Syndra Champion Update

Rilea -

The next champion to receive a midscope update is Syndra, which aims to emphasise Syndra's role as a mage that gets stronger over the course of the game.

New Passive - Transcendence

Syndra's updated passive now revolves around collecting Splinters of Wrath, which permanently empower her abilities once enough have been collected. She can accumulate Splinters by:

  • Damaging an enemy with 2 abilities within 4 seconds; this grants 1/2/3 Splinters at levels 1/11/18 (8 second CD per target)
  • Levelling up, which grants 5 Splinters
  • Last hitting a cannon minion, granting 1 Splinter

Collecting a Splinter will also restore some mana based on Syndra's level. Upon reaching the maximum of 120 Splinters, you will gain 15% total AP.

This new mechanic encourages you to poke away at enemies as much as possible, damaging them with your combos and generating Splinters. The number of Splinters required to upgrade your abilities is 40, 60, 80 and 100.

Q - Dark Sphere

At 40 Splinters, Q will be able to store up to 2 charges (1.25 second CD between casts). Once you've unlocked this upgrade, it will be easier to collect more Splinters from landing combos as you have more spheres at your disposal.

Syndra's Q has received some other changes to account for this new upgrade:

  • Cooldown increased to 7 seconds, up from 4
  • Mana cost reduced to 40/45/50/55/60, down from 40/50/60/70/80
  • Damage increased to 70/105/140/175/210 (+70% AP), up from (+65% AP)

W - Force Of Will

At 60 Splinters, W will deal an additional 15% (+1.5% per 100 AP) true damage, making this ability even more potent. Additionally, W has received some QoL buffs:

  • Sphere Pickup Detection Radius increased to 500 units, up from 400
  • Non-Sphere units that Syndra picks up will not be able to die while under Syndra’s control

E - Scatter The Weak

At 80 Splinters, E's range cone is increased (56 degrees ⇒ 84 degrees) and will slow enemies by 70% for 1.25 seconds, which is applied after the initial CC. Hitting your E will be easier once it's been upgraded, and will keep your enemies locked down for longer. E has received some other buffs and nerfs:

  • Cooldown decreased to 15 seconds at all ranks, down from 18/17/16/15/15 seconds
  • Scatter angle increased to 56 degrees, up from 34
  • New effect - reduced the likelihood of Q not stunning targets at close range

  • Stun duration reduced to 1.25 seconds, down from 1.5 seconds
  • Magic damage decreased to 75/115/155/195/235 (+55% AP), down from 85/130/175/220/265 (+60% AP)
  • Removed - the spheres spawned after casting Scatter the Weak are no longer fired as missiles

Even though it will now be easier to hit stuns/slows with an increased radius and reduced CD, these stuns will deal less damage and have a shorter duration. Therefore, it's important to reach 80 Splinters as quickly as possible to maximise your E's CC.

Ultimate - Unleashed Power

Finally, upon gathering 100 Splinters, your ultimate will now execute champions below 15% max health. Additionally, Unleashed Power will now grant your Q a further 10/20/30 ability haste.

Your ultimate is an even more dangerous tool to blow up low health enemies, so the base damage has been reduced to compensate for this:

  • Damage per sphere reduced to 90/130/170 (+17% AP), down from 90/140/190 (+ 20% AP)

Summary

Overall, Syndra's identity hasn't changed much; she is still a burst mage who wants to blow up targets by catching out enemies with her CC. However, good Syndra play at every stage of the game will be now be rewarded with Splinters, helping Syndra reach her power spike quicker.

She may be a little bit weaker in the early game with the nerfs to her abilities, making it essential to maximise her Splinters as quickly as possible.