6.3 Syndra, the AD Nightmare Mage

Nebuul·Jan 28, 2016·3 votes·1,313 views

http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/summoners/masteries/#1q4mH7aao.Y70Ms7X0.0 3x Hybrid Quint, 9x Hybrid Mark, 9x Armor Seals, 6x CDR/lvl + 3x AP/lvl Glyph Duskblade of Draktharr

Basically it works like this: Toss an auto attack at a champion whenever you ignite + ult. Tada!

That auto attack will increase the damage of your combo by 25%! Straight up, auto-attack to do 25% more damage. Best part? In a teamfight, you get to increase the damage done by your teammates by 25% as well.

This item is going to be busted on any AP ranged champion that never AA's other champions, because it gives them an execute on a 120s cooldown. And that execute will even work through /. That's right! If you spawn the shield, they are probably dead from your AA.

14 Comments

IonianJan 28, 20162 votes

Interesting... Ahri gets to autoattack easily during her combos.

Meep ManJan 28, 20162 votes

Well, you benefit from nothing else from the item except 5% movement speed so... Have fun with that.

NebuulJan 28, 20161 votes

Let's say you replace the dagger with a 120 AP item:

Maths: If you nail someone at level 18 with 4 q, 1 w, 1 e, and a 7-ball r for a total 5.26 AP ratio, your item gives you 631 damage.

Assuming you have ZERO AP, but you pull of that same combo, the base damage will be 2806 before ignite. The one auto attack from your dagger is worth, then, 701 damage. The thing is, the dagger scales with your ap. Get 130 AP (morello + frost) and the dagger is now doing 872 damage. Throw in ignite: 974.

You don't, of course, ever land a combo that large. Let's say you are hiding in a bush with a 7-ball ultimate, which you follow up with E-Q:

1774 base damage with 2.49 AP ratio. Your 120 AP item gives you 298 damage. Still far less than the 443 given by your dagger proc. I guess it's technically 518 since you also get 75 damage on the AA. And the more ap you get from other items, the larger the disparity.

The only time you want something else is when laning because your q harass won't be helped. As soon as you have your ult, though, the dagger is superior to any ap item for assassinating a target.

Meep ManJan 28, 20163 votes

Well, that's all true, but why would you want to get into basic attack range anyway to make yourself take the brunt of the enemies Marksman and likely Fighters? You are essentially giving up 250 units of range just to execute that basic attack.

Not to mention Riot said they would make it Melee Only if it is abused.

NebuulJan 28, 20161 votes

Definitely, getting into range has its disadvantages. However, I'd argue that the ability to toss out an 800-damage basic attack would be pretty worth it on syndra, especially since she can cast on-the-move, so you can attack, then run away and save that final E stun post-ult for your getaway.

It is my belief that Riot needs to go ahead and flag this item as melee only. I also feel like it should work as follows: When a target is marked, the item remembers that amount of life (A). Then, when the mark wears off, the item looks at current life (B). Then, it deals 25% * (A-B). Note that this is not like zed's ult -- I don't want it to track damage done, just look at current life totals. This will avoid situations like zilean running in and assassinating people at 25% health with his super speed, etc. There is no real defense vs long-range auto-attacks, and having an on-demand execute for the champions that can avoid auto-attacking is going to be broken.

The Great DivideJan 28, 20162 votes

The item doesn't increase your damage. It just applies an execute on a person you've auto attacked.... If you auto someone, and then do your combo, and they don't die, they take 90+25% missing health.... nothing about amplifying damage at all.

NebuulJan 28, 20161 votes

Execute/damage amplifier -- on the champions about which this post is relevant, there is effectively no difference. Syndra, Malzahar, Ahri, Anivia, Brand, Heimerdinger, etc etc -- these champions are not going to 'accidentally' auto-attack an enemy champion. They can easily hold on to the ability, and then use it when it is most advantageous. Because of this, they will probably be even more effective at utilizing this tool than the intended champions who generally must auto-attack during every engage or skirmish.

MisterHealYoGirlJan 28, 20162 votes

In the particular context that you've picked out, the dagger adds damage to your combo. However, you're not noting the many disadvantages of going for it.

None of the components help you at all, so you spend about ten minutes an entire item behind.
It offers nothing for you on cooldown. So again, you could very well be spending teamfights an entire item behind, and if you try to duel someone in lane, you likely won't have it up.
Autoatttacking is dangerous. AD assassins can pull this item off because they have the tools to get to the backline, lay down the hurt, and get out. immobile mages don't, and getting close enough to the backline to autoattack is probably going to get you killed.
It offers nothing outside of the killer combo. One big part of Syndra's role on her team is poking the enemies and fishing for engages with her Q and E, and this item makes you 3250 gold worse at that.

You can pick out situations in which the dagger is a good choice, but if you look at the champion as a whole, it falls pretty flat.

NebuulJan 28, 20161 votes

Actually, I think Malzahar will be the #1 abuser of this in the AP world.

The AD malz builds will become stupidly powerful.

Ultra AnimalJan 28, 20161 votes

I can see this working on mal but idk about syndra, i mean if you just built full ap with magic pen you'd still do more damage. I run have a hybrid taric top rune page that's amazing, you can't build against it.