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Sylas
Patch 16.2.1
MidDifficulty
Hard
Strength
Early
Mid
Late
Win Condition
Force mid-game skirmishes (2v2s and 3v3s) where your sustain is most oppressive. Identify the best enemy ultimate for teamfighting and use it to initiate or peel for your carries.
Playstyle
Hyper-mobile AP skirmisher who thrives on chaos. You're a 'jack-of-all-trades' that relies on turning the enemy's own ultimates against them while sustaining through long fights with massive heals.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- +Incredible sustain in fights thanks to healing
- +Extreme mobility with and low-cooldown dashes
- +High versatility; allows you to adapt to any team composition
- +Powerful passive provides significant AoE damage in skirmishes
Weaknesses
- -Abysmal early waveclear; you'll get shoved in by most mages until you get items
- -Highly reliant on landing (Abduct) to confirm your full burst
- -Squishy if caught by CC before you can use to heal
- -Ultimate effectiveness is entirely dependent on the enemy team's picks
Abilities
Every spell cast gives you a charge. Use your auto attacks between every single ability to maximize damage. The attack speed buff helps you weave these in quickly. Never 'dump' all your spells without autoing, or you lose 40% of your total damage.
The first hit slows, making it easier to land the second explosion. The explosion is where the real damage is. In lane, try to hit the enemy when they are standing near their minions to help with your poor waveclear.
Your most important tool. It’s a point-and-click dash that heals you based on your missing health. Do not use this at the start of a fight for damage; wait until you are below 40% health to get the maximum healing value.
The first cast is a pure dash for repositioning or dodging. The second cast is a skillshot that pulls you to the target. You can cast other spells (like or ) while traveling during the second cast.
The 'Hijack'. You steal the enemy's ultimate. You can't steal from the same person twice in a row (there is a per-target cooldown). Look for high-impact teamfight ults like Malphite, Alistar, or Maokai.
Teamfight Role
Follow-up Diver / Skirmisher
You aren't a primary tank. Wait for your frontline to go in, then use to reach the backline. Use a stolen high-impact to disrupt the enemy team, then cycle to stay alive while your cooldowns come back up.
If you steal a hard engage ultimate (like Malphite or Amumu R), you become the primary initiator. Don't wait; be the one to start the fight.
Combos
Standard Trade
(dash) -> (hit) -> Auto -> -> Auto -> -> Auto
The bread and butter. Use the knockup from E2 to guaranteed the explosion damage. Weave autos between every step.
The Gap Closer
(dash) -> -> Auto -> (hit) -> Auto
Use to get in range for a guaranteed hit. Useful against mobile targets who try to dodge your chains.
Instant Burst
(dash) -> (hit) + mid-air -> Auto ->
Steal and/or use a stolen ultimate while you are flying toward the enemy with . This removes the cast animation of many stolen ultimates.
Safe Poke
-> (dash away)
Use the slow from to prevent them from chasing you while you use to disengage. Good for when you're low on mana.
Power Spikes
| Spike | Why |
|---|---|
| Level 3 | You have access to your full basic ability rotation. This is your first window to look for an all-in if the enemy misses a key spell. |
| Level 6 | is unlocked. Your threat level depends on what the enemy has. If they have a Leona or Malphite, you are now the strongest person on the map. |
| Level 9 | Usually, you have at rank 5 here. The cooldown is short enough that you can often get two heals off in a single medium-length skirmish. |
| Level 11 | The cooldown on is significantly reduced, allowing you to steal ultimates much more frequently during mid-game rotations. |
| Level 16 | Rank 3 has a tiny cooldown. You can often steal two different ultimates in one long teamfight. |
Tips & Tricks
- •You can cast while the chains from are in mid-air to hide the animation.
- • dash can go through many thin walls; use it to escape or take unexpected flank routes.
- •If you steal an ultimate that scales with AD (like Ash R), Sylas converts those ratios to AP. Don't worry about 'AD' ults being weak.
- •The heal on is much stronger when you are low health. Bait enemies by staying in the fight longer than they expect.
- •Your stacks up to 3 times. Don't over-cap them; try to use at least one auto between every two spells.
- •You can use dash to dodge a skillshot, then immediately use the second cast to counter-engage.
Common Mistakes
- ✕Using at the start of a trade when at full HP.→You lose the massive healing benefit and will likely lose the trade once the enemy hits back.
- ✕Holding onto a stolen for too long.→The 'per-target' cooldown doesn't start until you USE the ult. Using it fast means you get to steal it again sooner.
- ✕Blindly following chains into a 1v5.→You are not a tank. You will get CC'd and die before your comes off cooldown.
- ✕Spamming all spells at once without autoing.→You run out of energy/cooldowns and deal significantly less damage, often leaving the enemy with 10% HP.
- ✕Ignoring the enemy team's ults in champ select.→If you pick Sylas into 5 bad ultimates (like Nidalee, Zoe, Kog'Maw), you lose half your champion's value.
AI-generated guide • Patch 16.2.1 • Cached