Pyke
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Pyke is a high-investment champion who struggles significantly at lower star levels due to the inherent inconsistency of the Lurk mechanic. Once he reaches his 6-star constellation upgrade, he gets significantly more consistent and fun to play, but still relies on gambling on having a good top-deck.
Provides essential Overwhelm to Pyke and his Lurker units, allowing their massive stats to translate directly into Nexus damage.
Offers consistent deck-wide stat scaling, ensuring that every unit drawn is a significant threat.
Provides essential protection ensuring your key Lurkers survive board wipes. Loaded Dice is another option in this slot.
Strategy
At 6 stars, Pyke's optimal strategy shifts away from playing the champion himself. Instead, this build turns Pyke into a passive engine that empowers his deck. Draft big units and put all your items on your support champion.
Causes Pyke to strike an enemy upon summon, accelerating his level-up condition.
A second copy ensures Pyke strikes twice upon summon, often guaranteeing an immediate level-up and subsequent board clear.
Provides essential Overwhelm to Pyke and his Lurker units.
Strategy
Without C6, you will likely need to rely on Pyke himself. Leveling him up becomes crucial, so the stalkers blades provide the initial damage needed.
Does damage to all units, counting towards his level up condition.
Steals keywords from Poros killed by Pyke.
In combination with wicked harvest, ensures at least one Poro dies, enabling a leveled up Pyke to clear the board.
Strategy
Enables a lower star Pyke to stand a chance at the Zoe adventure. Pyke is exceptionally good at clearing wide boards of small units like the poros in the Zoe adventure. Voidborne Carapace steals keywords from them. Notably, 'Impact' stacks apply once per 'Strike' Pyke makes during an attack declaration, so even amounts of Impact can deal tremendous amounts of Nexus damage when Pyke gets a reset and attacks multiple times.
Community builds recorded for clearing the 10-Star Zoe Adventure with Pyke
- level: 38Players:HPDARKdiaversaiNote:Friendship 3
- level: 50Players:cyclonus101Katisu
- level: 37Player:aoeuidNote:with Perfected Manaflow
Generates additional copies of Pyke, which can be helpful if you don't have his C6.
Pyke's signature relic provides additional scaling and Challenger. However, it is widely considered a trap at higher constellation levels because Pyke is rarely played directly.
Abyssal Might
Lurking grants an extra +0|+1.
Phantom Haul
+1 Starting Mana.
Round Start: If you have the attack token, summon an
Ephemeral Sharkling.
Abyssal Might II
Lurking grants an extra +1|+1.
Lie in Wait
Allies everywhere that cost 3 or less are Lurkers and haveLurk.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.
Death From Everywhere
Your spells everywhere haveLurk.
When a cardLurks, if it's a follower, summon it attacking; otherwise, draw it.Review
Transforms his playstyle entirely. By granting Lurk to spells and summoning allies from the deck attacking, it encourages drafting high-cost units and minimizing spells to maximize the free summon value. Playing Pyke himself becomes optional.
- Prioritize Unit Drafting
To maximize Lurk consistency, aggressively cut spells from your deck at healer nodes. When drafting, prioritize units over spells, as missing a Lurk trigger can severely stall your momentum.
- Support Champion Selection
When choosing a support champion, prioritize those with few or no spells in their package to avoid diluting your Lurk pool. Rek'Sai is the optimal choice, but swarm-focused champions like Azir, Miss Fortune, or Elder Dragon are also highly effective.
- Aggressive Mulligan Strategy
Mulligan aggressively for small Lurk units or Pyke's champion spell (Bone Skewer) to ensure you can trigger Lurk on your first attacking turn.
- The C6 Playstyle Shift
At 6 stars, Pyke's optimal strategy shifts from relying on Pyke himself to a Lurk rush approach. Focus on drafting large units, as his 6-star power will summon them for free during attacks, often winning the game before Pyke is even played.