Pyke Guide

Updated for patch 26.22.

Ability numbers checked on patch 26.21 · Strategy reviewed: October 2026

The catch is, pyke is the Bloodharbor Ripper, an assassin-support hybrid from Bilgewater who turns the support role into an active roam-and-pick threat. His ultimate executes low-HP enemies for true damage and refunds its cooldown on each kill, which lets a fed Pyke chain two or three executes in a single teamfight. Riot shipped him in 2018 as the first assassin-support; he has stayed in meta ever since. The pages below run through his Camouflage roam window on 26.22, Death From Below execute threshold scaling in this Pyke guide, disengage enchanters that cancel his hook, and skins ranked by Ashen Knight polish.

Abilities and role

Riot classifies Pyke as Support/Assassin on 150 attack range (melee). His resource is Mana, and his difficulty sits at 7/10. He plays support in nearly every solo queue game, with the rare off-meta mid lane pickrate when a team wants a snowball ganker. Put simply, the kit is Q spear-pull, W stealth-roam, E stun-dash, R true-damage execute with assist gold rewards.

Gift of the Drowned Ones (Passive)

Pyke regenerates damage he has recently taken whenever he is hidden from enemy vision (brush, Fog of War, stealth). He cannot gain Maximum Health from items: all health conversions go into Bonus AD instead. Honestly, this is why he builds assassin items in a support role. A Youmuu’s Ghostblade on Pyke gives him more effective damage than a Thornmail would give any other tank support.

Bone Skewer (Q)

Hold Q to charge a spear. Release early for a short stab, hold full charge for a pull on the first enemy hit, up to 1100 units. 10 to 8 second cooldown, 70-90 Mana. On the charge timing: a quick-tap Q only stabs the enemy in front without pulling, which wastes the engage window. Max this first every game. The lane rotation is Q from brush at level 2, pull the enemy ADC into your range, auto for the trade.

Ghostwater Dive (W)

Pyke enters Camouflage for 4 seconds and gains a burst of Move Speed. The Camouflage breaks on auto-attack or ability cast but not on movement, so a well-timed W lets him walk unseen past the enemy’s wards. 14 to 10 second cooldown, 65 Mana. Look, this is the roam tool that defines his pattern. The classic mid-game move is a lane shove, W into river fog, flank mid lane for a kill before the enemy jungler can respond. Max W third in support role.

Phantom Undertow (E)

Dash 550 units in a target direction, leaving a phantom at the starting point. After 2 seconds the phantom returns to Pyke’s current position, stunning every enemy caught in its path for 1.25 seconds. 15 to 11 second cooldown, 40 Mana. For what it’s worth, Phantom Undertow is the setup button for his R. Dash through the enemy line, let the phantom return, stun on the back path, R execute. Max E second for the cooldown reduction.

Death From Below (R)

Execute any enemy champion below a dynamic HP threshold (scales with Pyke’s bonus AD), dealing true damage and dashing to the target. If the ultimate kills the target, Pyke can re-cast R up to 10 seconds later. Allies who assisted the kill receive bonus gold equal to the shutdown value. 100/85/70 second cooldown, 100 Mana. Sure, the obvious use is a solo execute on a low-HP carry, Clean wins also come from Camouflage flanks against a Flashless carry during Baron. The assist gold goes to the ally in range (around 350 units of the target), which turns a fed Pyke into a team funding engine.

Real talk, the execute threshold is the key number on him: at 100 bonus AD the ult executes targets below 350 HP, at 250 bonus AD it executes below 750. His classic late-game pattern is a Camouflage flank into R execute on the enemy back-line.

Strengths and weaknesses

Why does Pyke stay in the top five support pick rates every patch? His ult execute closes trades no other support can finish. Nothing matches his roam window. The W Camouflage lets him flank mid lane past wards. The passive sustain in brush turns every lane trade into a positive exchange. His soft phase is short, just through the first three level-ups, with the dominance window opening right after the W unlock.

The lane breaks down when the enchanter brings disengage that cancels every hook from fog. Thing is, hard-engage enchanters counter his trade pattern. Janna windwall eats his Q, Lulu polymorph interrupts his E dash, Milio soft-lock prevents the pull. Hard-matchup supports to pick around in blind pick: Janna, Lulu, Milio, Soraka, Nami. Teams with heavy wave-clear and 5v5 teamfight composition neutralize his roam window.

How to play by game stage

Early lane, (brush-sustain window): tuck into the lane bush for Gift of the Drowned Ones regen, pull the enemy ADC with Bone Skewer from fog at level 2, then rotate mid once the wave crashes. By minute 7:00 Pyke is level 6, enemy ADC at half HP, ready for Bone-Skewer plus Phantom-Undertow into Death From Below. The ADC watches the mid-lane roam timer.

The 7-13 band is roam. Once Pyke has Youmuu’s Ghostblade and boots, side-step out of bot lane the moment his wave is pushed in. Pressure appears. The W Camouflage flank into Q pull plus E stun plus R execute combo on an isolated enemy mid-laner turns a 2v2 into a free kill. Pair with an engage jungler who gives him a stuck target: Nautilus, Rell, Zac, Jarvan. Pyke front-lines after a landed hook, but retreats after R execute to reset the Camouflage window.

Levels 14+ flip into assassinate. Full combo on a stunned carry below the execute threshold is a chain of R resets on kills through the back line.Edge of Night is a 2-item slot pickup against point-and-click lockdown; the spell shield protects the hook setup. A Zhonya’s Hourglass is almost mandatory on Pyke late game The enemy burns peel on Pyke first because his R gold-share threatens a 4-man wipe on a landed hook. In 1v1 situations hold Flash for the retreat after Death From Below, not for the Bone Skewer entry.

Enemy sweeper denial before every Camouflage flank is the win condition. Can he really W-flank the enemy mid-laner through fog if a sweeper lens is up near the lane bush? That is the real question. Place sweeper trinket near river entrances before every roam.Fog of war buys every Camouflage flank into R execute on the back-line.

Who counters Pyke

Pyke bleeds out against three support archetypes: long-range enchanters whose cast windows beat his Bone Skewer prediction (Janna, Lulu, Milio), peel knights who cancel the Phantom Undertow dash with their own CC on reaction (Nautilus Q, Thresh Q, Alistar W+Q), and point-and-click utility that just erases the hook before Camouflage reaches the river wall (Lulu W, Yuumi attach, Taric E). The Pyke counters page breaks down every opponent with the exact ability that short-circuits Pyke’s rotation.

ARAM notes

Pyke’s Howling Abyss opener leans into Youmuu’s Ghostblade for the roam speed, then Serylda’s Grudge for the Lethality-to-slow bridge, then Guardian Angel against the inevitable five-stack dive. Riot’s per-map tuning on this champion favors assists over solo kills (the Gift of the Drowned Ones heal plus the R gold-share passive both lean toward kill participation on this map). Full item path and execute-math breakdown on the dedicated Pyke ARAM build page.

Pyke skins

The Pyke wardrobe sits at 12 shipped skins. Three of those overhaul the Bone Skewer hook and Death from Below execute VFX from the ground up. Ashen Knight Pyke is the legendary with reworked animations, a knight-mythology music theme and a glowing-sword R animation. PROJECT: Pyke is the cyber-glam legendary with a holographic skewer. Blood Moon Pyke is the mask alternative from the Blood Moon lineup. Fright Night Pyke stays a classic favorite thanks to the Halloween theme and the matching line of chromas released that year. Inkshadow Pyke keeps a quieter alternative with an ink-art aesthetic. All 12 Pyke splash arts, RP prices and release years live on our All Pyke skins and prices page. Ashen Knight is the brash pick; PROJECT: Pyke is the quiet pick.

FAQ

Is Pyke easy to learn?

Riot pegs Pyke at 7/10 difficulty; Camouflage flanks and R execute math define the ceiling. His cap sits in Q charge timing and E stun angles that chain into R executes, and those take hundreds of games to master. The 50 % win rate baseline needs 30-plus games; the R execute threshold math takes practice.