League of Legends patch 9.2 brings Sylas the Unshackled to the arena Thursday

A new League of Legends hero named Sylas the Unshackled is coming to the game in the 9.2 patch that's set to go live tomorrow. Sylas brings "merciless magical attacks" to the fight, including an ultimate ability that enables him to steal an opponent's ultimate and use it himself. 

Sylas' Chain Lash attack damages and slightly slows enemies, and also causes a delayed explosion (with an increased slow effect) where they intersect. Kingslayer is a powerful lunging attack that damages enemies and heals Sylas, with an increased effect if either Sylas or his opponent have low health, while Abscond/Abduct enables him to dash a short distance and shield himself; recasting the ability within a short timeframe will enable him to use his chains to stun and damage enemies, and pull himself toward them—sort of a reverse Scorpion maneuver. 

His passive, Petricite Burst, causes his chains to whirl around him and damage nearby enemies in his next basic attack after casting a spell, and his ultimate, appropriately named Hijack, lets him take other ultimates for his own use. Opposing players can still use their ultimates, even if Sylas has swiped it; he can steal an opponent's ultimate ability anytime Hijack is off cooldown, but he can't repeatedly swipe the same ultimate in quick succession. 

"By the late game you can seize multiple ultimates in quick succession, using the enemy team’s own strength against them and bringing your revolution to a violent conclusion," Riot said on the Champion Reveal page

"You can’t Hijack the same enemy for a while after you take their ability, so plot out the full revolt before you start stealing ults. There’s no rush to use what you have, but hesitate too long and you’ll miss opportunities to unleash even more ultimates." 

Sylas the Unshackled is set to go live Thursday, when the League of Legends 9.2 update comes off the PBE where it's been in testing. Riot also recently teased new things for LoL in 2019 that we'll be hearing more about soon, and there's also a new "Awaken" cinematic that you might enjoy too. We'll update with the full 9.2 patch notes when they're posted. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.