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Sion Build Guide by Lil Tidepod

Another Corpse for the Pile | Sion Build Guide

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Runes:

Resolve

Grasp of the Undying

Demolish

Conditioning

Overgrowth

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery

Time Warp Tonic

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

Summoner Spells

Flash

Teleport

Ranked #32 in
Top Lane

Win 52%

Get More Stats

Items

Starting Items 1

Starting Items 2

First Back

VS AD Heavy Comp

VS AP Heavy Comp

Items you COULD build

Ability Order Ability Order

Sion Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Kled

Extreme

I personally think Kled is the most dangerous matchup for any Sion. He has CC, can turn the tide of any fight with his passive if applied correctly, has high damage, and can match your push or even outpush you. He's mobile and has high damage, and you are probably the farthest thing from mobile without your utlimate. It'll be hard to land your Q with his dash up. If you can somehow manage to poke him down off Skarl, you can win the majority of fights early, but the odds of you being able to do that are very low. Late game he'll have insane HP and it'll be difficult to kill him alone. You probably won't be able to kill him alone, really. I recommend just farming this one out and calling for jungle help.

Yasuo

Ideal

Your knockup on your ultimate and your Q are great for Yasuo's ultimate. You can soak up a lot of damage for him and the ADC while they're able to output a lot of damage.

Champion Build Guide

Introduction

About Me
Why Play Sion
Pros and Cons

Pre-Game Prep

Runes
My Runes
Summoner Spells

In-Game

Abilities
Laning Phase
Teamfighting

Closing Remarks

Conclusion

Hi, I'm Lil Tidepod, also known as Thorium on League of Legends' North American server. This is my first guide, so please be respectful and positive! I've been playing League of Legends since the start of Season 8. I'm not the greatest of players, but I like to think my understanding of the game has greatly expanded since I began playing. I've pursued knowledge via videos, guides, and builds among other things. I've worked to better understand management of neutral objectives, the kits of different champions, wave management, and tons more.

Through this guide, I'm hoping to not only expand your knowledge of Sion and his ins and outs, but I'm also hoping to expand my own knowledge by utilizing BBCode to make this guide look clean, proper, and efficient! I didn't have much help as a newer player, and I would've really enjoyed having more help when I started the game. I'm going to be making lots more guides in order to help spread the knowledge that I've gained as a result of countless hours of playing League of Legends. I hope that my guide suits all of your needs for The Undead Juggernaut!

Sion is, in my opinion, the best tank around. While he is a little more skilled based, his pros go even with his cons. He soaks up tons of damage, dishes out tons of damage, can keep targets in one place for long periods of time, and can bully his opponent all day long in lane. He's really great at peeling for his carries, as his Q has a slow or knockup depending on how long you charge it, his E is a slow that's pretty easy to hit, and his W shield can absorb lots of damage depending on the situation. His ultimate can be difficult to hit, but if you hit it, it's extremely rewarding. Sion's skillshots are very rewarding, as hitting them is almost an assurance that you will win your lane.

Although he is a very strong tank, Sion, like all champions, has some cons. With all of his abilities being skillshots, mastering Sion can be difficult. His abilities are easy to juke and hard to hit. He is easy to poke down early and mid game, when he's not insanely tanky. He's got long cooldowns and is very immobile. The skill gap between one Sion and another Sion can be very large. You may be thinking to yourself, "how hard can it be to hit his abilities?" The answer is very hard. A mobile champion, like Riven, can dash around your skillshots like they're nothing, and the same goes for a Yasuo, but as with anything, constant practice will make you a much better Sion.

PROS

+ A lot of strong crowd control.
+ Exceptional at peeling for his carries.
+ Great engage.
+ Capable of soaking up tons of damage in the mid and late game.
+ Capable of dishing out tons of damage with his fully charged Q and/or his ultimate R .

A tank is meant to soak up damage and apply as much crowd control as possible to the enemy team and, if available, the enemy carries. Sion is great at locking down ADCs and the majority of carries, especially immobile ones. There aren't many times I can recall being more excited than when I hit a 5 man Sion Q or 5 man Sion R . He's really rewarding and can help your team to win more than a few team fights. The enemy top laner is typically not capable of absorbing nearly as much damage as Sion, and he can use this to his advantage by soaking up a lot more damage for his team mates.

CONS

- All abilities are skillshots and can be difficult to land, except Sion's W
- Easily poked down in the early game or by a fed enemy carry.
- Confined to flash and ultimate for escaping ganks when over extended.
- Abilities are easy to juke for mobile champions.

A champion in League of Legends would be impossible to beat if they had no counters. Sion is no exception. With every single ability being a skillshot except for Sion's W , mastering him and playing well in team fights and the laning phase can be difficult. His abilities are easy to juke if your enemy is playing a mobile champion and they can even be hard to hit. He's easy to poke down in the early game or in the mid to late game if the enemy team has a fed carry that can poke efficiently (). He's got long cooldowns and is very immobile, meaning he is confined to his flash and ulti for escapes.

Resolve Primary

Every 4 seconds in combat, your next basic attack on a champion will:

- Deal bonus damage equal to 4% of your max health.
- Heal you for 2% of your max health.
- Permanently increases your health by 5.

Ranged Champions: Damage and healing are reduced by 40% and gain 3 permanent health instead.

Considering Sion struggles in the laning phase against poke, and the overall extra health is great for any tank, Sion's best option for sustain will be found here, aside from his either Corrupting Potion or Doran's Shield start.

You generate stacks on enemy structures within 600 units, up to 6 after 3 seconds. Your next attack versus a structure with 6 stacks deals 100 (+ 30% of your maximum health) bonus physical damage. Demolish will only go on cooldown upon triggering the damage.

Some people like to take Shield Bash here, but I like demolish. Considering how large Sion's HP gets mid and late game, if he is required to split push demolish will be key in marching him towards the enemy nexus with only a minion wave or two. Shield Bash is probably most useful against a champion like

After 10 minutes gain +8 Armor and +8 Magic Resist and increase your Armor and Magic Resistance by 5%.

Some people prefer to take Bone Plating or Second Wind here, but I like Conditioning. It's pretty self-explanatory. A tank like Sion would eat up that extra Magic Resist and Armor at ten minutes. And, on top of that, adding an extra 5% to every Armor and Magic Resist item is delicious. Taking Second Wind could be beneficial against champions like , and Bone Plating could be beneficial if you'll have long, drawn out trades against champions like

Permanently gain 0.2% maximum health for every 8 monsters or enemy minions that die near you. At 120 minion and monster deaths, also gain an additional +2.5% max health.

Range: 1400

Do I really have to explain this? Overgrowth gives Sion tons of extra health in the late game. While it may not seem like a whole lot to you, on paper the difference is large. Unless you check your rune page, you probably won't be able to detect the difference, but I've had games take place where the health difference between when I took this rune and when I didn't can be as large as half a thousand (500 HP).

Inspiration Secondary

Receive a Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will at 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 and 12:00. If the inventory is full while receiving a biscuit, the biscuit(s) will appear as soon as a place in the inventory is freed.

Biscuit Delivery will help you a lot with your sustain in lane. Even with Corrupting Potion or Doran's Shield, you can lose a lot of mana seemingly too fast. Biscuits will help with that.

Consuming a potion or biscuit grants 50% of its health immediately, and mana if applicable, but prevents that consumable from being used again until the effect ends. Health/mana per tick is then reduced by half for the effect's regular duration. In addition, you gain 5% bonus movement speed while under the effect of a potion or biscuit.

Time warp tonic is what I like to describe as "insta sustain." It allows you to gain so much health back mid-trade or even mid-fight and really surprise your opponent. I think it's definitely the best option here as it synergizes with Biscuit Delivery and Corrupting Potion

: Flash is an absolute necessity on Sion. As Sion is immobile and easy to gank when overextended, Flash is insanely helpful for getting out of those sticky situations you will more than likely find yourself in.

: Teleport is my favorite spell when playing in the top lane as a tank. It allows you to teleport quickly to team fights, split push effectively and still show up when you suspect a fight is going on, and help provide pressure on the map, simply by having it up. Even though its cooldown is long, I still think it's worth it.

Glory in Death (Passive)

RANGE: N/A
COST: N/A
COOLDOWN: N/A

Upon taking fatal damage, Sion briefly becomes invulnerable then enters a frenzy, restoring himself to full health but begins to drain (1 + level) health for the first tick and increasing by (0.7 + (0.7 x level)) health per tick. Sion can freely move and attack during this time, gaining 100% lifesteal, attacking at 1.75 attack speed and dealing 10% of his target's maximum health as on-hit physical damage (capped at 75 bonus damage against monsters).

Additionally, Sion gains the ability to cast Death Surge using any learned ability.

Decimating Smash (Q)

RANGE: 600
COST: 45 mana
COOLDOWN: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6

First cast: Sion starts channeling, increasing the damage of Decimating Smash over the next 2 seconds. If Sion's channel is interrupted by crowd control, Decimating Smash will have a reduced cooldown.

Second cast: Sion smashes his axe into the ground, dealing somewhere between a minimum of 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+0.45 / 0.525 / 0.6 / 0.675 / 0.75 per attack damage) and a maximum of 60 / 120 / 180 / 240 / 300 (+1.35 / 1.5 / 1.65 / 1.8 / 1.95 per attack damage) physical damage in an area in front of himself - depending on channel time - and briefly slowing enemies hit. If he charges Decimating Smash for at least 1 second, enemies hit will also be knocked up for a minimum of 1.25 seconds, up to 2.25 seconds if Decimating Smash is fully channeled. Minions take 60% damage. Monsters take 80% damage.

Soul Furnace (W)

RANGE: 550
COST: 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 mana
COOLDOWN: 11

Passive: Sion permanently gains 4 bonus health whenever he kills a unit, increased to 15 against large units and champion kills and assists.

Active: Sion surrounds himself with a shield that absorbs 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 (+40% of ability power) (+8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12% of Sion's maximum health) damage for up to 6 seconds. After 3 seconds, Soul Furnace can be recast to detonate the shield if it hasn't been destroyed, dealing 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+40% of ability power) (+10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14% of target's maximum health) magic damage to all nearby enemies. Bonus damage from the target's maximum health is capped at 400 against minions and monsters. The shield will detonate automatically if it persists for the full 6 seconds.

Soul Furnace can be activated and detonated while using any of his abilities.

Roar of the Slayer (E)

RANGE: 725
COST: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 mana
COOLDOWN: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8

Sion bellows in the target direction, dealing 65 / 100 / 135 / 170 / 205 (+55% of ability power) magic damage to the first enemy he hits, as well as slowing it by 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60% and reducing its armor by 20% for 4 seconds.

If the target is a minion or non-epic monster, they are knocked back 775 units, dealing the same damage and applying the same effects to all enemies they pass through. Projectile enemies stop upon colliding with terrain or reaching the end of their trajectory.

Unstoppable Onslaught (R)

RANGE: N/A
COST: 100 mana
COOLDOWN: 140 / 100 / 60

Sion charges in the target direction for up to 8 seconds, during which time he cannot cast abilities nor attack, but is immune to all crowd control effects. Sion's trajectory will update toward the mouse cursor over the duration, but his rotation speed is significantly slow.

If Sion collides with an enemy champion or terrain, charges for the full 8 seconds, or recasts the ability, he will slam the ground with earth-shattering force, dealing a minimum of 150 / 300 / 450 (+0.4 per bonus attack damage) physical damage and knocking up nearby enemies, while slowing enemies further away. The base damage and crowd control duration increase over the first few seconds of the charge, capping at 400 / 800 / 1200 damage and 1.75 seconds respectively.

Laning with Sion is fairly straight forward. It's pretty much a guarantee that if Sion is going against a pokey champion, like
, or , he's probably going to struggle. In this matchup, I'd take in order to have the sustain in lane to not get bullied out in a few minutes. If going against a champion like or , I would take . What you're looking to do is bully your lane opponent completely out of the lane. Try and deliver some Q's particularly if you've charged them for more than one second, as they'll also deliver your knockup. In order to set up a good Q I recommend using your E to slow the enemy and get a nice hit on them. Be wary if they have the ability to cancel your as that can really screw you over and cause the trade to go in the enemy's favor. The bushes in the top lane are also great to hit a because if the enemy doesn't have vision on you, they cannot see the radius for your

Your ultimate is really important for your kit. Unstoppable Onslaught is great for ganking other lanes, escaping from a gank on your own lane, or just getting around faster. Use it to gank your bot laners and then use to teleport back up, or use it to gank your mid laner and walk back up through the river. It can be really useful to give your team mates a nice lead.

Teamfighting with Sion isn't a big deal, or particularly that difficult, but a lot of players get nervous about it. I did, too, and I understand that the reason for this is Sion is basically just a big ole' meat shield unless you can consistently hit your abilities. While this is true, keep in mind that a huge part of Sion's job is to be just that: a big ole' meat shield! He's meant to absorb tons of damage, so as long as you're front lining and absorbing the damage for your team, you're already doing arguably the biggest part of your job. Now, to be effective, however, you'll have to hit your abilities. The tips for hitting your Q and R are the same here as they were in the laning phase: It will be easy to hit both if there is CC already applied to an enemy champion or if you use your E to slow the enemy champion or champions. Once you do this, make sure your team follows up your CC by pinging for assistance. Sometimes, people aren't aware enough to realize that you have an easy Q on an enemy champion once you've used and hit E on them . They simply might not know your kit well enough to understand how you set up your abilities. Try and use your ultimate to catch out one of the enemy carries, or even the enemy tank, and follow it up with a Q Because of the knockup that your ultimate applies, your Q is practically unmissable.

The most important part of playing Sion is to effectively peel for your carries. I cannot stress this enough. Tank damage for them, take CC for them, do whatever it takes to keep those bad boys alive and kicking so that when their time comes they can do what they do best: carry your team.

If you're interested in seeing what his threats are, and what you should build on him, please refer to the top of the page where the build begins to see my recommendations and builds for Sion! If you observe the notes, you can read reasons why I chose what I chose and what champions certain items are more effective against. All in all, I feel like Sion is the best tank in the top lane as of patch 9.2. In my opinion, he's extremely strong, soaks up damage unlike any other tank, has insane peel, large damage, and has an uncanny knack for isolating enemy carries out from their team and quickly killing them. People oftentimes think the top lane is boring, and if you do, I encourage you to look into playing Sion as he's a cheap, effective, and fun top laner that's not all about farming (although that is super important!) You'll quickly find that Sion will make his way into your rotation simply because of how strong he is in the current meta. He's able to get a large HP value in a short amount of time with what he builds, and he's great at farming as he typically first builds . Sion is a skill-based tank that involves knowledge of his cooldowns, ability ranges, and a decent understanding of the laner he's facing, which is why I included such detailed threats and synergies at the top of the guide. If you're looking for someone to play in the top lane and don't have much experience with tanks, I definitely feel like Sion is for you. He was my first real tank in the top lane (except for ) and is one of the champions I hold near and dear in my heart. Well, that wraps up my Sion guide. I hope that you learned something from this guide. I put a lot of hours and my heart and soul into updating it to make it look sleeker, prettier, and more efficient for all of those who observe the guide, hoping to get answers on how to play Sion. Thanks for reading!