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Syndra General Guide by Nyandere

AP Carry Syndra, balling your way to diamond 3 V 3 style

AP Carry Syndra, balling your way to diamond 3 V 3 style

Updated on August 13, 2014
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Nyandere Build Guide By Nyandere 8,749 Views 0 Comments
8,749 Views 0 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Nyandere Syndra Build Guide By Nyandere Updated on August 13, 2014
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Introduction

Hello, my name is Nyandere (Vincent) and this is my first guide. I play league since mid 2012 and started playing treeline only. I loved the first map and was kind of disappointed when Riot announced a rework on the map. Now I love the map even more. I have around 1000 games on this map. Thanks to this my one v one capability went so strong I climbed immediately gold in season 3 and platinum in season 4 in 5 v 5's.

Our ranked team is now Gold 5 in promo's (again) The highest team I was in was platinum 2, but got disbanded due too a friend going to College. Meaning he didn't have enough time. He also was our best player. We are now looking for some new players (pm. Azn Nyandere) You will be tested and instructed to make you a good teamplayer.

This is also the place where I found my two mains. Ahri and Jarvan. Though on this map the strongest apc are champions like Syndra, Xerath and Mordekaiser with high dps, self peel and utility. This guide will be about Syndra and I will make other guides as well.

Hope you enjoy my guide.
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Pro's and Cons


High Dps
Strong initiation
Strong one v one potential
good disengage
works well with many comps. (Jarvan IV or Wukong is where she shines with)


Relatively Squishy
Can be hard to master, due to kiting in higher divisions.
Good mechanics are a must. (Know your enemy)
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Mechanic's + Personal notes

This is a special chapter for people who are new to League of Legends, you will probably have heard this term in Streams, Youtube video's or in ALL-chat.

I will start a little guide here on mechanics to help you become a little better at the game. - The most basic mechanics:

* Kiting: This mechanic is really basic, quite simple, but also the most important mechanic when playing Syndra, you have to be on the move, the entire time. Most of your abilities do not have a cast time what encourages the player to constantly move.

* Knowhow CC: When I was smurfing on my friends account, I found out that a lot of people do not understand the concept off CC. amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy, this is an immobilize, so you can still cast abilities, get that little leg puller of you by casting a Q on yourself and E him away, when the stun is expired use your slow, he won't lay a finger on you if you did the combo correctly. The only CC that hinders Syndra are Knock-backs and Stuns.

* Magic Pen vs ability power: I advice standard 30-35 magic penetration + void staff (35%) this will make your opponent's MR from 100 MR to 30 MR.
- calculation time:
opponent X has 50 MR, you have farmed 3k gold early game and you are rune and masteryless.
syndra's full combo has 750 damage with a four ball ult.
- AP option: 2 dorans (800) + boots (325) + seekers + grial (880) + blasting wand = 110 ap
750 + 330 damage X 0.75 = 810 burst
- Magic Pen option: 2 dorans + Sorc boots + haunting guise = 55 ap + 30 pen
750 + 165 X 0.90 = 823 burst.

Magic pen stays relevant throughout the game due to low base Mr + lack off high anti-AP items
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Skill Sequence

-> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->

Always max R for max Damage, then Q for the high dps, then onwards W for the slow and kiting and lower CD, max e last because of the lower damage, high cd and only needed for utility.
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How do syndra's abilities work

This passive is a bit underrated (a lot of people on forums say she does not have a passive), it makes Syndra snowball naturally.
- Her Q deals 15% extra damage to enemy champions.
- Her W becomes 33% more effective, the slow duration is increased from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds. The range of this ability gains 25 range as well. I also found out the shock-wave of the ability gains 10 range (going to conform this).
- Her E gains 50% width, this means you can kite more effectively. The second advantage is that when you ult your opponent, you can scatter 6 balls and stun the entire enemy team.
- Her R gains 75 range, Seems like not much, but hey, It's a buff for Syndra.
Your bread and butter skill. Without this ability are worth nothing. (except for throwing minions on your opponent, not the point) You always want to max this ability first due to the high damage, low cost and low cooldown.
A tip: when your opponent thinks you will cast your Q, try to hit an auto and then your Q, the animation is a bit different then and harder to predict.
! This ability does not have a cast time! (kiting)

This ability, while having a moderate cooldown, helps you kiting due to the slow and can be used really frequently lategame.
! This ability does not have a cast time! (kiting)

I like this ability a lot. It gives syndra a lot of utility in teamfights, making her kite and peel off really well. The best part of this ability is playing a game of throw and fetch. This trick is really funny to kite the enemy really effectively. i'm going to add a movie about this soon, but for now.
Press Q and add your E after it, when your opponent is half the range of your Q, you should catch the ball in flight with W asap. and smash your stunned opponent with three auto's, your W and maybe an extra Q and finish off if needed with your Ult.

This ability is why I think Syndra need a Dunkmaster/dodgeball skin as well. This ability has a base ratio of 0.6 and maximum 1.6 (8 balls total). Making it one of the strongest single targetted nukes in the game. Use this skill wisely because of the high early CD.
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Runes

9 Magic penetration runes. Generally speaking, these are mandatory on any APC due to the high damage on squishier targets. I don't advice any other due to the low perfomance rates of marks for apc's.

5 Mana regeneration runes (flat) I always take 5 seals of these runes. The scaling on Treeline makes these runes more useful then ever (sort of grail of harmony effect). And let you harass/roam a bit better due to being able to have enough mana to sustain through the laning phase.
4 scaling armor runes. A lot of people ask me why my runepages are almost always filled with 4 of these runes. I wont tell you you have to get these runes. But I think these are one of the best runes in the game at this moment. These runes overshadow flat runes at lvl 6 and will scale nicely though out the game. before lvl 6 not much will happen as syndra. Making these runes optimal choices.

9 runes of Flat AP. Syndra needs these to early dominate the lane, push and outsustain.
Greater quintessence of ability power. Who would have thought more AP but we only need 2 of these.
Greater quintessence of movement speed. We need a bit of speed vs these pesky bruisers that riot loves so much, they even have more base speed then you. This will fix our problem and being able to chase and kite more effectively

Experiment if you like, I prefer these runes due to how effective they are though out the game and make you out-scale you enemy's, just by runes.
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Masteries

I love to run 21-0-9 (ranged) or 9-18-3 (melee/ahri) on my apc's. Depending on what champion you are playing. As we are playing syndra we will go 21-0-9.
Offence
Sorcery: (4) Free cdr, Yes please!

Double-edged sword(1) Risky choice, but will let you farm, poke better.
Mental Force (3) Good scaling AP throughout the game.
expose weakness (1) This makes your teams burst a lot stronger.
(srr for icon...) Arcane mastery (1) this mastery is really good. Provides a lot of AP for 1 point.

Executioner (3): 5% more damage vs low targets. It means your 400 damage ult will finish off a low enemy for sure.

Archmage (3) This provides a nice amount of bonus AP when you finished your Wooglet's.

Arcane blade (1) Last-hitting is pretty hard as an AP carry. Try this and you will find yourself with 8-14 more last-hits a game.
Devastating Strikes (3) Do not underestimate your auto attacks. I see a lot of people hit their q. Good job you did 80-85 damage early game. Sadly enough your auto-attack deals without any ad gear-up 60 damage for free, this once or two times. If you can combine your two auto's with a Q. You deal 3* the damage without really putting yourself in danger.

Havoc (1) Free damage, with all the masteries you have taken, this will make your total damage increase by at least 10%.

utility

Phasewalker (1) This mastery saved my life so many times. If you got this mastery active you will also notice that you get away even on the last half-second of teleporting while taking damage.

Fleet of Foot (3) Like I already told you. We use 1.5% from runes and 1.5 from masteries changing our 330 base speed to 340.

Meditation (3) Together with your mana regen runes, you won't be needing more then one mana generation item (chalice/tear).
Alchemist (1) I like this mastery for two reasons. potions give you + 15hp and 10 mana and you need it for the next mastery.

COOKIEMONSTAHH!!! (1) Can't say no to Cookies, this is my personal early game anti ignite. Your opponent ignites you on 60 hp on lvl 3 (110 damage) and thinks you are dead. Randomness overload 60hp + 10 hp + 37.5 hp + 2.2 base regen means 113 hp. Chin up, chest outward and 'ALL: Calculated!'
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Summoner Spells

Viable spells

This summoner spell is mandatory for almost any ap mage without an escape or gapcloser to finish off that enemy. Do not question me. Take it! (sorry ^^)

This ability is still pretty solid when you are getting ganked, or when you can kill off an enemy but you are not sure how they will retaliate.

Solid choice all around, slows an opponent, reduces incoming damage by 40% and reduces their armor and magic resist by 10. Great vs Fizz, Veigar, etc.

I don't use this spell defensively but offensively, when your ally ganks, it makes things much easier.
Extra damage to compliment your burst damage. I rather let my toplaner go this spell.

Situational spells
Only take this spell vs CC heavy teams.
Only take this in contribution with flash. Just adds some needed speed to kite or chase. Wouldn't suggest it though.

Not viable spells, are you really considering these?
Your jungler is your clairvoyance in the map, just don't.
Why are you spamming your abilities so much that you need this, go for a mana item because this spell is useless late game anyway.
Garisson What is this spell doing here :o
I used this spell once on treeline as Hecarim and it was fun, but the high CD makes this more of a meh! spell. I do not consider this as a troll spell due to the game-change potential this can offer.
Problems with last-hitting creeps? Take the butcher mastery... . Wana jungle? No!
I consider this spell as most useless in this map, the amount of walking is the spells duration to lane.
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Items

It's gearing up time. Building items is a thing that other people make sound easy, but it isn't. There are tons of buildpath's that can make your champion better then your opponent's, this means that when you go vs Ap, you don't only buy MR. But also burst damage, to counter the 'Zhonya's - Effect; hourglass, Witchcap).

Starting items Two doran's rings and a health potion. This is a really effective stat because you start with 1300 worth in items for the price of 835. Also the passive effect of the rings make you sustain through a lot of mana.

A really strong counter to AD - bottom (Zed, Pantheon, AD's + Supportlane) I get this item asap due to the money-effectiveness.

My second item in my core build. This item provides excellent mana sustain. This is my moment to say. I love to spam that Q.

sorcerer's boots + haunting guide Really cheap damage + a lot of utility, get this when your opponent hasn't bought any MR items, so you will deal true damage on them.

vs The abyssal scepter is mostly misunderstood. This item provides you nice bonuses. But most people benefit from the passive effects because they build it standard. I sometimes do it as well. Abyssal works really well vs Ap Bruisers (Fizz, Rumble or Nautilus). With Athene's you have to maintain your distance vs long range makes so you can trade without putting yourself uncomfortable (Xerath, Orianna)

vs The plan of treeline is that you deal sustained good dps. Most of the fights happen during midgame in treeline and you can't wait 20 minutes before the tear is fully stacked. The effectiveness of Wooglet's also play a part here while it only gives 25% bonus Ap AND is already a defensive item. Athene's also gives syndra a powerspike due to the high CDR, low cost and high utility.

You have around 200 AP now, time to build out This item makes you win the game, I guarantee it. This powerspike will reach you at lvl 13. You are a kiting god now, and will be able to deal with most enemy's, all at once with your team.

Situational:
If they have three ap's, get this item. It will make you tankier then ever, you might be able to stop a hard cc and needs some valuable hp.
If you are far ahead, (lvl 13 vs lvl 9) get this item. Burst down the enemy 'tank'. Let your teammates deal with the squishy's.
3 AD's? Skip Abyssal scepter and get this with a wooglet's and a Archangel staff (only reason why I build tear is when our enemy's are full ad).
With and you can fight off heavy tanks, and kite opponent's even more while doing crazy damage.
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Matchup's

This chapter is completely personal and will may contain content that you might disapprove.
Aatrox Frequency : low difficulty : medium: I have done this match-up once, and I have to say this lane is more annoying then you might think, he out-sustains a lot of champions and you are no exception.

How to win this match-up. Ask for an early gank from your jungler/toplaner to shut him down early. afterwards you can go all in.

Ahri frequency : low difficulty : medium/hard: As a main Ahri player, I know what her weaknesses and strength's are. Watch out for ganks, when you get charmed during a gank you have 0% chance of surviving.

how to win this matchup: You can win vs her when you can go all in on her when her charm is on cooldown. This when wasted or you can stun her and kite out her charm.

Akali frequency : medium difficulty : hard: deny her before level 6 and try to kill her once. If you can kill her get a Chalice of Harmony chalice of harmony, boots and build an Abyssal Mask asap. This way you can out-sustain and kill her with ease.

how to win this match up: abuse her bad early-game and lack of good escapes with your jungler.

Anivia frequency : low difficulty : hard: a lot of you guys will wonder why I say this match-up is hard. Anyone forgotten that Froggen(1) ever posted this?

How to win this match up: Early aggression is adviced due to the frailness of Anivia, you should all in her on lvl 2, while doing this dodge her Q (it's not easy to dodge it). If you manage to get her in egg for attack her with your auto attacks until she is almost re-birthed, if you can kill her in these 6 seconds (which I doubt), so go for a second round when all your abilities are of cd and try to dominate the lane. Careful for ganks, she has a good sync with many junglers and her CC is really annoying.

Annie frequency low difficulty easy You do everything annie does, but better, you have more range, with a stun, an extra slow and immediate burst.

How to win this match-up: Just poke her with long range and when she want's to stun you, give her a bread of own dough. Oh yeah, I had your bear tibbers (W).

Ashe frequency low difficulty easy: I had this match-up twice, once as Syndra and once as Mordekaiser (she even had a Ziggs to back her up while I was solo). I can only say, she has an allergy to burst.

How to win this match-up: early game you deal as much damage as her with auto-attacks, and you have spells that back you up. she can't kite you because you heavily outrage her.

Brand frequency medium difficulty medium both of you are skill shot reliant with a devastating ultimate ability. Play this match-up carefully.

How to win this match-up: Because this is a skill match-up, ask for an early gank from your jungler/toplaner and try to take an early level advantage, if you are ahead you can snowball vs him. He encourages you to move, try to kite as many skill-shots as you can.

Caitlyn frequency low difficulty easy/medium: good Caitlyn's are rarely found and you won't be have to many problems early game, she does out-range you with auto-attacks so in this match-up's

how to win this match-up: I suggest to poke her with your balls and try to get level 6 before her so you can kill her like any squishy carry.

Cassiopeia frequency low difficulty hard. She has a bit the same kit as you, Q for damage, W with slow , a rapid fire e and a stun. But sadly enough she will out scale you easily and is really dominant early game.

How to win this match-up: I prefer a gank from a jungler/toplaner with a gap-closer because cassio is good at kiting. Try to play really concentrated with this match-up

Cho'Gath frequency high difficulty medium. I really do not like this match-up, just because of the silence. silence means you can still do damage, but vs a cho'gath it's a bit fighting a forest fire with a garden-hose due to his sustain.

how to win this matchup: You should ask your jungler for help because off his lack of escapes. You can burst him early with a bit of help.

Darius leave him for your toplaner and gank him frequently.

Diana frequency low difficulty easy/hard Try to defeat this opponent before lvl 6. try to stun her before she activates her shield so you can apply your entire burst. Ask jungler for ganks but this is not obligatory.

How to win this lane: play aggressive, she can only damage you with her Q, so try to be aggressive.

Ezreal frequency low difficulty easy He will probably be AP on this map, don't worry, he doesn't deal any damage at all. Just be careful after lvl 13 because of his high base damage later in the game.

How to win this match-up : Try to poke him as much as possible, bait out his e and go all in.

Fiddlesticks frequency low difficulty medium A low health, high sustain champion. He can be really annoying due to silence + fear + high damage ratio's, try to poke him and when he drains just stun him with your combo. Hitting a stationary champion isn't that difficult.

How to win this match-up. Try to outplay him.

Fizz frequency High difficulty hard Nope, Nope, Nope and Nope! Laneswap with your toplaner. Fizz has a difficult time to bruisers that you work well with: Wukong/Jarvan. A good Fizz has no problems outplaying a good Syndra.

How to win this match-up. I told you to laneswap, everything is better then going vs Fizz. Otherwise ban Fizz.

Galio frequency very low difficulty easy/medium Only met this guy once, only viable due to the ultimate, but he is better suited for 5 V 5's.

how to win this match-up. Ask your jungler for a gank, this will help you out early and will help you out-scale his MR-stacking.

Gragas frequency medium difficulty medium More off a jungler now. I always thought that Syndra countered Gragas, but he keeps up due to the renewed passive. He can now fight you off after lvl 3.

How to win this match-up. An early gank is welcome, but you should just focus on farming. After lvl 9 you outdamage him really well.

Heimerdinger frequency low difficulty easy he is not that difficult, just throw his turrets in his own face. Avoid his ult + rockets combo.

How to win this lane. Do not gank this lane, your jungler will probably die because of the 0.375 ap + 1 ratio if heimer has all his turrets up. You can solo him easily so let your jungler focus toplane/counterjungle.

Jayce frequency low difficulty easy Many players think that this guy has a great early game, but he's all about late-game due to his poke and mixed damage late-game. Try to stay behind your minions and hit as many Q's as possible, he has such a small range he begs you to be poked down.

How to win this match-up: heavy aggression post lvl-6.

Karma frequency low difficulty medium Do not underestimate this lady, she can kite you, out damage you and chase you with ease. If you can manage to catch her off guard you can out-trade her.

How to win this match-up: Try to kite out her ulti + Q. Nothing else can be said here.

Kassadin frequency Medium difficulty Annoying I am no fan off playing vs Kassadin due to his anti-mage setup. You also have a low chance to catch him off-guard.

How to win this match-up: 1) Your jungler needs to be ad 2) gank 2-3 times 3) he can not stack his tear of the goddess = free win.

Kayle frequency high difficulty easy/hard This woman was once really op. Riot hit her with the nerftrain and is now perfectly balanced 49.85% winrate. She has decent damage, good kiting potential and good healing. You do out-damage her early game and you have to ult her after your stun connects post lvl 6.

How to win this lane: Ask for an early gank due to her lack off hard escapes.

Kennen Frequency Very low difficulty medium Never had this match-up in treeline, but I did have this one on SR. He is a little annoying Teemo-Reïncarnated. (from my view)

How to win this match-up: When the lane is pushed it's pretty easy to gank this guy due to his one trick pony escape. Be careful post lvl 6, it's better to perma one v one him due to his two v one potential and easily turning fights.

Lee Sin Frequency high difficulty easy, medium or hard A bad/good syndra beats a bad lee sin. A good Syndra stalemates a good Lee sin. A strong Syndra loses from a Strong Lee Sin (due to his mobility.) Of course finding a strong Lee is really low.

How to win this match-up. Keep your E of CD at all time, if lee manages to Q you and you see him flying to you use it. This makes lee flying back from where he came from. Also poke is quite difficult due to his massive sustain, so try to double combo him with Q + AA's Follow up by a slow and negate his retaliation combo with a E + Q.

Lissandra Frequency medium difficulty medium

I'm a huge fan off Lissandra on this map, she provides a lot of CC and bursts almost every enemy from 100 to 40-0% (lategame).

how to win this match-up :early game she isn't much off a threat and you can outrange her easily.
Personal note: If you get ganked, just flash/heal away. Getting ganked when there is a Lissandra means Death 100% sure.


Lucian Frequency low difficulty medium

This guy is a really strong 1V1'er atm, making him really strong in solo lanes. If he is really good you have to keep a bit of distance and poke him to half his health due to his low range.

How to win this match-up: He may be mobile, but really squishy. Just try to gank him a few times and he becomes worse every passing minute.

Lulu Frequency Medium difficulty Medium

Before the nerfs I would say hard, but now she has been nerfed every single patch (as a Lulu support player this is really saddening). The main reason to play her on this map is to buff up hyper carries like Vayne, Jax, Xin Zhao, Tryndamere, ...

How to win this match-up: As long as you can dodge her Q and counter her damage, you can easily win this. You outdamage her. But can soak your ultimate with her own.

Lux Frequency Medium difficulty easy Has a nice amount off poke, but is weak to engages, this is why she is countered by syndra. Be careful when ganked because she has terrific crowd control abilities.

How to win this match-up: I would play really aggressive post lvl 3, Lux her damage starts to ramp up post lvl 7-9. Still you out-damage her spells with just your Q.

Malzahar Frequency medium difficulty Medium/high Malzahar is one of the strongest champions on this map due to his high aoe, high single targeted abilities, synergy with famous bruisers and his devastating ultimate. He is also one of my favorite champions on this map.

How to win this match-up: Malzahar naturally pushes lanes, and you won't be able to do much about it, if he ever use his Visions on you and he has a voidling out, you will lose half your hp. so throw them in his face when he uses it on you. Ganks are possible but a counter-gank when vs malzahar can turn a fight due to ult + silence.

Mordekaiser Frequency medium difficulty low/high To be honest, I play more mordekaiser on treeline then Syndra. Mordekaiser past the 28-30 minute mark means you lost the game. He is tanky, makes a fight turn a 3v3 to 4v2 and when he has a rylia's you will never escape him.

How to win this match-up. Try to AA him a lot, spam your abilities on him so he kills himself with his abilities early game. Ask ganks due to low escape-ability. Beware though, all Mordekaiser's basic abilities are AOE and his ulti makes him double as tanky as ever.


Morgana Frequency high difficulty medium

This girl can do a lot, she has damage, tankyness, sustain, utility and a lot of CC. Don't ever get hit by her binding. It's easier said then done, but just do as I said above, kiting is a must for Syndra. If you baited out her black shield or just whittle it down.

How to win this match-up. Due to the black shield, I recommend taking a mix of armor pen/magic pen or Ad runes on marks, her AA range is 375 and yours 550 making you the superior harasser.


Nidalee Frequency AP/low AD/medium difficulty Ap/easy AD/medium

Nidalee used to be a threat in treeline when she had the monster ratio's on her spear, now she isn't much of a threat anymore because of how small the spear is now and the lower ratio's. I would play aggressive vs AP nid, but would play smart and passive vs AD nid, until I can land my stun and go all aggro.

How to win this match-Up: Just keep controlling you lane, if you poke a lot she will burn her own mana with heals, it's difficult to gank her though, because of her traps she has good map control.

Orianna Frequency medium difficulty medium

More coming soon...
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Release notes

* 04/08/2014: Started the guide, added introduction, items, pro's and cons, runes and masteries

* 05/08/2014: Added Skill sequence, ability explanation and refinement off my horrible English.

* 06/08/2014: Finished the guide, working on the match-ups. Should be done 10/08/2014

* 06/08/2014: forgot summoner spells

* 07/08/2014: started coding abilities, masteries, runes, etc.

* 07/08/2014: Added extra items and continuing the match-ups, added a TL-DR. Came to the conclusion that making a guide is really tiring. (definitely a milestone)

* 08/08/2014: More Match-ups.

* 11/08/2014: More Match-ups.

* 1000 views, ty guys!

* 12/08/2014: More Match-ups.
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Final words

For all the teamwork, gameplay experience and all the feeding these guys have done (lel) I want to thank my brother Iglory, TC Dreams (he's really awesome, if you play on EUW ask him for a game), Aznfor2242, aznVortex, AznIchiBanTenshi, Aznsunchaser (for the feeding <3 <3) and a lot more of em.

If you guys need more information, want to play a game or want to join our ranked team, you can add me on league EUW on Azn Nyandere.

You guys are awesome (because you read through the entire guide)
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References

(1)
Download the Porofessor App for Windows

League of Legends Champions:

Teamfight Tactics Guide