Good day ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my Lee Sin Guide. Back when I first started playing Lee, I, like many others, played him as a jungler. His ganks were great, clear time was was above average, and could sustain very well. I soon got bored however, as I was never that fond of jungling. So instead I played him as a top laner, where I started having trouble. I was always finding myself outmatched by the dominant top laners such as Teemo and Yorick. I got so frustrated, that I dropped the Blink Monk all together. Then, while on a troll-run with my friends, I decided to pick up Lee Sin and go mid. I, of course, felt like I was going to be dominated, and died a little on the inside when I found myself against Fizz, someone I can't even beat with meta mid lanes. I got into lane, and found myself, not losing, but on par with the Fizz. I decided to try my luck and went all in, and actually managed to draw first blood. I continued to dominate him mid and went on to carry that game. So ever since then, I've been revising my build and continuing to go mid with Lee, and always coming out on top. So without further ado, I present to you, The Blind Monk - The Ultimate Mid.

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

Lee Sin's talents were so promising that the League was willing to overlook the incident, but he could never forgive himself. He left the Institute and journeyed to the Shojin Monastery for eternal repentance, swearing never to practice magic again. Years later, hoping to atone for his crime with martyrdom, he set himself ablaze as a protest of the Noxian occupation of Ionia. He remained alive in this state, enduring searing agony for weeks. His actions paved the way for a League match wherein Ionia prevailed, but by the time he was doused, his eyes had been burned completely from their sockets. Hailed as a savior, he was reborn, and his will to act invigorated. He joined the League of Legends to continue his atonement with sweat and blood, a true monk's only possessions.

Standard AD runes, improves your early game and makes last hitting a breeze.



Once again, standard. Gives you armor for those pesky jungle camps and late-game AD carries. Also reduces minion aggro



Yep, again, standard runes. Early game magic resist for laning phase against your AP counterpart.



YES, ALL THE RUNES HERE ARE JUST STANDARD Lee Sin RUNES, JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE MID, DOESN'T MEAN YOU DON'T STILL SCALE WITH THE SAME STATS.

Flash is a great summoner spell that should be taken on most champions. It offers a great escape tool, a great dodging skill, and a great way to both gank and initiate on the enemy team. If you flash into a Tempest, your enemy has almost no hope of survival.



Also a great summoner. This will allow you to take carry of pesky Dr. Mundos and Volibears as well as finish off low health opponents.



An argument can be made for Exhaust, it offers a good chasing mechanism, another good escape tool, and a damage reducer within team fights. However, since you already have Trinity Force and/or Frozen Mallet, I prefer taking ignite over this.



Pretty much the same purpose as Exhaust, it offers a good chasing mechanism and a good escape tool, but for the same reason as Exhaust, I prefer to just rely on my items.

Flurry: After Lee Sin uses an ability, his next 2 basic attacks within 3 seconds gain 40% Attack Speed and return 15 energy each.

A tricky passive, but very effective on Lee Sin. With this, you want to auto attack twice between every skill use, this includes your secondary abilities. If you successfully do this, your damage output will be greatly increased and your energy pool will remain rather high. Mastering this will make Lee Sin much stronger than he would've been before.



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

Resonating Strike (30 energy): Lee Sin dashes to the enemy hit by Sonic Wave, dealing 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+0.9 per bonus attack damage) physical damage plus 8% of their missing health as physical damage.

I prefer maxing out my Q first for many reasons. 1. It gives you the most damage output early game. 2. It makes last hitting vs ranged opponents much easier. 3. It allows you to close gaps between you and your opponent much easier. And 4. It gives you a good getaway ability in case you're over pushed, you can escape to wraiths rather easily.



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

Iron Will (30 energy): Lee Sin's intense training allows him to thrive in battle. For 5 seconds, Lee Sin gains 5 / 9 / 13 / 17 / 21 % lifesteal and spell vamp. He also gains 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 armor.

I choose to max this ability second. The shield is decent, and being able to jump to allies is awesome. This will save your life in many situations. Being in mid, you'll also have to dodge quite a few skillshots, this makes that a lot easier as well. Iron Will will also be quite an asset for you in lane. The armor won't help much but the lifesteal will help you sustain very well in lane.



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.

Cripple (30 energy): 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.

A very nice ability for Lee's kit, but not worth maxing as its only really good for its cc and reveal. Most of the time, because of your passive, you want to space out your abilities in order to use your passive to the fullest. However, with tempest, it's a good idea to double tap instead for the slow. Use this ability to either follow up your Q, or to slow them and make hitting your Q easier. Use it to clear minion waves as well.



Dragon's Rage: Lee Sin performs a powerful roundhouse kick launching his target back 1200 units, 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.

Your only ability without a secondary, also your main source of CC. This ability is great for getting last hits on champions, escaping a tricky situation, or keeping their team in place for your team.And, if you manage to hit one champ into a low health one, you can pick up the long range kill.

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Landing a Sonic Wave will be the start of most of your combo's. This is one of the most common however, for singling out a single target. Hit you Sonic Wave and jump to them immediately after. Land a Tempest and double tap once again. They will now be slowed and you will be able to run in front of them. If they choose not to flash, Dragon's Rage them backwards and then use your other abilities for more damage and Flurry stacks.

-> -> ->

This will be good for get aways as well as ganking a low health, overextended champ. Lead with a Tempest and double tap for the slow. Land your Sonic Wave and then Dragon's Rage immediately after. Their health should be rather low by now and you can jump to them for the kill. If running away, kick them towards your tower, jump to them, and safeguard to either a ward or ally.

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Your main harass combo throughout the laning phase. If you can hit a Sonic Wave, double tap to them and land Tempest, once again double tapping. If you feel like if you can go for the kill, keep on them and keep landing your skills, eventually finishing with your ulti. Otherwise, Safeguard out to a minion and continue last hitting. Rinse and repeat.

Keep in mind these are only some of the many combos Lee Sin has, this is because that with his skillset, you can create an almost unlimited amount of combos and experimentation is the only way you'll find a style that suits you. This is a guide, not law, it is here to help you get started, in order to get better and eventually master champions, you will have to find your own style and build out from here.

Your main opponents in mid lane will be AP Casters, so rushing a Hexdrinker is usually a good idea. This will give you some decent damage, along with magic resist. What's most important about this item however, is the passive. Once every 60 seconds, if you receive damage that would leave you at below 30% Maximum Health, you gain a shield which absorbs 250 magic damage. This will save you more times than you can count. This will allow you to get our of ganks, and even let you win some engages you would have normally lost. Needless to say, this is a must buy. You can skip this item if you're against an ad mid such as Talon.



Remember when I said CC hits you hard? Well this item makes it a little more bearable. CC will still hurt you a lot, but you'll be able to take it a lot better with these on your feet. Not to mention the 25 Magic Resist is also really nice in mid. If you're facing a team with limited crowd control and lack of or weak AP carries, you may want to invest in Ninja Tabi instead.



Damage-Check. Defense-Check. Survivability-Check. Map Control-Check. Escape Mechanism-Check. This is the ultimate item on Lee Sin, offering a good mix of both AD, Armor, and Lifesteal. It makes counterjungling and last hitting a breeze, gives you great survivability in lane, and offers a permanent ward to your disposal that can be used for foreseeing ganks or used as an escape mechanism. Late game, you can switch this item out for a Warmog's Armor if you're too squishy, or Bloodthirster instead.



Boosting all your stats is never a bad thing, and Trinity Force is a great way to do it. Starting with a Phage, you will get a good mix of tankiness and damage. The passive is also a great way to keep enemies within attacking range. Then you have a choice of building a Sheenor a Zeal, both of which give good bonuses to Lee. If you choose to go Sheen, you will be getting ability power and mana. This seems rather silly on Lee since he uses energy not mana and his only AP scaling is on his shield and it's a pretty bad one at that. However, the passive is enough to make this item more than worth it. Every two seconds, if you activate an ability, you can do additional damage equal to 100% of your base AD. Your base around Lee is about 70, so you're effectively doing an extra 70 damage every time you proc an ability, which is pretty often considering you have 7 of them. Now if you choose go with a Zeal first, you're giving up a passive ability for base stats. And these stats aren't bad either, Lee scales pretty well with both movement and attack speed, and the crit can help in a pinch too. Once you get enough gold for a Trinity Force, you're practically unstoppable. If you don't like the idea of building a Trinity Force, you can choose to go Atma's Impaler along with a Warmog's Armor or choose to build another Bloodthirster, but I highly recommend going a Trinity Force.



A base of 60 AD and 12% Lifesteal with the potential to get 100 AD and 20% Lifesteal, if you don't want to get this item, you're crazy. But if you don't, the next best thing would be either a Last Whisper if they have a tanky team or a Infinity Edge if they don't... but please... just get Bloodthirster.



You built a Hexdrinker Earlier, might as well upgrade it since you already spent the gold. This item is completely worth buying, 55 AD with potential for 95, Magic Resist, and a magic shield. I guess if they don't have a strong AP carry, then Bloodthirster would be a better choice, but that will only happen every so often, most of the time, build a Maw.



This one's... iffy. It's a toss up between this and Warmog's Armor and there are some pretty good arguments for both. A Frozen Mallet will give you a reliable way to find an enemy and stick to them, along with some good AD and Health. But... you already have a Trinity Force so some prefer to just rely on the percentage phage proc from that. On the other hand, Warmog's Armor will give you a lot of survivability and if you combo it with an Atma's Impaler, you get some good AD as well. This one's up to you, if you find yourself dying more often, get the Warmog's Armor, if you can survive pretty well but can't catch up to your enemies or just want more damage, get a Frozen Mallet.