General Gameplay

Syndra is quite the tricky champion to learn. She has a very high skill cap and I think that that is why she gets such a bad rep. If you follow my instructions however, you will be able to prove all of those Syndra haters wrong! First things first. Sydra's Dark Sphere. When cast, Syndra's Dark Sphere places a sphere on the ground that does damage to anyone that gets hit when it is placed. Dark Sphere has a slight delay when it is cast, which is a very important thing to remember. One of the biggest misconceptions about Syndra is that her Dark Sphere is an instant cast. Sometimes I wish this were the case, but it adds to the challenge of being a good Syndra player! Her Dark Sphere has a pretty decent size, so there is a little bit of wiggle room if you mess up your placement. My suggestion is to either get them smack dab in the middle if they are stationary or if they are running, hit them with the front of the circle, and if they are approaching, hit them with the back of the circle. Syndra's W, Force of Will is very similar in concept to her Dark Sphere. Syndra's W will pick up any enemy minion, pet, or neutral monster for 5 seconds. This is Syndra's most fun ability by far. I can't even tell you how many times iv'e made an Annie rage by throwing her precious Tibbers right back at her. Anyways, her Force of Will, if cast again within the five seconds, allows you to throw that enemy minion, pet, or neutral monster to a spot on the ground. upon contact, that enemy minion, pet, or neutral monster will do damage and slow in an AoE radius. The catch here is that Syndra's Force of Will has a very slow missile speed so it takes time before one can master it completely. NOTE: when picking up the Red and Blue buff monsters you get additional effects when they are thrown. When the blue buff monster is thrown you gain 10% of your mana back instantly, when the red buff monster is thrown, everyone who gets hit by him also gets the debuff that normally affects your auto attacks. Next is Syndra's E, Scatter the Weak. This ability has a pretty high mana cost and does not do a lot of damage. Scatter the Weak should only be used in three situations. SITUATION #1: A Dark Sphere is on the ground and you need to sun a champion. SITUATION #2: An enemy champion is getting close to you while chasing and you need to get him off. SITUATION #3: You get lazy and start using it for CS and the end of the game (NOTE: This is not recommended). Last but not least we have Syndra's ultimate ability Unleashed Power. This ability is pretty tricky. Unleashed Power does more damage based upon how many Dark Spheres are on the ground. This means if you have 2 Dark Spheres on the ground, it will do more damage if you were to have one. (NOTE: If there are no Dark Spheres on the ground Syndra will use the three orbs floating around her to attack) Unleashed Power is a massive burst of damage and should be used to finish an enemy off. NEVER use it to engage a battle.


Lane Phase

Syndra's lane phase is pretty similar to most AP carries. Start things off by helping the jungler attack the wolves and blue buff. Don't kill anything unless the jungler tells you it is okay though! After this is done return to lane and start last hitting the minions. At this point your lane opponent will either already be there or arrive shortly. Don't let this deter you though! Think of it this way, now you have something to toy with in lane so you don't get bored farming minions. :) Until level six I suggest ONLY last hitting minions. After that, or if you get blue buff (which ever comes first) then you may use the Dark Sphere Force of Will combo which I will explain later on. Wait until your Dark Sphere reaches level two to start harassing your enemy (this happens at level 3). At this point you are going to want to poke your enemy with your Dark Sphere whenever you can. BE AWARE OF YOUR MANA THOUGH. If you find yourself burning through your mana then take a step back, chill out, and keep farming those minions. You will have plenty of chances to kill enemies later on! Once you have about 1,200 gold recall back to base and grab your doran's rings maybe a health pot or two and two wards. When you get back to lane stick those wards behind the two bushes on either side of you so no nasty junglers can gank you. At this point you should be at least level six if not higher. Syndra's full rotation is absolutely devastating. If your enemy is a full health, whittle them down with your Q until they drop to about half. At this point collect yourself together, take a deep breath and get ready to get a kill. Lead with your Dark Sphere followed by a Scatter the Weak so that your opponent is stunned. At this point either grab the nearest enemy minion or dark sphere and hurl it down your enemy's throat with Force of Will. If they aren't dead at this point top it all of with a booming Unleashed Power. Feels good getting that kill doesn't it? If you did not manage to get a kill, that is perfectly okay! It takes time to get good as Syndra but when you do, the rewards are unbelievable.


Advanced Tactics

Now i'll explain some advanced tactics. When farming, if you have blue buff or feel you are doing well at managing your mana, you can Dark Sphere the mage minions in the back row, then pick one up with Force of Will and hurl it back at the other two for a guaranteed 3 CS. if you can pick up a melee minion at half health instead of a mage minion, that is even better. Syndra is a pretty decent escape artist. However this does not give you a license to play the whole game right up at your opponent's tower. If someone comes in to gank you, try your best to set up a Dark Sphere Scatter the Weak combo to stun them. If you don't have time though, just a quick Scatter the Weak is fine as long as you high tail it the hell out of there afterward. Don't forget that Syndra's Force of Will is also a slow! This may help you get away in some circumstances. You don't necessarily always have to be the one being ganked however, Syndra can also do some ganking herself! If you find that your lane is pushed up really hard, then pay your other lanes a visit to help them out. My suggestion is to lead in with Dark Sphere Force of Will combo to lock your poor victims up. Then let your ally go to town on the poor sucker you hit. Later on in the game you are going to get into team fights, this is a given. If played correctly, Syndra can turn the tide of a team fight instantly. In team fights, you are going to want to position yourself in the back of your team and bomb the enemy champions with Dark Spheres and Force of Will shots. Now im going to share with you my absolute favorite thing about Syndra. NOTE: This is incredibly hard to do so don't fret if you fail your first ten or so times. Always use Unleashed Power on the AD carry or AP carry. You will notice that there are now six Dark Spheres laying on the field after you use it. This is Syndra's secret weapon. Try to position yourself so you are facing the enemy team. Use your Scatter the Weak ability and then stun orbs will shoot in all different directions stunning the whole enemy team and leaving them speechless. SO BAD ***.