The Best Guide to Level-Up Your Pyke in Season 12
A detailed guide to Climb with Pyke in Season 12 (Last Updated Patch 12.3)
Mranarchy19
Hello!
I'm MrAnarcy19, an Avid Pyke Enjoyer presumably like you! I have been playing League since Season 6 and have a wide range of knowledge that can improve your games, just like mine.
I intend to cover a wide variety of topics in this guide, gathered from my numerous hours of research into the best Pyke players around the world such as ZERGSTING, SHAWI KATAMI, Hylissang, Fudge, Rare_Individual, Davemon and more
I intend to cover all relevant Pyke builds, along with what you should be looking to achieve throughout a game; with a little bit of mechanics sprinkled in for good measure.
After reading this guide, you will have the information needed to take Pyke up the ladder and drag your enemies down-under.
- ZERGSTING
- SHAWI KATAMI
- Hylissang
- Fudge
- Experimental
- I LIKE
Keep in mind
your minor runes will be changed based on the lane you're fighting.
if you're going against weaker opponents you can go 2 Adaptive.
If youre going against mixed damage characters like Kaisa and an AP support go 2 Armor since a majority of damage you will take will be AD in early trades.
If you're going against double AP take 2 Magic Resist
And finally, if you're going against double AD take 2 Armor.
Explanation of runes
Runes can be adjusted between matchup and games to modify your effects in and out of lane. For that reason I will explain my knowledge as to why and when to apply each rune listed above so you can leverage them to increase your success.
- Breakdown
Summoner spells and Build options
- Summoner Spells
- Item Options
Builds Explained
Full Build Option 1 (Generic)
Swiftness Boots for speed to roam and secure Q hooks and E stuns.
Umbral Glave is Pyke's single best item period and should be rushed over your mythic.
Dusk Blade is often skipped for sustain items. however, in the general build, it is built 3rd to keep you alive after using R in fights.
Death's Dance is very powerful currently and can keep you alive for extended periods of time, even keeping you alive when getting some R executions off.
Maw of Mal. currently Maw does an extremely good job at keeping you alive through the burst of mages and AP assassins, when combined with Death's Dance it can be nearly impossible to kill you.
Guardian Angel does a fantastic job at keeping you alive in the late game fights and allow you to escape some nasty situations or get off some clear R executes. That being said it is not often you reach full build on Pyke and you should build control wards often.
Full Build Option 2 (Armor)
When faced with heavy AD you can opt. to swap your boots out for Plated Steel Caps and change the order of your items to what is below.
I will often use this build over the others.
Full Build Option 3 (MR)
When faced against heavy AP you can opt. to swap over to Mercury's Boots and Change the order of the items to what is below.
Full Lethality (Dusk Blade)
For fun build to output the best amount of damage and fill the fantasy of full team Assassin.
Full Lethality (Prowler's Claw)
Prowler's claw gives you a fair bit of lethality with your E on isolated targets. (prowler's claw gives about 80 more damage on R at full build).
Roam Heavy (Uses Relentless)
Used to have high map pressure. Recommended for higher Elo players.
However, you can also use:
General Tips and Tricks
There are a lot of small tips I could give any player when playing Pyke. though there are a few tips I like to throw in for anyone looking to play Pyke.
Push for level two Leads!
- Pyke is an aggressive champion, try and keep your leashes small and get a few auto attacks off on the melee creeps if the enemy players allow it.
- You will level when killing the 3rd melee minion on the second wave if you collect all the Xp, you can save your support item charges to kill the last melee minions when they arrive and surprise your opponents.
Remember to play around Brush!
- This tip goes for most support champions but stepping in and out of unwarded brush can give you a lot of pressure in lane and potentially lead to kills.
- Your passive tells you if something is warded, since you will not heal if you are in vision. you can use this to get information.
Know your matchups!
- It's always smart to acknowledge when you can or cannot win a lane, keep in mind that you have your own weaknesses as well as bad matchups.
- Since Pyke is so aggressive, you have to rely heavily on your allies to play the lane and win your games. If you don't think your ADC is making the cut always look for opportunities to snowball other lanes and assist your jungler as long as it won't significantly impact your Xp.
What I've learned!
- it's often not very smart to roam before level 6 unless you have already pushed your wave under the enemy tower.
- It's often a bad idea to roam top very early in the game unless you're certain you can make a play.
- You can look to roam mid after recalling if you think you can make a play there.
- Learn to speak the language of pings, telling people what to do is the best way to increase your success in small coordinated fights. Even some worse players can do the right thing when you tell them what to do.
- Just /mute all. Seriously, it's not worth it, Most people are angry and no one will listen to you regardless of what you say. Plus, if you don't fight with people they usually play better.
- It's really just best to save your R until someone can't dodge it, either because they're slowed, stunned or CC'd in some other way. If you can't CC them then play around some sort of flash or dash; I have had numerous people kill themselves just holding things like Ekko R waiting for me to use mine. If you can't guarantee any kind of easy ult sometimes it's best just not to use it. You want to make sure you get good use or else your left just tossing some hooks every 6 or so seconds.
- If you see opportunities for very fast R chains you should attempt to take them, I can recommend going into practice tool and getting use to distances travelled using R.