League of Legends: Sylas guide - Tips and Abilities

Everything you need to know about League's latest champion.

Guide by Ed Thorn Reviews Editor

Published on Jan. 22, 2019

Sylas The Unshackled joins the League of Legends roster, with arguably one of the most versatile Ultimate abilities in the game. He's a powerful bruiser who is capable of latching onto enemies, closing the gap and bursting them down in seconds. Oh, and this is on top of an Ultimate which steals any other Champion's Ultimate in the game.

In this article, we've pulled together everything you need to know about Sylas, including his abilities, gameplay tips and more. If more information emerges, or if he undergoes any drastic tweaks when he goes live, we'll update this page accordingly.

Sylas Abilities

Here's a quick breakdown of all his abilities:

Passive: Petricite Burst - After casting a spell, Sylas' next basic attack whirls his chains around him, damaging nearby enemies.
Q: Chain Lash - Sylas lashes out with his chains, damaging and slightly slowing enemies. After a brief delay, the intersection of the chains detonates, applying an increased slow and damaging enemies again.
W: Kingslayer - Sylas lunges at a target with a powerful strike, damaging them and healing himself. If the enemy is at low health, the damage is increased; if Sylas is at low health, the heal is increased.
E: Abscond / Abduct - Sylas dashes a short distance and shields himself. For a short time, he can recast the ability to whip out his chains, stunning, damaging, and pulling himself to the first enemy hit.
R: Hijack - Sylas hijacks an enemy’s ultimate for his own use. Enemies can still use their ultimates if Sylas takes them. Sylas can take an enemy’s ultimate whenever Hijack is off cooldown, but can’t hijack the same enemy for a while after.

This video by Skin Spotlights highlights all of his abilities and it's well worth a watch!

Sylas Tips and Tricks

Here are a few pointers to get you up and running when playing Sylas:

Make sure you're weaving in basic attacks between each spellcast for maximum damage potential. This means you'll activate Petricite Burst after every ability, which is crucial to making the most of Sylas in engagements.
Don't just pinch any old Ultimate, and instead steal the Ultimate which best suits the situation. If you suspect a teamfight is about to kick off, perhaps it's wise to seize a huge AOE ability. Need to pick someone off in a jiffy? Maybe it would be wise to secure a devastating single target ability instead.
Sylas is by no means a tank, so play him like an assassin who darts in and out of fights. Focus on pinning down vulnerable targets in teamfights and bursting them down.

Sylas Gameplay

Sylas has just hit the PBE, so we've linked some gameplay down below so you can get a better idea of how he plays and what he's capable of.

Do bear in mind that he's essentially still in a testing phase. Once the PBE is over, it's likely Riot will fine tune some of his abilities and their stats.

We've linked a video by Professor Akali below and it shows just how strong Sylas can be.

Sylas Skins

As Sylas is a brand new addition to the rift, there aren't many skins for him - yet.

The one he does have right now is pretty sweet, though:

Sylas Lore

Sylas isn't the usual sort you'd find in the righteous kingdom of Demacia. In many ways, he's a badboy who is out for revenge. Below we've linked some insight into his background:

"Raised in one of Demacia’s lesser quarters, Sylas of Dregbourne has come to symbolize the darker side of the Great City. As a boy, his ability to root out hidden sorcery caught the attention of the notorious mageseekers, who eventually imprisoned him for turning those same powers against them. Having now broken free, Sylas lives as a hardened revolutionary, using the magic of those around him to destroy the kingdom he once served… and his band of outcast mage followers seems to grow by the day."

For a complete overview of his backstory, you can head on over to his official League of Legends Universe page.