Pyke slips into a brush after a messy trade and recovers some of his health. His ADC stays at half health, with another enemy wave approaching. From Pyke’s screen, the lane looks ready to fight again. From his partner’s, the next engage looks like a trip back to the fountain.
Lucian is our first choice for quick, coordinated trades with Pyke; Draven is the alternative when you want repeated axe damage and can manage the pressure that comes with it. Jhin adds ranged catches without committing a dash. Tristana, Samira, and Kalista complete the best ADCs for Pyke shortlist with more demanding all-in plans. These are six mechanics-based recommendations, not a duo win-rate ranking. Pick the plan you can execute, then check whether the enemy support can stop it.
Pyke’s partners below are farming ADCs chosen for short trades, follow-up access, and a workable lane while his spells are unavailable. The scope is normal PC Summoner’s Rift; these recommendations do not borrow changes from the separate Classic or Arena modes. Riot's 26.18 notes.
Pick the kind of fight you want
Pyke supplies threat, not a replacement health bar for his partner. His passive only restores his own recoverable champion damage when he is hidden from enemies. Bonus health converts to attack damage, so health purchases do not turn him into a conventional tank; he still gains health through leveling.
If you want someone to stand in front and absorb every response, Pyke is the wrong support for that plan. He can use crowd control defensively, but a forward E also spends the dash he might have needed to escape. Its phantom stuns on the return path, not the instant he dashes. Follow the target’s position instead of treating the E animation as a guaranteed stun.
Lucian: a passive interaction worth drafting around
Pyke does not have to heal Lucian to activate Vigilance. Lucian also gains its bonus magic damage on his next two basic attacks when a nearby enemy champion is immobilized. Pyke’s held-Q pull and E stun can provide that trigger. A tap-Q slow is not the same thing.
Stand close enough to threaten attacks before Pyke charges his hook. Once the pull connects, use a spell, take the Lightslinger double shot, and decide whether another spell-and-attack sequence is safe. Spending every ability before taking those attacks gives up passive shots you could have used during the catch.
E is a decision, not the automatic first button. If walking a little farther gets you into range, keep the dash for the opponent’s response. If the hook pulled someone beyond their support’s protection, an aggressive dash can secure the damage. The distinction is where you will stand after the target can move again.
Morgana makes this especially clear. Black Shield blocks disabling effects while its magic shield holds. Pyke’s physical hook damage does not, by itself, break that magic shield and guarantee a pull. Do not dash on the assumption that the control will land. Wait for the shield to expire, break, or be committed to the other opponent. Black Shield’s current rules
Choose Lucian when you want to trade, disengage, and threaten again without needing an ultimate. Avoid the pairing if your plan is to sit far behind the wave while Pyke fishes from a distant angle. His hook cannot make up for Lucian arriving after the damage window has closed.
Draven: the axe pressure is the point
Draven makes retreating from Pyke expensive. A caught enemy has to endure enhanced attacks, and catching Spinning Axes lets Draven keep applying them. Blood Rush helps him stay in reach; axe catches refresh its cooldown, though another cast still costs mana.
Set up the axes before asking Pyke to start. A hook just after Draven drops them may be a useful health trade, but it is not the same kill attempt as a hook with two axes running. Pyke should also look at the landing circles. Pulling the opponent closer helps little if Draven must choose between attacking and catching an axe inside the enemy support’s reach.
This duo can pressure without chasing. Leave a manageable enemy wave near your side and threaten the opponent when they step up for a minion. If you instead need a recall, commit to finishing the crash together. Draven hanging around for another axe hit while Pyke leaves to ward can turn a won exchange into an avoidable death.
Pyke’s execute does not automatically steal Draven’s cash-in
Draven has a specific exception: assisting on a target executed by Pyke’s Death from Below can trigger his Adoration payout. In the ordinary two-player lane, he does not have to take the last hit away from Pyke’s R to cash in. Riot’s developer confirmation dates to Pyke’s reveal, and the interaction remains documented in the current champion reference. Riot Reav3’s confirmation, current Draven interaction notes
That exception is not permission for Pyke to take every kill with a basic attack or Q. Nor does it mean both champions receive Draven’s Adoration payout. Keep dealing damage when someone can escape; do not lose a kill while arguing over a special case you did not need to invoke.
Surviving to collect Adoration is the harder part. Pyke looking for a flank may leave Draven exposed to an engage from the other side. If you need a different balance of aggression and protection, the Draven support guide covers those alternatives.
Jhin: the catch can start outside attack range
Jhin is the ranged alternative to the two close-pressure picks above. Pyke can damage a champion to prepare Deadly Flourish’s root, and Jhin can fire W through minions at the first champion it hits. That creates a follow-up line a held Pyke hook cannot always use, since Pyke’s harpoon stops on the first enemy.
Do not aim W at the target’s old position during the pull. Read where Pyke has moved them, then use the root to hold the new position. If Pyke’s returning E phantom is about to stun the same enemy, leave room for your root to extend the control rather than spending everything at once. The sequence changes if the target can escape before E returns; securing W now can be better than waiting for a perfect chain.
Jhin’s magazine determines what happens next. A ready fourth shot can punish a wounded target, but a reload immediately afterward leaves a gap. Tell Pyke when W is all you can contribute. A rooted enemy is still able to attack and cast, so holding the target in place does not protect Jhin from every return spell.
After six, Curtain Call can help finish a catch from a protected position while Pyke threatens a closer angle. Do not channel it from an unwarded river entrance just because your support disappeared ahead of you. Jhin has no dash to undo that positioning mistake.
This is our preference when you want to contribute to picks without following Pyke into melee range. It is a less forgiving choice when the enemy can repeatedly reach Jhin and Pyke spends both Q and E chasing elsewhere. Ranged utility is not the same as being safe alone under a stacked wave.
Tristana: plan the landing before the jump
Tristana rewards a target who stays available for several hits. Put Explosive Charge on the intended victim, use Rapid Fire, and attack while Pyke’s control restricts their movement. Attacks and damaging abilities increase the charge, which detonates immediately at maximum stacks. Her jump refreshes on a champion takedown or a maximum-stack charge detonation on a champion.
A target pulled into attack range may let you keep Rocket Jump until the opponent escapes. Jumping first spends that option and makes you depend on completing the reset condition. If you cannot finish the charge because the target moves away, the promised second jump does not arrive.
Buster Shot needs an explicit call. Knocking an enemy out of Pyke’s approaching E line or away from his intended R can undo the catch. It is fine to use R to save yourself; an interrupted kill attempt is better than dying to preserve your support’s highlight. When the goal is damage rather than emergency peel, coordinate the displacement before Pyke commits his next spell.
Her wave behavior also changes the duo’s routine. Once E is learned, minions killed by her attacks splash damage around them. A delicate freeze is harder to maintain than on an ADC without that passive. Favor a deliberate crash-and-recall plan when the wave is already being pushed, rather than pretending every last hit leaves the surrounding minions untouched.
Pick Tristana when you are comfortable making a go-or-stay decision after the first hit lands. Her jump and knockback offer options during Pyke’s absence, but they do not make a low-health, two-versus-one defense of an incoming dive sensible.
Samira: crowd control is an opening, not instant S Style
Samira belongs here for players who already understand her entry conditions. Pyke gives her an immobilized target to follow, and a successful close-range exchange can let her build toward Inferno Trigger. She still needs to build Style by varying the attacks and abilities she lands; his hook does not hand her an S rank.
There is another distinction worth knowing: her passive follow-up can approach immobilized enemies, but it only extends an effect when the target is already airborne. Pyke’s E stun does not become a fresh knockup just because Samira attacks. Use the control actually available, not an imagined extra airborne chain.
Before Wild Rush, check two things: the enemy who can stop your damage, and the target you can use afterward. E dashes to enemies, not to allied Pyke. It can reset when an enemy champion dies within three seconds of Samira damaging them, so a Pyke execute can still enable that reset. It cannot promise an escape if the next usable enemy is deeper inside the opposing team.
Blade Whirl removes enemy missiles, not every dangerous spell. Alistar’s ground-based Pulverize is a knockup, not a projectile for W to erase. If he still has that answer and can reach you, charging into his space to start Inferno Trigger is a poor bet. Make him spend it, catch him away from his ADC, or wait.
The pairing falls apart when Pyke dashes out after a short exchange and Samira interprets the same play as a full commitment. Agree which fight you are taking before E, especially when you are not yet ready to cast R. For a support whose engage and protection work differently, see the Samira support shortlist.
Kalista: agree who is pulling whom out
Kalista and Pyke reward a practiced duo more than an improvised champion-select experiment. Her movement between attacks can keep her contributing during a chase, and Rend gives those repeated hits a purpose. The cooperation begins before either ultimate is available: Sentinel’s passive damage needs Kalista and her Oathsworn to both attack the same target. Pyke landing a hook alone does not supply his basic attack.
If Pyke can safely attack the hooked enemy, the duo can trigger the shared damage. If approaching would expose him to the other opponent’s engage, do not force it just to light up a passive. Kalista can keep attacking, collect spear stacks, and decide whether Rend is for damage, a slow that helps them leave, or a kill.
Fate’s Call changes how much risk Pyke can take while the two remain near each other. Kalista retrieves her Oathsworn into stasis; Pyke then chooses where to launch himself. Decide whether this cast is a rescue or a second engage. Saving him from danger and watching him launch straight back into it solves nothing.
The rescue also depends on proximity. If Pyke has already roamed far away, Kalista cannot retrieve him from across the map. Conversely, pulling him in while he is lining up a usable spell can disrupt the play you meant to support. A short call before R is more valuable than an elaborate combo that only one player knows is happening.
Choose Kalista if both players want to coordinate attacks, spear damage, and R timing. If you are learning her movement while also trying to decode a stranger’s Pyke engages, Lucian or Jhin offers a simpler shared plan.
What Pyke’s level-six gold sharing actually changes
Death from Below is an execute below its health threshold, not a guaranteed kill on anyone inside the X. Above the threshold, it deals physical damage instead. Soraka can heal a target back out of execute range before the hit, so keep following the health bar rather than assuming the first low-health warning settles the fight. Pyke’s R, Soraka’s healing
A successful execute grants the last assisting ally Your Cut in place of their ordinary assist payout and opens a 20-second recast window. If an ally kills a champion inside the X during R’s cast, Pyke can instead receive the Cut and recast. You usually should keep attacking: finishing the target during that cast can still give Pyke his next R. Current Death from Below interaction reference
There are limits. The last assisting ally is not automatically the ADC when a jungler also joins. Your Cut does not duplicate a shutdown bonus; it is capped at the victim’s base kill value. And an above-threshold kill from R’s ordinary physical damage is not the same as a qualifying execute for its Cut and recast. Your Cut’s current reward rules
None of this makes chasing a second execute mandatory. A wounded target behind three teammates may be unreachable for the ADC, even if Pyke can get there.
When Pyke leaves, decide what his ADC is staying for
The strongest argument against a roam is often the wave arriving bot, not the possibility that Pyke misses a hook mid. A successful roam can still be a bad exchange if his wounded ADC loses a stacked wave and dies under the turret while it happens.
Before leaving, answer these questions together:
- Did the wave actually reach the enemy turret? A half-finished push can leave the ADC trying to break a freeze alone. Finish the crash if it is safe, or change the plan.
- Does the ADC need to recall? Pyke’s recovered health does not remove his partner’s need to heal and spend gold. A shared reset can create a roam opportunity without demanding another trade first.
- Can the enemy build a dive before Pyke returns? Track the opposing support and jungler, the incoming minions, the ADC’s health, and the defensive spells still available.
- Who calls the return? Ping the incoming danger while Pyke can still turn around. Do not wait until the enemy support has walked behind the turret.
The ADC’s job during the absence is to collect what is safe, not to reproduce the two-player lane alone. Jhin can use ranged spells to take some farm; Tristana can preserve W and R; Lucian should resist dashing forward for a trade he cannot finish. None of these tools justifies staying for a wave when a visible dive has no realistic defense. Back away, accept the lost minions, and ask for help catching the next wave.
If the lane is already behind, stop requiring every hook to fix it. Hold a reachable wave, use Pyke’s threat to discourage the opponent from walking up, and spend crowd control on the enemy who actually threatens the ADC. From there, arrange a catch with another teammate or move after collecting the wave. Repeatedly abandoning farm for a desperate river fight makes both the next item and the next level arrive later.
In later fights, this shortlist still needs somewhere to stand. Pyke and these ADCs lean heavily toward physical damage, and small magic-damage components do not replace a separate magic-damage threat or a durable frontline. If those jobs are missing from your team, factor that in before committing to another close-range carry.
The final target call is simple: hit the enemy you can reach while preserving the next attack. If Pyke finds a backline execute, let him take that opportunity without automatically following him through the frontline. His escape route and yours are not the same route.