Lee Sin Build Guide by socksinbox

Introduction

Hey terrible League of Legends community that has annoyed me multiple times, I'm Socksinbox and this is my first guide on Mobafire. I've read other people's guides when I first started to help me get better and I must admit they were incredibly helpful. This prompted me to make my own guide and "give back" to my broskis. This guide will mainly focus on playing Lee Sin in the jungle, as he is a very strong jungler and also very fun to play. In the future, I might add some laning tips if I ever decide to play him top. (I've also tried support Lee but that didn't work out well...)

Pros / Cons

Pros Strong ganks (Starting at Lvl 2) Uses energy Decent CC Very strong early game Multiple dashes

SPACE

Cons Not as tanky as some junglers Dmg falls off late game Needs to land skillshots Can't carry No more cons... what did you expect

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Lee Sin is an overall good pick for any team. He deals "tons of damage" if you land your Resonating Strike early game and has an AoE slow plus a displacement skill. He doesn't run on mana which makes him more versatile in his jungle path and allows him to start at red buff. The one big downside for playing Lee is his stanky late game. As the game progresses on, your damage will become noticeably lower unless you build as a glass cannon. This, of course is unfavorable, since you will get insta gibbed if u jump into a teamfight with your Q.

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Runes

greater mark of desolation
Useful on any champion that is AD. Armor penetration runes are the best choice to increase your damage although they are less efficient early and most efficient later on.

Greater Mark of Attack Damage
Great if you want a big boost in your damage early. I take a few of these because Lee Sin is mostly about making plays before his damage drops. Combined with the Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage, you should be doing a lot of damage simply with your Q. I take a mix of both armor penetration runes and AD runes but it's fine to simply stick to one if you choose. Just ask yourself whether you want a good early game or late game.

Greater Seal of Armor
These runes provide a decent amount of armor and they are quite important to have on any jungler. In the very early levels (say before lvl 4), you will need these runes if you want to have enough health to gank after clearing camps. If you dont take these runes for some reason, a Cloth Armor 5 Health Potion start is needed.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
Since you will need to be tanky in team fights, magic resist runes are obviously a good pick. I don't go with flat magic resist runes since you won't be fighting any magical damage dealers except for mid. Flat magic resist would be alright too if the enemy jungler is AP (ex. Maokai).

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage

Similar to the Greater Mark of Attack Damage these provide your with even more AD to help with your ganks. Armor penetration quintessences are also acceptable.

Masteries

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Note: I will only explain the important choices. With common sense, you should be able to figure out why I put most of the points in whichever skill

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Agressive

Butcher Make sure to put 2 points in this for the extra boost in damage towards jungle camps.

Weapon Expertise The extra armor pen will increase your damage a great deal for a single point.

Havoc Since you don't build crit on Lee Sin and therefore don't want the extra crit damage from Lethality this skill is a good choice to increase your damage.

Executioner Simply another boost for your damage.
21-9-0 This is good if your looking for damage and don't need to be tanky for your team

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Defensive

Summoner's Resolve I only take this for the extra gold you get from smite. You might think it's a waste but if you use your smite effectively, 150 gold for one point is an awesome deal.

Bladed Armor and Tough Skin These will help you with your jungle, pretty obvious.

Juggernaut Actually quite effective since it'll end up giving you over 100 health withbuild 2.

9-21-0 I personally like this mastery tree more since you still get the important 10% armor penetration but remain tanky.

Summoner Spells

Bellow are the viable summoner spells for Lee. All the other ones suck, nuff said.

Essential for any jungler. This helps you clear the jungle faster and stops your stuff from getting stolen from the smart people who took smite.


My personal favorite secondary spell as it provides a very strong slow on single targets which can greatly increase your ganking capability. Also handy if you're dueling the other jungler. Lee Sin doesn't need flash since he already has many ways to escape sticky situations.


This also increases your ganking capability although I dont like it because it only affects you. Lee Sin already his q to catch up to enemies therefore USUALLY well not benefit from ghost. This is not to mention if you pop ghost while ganking, it probably means your going for the kill which is bad. Always feed your carries although I know sometimes it's tempting to just finish them off with a kick of Jesus to the face.


A great summoner spell on almost any champion except Lee Sin. I mean why get flash when you can just carry a ward and use your Safeguard for a "free" dash. Still an okay pick though.

Skills

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Lee Sin is a very special champion because of his ability to use 7 skills instead of 4! Each of his skills with the exception of his ult has a follow up. In this section I'll explain each of them and how to use them to effectively murder your opponent.

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Flurry

Flurry is a very useful passive as it allows you to clear camps faster and have more dueling power. To maximize its usefulness, use a skill --> 2 auto attacks --> use a skill and repeat. Do this properly and your jungle speed will increase.

Sonic Wave/ Resonating Strike

Sonic Wave is Lee Sin's main damage ability. Sonic Wave is a fast moving skill shot with good range similar to Amumu's Bandage Toss and Resonating Strike allows you to jump to the enemy (assuming you landed your Q). Because it is your main damage ability, I max it first. This is also your primary skill to initiate a gank as it lets you dash directly to the enemy, setting up your other skills. Note that not only does this ability give you sight of the thing you hit, it also reveals stealth so it can be used agaisnt that pesky Shaco roaming in your jungle or that Akali you're trying to gank. If you landed your Q and they dash away, follow them with your kick of Jesus if the condition is appropriate. You can also escape very well by hitting jungle camps and jumping to them.

Safeguard/ Iron Will

Safeguard is another dash in Lee Sin's bag of tricks that also shields him and an ally. This can be used to gank by dashing to an ally and then using your combo. I take this skill for the dash only so I max it last. The lifesteal/spellvamp and armor is nice but not very important for your ganks. Note that this skill let's you dash to: allied champions, minions, wards, and other targetable objects (ex. Noxious Trap and Zyra's plants).

Tempest/ Cripple

Tempest is an AoE slow, attack speed debuff, and reveal (yes it reveals stealth) which is another important part of your ganks. Since it does not scale with AD and deals magic damage, you might not think maxing this is a very good idea but the slow is extremely helpful for ganks and the attack speed debuff for dueling. At level 1, the slow is 30% but at level 5 it doubles to 60%. You could max this first if you wanted the extra slow and faster jungle clearing but I personally like the damage on Resonating Strike, which is why this comes after.

Dragon's Rage

Dragon's Rage is another kick of Jesus which offers great damage and a knock back/knock up. This combined with Tempest will ensure your enemy's death or ensure your escape. The 2.0 damage ratio is nice but the knock back well be the most important thing for ganks. Of course put a point into this whenever you can. Proper usage of Lee Sin's ult and all the other skills will be explained further in the GANKING section.

Items

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Note: I will only cover the items I usually buy on Lee Sin and just because I do not cover an item does not mean it isn't suitable in some situations. USE YOUR BRAIN

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When playing as Lee Sin, I usually follow one of my 2 builds, one focusing on damage and the other on being tanky (I usually go with the tanky build since it mostly fits any team comp). Anyone can decide which one is optimal by looking at your team: do you have a Malphite top and an Alistar bot? or do you have a Teemo top with a Soraka bot? Make sure to alter your build as it all depends on what happens ingame. Ex. if their mid is getting fed, make sure to grab an early Hexdrinker.

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Boots

Mercury's Treads

Mercury's Treads provide magic resist and 35 tenacity which reduces the duration of crowd control by a percentage. Great against teams with a lot of CC and probably the best boots in the game (HINT HINT).

Ninja Tabi

Ninja Tabi are the cheapest boots that give you a 10% basic attack damage reduction passive. I usually only get it if 4 or more of the enemy is AD and they don't have a lot of crowd control.

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Attack Damage

Doran's Blade

Unlike with most junglers, I like to get Doran's Blade instead of Wriggle's Lantern as my jungle item. Getting 2 Doran's Blade will give me 20 AD which is basically the same as wriggles for a lower cost. My goal on buying these items is to have the strongest early game possible and capitalize on the early damage boost. Armor is also not necessary because you will get 160 health from the doran's. (Got the idea off of Stonewall008 btw) CORE

Wriggle's Lantern

An overall great item for jungling that provides AD, armor, lifesteal and a ward every 3 minutes. The ward can be usefull for dragon control or to just jump onto with Safeguard. Replace Doran's Blade with this if you want.

Frozen Mallet

When buying this item, I always get Phage after my doran's to further more increase my ganking potential with a slowing item. The final thing is an overall a solid pick since it grants you a lot of health and a permanent slow, but I personally do not feel it's necessary to upgrade it early on. If you use your combo correctly while ganking, you should land about 3 auto attacks which gives a great chance for phage to proc. CORE

Maw of Malmorius

A good item which give you both magic resist and damage which Lee Sin needs. Similar to phage get the Hexdrinker early if you're building this item. Its unique passives are also very useful. CORE

Bloodthirster

More of a late game item that provides a hefty amount of AD and lifesteal. Great if you want to go more aggressive or if you are really ahead. Only get this once you have your Doran's Blade and Phage though, even if you're extremely fed.

Last Whisper

This provides a ton of armor penetration so it is very good for the aggressive Lee Sin. Watch your enemy's items though as it is important to decide when to buy Last Whisper and when not to. Just because their Malphite is stacking armor doesn't mean you can't kill their AD carry without armor penetration.

Trinity Force

Basically a more offensive version of frozen mallet. I personally don't like it as much because the Zeal component is not very useful on Lee Sin and while the passive from Sheen is great, the mana it gives will go to waste.

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Defense

Warmog's Armor

Best item in game for health and essential on a tanky Lee Sin. Combined with Atma's Impaler you will gain a good amount of AD off of it as well.

Atma's Impaler

A very good item for anyone getting a lot of hp as it provides a ton of AD. At 4000 hp, which is what a tanky Lee Sin will have, atma's will give 60 AD and make itself worth it.

Guardian Angel

One of my favorite items in the game because of the passive. It allows you be right in the middle of a teamfight and still end up fine with the revive active (assuming you had your team). A definite pick if you're getting focused.

Force of Nature

Gives the most magic resist for a single item so it's good against teams with heavy magical damage.

Quicksilver Sash

Best item to get if the enemy has a suppression ultimates or Mordekaiser's Children of the Grave. Do not get this if they are not using those skills on you.

Randuin's Omen

Provides a good chunk of armor with a slowing active. If you want to get this item consider buying Heart of Gold early if you don't need the armor right away.

Aegis of the Legion

Good item on any champion but it is more useful for Lee Sin when you're behind. Act more as a support and protect your AD carry.

Jungling/Ganking

Jungling

Jungling is probably the most difficult job in a normal 5v5 game. It requires the player to manage their camps and help out their lanes WHILE fighting the enemy jungler. The first clear is very important as you do not have all your skills yet, but unlike others, Lee Sin can gank at level 2 after having both his Resonating Strike and Tempest.

Items

Boots of Speed will increase your chances on getting a kill during a gank, however you can only start with 3 Health Potion. This can hurt you if your team does not leash properly or you take damage during a gank. Not recommended for beginners. [/color]

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Cloth Armor provides you with a very safe start since you can stay at 100% health at all times. A good choice if you're facing a heavy counter jungler or plan on invading. This start forces you to buy Wriggle's Lantern but that's fine.

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Jungle Routes:

To level 2
1. With your teammates' DPS, kill the wraith camp
2. With a leash from mid kill the lizard elder and get red buff
3. Gank

To level 3 - Double Buff
1. With your teammates' DPS, kill the wraith camp
2. With a leash from mid kill the lizard elder and get red buff
3. Take point in you Safeguard and secure your blue from getting stolen
4. If you have above 1/2 health (which you should if you had a good leash) either gank or try and counter jungle
5. If you have less than 1/2 health, clear the smaller camps then go back to base. Note this might be dangerous if there if a strong counter jungler on the enemy team like Shaco.

To level 3 - Small Camps
1. With your teammates' DPS, kill the wraith camp
2. With a leash from mid kill the lizard elder and get red buff
3. Take a point in Safeguard and kill small golems
4. Kill wraiths again to get to level 3

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Make sure to check out Stonewall008's jungle videos as they are extremely helpful:

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Ganking

Lee Sin is definitely one of the strongest gankers in League of Legends due to his amazing skill set. There are different ways you can gank depending on the enemy's position and your level.

Below level 6
1. Resonating Strike or Safeguard to catch up to the enemy
2. Tempest to slow them
3. Auto attack and spam your abilities

1. Walk up to them and use Tempest
2. Use your Resonating Strike if they use an escape and auto attack them

After level 6
1. Resonating Strike or Safeguard to catch up to the enemy
2. Tempest to slow them
3. Walk in front of them and Dragon's Rage them backwards

1. Immediately Dragon's Rage them back
2. Tempest to slow
3. Use your Resonating Strike if they use an escape or just for damage

Burst
1. Sonic Wave but don't use Resonating Strike
2. Tempest then auto attack them once
3. Use Dragon's Rage
4. Now use Resonating Strike to finish them off

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Stonewall008's ganking video:

Summary

Now that you have read my AMAZING MLG GUIDE, you should know how to wreck face with Lee Sin. Take advantage of his early power and you'll be set. Although I've laid out a quite specific set of items and jungle routes, feel free to improvise as this is a guide and not a build after all. Thanks for reading, now go own some noobs!

I would like to thank JhoiJhoi for her amazing guide on how to make a guide... I know right? INCEPTION! But honestly I definitely could not have made this without her help.

Extra

1. Riot: Lee Sin champion spotlight

2. Stonewall008: Lee Sin jungle in-depth

3. Ciderhelm: Don't feed Lee Sin

4. Some asian: Ban HOTSHOTNIDALEEGG