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Hey there! My name is Vytaan and I'm here to bring you my guide on Syndra. Feel free
to use the annotations at the start of this video, to skip to sections you might need.
I hope this guide will be helpful to you and in any case, enjoy my accent.
Syndra has been my main champion since about the start of preseason 3. It took me a while
before I picked her up, but when I discovered her... pretty much unlimited potential, she
instantly became my favorite. This lead to having played almost 200 ranked games with
her. Syndra is a bursty AP champion who is most
often seen in the middle lane, but she can also occassionally perform quite well as a
support, thanks to her utility. What's pretty unique about her, is that she can use all
her abilities while moving. This may take some time getting used to, but it allows you
to chase and run away very effectively. Syndra's win rate is quite low, but don't let this
fool you. Because once you master her, you'll find her devastating.
Syndra's passive is Transcendent. Whenever an ability reaches maximum level, it will
gain a bonus effect. Her Q deals extra damage to champions, her W gets an increased slow
duration, her E gets a bigger cone width and her ultimate gets an increased range. Her
abilities also gain slightly different visuals. Keep this passive in mind when deciding which
ability you want to max out first.
Syndra's Q is Dark Sphere. She will summon a sphere at the selected location after a small delay (which is about half a second,
pretty much like Karthus' Q). This deals AoE magic damage and has a very low cooldown.
Most importantly, it can be manipulated by her other abilities for a maximum of six seconds.
Syndra's W is Force of Will. It allows her to pick up a sphere, or any enemy or neutral
minion, except for Baron and Dragon. She can then throw it to a target location, dealing
magic damage and slowing every enemy hit. It also grants vision of the target area and
when a sphere is grabbed, the duration is refreshed. The target will be dragged alongside
you for a maximum of 5 seconds. If you don't throw it during this time, the target will
automatically be released. Because of the fact that you can pick up both
blue and red buff, you can disturb the enemy jungler by resetting them, possibly even stealing
them away. Just make sure you have vision, so you can easily pick it up from over the
wall. Syndra's E is Scatter the Weak. It knocks
back all enemies and Dark Spheres in a cone. Enemies hit by these spheres will be stunned
for 1.5 seconds. The range a sphere can travel is quite long, making it a great tool to catch
someone who's out of position. However, it's also your only method of disengage. Since
the cooldown is quite high at early ranks, you'll have to use it wisely.
Both the skill and the knockbacked spheres can reach over walls, allowing you to cut
someone off, when a teammate is chasing an enemy for example. As you can see, enemies
who are hit get revealed as well. Syndra's ultimate is Unleashed Power. Syndra
nukes her target by throwing all of her spheres. Each sphere does a separate amount of damage.
She will always throw at least the 3 spheres surrounding her character model. However,
all of the spheres currently on the field will be thrown as well. This means that with
maximum cooldown reduction and by using the refresh on your W, you will be able to throw
a maximum of 7 spheres. To get the most out of your ultimate, you'll want to manage both
your sphere placement and your mana pool. This way you can setup your ultimate in advance,
but without running out of mana.
As with most champions, don't pick a skill before minions have spawned yet. This way you can still get your W during an invade,
to secure a buff, or if you get ganked, you can still get your E to knock the enemy team
away and possibly save your life. However, in any other case, I just start with
my Q, so I can use it to poke and last hit. And during level 1 teamfights, it provides
the most damage as well, since the cooldown is really low and it's AoE
I get my E at level two, because it provides some really good protection against junglers
ganks. If you see someone coming, you can just use your Q and then knock them back with
your E. This works on pretty much anyone except for Maokai, since he becomes untargetable.
And that's really, really, really annoying... I max my Q first for the bonus damage from
your passive and I get my W at level 4 and max it second for the increased slow duration
and the decreased cooldown. E is kind of a one point wonder, so I just max it last. I
get my ultimate whenever possible. For my runes I usually go really aggressive,
taking magic pen marks, flat mana regen seals, ability power per level glyphs and flat ability
power quints. Against harder lanes, I usually trade my glyphs for flat magic resist. If
you're laning against an AD caster, such as Zed or Kha'Zix, you might want to go for flat
armor seals. I really like the flat mana regen though, as it allows you to spam your Q way
more often. My masteries are pretty standard, going for
21/0/9. I take the flat attack damage for easier last-hitting and you can choose between
the increased buff duration or the biscuit.
I start the game off with a faerie charm, a ward, 4 or 5 health potions and 1 or 2 mana potions. My core item build consists of Athenes
Unholy Grail, Deathfire Grasp and boots. This build gives you at least 30% cooldown reduction,
allowing you to setup your ultimate both quicker and with more spheres. Also, the Deathfire
active combined with your ultimate provides insane burst. Athenes is what you'll want
to rush first, starting with building your Faerie Charm into a Chalice of Harmony on
your first trip back to base. It will almost completely remove your mana problems and lets
you farm waves with ease. Another possibility for your mana problems
would be a Tear of the Goddess, but I'm not really a big fan of this item. It doesn't
let you capitalize on your mid-game power and doesn't provide cooldown reduction.
After my core, I usually go for a Void Staff or an Hourglass, depending on if I feel safe
or not. The last two usually consist of a Deathcap and the item I didn't get earlier,
so either the Hourglass or the Void Staff. Of course, you'll have to adjust to the game.
If you're having trouble against an AD mid, rushing an Armguard might help. Or if you're
being bursted down by magic damage, both Athenes and Abyssal Scepter combined will provide
you with 85 magic resistance.
Syndra has a fairly good laning phase, where she can poke her enemy with her Q, or with an E -> Q -> W combo. Her Q doesn't cost a
lot of mana, so you can safely use it to farm minions, in case you can't get everything
with your autoattacks. When your Q is level 4, a W to Q combo should be enough to kill
the caster minions instantly. Just keep in mind that it will push your lane, and since
you have no escape ability, you are very vulnerable to ganks. So make sure you keep your lane
warded against aggressive junglers, or you will not be able to poke or farm safely.
You'll have to keep in mind that you can keep moving while casting skills, which means you'll
have an easier time dodging your enemies skillshots. This is pretty much the hardest part about
Syndra: you'll have to manage your movement and your skill placement at the same time
in order to succeed. For example, in the following video I stun
Ahri and poke her with my W and Q. However, right as I cast both abilities, I start moving
back to my tower immediately. This allows me to just move out of the range of Ahri's
orb. Once you get your ultimate, you'll want to
setup a kill, as you have the highest burst of any champion, depending on your spheres.
In this clip, Ahri thinks she has the advantage. However, thanks to some earlier poking, I
already had two spheres on the battlefield. I manage to get a sixth sphere in right when
I cast my ultimate, dealing huge damage.
Syndra's specialty is catching someone out of positioning and bursting him down. In the following clip, Ahri has flat magic resist
and even an Abyssal Scepter, but she still gets destroyed by a full combo. This can really
help you win games, especially in solo queue. Even without your ultimate you'll be able
to provide a lot of consistent damage, as your Q and W have a really low cooldown.
Another interesting fact is that throwing the Lizard buff applies the Lizard debuff
on everyone hit. Throwing the Ancient Golem replenishes 10
mana and reduces the cooldown on your Force of Will by 1 second. With enough cooldown
reduction, you can even drag a monster to any place of the map you want. Just throw
it at the last second, stun It with your Q E combo, and pick it up again. Trustyou're
your enemies will basically be stunned when they see a flying golem through their base.
Counters to Syndra are any champions who can stick on a target or dodge your E. A well
played Fizz or Kassadin can be hard to deal with, though it's not impossible. In most
cases you can poke them down during the early levels, where you still have the advantage
of your range. But you'll still have to be careful that they don't burst you down later
on, as knocking them back doesn't have such a great effect.
Also, enemies who have good eye for your sphere placement will be a lot harder to deal with,
as they most likely won't be in the right angle for you to stun them with your E.
Thank you so much for watching my first video guide ever! If you have any suggestions or
comments, leave them in comment section below. If you liked it, please give me a thumbs up
and subscribe if you want to see more of this in the future.