Welcome to our complete guide on how to build and play Sylas in season 11 of League of Legends! Discover the best runes, items, and strategies to overpower your opponents and increase your win rate in the mid lane!
Sylas is one of the champions that benefited the most from the mythic items change in season 11 of LoL. He quickly skyrocketed to popularity at the beginning of the year, conquering both mid and top lane. Riot Games gave him a couple of buffs and reworks prior to this and now Sylas is one of the strongest champions in League of Legends.
But what makes Sylas so powerful now? Why is he played constantly?
Well, as is the case with the other champions in the game, Sylas has a couple of mythic item choices that can make or break his success in season 11 of LoL. At the beginning, he was strictly played with Night Harvester or Riftmaker. However, the recent changes to Everfrost offerd Sylas an immense source of power and a potential synergy.
Not sure what we’re talking about? Well, Everfrost is a mythic item that offers Ability Power, Ability Haste, Health, and Mana – everything that Sylas needs. On top of that, the item has a 30-second cooldown active, an AoE frost effect that can root multiple targets in place. This is a major power spike that allows him to bully opponents, even in a “lost game”.
Additionally, the rest of this Sylas build revolves around giving him more Ability Haste, Ability Power, and utility to not only survive the early game but to dominate the mid and late game. He’s simply a complete champion!
That said, let’s check the runes and items of the Sylas build in detail and see why each of them should be chosen!
LoL Season 11 Sylas Build – Runes
Runes in order:
- Conqueror
- Presence of Mind
- Legend: Tenacity
- Last Stand
- Biscuit Delivery
- Cosmic Insight
Conqueror
Conqueror: Without a doubt, Conqueror is the best keystone to build and play Sylas in the mid lane. Sylas is an AP bruiser, a melee fighter that relies on self-healing to win his fights. Well, Conqueror offers precisely that, on top of a large damage boost in the early skirmishes.
The way Conqueror works is by building stacks each time a champion strikes another champion, either via an auto-attack or an ability. Sylas, thanks to his passive, uses both to deal his damage. So Conqueror is a natural rune for him. At full stacks, Conqueror gives a 9% healing buff that lasts as long as Sylas is in combat. And with so much burst damage in LoL currently, Conqueror is a must-have keystone for the Sylas build.
Presence of Mind
Presence of Mind: Sylas isn’t known for his dominating laning phase. He does alright against most melee champions and struggles against a few long-range mages. Because of that, he needs his mana to farm safely. And Presence of Mind is the best fix for it!
The rune grants mana regeneration for 4 seconds after you damage an enemy champion. Additionally, 15% of your mana will be restored instantly if you score an assist or a kill. This gives Sylas more than enough mana to start, endure, and ultimately win fights. So, always take Presence of Mind when you build Sylas for the mid lane!
Legend: Tenacity
Legend: Tenacity: Aside from the absence of shields in his tool kit, Sylas also struggles to do anything if he is either slowed, rooted, or stunned. Well, Legend: Tenacity is the perfect solution for this problem, granting him enough CC immunity to keep him going.
To be precise, Legend: Tenacity grants 5% Tenacity, plus 2.5% for each stack. You gain stacks by killing enemy champions, minions, or large and epic monsters. At max stacks, this rune will give you 30% Tenacity. This is simply too much value and should be abused in most of your games!
Last Stand
Last Stand: And in the last row of the Precision tree we have Last Stand. Keep in mind that you can build Sylas with any other choice here, but Last Stand is simply the best.
As mentioned above, Sylas is often bullied by long-range poke playstyle. And by the time he can reach his enemy, Sylas is around 50% HP. And that’s when Last Stand comes into play. This rune offers up to an 11% damage boost whenever you have lower health than your opponent. So, it’s a very strong choice!
Biscuit Delivery
Biscuit Delivery: For the secondary runes of this Sylas build, we highly recommend Inspiration. Things like Biscuit Delivery can help tremendously during the laning phase. This rune offers enough healing and mana regeneration until your first recall at the least.
Cosmic Insight
Cosmic Insight: The reason why we build Cosmic Insight on Sylas is mostly because of Everfrost. Sure, the additional Summoner Spell haste is great, but we mostly want the item haste. This helps use Evefrost more, which we will explain why is crucial down below.
If you absolutely struggle to survive the first 6 levels of each game as Sylas, we suggest you build Time Warp Tonic instead of Cosmic Insight. That will empower your Health Potions and Biscuits, and will give you instant healing.
And as far as the bonuses are concerned, two Adaptive Forces and an Armor/Magic based on matchup is all you need.
Master Twisted Fate with Showmaker’s build here!
LoL Season 11 Sylas Build – Items
Items in order:
- Everfrost
- Cosmic Drive
- Zhonya’s Hourglass
- Rabadon’s Deathcap
- Morellonomicon
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Everfrost
Everfrost: Out of all the AP mythic items in League of Legends, the best-performing and the highest win rate one on Sylas is Everfrost. Initially, this item was very weak early on in the season. However, a couple of tweaks made it so Evefrost completely took over the AP meta in the mid lane. And Sylas is one of the champions that this item suits the most!
The first reason why you want to build Everfrost on Sylas is because of the raw stats. As we mentioned above, the item gives him literally everything he needs. But the second reason is because of the item’s active. You see, Sylas’ Q is one of the hardest abilities to hit in the game, meaning the second part. Enemy players usually walk out of it before it bursts to deal damage. Well with Everfrost, Sylas can root or at least slow his opponents enough for his Q to hit two times. Obviously, there are more synergies between his tool kit and Everfrost, so make sure to buy it!
Cosmic Drive
Cosmic Drive: And another addition of the new season 11 items in LoL is Cosmic Drive. We dare say that this is one of the most broken items in the game currently. Its main purpose is to provide Ability Haste, but it provides so much that it almost doesn’t make sense why it is included.
The way Cosmic Drive works is by giving you 20 Ability Haste right away, then 20 more once you have 160 Ability Power or more. However, since this item is the second in the Sylas build, you already have that amount of AP. So with Cosmic Drive, you’re looking at a 60+ Ability Haste at the 17-18 minute mark. This is enough to make your W on a 4-seconds cooldown which is incredibly powerful!
Zhonya’s Hourglass
Zhonya’s Hourglass: No matter if you’re playing Sylas in the mid lane or not, you will need to build Zhonya’s Hourglass as a third item. With so much damage in the game currently, a tool as Stopwatch is an absolute must-have. And with so many assassins running around in all roles, this is your best counter as Sylas.
If you’re going against an AD assassin in the mid lane, or a full AD team, you should consider to build Zhonya’s Hourglass as a first or a second item. Sometimes it’s better to sacrifice a bit of AP or Haste in order to survive.
Rabadon’s Deathcap
Rabadon’s Deathcap: Sylas has excellent AP ratios on his abilities. One of the most notable ones is his W, which is the most important ability in his kit by far. Well, the best way to magnify its power is by purchasing Rabadon’s Deathcap.
The raw AP that Rabadon’s Deathcap provides is enough to turn Sylas into a monster. Once in your inventory, you can expect to heal 40% or even 50% of your HP with one W. Obviously, the rest of your abilities will do an insane amount of damage as well.
And if you are playing Sylas in the top lane, you might want to drop Rabadon’s Deathcap and build something else. Tank items, such as Gargoyle Stoneplate, work great on Sylas. And they can help you stay longer in fights.
Morellonomicon
Morellonomicon: Healing is very prevalent in season 11 of League of Legends. Many runes and items grant some sort of healing, so you always need something to counter it. Well, the best way for AP champions to nullifying healing in the game is Morellonomicon.
On Sylas, you should always try to build Morellonomicon, regardless of which champion you face in the mid lane. You can even go with Morellonomicon as a third or fourth item, or at least with Nullyfing Orb.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Ionian Boots of Lucidity: If there is one type of boots that works on any champion in season 11 of LoL, then that is Ionian Boots of Lucidity. For a total of 950 gold, you get more than enough movement speed on top of 20 Ability Haste. Combined with Everfrost and Cosmic Drive, Sylas becomes unstoppable. So Ionian Boots of Lucidity are the best boots upgrade in most of the games and should be purchased before anything else.
Situational Items
As far as the situational items are concerned, there are many of them that can be included in the core Sylas build. For example, Mejai’s Soulstealer should always be purchased if you’re ahead of your opponent and you don’t face too much danger.
Void Staff generally helps against tanks, thanks to its Magic Penetration. And Banshee’s Veil is a fantastic choice when you’re playing against multiple AP champions or a heavy CC team.
LoL Season 11 Sylas Build – Summoner’s Spells
Summoner’s Spells aren’t something you consider heavily as Sylas. And frankly, Sylas can go with pretty much everything. As long as you pack Flash in your one of your slots, you can even bring Exhaust for 1v1 fights.
Flash + Teleport =
in most games.
Flash + Ignite =
for a pressure in lane.
Flash + Cleanse =
against heavy CC team.
Learn how Caps plays Syndra right here!
Sylas’ Skill Order and Ability Combos
Skill Order
Ever since his release, Sylas relied on his Q to do the most amount of damage. And while this is still true, his W is the main ability in season 11.
First of all, the healing of Sylas’ W is one of the strongest ones in the game. And we shouldn’t even mention the fact that this is a point-click ability and not a skill shot. And because with this LoL build Sylas has the spell on 4-seoconds cooldown, you want to boost its power early on.
So you always want to max your W first, then follow it up Q, and E. Players like Faker, for example, like to max out E second, and Q third. This gives Sylas more mobility and more safety.
However, here is the main skill order:
W > Q > E > R
or W > E > Q > R in some cases.
Ability Combos
The way you combine Sylas’ abilities is quite unique. Most of the time, you can shuffle between the three basic spells and still provide massive damage. As long as you don’t forget your auto-attacks, of course. However, once your ultimate is unlocked, it all depends on which ultimate you steal. Different ultis offer different playstyle. Take Ezreal‘s R and Sejunai’s R, for example.
Sylas’ passive enhances his basic attacks after an ability is used. The trick here is that this effect only goes up to 3 stacks, while Sylas can use his basic abilities 4 times (two times E). And it’s essential to learn how to include your AA in-between your abilities for the most amount damage.
Here are a few combos to give you the right idea:
E > E > W > AA =
to reach the target over a longer range.
Q > W > AA > E =
quickly burst an enemy.
E > Q > AA > W =
regular damage combo.
E > W > Q > AA
gap closing and dealing damage.
Can You Jungle With Sylas?
Yes, absolutely! Thanks to the changes to his passive, Sylas has a very jungle camp clear speed. This is further enhanced by the fact that you would usually max out Q instead of W first. Chain Lash is the only AoE ability that Sylas has early on so it’s vital for playing him in the jungle.
As for the runes, you can use the same LoL build for Sylas we showcased here. Conqueror will be pretty much the keystone to go for in most cases, with Domination being your recommended secondary page.
In the jungle, Sylas should always start with Emberknife. This will make his auto-attacks more powerful against jungle camps and enemy champions. But later on, the build stays the same!
Do you want to know how Spica plays jungle Graves? Check the build here!
LoL Sylas Build for ARAM in Season 11
Runes
Runes in order:
- Conqueror
- Presence of Mind
- Legend: Tenacity
- Last Stand
- Taste of Blood
- Ravenous Hunter
Items
Items in order:
- Everfrost
- Cosmic Drive
- Zhonya’s Hourglass
- Rabadon’s Deathcap
- Lich Bane
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Additonal Info
Sylas is a very powerful champion on Howling Fjord. The Sylas ARAM build that we’ve shown here can give you an insane amount of damage, healing, and raw power. As you can see, it is essentially the same build that we had for Sylas in the mid lane of Summoner’s Rift. That’s because the playstyle doesn’t really changes that much ever.
In ARAM, you want to follow this Sylas build closely up to the third or fourth item. Then you should think about the situational items shown below. Or you can go off-tank and build all defensives. You can’t go wrong either way!
Sylas in Pro Play
Sylas is currently reigning in pro play. MSI proved that this champion can be quite obnoxious in the right hands. Players like Cryin and Maple showed us what Sylas can do if he gets even the smallest of leads. We highly suggest watching their replays and learning how to utilize Sylas in the mid and top lane!
And if you want to know the Faker’s build for Sylas in season 11 of LoL, check this guide!