Hello Summoners!

Welcome to my in-depth guide on Lee Sin, the Blind Monk. This guide is made to improve your performance when playing Lee Sin. This guide will be running through all the details about runes, masteries, summoner spells, items and abilities, but it will also cover more advanced stuff like different skill sequences and mechanics later on.

Ever since Lee Sin was released, I have like many others played him and loved him. He is an overall satisfying champion to play, because both his visual as well as his gameplay design is so well constructed. I personally think that the major reason Lee Sin is such a popular champion, is because he can be played in so many different ways, because of his very versatile kit.

As most of the experienced players probably know, Lee Sin was released April 1st 2011 (he had his own April fools champion spotlight). But what fewer knows is that he was among the first 10 champions in riots early development. This also explains why he seems to be so well designed and popular.

---

Just a quick note: This is my first guide, and i would really appreciate some constructive feedback ^^ | Xaque

SPACESPACE

Pros: + Mobile and versatile + strong throughout all phases of the game + Strong ganks + Big amount of natural sustain + Can be played in many different ways

SPACESPACESPACESPACE

Cons: - Have some hard lane counters - Has a hard time against heavy CC teams - Very hard to master! - Falls off late game - You always need something to jump on

SPACESPACE

---

SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPA

- Flurry:
"After using an ability, Lee Sin's next 2 basic attacks within 3 seconds gain 40% attack speed and return 15 energy each."


- Tips and tricks:
- Use one ability -> 2 basic attacks -> another ability -> 2 basic attacks etc, to maintain constant 40% attack speed bonus. This is especially useful when jungling.

---

SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPA

- Sonic Wave:
"ACTIVE: Lee Sin shoots a wave of sound in a line, dealing physical damage to the first enemy it hits and revealing the enemy for 3 seconds. If Sonic Wave hits, Lee Sin can cast Resonating Strike within the next 3 seconds."

- Resonating Strike:
"ACTIVE: Lee Sin dashes to the enemy revealed by Sonic Wave, dealing physical damage including 8% of the target's missing health. Minions and monsters take a maximum of 400 damage."

- Tips and tricks:
- Obviously, useful as an initiation ability, as it has pretty nice gap closing.
- Also very useful as an escape. Enemy minions/jungle creeps nearby? Q to them. Or maybe a low enemy champion who can possibly both grant you a kill and be your escape ticket.
- Try using it in combination with Dragon's Rage. You can either 1) Q a target, kick it away and jump to the location where the target lands, or 2) Kick target away, Q to target. In most cases option 1 will be the most effective.
- When you hit a target with Sonic Wave, try dealing as much damage to the target as possible before using Resonating Strike, as it deals damage depending on your target's missing health.

---

SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPA

- Safeguard:
"ACTIVE: Lee Sin dashes to target ally, he and the target each gaining a shield that absorbs a certain amount of damage. Each shield dissipates after 5 seconds if not already destroyed. Lee Sin can cast Iron Will within 3 seconds of using Safeguard."

- Iron WIll:
"ACTIVE: For 5 seconds, Lee Sin gains bonus life steal and spell vamp."

- Tips and tricks
- Always use safeguard to either 1) Jump to something, 2) Shield a teammate or 3) Make Iron Will available for the sustain.
- Use Iron Will to effectively sustain yourself.
- Try engaging by jumping onto friendly minion, when the enemy goes forward to get CS. You will now be able to land a quick Tempest -> Cripple, along with at least one or two basic attacks (depends if they flash/jump), due to the attack speed bonus from Flurry

---

SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPA

- Tempest:
"ACTIVE: Lee Sin smashes the ground, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies and revealing them for 4 seconds. If Tempest hits an enemy, Lee Sin can cast Cripple within the next 3 seconds."

- Cripple:
"ACTIVE: Lee Sin cripples all enemies revealed by Tempest reducing their movement and attack speed. The movement and attack speed recover over 4 seconds."

- Tips and tricks
- Tempest deals a nice amount of damage and it has a fairly low cooldown, which is why this should always be the ability you level first.
- Try to use the slow from Cripple early, since the slow can make a big difference and it has a fairly short range.

---

SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPA

- Dragon's Rage:
"ACTIVE: Lee Sin launches a powerful roundhouse kick, dealing physical damage to a target champion and knocking it back 1200 units over 1 second. Enemies the target collides with take the same damage and are knocked airborne for 1 second."

- Tips and tricks
- You can both use this ability to engage and disengage. Sometimes you need the damage to secure kills, but sometimes you might also wanna kick somebody away from the teamfight (ex: Amumu, Shen, Trundle). This might save your AD carry a couple of times.
- As mentioned earlier, it has great synergy with Sonic Wave and Resonating Strike.
- You can hit multiple enemies with one kick. This is very useful both when engaging and disengaging.
- You can hit target with Sonic Wave -> Dragon's Rage target over wall -> Resonating Strike to targets landing location.

---

---

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed - Movement speed Quintessences for increased overall versatility. This a common Quintessence used by junglers, which will really come in handy from time to time.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - Magic resist Glyphs for mid/lategame survivability vs. AP. This is not a must, but it is very useful against teams with a fair amount of magic damage.

Greater Seal of Armor - Armor Seals for better survivability in jungle, and for safer ganks, maybe even tower dives.

Greater Mark of Attack Damage - Attack damage Marks for increased clear speed, and stronger ganks.

---

Important specs:


Runic Affinity - This gives you a potential to do more succesfull ganks in early/mid game as Red and Blue buffs are easier utilized.


Wanderer - Increased movement speed when out of combat. That sounds perfect for a jungler, doesn't it?


Bladed Armor - Pretty much a must have for junglers, since it can really save a lot of auto's.


Hardiness - In combination with the Greater Seal of Armor's, this will prevent you from loosing a lot of HP, resulting in better success rate when it comes to ganks.


Weapon Expertise - Since the launch of Season 3, armor penetration has been very effective vs. champions.

SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESPACESP

---

Smite - Always, when Jungling. - No Alternatives. Flash - Well, it's Flash. - Most useful summoner spell in League of Legends in general.

SPACESPACESPACESPACE

Exhaust - The offensive alternative to Flash. - Stronger ganks. Ignite - Meh. - Only when laning.

---

---

This is my example build. Some might find it a bit too offensive, but it fits my play style, and i like it. But i want to talk more detailed about building as Lee Sin.

- Starting Items
As things look right now, you should always start off with Hunter's Machete and 5 Health Potion. Pretty much it.


- Finished Items
The first thing you should consider before purchasing any items, should be "what role should i fill in this team?" Lee Sin can be played countless ways and fill many different roles. Therefore he has a very wide variety of strong viable items. I'll give some examples:


Offensive build

Spirit of the Elder Lizard
- Feeling Korean?
- Nice damage from passive, but personally i prefer Wriggle's Lantern.

The Brutalizer -> Black Cleaver
- Very nice and cost efficient early game item.
- Gives nice damage.
- Works well against armor oriented champions (ex: Rammus, Malphite).

Last Whisper
- Strongest armor penetration item. A little bit more expensive than The Brutalizer though.
- Cost efficient.
- Works well in combination with Blade of the Ruined King.

Bilgewater Cutlass -> Blade of the Ruined King
- Bilgewater Cutlass gives nice early game sustain, as well as a very useful active when it comes to ganking.
- Blade of the Ruined King is way more cost efficient than Bloodthirster. That is the reason i do not include it in here. In my opinion Blade of the Ruined King is always better to get on Lee Sin than Bloodthirster.

Wriggle's Lantern
- Nice early game sustain.
- Increased clear speed.
- Personally i prefer this over the Spirit Stone-items.

---

Defensive build

Locket of the Iron Solari
- Strong, cost efficient early game item with useful active.
- Health is The stat in season 3.

Sunfire Aegis
- Pretty useful passive.
- Again: Health is The stat in season 3.

Quicksilver Sash -> Mercurial Scimitar
- Does the enemy team have any suppress champions?
- Does the enemy have lots of CC?
- It is very cost efficient to buy Quicksilver Sash, then finish then rest of your build. The attack damage you get from Mercurial Scimitar is quiet expensive. You pay 2150g just for the +60 attack damage.

Randuin's Omen
- Active works great in many situations.
- Nice and cost efficient stats.
- Old School!

Hexdrinker
- Enemy team contains lost of magic damage.
- That's pretty much it.

---

Boots

Mobility Boots
- If you get a good start, and feel like ganking a lot.
- Think before purchasing this. Do they have lots of CC? If yes you should try considering
Mercury's Treads as an alternative.

Ninja Tabi
- If the enemy team contains lots of physical damage and/or lots of basic attack reliant champions.
- Also effective in the jungle

Mercury's Treads
- Do the enemy team have lots of CC?
- Do the enemy team have lots of magic damage?

This chapter will be filled with awesome stuff, which will come soon.