Riot Games Experiments With Syndra in the New Mid-Scope Update

Syndra is the latest League of Legends champion to receive a mid-scope update and Riot Games is pushing changes on the latest public beta environment (PBE) cycle. All eyes are on the reworked passive and ultimate in Syndra’s kit. The company is now seeking feedback on the changes, live on PBE, to see how satisfied the players are. Notably, mid-scope updates are not complete reworks of champions but are adjustments made on a smaller scale to the champions’ kits to help improve their pick and win rates in the game. These updates are made in an attempt to revive these champions and bring them back into play and it is fair to say that Syndra has fallen off the meta quite hard.

Riot Games introduces mid-scope update for Syndra

Game Designer Tim “truexy” Jiang took to Twitter to introduce Syndra’s mid-scope changes to the player base. He wrote, “We’re gonna have more on our thoughts behind the mid scope soon. But the main goals were [to] keep her core gameplay but enhance her passive to open up bigger high moments and real feelings of power upgrades.”

Riot Games introduces mid-scope update for Syndra

Game Designer Tim “truexy” Jiang took to Twitter to introduce Syndra’s mid-scope changes to the player base. He wrote, “We’re gonna have more on our thoughts behind the mid scope soon. But the main goals were [to] keep her core gameplay but enhance her passive to open up bigger high moments and real feelings of power upgrades.”

The change list is quite long and all four abilities and Syndra’s passive are undergoing significant changes. They are as follows:

Transcendent (Passive)

Syndra collects up to 120 Splinters via damaging enemy champions and gaining levels. Splinters of Wrath enhance Syndra and her abilities.

• Syndra restores 20-215 (based on level 1-18) mana whenever she collects a Splinter from an enemy. She can gain Splinters via:

  • Damaging an enemy champion with 2 Abilities within 4 seconds grants (1/2/3 at levels 1, 11, and 18) Splinters (8s cooldown [CD] per target)

  • Leveling up grants Syndra 5 Splinters of Wrath

  • Killing a Cannon minion grants 1 Splinter of Wrath

• At 120 Splinters, Syndra gains 15% Total Ability Power (AP)

• Ability icons also change with upgrade

This is the major change and instead of upgrading the abilities, the passive now allows players to farm “splinters”. Collecting these splinters will affect the ability upgrades in certain ways.

Base Stats

Base Health :: 593 >>> 563

Dark Sphere (Q)

• Cooldown :: 4s >>> 7s

• Mana Cost :: 40/50/60/70/80 >>> 40/45/50/55/60

• Sphere Duration :: 6s >>> 6.5s

• 40 Splinters of Wrath :: Dark Sphere can store 2 charges (1s CD between casts)

Force of Will (W)

• Sphere Pickup Detection Radius :: 400 >>> 450

• Now prevents non-Sphere units from dying for a brief period when picked up

• 60 Splinters of Wrath :: Force of Will does an additional 15% (+1.5% per 100 AP) true damage.

Scatter the Weak (E)

• Magic Damage:: 85-265 (+60% AP) >>> 75-235 (+55% AP)

• Scatter Angle :: 34 degrees >>> 56 degrees

• Cooldown: 18-14s >>> 15s

• Stun Duration: 1.5s >>> 1.25

• Reduced failure chances of close range E>Q combos

• 80 Splinters of Wrath :: Scatter the Weak's cone is increased (56 deg > 84 deg) and also slows enemies by 70% for 1.25s (applied after initial CC)

Unleashed Power (R)

• Grant Dark Sphere (Q) an additional 10/20/30 Ability Haste

• Damage Per Sphere :: 90/140/190 (+20% AP) >>> 90/130/170 (+17% AP) • 100 Splinters of Wrath :: Executes champions below 15% max health

Truexy stated that along with the change to Syndra’s passive and her 2 Qs, Riot is also shifting her power into W rank up and is focusing on making E better at level one rank. “This should make her burst turn on a bit earlier and make Syndra less of a ‘hit or miss E’ to be useful.”

With the Syndra mid-scope update already live on the PBE, players can expect the changes to get released alongside LoL Patch 12.19 on 5th October as per the official patch schedule. But if the changes are not well-received and if Riot feels like Syndra needs to be worked on again, the date might get pushed.