The guide has been completely revamped to fit better the new meta-game. All the votes cast before this date are obsolete.

The guide is now shorter and less descriptive. I feel that writing something about a champion playstyle doesn't help people who read it. The only way to discover the full potential of your champion is to practice with him. The tag In-Depth has been removed accordingly.

The top lane is your lane. But it's also the lane of most of melee AD champs nowadays. What's the best spell to counter an AD champ ? Yes, Exhaust. With the buff of Heal, we often see ranged AD carry who takes Heal instead of Exhaust and you really need at least one in a team.

Needed to jungle. Point.

I wasn't big fan of Flash on Lee Sin, but this makes you so much dangerous. You can now escape like a badass (adding the ability to jump on wards) and flashing behind your target your target and immediately using your ultimate can lead into a free kill for you and your team.

You really have to mind this spell when you play Lee Sin. Without it, you would be out of energy in seconds. Between each ability, you have to hit your foe at least one time. It's also freaking insane to destroy turrets.

This 2 in 1 spell is a great burst early game. The more the target is low HP, the more this spell deals damage. It's perfect to kill runners or to quickly dash on squishy carries.

The first ability is a low CD shield which grants you to quickly teleport on your allies. You can cast it on yourself if you're fighting 1v1. When the shield breaks, you recoverer half of the cost. The second ability grants you armor, lifesteal and spell vamp. This means more survivability in line or in fight. Simply great.

The first one is a good damage AoE, perfect to kill low health minions waves, and to deals descent damage in teamfights. The second one is amazing. Once you hit enemies with Tempest, you can slow their AS/MS by 50% for 4 seconds.

Your ultimate is a great mono-target ability dealing high instant damage. It's really good to finish enemies (or to steal a kill).

• Wriggle's Lantern - This item is a must-have as a jungler. Some people doesn't like it as a solo top item, but I'll state why they're wrong. It gives you armor, damage and lifesteal : everything a champion like Lee Sin needs. Plus your lane will be warded for free and forever.
  
• Mercury's Treads - Gives MR and Tenacity. Best boots for Lee Sin.
  
• Warmog's Armor - Huge health points pool, synergies greatly with the following items.
  
• Trinity Force - One of the best item for Lee Sin. Gives you damage, health points, attack speed, movement speed, and two great passives. Yeah, also gives you AP and mana but forget this point, ok ?
  
• Atma's Impaler - Armor is good, critical is fine but this passive is amazing. Once you get it, you'll have much more attack damage. You can envisage to take it before Trinity Force.

Tanking Options

• Guardian Angel gives good armor and descent MR and people won't focus you anymore.
• Banshee's Veil is a good choice if you have CCer against you.
• Randuin's Omen is my opinion the best option against AD teams. Its active and passive synergizes well with Cripple.

Damage Options

• Last Whisper is what I would get in very late game. The 40% ArP is really awesome.
• Bloodthirster is the second best choice, giving you more life steal and the highest AD amount. Sell Wriggle's Lantern for it.

Level 2 will come soon, and you'll start harassing them with . Don't forget to farm alot with this. Use (if your enemy is too close from his tower, don't use it), then quickly spell . Hit him as you can, and back.
With few combos like this one, your opponents would be seriously damaged. Low HP champs are always under pressure against Lee Sin, it's time to get the control of the line. Farm, farm, farm, you need it to shine.

When you're level 3, you'll be able to regen descently with . With Lee Sin you're able to tower dive really soon and successfully : you have 2 "teleport" ability. Remember to always know what the opponents can do to counter you. A stun/exhaust near tower = death.

The first time you use Recall, you should be able to buy Boots and Doran's Blade. Never hesitate to take wards before reaching Wriggle.

When reaching level 6, killing will become much easier. Your ultimate is a solo target nuke, and perfect to deals mortal damage.

Simple jungle route :

This is a simple jungle route for those who aren't comfortable with jungling. But you have to know that Lee Sin is a really good jungler and can take many different routes.

1. Start to blue buff, use potion and Smite.
2. Now, go to Wolves, and kill them using your new ability.
3. Your next target is Wraiths camp. Use potion.
4. Go to double golems, use potion but save Smite
(I recommend you to do red buff for optimal ganks, but you can gank once you reach level 3.)
5. If you have most of your hp, take down red buff with Smite. You'll need a potion here.
6. Now you have double buff and all your spells, you can perform dangerous ganks. If there are no opportunities, go back to buy Boots.

Jungle Skill Rotation :

Use Safeguard first before hitting the minions, hit the minions 2 times and use Iron Will. Use Tempest/Cripple next and Sonic Wave/Resonating Strike (on the biggest target if possible) last. You have to take advantage of your . Between each ability, you have to hit your target 2 times, to maximize the buff uptime. Using it, you'll get 40% "permanent" AS.

10/04/11 - Added History and Skill Explanation sections.
13/04/11 - Fixed some code and improved jungle build.
01/06/11 - Changed Masteries/Runes of Jungle build. Revamped the How to act (lane) section since the Wriggle's Lantern changes. Some text arranging.
30/08/11 - Totally revamped the build format and improved masteries/items.
18/02/12 - REVAMPED.