Hey buddhakingpen here with my own personal lee sin build. I have a unique playstyle, that works quite well for me, and I see most guides on here just go straight for lifesteal and hp... imo, thats NOT how u build him. hp is important, as is lifesteal, but he needs to survive, and support his team just as much as he does damage. this build gives him sustain, supports his team more than most other builds, is still pretty tanky, and has nice damage to boot. btw, i'm not some high elo guy, I usually play normals, but when I AM in a ranked. this build works...until my team gets stomped on cuz they suck lol.

Firstly, some rules to remember when playing like me
-always take a solo lane. jungle lee is next to useless for real. he's ok, but SOOO much better 1v1.
-duo lane, your teammate may suck, unless u play premades, which in that case, a partner can possibly help u with your harrass. thats it though. if they have cc on the opposing side or range/support, ur stuck in the mud.
- never get greedy, but always be aggressive. as in, q-q ur enemy, auto a few, then w, back to minions. always give more than u take
-be flexible with your ability order. for most cases, I max q, then w, then e. but sometimes, say for instance, at level 1, u have a cait that has a vamp scepter and just auto's through minion waves. in that case, dont level your w but once (for the getaway), and level ur e a few times first after level 3. then even if u miss cait with your q (who should be hiding behind her minions) u can e-e her, to slow her assault. then ur damage output will be greater than hers, and her lifesteal wont recover her fast enough.

Pro's
-early to mid game bursty dps
-mid game tanky dps
-late game utility tank assassin (I like the sound of that)
-fast as all hell that you can catch almost any champ as long as ghost is up

Cons
-not the most damage intensive lee
-if you get focused and your team isnt on the ball, while you wont get bursted, you will still die if cc'ed enough
-takes more skill than the average Lee, due to evolving roles over the course of the game. if you have the same playstyle all game, you will die.

I like to keep it simple and basic. armor pen marks, defense seals, mres glyphs. I'm playing around with my quints. I usally use armor pen, but I'm starting to like health regen, and attack speed

21/8/1. since I use ghost, I like to have a point in that. but the defense is actually pretty needed, and helps. lee really needs nothing from the utility tree besides the haste. anything else is wasted stats.

I use the classic, but seemingly outdated ghost+exhaust combo.

lee has two blinks. and with wards, doesnt really need to worry about using flash as an escape. ghost will allow u to chase better, and run to a minion faster if u dont have a ward to safegaurd to.

is the ultimate 1v1 skill, negates their damage output. synergizes well with his Cripple and allows u to mercilessly beat them until they need to b. early game, i prefer them to b over a kill, cuz then they have to take the time to blue pill, and run back. its quicker to die early game. that gives me time to farm. late game, u can go head on with dps champs, cuz your tanky, have good output, and can exhaust them to take almost no damage.

Like I said in the intro. dont go by what i put there as the only way. thats my go to standard. sometimes those ranged carries need to be shut down early game with a nice speed debuff though. basically my rule for the laning phase is:

-if you face an ap carry only worry about q and w
-if you face a ranged ad carry put a 2 in q for more harrass, 1 in e, the rest in w until the teamfights start. that will secure that their autos dont bug you much
- if you face a melee ad carry, max q first, about 2 into e for the slow, but otherwise take w for the armor

lee is a good farmer. maybe too good. the fact that most of the time i can completely zone my enemy, allows me to just use my skills to keep my passive up, allowing me to last hit almost every thing. if u cant zone them that well however, and they are outdoing you with range, or harrass, then dont worry, just last hit minions with your q. its less efficient, but safe. either way, zoning 1v1 with lee is easy, so with practice, you can farm to your hearts content. I've outfarmed many corkis and karthus's, so I'm pretty sure its possible.

eThe meat n taters of every guide. THE ITEMS. My lee is kinda unique, in that I dont atmogs him, or malletmogs him. to me that is an overrated and overused build on him. your staking hp, with about 8000 gold in items, just to get an infinity edges worth of damage with a lil survivablity? no thx. its simple math 8405 nets you MAYBE 1400 extra hp, 45 armor, roughly 165 damage, and MAYBE 25% IF you dont die (bloodthirster seems to be a lee mainstay) and 18 crit chance. seeing a ranged dps can easily get madreds endgame and snipe you from behind a tank...yeah...gg.

or you could spend 8200 for 275 hp, 55 armor,39 mres, 38 attack,+80% (remember you actually need the speed to USE the lifesteal), 20% lifesteal and 20% armor pen. PLUS most of those stats are shared with your team, AND you do an extra 4% of their hp per strike. I dont know about you, but to me, atmogs isnt for teamfighting, its for a 1v1 situation when someone DOESNT have madreds. This is the TEAMFIGHTING

I've been scratching my head trying to figure out a way to get lee to be unique, still play his roles and be effective.

-I could just go the squishy carry route (stupid. the moment u q in in a teamfight, u will be cc'ed)
-I could go the straight offtank route(trinity,randuins,banshees) this is ok and works well enough, but if u run across say, a jarvan, or a xin, doing the same thing, more than likely, ur gonna lose. and ur damage in teamfights is lost because while u wont get bursted down, u will have JUST enough time to qq in, do what u need, and get out with just enough life to live. thats not optimal
-straight tank. he's not the best at it, but I found with items like abyssal scepter and zhonyas hourglass, lee not only has good resists, but also the ap to provide a worthwhile sheild to a partner, while still being able to cc the opposition(but he's just not made for that role, as fun as it is. he's a support tank at best...

So lets try support OFF-tanking


I start with the basic boots and pots. unless I know I'm gonna fight an AD carry in my SOLO LANE, in which case, I get Cloth Armor and pots. early game for lee is crucial, because it will determine the rest of your game. so choose wisely.

If you MUST duo lane take a Regrowth Pendant and pot, and turn it into a philosopher's stone asap. then boots, then continuteas normal.

]. your an ad champ. this is still early game. nuff said. you will sell later to buy another item of your choice. but this is ESSENTIAL at LEAST until you get a bloodthirsters

OR

X 3 are a good replacement for brutalizer. maybe a little better. they come pretty easily, allow u to be somewhat tanky early game with an extra 300 hp, 30 attack, and 9% lifesteal. combined with armor and lifesteal from [safeguard / iron will] this combination is very potent. I myself am beginning to prefer this over brutalizer.

. this item with brutalizer is AMAZING on lee. brutalizer+aegis are early-mid games equivalent of trinityforce+randuins. in other words, your officially OFFTANKING

u do have other options, boots of lucidity add to your utility, since u can then use your ult constantly with 29% cooldowns (brutalizer+masteries)but cc really locks lee up, and magic resist always helps

no explanation needed. extra damage. lifesteal to compensate for a slight lack of defense. This is your tool of destruction. and the thing that will keep u alive in slugfests. this, combined with the starks u will get, combined with your Iron Will will let you heal up on creeps after a fight almost INSTANTLY.

OR

is a really good replacement for bloodthirster, I actually prefer it. a tad more expensive, but the speed synergizes well with Zeke's Harbinger, and you still get the lifesteal from Zeke's Harbinger, plus Safeguard / Iron Will will heal you for the 4% that you deal with every attack. awesome item to use instead if u feel bloodthirster just doesnt do enough, and you then become the teams tank killer. more on that in the teamwork section

OR

Get this if your laning phase went AMAZING. if you can farm up an inf edge by mid game, you could carry your team to a win

now your lifesteal is Op, and u have more aura for your teammates. armor pen and lifesteal for everyone. just something else to help support the team. and yourself of course :)... if you REALLY dont like this item, another good item for around the same amound of gold would be Last Whisper or Black Cleaver more damage, and you still penetrate armor Black Cleaver follows the support theme more in that it reduces flat armor for the whole team though. but ONLY when YOU hit them.

BK YOU NOOB! STACK THE DAMAGE!! listen here youngun. I told you. this is a SUPPORT offtank. with this, you will now be able to get yourself and teammates out of tight spots, chase down that teemo that is just slipping the range of your q, and surprise gank people with your whole team having a nice speed buff. on top of that.more hp,cdr for your ult, and it builds from philostone, so more money while u wait lol.honestly this item has saved me more than i can say straight defense has, and gotten me more kills than straight extra attack damage has. all in all. this is GREAT on lee. with this. you really should never die. pop the activate, and run to a minion into a safegaurd / iron will worst case scenario, and watch the enemy QQ

UPDATE: Shurelya's Battlesong NOW GRANTS ASSISTS! so yes, just for activating it, and your teammate getting the kill, thats money in your pocket. this item pays for itself like 20 times over now. on top of the kills it nets YOU it nets you assists as well, AND the philosopher's stone that it builds from...this item may be the best in the game imo. its essentially a FREE summoner spell that PAYS YOU!

NOTE: you could be selfish and get a Spirit Visage instead of a Shurelya's Battlesong and it isnt really great for the team, but gives you more 1v1 staying power. Only do this if you get Madred's Bloodrazor though. because then Spirit Visage combined with Safeguard / Iron Will will make for 40% spellvamp proc'd from the Madred's Bloodrazor passive, COMBINED with 45% lifesteal when combined with Zeke's Harbinger ... your essentially ...only you have a slow, and a move that does 10% of their missing life...the ultimate finisher.

OR

. slightly less support oriented than shurelyas, and less hp, but at the end of the day, u can still catch people and Tempest / Cripple them. extra damage, extra crit chance. synergizes welll with Infinity Edge and the speed and armor pen synergizes well with Zeke's Harbinger, and it allows you to push towers harder. a great replacement for shurelyas if you want raw power for a dps weapon (NOT MADREDS)

this, along with shurelyas, aegis, and merc treads is enough, speed, mobility, defense, mres, and second chances that you are now almost unstoppable unless the other team has been massively fed.

This is kinda hard to explain, since you have to keep A LOT on your mind while you use this build. shurelyas, and who needs to use the starks aura to recover without blue pilling, when or if you should initiate (I'm telling you shurelyas on lee lets you do crazy tricks), so on and so forth.

First of all we need to discuss your roles...

Assassin- maybe you can get lucky, and land the first part of Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike on the carry. At that point, the focus will be on you to make sure that they can cc u down with the quickness when you q again.. take advantage of this and poke the tank a few times. just to **** with them. then find a way to communicate with your team to get the tanks health down low enough that you can run STRAIGHT THROUGH with Shurelya's Battlesong and Tempest / Cripple the whole team. at that point they are all slow enough that your team can rush in, ignore the tank, and clean up. or u can just gun it for a carry, burst em down, and safegaurd back.

Tank Killer{need Madred's Bloodrazor )- my personal favorite, and the most fun to make the team QQ with. "MORDE NOOB! HE FEEDS LEE SIN!" I've heard this more than once. this one is simple. cripple the tank (more if possible)THEN activate Shurelya's Battlesong . at this point you have two things you can do....
1. Run AROUND the tank, Dragon's Rage the tank to your team and finish him off to get him out the way. one less champ to deal with and a bunch of squishies to munch on. for this to work you need to cripple the whole team so they cant react as fast on your team while they beat up the tank.
2. Dragon's Rage the tank to the SIDE (preferably though a wall, sonic wave / resonating strike to him if you did), then let your [[madred's bloodrazor tear him apart. safegaurd back into the fight for the 4v5. if you didnt Dragon's Rage the tank over a wall, and just to the side then your team should take advantage of his positioning and aim for squishies, while u finish off the tank.

Cleanup- I noticed this seems to be most dps lee's main style of playing. to contribute to a teamfight, Dragon's Rage one champ and make them hit one another for your little burst to all of them. run in, Tempest / Cripple them, Safeguard / Iron Will back, and let your team do the damage. if any champs get away, use Shurelya's Battlesong, Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike, and Tempest / Cripple to finish them off

The Disruptor- you will have to let your team know that you do this. or they wont be on the ball. For this role, you may want Ionian Boots of Lucidity so you can have almost max cdr for your dragons rage. You know how those pesky tanks are always in the front of the pack? well ping the carry u want killed for your team so they know who to focus. you then Dragon's Rage the tank INTO the carry,so that the tank lands BEHIND it. THEN use the activate on Shurelya's Battlesong for your team to rush in and burst the carry down before the tank can get back into position. it helps to cripple immediately after u land the dragons rage. you have to do the cripple and shurelyas almost simultaneously. The cooldown on dragons rage at 34% is about 40 seconds, so endgame you can get rid of 2 carries this way before one respawns, worst case scenario.

The Straggler Picker Upper :I know yall know those dumbasses that be like "screw the team I need my farm!" yeah, you know those guys. so they make their team 4v5 while they kill a creep wave or two, but you notice it. thats when u just pop that lovely Shurelya's Battlesong and Ghost, get to him, Tempest / Cripple and MAKE him fight you. does he try to run again? use Exhaust... when that burns out... Tempest / Cripple again... if he's tanky enough to survive that whole time, then of course that means that if your team is any good, they wiped out 2-3 of the other team because they are squishy. unless its one of those troll tank teams.

The key to this is using all of these styles when they are needed, and using them fluently. if u arent capable of it, then dont worry, you just need more practice ^_^ . certain playstyles cater to using more strats over others. like me, my mainstay is the tank killer, I know most will use the cleanup style though.

if you take too much damage, in a fight, just run to a jungle creep, and heal up with starks op heal lol.

all of these are for a 1v1 situation, but if your in duo lane, just mix and match the strats and know what your partner can do



now akali is a lil tougher than most, becuase you cant play on the fact that she uses mana, because she doesnt lol. her harrass is a simple point and click, where yours is a single target skill shot, she has stealth to match. the things you have over her, are that you can unstealth her with your Tempest / Cripple and you also have WAAY more sustain than her with your Safeguard / Iron Will so basically what you want to do, is get a point in each skill, then at level 4, level Safeguard / Iron Will first, and Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike second. one point in Tempest / Cripple is enough to keep her bubble from being a problem, and may even net you a kill if she's stupid enough to still try to stay in it. this will be a long back and forth for damage between both of your strong early game burst power, your sustain, and her harrass. at level 6, her Shadow Dance will cause you trouble if u let her get the health advantage. use it to your advantage. if she shadow dances you, cripple her, run around her, and Dragon's Rage her into the turret. play smart, and you will come out on top. Lee is kinda the character counter for akali, so you have the upper hand

ADVANTAGE: Lee Sin - 6:4


Fights like these are always interesting. You will start your first 4 levels getting out harrassed, and outfarmed, unless the ashe just sucks. but its not that big of a deal, because after you get to 5, you will have 2 points in your Safeguard / Iron Will and 2 points in your Tempest / Cripple . you then can simply close the distance (sometimes just running up works best, as you may need your Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike
as your finisher, or to dash back to minions if you over extended. but her attack speed will be too slow, and her frost arrows wont be leveled enough to slow you more than u slow her, plus her attack speed is screwed, ON TOP OF THAT, you will have armor and lifesteal from your Safeguard / Iron Will (I hotkey my self cast to T) so you have free reign on her life bar. she will at that point be scared, hide behind her turret, giving you free farm for the rest of the laning phase most likely.

ADVANTAGE: Lee Sin 8:2

[icon=tristana size=64

a good trist makes for an interesting fight once again. early game, you will be outfarmed, and outharrassed, just like ashe. I treat trist kinda of like a burst mage, and not a ranged dps champ. because even if you slow her, she can just rocket jump away, and reset the fight. any decent trist starts with either a Doran's Blade or [[vampiric scepter] anyway, so she may just heal up afterwards. if u manage to get the health advantage, and you noticed that she's recently rocket jumped, then it would be to your advantage to press the fight, becasue early game, the cooldown on her rocket jump is about 20 seconds. so she cant escape you twice. watch out for the grievous wound she can also inflict, pretty much negating your lane sustain. Lucky for you, all of her moves use a lot of her mana, and are on long cooldown. if you can take advantage of this, you will win. but I'd say it would take more smart calculations on your part.

ADVANTAGE: Tristana

I love this build becasue if used correctly, you can do literally everything except heal your damn teammates...oh wait, you gave them 20% lifesteal from Zeke's Harbinger...NEVERMIND. you can backdoor beautifully with this, because even if your spotted, pop ghost, and shurelyas activate, and make like yi and BOUNCE. if the turret gets you low, either let the Guardian Angel bring you back, or run into the jungle really quick and auto some creeps, then get right back to it. its awesome

so all in all, this is my support/offtank lee, that so many have asked me about. it doesnt carry unless fed(honestly it usually is), but gives team utility, survivablity, and is an actually USEFUL lee the WHOLE game. and not just early, or mid, or end.