League of Legends’ newest champion has been revealed to be Sylas the Unshackled, a champion who has mobility, crowd control, and can steal enemies’ ultimates.
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Riot Games announced its newest champion on Tuesday after several teasers led up to the reveal including images that showed Sylas imprisoning different Demacian champions. Those images didn’t offer much more information about the champ at the time, but it’s now clear that he was restraining the Demacian characters with his abilities and using their ultimates at times.
“Once I was a prisoner. Like you,” Sylas’ brief lore excerpt from his reveal page reads. “Locked away by cowards and hypocrites. Left to die for the way I was born. Nothing to live for but vengeance. Nothing to lose but my chains. Yet in the revolution to come—our revolution—these chains will liberate us all. And I will make sure we are never shackled again.”
Sylas’ abilities were also detailed in his reveal, each of those shown below with videos and descriptions.
Passive: Petricite Burst
Sylas’ passive is called Petricite Burst, an ability which lets him attack champions with an AOE assault after he uses an ability. It provides extra damage against champions, but it looks as though it’ll also be a useful waveclearing tool when used in the right spot.
Petricite Burst
- After casting a spell, Sylas’ next basic attack whirls his chains around him, damaging nearby enemies.
Q: CHAIN LASH
The next ability looks like it’ll b e Sylas’ source of long-range damage as he lashes out his chains and strikes enemies with a delayed explosion following up the attack.
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
Kingslayer is Sylas’ source of healing in lane or perhaps in the jungle, too, seeing how the wording suggests the ability heals him regardless of whether his enemy is a champion or not.
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’ third main ability is his sole source of crowd control, assuming he doesn’t use his ultimate ability to borrow someone else’s move that would provide him more ways to inhibit enemies’ movement.
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
The champions’ final ability is his most powerful, an ultimate that allows him to make use of other champions’ ultimates by stealing them for his own use.
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.
PLAYING AS SYLAS
While the champion page didn’t specify what lane Sylas should be played in or if he’d be a jungler – though that’ll likely be up to the community when he’s released – it did offer some tips for playing as Sylas.
“As Sylas, you lash out with merciless magical attacks, pummeling those who would oppose you with stone and steel,” Riot Games said. “Beat down your enemies with repeated Chain Lash, following each flogging with a basic attack for a whirling Petricite Burst. Elude arrest and position yourself with Abscond before choosing a hostage to hook with Abduct. When your struggle becomes a matter of life and death, end the oppression with a crushing Kingslayer strike.
His ultimate will also be able to “seize multiple ultimates in quick succession” in the late-game stages, Riot Games said.
Sylas does not have a release date but should be added to the PBE first before he’s available.
