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Pyke Counters: Who Beats Pyke

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Pyke counters are supports who can survive his hook-and-stun combo and punish him for being fragile. He’s a 150 range assassin support who can’t gain extra maximum Health from anything, with a hook, a camouflage dash, a stun that trails behind him and an execute that resets on kills. The picks that beat him block the hook, lock him down when he commits, or keep their carry above his execute line.

Five supports are listed below with the abilities that make each work. Win-rate data wasn’t part of the selection.

Pyke counters: Pyke, the Bloodharbor Ripper, splash art

Why is Pyke hard to counter?

  • Gift of the Drowned Ones (passive): while hidden from enemies, he regenerates damage recently taken from champions. He can’t gain bonus maximum Health and gets bonus Attack Damage instead.
  • Bone Skewer (Q): a stab in front of him, or a pull that drags an enemy toward him. Cooldown 10/9.5/9/8.5/8.
  • Ghostwater Dive (W): Camouflage plus a burst of Move Speed that decays. Cooldown 14/13/12/11/10.
  • Phantom Undertow (E): a dash that leaves a phantom behind, which returns to him and stuns enemy champions along its path. Cooldown 15/14/13/12/11.
  • Death From Below (R): he blinks to and executes low Health enemies, can recast it, and gives extra gold to an ally who assists. Cooldown 100/85/70.

Pyke plays like a jungler who happens to stand in bot lane. Ghostwater Dive hides him, the hook drags someone out of position, Phantom Undertow stuns on the way back, and Death From Below finishes whoever drops low, then resets on the kill so he can do it again. Gift of the Drowned Ones heals him between those plays as long as nobody sees him. Here’s the flip side (and it’s a big one): he can’t build maximum Health. Every item he buys turns into damage. Catch him once and he usually dies.

Which champions are the best Pyke counters?

Morgana

Black Shield (E) blocks disabling effects and magic damage until it breaks, and a carry wearing it can’t be stunned by Phantom Undertow. Bone Skewer’s pull is a disable too, so the shield stops the whole opening. Dark Binding (Q) roots a target in place, and a Pyke who walked up to throw a hook stands still for a long time. Soul Shackles (R) chains nearby enemy champions and stuns those who stay close. Tormented Shadow (W) adds damage over time, which is more painful for a champion with no bonus Health. Did his hook just bounce off the shield? Then he’s standing next to your ADC with nothing.

Leona

Shield of Daybreak (Q) stuns on her next attack, Zenith Blade (E) briefly immobilizes the last champion struck and pulls Leona to them, and Solar Flare (R) stuns enemies in the centre of a beam. That’s three disables on a champion who can’t build Health. Eclipse (W) gives her Damage Reduction, Armor and Magic Resist, so the hook-and-stun trade costs her very little. Sunlight (passive) lets her allies deal bonus magic damage to any enemy she’s just hit, which adds up fast against a squishy target. In practice, she turns Pyke’s engage into her own.

Alistar

Unbreakable Will (R) removes every crowd control effect on Alistar and cuts the physical and magic damage he takes for the duration. If Pyke hooks and stuns him, the ultimate undoes both. Pulverize (Q) tosses nearby enemies into the air, and Headbutt (W) rams a target and knocks it back, which is how Alistar peels Pyke off a carry. Trample (E) stuns on a fully stacked attack. Triumphant Roar (passive) heals Alistar and nearby allies when it charges up, which helps keep the ADC out of execute range. Honestly, he’s the one Pyke players hate hooking most.

Soraka

Wish (R) instantly restores Health to Soraka and every allied champion on the map. Death From Below only executes low Health enemies, so a global heal at the right moment pulls the target out of range. Astral Infusion (W) heals one ally at the cost of her own Health, and Starcall (Q) slows enemies and heals Soraka when it hits a champion. Equinox (E) silences every enemy inside its zone and roots those still there when it ends, which stops Pyke from casting anything while he’s in it. Salvation (passive) speeds her toward low-Health allies.

Nami

Aqua Prison (Q) stuns every enemy hit, and a stun on a champion with no bonus Health is often lethal. Ebb and Flow (W) bounces between allies and enemies, healing one side and damaging the other, so her carry climbs back out of execute range while Pyke takes damage. Tidecaller’s Blessing (E) makes an ally’s attacks and spells slow their target. Tidal Wave (R) knocks up, slows and damages a whole line (Pyke included, if he’s mid-dash). Can he even reach her? Her 550 range lets her poke him from far outside Bone Skewer’s stab.

How do you play the lane against Pyke?

  • Stand behind your minions. Bone Skewer pulls the enemy it hits, so a minion in the way takes the hook.
  • Track Ghostwater Dive. While he’s camouflaged and moving fast, assume a hook is coming from the brush.
  • Dodge the phantom’s return path. Phantom Undertow stuns champions it passes on the way back to him.
  • Back off early when you’re hurt, because the ultimate finishes anyone under its threshold and comes straight back if it kills.
  • Keep vision on him. Gift of the Drowned Ones only regenerates his Health while he’s hidden from enemies.

Which items counter Pyke?

Thing is, his power is an execute. Anything that keeps allies above the threshold helps. Locket of the Iron Solari’s Devotion shields every nearby ally for a moment, which can lift a target out of range just as Death From Below lands. Knight’s Vow links you to one ally: Sacrifice takes 14% of the damage they receive while you stand near them. Mikael’s Blessing’s Purify removes crowd control from an ally (not Airborne or Suppression), which covers the Phantom Undertow stun. Mercury’s Treads give 30% Tenacity. Since Pyke can’t build Health, damage items on your carry punish him harder than they would most supports. Our LoL items database lists everything, and for supports who want to run from a hidden Pyke, Shurelya’s Battlesong speeds up the whole team.

When is Pyke at his weakest?

When he’s seen. Gift of the Drowned Ones only works while he’s hidden, and without it he’s a squishy support with no way to heal. Wards in the river and brush take away most of his roams.

The second window is after a missed hook. Bone Skewer is 10 seconds at rank 1, and without it Pyke has to walk at you or dash in with Phantom Undertow, both of which put him in range of your crowd control. Real talk, most Pyke deaths come from one failed engage. Punish it. Every time.

If support is a new role for you, what it actually does is laid out in our guide to LoL roles. You’ll find his skins on the Pyke skins page, the rest of our champion guides in the full guide list, and his single-lane game in the Pyke ARAM guide. Long story short, Pyke counters block his hook, lock him down when he commits, and keep their carry out of execute range.

FAQ

Who counters Pyke the most?

Morgana, who blocks his crowd control; Leona and Nami, who stun a squishy target; Alistar, who cleanses himself; and Soraka, whose Wish heals allies out of execute range.

Can Pyke build Health?

No. Gift of the Drowned Ones stops him gaining extra maximum Health from any source and gives him bonus Attack Damage instead.

Does Death From Below reset?

Yes. When it executes a low-Health enemy, he can cast it again, and an ally who assisted gets extra gold.

How do you avoid Phantom Undertow’s stun?

Stay off the line between Pyke and where he dashed from. The phantom stuns enemy champions along its path as it returns to him.

How were these Pyke counters chosen?

From Pyke’s patch 26.21 ability descriptions checked against each support’s kit. Win rates weren’t used.