"Enchanter" Pyke :3 Updated for Mage Season

This variation of Pyke is suited towards controlled roams & peeling over just being a classic assassin.

I have already often peaked challenger, however this split was the first time I managed to end on one as well. I managed about 250 games of this particular build with about ~63% WR and I wanna introduce more in depth about how it functions. Would have more games if Pyke wasn't legit ~40% Ban rate...

But to answer the question as to why you would play this over the usual version.
For one, you essentially don't fall off in value, since having +100 AH is quite brutal and impossible to kill with ~5 seconds CD on Phantom Undertow. This build excels the most at making sure allies don't die. I found this build particularly good against Champions that rely on getting on your carries, such as Naafiri, Vi, Jarvan IV and is also good into immobile tanks like Sion, Braum, Maokai as they fall victim to the low amount of CD on Bone Skewer. For the Thresh players its very similar to the high AH build when reaching +80AH allowing Thresh to chain his Death Sentence back to back.

1. Short Guide:

Now the more detailed version going into:

- Summoner Spells
- Runes
- Skill Order
- Items
- Champion specific interactions

Summoner Spells:

Exhaust is our main tool as its surprisingly versatile in use. It can be used to trivialize Bone Skewer as together with it becomes undodgable (35% slow + ~44% MS boost) and of course to prevent heavy bursts either on you or your ally.
Flash : Flash will be the classic option as its very good for offensive combos ( Phantom Undertow [ Death From Below] + Flash, Bone SkewerFlash, etc.) and probably the easiest bailout button for most, however with Phantom Undertow max its no longer necessary and we can allow playing without flash. Still a good option in general especially together with allowing new angles.
Ignite : When I started this build this was my go to. But now with the age meta I would only recommend it when playing for early invades or to counter Soraka, Taric, Senna or Sona.
Heal : I got the least experience with this one, but its better than expected. Despite good experience I would only recommend it when playing a lot for early over later stages as having Flash in later stages helps more.
Cleanse : Only take this when confident in using its potential as otherwise you're better of not stepping up in the first place. Don't take it as a challenge though, as often its still better to not step up for nothing. Cleanse is particularly good against champions like Vex, Annie, Syndra or Lissandra that rely on their CC to live most of the time.

Rune Choices:

is the Keystone choice as it allows multiple things to occur. Both mages and all in champions can benefit from it in different ways. e.g. Syndra, Ziggs , Mel and Seraphine have high luxury in a even a slight slow making combos a lot easier. The other half would be Kai'Sa, Corki and Karthus as they utilize the 15% DMG negation surprisingly well while able to stick easier.
can only be replaced with when considering no Flash as I heavily recommend to keep Exhaust for its versatile usage.
is quite crucial for the skill order (Phantom Undertow max > Bone Skewer max) which I will explain later in detail. Otherwise is a decent pick when roams are not required and greeding for lane presence helps rushing lvl6.
is a must have for this build as it allows essentially converting low value stats into actual gold value (+50g for each unique stat +175g | +245g for 5|10 stacks respectively. Only take if confident in sub 20min game.
Now for the secondary Tree. In 95% of games its recommended to stick to + as for one Nimbus makes Bone Skewer + Exhaust completely trivial and should assure a trade with enemy Flash. To note: Exhausthas 240s CD while Flash even with has 254s CD, therefore you always have the advantage there. is simply +500g value at lvl8 and has a good skirmishing passive for later midgame.
For the 5% of games I recommend opting into ( + ) as sometimes having survivability is more important than having a good scaling curve. e.g. when facing Bard or Elise especially because both of them heavily rely on + or which all interact with .

Skill Order:

The idea mainly is to lower Bone Skewer CD by a little bit while also giving it decent damage boost. Since Bone Skewer and Phantom Undertow both get the same damage per point, but a different CD per point its better to max Phantom Undertow first. That's where comes in clutch, since it offers the user an extra Skill point, which allows us to finish 5 points in Phantom Undertow by level 9. Its beneficial because Bone Skewer goes down by 0.5s per point, meanwhile Phantom Undertow goes down by 1s per point. This is important especially for moving aggressively on the map and when escaping as Phantom Undertow is our main mobility tool. Just important to acknowledge that we still skill Death From Below at the usual level 6, 11, 16.

Item Options:

Our core rush is essentially involving a Serrated Dirk + Boots combined with all components from Locket of the Iron Solari simply to
speed run (HP, HP5, MP5, GP10, AD, Leth., MS, AH, AR, MR = 10 stats). From there we always finish Locket of the Iron Solari unless Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads have value to be obtained early (Ezreal, Camille; Morgana, Mel).
This is how our Core Build should look like:

The real power in Locket of the Iron Solari lies in basically having Barrier which is insane for Pyke since we have no access to directly increase our HP pool. Not only for yourself of course it's also good at simply saving allies.
Celestial Opposition > Bloodsong usually as for Pyke it is difficult to find ways to become tanky and getting 35% damage negation with high uptime is a wet dream. However when behind and not facing assassins that only oneshot you should probably opt into Bloodsong to hopefully offer enough damage to finish a target when catching. Important to note:
Don't finish Umbral Glaive unless not needing Serpent's Fang or Edge of Night as normally I'd avoid buying 2 lethality items unless really fed. Other flex items are also great to buy before Umbral Glaive
Now for the flex options:

Most of them are good items and not every item has to be bought when seen as BiS as some require either specific patterns or are simply freaky. I will simply give a sentence or 2 for each item.
My favorite item: Redemption has the advantage to match against unavoidable CC such as Cease and Desist, Depth Charge, Cataclysm, etc. as they're rather predictable and can help your carry to just survive enemy burst. Also very effective with its high range while roaming or dead 💀.
Knight's Vow : Probably the strongest item in the meta right now particularly when put on early/midgame carries like Irelia, Kalista, Gwen, etc. as they profit the most of both parts taking and dealing high damage.
Mikael's Blessing : Can often be the moment your team realizes you're playing "Enchanter" Pyke the latest as being suddenly saved out of enemy CC lock. Don't forget that this can be used to self yourself with a ~0.2s buffer.
Serpent's Fang & Edge of Night : unfortunately sometimes both items are necessary to have. Unless you already have a second Serpent's Fang wielder I would always prioritize having access to anti-shield. Edge of Night shouldn't be underestimated though as it offers tough matchups a way to fight back.
Frozen Heart & Hexdrinker : These 2 are generally the best defensive options when it's about not dying. To note: Frozen Heart is really good into ad assassins that rely on applying attacks mid combo. e.g. Rengar weaving Thrill of the Hunt Savagery, Talon going for auto + Noxian Diplomacy + auto, Zed accidentally cancelling his Contempt for the Weak by casting his Razor Shuriken, etc. Of course the same goes for most ADC's.
AP & Heal% : As a stat itself it may seem irrelevant on Pyke, however our Keystone Rune scales with both AP and Heal% (aside from our AD) which makes items like Redemption naturally good and if the angle fits even brutally commit into Dawncore as in late game the Rune can easily achieve >90% slow.

This is how the build should look like:

World Atlas → Boots → Serrated Dirk → Glowing Mote → Cloth Armor → Null-Magic Mantle → Locket of the Iron Solari → Ionian Boots of Lucidity → Redemption → Umbral Glaive → Frozen Heart

Redemption is the potential flex slot, if there is no immediate value then you can go Umbral Glaive.

Champion specific interactions:

These specific patterns can often trivialize once understood. This is NOT for their entire matchup, but how difficult their interaction is to take advantage from.