First of all, if you're wondering why that random picture is there, it's to catch your attention. I started playing Lee Sin shortly after his release and realized that none of the builds were working for me. So after trial and error I came up with the idea of throwing all the magic damage weapons together. After I did this, I discovered Lee Sin doesn't need the attack damage for his abilities because they still hit very hard. Just so happens that all the magic damage items give attack speed. After the core is finished, Lee Sin will be rocking a 2.5 attack speed.

Greater Mark of Desolation x9 - Adds 15 armor penetration total. Very helpful for Lee Sin's abilities.

Greater Seal of Evasion x9 - With Nimbleness these runes allow you to have a almost constant 10% movement speed boost while fighting.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction x9 - Cooldown reduction is very helpful on Lee Sin. Unfortunately, none of the items suggested have cooldown reduction. These glyph's provide a little of the much need cooldown reduction. At later levels; Blue Pill and an Elixir of Brilliance give you the maximum of 40% cooldown reduction.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation x3 - Adds a total of 10 armor penetration ontop of the 15 armor penetration from the Marks.

Greater Quintessence of Evasion x3 - Gives another 4.5% dodge rather than more armor penetration making Nimbleness all the more effective.

MY CHOICE

Ghost - I always grab ghost. Always. Allows me to chase, escape and get to places faster.

Cleanse - I decided to grab this on Lee Sin because YOU WILL ALWAYS BE CROWD CONTROLLED!


OTHER POSSIBILITIES

Flash - Not completely needed due to Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike and
Safeguard / Iron Will, but there are still situations where there are no creeps or allies within reach.

Ignite - Very good for DPSing down champions who have too many heals or just refuse to die. That does not happen often for Lee Sin however, so that is why I don't grab Ignite

Exhaust - You will never die 1v1 while Exhaust is up. I prefer Cleanse over exhaust though so I don't die from spells like Ashe's Frozen Arrow.


NOT RECOMMENDED

Smite - At level 1 Lee Sin can grab Safeguard / Iron Will which allows him to jungle perfectly without Smite and is capable of grabbing Blue Pill as soon as Madred's Razors is acquired. Although Smite does slightly boost leveling speed it just seems like a waste of a summoner skill to me, seeing as Smite is useless after Madred's Razors is purchased.

Heal - With Madred's Razors, restoring HP is not a problem.

Revive - Worth grabbing if your whole team has it, otherwise, don't die.

Teleport - Once again, worth grabbing if your whole team has it, otherwise, Ghost is the better option. Switch out with Ghost if desired.


DO NOT PICK

Rally - Just no.

Clairvoyance - Let a support grab this. Cleanse and Ghost are too valuable to switch out with Clairvoyance.

Fortify - Highly not recommended on Lee Sin. Cleanse, Ghost and most of the other summoner skills will provide a greater benefit to you and your team than Fortify.

Clarity - If I have to explain this... please uninstall.

Promote - Lol?

I put 9 points down into Offense to get Archaic Knowledge and maximize my damage output from Madred's Bloodrazor, Wit's End, Malady and Sword of the Divine.

The rest I put into the Defense tree to counter Lee Sin's squishyness / vulnerability to CC and give him a 10% speed boost ( Nimbleness ) while in combat. (Helps a ton)

Madred's Bloodrazor - Ability to do significant damage to any foe.
Boots of Swiftness - Makes chasing/escaping easier than any other boot.
Wit's End - More damage and attack speed
Malady - More damage and attack speed.
Sword of the Divine - Even more damage and attack speed.
Hextech Gunblade - Gives damage and a slow. When combined with Iron Will, Lee Sin receives a total of 50% Lifesteal/Spell Vamp.


I start off with Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions because Lee Sin will lose lots of HP while laning. Cloth Armor prevents the quick loss of HP and the Health Potions obviously restore it. You can also jungle with the same build and without Smite.

I picked Madred's Razors and Vampiric Scepter next so I won't have to keep running back to base for HP or keep buying Health Potions.

After Boots of Swiftness, I snag Wit's End for the magic damage, attack speed, and magic resistance. The mana drain is just a bonus. Around level 9-13 you should be able to grab Madred's Bloodrazor as their tanks are grabbing lots of HP. Even if they don't stack HP, Madred's Bloodrazor will still do at least 50-80 bonus magic damage per hit. (1250 HP - 2000 HP)

After Madred's Bloodrazor you should be racking in the kills, making Malady incredibly easy to buy, increasing the damage output of Tempest and all your magic damage weapons. If Phantom Dancer is preferred, then swap out Malady for it. Sword of the Divine is last on the magic damage weapon list, adding 100 magic damage every 4 attacks, 60% attack speed and the ability to rape Jax.

When the core of the build is finished, we top it off by upgrading the Vampiric Scepter we grabbed oh so long ago into Bilgewater Cutlass for the ability to slow people at range and increased attack damage. Afterwards we upgrade the Bilgewater Cutlass into a Hextech Gunblade for a better ranged slow, spell vamp, lifesteal and damage.


Due to lack of defense
If you are dying way to fast for your own good, switch out Malady for a defensive item such as; Guardian Angel, Banshee's Veil or Thornmail.
However if you are quick enough, you shouldn't need any of the above except for Banshee's Veil.

Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike
Q1 - Used to harass and last hit minions.
Q2 - Used to execute, charge, escape, harass and last hit minions.

I primarily use Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike to kill champions who are at 1/3 - 1/6 of their total HP.
For example: When a low HP target is at the tower I will Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike to him and kill him then Safeguard to an allied minion/champion/ward.

Safeguard / Iron Will
W1 - Used to escape, shield, save ally, dash into combat without using the Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike combo.
W2 - Used to duel enemy champions and restore health (Great with Madred's Razors)

Tempest / Cripple
E1 - Used for AoE damage, last hit minions and detecting stealth units.
E2 - Used to slow (Why you don't need Trinity Force/Frozen Mallet)

Dragon's Rage
R - The swiss army knife of ultimates.
Can be used to knock champions (away from/to) (allied/enemy) (towers/champions).
Also can be used for preventing escapes by knocking them the opposite direction
Executing champions when Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike is on CD, out of energy or too many minions for a clear shot.
Escaping sticky situations with too many hostile champions.
Or just scaring the **** out of people.

Feel free to use Dragon's Rage whenever it's up. Better to use it then hold it for some special situation that may not occur.


Anti-Tower Camping Combo

An awesome combo I use all the time is Ghost and run behind the tower, Dragon's Rage to kick them away from the tower, Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike to charge at them and wounding them to 1/2 or 1/3 hp, Tempest / Cripple to slow and almost kill or kill them, then auto attack till Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike is up and execute, then Safeguard to escape the tower.
Best used after acquiring boots and blue pill.
If you attempt this combo know that if you mess up once, chances are that you will not survive. But if done correctly, you can kill anyone who is tower camping.

Lee Sin is not the best team fighter, but he can still do it.

Let your allies ding up the enemy champion first, then when they are at lower HP, Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike in to kill them.
Safeguard to save almost dying allies
Tempest / Cripple to slow groups of enemy champions in the team fights
Dragon's Rage to disrupt all the channeled spells dished out by the enemy team ( Nunu & Willump, Malzahar, Miss Fortune, Katarina, Warwick, etc.)

Focus on the champions that are at low HP. If none, wait/move to a different area.

PROs
+ Very hard to build against
+ One of the most diverse in abilities out of all the champions.
+ High damage output
+ Effective against tanks and DPS alike with Madred's Bloodrazor
+ Never really have to back for the purpose of regaining health
+ Energy instead of mana
+ Easy to chase down enemy champions when using Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike
+ Very hard to win against 1v1
+ 2.5 attack speed
+ Cheap, effective items
+ Incredibly easy to kill steal
CONs
- Very vulnerable to CC
- Hard to gank champions when they are standing next to minions.
- Has 3 skill shots Sonic Wave, Tempest, Dragon's Rage. (No AoE graphic outline for Tempest)
- No matter how much HP acquired, Lee Sin seems to die just as fast when he has no HP items.
- Not very effective in team fights unless Dragon's Rage is up or if the enemy team is at low HP.


PRONs
+- Lee Sin is ranged hero for much of the game, using himself as the projectile, meaning; that he dashes in then dashes out. Stay back like a ranged hero, but charge in with Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike when opportunity presents itself, then get out as soon as possible and heal up on minions if needed. Rinse and repeat.
+- Depends more upon the amount of health the enemy champion is at rather than the health Lee Sin is currently at.