04/27/11

Changed around one of the quintessences.
Added some more in depth facts about how The Bloodthirster will affect your gameplay
Included Guardian Angel as an optional item, expounding on the pros and cons of taking it and its effectiveness in keep your Bloodthirster stacks.

05/02/11

Switched the fortitude quintessence for another armor pen one because of changes I've made to my build.

Added an explanation to the summary chapter as to why the guide is so short.

6/13/11

I've altered my build here and there over time so I've updated the runes, masteries, and item build.

The item build is now much more cost efficient and much more narrowed down. The last four items are pretty conditional of course. Those spots are reserved for your "Whatever you need to win" items.

Also I'll take this time to thank everyone who's viewed my build, 6k is a pretty big mark for me. And especially thank the people who've commented or voted on it, you guys are awesome. I'll keep updating guys, keep giving me feedback!

So the first thing I'd like to say is that this is my first build I'm posting, I'm still learning and changing things as I get more experience. As of right now my Lee Sin build is a high damage output build. I've heard several different builds and I have a friend who utilizes a very useful tanky dps build but this is just the one I've grown comfortable with. Only problem with it? It's a mid to late game build. You will not be able to do much at all early game but try to harass withSonic Wave andResonating Strike, then jumping to safety withSafe Guard.

So, that being said, on with the guide!

Pros:
Amazing damage late game
Great jungling
You always have a ward up or handy
Great ganking capability
Good support between the shield and your ult
Can be quite the escape artist if you time your abilities right
Versatile champ

Cons:
Usually a rough early game
Useless if you're focused
CC shuts you down, HARD

Ok I don't need to reiterate my item build up top but I can go into depth a bit.

Basically it's all about being versatile. Getting what you need when you need it. If you need magic resist mid game, get it. You will almost always need defensive items. I've seen so many glass cannon builds online that are just shut down hardcore when you have resistances for whatever kind of damage they're dealing.

I've found that, although it may sound strange, Hextech Gunblade can be quite good on Lee Sin for several reasons. I'll list some of the ones I can think of, for some of the non believers don't worry.

1. The ap is useless? Wrong. Shield runs off of a bit of his ap, so it does increase your shields durability.
2. AD boost is obvious.
3. Life steal is obvious.
4. Spell vamp? **** yes! I've gained back at least half a health bar more than once with Resonating Strike when they're at low health. And the health you'd get back from the kick? Absolutely. Awesome.

Suffice it to say that you should have enough damage even with two defensive items. I usually build a heavy armor item and a heavy magic resist one just so I'm not taking any chances during a fight.

I've found you'll want to switch out Wriggle's Lantern for The Bloodthirster around late game. I haven't done it in games with little to no reprocussions before but if you want to solo baron you'll need it and the majority of the stacks. Now this can go hand in hand with your survivability in quite a drastic way. You see, The Bloodthirster is most useful when you have at least half of the stacks. (Bonus attack damage 'up to 40'and bonus lifesteal 'up to 10%')
If you find you are just not able to hold onto your stacks be it a tank or two on your team that can't seem to draw aggro off of you, or they just aren't very good tanks in the first place; you'll want to either consider selling The Bloodthirster for a more stable item or consider buying a Guardian Angel.

This can either be a great investment or a pointless one in my opinion. Much like the Thirster it's a very conditional item I think. You need the stacks for the Thirster for it to be useful enough to justify the price, and with Guardian you need to be able to do what you need to do while you're staring at all the champions over your limp body just waiting for you to get back up.

Now if you've built your two defensive items already and have the boots, Last Whisper, the Gunblade, and the Thirster then you are obviously out of room. However there's a solution.
Unless you're playing against a very well balanced team, probably of all carries if you're taking THAT much damage, then you should be able to sacrifice one of the heavy defensive items to make room for Guardian Angel.

Note that I only recommend this if you can evaluate for sure that it's going to be worth the money. If you're getting completely shut down as it is then buying this item is just going to make them stand around waiting for you to stand up so they can knock you on your *** for good. This is when the item becomes practically pointless. The only time this would be an acceptable purchase with these circumstances is if you have at least one or two other high damage output champs on your team that can take advantage of them focusing you and awaiting your return.

The hardest part about this, I find, is reminding myself of how good an investment Guardian can be. You have to make the most of every item, and it's usually difficult to point out the situations when this one can be amazingly useful or completely pointless. I leave you to speculate and make your own decisions.

I personally like being very mobile, especially in 5's. Less people get away from you, you get to where your team needs you faster, you get away from ganks better, the list goes on and on. So I almost always take Force of Nature over Banshee's Veil for the movement speed buff. Unless I'm getting focused really hard, (Or playing against a chain caster like Brand or Leblanc then I definitely take Banshee's. Taking it has saved me more than enough times for it to pay for itself.)

I also find Randuin's Omen to be a good buy for specific DPS champs. Plus since Lee Sin has a decent amount of Health the health boost from Randuin's is extremely well placed on him I feel. Also makes you near impossible to catch what with your movement speed, the shield to minions, his ult kick, the tempest/cripple slow, and if you have Randuins, the AOE slow from the items active ability. Needless to say you should have no problem peacing out if you get in over your head unless they blow you the **** up before you can get out, in which case, you're on your own if they're pulling that off even with your defensive items.

Basically, like I said in the beginning, it's all about being versatile. If you build to suit your needs, you'll be fine.

So obviously I'm still finding out more and more about him as I play. I realize this isn't the best build or the only way to play the champ. Lee Sin is probably my best champion however and I'd like to get some constructive feedback on this build for him to improve my skill and playability, I thank everyone in advance.

Also because I feel that my build length needs some justifying I've added this paragraph. While I believe in swapping builds and strategies from player to player I don't believe in giving away every secret or every little detail about how I play. I still feel that your experience should come from playing games, not from reading up the perfect strategy. I'll give you the base tools for being a good player, but I don't believe in giving you all my experience that I've earned for nothing.

A true warrior earns his/her scars and victories. :D

Anyway Summoner name is exactly the same as my account name on here so if you want to add me on League feel free.

Leave comments and votes guys, thanks again, catch you around.