Hey guys I am currently a master mid player who mains Sylas with over 1k games played on him over around 3 seasons. I have over 1 million mastery points and had a 60% winrate last season on him. I play on the EUW server and will start streaming soon so if you want to check me out my Twitch stream is: https://www.twitch.tv/tortaken
If you have any questions about Sylas or even the game in general if you're a beginner to league, I'd be happy to answer any questions on my stream or message me via twitter dms @tortaker
If you want to op.gg me it is: https://euw.op.gg/summoner/userName=Tortaken

During the laning phase in most matchups your playing more to survive and farm as best as you can as Sylas' laning phase is his weakest point. Only if the enemy takes very bad trades or you are playing against a champion who you can fight early do you look for solo kills pre first back. If you have control of the wave, ideally you want to push the first 2 waves into the enemy mid's turret and then ward. If you are in a rough matchup and they control the wave let them push the first 2 waves into your turret, csing as well as you can, and rush level 3 off of the 3rd wave. Because the turret speeds up your level 3 you can potentially all in the opponent if they make a mistep as Sylas' level 3 is quite potent. Once you get Everfrost, your kill threat is much higher and especially when you get 6 (depending on the enemy champions) there are windows of opportunity where solo killing is very possible. At the end of the day Sylas' playstyle is similiar to Kassadin's in the sense that you have to be patient and play for your powerspikes. Sylas differs as he spikes much quicker than Kassadin but has a weaker late late game. Just remember to be patient with Sylas as his mid game is very strong especially in the hands of a worthy player. Sylas' skirmishing is second to none so 2v2s or 3v3s in the river should definitely be attended if available.

Once you get Everfrost and some ability haste under your belt you are a different beast. This is the point in the game where you aren't just the opponent's prisoner (pun intended). You will have agency in the lane once you spike with your core items and once you get some levels (levels 9+) since you can start winning trades and threatening lethals through aggression. Look to trade pretty much when you have your abilities off cooldown (matchup dependent) and win through your superior sustain.

One of Sylas' main advantages is that he is very flexible due to having multiple choices of ultimates. He can be your engage by stealing Ornn R, Fiddlesticks R, Ashe R, Malphite R or Gnar R. Can be the tank to buy some time and allow your carries to pop off by stealing Alistar R or Swain R. Can also steal dueling ults like Zed R, Mordekaiser R or Tryndamere R to be a massive threat in a side lane. He really can do anything. Sylas also favors a more aggressive style of play which is amazing for learning the game in the long run as it facilitates a carrying mentality which is perfect for solo queue. It also forces you to be in scenarios where you must know the limit of your champion which if you put the time in to this champion means you will be rewarded heavily.

Recently jungle was changed and basically most champions can clear fine. Sylas jungle in the past was very popular, arguably more popular than mid and rightfully so. Sylas is the king of skirmishing and junglers do that a lot. The only downside to Sylas jungle was his clearing capabilities and although it still does apply, with the new jungle that weakness is definitely less. Sylas top lane is actually pretty decent especially if you are aware of the different mathcups and are confident on Sylas in general. In tank matchups like Ornn and Maokai, they can never kill you because of your sheer sustain with maxed out W, but you can easily run them down as top lane is a longer lane than mid which allows for potential to chase. Overall, if you're confident in your Sylas play, Sylas top is also very good especially in those tank mathups.

As written in the notes within the First strike rune page, this is a relatively recent thing for Sylas. I personally, first found out about it through Nemesis (ex pro-player and current high elo streamer) and it's potential with certain ultimates. Again the main example of this rune being extremely overpowered on Sylas is when facing Karthus since Karthus ultimate and this keystone are a match made in heaven honestly. Even without a good ult to synergise with the rune, Sylas has a lot of relatively easy matchups that he can afford to not run Conqueror and use First strike to accelerate his gold income throughout the game.

Overall, I just think Sylas' aggressive playstyle paired with his flexibility and therefore his ability to outplay makes him an awesome champion to learn and to climb with.
Remember if you have any questions don't be afraid to message me on twitter @tortaker or on my Twitch stream (https://www.twitch.tv/tortaken) if I am streaming. Also shoutout to my Youtube as well (linked to my MOBAFire profile), right now I just have one vidoe on Sylas' ulimates and I put them in a tierlist but I will work on more in the near future. If you have any ideas on content I can make for Sylas specifically I would love to hear them. Thanks for reading :D