Updated on January 18, 12:06 p.m. (GMT+8): Improved relevancy.
One of head coach Wong “Chawy” Xing Lei’s trademark champions when he was competing professionally in League of Legends, is Syndra.
An AP mage with a slow, stun, wave clear, and burst, she is the dark soverign of the mid lane.
When he was competing with ahq from the LMS in 2017, he played Syndra in their group stage match against SK Telecom T1. Up against legendary Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, one of the greatest LoL players of all time, Chawy managed to get ahead of his Fizz in the laning phase.
Here are five tips from the man himself to unleash your power.
This Syndra guide will get you ahead in-game
1. Take First Strike as your Keystone Rune
- First Strike
- Magical Footwear or Perfect Timing
- Minion Dematerializer
- Cosmic Insight
- Transcendence
- Gathering Storm
For your rune setup, your primary rune is First Strike. From there, put points into Magical Footwear, Minion Dematerializer, and Cosmic Insight.
Since she has a considerable amount of range and enjoys poking opponents in lane with Dark Sphere (Q), you can effectively utilize First Strike to gain gold. Follow up with an auto attack or two if you find an opening.
If you’re against AD assassins, take Perfect Timing instead of Magic Footwear. Perfect Timing and rushing Zhonya’s as your first or second item is always a must against AD assassins.
For secondary runes, run Sorcery. Take Transcendence and Gathering Storm.
2. Choose between Teleport, Ignite, and Cleanse for Summoner Spells
For Summoner Spells, besides Flash, you can choose between Teleport, Ignite, and Cleanse.
Teleport is chosen mostly because Syndra is shines after purchasing her first big item. Having Teleport lets you get past the laning phrase easily, and covers any mistakes that were made.
Ignite is a good choice if your jungler is a agressive one and wants to skirmish a lot! Cleanse is good against mid laners and jungler who have lots of crowd control.
3. Buy Luden’s Tempest as a core item
As far as core items go, it will always be Luden’s Tempest for Syndra as it powers up her burst damage.
If the enemy team has many engage champions, Banshee and Zhonya are useful as second items.
If enemies start stacking magic resist early, Void staff is a good second item to go for. If you don’t encounter either of the above situations, Rabadon’s Deathcap will be the best!
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4. Know your combos and lane smartly
When it comes to harassing your opponent in lane, spamming your combos will get your mana dry very quickly. Many Syndra players love to use Dark Sphere (Q) and Scatter the Weak (E) combo in lane to try to get ahead, but by doing so you burn your mana fast and if you do miss you spells, you will end up losing the laning phase.
Instead, use Q with an auto attack every time your enemy is going for the last hit. This pressures the enemy and helps keep your mana high.
Basic combos are Q into E. This stuns enemies instead of just pushing them away. Learn to use Q-W-Q-E to stun. Q will release a sphere for your Force of Will (W) to pick up, and only use E when you have two spheres (from W and Q). By doing this, you increase your stun rate by at least 100%!
Use Unleashed Power (R) into E during team fights. During team fight, although its best to use your ultimate on a squishy carry, doing so might put you in a bad position. Using R on the enemy front line and E after, which will result in a team wide stun.
Prioritize maxing out your ultimate (R) first, followed by Q>E>W. E over W because increasing the width of your stun at max E makes landing stuns way easier. It also decreases the cooldown for more stuns.
When your mana is above 60 to 70 percent, or when blue buff is acquired, spam Q whenever it is ready. By doing so, you’re well prepared for any fight as you can pull off the W-E-Q combo, or RE combo.
While spamming Qs camping for a kill, use W on the ball disappearing soon. This way you will get additional damage for your R as more Qs are available.
5. Roam for your team, but beware of assassin counters
Syndra is a godlike roamer once you have your ultimate. Push hard with Qs in lane to get lane priority. After that, roam to side lanes (bot is preferred). Ganking bot with your Q-R-E combo will secure you 2 kills easily, and get your teammates ahead while not losing mid lane gold and experience.
The best Jungler to go with Syndra is any AD champion. Since Syndra is AP, teaming up with AP junglers is not ideal. A Banshee’s Veil and Mercury Treads will make both of you weak. Instead, going with an AD jungler makes it very hard for the enemy to itemize.
Any assassins played well is a counter to Syndra. Fizz and Ekko are number one on the list because if played well, they take no damage from Syndra’s ultimate. When playing against assassins, go for an early Zhonya or Banshee’s, and play around your team while avoiding 1v1 situations.
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