Lee Sin Build Guide by Khazem

Introduction

Basic Information About Lee Sin

As a young teen, Lee Sin was intent on becoming a summoner. His will and dedication were unmatched by any of his peers, and his skill drew the attention of Reginald Ashram, the League's High Councilor at the time. While studying at the Arcanum Majoris, Lee Sin became frustrated with instruction paced for the other students. He spent his free time researching the nuances of summoning in hopes of graduating sooner. He made amazing advances in his arcane studies, surpassing all other students. By all indications, he would have become one of the League's greatest summoners were it not for one terrible mistake. Too impatient, he attempted to test his ability by summoning a beast from the Plague Jungles. What he summoned instead was a young boy, but not in one piece. He barely had time to look the boy in what was once his face before the jumbled human mass fell lifeless to the floor. A League investigation later revealed that the boy's entire village was obliterated by feedback from the ritual.

"The actions of one may sunder the world, but the efforts of many may rebuild it."
Lee Sin

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Pros + No mana bar. Can sustain himself forever without the need of going back for mana. + High sustained damage. Can chain his abilities to keep his passive up for as long as he keeps hitting them. + Very high mobility. Has the ability to dash in and out of teamfights with 2 of his abilities. Can also be used to escape over walls. + High sustainability. Can stay in the lane for a long time without the need to go heal. + Strong duelist. The combination of his high attack speed, high damage and his ability to slow enemy movement and attack speed makes him exceptionally strong in a 1v1 situation.

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Cons - Has a high skill ceiling. Takes quite some time to master and is hard to play overall. - Requires energy management. Chaining abilities can lead to you energy starving, leaving you not being able to do much. - Requires proper positioning. A lot of his abilities have positional requirements. - Item dependant. In order to have a decent late game, he needs items badly due to his high AD ratios and being a melee he also needs so survivability.

Summoner Spells

Flash: Good to have for escaping bad situations or making plays. (ie. Flash behind enemy to Dragon's Rage them back into your team/lane)
Ignite: Adds to your burst and helps you finish your targets off. Also useful when your target is about to receive healing.



Exhaust: Good pickup if noone else on your team does. Especially useful against big AoE ultimates such as Kennen, Fiddlesticks, etc.
Heal: Can be used for a more dominant laning phase and saving your life on multiple occasions.

Hint: When going for Heal or Exhaust, replace them for Flash for a stronger laning phase. Lee Sin already has great escape mechanics and doesn't really need the Flash for escaping. Only do this when you're comfortable in the lane and when the enemy jungler isn't too much of a threat to you.

Runes

The standard rune setup for top lane Lee Sin. Makes you very scary early game and makes last hitting easy as cake.



Greater Mark of strength: For easier last hits and a scarier early game. Pretty standard for Lee Sin.
Greater Mark of Resilience: Can be used against strong early game bruisers such as Renekton or Riven.


Greater Seal of Resilience: The only seal you'll ever want really. You need the armor for a better laning phase.


Greater Glyph of Warding: Helps against some of the champions that deal both physical and magic damage ( Yorick, Poppy, Udyr, etc) or just for laning against AP champions
Greater Glyph of Shielding: If you don't need any early game magic resistance, these are the better choice for a stronger lategame.


Greater Quintessence of Strength: In my opinion the only option for Lee Sin. Makes your early game scarier, helps with last hitting and scales better than armor penetration once you get a Last Whisper.

Masteries

There's 2 different setups I use for Lee Sin depending on who I'm laning against. A defensive and an offensive setup. My usual choice is the defensive one, as Lee Sin already has enough damage in his kit, making him a bit more tanky through masteries is usually the better choice.

Defense Tree Tier 1 - 3 points in either Hardiness or Resistance depending on who you're laning against. A point in the other or Summoner's Resolve if you're using Heal Tier 2 - Durability to get down to the next tier mastery. 3 points in Vigor for some extra lane sustain. Tier 3 - Veteran's Scars for a nice early game health boost. 2 points in Indomitable Tier 4 - Initiator and englightenment, both very strong on Lee Sin Tier 6 - Juggernaut cause it's awesome.

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Abilities

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Flurry: After Lee Sin uses an ability, his next 2 basic attacks gain 40% Attack Speed and return 15 energy each.

Awesome passive. This is what makes Lee Sin such a strong duelist.

• Flurry does not activate when using summoner spells.
• Flurry does not stack but it will refresh its duration each time an ability is used.
• Flurry will still return 15 energy, even if the attack is dodged ( Counter Strike), parried ( Riposte), blocked ( Aegis Protection), or if it misses (blinds).

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Sonic Wave: Lee Sin projects a discordant wave of sound to reveal his enemies for 3 seconds, dealing 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+0.9 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to the first enemy it encounters. If Sonic Wave hits, Lee Sin can cast Resonating Strike for the next 3 seconds.

Cost: 50 energy
Cooldown: 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 seconds
Range: 975

Resonating Strike: Lee Sin dashes to the enemy hit by Sonic Wave, dealing 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+0.9 per bonus attack damage) plus 8% of their missing health as physical damage.

Cost: 30 energy.

Lee Sin's main ability to do damage, chase and initiate. Has a high AD ratio so deals a ton of damage later in the game. Also deals more damage the lower the target is.

• Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike does not proc on-hit effects.
• Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike strike procs spell vamp and Rylai's Crystal Scepter slow similarly with all single target spells and abilities with full effect.
• Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike will not damage Black Shield.
• Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike pops spell shield. If Sonic Wave is blocked by a spell shield, it will prevent follow up with Resonating Strike.
• Sonic Wave can hit and reveal stealthed units. If Resonating Strike is used, the target will no longer be revealed.
• Resonating Strike can travel through walls allowing for escapes when used on jungle creeps (more on this later)
• Sonic Wave is launched from Lee Sin's stretched-out hand. Units standing inside of the hand animation will not be hit by the skillshot.

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Safeguard: Lee Sin rushes towards a target ally, shielding them both from 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 (+0.8 per ability power) damage for the next 5 seconds. After using Safeguard, Lee Sin can cast Iron Will for the next 3 seconds.

Cost: 50 energy
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Range: 750

Iron Will: Lee Sin's intense training allows him to thrive in battle. For 5 seconds, Lee Sin gains 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% lifesteal, spell vamp and 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 armor.

Cost: 30 energy

This is what makes Lee Sin such a strong laner. Gives him a ton of sustain and tankiness while Iron Will is up and gives him the ability to come out ahead on trades with most melee. Also allows for making plays and escapes.

• Safeguard can be used on champions, minions, pets, wards, H-28G Evolution Turret, Demacian Standard, Jack In The Box and Noxious Trap. When cast on wards, Safeguard reveals the ward for 2 seconds.
• Safeguard can self-cast to shield Lee Sin without dashing to an ally.
• Safeguard cannot be used while immobilized. Lee Sin will be unable to self-cast Safeguard if he is rooted or snared.
• When stacked with magic shields such as Hexdrinker or Black Shield, these shields will take magic damage before any all-damage shields.
• When stacked with shields such as Soul Shield or Eye Of The Storm, the most recent shield takes damage first.
• Safeguard can travel through walls.

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Tempest: Lee Sin smashes the ground sending out a shockwave that deals 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) magic damage and reveals enemy units hit for 4 seconds. If Tempest hits an enemy, Lee Sin can cast Cripple for the next 3 seconds.

Cost: 50 energy
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Radius: 450

Cripple Lee Sin cripples nearby enemies revealed by Tempest, reducing their movement and attack speed by 30 / 37.5 / 45 / 52.5 / 60% for 4 seconds. Movement and attack speed recover gradually over the duration.

Cost: 30 energy

Another ability that's great for chasing enemies or fighting melee/ranged carries. Deals magic damage so makes Lee Sin hard to build against in the early laning phase.

• Tempest does not proc on-hit effects.
• Tempest procs spell vamp and Rylai's Crystal Scepter slow similarly with all are of effect spells and abilities with diminished effect.
• Tempest pops spell shield. Targets protected by a spell shield will not be marked and therefore not affected by Cripple.
• Tempest can hit, mark and reveal stealthed champions. Tempest cannot reveal wards, Noxious Trap, or Jack In The Box.
• Tempest grants vision of all enemies hit, even if the enter the Fog of War or brush.

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Dragon's Rage: Lee Sin performs a powerful roundhouse kick launching his target back, dealing 200 / 400 / 600 (+2.0 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to the target and any enemies they collide with. Enemies the target collides with are knocked into the air for a short duration.

No cost
Cooldown: 90 / 75 / 60 seconds
Range: 375

Amazing ability. Proper positioning with this ability can deal a ton of AoE damage. Also has various defensive purposes.

• Dragon's Rage does not proc on-hit effects.
• Dragon's Rage pops spell shield.
• Dragon's Rage will not damage Black Shield but the knockback or knockup will be negated.
• Dragon's Rage has a brief channel time (0.2s) upon cast before it activates.
• If Dragon's Rage's primary target dies from the damage, it won't be knocked back and no knock-ups will occur.
• Dragon's Rage will interrupt all channels with the knockback and knock-ups.
• Dragon's Rage can knock enemies through walls.

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This is usually my preferred skill sequence. I max Safeguard / Iron Will first for the sustain, shield and armor it gives to make Lee Sin a beast in the laning phase. Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike second for the damage.
However against mobile opponents ( Riven, Akali) or high attack speed opponents ( Fiora, Jax) it can be more useful to max Tempest / Cripple second.
Put a point in Dragon's Rage whenever you can.

Items

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Item Builds Explained

This is what you'll be looking to build (in this order) against a heavy AD bruiser. Gives you the armor and benefits from Ninja Tabi with a good amount of health and sustain to keep you in the lane.




Same idea as above. Instead of the Phage (which you'll get later) you pick up a The Brutalizer to get past some of the enemies armor.




Getting an early hexdrinker against AP champions can safe your life. Build into Maw of Malmortius later.




The 2 Doran's Blades are always crucial, even in a difficult lane, to increase your early game strength and give you that bit of sustain. Vampiric Scepter for even more sustain and rush straight into a Frozen Mallet for survivability. The health you get using this build is also strong against true damage ( Olaf, Irelia, Cho'Gath)




Straight into a strong AD item for max snowball potential.





This build gives you a nice health pool, enough magic resist to deal with most of the AP damage, a shield to save your life from Maw of Malmortius and some nice damage as well.
Note: If the enemy AD carry becomes a problem replace either The Bloodthirster or the Force of Nature for a Randuin's Omen.




A nice balance of tankiness and damage. If enemy team doesn't have a lot of armor, replace Last Whisper with The Bloodthirster.




The build I aim for in the avarage game. If there's an AP carry dominating you can always replace The Bloodthirster with either Maw of Malmortius or Force of Nature.


These are of course not the only viable builds and I did leave out a couple of items, but those are more sitational and should only be used under certain circumstances. (All viable items explained in the above 'Items' section)

Gameplay - Laning

First thing you need to pay attention to is who you're laning against. Buy your starting item accordingly (usually Boots of Speed, exceptions include Riven, Renekton, Garen and other strong early game melee).

Hint: When buying boots, unless you have to go help your team, wait at the edge of the shop range untill 10~ seconds after minions have spawned for another 35 gold to buy an extra Health Potion. It helps a lot.

Grab your starting skill accordingly. ( Sonic Wave against weak early game, Safeguard against strong early game)

Hint: When on purple side, you can ask your mid lane to assist you with killing the wraiths to get an edge on your opponent. In this case you can put a point in Tempest first but Safeguard works fine as well.

You can start harassing your opponent from the moment they get in range. If you picked Safeguard you'll usually come out ahead on early trades. Try not to push up your lane (also the reason why you don't want Tempest at level 1).

Here's a few common harass combos:

Safeguard (on creep near enemy) --> Activate Iron Will --> melee hit --> Tempest x2 --> 2 melee hits --> Sonic Wave --> melee untill out of range --> Sonic Wave


Tempest x2 --> 2 melee hits --> Safeguard away


Sonic Wave x2 --> melee hit --> Tempest x2 --> 2 melee hits --> Safeguard away


When going for a kill: Safeguard to nearby creep --> melee hit --> Tempest x2 --> 2 melee hits --> Sonic Wave --> Ignite --> Dragon's Rage --> Sonic Wave


When being ganked, escape using your Tempest when they get near, slow them and either Safeguard to creeps or try and line yourself up for a Dragon's Rage on both of them.
You can also carry a ward with you for escaping puproses (more on this below)

Top Lane Match-Ups

Gameplay - Teamfights

Lee Sin can take on a couple of roles in teamfights. When building some more damage, he can act as an assassin trying to kill the squishy targets in the back. Try and land a Sonic Wave to close the gap and use your Tempest when you get on them. You should have a Frozen Mallet already so unless they get peels, you can stick to them untill they're dead. You can use your Safeguard to dash back out of the fight once it gets too hot or once you've assassinated your target.

You can also be more of a disruptive tank, initating a fight and landing a Tempest on their entire team. Your goal here is to just be as disruptive as possible slowing people and kicking them into each other with Dragon's Rage. Here you just try and soak as much damage as possible, while dishing out as much CC/damage as possible.

Lastly, Lee Sin also does a great job at protecting his carries. If anyone gets on your carry you can either slow them with Tempest, Frozen Mallet procs or simply kick them away from your carry. To further protect them you can also Safeguard to them for a small shield. Do whatever it takes to keep your carries from harm and attack whoever is attacking them.

Lee Sin's Escape Tricks

This is fairly simple. You place a ward over a wall or on a spot ahead of you and you immediately Safeguard to it. Works best when smartcasting. Also works on allies or other friendly objects such as H-28G Evolution Turret, Demacian Standard, Jack In The Box or Noxious Trap. This works on any wall you can place a ward over.

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You can also abuse the fact that your Sonic Wave can send you through walls. You can escape from certain bad spots to neutral creep camps. Here's some key spots.

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Lee Sin can also abuse his mobility to steal dragon or Baron and get away with it safely. His Sonic Wave deals a lot of damage to a dragon or Baron that's nearly dead so timing it right can allow you to steal them and get away using your ability to get over walls both ways.



Note: When you don't already have vision of the dragon, you can use your Sonic Wave to give you vision, wait for the right time and then Resonating Strike in for the steal.
If you have a ward, you can also get away safely as shown below.

Closing Comments

That's all I have to say about Lee Sin. Thank you for reading! If you liked the guide, feel free to leave a +vote and/or a comment. If you disliked the guide and want to -vote, I would very much appreciate if you could leave a comment saying exactly what you didn't like about it so I can improve it. Any feedback is always appreciated so don't hesitate to leave a comment.


Lastly, credits to jhoijhoi for her guide to making a guide for all the great looking templates I used when making this guide.