execute range. However, your teammate suddenly damages them, bringing them into execute range. At this exact moment, you can take your time to reposition your cursor and cast R to immediately break your Q channel while catching your target off guard.

B. You're in fog of war and you press W to quickly get into a brush. However, your W has yet to expire and you know the enemy is soon arriving. You can start channeling your recall and immediately break the animation, preventing nearby enemies from getting the usual visual and audio cues that Pyke's in camouflage nearby.

3. In Patch 14.1 & 14.2 Jungle Pets were buffed to deal more damage to non-epic monsters + Jungle Pets were buffed to heal more. This resulted in a new meta shift where players prioritized getting in lane earlier and playing for lane prio over leashing Junglers as they could solo leash just fine.

This means leashing as Pyke is extremely grief as you're willingly forfeiting all control of lvl 1 prio in which Pyke thrives, just so your Jungler clears their first camp a few seconds faster. Not only that, you're also revealing where your Jungler started giving not only your enemy Bot laner an advantage but everyone else on their team as well.

There are many scenarios that can play out if you leash as Pyke:

A. The enemy also leashes resulting in a neutral outcome where both Bot laners don't obtain a free early lane prio. (This is the best case scenario if you leash)

B. The enemy didn't leash, resulting in lane prio, forcing you to play safe and sit under tower, unable to look for hooks or any all-in attempts at lvl 1 or 2. You'll have to wait for them to crash the wave for a bounce back where you'll fight for lvl 3. However, the wave is in an ideal situation for your Jungler to come lvl 3 gank.

C. The enemy didn't leash, and they cheese lane brush, either resulting in a HP advantage which they can use to score an early kill, instantly making Pyke useless in the bottom lane.

D. The enemy didn't leash, and they pull the wave, denying you guys xp and zoning your from the wave.

All of these scenarios can be avoided if you simply don't leash and get lane prio, abusing Pyke's early game to it's full potential and punishing the enemy if they leash by doing what I listed above from the other perspective. In the case both bot laners don't leash, lane prio will be neutral and it'll be determined by abilities wasted/bot comp/sums/etc.

Low elo players are so used to leash culture that they are barely catching on to present meta and are months behind. Players fail to adapt and they're left behind in the dust, confused on why they aren't climbing. League is an ever-changing game which requires adapability and rewards those who can abuse what's meta rather it's in the form of champions, items, or playstyle.

why i dont leash as pyke

4. Do you default to + every game? Yet you wonder why you have so little impact and fail to close out games despite getting an early lead. You lack experimentation and you'll never grow if you don't try new things. Yes, Umbral Glaive is an OP item on Pyke and it'll always give you value BUT it won't always give you maximum value for your gold. Yes, it's cost efficient but if you're sitting on 3k gold why settle for an Umbral Glaive? Why not Hubris? Why not first item Edge? Why not Collector? What about Eclipse? Have you tried skipping Umbral maybe for later or perhaps entirely for a stronger item? Have you even thought of all the possibilities you can unlock from this simple shift in item diversity? And now that you're not chained to Umbral Glaive, you can abuse Eyeball Collection for guaranteed stacks without being shackled to Umbral Glaive.

Like I said, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what I have to offer for you. Buckle up and try not to get too overwhelmed by what you're about to learn in this guide.

Runes

Gone are the days where it was vs Support. Now, it's unanimous that reigns supreme. Don't bother trying any other keystone unless a major rework is done. HOB enables to weave in autos between spells and put out the most dps early to mid game.

Does more damage that and procs off all of Pyke's abilities except .

As someone who doesn't default to everygame, is simply the most consistent when compared to & in terms of max stacks every game.

Though it isn't as flexible as , can provide a ton of extra vision control when combined with . I only recommend going into even or losing matchups where you know you're going to go rush.

Having lower ult CD = more opportunities to kill = more winning team fights = more gold = more objectives = more wins

If you plan on building more expensive items in even/losing matchups (exp rushing first item into //.

Hard losing matchups where you plan to roam. Good when combined with so you can skip t2 boots upgrade for a faster item spike.

Anti-burst, but can be overkill if you have . In which case, you can either go or .

Into poke-heavy matchups. However, already has good sustain from so I very rarely go .

Heals you and nearby ally whenever you slow or immobilize an enemy champion. This will make short trades more rewarding and can help give some much-needed utility to your ADC.

If you plan on building , combined with can boost your resistance by a ton while also providing some utility in the form of an AOE shield active with guaranteed value every game. doesn't kick in until after 12 minutes so you will be missing a lesser rune until then.

Gain resistance when slowed/immobilized that lingers for 2 seconds. This has no CD so it's great into comps with alot of CC & if your goal is to be tanky. Combine with , , and shard for the best result.

Great for healing after a takedown + extra gold on takedowns. However, it's just that and offers nothing else. is only good when smurfing or when versing extremely squishy & immboile champs. It's either amazing or useless, no in between.

Combine with & for max gold & insane dmg on squishies.

If enemy team comp is tanky you will benefit much more from than . Combine with to shred HP and enable to do short trades verses bruisers & tanks.

Combine with , , , and (if possible) to become a speed demon.

lvl 2 max distance pyke solo engage v14.22

Boost your movement speed from , , and . Combine with to get even more movespeed.

If you plan on playing safe can save you more than just 300 gold when combined with / into as a replacement for t2 boots.

Great if you're running but not planning on skipping t2 boots. Instead, you'll focus your build around getting 10 stacks ASAP. Refer to Jack of All Trades Build Examples at the very top of the guide for efficient build paths. JOAT offers a creative twist in Pyke's build giving him the ability to build defensively with a boost in damage once he reaches 5 and 10 stacks respectively. The bonus ability haste is a nice cherry on top.

Great for lowering CDS, especially when running /. Pair with into for even lower Summoner Spell CD. Focus on building items with actives such as (meaning should be considered), , , etc; as also lower item active CDs.

Allows you to maintain dps to some extent after 3rd AA. After multiple durability patches, you'll find yourself needing 1 more AA to execute a squishy target more often than ever. It also makes sense to focus more on DPS when early game all-ins are nerfed. Last but not least, having ATK speed shard will allow you to shove in waves faster & do more dmg to objectives in a shorter time frame than if you were to go double adaptive force.

Always have at least 1 shard or else you'll find yourself doing noticeable less damage. When going 1 , always go to squeeze in a little bit more dmg (hp converts to ad) so you won't have scenarios where enemies live with a few hp because you greeded too much on your shards. You can also go double adaptive in cases where you want to all-in lvl 1.

More dmg than until lvl 7.

I usually avoid going shard if I can as +10% tenacity/slow resistance isn't meaningful by itself. Even when stacked with there isn't a noticeable difference. If I need tenacity I will always go and if isn't sufficient, I'll also go . Riot's nerfed tenacity stacking so this is the most optimal way to about tenacity for Pyke.

I usually combine with double adaptive b/c it offers more dmg than after lvl 7. Going double adaptive +
is diminishing returns with no real noticeable difference pre lvl 7.

Items

Ideally, you want to start with 2 s everygame due to the unpredictable nature of solo queue. However, if you're looking to invade, or you have a hard winning matchup, you could go for 1 instead. Usually you want to avoid purchasing aside from your starting items. However, if you can't afford a and you think a can be a difference maker, don't hesitate to buy it. Only use your when you're in lethal threshold and plan on fighting. You don't want to waste it but you don't want to die from being too low hp either.

Infinite hack. Just recall for more free potions! Buy Refillables if you you find yourself low on HP often with 150 gold to spare. You can even sell your singular in your inventory to reach 150 gold if needed. However, if you don't need the extra health regen from potions, you can skip this item and save yourself 150 gold. Don't by shy from selling for 60 gold to get yourself a recipe component as it'll be extremely worth it! As the game goes on, the bonus hp regen from potions will be less meaningfull due to higher max hp.

For 21 AD (HP converted to AD), Tenacity, and a trail that increases allies movespeed. This is great if you need tenacity, otherwise for max AD go .

30 bonus AD and physical vamp on champs.

25 bonus true dmg when in combat. Does max turrent dmg. Uncommon but could be useful to take down towers.

Your core support item that offers 3 stacks. Hitting towers will give you max gold (22) from your supp charges, last hitting creeps will give the same amt of gold (15) regardless of which type they are (and will give full gold value to nearest ally within range). Damaging a minion below (Melee role 50% / Ranged role 30%) of its maximum health executes it. Earn 400 gold with this item and it'll upgrade to , and 400 more gold for .

Anti-burst & delayed aoe slow. You can wait for 's slow to get a better shot at landing your skill shots. If you don't need it consider going or instead.

Damage Amp for max dmg output. May need to replace late game for .

Movespeed & healing for yourself and a nearby ally. Can be useful if you don't require anti-burst/dmg amp.

Early vision which can help gain early intel on enemy jgler's whereabouts. Can also be used lvl 1 to prevent invades/facechecking brushes. After placing your @lvl 1, you can recall and swap to . However, you'll have to walk back to lane & risk missing some opportunities to punish enemy mistakes. Change to once your upgrades to . s can be placed during . You'll have 3 charges when you obtain , and 4 charges when you obtain . Note that you can only have 3 s on the map max unless you have . When placing a over your maximum threshold, your earliest ward will be replaced with your new ward.

Everyone knows is used to clear wards but not everyone uses it's vision denial to it's full potential. You can use to first deny enemy vision in a brush, and then instead of immediately hitting the ward (as it'll give them vision), you can either use that time to get closer and maybe sneak in a hook (assuming your teammates don't hit the ward) -- this is mainly for early laning phase. This works especially well because once you pop on a warded area, people instinctively play more aggressively in an attempt to punish you while you clear the ward. By denying vision, you also proc your passive which can heal you when you're trying to min-max your hp during a skirmish. You can simply walk through a warded area without clearing the ward to get to a fight faster while keeping your location hidden. can also be used to detect traps & reveal enemies whreabouts when they're invisible/out of sight. When using to clear multiple wards, it's ideal to activate it when you're near the ward so you can weave in 6 AAs before it expires. Pop so it scans a brush at max range so you don't have to facecheck it (combine this with W if you're afraid of getting CC'd).

Great when splitting or when behind and need to check baron vision from afar. can also be useful when you have max wards, pinks, and want complete vision instead of denying vision (useful for covering backdoors, deep wards, etc.)

Core item as you'll find yourself behind in tempo, missing skill shots, and getting out manuevered by enemies without it. You can rush before purchasing for max dmg but only when extremely ahead.

Great if there's alot of CC/Slow and isn't sufficient. The added MR is a nice addition. Definitely go if you're verse 4 or more AP champions.

For anti-slow + constant movespeed. Combine with (E + AA into slow combo) to get on top of enemies with ease. Great into skill shot champions and highly mobile champs when you don't benefit as much from .

Great counter if enemies are rushing lethality (esp if they're behind). truly thrives into comps with no CC but plenty of on-hit/AD threats. It can be extremely helpful when you're behind and need armor into a fed ADC. It's also viable when versing 3 or more AD champions with no need of tenacity. I usually avoid going if I can get away with a non defensive pair of boots.

You recall with 900-1000 gold and your first thought that pops into your mind is to run straight mid/top. If that's the case, will allow you to put those calories to work as this is the ideal time to start stacking your units of distance. will give you an empowered recall, making your roams less punishing for your ADC as you'll be able to run back to their lane much quicker. After reaching 150k units of distance, with automatically upgrade into , giving you an additional 10 movespeed + 45 more movespeed when out of combat to live your fantasy dream of perma roaming. combined with Pyke's insane mobility will allow to pressure all lanes as long as he's out of vision. The empowered recall can also allow you to recall in areas you normally wouldn't to save maximum tempo.

Lower summoner cd for maximum snowball potential. Only go if you don't need any defensive boots/combat movespeed/out of combat movespeed.

You'll rarely find yourself needing extra atk speed but in cases where you want higher dps for backdooring/splitting, can be a good replacement.

If you're full build and have nothing else to spend your gold on, you can upgrade your to .

An amazing item that synergizes perfectly with . You can detect wards with 's passive -- even during your W. This essentially makes a human which can be extremely OP in combination with . is also extremely cost efficient, enabling a quick 1 & 2 item spike. As amazing as is, it should'nt be bought every game as their are stronger options if you have the gold.

For bonus lethality and extra all-in power.

An great item for as it amolifies his roaming and engage power. will remain strong throughout the entire game as long as you're able to use it's out of combat movespeed and active to your advantage.

Great rush item if you're ahead and verses immobile & squishy champions. It's build path isn't the best so you won't get any strong power spikes until you complete the item. Combine with for a nasty combo.

There will always be spells you can block with , enabling you to build a msx dmg lethality item while simutaneously skipping tenacity items like mercs for a more cost-efficient build path. The spell shield CD is the main reason you buy so make sure it doesn't get wasted before a crucial fight.

Great item if you want to play slow and safe while you chill and close out a game with minimum risks due to a huge early lead that you can safely snowball with. Combine with to keep the gold gap via farming without setting your teammates behind. It's ideal to build as your forst or second item to start your stacks ASAP.

Only good when ahead to generate gold from your jg camps while your jgler is dead/invading. You can also farm creeps but avoid doing so whenever you get reduced gold from overfarming minions.

Situational item to counter shields. Make sure you can reach the targets with shields before buying . It doesn't matter if they have alot of shields if you can't reach them without dying. Also, your execute ignored shields so if you're extremely ahead and your execute is enough dmg to one shot a target, then going is a waste of gold.

Only go into squishy & immobile bot laners *when ahead. At max energized stacks, your next AA will be empowered, dealing bonus damage and slowing the target by 99% for 0.75 seconds. Using 's on-hit slow passive + , you can use directly on top of a champion, AA them with HOB with the on-hit slow from to reposition yourself for an easy stun (assuming they have no form of bonus movespeed/blink/dash/stasis/spell shield/cc). Combine with yp counter any interuptions when dashing.

Lowers your R cd whenever scoring a takedown (Scales off lethality). should be bought after 1-3 lethality items for maximum gold efficiency. Since 's sole purpose is to lower yohr R CD, it's only good when extremely ahead to spam kill opponents which can potentially allow you to have your R CD completely cycle in a single fight (when combined with 4-5 stacks of ).

0 R CD Pyke

Ideal armor pen item for if he doesnt value crit/grevious wound. 's slow passive works with 's active, allowing you to have a on-active slow when using . Note that the passive slow does not stack with

Counter to on-hit atk speed heavy champions. Only good when behind as tyere are many other items with better gold efficiency.

Counter to crit threats. Can be built at any point of the game. Active is an AOE slow.

Gold efficient armor+movespeed+ad (from hp conversion) item with some utility from it's passive bonus movespeed trail it leaves behind for your teammates. Not ideal as a rush item. I only recommend if you benefit from the bonus movespeed+armor+trail passive to keep up with high movespeed champs regardless if they're on your team or the enemies'. 's second passive is a on-hit slow (50% for 1 sec) at max stacks (which generates as you move). An alternative item thats less team-oriented will be .

Bad late game stats but the second life passive can be game-winning late game. Replace with another item whenever passive is down if you have enough gold (and then buy GA again when it's passive cd if back up). Avoid going GA early unless you can benefit from it's armor and passive to avoid giving a large bounty. can also be used to force a fight, allowing you to bait crucial abilities from enemies for you teammates to capitalize while you're reviving.

Bonus Armor + AD (from HP conversion), 10 ability haste & hp regen. can be a early item if you benefit from the armor and it's passive damage redirction to keep your ADC alive. essentially redirects dmg from a selected ally to you, while healing you whenever they deal dmg while in tether range. I only recommend going if you acknowledge a certain teammate's ability to carry and want them to play to close out a game without throwing their lead.

Upgrade from after you used it's passive. Make sure you don't waste your one-time active from as it's quite expensive and it's second recipe item is 1200 gold with no beneficial stats (). Consider going into if your main threat can be countered by stasis active + armor stats. Some examples include a fed or to deny their potentially lethal ultimates.

A more expensive version of offering better stats in terms of armor, dmg, movespeed, and a flat 25% slow resistance. Unlike , 's on-hit passive deals bonus dmg based on how much momentum stacks you have with no slowing effects. Go if you value armor, dmg, slow resist, and movement speed with no intent of providing any form of utility for your teammates (usually when you're extremely fed and want to spit push/backdoor/replace boots).

In the rare case you want armor, dmg & grevious wound over lethality.

Offers some anti-burst, dmg, and armor but isn't recommended on support unless you're extremely ahead and don't need MR. Combine with and more resistance for best results. (make sure you have 1-2 lethality items or you won't be dealing any dmg).

Good hybrid AD/MR item. Not a good MR item unless you're getting bursted by AP champions. Avoid playing too aggresively when the passive shield is down. Combine with & for best results.

Best item for consistent MR in the form of a non-lifeline shield (when out of combat for 15 secs). Also provides ad (from hp conversion) and hp regen. Can be combined with more MR items & to be extremely hard to kill even through magic pen items.

MR, dmg, haste and passive enemy MR reduction. This is great into heavy AP with no burst threat whom are stacking MR.

Get when against lethal cc and/or supression when , , and isn't sufficient enough. It can also be useful in the case of you being a target of a combination of CC and Supressions (like R, R, and/or lethal CC's like / Q's. Upgrade to for bonus MR, AD, lifesteal, and a burst of bonus movement speed on item activation (which can be used purely for movemebt speed boost). You can upgrade your QSS last if you need to build other items.

Extremely gold efficient hybrid defense item with ad, ability haste, and a decaying shield active which scales with targets' lvl. Great if you want to play for team anti-burst into equal ad and ap dmg threats. Should be purchased after or other lethality item for best results.

For a new maximum threshold of 4 total s & 2 total s on the map. Great for late game vision control with, or without .

Armor/MR & Dmg from Hp conversion. amplifies your resistance so make sure build MR and Armor items while balancing lethality as well (you can sit on recipe items if needed).

For Atk Speed, AD + more Ad from HP conversion, Atk Speed & on-active AOE Slow & Movement speed.

Should be your very last item upgrade for when you have + full build.

In the rare case you want Atk Speed, crit, and movement speed with passive on-hit ability cd (15%). Ideally combined with another crit item & no meed for extra dmg/resistance.

60% Atk apeed, 25% crit, 8% movespeed, and become permanently ghosted, allowing you to ignore unit collision (aka creep block). This can be a better alternaitve to if your main goal is to be fast and have more % atk speed. In the extremely rare case you do find appealing, it's best when paired with another item that can help you benefit from the percent atk speed such as ///etc.

On-hit healing & crit. Generally a bad item as it's not cost-efficient but it can be good when combined with defensive items, , and/or .

Max Armor Pen, AD & Crit. Can combine / for higher %crit.

Armor Pen, AD & Grevious wound. Can be great into heavy bruisers/tanks/healing when no1 is buying grevious wound & you need both armor pen & healing reduction. Otherwise, consider buying to shred hp or for armor & healing reduction instead.

As forementioned, is the perfect item to build against heavy hp stacking enemy comps. It'll also enable you to duel non-squishies as it provides you with a shield that can easily be proc'd with a HOB AA + Q or any 2 separate attacks or abilities within 1.5 seconds.

why go eclipse on pyke?

In the rare case you need life steal, atk speed, and ad; ideally combined with another atk speed/wave clearing item.

In-Depth Item Analysis

Click here to skip to 'Items' Chapter, where you'll get in-depth, individual itemization breakdowns.

only when you're ready to try new builds

1. Edge for Zyra, Ashe & Swain. Can also block CC abilities from Rene & Skarner. Youmuu's for early roaming & speed active to prevent getting ran down by Ashe. Bloodsong bc I didn't need anti-burst and I benefit from more dmg due to 3 bruisers. Swifities for slow resis from Ashe & ability to dodge abilities & move freely in fights. QSS bc I didn't go Mercs & Edge isn't enough against their cc heavy team. Lastly, I built grudge bc we were 4 AD and they were stacking armor. I always recommend going Exh vs Ashe. I didn't go Ghost this game bc I benefit more with Flash to dodge lethal skill shots.

2. Umbrail, Mercs, DD, Celestial. I lack lethality but I'm extremely fed and my main goal is to not throw. My main threats are Kayn & Gwen. DD + Celestial will prevent Kayn from bursting me & Mercs is enough MR on top of the anti-burst from Celestial & DD to prevent Gwen from killing me. Swain has no burst so he's a non factor, and Sivir & Ali are both AD (armor from DD & Celestial). This setup offers a little bit of everything but DD on Pyke Support is usually not ideal due it costing 3.3k.

3. Youmuu's, Edge, Mercs, Locket, Celestial. I have an Ez vs a Syndra ADC, TF Support. We won lane, meaning Syndra & TF will never be able to kill Ezreal. This prompts me to build Youmuu's and perma roam & pressure the map. Edge is great into TF's gold card, Syndra's Stun, and Ivern's Stun - pretty much rendering them all useless against me. They can't kill me, and I can engage without fear. However, they do have a Fiora & Yi - both deals true damage and isn't really affected by Edge. This makes me go Locket as it's a cheap item that provides both armor & mr with an active shield to not only prevent me from dying to Fiora & Yi (whilst giving me MR for the other enemies), but also provide an AOE shield for my teammates to prevent Yi from popping off. It makes sense to go Celestial here as I want as much defensive stats I can get. Mercs for tenacity & MR since stacking anymore armor is useless. I also took cleanse this game bc of double stun bot lane + ivern root. As long as I'm not cc'd, they can't kill me.

More item/spell breakdowns

1. Exhaust + Ghost to get on top of Jhin & Senna as they both are immobile but build movement speed items/runes. This setup also allows me to dodge crucial skill shots and look for a heavy lvl 1 trade. Swifities for combat speed to connect my E's with E + Exh stun combo (+Nimbus & Celerity) & Volatic Rush for E + AA oneshot combo with Bloodsong. Was building Opportunity next for more combat movespeed (this is before they removed movespeed from Opp). Jhin & Senna are essentially 2 squishy ADCs that are nimble. As long as I can get on top of them and snowball my lead, they have no chance.

1. Exhaust to counter Samira's all-in. Edge to counter TF, Ali, Zac & Sej. Randiun's b/c Samira is fed & I get oneshot wo (Steelcaps + Celestial for more defense). Topped w. Jak'Sho for even more armor & some MR for TF & Zac. Jak'Sho's Hp gets converted to AD so I get some needed AD in my build as well. In this game I was required to build these defensive items to not get one shot by Samira. With this build setup I could engage for my team without worry about dying.

2. Cait, Pyke vs Ez, Brand. We got an early kill so I decided to roam to shut down Akali before she hit 6. Ez and Brand can't outrange Cait so she can farm freely without me. Brand can't outroam Pyke so it's a win-win scenario. This explains why I went Symbiotic. After laning phase, Ez, Akali, Skarner, and Sett aren't exactly easy to assassinate so I went Umbrail to focus on clearing vision and setting up for vision. Edge is a great passive aggressive item as it allows to deny Brand's stun & other lethal abilities whenever I look to hook someone. Just don't let Ezreal proc your spell shield for free and it's fine. Edge can also block Akali's E, Skarner's Engage, and Sett's lethal abilities. I then go Eclipse because Akali isn't a threat so the shield will suffice. Eclipse also allows me to make short winning trades, withering the opponents down while countering the enemies' core HP items. Lastly, I went Bloodsong for more dmg amp & Serpent's Fang bc Sett was the only threat.

1-2. Here, I showcase 2 games where I went Tiamat as support Pyke. There are 2 cases where Tiamat Pyke Support is good.

A. You're ahead, enemy is playing safe, and you can farm jg camps/side lanes without setting your teammates behind.

B. You need some for of waveclear because of your team comp or b/c your Top Laner/Mid Laner aren't handling side lanes so you take it upon yourself to deal with the fed Trundle perma splitting uncontested.

You can upgrade your Tiamat if you want to fully comit to farming or you can hold onto Tiamat if you have another item you want to purchase that'll benefit your teamfighting power.

1. Steelplate for Irelia/Shaco since I already have Edge + Cleanse for Lux/Blitz/Fiddle. Umbrail + Vigilant Wardstone + Oracles to counter Shaco & Fiddle.

2. ADC Pyke

3. I was our only form of engage and I clearly wasn't having the best time this game. Not much to learn from this game except going full glass cannon when behind and hope for the best.

4. ADC Pyke

5. Hubris > Profane w. Celestial Build. Got an early lead, enemy played safe, I wanted late game insurance. Hubris gives me late game insurance while Profane allowed me to continue to snowball my lead as I farm our jg and our jgler farms the enemies' jg. Mercs for tenacity + MR. And I was building Voltaic to get on top of the squishies and even the bruisers. Note that I almost always pair Voltaic with Edge as it enables me to E + AA (Voltaic Slow) into stun without being cc'd mid-combo.

6. Edge rush into Naut.

1. Edge into Naut, Knight's Vow for Armor to counter Aphelios Lethality (esp when he's already behind) while providing some protection to my Jinx. Mercs for tenacity + MR & Negatron Cloak + Celestial to counter Syndra's burst. Cloth armor as a recipe item for Jak'Sho as I already have armor & MR items, allowing Jak'Sho to give me defense amp & bonus AD from HP conversion.

Solstice Sleigh bc I didn't need anti-burst or dmg amp & would benefit from extra move speed + healing.

Umbrail + Vigilant + Oracles to counter Fiddle & Teemo. Edge to counter everyone but Lucian. Mercs to counter everyone but Lucian. Bloodsong for dmg amp against Rene Mid & TK Supp. Cloth Armor for some resis against Lucian/Rene as I don't have Celestial.

now you analyze the item choices (so i don't have to)

Summoner Spells

Deals true dmg (scaling w. lvl), over time & applies 40% grevious wound for 5 secs. This counters healing while also providing extra dmg which can be the difference between scoring a kill or not. You want to default to as your primary aggressive summoner spell as it'll have value no matter what.

Blinks to a a cursor within it's range. Can be used in combination with your abilities/item actives/etc. for so much more outplay potential. is mainly used to get over terrains, dodge abilities, or just to gap close in a single moment. Similar to , you want to default to as your primary mobility spell.

has been more viable since the popularity of ADCs running . Since directly counters , running in anticipation of 's counter to is a viable strategy. However, it's not good to assume one would run a certain summoner spell just because it's meta, just like you shouldn't assume their runes or items. Despite this, is the perfect passive-aggressive item and thrives when picked into atk-speed based marksmen (exp. , , , etc.). Combine with , , and to unlock a new way of playing .

Viable replacement for as your situational "mobility spell". is extremely op when combined with as you can weave in multiple autos and out-space ADCs with a moment of superior movement speed & stats. You can pop for a quick gap-close (esp when combined w. & ), (E) towards or on top of an enemy champion, to slow them while simutaenously getting another boost of movespeed from + (while you're still ed) for a near guaranteed stun-engage combo. You can hook them afterwards or one-shot them with , AAs & .

Removes all disables (except Suppression and Airborne) and summoner spell debuffs affecting your champion and lowers the duration of incoming disables by 75% for 3 seconds (does not remove the healing reduction from Ignite). Taking will not provide any combat stat advatage aside from removing summoner spells & cc's. This means to only take when you can win lane without combat sums & you know you'll get meaningful value from throughout the entire course of the game. is only recommend into many lethal CC abilities. I personally find myself taking versuses as I tank his hooks often when channeling my hook (which can easily be avoided by casting to cancel your channel + dodge). However, in the case of , I'm usually advantageous if we trade Q's and I cleanse his as my champion can still play aggressively without Q. You can also purposely tank lethal crowd-control skill shots if you want to sacrifice your .

disco pyke

Gives you an extra layer of security and an element of surprise. However, in Patch 14.22, was nerfed so it might not be viable anylonger. Regardless, it can still be good into neutral/losing matchups where you just want to survive the laning phase. I personally don't like going simply b/c it doesn't instantly cast when I press it due to my ping gap.

Pyke Skins Tier List IMO

Click Here To Goto Next Chapter

Honestly, I can't really complain too much on Pyke skins aside from the fact that they always nerf Pyke before dropping a skin. & has to be some of the best skins in the game. Keep in mind that this is just my own personal skin tier list as everyone has different tastes & preferences!

my pyke skin tier list

Empyrean Pyke: Makes you feel like a 1v9 God. I like the Emerald Chroma as it stands out the most. Empyrean Pyke's AA animation is vivid and smooth with an immersive SFX, somehow encapsalating the depth of the sea with the deep unknown void. Whenever using this skin canceling your AAs seem impossible as they're dramatic and vivid. His W isn't cluttered with anything unnecessary and is seemingly enlarged, showcasing Pyke's true W range. His E isn't flashy but fits perfectly with everything else, giving it a perfect balance in extreme yet classy. Last but not least, his R is bold and unique with a special visual effect, altering the ground into an ever-expanding universe for all to see when scoring a pentakill.

Empyrean Pyke Skin (Video)

empyrean pyke pentakills

Ashen Knight Pyke: You're an Elden Ring Boss. The theme is perfect, the audio effects are engraved into your soul as each continuous kill fills your emptiness into something... complete. His recall is iconic as it makes the skin feel alive and full of deep emotion. Everything is literally perfect. However, the one crucial thing it lacks is some sort of kick. Something that makes it stand out above the rest, completly unique and different. Something like Empyrean Pyke...

This ultimately results in Ashen Knight being too perfect in the sense of a complete skin, but it becomes stale after using it for a while. To keeps things interesting, I enjoy switching to it's chroma whenever I'm losing, and back to no Chroma whenever I'm less tilted.

Click Here To Goto Next Chapter

Ashen Knight Pyke Skin (Video)

Sand Wraith: The forgotten King reclaiming his throne. Extremely smooth skin with a crisp AA animation, second to Empyrean. I feel like it could have been more aesthetically pleasing without the hood, embracing the mummified theme to it's fullest. However, it's recall is easily the most badass, screaming "You are beneath me". And since my favorite color is black, the Obsidian Chroma takes the crown.

Sand Wraith Pyke Skin (Video)

Classic Pyke (Base Skin): Broke IRL but swimming in LP. Pyke's basic skin is truly a work of art. As someone who plays on many accounts, I can't afford to purchase skins on all of them. This means I've been playing Pyke without a skin for most of my games and I've yet to get bored of it. Pyke's basic skin had set the bar very high for all of his other skins to come.

Prestiege Soul Fighter Pyke: An unstoppable force, you're in your prime but it's all a dream of the distance past. Less emphasis on the cape, making it feel lighter & a touch of bling to make it a lil' something extra. I think the white hair is a good complementary color with it's extravagant gold, black, and purple colo palette.

Prestige Soul Fighter Pyke Skin (Video)

Soul Fighter: Medium-heavy with smooth, artsy animations. Soul Fighter Pyke makes you feel like a badass pirate captain from One Piece. I love the cape and the Obisidian Chroma is my favorite.

Soul Fighter Pyke Skin (Video)

Click Here To Goto Next Chapter

Soul Fighter Penta Kill (Video)

PsyOps: Heaviest skin but not to the point where the animations becomes clunky. It has one of the darkest color palettes for it's base skins and both the Obsidian & Hunter Chromas are great options!

PsyOps Pyke Skin (Video)

Project: Pyke: A failed skin that didn't focus on the bigger picture. I think Project: Pyke has excellent /dance, /laugh, recall, etc; but the model and it's animations could have been way better. Is it worth 1820 RP? Definitely not. Should it be revamped? 100%. Regardless, Project: Pyke was of Pyke's earlier skins and I believe they used this skin as a stepping stone to achieve some of Pyke's best skins to date.

Project:Pyke Skin (Video)

Blood Moon Pyke: Plain, a disappointment due to low effort. Blood Moon Pyke has a great model & good SFX. But that's it. Nothing but a different character model with a decent recall, and some new SFX. For the perfect themed Pyke Skin, this was a huge letdown. Had they put any effort into this skin, it could have been one of the best go-to Pyke Skins.

Click Here To Goto Next Chapter

Blood Moon Pyke Skin (Video)

Fright Night Pyke: The first Pyke Skin aside from Sentinal Pyke that I never bothered to try. I simply dislike how ugly and A.I. generated the Splash Art looked. The VFX wasn't any better.

Fright Night Pyke Skin (Video)

Sentinal Pyke: Shoulda been Ruined Pyke, not Underpants Pyke.

Sentinel Pyke Skin (Video)

Settings

Pyke is a Champion who's quito sensitive to lag so make sure you close any useless tabs or apps running in the background as they can cause unwanted ping/fps drops. If any lag presists, try uninstalling apps you don't use to free up space. Lastly, lower your in-game graphics to help reduce any clutters.

Make sure you play with quickcast and line missle display enabled. I highly recommend checking "Show Spell Cost" so you can quickly calculate your total mana cost for a particular combo whenever you're low on mana.

visuals

Your mouse sensativity should be adjusted to where it's as fast as possible without hindering your ability to aim. Go to Practice Tool to test your hooks on dummies and increase your mouse sensativity until you have trouble aiming 99% accuracy.

visuals

Everyone's DPI may vary in speed regardless of your League Mouse Settgs as your computer also has it's own mouse-pointer sensativity -- making League's mouse sensativity just an add-on. If you want even more precise control over your pointer speed, adjust your computer's mouse sensativity as well by going to your computer's settings > bluetooth & devices > additional mouse speed (For Windows).

mouse properties

Afterwards, you can adjust your Camera Move Speed to your new pointer speed. There are many other settings to go over but they're not directly correlated to Pyke. However, you should watch this video regardless, if your goal is to maximize control over your ability to gather intel and perform to your maximum potential.

Don't be afraid to intergret new settings. It may seem intimidating at first, but you can start off with a few changes & slowly add more as you get used to it.

Pros & Cons

Pro:Strong early game, esp. when paired w. agro ADC/JG

Pro:Insane mobility (W & E)

Pro:Low Q Cooldown (Lowest base cd for hook)

Pro:No mana problems (As long as you don't waste/overstay)

Pro:Extremely versatile

Pro:High skill ceiling (Skill shots, Combos, Adaptability)

Pro:Great skins (Empyrean & Ashen)

Pro:Great High Elo (But also high ban rate)

1. Pyke is extremely strong early game due to his high base AD (in combination with . His kill pressure is immense if he can get an early lvl lead (esp. when paired with a strong, early-game ADC).

2. Pyke's W () & E () paired with his Passive () makes him extremely slippery and hard to kill. However, often times you'll bait your ADC into walking too far up so always be mindful of what the enemy team can do to your ADC if you're both overextended.

3. Pyke's Q () only has a 10 second base cooldown compared to 's 19, 's 20, and ' 14, which can often times be used off cooldown to catch your opponents off guard.

4. Pyke's Q ( refunds 75% of it's mana if it's interrupted/canceled, and it also refunds 100% mana whenever it hits an enemy champion. Combine this with ' mana regen and Pyke's already low-mana cost abilities, you'll rarely find any mana issues unless you're wasting abilities on minions/overstaying.

5. Pyke is extremely versatile because he has many choices & combinations from his wide pool of items, runes, and summoner spells.

6. Pyke has a high skill ceiling (aside from fundamentals, combos, and champion mastery), as you'll have to constantly adjust to the meta, and to your enemies and allies playstyle and understanding of what your champion is capable of.

7. Pyke has some of the best skins in the game: and .

8. Pyke is statistically a better champion the higher elo you are (if played in the correct team composition). This is because Pyke thrives in an environment where teammates plays around him and sets him up for success.

Con:Falls off by the second (Close out game ASAP)

Con:Self-slow (Q)

Con:75% skill shots

Con:Telegraphed abilities (Q, W, E, R - all have warnings)

Con:Team comp reliant (Cannot solo carry)

Con:Extremely squishy (Cannot build bonus HP)

Con:Hard to master

Con:Constantly nerfed (Riot does'nt like it when Pyke becomes independent)

Con:Terrible Low Elo (Reliant on teammates + falls off)

Con:Meta reliant (Hard to play when counter matchups are meta)

1. Pyke is easily one of the weakest assassins come late game. He falls off extremely hard after 25-35 minutes (whenever enemies start completing their core items). It's not as bad as previous seasons due to providing free anti-burst, however, you will still find yourself extremely vulnerable and useless if you don't know how to properlly macro & itemize during the later parts of the game.

2. Pyke's Q () is a self-slowing ability that can easily leave you vulnerable to hard CC/etc.

3. All of Pyke's abilities that deals damage is a form of skill shot (Q, E, R).

4. Pyke's Q (Hook), W (Warning), E (Phantom return; delayed stun skill shot), and R (Delayed execute skill-shot; reveals to enemy if you have a reset) are all telegraphed and gives your opponents some form of advantage in terms of reaction time & information gathering. No other assassins have this much telegraphed abilities, making Pyke more diff

5. Pyke needs a well-rounded team composition. This usually consists of 1-2 AP, a strong early game ADC/Jungler, and 1 tank/bruiser. Not only that, it's ideal to not pick Pyke into enemy comps with superior laning/hard to gank lanes.

6. Since Pyke cannot gain bonus HP (aside from lvling), he's extremely vulnerable without some form of anti-burst/spell shield. This is why , , and are popular on Pyke.

7. Hard to master (Need 100+ games to gain full confidence)

8. Pyke has been over-nerfed since his release and they will continue to do so as they don't want Pyke to gain too much independent power. People hate playing against Pyke despite his mid to low win-rate due to his ability to hard stomp games as a support when matched against squishy & immobile champions.

9. Pyke is extremely dependent on his teammates' ability to play around him and close out a winning game. The lower your teammate's overall IQ, the higher odds of you losing. In lower elos, champions who fall off as hard as does is not ideal for solo climbing due to players' inability to close out winning games.

10. Pyke thrives when Assassins are strong & counter matchups are weak. On the otherhand, Pyke struggles when there's low damage in the game, and tank/cc supports are meta.

Click Here To Goto Runes

Is it a Good Idea to OTP Pyke?

No. Since Pyke is extremely team comp oriented, it's in your best interest to increase your champion pool to 2-3 champions minimum. I've never done this myself, but perhaps learning other hook/engage champs such as Blitz, Thresh, Naut, Leona, and Rell alongside a few enchanters like Lulu, and Renata will help you become a more well-rounded player.

Pyke is also banned quite often, making him a nightmare to OTP.

If you still want to OTP Pyke, I recommend playing on 2-5 accs so you can dodge & swap accs whenever he's banned or whenever the team comp doesn't favor you.

What Team Comps Favors Pyke?

Ideally, you want an early game Jungler that can camp your lane. As for your ADCs, it's best for them to play comfort and for you to adjust your playstyle around their pick.

You do not want 4 AP champs as Pyke isn't a champion that can carry as the sole AD champion. Remember; your team does no dmg, you'll also do no dmg.

Similarly, you don't want to be all AD. 1 AP minimum.

Patch 14.21 Pyke's ADC Tier List

Meta ADC is Good With Pyke (14.21)

As of writing this guide it's patch 14.21. Pyke's Adc Tier list will most likely change from the time you're reading this guide as it usually does whenever there's a new patch. However, you can simply go to u.gg and search what ADC has a high w/r to get a general idea of what's good with Pyke in the current meta as pyke usually thrives with meta ADCs.

What Enemy Comps Fks Pyke?

Early game Junglers with strong ganking potentials & lockdowns like Bel'veth & Jarvan.

ADCs that are strong early, mid, and late (Jhin/Kai'sa/Ashe/aka. meta ADCs), especially if they have high mobility.

Tanky Supports with CC, esp. other hook champs like Blitz, Thresh, and Naut.

Mid/Top laners that are hard to gank.

Can You Blind Pick Pyke?

In lower elos, yes. After Diamond if you want to win, no.

The reason being is low elo players don't know how to counter pick and even if they do counter pick they're not skilled & coordinated enough for it to matter. Whereas more skilled players are more likely to counter pick you, rendering you completely useless. And if Pyke is useless, the game is as good as over.

You should always trade your ADC and make them first pick. This is because your ADC should be picking a champ that synergizes well with Pyke. Having your Jg/Mid FP is also a reasonable request.

However, if you are forced to FP, you shouldn't let it affect your mental. Afterall, it's still solo queue and you'll always be able to capitalize on enemy mistakes regardless if you're counterpicked.

At the end of the day, no one wants to FP and the only person to blame is yourself if you don't have a good blind pick champion.

Past Pyke Guides / Combos & Interactions

a pyke combo you've never seen before

pyke e interaction you've never seen before

invisible pyke e after delayed e r flash combo

MOST INSANE PYKE R FLASH COMBO

Wave Control Guide

wave control guides (Video)

In League of Legends, wave control (also known as minion wave management) is one of the most important yet underappreciated skills in the game. Mastering wave control allows you to manipulate your lane, apply pressure, and create advantages for your team. Whether you’re looking to freeze, slow-push, or fast-push, wave control gives you the flexibility to control when and how you engage, reset, or rotate to other lanes.

This guide will break down wave control strategies, how to execute them, and why they are important for every role in League of Legends.

details

Mindset Of Ranked Solo Queue

Regardless of what champion you play, if you're playing with a bad mentality you're already hurting your chances of winning by more than you'd think.

League of Legends is more team oriented than ever. You have to play alongside your teammates working together to secure the victory. Gone are the days where you can 1v9 as Pyke regardless of your teammates afking. Nowadays communication & teamwork is key to winning a game. Everything starts before you even queue up. If you're tilted from a previous game you'll most likely play worse and just continue to tilt queue, building up anger until you finally give up and go to bed. Sometimes it's important to know when to stop and just do something else to clear your mind.

Of course, having a monk mentality is easier said than done. You're forced to play alongside 4 strangers with limited coms and you just feel like the game's outcome is determined by who gets the worse teammates. Despite all of this, you're not alone and everyone is having to play around this obstacle. Instead of focusing on what you can't control, focus on what you can. This means focus on your mistakes, not your teammates. Perhaps you could have prevented your teammate from inting had you pinged them to be careful. Or maybe if you didn't follow your teammates into a bad fight, you could have got resources elsewhere instead of wasting tempo and risk dying for nothing.

League is all about playing around your teammates mistakes & directing them towards victory with smart pings. Think of your teammates as pawns that can grow it's own limbs at any moment and ignore your commands if you don't treat them nicely. The worst thing you can do is tilt all your teammates and be completely shut off from any team coordinations. League players will develop an ego overtime and once you bruise their ego, your odds of winning are already looking grim.

Tip: Turn party chat only on to prevent typing to your teammates if you have a tendency to flame. Accept the fact that you're the consistent factor in all of your games so if you play well every game, you will eventually climb. And lastly, don't think too much of Defeats. Defeats are ineviatble, it's what you learn along the way that matters most.

Champ Select & Loading Screen

Make sure you have your runes & spells adjusted according to your lane opponents and the enemy team comp.

Anaylze your Bot Lane Matchup. Who's stronger lvl 1? Anaylze your team comp vs the enemies'. Can they invade us? Who has more cc? Who has more dps? How does our team's lvl 1 stack against theirs? Begin to formulate a lvl 1 plan based on all the intel you've gathered and now adjust it on the fly according to how your teammates react. Do you want to get lane prio? Ping your teammates to be careful of getting invaded. Tell your adc to follow you and not get caught early. Do you want to invade? Maybe you have a weak early jgler and adc and you want to get an early lead through a stronger lvl 1 comp via an invade. Or perhaps you want to stack in anticipation of their invade?

All of this can be overwhelming at first but through experience you'll formulate a plan instantly and you're already playing the game before it's even started.

Invading

You should only invade if it benefits your lane. This means you're in a losing bot matchup and you can potentially get an early lead with an invade.

However, this doesn't mean you should blindly invade everygame you have a losing lane. If your lvl 1 team comp is weaker than theirs, then invading should not even be an option. Sure, you may get lucky and still score a kill but the risk vs reward simply isn't worth it. Instead, look to see if you have other options.

Stacking

Do you think the enemy will invade due to their superior lvl 1? Do you think if all 5 members stack and you get the first move, you'll win? Picture the fight in your head and assume all your teammates will lvl their cc ability. Who wins? If you guys do win then you can stack to counter their invade. Don't upgrade your ability as you can either start E or Q. Wait until you're about to use an ability before leveling it (this applies for lvl 1-3). Use your ward to setup vision in fog where you're stacking if there's any possible blind threats (exp Blitz hook).

Similar to invading, stacking shouldn't always be your go-to option if enemies could potentially invade. If you're in a hard winning lane, you should be setting lane prio and looking to punish the enemy bot lane if they didn't ward lane brush lvl 1 instead.
You can always tell your teammates to ward your bot buff in anticipation of their invade and react accordingly.

Cheesing aka. Setting Up Lane Prio

What used to be called a "Cheese" has slowly become the norm. Before, hard winning bot matchups could easily 100-0 enemy bot laners as soon as they entered lane, but after many nerfs and durability patches, this has now become a 2/3 step process. Essentially, you're running straight to bot lane and setting up complete control of the lane brushes, ready to pounce on the enemy bot laners as soon as they're in your Q/E range.

If you can hook them, it's ideal to target the ADC. However, if the support is squishy and/or alone, you can also target them instead. You'll chunk them while maintaining lane prio for faster lvl 2. You can also start E if they hide behind minions but missing your stun can be very punishing. If you don't see an angle or they're stronger but get to lane late, you can pull the wave to deny them a cs worth of gold and exp while simutaneously forcing them to walk further up in danger range to farm. This will give them a slow push so they could potentially reach lvl 2/3 faster if they outrange you and play aggressively push the wave.

A counter to cheesing is sending 5 members bot lane. However, a counter to that is warding the middle brush as soon as you enter lane so you don't have to face check the brush. At the highest of tiers, you can even counter their counter by sending 5 bot as well if you guys have a stronger lvl 1.

visual

TLDR: Setting Up Lane Prio will enable you to have the first move over your lane opponents, allowing you to dictate how the lane plays out for the first 3 lvls (assuming they don't contest for lane prio).

Early Game

Pyke's early game performance will determine how the game plays out for the rest of the game. Losing lane is not an option if you want to consistently win games on Pyke. Always look to win lane or go even. The second you're 0/1 you forfeit all control of the early game. (This, of course, isn't always the case, but that's my mindset when playing .)

Observe how the enemies play, observe how your ADC responds to your plays and determine how you want to play the laning phase from what you observed. Perhaps the enemy is play overly aggressing in a losing matchup? In which case you should be wary that maybe you're getting ganked - if not you've just skill checked them and you can punish them for overstepping in a losing matchup.

Is your ADC walking up whenever you are? Are they managing the wave correctly? Are they playing overly passive or overly aggressive when they're not supposed to? Are they respecting enemy Mid/Jg MIA? Are they recalling when they're supposed to? What are they building? All of these will determine how you preceive your ADC and you need to have a rough estimate of how dogsht your ADC is this time around.

TLDR; skill check the enemy and your adc to determine how bad they are. Adjust your playstyle accordingly. It's best to not have any expectations so you won't be disappointed.

If you're getting camped you can choose to play safe or play with the enemy jgler's time. It all depends on how much you can get away with. It's not a bad thing if you're getting camped and your JGler is double their farm while impacting the other side of the map. Play to the absolute limit and juggle the enemies back and forth, wasting as much of their time as possible.

If you're stronger bot/mid you shouldn't concede Drakes for free. Force a winning fight even if you are outnumbered. If you don't think you can force a fight despite being stronger, look to trade objectives or get an edge on tempo.

Once you obtain a lead, you want to maintain it and snowball it as hard & as fast as you can. Spam engage if their Flash is down (while respecting their jg/mid). Once their Flash is up look to burn it and repeat the proccess. If they play too safe, look to roam but make sure to not leave your ADC vulnerable when you're gone.

When roaming, you should have an idea of which lanes are gankable and return Bot ASAP if there's no angle. It's best to roam when you know where the enemy jgler/supp is. You can also synergize with your Jgler to gank a lane together/invade the enemy jg/take grubs. Clear any pinks along the way and drop some wards if you can on your way back to Bot. If Bot is chilling and their wave state is fine, you can look to gank/invade again or recall for items. If you don't have gold, you can return to Bot for xp.

Also when roaming you can fix your allies wave for them (exp if they're low and need a wave to be crashed to reset you can help push). But generally, if their wave is fine you don't want to be in xp range (unless you're close to lvling). Sharing too much xp with solo laners can single handedly ruin their entire laning phase.

If you can dive the enemy or get them low but they're under tower, you can push the wave with your solo laners and harass the enemy under their tower. Don't be afraid to manipulate the wave as long as you know what you're doing. However, if your teammate disagrees with you, it's best to just leave them alone to avoid tilting them.

Mid Game

Mid game is all about grouping for objectives, setting up vision & an attempt to gain control of an area rather through vision, or lane prio BEFORE the objective spawns. You can still roam and look for ganks, invades, dives, catches, etc. but you want to do so only when it's free. Whenever you leave your ADC, make sure they have enough vision to safely farm. Otherwise, you don't want to leave them if you don't know where the enemies are.

If you're ahead, you want to constantly look for fights and prevent the enemy from catching up. If you're behind, you want to focus on vision and punish the enemy when they overforce.

Look to cross map objectives when you can't contest, and recall and spend your gold 1-3 mins before objective spawns.

Try to close out the game via Rift Herald, Soul, or Baron. Always try to get on Pyke as you can E away safely after driving it. Herald can also be used as an engage/escape tool as it's essentially a more flexible Sion Ult.

rift herald info

Always have 1 control ward placed on the map and buy another if you think they can easily clear it. Get if you don't need or you can't facecheck or you're split pushing.

You should always be thinking what to buy next and plan your recalls around your item spikes. Get used to opening shop before basing to plan out your build path to save precious time. You never want to be in a scenario where you're sitting in fountain pondering what items to buy. Tempo is very important. Whoever is on the map faster will be in control and stay in control until they die/ruin their tempo.

Late Game

Everyone is almost full build and your ability to assassinate squishies is noticeably weaker. Simply put, whoever gets soul/baron/elder will have their shot at closing out the game.

Adjust your builds for survivability and then worry about offensive items after. Sell for , get / if you're having trouble with vision. Consider buying if you feel like an extra life can make a difference, and if enemies are stacking armor consider buying .

Don't facecheck when your is down. Recall for more wards & pinks. Stay with your team and avoid splitting if possible. Look for number advantageous fights and force baron fights if you're ahead.

Be patient and wait for your moment to strike. Also don't forget to buy Elixirs if you're just sitting on 500 gold.

is very OP late game & if you have a backdoor angle consider replacing your boots with (which you can later upgrade to last).

Vision Control Guide

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Vision control is a key aspect of gameplay in League of Legends. It provides information on the enemy's movements, objectives, and ambush opportunities, enabling your team to make informed decisions. Proper vision can be the difference between a well-executed play and a devastating loss.

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Tempo Guide

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In League of Legends, tempo refers to the pace at which the game progresses. The concept is rooted in the idea of controlling the flow of the game, dictating when to push objectives, take fights, or play more cautiously. Having good tempo control means your team is always in a favorable position—dictating the rhythm of the match, whether you're ahead or catching up.

Understanding and mastering tempo is crucial for competitive play because it influences how you set up objectives, manage lanes, and time your power spikes.

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Roam Timers Guide

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Roaming is one of the most impactful ways to influence the map and help your team in League of Legends. As a mid-laner or even a support, roaming to other lanes at the right time can give your team a huge advantage by securing kills, applying pressure, or helping to secure objectives. A crucial aspect of successful roaming is knowing the timing—when is the best moment to roam, and how to make sure your roam is effective.

This guide will break down the concept of roam timers, helping you understand the best times to leave your lane and how to do it effectively.

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Think Like An Assassin

Stay out of vision whenever possible.
Use your W to dodge potential areas that could be warded when roaming.
Constantly look to catch players who are alone.
As an assassin, dmg is your best defense. However, sometimes having a bit of defensive stats to prevent enemies from getting your bounty is necessary. Find balance and adjust your build based on what you need the most.

Misdirection

After clearing a ward, the enemy will have 3 seconds of lingering vision in that area. You can use this to your advantage by fainting your route. For example: after clearing a ward, walk one way and then return after 3 seconds to catch your opponents off guard. This concept can be applied with your W as well.

Alongside misdirection, you shouldn't announce your whereabouts for free. Some examples include: sitting in plain vision instead abusing fog of war, hitting the Scryer's Bloom when ganking a lane, clearing a ward in baron/dragon pit when it isn't applying vision -- announcing that you guys are sneaking it, or not getting the habit of canceling your W's animation with Recall whenever you're idle.

Now flip everything I just said with the opposite intentions and you have misdirection at your disposal. For example you can fake a gank by hitting Scryer's Bloom, or use your W to force enemies to back off when they're not even in danger.

Misdirection is all about getting in their heads and playing mindgames with your opponents. Only you'll know your true intentions and you'll keep them guessing.

Things You Should Know

Whenever your R is up, you can see execute thresholds on enemies' hp bars. When they're executeable, their HP Bar turns bold, bright red.

Enemies can regen/heal out of execute during your R's channel duration.

You can R + Ignite to get a target to execute threshold mid animation.

In some cases, you should predict ally's damage to get preemptively R before they're even executebale.

You can determine how tanky the enemy is based on their execute threshold.

Pyke requires at least 1 lethality item every game to function as his abilities are centered around lethality.

Enemies and allies will see your an R icon next to your HP bar whenever you have an R reset available.

Allies & enemies alike won't be able to see your Execute threshold. However, enemies will get a audio cue whenever they're in execute threshold if they're within Pyke's W signal range.

As of Patch 14.21, you can buffer Pyke's Q whenever it's on CD for it to insta-cast when it's off CD.

Pyke's R CD is often bugged from . If you see their execute threshold bar, then your R is up and ready.

You can use R to blink to another side of a wall when both you and your target are on the same side.

pyke wall hop

You can flip targets over terrains & structures.

You can E inside a brush (and perhaps flash) to hide your E animation when looking to ambush a target.

You can cancel your recall last second with W to fake a recall.

Opening with Flash/W into R will give opponents less time to react to your R than opening with E.

If your gray health isn't regening it means enemies have vision of you. This can mean an invisible target is near you, or you're standing near/on a ward/trap.

Whenever you're in and an explaination mark appears above your champion, it means someone that's not visible to you is in your W range. This can be helpful for scan brushes without facechecking. The same concept can be used to detect invisible champions like , , , , etc.

Using Smart Pings

Danger Ping The Wave: to stop your ADC from fast pushing. Perhaps you want a slow push or freeze instead.

Danger Ping on top of ally, followed by a missing ping on where they could get flanked. This will usually make them play less agressively and make them more wary about missing enemies.

Assist Ping on top of someone, then Assist ping where you need assitance: This will first get their attention to look for where you need assistance. Just spam pinging assistance on top of yourself usually won't get someone to move.

1 Question Mark Ping for BM only: anymore risks you getting insta muted.

Area is Warded: to notify that a bush is warded. You can use this ping to let your teammates know to path around a certain area.

Need Vision Ping: to make someone use their ward. Combine this with typing "[teammate] can u ward here pls" will usually get them to ward at lvl 1.

Don't spam ping all-in or on-my way until the moment you want them to walk up. If you spam ping engage early, most players won't bother to look where you're at and just blindly start a fight when you're not even close.

Flash Timers

Flash has a base 5 min CD. If they have it's -1 min, if they have -30 secs. I know these aren't the precise timers but it'll get the job done.

Ping enemies' Flash whenever they use it. If you ping late, then subtract then guesstimate when they used flash based off your ping. Add 5 min from when you think they Flashed, then subtract 1 min if they have and an additional 30 seconds if they have .

You won't know who has whenever you're in a game so do your research during loading screen. Have op.gg opened and goto live match to make a note of who has on the enemy team.

Once you've calculated when their Flash is back up, you can type it in chat like this:

1455jg 1210supp 1030top
1455jg 1210supp 1030top
1455jg 1210supp 1030top

Make sure to select all by holding CTRL + A with chat box opened and copy by holding CTRL + C. To paste, hold CTRL + V and hit enter to put it in chat. Paste it a couple more times so it'll be more visible in all of the chat's clutter.

To update the timers paste and delete expired timers. Make sure you put newer timers on the left (using the left arrow key) to have an easier time deleting old timers.

You want to find windows to type these timers usually when you're walking to a lane/objective or when you're dead/recalling. Knowing when to update timers is vital as you don't want to waste any valuable tempo.

Now that you have a good idea of who has Flash and who doesn't, you (and hopefully your team) can make plays with confidence.

Be like water, learn to adapt

League is a game where you have to adjust your playstyle, items, runes, and mentality to focus on what you can control and not what you can't. Adapt to your environment, and adapt to changes. Have 0 expectations and you'll be less tilted by your teammates actions/inactions.

Keep yourself updated on the meta, and always read patch notes. Knowledge is power and hopefully you learned a bit from this guide.

All Matchups (AI)

aatrox