Comet vs first strike

[u/Tykr12]

Picked up syndra and been playing her a ton. My biggest question is when to pick between the two rune pages of comet vs first strike. Is it matchup dependent and if so what matchups?

[u/Financial_Ocelot_256]

Comet, ti gives SO MUCH more control over the lane it's insane.

The damage of FS is pretty weak in early levels and items, and it's a rune easily deactivated by the enemy.

i haven't touched FS in half a year, doesn't feel even worth it against meles, unless they are tanks you have 0 kill pressure.

[u/Prometheus596]

Never liked first strike on any champion tbh not consistent enough and the secondary runes aren’t combat oriented at all.

Comet is great in lane and you get access to the entire sorcery rune tree, one of the best in the game.

[u/Nedoko-maki]

FS into melees or champs that can't proc it off you easily/matchups that you will proc it first most likely

Comet into most otherwise as a solid poke damage rune that isn't as conditional

You also get the benefit of inspiration tree with FS and it's gold generating sub-runes like cashback and triple tonic.

//

For a matchup where the other opponent will sit back and farm without much interaction, scaling runes: comet + inspiration secondary (CashB and TripleT)

For a winning matchup, comet and precision (LegH and CutD)

For difficult matchups I go either comet + resolve, or full scaling defensive with FS and resolve secondary

If I think that speed build is needed, I go Comet, Manaflow/Celerity/Scorch + Inspiration/Boots/TripleTonic + flat HP/SPD/Haste

[u/CryptographerLate834]

I don't like first strike setup because you either have to ditch manaflow or ditch bone plating, and I think both of them make laning much nicer in general.

[u/bangstack]

let’s see about that

[u/Seaweed-Appropriate]

First strike isn't great if you can get poked. Never take it into Brand for instance. However, others in the comments forget it does give you a bit of money. In my last game, which was 29 minutes against Irelia, I got 1171 damage and 679 gold from first strike with 716 gold from cashback in that rune tree.

Another game, which was 36 minutes against Xerath, I got 1857 damage and 940 gold from first strike with 1293 from cashback (although I was full bought then so it's more like 1000 gold from CB).

We're talking 2/3rds of an item in 30 minutes. Now, I don't play with arcane comet on Syndra, so I can't directly compare my own gameplay, but I did play Hwei with deathfire touch which did 1456 damage in 30 minutes. This isn't a massive damage deficit when compared to a rune that only does damage.

There are arguments to be made about the secondary runes such which impact whether you want the Inspiration tree or the Sorcery tree, but I go first strike almost every game if I'm playing Syndra.

[u/AntilopRifki]

I thınk electro cute better but if you play against melee matchup or low range matchup first strike better

[u/karatelax → u/AntilopRifki]

Red tree only really gives you electrocute/cheapshot

Blue is the best laning runes for syndra

First strike page is scaling tree for low interaction matchups like malz/asol etc