Season 4 Sylvanus Flexible True Support Build

Sylvanus is an extremely valuable support in the right hands and brings a lot to both the laning phase as well as team fights. He has a good amount of CC and healing to help out his team when needed. However, antiheal causes a lot of problems for him and his team and is the biggest way to counter him. Additionally, he has poor mobility which can leave your team in need when you are trying to rotate.

The first item you are going to pick up is Watcher's Gift. This is arguably the best support item in the game right now both in terms of stats and sustain. You'll also want to get the first tier of Shoes for rotating more quickly as well as two wards and 3-5 mana potions. Due to his built in heal, there isn't really any reason to pick up health potions. As far as actives go, it depends on your preference and play style. I usually pick up Meditation Cloak for increased sustain and in case of emergencies when your ADC gets too aggressive and needs immediate healing.

Once you are able to back, you'll want to pick up Traveler's Shoes. Sylvanus has no mobility in his kit, so the passive on these will help you chase down enemies for your team as well as rotate for potential ganks. Also, be sure to restock on wards and mana potions each time you back.

The next item you will want to pick up is Sovereignty. This item has been popular on supports throughout all of Season 4 and will likely remain popular until it sees a nerf. This will greatly help your ADC avoid damage from the enemy ADC as the passive grants them additional physical protections when you are nearby. This item will also help in team fights when lots of physical Gods are present.

Your next item will be Heartward Amulet. The reason for picking this up is the same as for the previous item, except for magical Gods. This will especially help in team fights when a large magical AOE Ult is dropped on your team.

From here on, the build has several options depending on your play style and preferences, so if there is an item that you do not see yourself getting much use out of, it is perfectly fine to swap it out for something else (see my optional items as these synergize with his kit well). Personally, I've had great success with building Gauntlet of Thebes next as it further complements your other aura items and makes your team much tankier.

Next, I usually pick up Lotus Crown. This item is great for pushing towers or objectives as a group due to the additional protections it grants on your heal. Although, if the enemy team is building anti heal against you, you may want to pick up Rod of Asclepius instead to recover some of the lost healing.

Finally, for the last item, Mantle of Discord is a great late game pickup. This grants a massive amount of protections from both types of damage and gives you a stun and CC immunity when you fall below the health threshold which can be devastating in team fights. Another option if your team is racking up a lot of kills is Hide of the Urchin. It gives you more protections at full stacks as well as a good amount of health and mana. However, I wouldn't recommend building this late and would probably put it in place of Gauntlet of Thebes so that you can get your stacks earlier on.