'League of Legends': Everything You Need to Know About the Newest Champion

League of Legends’ newest champion is Sylas the Unshackled, but knowing his name and abilities [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

League of Legends' newest champion is Sylas the Unshackled, but knowing his name and abilities is only the start of understanding what he can do.

Riot Games revealed Sylas on Tuesday, a champion once imprisoned by chains who now uses those shackles to wail on his enemies, particularly those from Demacia. All of his abilities can be seen here, but his ultimate, Hijack, is by far his most unique ability, a move which allows him to copy an opponent's ultimate for his own use.

Seeing how every ultimate is designed specifically for the champion that uses it, some strange interactions were bound to occur when Sylas steals a foe's move. To get more details on how those interactions work, we reached out to Riot Games and spoke to Sylas' champion designer Blake "Riot Squad5" Smith and found out what happens when Sylas steals specific abilities.

But before getting into the specifics of strange champion interactions, it's important to know how – and where – people should play Sylas.

WHAT ROLE DOES SYLAS FILL?

With every new champion that's released, the first thing players try to determine is where it fits into in terms of the five roles in League. As an ability power-based champion with some crowd control and the chance to affect battles differently depending on which champion's ultimate he can steal, Smith said Sylas is best played in roles where he can roam, though that doesn't include the support role.

"Mid and jungle are the primary roles we think work best for Sylas," Smith said when asked what role suits Sylas best. "He's able to roam around and steal spells more easily than in other roles which gives him a big advantage. I'm pretty sure support Sylas won't work though."

But in those positions especially, Sylas has the chance to out-level his opponents, perhaps unlocking his ultimate before an opponent does. If that happens, Smith said Sylas will still be able to copy their ultimate regardless of whether they've put a point into it or not, so keeping ultimates unleveled isn't a viable counter against Sylas. Sylas' ultimate he copies is also based on his own level and stats, so stealing a lower-level opponent's move can allow Sylas to return it back at them with even greater power.

THE FINER DETAILS OF SYLAS' ULTIMATE

Some champions' ultimate abilities are straight-forward enough that they can easily be copied, but others are quite dependent on the rest of those respective champions' kits. We saw Evelynn's and Leona's abilities stolen in past trailers, and Smith gave some insight into which of those abilities were more difficult than others to give to Sylas.

"Heimerdinger, Kayn, and Jayce were the three most challenging ultimates to work on," Smith told us when asked which ultimate abilities gave the team the biggest headaches. "Part of that is because of how the champions were scripted, part of it is because they all have multiple aspects to them that need to be tracked separately, which was a big challenge."

While anything that adds to Sylas' limited crowd control would be an obvious boon, other abilities probably aren't worth copying. When asked which ultimates Sylas would benefit from the least, Smith said Udyr and Zoe are likely the worst ones for Sylas to take. Udyr's is essentially a basic ability since it gives Sylas Phoenix Stance, Smith said, so it doesn't give him much power while Zoe's is mostly dependent on amplifying her Paddle Star's power.

But Heimerdinger, Kayn, and Jayce are just three of the champions who could yield some interesting results for Sylas if he copies their move. We asked Smith about 30 different champions and how their abilities work in Sylas' favor, all of those interactions detailed below.

HOW SYLAS USES OTHER CHAMPIONS' ULTS

Below are some of the champions League players might already have questions about with Smith's explanations listed below the champions. Some champs were grouped together if their interactions depended on similar variables. As League of Legends player and limit-pusher Vandiril discovered, Sylas can become quite huge if he steals the right ultimates.

  • Aatrox (does he get a Blood Well?)
    • "Sylas does get his own blood well, it appears as his secondary resource bar when he casts Aatrox's ultimate and uses that to determine how much he heals when he revives."
  • Annie (and her "E" which interacts with Tibbers)
    • "Sylas only gets the R portion of Annie's ultimate - He can summon Tibbers (but it won't stun) and control it using his R."
  • Cho'Gath (does he grow in size/health and have max stacks?)
    • "He does grow in size and health, and he tracks his stacks just like Cho'Gath does - so he can only get 6 from non champions etc. The stacks stay on him permanetly."
  • Corki/Kog'Maw/Teemo (one ammo charge or multiple?)
    • "All ammo spells give Sylas the maximum ammo they have but make it so he cannot regenerate ammo. Kog'Maw just gets one shot."
  • Elise/Nidalee/Jayce (does he get all their transformed abilities?)
    • "For Elise Sylas transforms into spider form, for Nid cougar form, and for Jayce his cannon form. Sylas gains their base kit when he has transformed and reverts back to himself when he exits the transformation."
  • Gnar (does he always get Mega Gnar's ult?)
    • "Sylas always gets Mega Gnar ult."
  • Heimerdinger/Karma
    • "Sylas replaces his base kit with their abilities, and can cast one of their upgraded abilities."
  • Kai'Sa (given that a champion has to be affected with Plasma)
    • "Sylas can mark targets with his autos and his allies can CC targets to mark them for him. He cannot use Kaisa's passive or build stacks though."
  • Kayn (and his three ultimates)
    • "Sylas gets whatever ultimate Kayn currently has. So if the enemy is Rhaast he gets Rhaast ult, base form he gets base etc."
  • LeBlanc
    • "Sylas gets whatever LeBlanc is currently holding for herself."
  • Master Yi (do kills/assists still extend and reduce CDs?)
    • "Yes, kills and assists extend the timer and reduce CDs"

HOW SYLAS USES OTHER CHAMPIONS' ULTS (CONT'D)

League of Legends Sylas
(Photo: Riot Games)

More unique champion interactions are found below, some of which transform Sylas into a big blob and deal with a Sylas stealing another Sylas' ultimate. He can also become invisible while smacking enemies with his chains, but only if he steals the right ultimate.

  • Mordekaiser
    • "Functions the same, Sylas can get a ghost and he can get the dragon."
  • Orianna
    • "Sylas can only cast off of himself, as if Orianna was holding the ball."
  • Quinn
    • "Should function as normal, Sylas gets the movement speed and can do the damage pop after leaving the ult."
  • Shaco
    • "Sylas gets a clone of himself that will leave jack in the boxes when it dies."
  • Swain (does he gain Swain's soul charges?)
    • "Sylas can cast the ultimate as if he had soul charges."
  • Sylas
    • "Sylas cannot steal from an enemy Sylas that isn't holding anything, but if the Sylas does have an ultimate Sylas will steal what the enemy Sylas has. So if that happens Sylas can actually use his own teammate's ultimate."
  • Tahm Kench
    • "Functions the same as normal TK."
  • Twitch (does he gain Twitch's range or is his own extended?)
    • "His own range is extended, he fires pass through missiles when attacking."
  • Udyr
    • "He gets phoenix stance, which wears off after one round of proc'ing it."
  • Vayne
    • "He gets the AD, MS toward enemies, and when he casts Q he goes invisible."
  • Warwick (bonus range from movement speed?)
    • "Yep, he gets the bonus range."
  • Yorick
    • "Should function just like Yorick does."
  • Zac (does he turn into a blob?)
    • "He does turn into a blob while channeling the ability."
  • Zed
    • "He gets the shadow and can return to it like Zed does, he also can gain the bonus AD from killing a target that Zed can get."

Sylas is currently on the PBE servers for testing and is scheduled to be released in a later patch, so some of his stats or other abilities may be adjusted before his full release.

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