If you’re just getting started in League of Legends, this Pyke guide may be the thing you’re looking for! Here’s a full guide to master this insanely fun assassin!
New to League of Legends? Or, maybe you want to change Champion… This fully-explained Pyke guide is perfect for you! It has all the information you need in order to learn & master Pyke, the Bloodharbor Ripper!
Due to it being the preseason in League of Legends, this Volibear Guide will be updated as and when patches go live. That means it’ll be relevant for whenever you find yourself needing it! We also have other League of Legends Champion guides for you to check out here!
League of Legends Pyke Guide – Runes & Summoner Spells
Pyke usually runs two sets of Runes: one is more of a defensive runes that allows him to engage & tank some damage, especially in early-game trades, while the other focuses more on bursting down targets as quickly as possible.
Aftershock‘s resistances allow you to be tankier than the usual: remember that it can be proc’d by both your Q & your E. With this set of runes, you can dictate the engage while not worrying much about your health. 35 Flat Armor & Magic Resist bonus is a lot, without accounting for the bonus resistances you’ll get later into the game.
However, remember that Aftershock has a 20-second cooldown: make sure it is up before you go in for an engage or the outcome can turn out really bad!
With Electrocute instead, you will have even more damage when you need to kill someone in the early game. Usually it’s better to run this set of runes against squishy supports like Janna or Nami. Avoid these against tanky supports like Alistar because the bonus damage is insignificant.
You can also run Hail of blades instead of Electrocute if you prefer relying your damage on auto-attacks rather than spells. Bear in mind, however, that the rune is really strong in the early stages of the game so make sure to impact the game as much as possible.
Credits: Riot Games
In 90% of your games, you will go for Flash + Ignite as your summoner’s spells. It’s the best combination for any assassin & Pyke is no exception. Ignite allows you to burst down the enemies while also reducing the healing. You might run Exhaust but it’s a highly situational spell.
League of Legends Pyke Guide – Build & Skill Order
Pyke’s build path is very straightforward. He has a lot of options in terms of Items but everything revolves around two stats: Attack Damage & Lethality. For this reason, you always want to build lethality in order to be effective on Pyke. Prawler’s Claw is really good in order to connect & stun enemies with E. (activate E then use the Active to get behind the enemy)
Duskblade of Draktharr instead gives overall more damage if you can land multiple Ultimates. The invisibility is also extremely helpful since enemies won’t be able to react!
For Lethality Items, you’d always want to get Umbral Glaive: you can instantly kill wards & you’ll always know if an area is warded or not simply by walking on it!
As for the other items, similarly to every other champion mentioned, it depends on the enemy composition. Build Magic Resist if against heavy magic damage or Armor against fed ADCs or if they have a lot of AD.
 Bone Skewer | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | |||||||||||||
 Ghostwater Dive | 3 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 13 | |||||||||||||
 Phantom Undertow | 2 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 18 | |||||||||||||
 Death From Below | 6 | 11 | 16 |
As for the ability order, you always want to max Q first. It’s your bread-&-butter, you can’t play effectively if you don’t max it. You can then decide if you want to max W or E second. Usually, maxing W second gives more MS, allowing you to chase or escape from enemies. If you max it second, you want to move around the map & help your teammates.
During the Early Game…
Pyke’s has a pretty strong lv 2: try to get it before the enemies do & force an engage with Q+E. In most situations, you will get a Flash out of the enemy bot lane. During the laning phase, you need to find openings to deal damage with Q’s & then engage when you think you can get a kill.
Mid-Late Game
After reaching level 6, Pyke starts to truly shine. You can leave the lane quickly if there’s not so much action & help the mid laner or the jungler to get some kills & gold in order to push the lead further!
Around lv 8-9, you can leave bot lane & just constantly roam around the map. By getting a few kills, you will become an unstoppable threat & enemies will all fall down at their knees due to your insane damage!
Conclusions…
Pyke was considered an experiment back when it was first released. He was one of the first supports that felt like a true assassin. After being overtuned for some time, Riot has managed to find a very good balance. He still has the agility & kit of an assassin, but only the ones who are able to play him really well get that reward.
What are you waiting for? Jump in Summoner’s Rift & have fun with Pyke!
Which champion do you want us to cover next? Let us know in the comments & check out our future guides on other champions!
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