Guide · Support

Pyke Guide

the Bloodharbor Ripper

Support

Assassin

Tier C Support

Pyke, the Bloodharbor Ripper, is a support and assassin champion that is demanding to master. Across our 849 analysed ranked games, Pyke is mostly played as Support (100% of its games), with a 46.6% win rate in that role: tier C among Support champions (#36 of 39, ranked by win rate). Pyke's damage is mostly physical (74%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. 26% of that damage is true damage and therefore ignores resistances. Win rate varies with game length: 50.4% in long games (over 35 min, 113 games) versus 44.1% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min).

Averages measured over 849 Support games played with Pyke, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Pyke is a support-assassin who regenerates recent damage when he is not seen, and whose extra health is converted into attack damage. Bone Skewer pulls an enemy in, Phantom Undertow stuns as it passes, Ghostwater Dive camouflages him, and his ultimate executes low-health enemies and grants bonus gold to the ally who assists.

The hook

Q › E › AA AA

When: An enemy is within harpoon range.

Bone Skewer pulls the enemy in, Phantom Undertow leaves a phantom that stuns champions in its path when it returns.

The execution

R › R

When: Several enemies are low on health.

Death From Below dashes onto low-health enemies to execute them, which lets you recast the spell and grant bonus gold to an assisting ally.

The stealthy approach

W › Q

When: You want to surprise.

Ghostwater Dive camouflages you with a large speed bonus that fades: approach then hook.

Laning phase

Bone Skewer can stab an enemy in front of you or pull them in: choose based on the distance. Stay out of sight to regenerate recent damage.

Common mistakes

• Trying to increase your max health: it is converted into attack damage.
• Casting the ultimate on enemies with a lot of health.
• Using Bone Skewer without looking at the minions.

Riot's official tips for playing Pyke

• Pyke is very fragile so don't be afraid to temporarily run from a fight. You can regenerate a significant amount of health from Gift of the Drowned Ones when enemies can't see you.
• Hitting an enemy with the Hold version of Bone Skewer will always pull them the same distance. Use it in melee range to throw targets behind you.
• The Tap version of Bone Skewer is much faster and deals additional damage.
• A lot of your agressive spells are also your escapes. Make sure you always have a plan to get out of the fight.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Youmuu's Ghostblade, Umbral Glaive, and Edge of Night (77 games, 54.5% win rate).

Youmuu's Ghostblade+Umbral Glaive+Edge of Night

77 games · 54.5%

Umbral Glaive+Edge of Night+Voltaic Cyclosword

34 games · 29.4%

Youmuu's Ghostblade+Umbral Glaive+Voltaic Cyclosword

24 games · 58.3%

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite46.6% · 804 games

Exhaust + Flash45.2% · 31 games

Most-played runes

Hail of Blades + Resolve

44.9% · 454 games

Primary tree · Domination

Cheap Shot67%

Sixth Sense61%

Ultimate Hunter60%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Unflinching96%

Bone Plating91%

Shards

Adaptive force97%

Adaptive force96%

Health scaling54%

Hail of Blades + Sorcery

46.2% · 186 games

Primary tree · Domination

Sudden Impact74%

Deep Ward78%

Relentless Hunter80%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Celerity89%

Nimbus Cloak87%

Shards

Adaptive force91%

Adaptive force80%

Health75%

Hail of Blades + Inspiration

50.6% · 158 games

Primary tree · Domination

Sudden Impact88%

Deep Ward54%

Relentless Hunter51%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight96%

Magical Footwear85%

Shards

Adaptive force95%

Adaptive force98%

Health50%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Pyke's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team47.9% · 244 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Umbral Glaive 48.7%

Edge of Night 47.8%

Youmuu's Ghostblade 48.0%

Voltaic Cyclosword 50.0%

Maw of Malmortius 33.3%

Axiom Arc 61.5%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team48.3% · 209 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Umbral Glaive 47.6%

Edge of Night 52.1% ▲

Youmuu's Ghostblade 52.4% ▲

Axiom Arc 50.0% ▼

Voltaic Cyclosword 44.0% ▼

Serpent's Fang 35.7%

The item that stands out most is Youmuu's Ghostblade: 52.4% win rate, +5 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team45.0% · 396 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Umbral Glaive 46.2%

Edge of Night 47.4%

Youmuu's Ghostblade 43.6% ▼

Voltaic Cyclosword 47.1%

Axiom Arc 61.5% ▲

Serpent's Fang 33.3%

The item that stands out most is Axiom Arc: 61.5% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Pyke as Support

Poppy Pyke: 25.0%16 games

Poppy has the edge in 75% of the 16 Support duels against Pyke. See the Poppy guide.

Seraphine Pyke: 35.3%17 games

Seraphine has the edge in 65% of the 17 Support duels against Pyke. See the Seraphine guide.

Bard Pyke: 40.6%32 games

Bard has the edge in 59% of the 32 Support duels against Pyke. See the Bard guide.

Leona Pyke: 41.2%17 games

Leona has the edge in 59% of the 17 Support duels against Pyke. See the Leona guide.

Lulu Pyke: 42.3%26 games

Lulu has the edge in 58% of the 26 Support duels against Pyke. See the Lulu guide.

Who Pyke is strong against

Janna60.0% · 15 games

Rakan58.8% · 17 games

Alistar58.8% · 17 games

Blitzcrank57.9% · 19 games

Soraka52.9% · 17 games

How to play against Pyke

• Pyke regenerates a significant amount of damage he has taken from enemy champions, but only when you can't see him!
• When Pyke is hidden nearby in his Ghostwater Dive, sharks will circle underneath your feet.
• Try not to stand near low health allies. If Pyke executes them using Death From Below, you might be next on the list.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Pyke's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveGift of the Drowned Ones

When Pyke is hidden from enemies, he regenerates damage that he has recently taken from champions. Pyke also cannot gain extra Maximum Health from any source, and instead gains Bonus AD.

QBone Skewer

Pyke either stabs an enemy in front of him or pulls an enemy towards him.

WGhostwater Dive

Pyke enters Camouflage and gains significant Move Speed that decays over time.

EPhantom Undertow

Pyke dashes and leaves behind a phantom that will return to him, stunning enemy champions along its path.

RDeath From Below

Pyke blinks to and executes low health enemies, allowing him to cast this spell again and granting additional gold to an ally who assists.

Frequently asked questions

Full Pyke page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides