Yes. While an incredibly risky strategy, proxy Sion is one of the best pushers in the game. His entire kit helps him roam to a lane and push that lane extremely hard and fast. Every single one of his abilities, from his passive to his ultimate, contributes to his ability to tear through enemy minions, towers, inhibs, and the nexus in record time. If your team can stall the enemy team long enough, few things are more fun than backdooring the enemy base as proxy Sion.

This strategy is not for the faint of heart. Use at your own risk, and preferably with a premade team that understands what you are doing.

"I'M GONNA SHOVE THIS MINION WAVE...

...RIGHT UP YOUR A**!!!" -

Where does proxy Sion even come from? Let me tell you a story...

One day, back in 2015, I was playing Sion top and I found myself having to deal with a Lissandra.

IT. WAS. HELL.

My opponent perfectly managed her mana and cooldowns, keeping me almost permanently at bay and preventing me from farming with her ranged harass. If I dared to get close, she would shower me with magic damage and force me all the way back to my tower. She dodged every minion I attempted to kick at her with my E. My jungler never ganked.

Within 10 minutes, I was ready to rage quit. I was 0/5 and past the point of caring about playing safe. I needed to punish this Lissandra and her attitude, so I channeled my inner Sion and came to a conclusion, which I announced in all chat:

"IF I CAN'T LIVE, THEN NEITHER CAN YOUR TOWERS!"

With that, I charged forward past Lissandra, hitting minions and shoving the lane towards her tower. I had stacked a fair amount of magic resist, and I managed to chunk her tower down about a quarter of the way before she killed me. My passive kicked in, and I brought the tower down to half health before I finally fell. Encouraged by my sudden progress, I teleported back to lane after respawning and continued to batter down the tower, ignoring Lissandra completely. My passive kicked in again, and the tower fell despite Lissandra's best efforts to stop me.

A few minutes later, Lissandra left the lane to go fight my team at dragon.

A terrible, knowing smile crept across my face as I realized what this meant.

10 minutes later...

Enemy ADC: "WTF TOP LANE??"
Announcer: "Your team has destroyed an inhibitor!"
My team: "Holy **** look at sion go"
Me: "NOTHING WILL STOP ME!!!"

The enemy team proceeded to swarm me, but it was far too late. I had spent 10 minutes farming every minion on the way to the enemy inhibitor, and I was a nigh unkillable tank. My team joined me as I shoved the minion wave right into the nexus towers, tanking both of them as I brought them down and ended the game. The raging screams of enemies in all chat filled the screen as the nexus shattered.

Proxy Sion was born.

The whole idea behind a proxy/split push strategy is that the object of the game is to destroy the enemy nexus, and the fastest way to do that is to relentlessly push a lane and go right for the nexus. You don't care about kills, and you don't care about ganking lanes, because those things can take time away from pushing.

Obviously, you still need gold to buy items and get this done, but the beauty of pushing a lane is that you will automatically pick up gold by killing minions as you go. You literally farm your way from one tower to the next, absorbing a steady stream of money to buy items. In fact, you can pick up so much gold that even dying will do little to set you back, and since you aren't getting any kills to end your death streak, the enemy gains less and less gold each time you die.

It is important to understand that this doesn't give you an excuse to feed, but it does have a very real impact on your opponents and it seriously hinders their ability to stop you. Your deaths give diminishing returns to the enemy, while your ability to gain gold does not decrease since you are gaining all your gold from minions and not from champion kills. In the end, feeding is still bad, but not as bad as it might otherwise be. As long as you keep up your farm, you can have a ridiculous number of deaths and still keep going strong. Just make sure that you're getting that farm.

Why you still don't want to die:
:: You can't do anything until the respawn timer finishes
:: Your position will be reset to your base, meaning you have to walk all the way back to lane.

When dying might be worth it:
:: You are attacking an enemy tower/inhibitor/nexus and think you can either finish it off or deal a significant amount of damage to it by staying.

Staying to attack an enemy structure becomes a better choice as you push further towards the enemy nexus. This is because the lane is pushed and it will take longer for the enemy to recover and push it back. Also, attacking structures close to the nexus can alarm your opponents and force them to play defensively, which gives map control to your entire team.

Below is an explanation of Sion's abilities and a few items in the context of the pushing machine that is proxy Sion.

Passive: Glory in Death

Sion's passive allows him to keep moving and hitting things for a short time after he dies. He gains a bunch of attack speed and lifesteal during this time, which lets him deal surprising amounts of damage to things that he can catch (like towers). This passive does not give you an excuse to die whenever you feel like it, but it can let you get some more damage in when you do get killed.

Q: Decimating Smash

Sion's Q skill can be charged for up to 2 seconds. If charged for less than 1 second, it damages and slows enemies in front of Sion. If charged for at least 1 second, it hits a larger area and knocks up and stuns enemies. Continuing to charge it increases the damage and stun duration. You can use this ability to help clear minion waves and to last hit minions that you wouldn't be able to safely reach during the laning phase, as well as to deal huge amounts of damage to enemy champions (if you can hit them).

W: Soul Furnace

Sion's W skill gives him bonus health for every enemy unit he kills. He can activate the ability to give himself a shield, which can be detonated after a few seconds by pressing the button again. You can use this to help win fights by absorbing some extra damage and then chunking down enemies with the shield detonation. It has a moderate cooldown, so save it until you need it.

E: Roar of the Slayer

Sion's E skill lets him kick an enemy, slowing it. If he hits a minion or monster with the ability, it flies forward, damaging and slowing all enemies it passes through. You can use this to snipe enemy minions and get some last hits, or poke your lane opponent and annoy them. You can also do fun tricks like kicking the rift scuttler at a fleeing opponent so that your teammates can catch them, or knocking super minions back up the lane to slow their progress if the enemy team takes one of your inhibitors.

R: Unstoppable Onslaught

Sion's ultimate is an amazing tool for crossing the map and entering fights. It makes Sion charge forward, and he can be slowly steered using the mouse. A truly skilled Sion player can turn corners in the lane or even navigate sections of the jungle using this ability. When Sion runs into terrain or an enemy champion, he releases an explosion which damages and stuns nearby enemies. You can use this skill to run back to or through a lane. There's nothing quite like using this ability to blow right past the enemy team and finishing off an exposed inhibitor before they can respond. If you find yourself in a team fight, use this ability to initiate combat, and smash right into the enemy team to stun them all. You can also use this to run away from the enemy team if they gank you, which can save your life during those deep pushes into enemy territory.

Your ultimate will kill caster minions that you run over and heavily damage melee minions, which helps your own minions push faster. If you hit an enemy structure while charging, the explosion will deal damage to that structure. This gives you some extra utility when using your ultimate to charge down the lane towards an enemy tower.

Wards

Wards provide vision, and vision wins games by letting you know where your enemies are (or aren't). As enemies will try to stop you once they see you pushing into their base, it is important to be able to see them coming so you can escape. Place some wards in the enemy jungle near your lane to gain an early warning of approaching enemies.

Teleport

Teleport is an excellent tool for crossing the map. You can teleport to allied turrets, minions, or wards. Use this to get back and quickly push a lane, or to save your team in the event that you need to join them for a fight. Smart placement of wards will greatly increase the usefulness of this summoner spell. As of Season 9, you can no longer cancel your teleport, so check your map before going in. Try not to teleport to your death.

Titanic Hydra

This item greatly improves your ability to clear minion waves by adding area splash damage onto your basic attacks. It can be activated for more splash damage.

Dead Man's Plate

This is a good defensive item for Sion. It provides a large amount of armor and health, and helps him cross large distances more quickly with its passive effect.

ZZ'Rot Portal

This item has a lot going for it. It provides solid defenses, gives a speed boost when moving past towers, and can be activated to deploy a portal. Place the portal in nearby bushes whenever you approach a tower that you need to push down, and the voidspawn that come out will make your job a lot easier.

Emote Spam

Sion's incredible lane presence can be enhanced even further through the use of his emotes. Sion has a very loud and obnoxious laugh as well as a dance animation which makes him look like he's trying to tea bag his enemies. If you aren't hitting minions and your opponent is in the lane with you, spamming your emotes is a great way to pass the time.

After a few minutes of hearing "AHAHA, AHAHAHAHAHA!" most players are going to get very annoyed, and some will resort to leaving the lane in order to get away from Sion's hideous laughter. This is exactly what you want. With your opponent out of the lane, you can begin farming and pushing freely. While emote spamming won't guarantee that your opponent will leave, it can certainly increase the chances of it happening.

When the game starts, you want to put on your best poker face and farm your lane to the best of your ability. You need all the gold you can get in order to rush your core items. Try not to shove the lane too hard (although it may happen anyway). In any case, keep the bush at the end of the river warded and try not to overextend. You can't afford to die early on, as you will fall behind and miss out on a lot of minion kills.

Don't worry about your lane opponent. Just play safe and last hit those minions with your basic attacks. Use your Decimating Smash and Roar of the Slayer to kill minions from a safe distance if your opponent is preventing you from getting close. Your Decimating Smash will push the lane, so use it sparingly until you are ready to go for the tower.

As mentioned above, you can annoy the enemy by spamming your emotes between last-hitting minions. If you really want to pressure your opponent, use your laugh and champion mastery emote (if you have it) when the lane is pushed towards the enemy side, and maybe kick a minion at your opponent with Roar of the Slayer.

Sion is usually played top, but he can also be played mid, jungle, or support with a fair amount of success. If you do play him mid, you have the advantage of being able to push the lane almost constantly (and denying farm to the enemy) without putting yourself at much risk, as the distance back to your tower is short and you can ward the side bushes to know when the enemy jungler is coming. Be aware that some nastier matchups can be found mid, so watch out for lane bullies and high magic damage.

Once your opponent leaves the lane to go do something else, you want to shift gears and begin shoving the lane as hard and fast as you can (without missing minion kills). As you do this, there are several techniques you can use to keep yourself safe (ish) from ganks and maximize your clear speed.

Decimating Smash + Tiamat / Titanic Hydra: This is your standard combo which will let you clear an entire minion wave in a few seconds. First, charge up your Decimating Smash as the first melee minion gets close to you. If you do it right, you should hit almost the entire minion wave. Walk into the middle of the wave and use the active on Tiamat to finish off the caster minions and chunk down the others, then use your basic attacks to kill the rest of them. If you have Titanic Hydra, instead hold position at the front of the minion wave and use the active and passive to blast the minions with damage, killing them.

Portal Placement: Using Zz'Rot Portal effectively means making sure that the voidspawn are going to reach the tower or inhibitor that you are trying to destroy. Voidspawn will attack nearby enemy minions and will only prioritize structures that they are very close to. This means that you want to keep the area between the portal and the structure clear of enemy minions. If you are pushing a tower, kill the minions that get in front of it to fight your own minions. Try to clear the enemy minion wave and be pushing with your own wave before placing the portal. If you are pushing an inhibitor, you can step in front of the portal and slightly to the side to draw minion aggro yourself and create an opening for the voidspawn. If you are taking the enemy nexus, your best bet is to put the portal behind the nexus, as minion spawning will disrupt the voidspawn if they are close.

Don't get hit by the tower if you don't have to: This may seem obvious, but it's an important point to make. You do not want the enemy tower to shoot you if it can be avoided. There are three easy ways to do this: Make sure you push with minion support, don't hit enemies near their tower, and don't buy Sunfire Aegis. If your enemies are attacking you while you're under their tower, either ignore them or walk away. Pushing with minions is especially important because enemy towers gain a ton of bonus armor when your minions aren't nearby. Only attack a tower without minions if the tower is extremely low on health.

Warding the enemy jungle: Dying can put a hold on your lane pushing as you wait for your respawn timer to tick down. This is no fun. You can avoid getting caught by placing wards in the enemy jungle as you push. Each time you get to a jungle entrance, duck into the enemy jungle and place a ward at the first intersection of paths you see. This will put the ward deep enough to give you some advance warning of approaching enemies, allowing you to make your escape should you fail to check the minimap and realize your opponents are on their way to stop you.

Even if you don't see enemies on the map, having wards will help you guess where they are, because the more places you know they AREN'T, the fewer places that they COULD be. Try to keep dragon and baron warded at all times, and use respawn timers for dragon, baron, and the enemy champions, as well as their last known location and direction, to figure out where they are going. For example, if you're pushing top and you see enemies leaving mid lane towards the top of the map, there's a very good chance that they're coming to gank you.

There is no better time to push than when you can confirm that all enemies are away from your lane. When this happens, push the lane as hard as you can.

If you get caught: In the event that you do get caught (read: swarmed by the entire enemy team as they flank you from all sides), it is important to recognize that you will probably not make it out alive. With this in mind, you can either try to run and die or hit things and die. Thus, it makes sense to spend your last few moments hitting things rather than making a failed attempt to escape. In this situation, treat the enemy champions like I treated that Lissandra: Ignore them and hit the tower. This is even more important if your minions are pushed to the tower. Not only does hitting enemy champions not help you push the lane, it can cause the tower to focus on you when it might otherwise be shooting your minions, and you want to stay alive as long as possible. When your passive kicks in, continue hitting the enemy tower.

If you are not near a tower, use your last few seconds to hit the enemy minions and get some gold before your inevitable death. Do not use your Unstoppable Onslaught if you are completely surrounded, as you will probably hit one of the enemies, making it a total waste if you are trying to escape.

In the case of only one or two enemy champions, try to escape if you see an opening. The exception is if you are attacking a tower and think that you can finish it off on your current push. In that case, it may be worth dying in order to ensure that the tower goes down. Remember that your goal isn't to die, but to deal as much damage as you can BEFORE you die.

If your enemies are aggressively ganking your lane to stop you: Smart opponents may realize what you're up to and can make your life difficult by constantly coming to your lane. If this happens, use your wards and map awareness and walk away before they reach you. Then go into another lane and push that. The enemy team will arrive in your previous lane to find that you are suddenly in a different lane. This ensures that you are still making progress towards the enemy base and completely wastes your enemies' time. It also gives your team an opportunity to farm or take objectives unimpeded, since the enemy team is focused on trying to kill you. If you don't know which path the enemies are taking to reach you, play safe and back out at least to the river before moving to a new lane.