Watch me break a kingdom.
It looks like the rumors are true and Riot is going ahead with releasing this champion. Why the hate? That’s because this champion steals ultimates.
Sylas The Unshackled
Chained and locked away for 15 long years, Sylas the mage bruiser will be breaking out of his chains to exact revenge and start a revolution. You read that right. A mage bruiser. Bruiser is traditionally a role for normal attack damage and a mage is someone casting magical spells from afar. The closest champion to a mage bruiser is a Kassadin but he doesn’t fit the role as well because he isn’t as tanky; but now, we have Sylas.
Abilities
Petricite Burst Passive: After casting a spell, Sylas’ next basic attack whirls his chains around him, damaging nearby enemies.
Chain Lash Q: An X-shaped skill shot that lashes out Sylas’ chains, damaging and slowing down enemies. After a tick, the intersection of the chain detonates, damaging the enemies again and causing them to move even slower.
Kingslayer W: Sylas lunges at a target, damaging them and healing himself. If his life is lower than the target, there will be more healing, and if he has a higher life than the target, Kingslayer deals more damage. Talk about making other lunge attacks obsolete.
Abscond / Abduct E: Sylas dashes and shields himself. He can then recast the ability to stun and pull himself to the first enemy hit. Think Ekko’s dash but with a stun, pull and shield.
Hijack R: Sylas hijacks an enemy’s ultimate for his own use and can’t hijack the same ultimate for 200% duration of that ultimate’s cooldown. Hijack can happen whenever it is off cooldown. Pretty much the only reason why we play Sylas.
Our Thoughts
With the number of heal and shields he’s getting, Sylas will probably last quite awhile during battle. This – paired with some of the lesser popular items that give Ability Power and health, armor or magic resist – will make Sylas a force to be reckoned with. Yes, these items exist. It’s not all about pure magical power, all right?
His passive makes it an excellent motivator to weave in a basic attack after each spellcast. A Riven or Corki player will know what I am talking about. Of course, this is just as brutal if not more because it damages all around him instead of a single target.
Now for the cream of the crop – Hijack. Hijack puts the target’s ultimate ability on cooldown for 200% of its cooldown. This makes a Malphite ultimate that you just steal, locked from being hijacked again for 3 whole minutes. In a game of minutes, that can be harsh. The good news is that the ultimate can be stolen beforehand. Much earlier and there is no hurry to cast the ultimate. This makes planning essential to using Sylas. Steal a full-blown crowd control ultimate for later or a pure assassination ultimate for a quick kill now? Choices, choices, choices.
One thing Riot has been really good at recently is designing a champion that is really fun to use. I’m adding Sylas to the list. Check out his reveal trailer below!
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