.















.






Hello, as the entire guide has now been fully updated, as well as been fully changed, this section will be being reset. As more and more things change over the entirety of season 7, patch changes will be posted along the top of the guide here, with the most base and important changes mentioned here to make sure that you can keep up to date, making sure you know how to make the best decisions on Sion plays and Sion builds.

For now, this will be empty, but let's hope over the span of the next few months, we can see the amazing changes league will bring to the table, and new and interesting meta's that Sion can partake in the flourish!

That's all for this patch, Enjoy!

.

Sɪᴏɴ ﹣ Tʜᴇ Uɴᴅᴇᴀᴅ Jᴜɢɢᴇʀɴᴀᴜᴛ Tank, Fighter, CC Machine Hello, and welcome to my Sion guide, which shall give you three distinctive ways of playing the champion Sion. First off, a more damage auto attack focused build known as the Behemoth build, designed to rather dish out more damage rather than solely focus on soaking up damage, unlike the more meta-focused tank Sion build, which much rather focuses on pure defensive stats than offensive. The regular Sion build of a tank will also be included, as the Sion builds can co-exist, mainly as they use the same runes and masteries, they can be interchanged in the game. Sion can be a very versatile champion, and hopefully, this guide should be able to prove that Sion has the ability to be useful in a variety of situations, hopefully, a big improvement from the first iteration of the guide. Also, I'm Seivelath, a more casual player from the shores of OCE. While I may not personally hold accolades such as ranks among diamond and such, I am just a casual player that enjoys experimenting with champions in a way that still leaves them viable, while still being a different way to play such champions! I do hope you enjoy my guide, to behemoth Sion!

.

Pᴏsɪᴛɪᴠᴇs

+ A large amount of tanking potential + Brings a large amount of CC + Has good scaling on abilities + Has inbuilt armor shred in his kit + Bowling with Sion! + Shield that scales with something you build! + Good initiation with Unstoppable Onslaught

Sion is a champion very much designed to be a disrupter, having multiple forms of Crowd Control built into his kit. Overall, however, Sion is what you more or less get when you combine the sheer survivability of a health regenerator such as Mundo, alongside a CC heavy kit like Nautilus, you more or less have the champion Sion. What Sion brings to the table, however, is the unique and powerful initiation he brings with Unstoppable Onslaught, having a huge range of initiation ability. While it can be easily dodged, if this can be directed into more immobile squishy champions, odds are a fight will be turned in your favor due to Sion's uncanny ability to keep someone locked down once he's got them due to how well abilities combo into each other. Overall, Sion is a tank that brings enough tools to the Rift, Treeline or Abyss to be able to shut down his competition if the opportunity arises.

Nᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴠᴇs

- Must have a good sense of timing for Decimating Smash - Kitable beyond belief - Average to Bad Passive - Mana Hungry Early - Requires good farming to be strong late - Lacks reliable escape mechanism - Issues with mobility

As with all League of Legends champions, Sion has his flaws. Since he is a hulking corpse, sadly he shambles around as such, meaning that his sticking ability is quite weak comparative to the range of champions available to play as. This alongside his other flaw makes him a more skillful pick than one would first assume, as all of Sion's Crowd Control is in the form of skill shots, making those who have accesses to dashes, especially on low cooldowns extremely frustrating opponents. (Looking at you Kassadin.) Sion is also designed to get better as the game progresses, making him somewhat unimportant to games where he cannot get farm over the course of the game, more due to the health stacking mechanic attached to Soul Furnace. Sion truly is brought down due to his slower more readable gameplay, however, this can be overcome with skill and timing in some situations, with others just unavoidable.

Before this guide goes any further, let's explain the core difference between "Tank Sion" and "Behemoth Sion". The core difference between the two builds comes down to what it focuses on. Tank Sion traditionally focuses on building resistances due to the fact that Sion passively gains health from Soul Furnace, meaning he becomes extremely tanky with enough resistances plus the bonus health, making him and extremely adept meatshield for his teammates, as well as disrupting enemies, is how tank Sion stays relevant. Behemoth Sion on the other hand much more focused on moving away from pure tankiness and rather focusing on being a CC Bruiser, through health stacking and the damage gained through the item Titanic Hydra. Behemoth has much more power in the middle of the game and falls off late, unlike the usual tank build, but for a game environment that has games finishing in the midgame, rather than the endgame, a more midgame focused build can be sometimes much more useful.


.

space

Rᴇsᴏʟᴠᴇ Tʀᴇᴇ Tier 1 - Unyielding // While the added regeneration that can be gained from Recovery can be useful, because as discussed later Health regeneration runes are taken, Unyielding is much more useful, especially to boost the resistance you'll end up getting. Tier 2 - Tough Skin // Explorer can be useful for roaming as Sion, however since Unstoppable Onslaught is his main roaming tool and it has a set speed cap, this mastery can be skipped, as well as Siegemaster being a little too situational, Tough Skin is the one left standing, able to help with minion damage while tanking makes it easily the most useful. Tier 3 - Runic Armor // When Veteran's Scars gave bonus percentage health, I would have easily recommended it over Runic Armor , however now that it only gives a flat bonus of 50 health, it is much more useful to have Runic Armor , mainly as so you can make your shield stronger as well as be able to regenerate health quicker. Tier 4 - Fearless // Both Perseverance and Insight are good to take, one gives you better access to the summoner spells you take, while the other allows you to regenerate health at a faster rate. While both good, Fearless is better. Fearless gives a small boost to defensive resistances for a short duration after being hit, making large trades much better for Sion. Tier 5 - Swiftness // While Legendary Guardian can be useful at times, Swiftness makes your time when it comes to CC quite a bit easier, as well as the fact that combined with either Boots of Swiftness or Mercury's Treads means you have either 40% slow resistance or 45% Tenacity, very useful when you need to run at your opponents to kill them.

Damage Grasp of the Undying is the strong with the Behemoth build, as you gain health, you gain more damage in extended fights, as well as gaining back some health. If you're planning to go all out aggressive in your lane, this is the mastery you'll want to take to get the job done.

Tank (Recommended) Well, season 7 has brought Sion players one of the best things in ages, Courage of the Colossus . This mastery, it amazing. A shield for applying hard Crowd Control. Doesn't sound like much, but for every enemy champion around, you get a percentage of your maximum health as that shield. Mix that with the health-focused build of the Behemoth build, and well, you can imagine the results.

Tank Look, if you have a very squishy team, consider possibly taking this, but honestly with Courage of the Colossus being more useful in nearly every regard, only use this if you really want to, otherwise just take Courage of the Colossus .

space

Cᴜɴɴɪɴɢ Tʀᴇᴇ Tier 1 - Savagery // Savagery is useful mainly as it functions well for farming with your auto's early, where you do not have as much attack damage as you will later. Plus, the usefulness of Wanderer is limited due to the fact you'll be running Teleport mostly for the roaming rather than Wanderer . (Or use Unstoppable Onslaught, your choice.) Tier 2 - Secret Stash // Secret Stash is the best mastery for Sion in Cunning Tier 2, mainly as the main strength of Assassin , is for assassins, and you rather excel in team fights rather than 1 on 1 confrontations. Runic Affinity won't be helpful for you, as you will rarely receive buffs, nor need them. Tier 3 - Merciless // While Meditation can be useful, especially during the early game, it's usefulness is far outmatched by the usefulness given by Merciless . Giving you a fighting edge when your health is low, as well as during Glory in Death, Merciless is your go-to option. Tier 4 - Dangerous Game // Both Bandit and Greenfather's Gift are ok mastery options, but they are very much are designed to be used by specific champions or used for specific situations. However, the best of these options and the reason points are put into Cunning rather than Ferocity is for Dangerous Game , the instant regaining of a portion of your max health and mana on a champion takedown. Extremely useful for all situations.

.

Mᴀʀᴋs // 9x Greater Mark of Armor // Due to the fact that the build leans towards health stacking rather than resistance stacking, getting resistances with runes is something that is highly useful, specially since you are playing top lane, where attack damage champions are more present. // Alternatives // Feel free to exchange Greater Seal of Armor with Greater Mark of Attack Damage if you feel you need earlier trade potential, or if you are in a situation where you feel more likely to fight Ability Power based champions.

Sᴇᴀʟs // 9x Greater Seal of Scaling Health // Ever since the nerf on armor seals so long ago, most champions beyond armor stackers have benefited much more from health or scaling health seals rather than armor seals. This applies for Sion as well, especially since armor marks are included for resistances. // Alternatives // Even though Greater Seal of Armor's have been nerfed, they are still a viable replacement for Greater Seal of Scaling Health, specially if you go with some Greater Mark of Attack Damage for your marks.

Gʟʏᴘʜs // 9x Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist // As you will be most likely going top with this Champion, you will solemnly run into a Ability Power based champion all that often. So, it's more worthwhile getting scaling runes rather than flat, so you have a better resistance late game, rather than have a larger amount earlier. // Alternatives // Of course, you can always still use Greater Glyph of Magic Resist's instead, specially if you suspect you'll be up against AP champions top lane. (The Rumble meta may return before we know it.)

Qᴜɪɴᴛᴇssᴇɴᴄᴇs // 3x Greater Quintessence of Health Regeneration // As Sion, you want these runes, mainly again to increase the amount of lane presence you have earlier, as well as your ability to survive later. As well as this, there is little other option that is all that helpful to Sion, particularly with this specific build. // Alternatives // Not all that many suggestions for alternatives. If you really don't want to use any Greater Quintessence of Health Regeneration, then put in anything you want, as long as it makes some kind of sense (No point taking Ability Power quints.)

.

Fʟᴀsʜ Universally the most useful Summoner Spell in the game, gives a powerful engage tool and disengage tool, with a ton of uses, makes this summoner spell extremely useful, even more so for someone that doesn't have any form of dash (While you could consider Unstoppable Onslaught a dash, it is pretty immobile for a dash.) A must have for everyone playing Sion. (Are you playing Singed or Olaf? No? Well, you want this spell then.)

Tᴇʟᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ When playing in the top lane, this spell is taken the most, for a reason. It's extremely useful, as you have the ability to split push, yet teleport in for a team fight, use it as a form of escape by teleporting to one of your towers and even just ganking another lane. Always try to take unless the rest of your team have some form of teleport. While on quite a long cooldown, the power of teleport cannot be denied.

Gʜᴏsᴛ Ghost is useful as your main form of damage requires you to be in someone's face, with the ability to be able to get in someone's face constantly. While not as potent as the other two spells, it can still turn the tide of battle in your favor. Especially useful due to the shorter cooldown the spell is on, making plays more available to Sion more often.

Iɢɴɪᴛᴇ Ignite is in a weird place, it would be tons more useful if castable during your passive form, however since it's not, it's a bit less useful. Successful execution damage from igniting isn't as useful as some other options, such as teleportation, both long and short distance. However, ignite for super aggressive lanes can always be useful in certain scenarios.

Exʜᴀᴜsᴛ Exhaust, is actually not the worst choice in the world, as if your support isn't running the spell, it can be really useful to minimize damage income, especially if the enemy team has assassins on it. Not the best, but certainly somewhat viable due to being able to shut down damage dealt by either the assassins that'll attempt to assassinate your damage dealers or the damage dealers you'll dive into.

Mᴀʀᴋ / Dᴀsʜ If you happen to be playing Sion on ARAM, you'll be taking this. The engage you gain from this spell alone is immense, allowing for initiation otherwise unachievable. Basically, if you're playing ARAM, take this spell, it works wonders.

---

Eᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ Eʟsᴇ Yeah, don't use these at all, all other summoner spells aren't overly useful, rather they are just a noob trap. You can't even select some the summoner spells listed here, see if you can see which ones. Either way, choose one of the ones above, they are much better than any selection down here.

.

---

Play Video

.

Glory In Death Glory in Death is a death based passive that will re-animate Sion after he dies, making auto attacks deal max health bonus damage as well as replacing all spells with a special spell only available in this form called Death Surge, giving a boost of movement speed. While this is a very hit and miss passive, it can turn a fight into your favor, adding something to a fight that very few champions can bring, being able to be a nuisance or picking off another target.

• Don't become overly frustrated if you are unable to get a kill from the ability, it's a particularly easy ability to avoid, especially if you are being focused down with crowd control. No matter what, your passive form will achieve something, be it the retreat of the enemy or blowing crucial summoner spells, don't fret if you can't raise that KDA.
  
• Remember that you can use not only Death Surge while under the influence of Glory in Death, but you can also use item actives, such as Zz'Rot Portal and Titanic Hydra. You cannot use summoner spells while under the influence of Glory in Death however, so don't rely on flashy plays to win you fights while under the influence of Glory in Death.
  
• Do not rely on this ability for your fighting ability. Keep in mind to even access this form, you have to die, giving gold and experience based bonuses over you, making your time even more difficult. Don't die deliberately so you can access Glory in Death, it's not worth the losses needed to get there.
  
• Attack speed while under the influence of Glory in Death will always be 1.75, no matter any other factors. While Sion's shouldn't be building attack speed usually anyway, actively try to avoid building attack speed if you can, as it serves no benefit to Glory in Death in the slightest.

---

Decimating Smash Decimating Smash is Sion's bread and butter ability, a large AoE knock-up. It's powerful in the sense that it has a really high level of AD scaling, with a rate of +1.9 per point of Attack damage, as well as a knock, if fully charged. It's weaker than it sounds as the ability is not only a skill shot but extremely telegraphed, having to charge for a full second for a knock up, otherwise the ability will slow and two seconds for the full brunt of the damage to be applied.

.

Play Video

• Don't become obsessed with making sure you get a full duration Decimating Smash off. The ability is extremely telegraphed, and the ability will be much more useful even if it only hits a small area and slows. Having any CC and damage be successfully applied is much better than getting greedy and not landing any Decimating Smash's altogether.
  
• Try to chain this ability off other hard CC. If the opponents cannot move out of the way of Decimating Smash since they're already stunned by a good Unstoppable Onslaught, or say a Malphite got a good Unstoppable Force off, it allows a much larger window of time for charging the ability, making it easier to land stronger Decimating Smash's off.
  
• Decimating Smash when first activated has a small range in front of it already charged. Sometimes, it can be for the best if you are right in front of some, to just instant cast the ability instead of letting you opponent dash away or walk away while a stronger Decimating Smash is charged.
  
• Don't be afraid to use this ability if you are in a large fight, as if you are CC'd while charging the ability, it'll go on a shortened cooldown, meaning you can try again oh the sooner.

---

Play Video

.

Soul Furnace Soul Furnace has two major components to it. First off, Soul Furnace passively stacks health whenever a unit is killed, 2 points of health for regular minions and small monsters, while giving 10 points of health for any champion takedown, siege minion and large or epic monsters. Actively, it creates a shield based of maximum health, and deals max health damage to enemies, detonating after 6 seconds or if detonated earlier. If the shield is broken before detonated, it doesn't deal damage.

• Do NOT underestimate the health stacking this ability grants. As long as you keep farming competently throughout a game, you can hit a good few hundred bonus health through the game, which can be a big difference as these bonus statistics cannot be gained by any other individual in the game, making this a great way to get ahead of the competition, as well as keep you scaling throughout a game.
  
• Timing is everything when using Soul Furnace. Try to activate the shield before you enter combat, so you can make sure you can detonate it for its damage, as the ability has a three-second cooldown before the shield can be detonated in any compacity. Also, make sure that it's not too late, so you can mitigate damage taken as well. Keep in mind you can activate Soul Furnace anytime you want, even during Unstoppable Onslaught or Decimating Smash's cast time.
  
• Health stacking on this ability is locked until at least a single point is put into Soul Furnace, such as why this ability is taken level 1, to make sure the maximum amount of health is gained from the ability.
  
• Keep in mind that for Soul Furnace's passive, any unit in the game counts. This includes pets such as Ivern's Daisy! or Annie's Summon: Tibbers, placed units such as Heimerdinger's H-28G Evolution Turret's or Malzahar's Void Swarm. Lord have mercy if one of your opponents decides to get a Zz'Rot Portal as the Voidlings from that count too. More of less, if it can be killed, it counts towards Soul Furnace's passive.

---

Roar of the Slayer Roar of the Slayer is a linear skill shot which deals magic damage, shreds armor and slows the enemy it hits. If Roar of the Slayer happens to hit a minion or non-epic monster, it will knock the unit back, applying increased effects to all units struck along its path. Minions or monsters cannot be flung over terrain, however, and will only be stunned for the duration of the dash.

.

Play Video

• Try to not directly hit this ability if you wish to poke or disengage, but rather try to use the knockback effect to hit your opponents, as it increases the potency of the damage if hit by a knocked back unit. It also works better as using a knocked back unit effectively doubles the range of the ability, making it a much stronger ability than the numbers themselves seem to indicate.
  
• This ability is much more instantaneous than Sion's other abilities, making it a more effective method of either catching an enemy out of position, or using the ability to help with escapes, as unlike Unstoppable Onslaught or Decimating Smash, there is no charge or wait time, with the spell more of less happening instantaneously.
  
• Do not doubt the armor shred on Roar of the Slayer, as it sports a 20% armor shred on it. However, this only applies to directly hit targets, not targets hit by knocked back units, so if going into extended fights, try to get the shred onto your opponents for stronger constant trade damage.
  
• If you get a kill with the minion or monster knockback, you'll feel 100% cooler saying "Bowling with Sion" in all chat. Because hilarious Bad Manners is totally cool and amazing, especially with such a clutch kill...*
  
  *Digression is advised.

---

Play Video

.

Unstoppable Onslaught Unstoppable Onslaught is Sion's ultimate ability, making him charge in a direction, with a small amount of control on direction, making him akin to a train (Such as why the Mecha Zero Sion skin kinda turns into a basically a train). There are different effects depending on how the ultimate is ended. If Sion collides with an enemy champion, he will knock up the enemy champion and any surrounding enemy champions. If Sion collides with a wall, Sion will stun himself, and the damage will be present, but the knock up will not be present. If the ability is reactivated or if Sion reaches the maximum range, Sion will not be stunned, however, there still will be no knock up.

• Did you know that Unstoppable Onslaught deals damage to structures? Well, next time you charge down a lane, try running into the enemy teams turret, see it before your own very eyes! A cool way to use an ultimate that won't end up hitting anybody anyway, so you can not waste those ultimates that didn't work out.
  
• The longer Unstoppable Onslaught goes, the more damage it does, as well as knocks up the enemy for longer as well. While short range Unstoppable Onslaught's are much easier to land, the reward is much lower. It's all up to you how far you're willing to run...
  
• This ability doesn't always need to be used as an engage. Due to the long range of the ability, this means that it can be also used as an escape tool, as you do not need to target an enemy. Just make sure the enemy has no method of getting in front of you, otherwise, you're getaway is going to be abruptly ended...
  
• Keep in mind that the moment Unstoppable Onslaught is started, all champions are given an audio cue that you are using your ultimate. While this mainly serves as an advantage, you can use it to confuse opponents. Hang around one lane, then out of site TP to another lane and ult down it. The enemy team will expect you down one lane, but you'll come down another instead!

.

Doran's Sheild Doran's shield gives a nice amount of stats for Sion, mainly the Auto attack damage reduction, as well as the health regeneration mixed in with the other sources means you should be regenerating enough health to be relevant in lane, no matter who the opponent is. A safe start for most match ups.

Warding Totem The utility you gain from being able to place down wards way outlives the usefulness you can gain from clearing wards. No contest, ever.

Cloth Armor Cloth Armor, while not the most useful start against a large amount of match ups can be extremely useful against AD Casters, as the bonuses gained from Doran's Shield are less useful against champions that don't use auto attacks.

Warding Totem The utility you gain from being able to place down wards way outlives the usefulness you can gain from clearing wards. No contest, ever.

Null-Magic Mantle There will always be those few champions that are played top that run off Ability power, such as your Teemo's and your Rumble's, and for those champions you just get Null-Magic Mantle. It should help you get through the laning phase, and can be built into enough to be useful.

Warding Totem The utility you gain from being able to place down wards way outlives the usefulness you can gain from clearing wards. No contest, ever.

Ruby Crystal If you are in a lane that you generally win, mainly against tanks, you can go a start based around trying to complete a Titanic Hydra as fast as possible, which consists of going Ruby Crystal, since it makes your shield stronger, as well as is the most expensive component. If you wish, you could start with Long Sword and an extra potion.

Warding Totem The utility you gain from being able to place down wards way outlives the usefulness you can gain from clearing wards. No contest, ever. Why did I write this four times? Because I could...

Titanic Hydra This is the entire basis of the Behemoth build, as the entire point of the build comes down to gaining tank stats through health stacking, yet also providing a good amount of damage through it too, due to, you guessed it, Titanic Hydra. This item is the cornerstone of the build, as well as increases your trading potential. This is your first priority to finish, due to the Attack damage and health, as well as the ability on it, as it can deal huge amounts of bonus damage, making it one of the strongest items for Sion.

Frozen Mallet Frozen Mallet is the other extremely good item for Sion. While maybe not as influential on this build as Titanic Hydra is, it still does a good amount of work for the build. It add's more CC to your kit by making your Auto attacks more potent, as well as also turning your Glory in Death form from a minor annoyance to something out of a nightmare. This is really the only item in the build built for your passive, as you really shouldn't be deliberately dying. Plus, the 600 health is extremely useful for the health stacking aspect.

Boots of Swiftness The movement speed you get from these boots helps immensely when chasing down your foes, as well as the slow resistance you gain, paired with Swiftness can make your time when dealing with slow heavy teams much more a cinch, since you gain 45% slow resistance. However, if the enemy team has a large amount of harder crowd control effects, Mercury's Treads is always a viable replacement if push comes to shove.

Banshee's Veil The quintessential magic resistance item for most champions. A nice chunk of health, magic resistance as well as health regeneration. All extremely nice, not evewn including the spell shield you get along with it. Against some champions, this item doesn't do all that much, but block a Test of Spirit from Illaoi and you have a much better chance of surviving than if it hit. Try to decide on this or Spirit Visage dependent on what spells the enemy team is rocking. (Also keep in mind that spooky ghosts removes the shield.)

Locket of the Iron Solari Locket is a bit of a weird item in this build, as it doesn't give as much magic resistance as other items can give you, most usually making it a bad item in terms of building magic resistance. However if the enemy team doesn't have strong Ability Power based champions, it can be a nice pickup, especially sense it can give your allies resistances as well as giving you and your allies a shield. A very team oriented choice, but can be very powerful in the right circumstances.

Spirit Visage RECOMMENDED The other major magic resistance item you'll probably end up running if you chose not to run Banshee's Veil. This, statistic wise is actually quite similar to Banshee's, however the main difference comes with the unique effects. While with Banshee's, you gain a spell shield every 40 seconds out of combat, Spirit Visage increases all healing done, as well as give some extra cooldown reduction and higher health regeneration effects. If a spell shield won't be useful in a game, then this is the item to go when facing those pesky mages.

Mercurial Scimitar Remember how I said back when saying why you don't take Cleanse that you can get a Quicksilver Sash? Well, if the enemy team have one really annoying CC ability (Looking at you Morgana) and if you are really ahead, then Mercurial Scimitar can be a really handy item. It's for sure not the best at all, however in certain situations it can find a way to be quite useful.

Dead Man's Plate RECOMMENDED When it comes down to it, this item truly is one of, if not the strongest armor item in the game, especially for someone who is engage based. The armor as well as the health are extremely useful for you, as well as the momentum you gain from the passive and the strong slow on the first auto attack make this one of the best items for not just this specific build, but Sion in general, specially since you build momentum as you charge with Unstoppable Onslaught. Unless there is a really good reason not to, always try to buy this item.

Thornmail This item is kind of a weird one. It gives the largest base armor in the entire game, a whole hundred, yet it gives nothing else, beyond the passive of dealing damage back to any enemies that happen to auto attack you. For some tanks, this item can be extremely effective, however for a behemoth Sion, a build based around health stacking rather than armor stacking makes this item a lot less effective than it could be. If you are constantly being focused by multiple ADC's as well as Physical Assassins, it may be worth picking up, otherwise try to stay away from this choice, as it doesn't work overly well with the build.

Frozen Heart Having mana problems? Having to deal with attack speed heave champions such as your Aatrox's and Vayne's? Well, this item has got you covered. Providing a nice boost to the Mana pool, as well as a very nice chunk of armor as well as cool down reduction, as well as slowing the auto attacks of all enemy champions around you. While on paper, this seems like an instant buy every game, this item really only should be used if you are actually having trouble with attack speed based champions, mainly Devourer Jungers if you play Sion in the top lane. The cool down reduction doesn't help all that much, you really shouldn't be chugging through your mana super fast by the latter end of a game, and the armor can be gotten from other items that can be more useful for Sion.

Randuin's Omen See, I just said earlier when talking about frozen heart that there are better choices, and here you go, only a few lines later we have an item that is easily able to contest. It exchanges the Mana you gain from Frozen Heart, giving you maximum health instead. As well as this, it doesn't come with any cool down reduction, however it does come with Frozen Heart's slow, however only if the target actually hits you, the other main two differences is that it has a slow explosion as an active, good to catch stragglers trying to get away. But the second one is that it also reduces the amount of damage you take from ANY critical strike (This even includes Magic crits such as Karthus's Lay Waste single target hit critical or Anivia's Frostbite.) This item, is the only real competitor when it comes to competing for a spot compared to Dead Man's Plate.

Warmog's Armor Warmog's Armor is a really weird item in this build. It give the largest amount of base health from an item in the entire game, and makes your health regeneration insane when out of combat, making you one of the healthiest champions. However, with all the regeneration throughout the build, plus the possible multiplication from building Spirit Visage means that your regeneration rate is already pretty good, plus the play style of Behemoth Sion is much more "Run in and kill as much as you can before you die" rather than "poke as best you can, then run away". If your winning in lane really hard, it can be a useful item to push said advantage, but unless you are really ahead, don't plan on building this.

ZZ'Rot Portal No, this is not a troll pick. Zz'Rot Portal despite all the negative comments gained over it's lifespan is a very effective item with this build, mainly for one reason, which is every 4th voidling (as well as the first one) Deal 15% of the creators maximum health. When your stacking health, this turns into quite a lot of damage to turrets, mixed in with your own damage you deal makes you one of the strongest split pushers in the entire game, as well as making a good tool to create baits for enemies. Don't underestimate the portal, it can win you games if you play with it well enough.

Righteous Glory Build this if you are dying a lot. I know it sounds dumb, and I even previously mentioned that beyond the benefits of Frozen Mallet, you should not build for Glory in Death in any means. This item is the one exception to this rule, as it makes your passive nearly unstoppable, unless the enemy team is willing to pump constant hard CC into you. The item gives you health and Mana, as well as an active that speeds you up when moving towards enemies, as well as a slowing field. When used with your Glory in Death form, this becomes a very powerful force, otherwise the stats it gives are ok for your build. Try not to rely on this item (You don't want to be constantly dying...) However it is always useful if the scenario comes up multiple times.

.

Area of Gameplay

Guide

Early Game

Due to the fact that the uniqueness behind this play style of Sion comes from what you build, so your earlier game play is based off what most Sion's would do, which is farm. Due to the health stack mechanic attached to Soul Furnace, you'll want to focus on making sure you farm as best you possibly can in lane to strengthen yourself throughout the game. No matter what match up you seem to be in, farming is a must, but actively poking or engaging on champions is a whole different story. If the champion is ranged, first off, say goodbye to even attempting to trade. Just play passively and farm as you can. However, then as we proceed into melee territory. For the damage based Melee's, such as your Tryndamere's and such, you only really want to attempt to trade when you have Soul Furnace ready to use, as if you don't offset the damage with the shield, your enemies will out trade you, and eventually push you out of lane and eventually the game. Finally, you have champions like you, tanks. Trading with these champions is quite easy, and recommended in most cases as they are more usually immobile, and don't have the damage to hurt you all that easily, especially if they cannot break your shield, as it does max health damage, and as tanks, it is assumed they will build some level of health, even early.

Warding and Vision

Vision is important in any lane, but in top lane when playing Sion, it can be extremely useful to have multiple areas of Vision to make sure you don't get ganked, because as Sion you have a huge potential to be ganked, it is 100% in your best interest to make sure you ward up well. Each marked location on the map will be explained for each side. . Blue Side Tri Bush Blue Side You'll want to keep this bush warded if the you are either extremely low and hanging around under tower, or if the enemy team has a Jungler that is prone to tower diving (Such as Lee Sin or Gragas.) then you'll want to keep this bush warded as much as you can. Can be a good spot to pink ward if constant ganks come through Red Side You do not need to ward this bush at all. You should not be constantly pushed up enough for the enemy Jungler to effectively gank you from that spot. . River bush Both Sides Warding this bush is the most important, especially for the blue side, as it is the furthest back line of defense you have, however even if you are on the red side, it still is just as effective, as you are able to see junglers come in if you are pushed up. Make sure this is warded as much as possible, no matter which side you are on. . Red Side Tri Bush Blue Side While this bush is indeed important, it is not as important as keeping the river bush warded, as you will need to be pretty pushed up for it to be an issue. However, if you are pushed up, and keep pushing up, make sure to have a ward for this bush, as it can alert you if the enemy jungler is trying to come around to gank you. Red Side This is objectively more important than the warding of the river bush, but it depends on which one would be more useful. If you find you are pushing up a lot, it is more useful to ward the river, however if the lane remains even, then it is sometimes worthwhile trying to ward the tri bush instead, since you should be able to escape if the enemy jungler comes in through the river bush. . Red Side Lane Bush Blue Side You should literally never ward this bush, unless you are going for a turret dive, and suspect the enemy jungler will gank you to stop it. But you should seriously never need to actively ward this bush. Red Side As with the blue side tri bush for the blue side, you shouldn't need to ward this unless you are up against a very dive heavy jungler, as using this bush to gank would be a pretty big risk for champions that do not have good turret dives. . Lane Brushes Both Sides These bushes, no matter what side you are on can be worth warding. However the priority of warding these bushes is minimal, with only stealth based champions really posing any threat, or heavy lane gankers (I'm looking at you Shaco.) Worth warding if you have the spare wards or the enemy champions that'll take advantage of the specific bushes, however otherwise not worth prioritizing over other positions.

Ultimate Usage

. . Your ultimate is an extremely powerful tool for you to use. It can be used for an escape, an engage, a scare tactic and more. This section will attempt to explain all the different possible uses of your ultimate in some level of detail. . . Engaging The main use of Unstoppable Onslaught is to engage with enemies. This, of course is a really good use of the ability since it is what the ability was designed for. You charge along one of the lanes, hopefully into an enemy champion and keep them in Hard CC for about four seconds. Very powerful if it can be landed, however, that is the tricky part of using the ultimate. Landing a Unstoppable Onslaught is possibly one of the hardest things to do in the game. You have limited movement while using it, it plays a global sound file alerting all players that it has been used, as well as it is easy to dodge. Also remember the CC and the damage increase the further you go, but take into account that your enemies will flee when you start using it. If you can get a good ultimate off, it can change the entire game in your favor. Good luck . . Escaping While Unstoppable Onslaught's purpose is for getting into fights or turning them in your favor, you then have another use, which is using your ultimate to run away from a fight that isn't going in your favor, as you are Immune to all forms of CC while the dash is active, as well as it doesn't require you to have to land the ability onto anyone, meaning it's a mostly effective strategy, unless the enemies you are running away from have both good reflexes as well as enough dashes to get in your path, and you don't die before you get away, using Unstoppable Onslaught is nearly a surefire to get out, and it's also surefire to give you a giggle (If the quote Sion spouts is "Cowards!" that is). . . Combo Trying to combo this in with your other abilities is not the worst choice of the use of your ultimate in the world, it'll more likely than not guaranteed hit a target, as you'll be right infront of them, probably knocked up from Decimating Smash, however the knock up duration as well as the damage gained when used at this range do not really account for much, only really slightly increasing the time that your opponents are stuck there. For some cases, this can mean life or death, and in others there is no change with the use of the ultimate, so use carefully. . . Roaming With your Unstoppable Onslaught, you are able to roam really effectively and quickly, however the main two disadvantages to using your ultimate for roaming, is that one you alert everyone when you first activate the ability, as well as you will need good map awareness as well as hoping the enemies do not back off or over extend. This is if you are using the ability down the river, however if you wish, you can position yourself in your allies lane for an ultimate as well, which comes more under the engaging category. Do be careful not to crash . . Scare Tactics As a last resort, you can attempt to use Unstoppable Onslaught as a form of scare tactics against the enemy team, as since they will be able to hear the sound file, some people may become more wary or back off entirely. Try not to do this often however, people are not stupid, they will pick up on this eventually, making the strategy more or less useless...

Escape Possibilities

. Unstoppable Onslaught See Above . . Flash Flash as an escape can be good, however the main thing to consider is that while you are able to flash away, you are using a very powerful resource when you may not need to, as well as that your enemy may have flash up as well, negating your flash in most situations, such as if you opponent flashes under your tower. However, trying to think of all that in a 2 second timespan is pretty hard, so mainly use flash if you feel you need to, never try to second guess yourself with these things, as you risk making a stupid mistake. . . Teleport Teleport is a tricky one to justify as an escape, because it is even more of a waste than using flash, as well as the fact that it has low success rates unless you are both really ahead to be able to tank 4 seconds of free abuse, as well as the fact that the enemy team cannot have any disabling effects. Only try to use this as an escape in dire situations.

Mid Game/Team fighting

. By the middle of the game, you should have Titanic Hydra and Frozen Mallet built, making your auto attacks extremely strong, as well as your CC extremely strong as well thanks to Frozen Mallet's passive, however currently you are better at small brawls rather than single large team fight. Once you start getting your tank stats, you'll find you quickly become a team fighting machine. Area of effect damage on your auto attacks do, plus the slow becomes an extremely useful tool. Keep in mind though, that you want to farm for as long as you possibly can, as you become infinitely stronger the more health you gain and the more tank like you get, not only from items but as well as your Soul Furnace passive. Do keep in mind however this is your strongest phase, this is the time you want to fight, because it's where you truly have the most advantage in the game, unlike a more traditional Sion which really picks up during the late game. If you decide to team fight, your best bet for a strong engage is to try to get a good Unstoppable Onslaught, as a hit will take any squishy out of the fight, or seriously cripple a tank. Beyond your ultimate, keep as many targets cc'd as possible, remember to use all actives that are useful for the fight (No point using Zz'Rot Portal during a fight.) and try to position yourself for if you die, you make your enemies either have to choose death, or the spending of tons of resources to escape your Glory in Death form. .

Late Game

. Once you hit late game, you are in a bit of a pinch, since your power begins to start falling, as full on tanks begin to hit their strongest point in the game, but due to how the build is structured, your not going to do enough damage to full on tanks, but aren't going to last long enough to fully take out damage carries or assassins, unless you have a really powerful team composition (Looking at you Orianna.) If you hit your late game earlier than everyone else, you'll become one of the biggest pains ever to deal with, however if you get to your late game at the same time as everyone else, or heaven forbid later than everyone else, you are going to have troubles being overly relevant, to the point that it may be even worth selling the Titanic Hydra and/or Frozen Mallet for tank based items. Do remember, that we took purely tank runes and masteries, so switching over to a more tank based build is easily possible, and while not gold efficient in the slightest, can help your plight if you are having issues being useful. .

.









There are many different matchups that Sion can come up against in the top lane, some helpful, some not as much, and some just depending on your skill. This section will try to cover as many possible matchups as possible. (If you wish to see a specific matchup, please leave a comment.)

EASY These matchups are in your favor, and unless the enemy has a large skill advantage over you, victory should be more or less guaranteed. These lanes are easy for you to poke and are very hard to die to. Make sure the enemy Jungler doesn't gank you, and prepare to dominate lane.

STANDARD These matchups are close enough that you'll need to be skillful to win. There are sometimes special circumstances, plus certain matchups will give certain advantages. Make sure to poke and engage when you can, but make sure you do not get overly cocky.

DIFFICULT These matchups are not useful to you in the slightest, the exact opposite in fact. Making sure you don't die in these matchups is your number one priority. You won't win trades or fights, so your best bet is to just stay back, farm using your abilities and hope to your jungler for ganks.

---

Cho'Gath The Terror of the Void

( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ) Cho'Gath is quite a frustrating opponent, as he will lock you out of your abilities thanks to his Feral Scream, he'll knock you up subsequently with Rupture then execute you with Feast. Even if he can't do the full combo, it's enough poke to cause serious issues, as well as the constant poke from Vorpal Spikes makes him hard to fully ignore. You can't all in engage on him thanks to Carnivore. Before he gets Rylai's Crystal Scepter, you shouldn't have the hardest time ever, however once he gets this item don't engage without a good pummeling of Crowd Control prior.

---

Fiora The Grand Duelist

( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ) Fiora is a very poor matchup for Sion, as she has everything that makes you useless. Your health stacking will be useless thanks to Duelist's Dance dealing maximum health true damage. Your abilities are easily able to be dodged thanks to Lunge, as well as thanks to the charge on Decimating Smash, Fiora can more or less guaranteed stun thanks to her Riposte, her Bladework allows her to deal good quick damage to you and Grand Challenge will only end in you either being dead, or using Unstoppable Onslaught to escape. Proceed to this lane with caution, and try to get jungler help if possible, as unless you are somehow able to outplay Fiora, odd's are you will not be winning this lane without real good luck.

---

Galio The Sentinel's Sorrow

( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ) Galio is seriously the easiest lane you will come across in this game. If you are somehow lucky enough to end up with this match up, enjoy a free victory. Galio's Mana consumption means he can't constantly attack you, his Resolute Smite and Righteous Gust, even for you are very telegraphed, his Bulwark doesn't work as well with other champions since you don't have DOT's and his build is useless against you. If he builds magic resistance for his Runic Skin he doesn't defend against the majority of your damage, if he build's armor, he does no damage what so ever to you and becomes useless, and if he builds damage you will steamroll him into the ground. All you need to look out for Idol of Durand, as the taunt can cause you issues, however beyond this, Galio will literally be useless against you. Farm hard and harass harder.

---

Karma The Enlightened One

( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ) Karma is a weird champion to play against. She won't be able to outright kill you, however you won't be able to outright kill her either. Karma's Inner Flame, while powerful is quite easy to see coming, and sidestep, but if you attempt to engage her, she'll disengage with Inspire. If she gets low, she'll just use her Focused Resolve to heal herself up. The only real advantage you have is she doesn't have a typical level 6 power spike, which you can use to your advantage. Otherwise, farm hard, poke her down when you can and focus on hard engages when your jungler comes along. Unless you go really ham, or are against a very powerful jungler, you should be fine.

---

Sion The Undead Juggernaut Behemoth

( S K I L L M A T C H ) As with pretty much all mirror matchups, you'll be dealing with skill levels rather than with champion advantages, since you are literally the same champion, your as powerful (and as weak) as each other. However, due to the Behemoth build not being common meta, rather it being full tank Sion, it is more likely than not that you'll deal damage while your opponent will rather soak damage. Consider building regular full tank Sion (Don't build Titanic Hydra and Frozen Mallet) as if you get behind, the opposing Sion won't succumb to your damage all that easily. Good luck, and let the best Sion win!

---

Vayne The Night Hunter

( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ) Vayne is literally your absolute worst counter in the top lane, an ranged, more mobile version of Fiora. You build health to minimize damage. Too bad, Vayne's Silver Bolts do Maximum health true damage, so building resistances doesn't help either. Oh well, try to hard engage. Too bad again, Vayne has Tumble to dodge all of your engage attempts, as well as if you do somehow get onto her, all that's going happen is that she'll knock you away with Condemn. Try to run away with anything beyond Unstoppable Onslaught, otherwise her Night Hunter will help her catch up with you, even if you flash, the triple power of Night Hunter from Final Hour will kill you. Stay back and farm as safely as you can, and hope your jungler is willing to camp, or you can safely switch lanes. This will NOT end well. Ever. Avoid as much as you can.

---

.











So, by this point, you should be able to understand the basics of why this certain build exists, to bring a champion extremely well known for for his strong late game, into a more mid game power spike, while trading off the super tankiness you can get by the late game, you gain extremely powerful utility and damage instead, while not being a pushover in terms of damage. Hopefully, you've found this build somewhat interesting if not useful, and hopefully, if you ever decide to play this niche version of sion, you'll have good fortune and not be against a Vayne top! (That means your screwed by the way!)

~ Seivelath
.








.








JhoiJhoi
Many of the cool formatting present in this guide would not be possible at all without the extremely useful guide created by JhoiJhoi, which can be checked out here! (Seriously, check out this guide if you ever want to get into MobaFire guide creation.)

VERSION 2.0 17/12/2016 {CURRENT}

• The guide has been quite updated. The following sections have been fully redone (Don't worry, the rest will come)
  • Introduction
  • Pros and Cons
  • Masteries
  • Runes
  • Summoner Spells
  • Abilities
• New visual style
• More graphics
• New layouts

VERSION 1.1.0 (Patch 6.7 Update) 06/03/2016

• Start of Champion Matchup lists, with the following champions added
  • Cho'Gath
  • Fiora
  • Karma
  • Galio
  • Mirror Matchup (Sion)
  • Vayne
  (THIS LIST IS VERY WORK IN PROGRESS, WILL BE UPDATED CONSTANTLY)
• 6.7 Patch Updates added

VERSION 1.0.1 25/03/2016

• New Section added; Patch Updates!
• 6.6 Patch Updates added
• Credits added

VERSION 1.0 17/03/2016

• Guide Launched! Including
  • Introduction
  • Pros and Cons
  • Masteries
  • Runes
  • Summoner Spells
  • Abilities
  • Items
  • Gameplay
  • Summary
  • FAQ (Without any Questions however)
  • Changelog