Disgusting matchup. Her ult is almost useless for us and she's honestly just a very sleeper broken champion with the only thing lacking from her kit being mobility. Against a good Anivia the laning phase was over in champ select so you will have to play for skirmishes and roam timings. Take TP and D Shield to minimise damage from poke. Only trade when her Q is down so try and bait it out. Past 6 don't trade as she flat out wins if you engage first. Max Q to allow you to farm and match her waveclear. Early boots can be really nice to bait out or dodge her Q. Would also consider building early mercs or null magic mantle to negate her burst damage as early on she will only have ROA.
Cassiopeia
Extremely difficult matchup as her root on W completely negates all the mobility in our kit. Like Anivia you will be playing for jungle, skirmishes and looking to roam as lane is extremely difficult to win against a good Cass. Maxing Q can allow you to farm and trade effectively. Take D Shield and consider picking up boots early to dodge her Qs.
Kassadin
This champion ruins you. His ult is useless to steal and your only hope of winning the lane is pre 6 where he is weakest. Just be careful if he has taken electrocute as you may lose trades still due to his passive and E being great counters to Sylas. Good Kassadins will look to bait you into E ing onto them and then walk back into their minion wave with passive so that it misses. To trade make you sure you W first to allow you to hit E2. Play for jungle invades and skirmishes pre 6 as if the game goes late you won't be able to fight or sidelane against him. Ignite can be taken if you are absolutely sure you can all in safely without enemy jungler ganking.
Vex
Another extremely difficult matchup due to her countering all your dashes. You can never trade onto her whilst she has her fear up so try and bait it out first. Even then she can proc passive after you dash in so be careful of her damage. Look to max Q as you will need to match her wave clear and it will also allow you to get the most effective damage from your kit against her.
Zoe
Really difficult matchup she can poke very easily and never let you get onto her because of her E. Your best bet is trading when her R is down and she has missed E then she is a free kill. You outscale in the mid game and win through skirmishes. She is also a weak sidelaner as once her abilities are down you can threaten her quite easily. Mercs are a must but try and finish mythic first.
Ahri
Good Ahri will always save her E for when you try to go in resulting in a lost trade. Play to outscale, her ult is really good to steal in team fights. Early mercs is good and can allow you to completely negate her charm once you have legend tenacity and unflinching stacked.
Akali
Early trades are really rough if she has electrocute, a good Akali will win all trades until you get some levels in W. If she uses her shroud back off immediately and wait it out. It has a long cooldown so look to trade during that time period.
Akshan
Quite a difficult poke matchup he will win fights at all stages because of his kit. Play for mid game fights or look to trade onto him when his Q or E are down.
Annie
Can trade onto her when she has used CDs and no stun however quite a hard matchup as her ult auto wins team fights if she plays them well. Look to scale up into mid game and play towards early skirmishes as she is much weaker with low level Tibbers.
Aurelion Sol
He completely outscales you. You will need to win the game through early game fights or roams or the game will be over after the 20 minute mark. His weak early means you win 2v2 with your jungler and you can potentially solo kill him early as well. Make sure to save your E2 for when he Ws away. If he puts down his E and starts lasering the wave, use your Q and look to E onto him. Q max is advised for this matchup.
Azir
Poke matchup, play safe in lane and minimise the damage he does to you. He outscales you late but your early to mid game is better. You hard win any early skirmish as long as you position correctly and avoid clustering to prevent big Azir ults.
Gangplank
Disgusting poke matchup, little bit more manageable after the Gangplank gutting in Patch 13.5. He outscales you and you can't really trade into him either. Look to play for mid game skirmishes.
Irelia
You simply don't win trades or duels with her at any stage of the game unless she misses E. Even then she can probably just auto you down anyway especially after buying botrk. I've found maxing Q, playing safe and poking her down gives you a very good chance of getting her low enough to prevent her being any kind of threat. Q the minion she will jump to during the lane phase in order to maximise poke.
Jayce
Annoying poke lane but you win all ins. If he takes phase rush look for short trades so he can't q or e back. As long as he doesn't build maw or isn't ahead you win 1v1.
LeBlanc
STATTIK SHIV LEBLANC HAHA!! Thank you Phreak!! This champion used to be quite an easy matchup for Sylas as you outscaled her as long as she didn't get too ahead and poke you out of lane. Now with the new fleet footwork shiv build, she outsustains and out trades you. Her mobility is too much even for Sylas so always look to trade only when she Ws in aggressively. You need to be fast and keep track of which ult she has used as it could be crucial to winning a duel. RUSH MERCS.
Lissandra
Buffed lissandra is another champion that Sylas struggles with these days. Her W negates your all in like any other assassin and her poke can be quite annoying. Another lane where like Varus I would consider taking cleanse against. It will allow you to straight up win any duel. Trade onto her when she uses W or E on the wave. Rush mercs to minimise the time you spent rooted.
Orianna
Heavy poke lane. Try and avoid her q best you can but inevitably she will poke you out of lane if you fail to bait and dodge the damage. You can look to all in if she mispositions especially if she doesn't have phase rush.
Pantheon
Pretty tough matchup he can poke us out of lane very easily with empowered Q and can all in with empowered W meaning it's very tricky to farm. 3 Points into Q helps us farm at a safe distance and scale up. If you can survive lane you will hard outscale him as long as he hasn't gotten 10 kills from your botlane. Steal his ult and follow his roams or make plays of your own and use TP to get back to lane. Bone plating is a must in this matchup as it prevents his empowered W with PTA destroying your health bar.
Qiyana
Avoid using W early when trading with her. She has multiple gap closers which need to be taken into consideration and her burst damage is absurd after dirk. Dodge her Qs as best as you can and consider rushing a seeker's armsguard.
Rumble
Rarely see Rumble mid however quite a tough matchup as being melee we can't really trade well into him due to the shield and the fact his short range Q does absurd damage. However his ult is nice to steal in fights and can turn skirmishes and team fights around.
Ryze
He's actually quite good at trading into Sylas as his root will shutdown any engage if you miss your chain. Look to play for skirmishes and jungle invades as this is where he is weakest in the early game.
Syndra
Heavy poke matchup. Her E is her only defensive spell and can prevent you from getting onto her for trades so if she uses it on the wave make sure to all in her. Early mercs are a must especially if she's saving her E and using it effectively. One trick can be to time your chain with her E but this is unreliable and can be quite tricky to pull off consistently.
Viktor
Another heavy poke matchup which you can't do much against unless he mispositions. If his cage is down look to trade but if he saves it then consider rushing boots to allow you to move through it and continue trading.
Tristana
Horrible matchup as her E damage can half health you level 2. Play extremely safe until you have more levels in Q or W. Look to trade if her bomb is on cooldown as that's where a lot of her early damage comes from.
Vladimir
Quite a difficult matchup if the vlad has taken aery and knows what they are doing. He out sustains you and will try to poke you down. Avoid his empowered Q and look to trade when he has no stacks of Q or his pool is down. Ignite can be really nice for cutting his healing in half or making sure he doesn't get away on a slither of health with his pool.
Ziggs
Heavy poke champ. Consider early boots to avoid his bombs. You can't really roam too much against Ziggs otherwise he will just take your entire tower by 10 minutes. Max Q to match wave clear and abuse his lack of mobility when trading. If he Es or Ws aggressively engage onto him.
Diana
Her W will make trades difficult and her all in is stronger if she has ignite as your healing will be reduced. Her ult is really nice to steal however and if the trade lasts for a long time you will straight up win especially if she has taken electrocute. Avoid her Q poke in lane.
Cho'Gath
D Ring / Conq or First Strike with Conditioning, Overgrowth / TP or Ignite. W Max.
He gets quite tanky so conq is good here. His ult allows you to stack health and your early trades are good into him once you start maxing W.
Fizz
Skill matchup where you are looking for short trades. You can trade aggressively if he uses E as it has a long cooldown early on. Would advise taking ignite so even if he Es away on low health you can still kill him through his untargetability.
Galio
This champ has a surprising amount of damage and poke with his low CD Q and strong all in combo. His E can cancel our W and his magic resistance makes him quite tough to deal with. You outscale him in fights however and can steal his ult to match his roams or make roams of your own if you have stronger side lanes or jungler is rotating.
Katarina
Pretty annoying champion as she will try to short trade then e away to her creep wave. Can trade back with first strike or electrocute and try to run away before she can trade back. Her ult negates our healing so back off when she uses it.
Lux
She can oneshot entire minion waves allowing her to roam and move to fights before you. Would advice maxing Q to somewhat match her wave clear. Trade with her only when Q is down and win the lane through dodging and baiting out her E damage.
Taliyah
After the buffs this champion is honestly quite hard to play against. Her E negates all the mobility in our kit just like Cass and her roaming potential with R makes it hard to get to skirmishes early without stealing her ult in advance. Max Q to wave clear and most importantly dodge her W. If she uses E and W aggressively you can win every trade.
Talon
Avoid his W and don't let him get full stacks of his passive on you. Avoid dueling him level 2 and only try to trade when his W is down. He will outroam you throughout the game so max Q to match his wave clear and try to punish by either roaming opposite side to him or by taking plates. Not much else you can do here against a good talon as he will be at every fight before you and has higher burst damage. Bone plating is a must to prevent his all ins later on.
Varus
Not really a common mid lane pick anymore but play it like you would any auto attacking centered poke matchup. His all in level 6 can be devastating and one shot you from full health if he has full blight stacks on you. A rare matchup I could potentially consider taking cleanse in order to straight up win a duel. His mobility is his weakness so again look to trade on mispositioning.
Veigar
When he cages you just dodge his W and you will win any trade afterwards. Avoid letting him stack his Q on you and try to take advantage of his lack of mobility.
Vel'Koz
Heavy poke matchup. Consider early boots to dodge and bait Q out. Engage onto him if he mispositions or uses all his spells on the wave. Dodging his E is crucial to winning this matchup.
Xerath
With the Xerath changes this champion has become quite a threat. His poke damage is very high and if he plays very safe there is nothing you can do. If he mispositions trade onto him and try to avoid his E. Otherwise just play for skirmishing or catch him out with your jungler. His lack of mobility is his major weakness.
Yasuo
Like Yone, quite a difficult matchup if he takes ignite as his dueling power and straight up damage are quite high. Good Yasuos will space you completely by E ing through the wave so just wait until he mispositions or has no Q stacks to trade.
Yone
Quite a difficult matchup if he takes ignite. His all in is very strong and he can prevent you from getting W heal off by snapping back to his E. Only trade if you know his E is down.
Zed
He can all in you at pretty much any stage of the game and win if you misplay and he has ignite. The key to beating Zed is just dodging his shurikens and building a Zhonya's to negate his ult. You can also steal his ult and initiate all ins as well. Everfrost is very good to lock him down and make sure when he ults to E behind you as that is where he will appear. Higher elo Zeds will anticipate this and switch to a clone very quickly so make sure to either save E here or perfect the timing with practice.
Zilean
More annoying than dangerous really. His Q damage can ramp up quite a bit later on but during lane just look to farm and avoid his poke. You can't really trade with Zilean as he can just slow you and double bomb you. However if you do see a good trade window make sure to abuse your stronger early game pre 6. His lack of outright mobility makes him quite vulnerable to jungle ganks and his early skirmishes are quite poor due to heavy skillshot reliance.
Corki
Very weak early so look to trade onto him if he mispositions in lane. He will eventually scale and one shot you but your early advantage should hopefully prevent this.
Ekko
Try to not let him get his passive off and you will win early trades. You beat him at all stage of the game until super late when he can one shot you. You are essentially a better version of Ekko with his ult.
Malphite
He is weak to AP damage, his ult is phenomenal to steal and as long as you don't get too poked down by his Q damage you win all ins. Sylas is one of if not the best counter to Malphite in the entire game. Make sure to steal his ult everytime it's up and use either on the fed member of the enemy team or the grouped up squishy members.
Malzahar
Quite an easy laning phase as he is very weak early on. You can E in and auto to break his shield or use Q to let you engage onto him. His ult is annoying to deal with later on as if he saves it only for you there's nothing you can do except pay the QSS tax.
Neeko
3 Melees, 3 Casters. 3 Melees, 3 Casters. 3 Melees, 3 Casters. Jokes aside you genuinely will need to count the minions for the whole game especially during lane phase. Her early trading power is extremely oppressive and she might be the strongest mage in the game currently. Max Q and only engage when her either E or Q is down. Early boots is a must to dodge her ridiculous Q damage. Her ult is a really good one to steal as you can use zhonyas during the channel time.
Seraphine
Poke lane so max Q to match her wave clear and allow you to farm safely. Can trade if her E is down. Her ult is really good to steal especially in river skirmishes or tight passage fights in the jungle.
Swain
Swain into Sylas is a free win during teamfights. You are essentially a better version of his champion as your extra dashes and sustain from W gives you more damage and makes you very tanky. Lane phase can be tricky but just avoid his E and trade when it's down. Running ignite can be nice for the heal cut.
Twisted Fate
Honestly his lane phase is quite decent if he takes electrocute but punish whenever his W is down. A good TF will never use it on the minions. His ult is a great one to steal as it allows you to roam first if you have level advantage or match his roams if you know a fight will break out in sidelanes after you hit 6. Merc treads are a good pickup as his W is undodgeable.
Naafiri
Her wolves can block your E which you need to take into consideration when engaging on her. Honestly she probably wins every trade before her nerfs in 13.17 so just avoid straight up dueling her. If she Ws onto you aggressively you can E back under tower or into your wave to make her lose the trade.
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[Season 13] Carry on Sylas MID Patch 13.16
Build Guide By Wraithlander
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