This guide will show you how to use Sylas most effectively in each phase of the game and in which situations he becomes an absolute monster. Due to his strong fights in the mid and late game, he became, patch after patch, one of the best and most popular mid laners. So if you are looking for a new mid laner who is currently performing extremely well in both pro-play and in Solo-Queue, then Sylas is the right choice for you!
Sylas gets a first nerf with patch 11.15. But don't worry, he's still incredibly strong and with this guide, you won't have any problems, even after Wednesday!
Sylas is currently benefiting tremendously from the mid-game oriented meta. He is extremely strong in Drake and Herald fights. It's possible to compensate his relatively weak lane by playing passively, and almost every mid laner is gonna look weak after the laning phase in comparison.
Sylas Champion Guide
Sylas Runes and Item builds
Conqueror suits Sylas extremely well, as he can often drag out fights with his heal. This gives him a lot of stats and additional healing with Conqueror. Because of his initial mana problems, most Sylas players make use of the rune Presence of Mind, which gives him a more comfortable lane and safe mid game fights.
Eventually, Cosmic Insight is an extremely fitting rune for Sylas' playstyle. Both his teleport and his active items Everfrost and Zhonyas have a lower cooldown because of it. This is a great advantage for a bruiser, as it increases the chance for you to activate your spells and items more than once in a fight.
- Want more input on Mythic AP items? Then check out our options for Sylas!
Sylas Guide: Early Game
Sylas' early game is below average. Because he is melee and causes very little damage at the beginning, he gets pushed in by nearly every enemy mid laner. Be sure to ping your jungler that you probably can't move to them in a scuttle fight. Try to get CS with your Q and take as little damage as possible. Then, when you have some points in your W, you can slowly start taking trades. There are two ways to play them.
The first variant starts with your W on the enemy champion and you E right out to get no damage from the opponent. This is much more effective in Low Elo than in High Elo, because here you get into the critical range for the W more often. Against opponents in High Elo, you can start with the E, then WQ on the opponent and run out again. It is super important to understand that after activating your abilities, you will do almost no more damage, and thus will be out traded from everything. So better wait for your abilities to come back up and start trading again.
- You love the playstyle of Bruisers? Then check out our guide to Sett!
Sylas Guide: Mid Game
If you've done well in the early game, then Sylas is an incredibly strong champion in the mid game. If you have your W maxed out, you can take skirmishes very easily and even win partially outnumbered fights. Now, it's important to figure out, which ultimates you want to steal. The best ultimates for Sylas are Malphite, Hecarim, Alistar, Seraphine or Ashe's Ult, for example.
In general, the best ults are always those that cause a lot of CC, because due to the weakened scaling, stolen ults do less damage than the original version, but the CC remains the same. As Sylas, you should try to survive in fights as long as possible, because your W gives your champ a lot of value, if you are not getting oneshotted. So avoid jumping into 4 opponents, but play slow fights instead.
Sylas Guide: Late Game
Sylas' late game is extremely dependent on the opponent's ultimates. If he can steal one or two good ultimates, he will become extremely strong. By then, you should have so much AP that you can kill enemy carries with one rotation. So play him as an assassin. Here, the position is the most important factor, so try to keep it secret.
With a Sweeper in your bag, you look for a bush without enemy vision and wait here for a suitable victim. Even if this playstyle doesn't work, don't worry! Sylas is still above average in normal fights, due to the stolen ultimates and sustain.
- Wondering what to do when Sylas is banned? No problem! We always have the latest Tier Lists for you - here you can find the best Mid Laner for Patch 11.14
Sylas Guide: Good and bad Matchups
As mentioned above, Sylas is a very weak laner. Accordingly, he loses to just about every champion in the lane. So the weakest matchups are champions that can scale against him for free and, at the same time, don't have good ultimates that Sylas can steal. Therefore, his arch enemies are: Vel'koz, Kassadin, Cassiopeia or Ziggs.
Sylas doesn't really have any good matchups, but certainly good ultimates that he can steal. So Malphite, Hecarim, Alistar, Seraphine or Ashe are very clear signals that a Sylas pick would be good here! If you have a potential Sylas pick, rather orientate yourself on the opponent's ultimates than on the actual matchup.
This Sett Champion Guide was written by Kamon & Autophil – two Top 500 LoL players worldwide, who also offer coaching. If you're interested, you can find out more about their services here @GetGoodCoaching.
You are not a mid laner, or want more guides, tips and tricks, or updates to current patches? No problem! EarlyGame has everything you need!
