Allahu Akbar!

PROS

+Fun to play
+Great early game
+Great duelist
+Fits on all team comps
+Playmaker

CONS

-Hard to master
-Fades out late game
-Relies heavily on teammates after a point

These 2 should be the only summoner spells you run.Flash because makes you even more mobile thus allowing for greater plays and a lot easier.
Jungling without Smite is like having sex with a sub Saharan female without a condom.You just don't.

Personally im running x9 Flat HP Seals,x6 Flat CDR Glyphs,x3 Flat Armor glyphs,x9 Flat AD Marks,x2 Flat Armor Quins,x1 Flat AD Quint.I use that setup most of the times against classic matchups.

The HP Seals along with the Armor Quints/Glyphs and the Flat AD Marks + 1 AD Quint are giving you the advantage on almost all early jungle 1v1/2v2 fights.The CDR Glyphs may seem like a small addition but with the CDR masteries from the offensive tree,your Brutalizer stats and a blue buff every now and then greatly boosts your utility and killing potential.

If CDR isn't they way of your playstyle,you can just go with the typical Flat AD Quints/Marks,Armor Seals and a mix of MR per LvL+ Flat MR glyphs.Im also reccomending this rune setup if they are AP heavy.

You can also try X9 Armor Pen Marks for that mid/late game boost since they scale better although you will be sacrificing early damage and Lee is all about abusing his early/mid game.One more reason why i prefer flat ADs instead of Armor Pen is the fact that Lee's Q/Ulti have nice AD modifiers(his ulti mostly,2:1).

Finally you can try a mix of Attack Speed and AD Marks/Quints but i don't reccomend it since your passive is more than enough to do that fast camp clear and Lee is skill reliant ,not an autohitter.

There is only one way to play Lee.Be agressive early.And that means maxing out the offense tree.

Double Edged Sword point is just personal preference.Im always taking it because Lee is Rambo of the League and he's not afraid of anything.
Depending on your playstyle,either take points on the CDR or Attack Speed mastery.Im reccomending CDR.

Spell weaving and Blade weaving masteries allow you to hurt even more your enemies because Lee excels at sticking on people and landing those AAs/Spells thus stacking these passive damage amplifications.
Brute Force and Martial Mastery points are clearly a must since you want every possible AD point.

Executioner point is a must as well,it greatly boosts your Q chain.Allows you to pick up the dangerous game point which might not seem much but you will find out eventually that on 2v2 counterganks and teamfighting that point is the difference between life and death.

Warlord and Devastating strikes.
I need to point out something that some people don't pay attention and think that Warlord boosts your total AD.It doesn't.It boosts your bonus AD coming from runes/masteries/items/buffs.
Well...If you want that bonus AD take it but i reccomend maxing that Armor Penetration points.Percentage Armor Penetration always beats flat AD points during late game.By the time late game kicks in,most enemies will have 90+ armor and that tiny AD boost will be insignificant.On top of that at this point you might not have plenty of AD items or even forced to sell some AD items to buy defensive stats since the killing part is over for you and true carries occupy that spot.

The remaing 9 points should be spent on the defensive tree.

Block + Unyielding are a must for the small skirmishes and invades you 're planning early.
On top of that you further increase your durability by maxing Veteran Scars and taking that Juggernaut point which works awesomely good early on with your Flat Health runes.

You can either take Enchanted Armor or Recovery.It's personal prefference.The one is for late game,the other one for that early breathing during jungling.I don't recommend the tough skins points since they become literally usuless late game.

(Passive) Flurry

Controlling your energy flow is a key tool in your path to master any energy reliant champion.This passive allows you to replenish your energy pool by 15,2 times after casting any of your abilities,by autoattacking anything you can find in the next 3 seconds.Each time you cast an ability this passive resets.In addition your attack speed is increased for that time allowing for faster clears in the jungle and more damage output during trade offs inbetween skill casts via autohits.Use it well.Your success lies in it.

(Q) Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike

A straight line damaging skillshot that stops on the 1st unit it hits.It reveals stealth targets.You can recast to dash to the unit hit,dealing further damage plus 10% of their missing health as bonus damage.This is one of your gap closers,your main damaging skill and your form of initiating fights most of the time,so being able to land the 1st wave is everything.Maxing it lowers it's cooldown and it's nearly spammable with 40%cdr.Most of the times Resonating strike will be your finishing move.
Important sidenote:Landing your 1st Q doesn't mean you have to chain the gap closer in bad situations.A good example is presented below. Play Video
Credits go to: myST4SH for the amusing upload.

(W) Safeguard / Iron Will

This is your 2nd close up/dash.You can cast it on yourself,wards(Even Jarvan's flag),allied minions and champions.Casting it gives your and your ally a small shield(does not shield minions anymore).You can reactivate the ability to gain a lifesteal,spellvamp steroid for the next few seconds.This tool helps you sustain through the jungle and it becomes really usefull later on for both jungling and dueling.It's one of the key components in pulling out succesful inSec kicks.Maxing it does not affect it's CDR.Keep in mind that casting it on a minion or a ward will double it's cooldown.RIOT didn't like the concept of bouncing Lees obviously.

(W) Tempest / Cripple

Casting it,damages any surrounding enemies and reveals nearby stealth units.Recasting it slows the movent speed of units being hit by the 1st cast.The slow is at it's peak at the beggining of the effect and gradually fades away over the duration(think of it as a reversed Nasus W).It used to lower the attack speed as well but too many people crying for nerfs so they removed it.Maxing it doesn't affect it's cooldown.It's a decent damaging skill and form of CC.You should know that although it scales with AD the damage dealt,counts as Magic damage.

(R) Dragon's Rage

One of the coolest,damaging,utility ulties in the game.It lets you pull out sick plays by using proper skill sequence and mind tricks while dealing a great amount of damage.Casting it on an enemy champion knocks him up flying backwards also knocking up and damaging any units he collides with.Units collided take the same damage as the original victim.It can be used to serve kills or setup the ground for other cool follow ups like a Yasuo Ulti.The amount of combos are quite many and you can always make crazy plays with your kit.

On the video below you can see how fun to play and effective a Lee can be.
Credits go to Nathaniel B for making every Lee guide a lot easier to create thanks to his upload. Play Video

FIRST MINUTES(0m-5m)

You obviously start Machete,2 pots and always warding totem.
Using that totem to ward jump on early invades will secure kills and other positive things (like saving yourself from fail invades :)).

You will either head back at LvL 2 after the small camp + blue/red buff clear or continue the normal jungle route to your 2nd buff camp,where you'll take it and recall or gank top or invade the enemy's 2nd buff hoping to catch him up during his clear if he recalled at LvL 2.

Depending on the outcome,you'll head back and you should buy either Stalker's Blade or Skirmisher's Sabre.

Stalker's Blade is the most common pick since the slow and the slight true damage are able to setup an easy gank.Also smiting fleeing people with low hp and earning kills is quite disrespectful and amusing.The slow although weak,lasts for 2 seconds and in combination with your E,red buff and later on the Randuin's active,in a way root people in place for your team to do the killing part.


Skirmisher's Sabre is a good item to negate high burst damage champions like for example Le Blanc,Rengar,Katarina,Graves and others.That doesn't mean of course that it should be used only against bursty champions.It is always a legit buy against any champion.Apart from lowering their damage dealt to you,they also suffer a considerable amount of true damage over time from your AAs.

The choise between these 2,is affected clearly by playstyle and the difficutly to execute a gank depending on the enemy picks.


I don't recommend buying the Ranger's Trailblazer.Although it gives great sustain it doesn't offer any combat advantage during fights unless of course you Smite a nearby jungle camp(smiting red in such scenarios can be the winning move).Sustain isn't a problem as the game progresses,because of your W and the fast camp clearing Lee's kit offers.If you followed this route you can always swap to another before completing the jungle core item for a small price of course.Your call. :)

If you have enough cash you can also buy a long sword.It's destined to be a brutalizer.
If you don't have money for it buy 1-2 wards and 1-2 pots.At this point you can either switch your totem for a lens to start clearing key ward spots to setup ganks in the future.Another smart move would be buying a pink ward and ward a river bush to aid your teammates and yourself as well.

EARLY MINUTES(6m-15m)

Your main goal early on,should be to get your playmaking items which in this case are the following.

That speed boost gives you the suprising element and the chance to get fast near your victim to insec him after a nice ward jump thanks to your sightstone.These 2 items are your bread and butter as a Lee player.Use them well and snowball your lanes!

As the game progresses you should have completed one of these 2.Your damage just got a big boost and on early game Flat Armor Pen is awesome for AD casters like you.CDR reduction is an awesome stat for Lee and works well with your runes/masteries.You 're a considerable force by now able to make plays around the map.


That opens the path for your next core items.There are many to choose from.You should press Tab for a moment and see who is fed,what kind of damage the enemy deals as a whole and act accordingly.


Even if they have just 1 AP carry,hexdrinker isn't a bad choice.It gives you early damage and MR and on top of that,that shield is life saving from time to time and lets you pull out plays that would result in death otherwise(heroic towerdives).Later on you will probably sell it to make room for something else,unless they are AP heavy which in this case you will upgrade it to Maw.

Mid game kicks in(16m-30m/35m)

At this point you need to keep a balance between damage and defensive stats.
Your buys should be situational from now on.

If game goes really good for you and your team you can complete that Tiamat and continue on picking up kills left and right.It gives you an awesome damage boost and base health regen increase.What makes this item even more worth buying is it's unique active that practically makes your combos even more devastating.On the sidedone your attacks splash the area around you making your clears even faster and dishing more damage on teamfights.In time,you will upgrade it to the usually main core item Ravenous Hydra which is the best offensive item on Lee.

Now let's talk about the Maw.If their team is an AP heavy one it is an ok pick since it offers both damage/MR an average shield to negate fatal damage and it's unique passive which scales based on the % of your missing health,increasing your damage the lower your health is.What you need to understand is the fact that having such an item requires some high HP stats.An OK scenario would be having at least 2.600 HP at LvL 18 in order to make use of that passive.It would serve no purpose if you had like 2.000 hp because you would get bursted all the time thus not being able to land even half your of combo.If they have just one AP carry don't bother buying it.

Aegis of the Legion is a suitable item on Lee for both mid and late game because it offers stats that make him durable and a passive/active that serves his late game purpose of defending his carries.Usually it's a classic buy on games that neither team has the upper hand and the magic damage is plenty.Try not to have 2 Solaris on your team.Usually supports are buying it but you never know.

Only buy Kindlegem if you have plans on upgrading it to a Visage or a Solari Locket.It's a cheap buy that offers CDR and a decent amount of HP,fairly useful stats for early/mid game ganks/towerdives.

At some point during late game you'll get a Visage or a Banshee's for sure if they have even at least 1 AP carry.Buying Spectre's Cowl early on sets up the route for the late game buy and makes you quite tanky against AP damage,for the time being,since it offers both MR and Health.The unique passive is not that much of a use unless you 're making fast and small skirmishes-it's usually key component on winning top lane matchups.

You will want to have the Warden's Mail before minute 30 because simply at this point just HP stacking won't save you against bursty ADCs or Assassins.You already have some decent HP from your Sightstone and the Kindlegem or Cowl if you bought one of them.Later on you will complete your Randuin's Omen with it.The unique passive might not seem like much but it serves it's purpose on 1v1 situations against most AD autohitters.

Ascending to late game(30m-45m)

At this point you will be completing most of your core items that are still on recipe level.Keep in mind that you 're not the star of late game scene.Your purpose is not to deal just damage.Your job at this point is to be a constant force that protects the carries and peels for them,serves the enemy carries to his team,bursting their carries on fights when you get the chance and taking key calls for your team.Your build should be forged serving all the goals above and if neccesary even sell items for other more favorable ones.

Hydra is individually the best damaging item for Lee because it fits perfect with his kit.
Huge damage boost,life steal that gets amplified by your W and strong splash damage to nearby targets.On top of that it enables you to unleash a wave around you,once every 10s,that scales up to 100% of your total attack damage to close targets,down to 60% on the edges.The health regen goes a bit unnoticed sadly because of the massive life steal.Against the most classic matchups it will be part of your core build.

Banshee's Veil is mostly used to negate hardcore initiations or -delete- like LvL burst combos.It's passive gives you some breathing air when you 're against initiators like Malphite,Blitz,Heca,WW and others.It will force the enemy team to start poking to cancel that Banshee's shield and giving you the chance to exploit any mistakes they make while overcomitting to the task.Naturally it will also block strong nukers like Syndra,Le Blanc from deleting you.Keep in mind that Baron skills will cancel the Banshee's shield.

Spirit Visage goes really well on Lee.Along with your W and a Hydra,your lifestealing becomes huge.I woulndn't recommend buying it though when the enemy team lacks AP in spite the fact that amplifies your lifesteal.

Another one of your cores,Randuin's Omen gives you the tools to stick to your targets and being able to take a considerable amount of damage meanwhile.It's best use would be popping it's active during a teamfight around the enemy carries to help your carries taking them out.It's usually an awesome buy against every kind of matchups since it's main use is utility around the battlefield.

If game progresses really well,last whisper is not a bad option.It's actually a killer duo along with your Hydra.You will be able to delete carries of the map with your combo.I don't reccoment it if the game is even.You will fade out eventually and it will be a wasted item slot and 2300 gold ill spent.Keep in mind that no matter how well your team goes you will still be burstable with Hydra/Last Whisper so don't get involved in bruisy situations or Barbarossa invades.

Im not a fan of Black Cleaver on Lee.But i heard that they plan on changing it's stats.I'll leave this part open.

During the late game your Mobility boots serve no great purpose.Suitable canditates would be either the Ninja Tabis or Mercury Threads.I would advise buying the Tabis and getting Elixir of Iron to solve the Tenacity issue.If they have close to 0 Crowd Control(kinda hard nowadays) obviously buy Tabis.

Intense Late game,who will throw?(45m-55m)

Sadly,by now,you get outshined by most -if not all- other bruisers.Your job is to soak damage and make HEROIC plays since you 're more of an utility champion at this point.Fear not.It's time for you to sell items that are insigificant so far late in the game.Most likely candidates is your Hydra,Stalker's Blade,Ruby Crystal.

If there's an item that defines late game,that is Guardian Angel.It's usually a must on most ADCs but not really that usefull on Lee in my opinion.Whole point of GA is to save your skin,but why would anyone,so deep into the game,during a teamfight target the all soaking -almost- usuless Lee Sin.Thornmail is far more usefull and cheaper.

Thornmail is a great choice against any ADC(with some exceptions).The damage reflect seems to be small but actually the damage you reflect is the damage you normally receive before damage reduction is applied by your armor defenses.Needless to say +100 armor is huge.

I don't think Warmog's is worth buying on Lee.It's just a simple item that offers nothing but a big chunk of HP and good HP regen.You have no steroid in your kit that scales with HP like other bruisers,for example Volibear,Naut,Mundo.Overall it's a bad choice.

Sunfire is not the best item for late game but if you 're in need of both HP and Armor it's an OK buy.Plus the damage per second is let's say decent.A poor choice.

You might think Mikael's is trollish but it actually gives your ADC breathing air against that Talon.Assuming it's ultra late game you heal your ADC by a considerable ammount because of the high hp you have.Remember!You 're not the star at this time!Peel & Protect.

Be sure to upgrade your boots to either homeguards,furor or distortion it's clearly a matter of preference and the the events that occupy the game at that time(eg. Baron Spawns,inhis,flash timers).Last but not least always upgrade your totem or lens.

Honorable mentions

Zhonya's is not that bad if you 're miles ahead.Actually it is bad.But a hovering gold kicking-style Lee Sin statue who just performed an awesome inSec ulti,is priceless and you need to seize the moment.

Trinity Force is quite an expensive item which offers stats that are not that much of use for Lee.However if you feel like trying new things and you 're far ahead it's an ok choice.Plus the Sheen proc is popping all the time since you have low CDs and you re skill reliant with no energy problems.

Bloodthirster is another way to kill your time and enjoy a game you 're already far ahead.It usually takes Hydra's place.

Depending on the side you start you either start gromp or golems.Your goal is to gank the top lane after you hit 3 or reverse to mid or you try an invade.
Assuming you start Bottom side you head to your golems and ask for some help and be sure to smite.Level up W and head to your Red buff.Be sure you 're not getting invaded by standing in the edge of the bush.Always start camps with W during the early minutes.Make good use of your passive.After the clear head to the chicken camp and be sure to kill the little ones first.They deal fair amount of damage but they 're dying quite easy.At this point you either recall or head to your blue.After that im usually heading to my Blue and then i start invading,ganking top/mid,securing the frogs on the rivers.You can choose to recall for your jugnle item plus some consumables.

Starting on the top side is almost the same,you just start on the gromp.Following this jungle route is better on the top side is better because you get to keep red for some extra time and making your ganks more effective.

No matter the starting side you must always ward key spots,clear wards from key spots,keep track of the enemy jungler through instinct and smart warding,ALWAYS secure the dragon when the enemy bot lane is dead or the jungler is on the top side and last but not least gank/countergank.Securing dragons is key on this season so do it as efficiently as possible.

Remember to push a lane to the tower,when you and your teammate kill the enemy laner/laners so that you can deny EXP and Gold gain.Naturally if the enemy pulls that card on your teammate,go to that lane and either try to freeze it or take that Gold and EXP for yourself.

Thing about Lee is that he fits on w/e team you put him in.What's on the other side of the map,is another story.Usually you want to have reliable forms of CC,good burst damage along with good follow ups.For example Leona and Yasuo are great picks to work along with.One of the most interesting picks to team up with is Orianna.Because of Lee's mobility,she has even greater range and space to make a good initiation.She is my personal favorite along with Yasuo.Pro Lee + Pro Ori = WIN

All around Lee is a fun champ to play and effective at the same time.It takes quite some time to get used to the mechanics and a LOT of practise but it's worth the effort.Remember that Lee isn't a good late game pick.Abuse your early and learn to work with your teammates during the late game phase.If you manage to climb the Elo ladder high enough by playing solely Lee,it means you can climb by playing any other champion as well.If you 're already a high Elo player but relatively new to Lee i would advise you not to pick him on your Ranked games.If you can't play Lee above 80% of his pottential you will just drag your team behind assuming you 're playing against experienced people.