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Lee Sin Build Guide by Dumnkopf

Lee Sin - The Legendary Monk

Lee Sin - The Legendary Monk

Updated on April 11, 2012
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Dumnkopf Build Guide By Dumnkopf 10 2 52,851 Views 16 Comments
10 2 52,851 Views 16 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Dumnkopf Lee Sin Build Guide By Dumnkopf Updated on April 11, 2012
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Lee Sin
  • LoL Champion: Lee Sin
  • LoL Champion: Lee Sin

Introduction

Hello and welcome on my Lee Sin build. Many of you maybe think Lee Sin is easy to play but he isn't. If you are one of those guys who miss skillshots pretty often then Lee Sin isn't champ for you. With this champ you have to think quick and smart and if you do you will pretty much own :D
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Pros / Cons

Pros
Great chaser
Almost impossible to chase lee sin 1v1
His Tempest / Cripple is an anticarry ability
Great nuker
Can 1v1 almost every champion with some exceptions
Good farmer
Cons
Focused a lot in teamfights and in lane
Pretty squishy until you have your Frozen Mallet, Warmog's Armor or any defensive item in general
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Masteries

Nothing much to say typicall offensive masteries in my 1st build and typical tanky masteries in my 2nd build. My 3rd masteries are almost identical to the offensive ones except that I get improved Smite and because I don't take Exhaust I have one free point so I take Butcher for harder hitting those damn minions and monsters.

DPS masteriesTanky masteriesJungle masteries
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Runes

Marks : typical marks on almost every AD imo best.
Seals : this is my personal preference because I like some at. speed on Lee Sin early because I rush PD after mallet so I pretty much lack at. speed early.
Glyphs : this is I think MUST HAVE glyphs on Lee Sin because you will want to spam your spells A LOT this will make it easier for you.
Quintessences : like my marks typical for AD.
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Summoner Spells

Flash : I use this on almost every champ because it has so many uses in chasing or while runing away from enemy.
Exhaust : I take this because this makes Lee Sin rape even more in 1v1. It will help you a ton against every AD based champion or every fleeing champion except that freaking Master Yi with his pu*sy *** spell Highlander.

Good
Ignite : I would take this instead of exhaust when I see in ranked Dr. Mundo or Swain against me or if you don't like exhaust feel free to take Ignite.
Ghost : Decent alternative of flash, if you are flash hater take this :D
Heal : Actually pretty viable spell mostly when you want to go more tanky Lee Sin


Bad
Clarity : You are runnig oom with Lee Sin ? ehrmm
Revive : Just no.
Rally : Removed from League of Legends. R.I.P. troll spell
Clairvoyance : Leave this to support
Surge : Even that attack speed from this could be handy you won't be able to utilize AP which you get with it to maximal potential.
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Abilities

Flurry :Your passive which makes Lee Sin autoattcks pretty quick and refunds 15 energy on two hits so spamming your abilities will be even more easier. This is essential for you to be able to jungle. You need to use it at it's full potential if you want to jungle fast and effectively. For that reason don't spam abilities like hell. Activate one then wait for 2 autoattacks then another one and another waiting etc.

: Lee Sin's bread and butter through whole game this is your main dmg resource also if you miss your skillshot you won't obviously do dmg and you won't be able to cast resonating strike so be sure to not miss your sonic wave. Also it rvelas stealth champions.

: How I love this ability, because of that GTFO effect from it. Ashe is chasing you and spamming her slow on you ? np just find friendly minion and GTFO. I can't count how many times saved my ***. I usually don't use this in fight because you need your energy on your and . I am saving this until i have low HP and needs to retreat or when I have to chase someone. But it gives some nice stats so feel free to use it in fights. It just happened to me too many times I died when I had my on cooldown.

: Your beloved chasing and AoE dmg dealing tool. You are fighting master with 1.901 attack speed ? Just cripple him and he will do **** :D. This ability reveals stealth champions aswell.

: Well.. this is it your ultimate with so many uses that you won't remember them all :D. Trynda is chasing you ? Just knock him back and run away or kata started her ulti in middle of your team ? just knock her somewhere where her ulti will be useless or you need to ks some kill rly quickly ? xD just kick that target.
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Items

I start with and because I want to rush Phage ASAP then in most cases I take Ionian Boots of Lucidity then finishing Frozen Mallet then i get Phantom Dancer which will boost your at. speed and you will be realy deadly then Trinity Force because as I said you will want to spam your abilities as much as you can so triforce is very good choice. Now you have nice durability but you are starting to lack damage, rushing Bloodthirster will remove those trubles and will give you some nice lifesteal also most of games typically end at this time if not buy Infinity Edge whhich will massively increase your dmg output also it's unique passive is cool
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Situational Items

Warmog's Armor + Atma's Impaler : If your team lacks high HP dmg dealers or you think you die pretty much in every teamfight you can consider buying this two items.

Thornmail : If you are against heavy AD team you can pretty much Fu*k them up buying this item.

Banshee's Veil : When you think you stilll lack some durability you can buy banshee's.

Zeke's Harbinger : It's nice to have one fervor in team because it gives pretty nice boost to everybody in your team.

Force of Nature : You are against LeBLanc who has 600 AP and insta kills you every time you fight her ? buy FoN.

Last Whisper : Enemies are stacking armor ? Solve that by Last whisper.

Mercury's Treads : Quite good boots on Lee Sin, reduced CC is always nice.

Berserker's Greaves : It synergises well with your passive, so feel free to take these boots.

Doran's Blade : This situational items is considered only as starting one. You shouldn't buy it when it's not your starting item if you aren't literally getting pounded in your lane. It's not needed for Lee Sin as starting item but it is more comfortable. I actually buy this quite often because when I play I get tough lane so I don't wan to risk with Long Sword
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Laning

Laning is wonderful for Lee Sin. If played well he can easily dominate lane against almost everybody. Your harras is undeniable if you have good aim with your Q. You need to learn your QW combo. Almost every. Lee Sin player know QEW combo. You just dash in there hit your E and dash back. What most don't know or i just don't see them doing it is QW combo. You dash in there quickly and as quickly you dash to your minion or champion back to safety. There is no way they can possibly react with succesful harras or even attempt to kill you. Also while you are playing Lee Sin the key to master him is: BE EXTREMELY AGGRESIVE. If you will follow these 3 simple words enemies in your lane will drop like pieces of paper and they will QQ for nerfing Lee Sin but Lee Sin isn't op at all while in lane. The only OP Lee Sin is...
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Jungle Lee Sin

In laning I said it's wonderful for Lee Sin so you may ask Why the heck would I jungle him ? The only reason for that is jungle Lee Sin is OP get it xD ? It isn't exactly jungle what is OP on Lee Sin. It's ganking. Lee Sin' ganks are fearsome deadly and easy if you again have good aim. Lee Sin's Jungle speed is pretty good. You can clear jungle fast and gank quickly. Also if you start at blue golem you can do fast lvl 2 gank which almost always head to first blood. But you don't have to start at blue since you don't really need it. You can start at wraits, red buff or double golems aswell
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Your enemies

In this section I will try to tell you about every champion in game and if Lee Sin can beat him or not. For now this is solo top guide. I will add jungle build and tips later but for now in this section i will stay at relevant solo top enemies.

Medium matchup


Akali can be pain in the *** as she can deal a lot of damage in late game. But you are some of the best counters to her with your stealth revealing spells and so when you don't get caught and play smart you can beat her easily. WARNING ! DO NOT APPROACH FED AKALI ! SHE WILL DESTROY YOU IF YOU ARE NOT TANKY !


Medium-hard matchup


It depends on skill of Lee Sin if he can beat Cho'Gath. He is very strong solo toper through his insane sustain thanks to Carnivore. Thankfully you can outdamage his passive. It has one big but...You CAN but if you're facing skilled Cho'Gath he can deny your damage by knocking you with his Rupture or silencing you with Feral Scream. Also after he hit 6. level he can kill you as good as you can so be careful.


Medium matchup


Ugh.....prepare for boring lane. If is Galio you're facing smart he will play passively whole laning phase escept harrasing you with his Q Resolute Smite. That is also spell which I often see Galio players to max so it does hurt when he aims it well. But I have never ever in my life seen Galio who managed to nuke me or burst me down alone if I didn't do stupid mistake so I think your laning against him should be safe. Although i would highly recommend you to go Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions as his harras is really annoying.

Medium matchup


First of all... DO NOT LET HIM FARM ! I REPEAT DO NOT LET HIM FARM !. Also go Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions because when he realise he won't be able to farm when you are on lane (if you managed to do this) he will try to harras you with his Parrrley. If you will stack armor against him on lane he won't be able to kill you so there is when fun start. Snowball on him like a baws. Keep him unfarmed because farmed Gangplank can destroy you in late game.

Hard matchup


When you get first on lane he isn't much of a threat but once he recalls and returns back with Boots of Swiftness and Giant's Belt there comes the madness. Insane damage through Judgment and Decesive Strike, insane armor and magic ressist through his Courage and insane HP through items he bought. Don't feed him, farm, don't trade with him, call for a gank and play carefully. End of science.

Hard matchup


Better nerf Irelia. Most famous sentence in the world of League of Legends. Riot actually is going to nerf her in Lulu patch but she will still be pain in the *** because of her true damage. Her biggest weakness is early game so abuse it. Harras the **** out of her. Once she hit level 6 she has so much sustain it's not even worth harrasing her. You will just get caught by her Equilibrium Strike and get some real punches with her Hiten Style. Tell your jungler to gank her a lot because farmed Irelia can win game by herself.

Easy-medium matchup


Finally lane that can be fairly easy if you play right. Don't underestimate him he can deal some damage. But you are one of the few champion that can dash/flash out of his Cataclysm without wasting Flash. Be aware you need friendly champion, minion, ward, Noxious Trap or Jack In The Box to do that with your or if you have this option you can dash throught enemy with to safety instead. Sadly he is pretty hard to gank because of his Dragon Strike Demacian Standard combo.

Medium-hard matchup


I would highly recommend to go Boots and 3 Health Potions because you want to dodge his Thundering Shuriken all day all night. When he activates his Slicing Maelstrom then run. Don't fight him in his Slicing Maelstrom. Dragon's Rage him to the hell with it if necesarry. As Hard matchup are marked only skilled Kennen players. If he can't land most skillshots then he is Medium matchup. And if is Kennen against you terrible then mark him as Easy matchup if he really suck so badly xD

Medium matchup


This guy can be annoying when played well. Thankfully when he literally spams abilities on you he will run out of mana almost immedietaly. But because of his passive Granite Shield your harras will be next to waste of time if not done correctly. You can't just dash on him, break his passive and dash back simply because after 10 seconds he will have his passive back on. So instead of bursts I would recommend doing consistent damage to him. If you are afraid of his early damage then grab Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions.

Hard matchup


There is one thing everybody knows about Mordekaiser. His early game sucks big *** so only chance how turn this Hard matchup into Medium matchup is killing him few times or keeping him absolutely without farm in early game. Once he bought his Hextech Revolver he will harras you and farm for free because of the sustain that Hextech Revolver gives. If you thought laning phase is the worst thing on Mordekaiser then you are WRONG. Mordekaiser is absolute beast in late game. He will crush you, destroy you, rape you, make you QQ and laugh at your dead body when he walks from 1v1 against you with full HP.

Medium matchup


Sigh...What should I say ? It's simple. If you are laning against smart Morgana on solo then you won't kill sh*t and she won't kill sh*t. Because smart Morgana will just hit those damn caster minions in each wave with her Tormented Shadow and happily laugh as gold keeps coming to her. Boring lane. For once you can happily creep too . Only thing to be afraind of is her jungler so dodge every Dark Binding that she aims at you and have your Flash ready.

Easy matchup


His early game relies on stacking his Siphoning Strike in order to deal damage in late game. And also his early game is quite bad so harras him harras him and harras him. Eventually kill him few times. But be aware of ganks because his Wither will slow your movement speed down to almost 0. If you will deny his stacking he will be crippled for whole game so remember to keep him from minions as long as you can.

Medium matchup


Now you may think WTF ? Nidalee on solo ? No I am not trolling you. For those who have seen some HotshotGG's games and streams it's not new thing that Nidalee can rock on solo. But only smart and skilled one can be marked as medium for Lee Sin and why ? Because smart Nidalee will adapt her skill sequence to which champion she faces and how he plays. So if she see you playing aggresively she will max her heal and will survive on the lane pretty safely. But if she see you playing passively almost ingoring her in lane she will maybe max her feared Javelin Toss/Takedown which does ZOMG damage when maxed. After she hits level 6 she has some pottential to chase you down and kill you so be careful. But since you are Lee Sin when you hit level 6 you have even more killing potential that she has.

Easy-medium matchup


He is seen in jungle much more then on solo but you can face him. Ranking of this matchup depends only on what does that guy against you max firstif he maxes his Reckless Swing then it's medium and i would recommend to not trade with him. Reason for that is smart Olaf who maxes Reckless Swing will throw it at you, deal 1851221739272396237 damage, throw his Undertow and run away. Why ? Since he maxes his Reckless Swing then it's logically his only damage output except autoattacks and since you have your beloved and we are talking about smart Olaf from the beginning he will know that so he won't try to trade with you with autoattacks. Final thought is don't approach smart Olaf who maxes Reckless Swing he will literally burst you down. If he maxes something else otherwise he will not be able to deal much damage so you can possibly trade with him. Last thing buy Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions against this guy.

Medium matchup


If you lane against Pantheon I wouldn't recommend any other item to buy than Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions. Simply because of that he will try to harras the sh*t out of you until he burns all of his mana. Happily if he spams his Spear Shot often he will run out of mana really quickly but trust me until his mana burns you rally need those potions. If he doesn't max Spear Shot and he maxes his Heartseeker Strike then prepare to feel real pain when he stuns you. Maxed Heartseeker Strike hurts really really bad. Play defensively and buy some armor against him on lane if you will do that he will not be able to kill you.

Hard matchup


Now this guy is the toughest one of all. Great last hitting great damage and great sustain. All through single spell Cull the Meek. His early game shines as much as Garen's does. Maybe even more. It's near to impossible to kill him when you are playing Lee Sin. Like it's not bad enough thanks to his Slice and Dice he is almost ungankable and even if you manage to set up gank on him he still can run away thanks to that Slice and Dice. Also do not underestimate his HP after he hits level 6 he has more HP than you see. If you somehow drop him to 1/4 of HP and you still have 1/2 of your HP do not chase him if he has his Dominus. The fight will end up him chasing you. I would recommend not to lane against him and if you have to then get Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions.

Medium-hard matchup


She can be really toguh in lane. She has high mobility so does Lee Sin. She has high damage so does Lee Sin. She has shield so does Lee Sin but her shield scales with attack damage so it's more useful in some ways than Safeguard/Iron Will. Riven has some upper hand on Lee Sin with her ultimate Blade of the Exile which gives her a LOT attack damage. And gives her the ability to finish you off with Wind Slash which works in the same way as Demacian Justice does. I would recommend to take Doran's Shiled against her. You don't really need any Health Potions against her because if you are careful she won't have any oppurtunity to harras you as her gap closers are pretty short so you can dash to safety if needed. Also the 120 HP from Doran's Shiled is always handy.

Medium matchup


Do you remember Rumble pre nerf ? He was such an OP beast. You bilt Rylai's Crystal Scepter and you were fine for whole game with that 80 AP it gives and you were just owning everybody. After they nerfed him he is still very strong solo top champion. You need to learn to avoid his Flamespitter because it's his highest damage ability. Only thing he needs to do is spam it and grill you alive. But he has his weaknesses. He is not very durable in the laning phase before he buys some HP so use it against him. I think Boots and 3 Health Potions will be best. Cloth Armor won't help yousimply because all of his damage is magic and you still need some Health Potions becase his harras hurts a lot. Also Boots will help you avoid his Flamespitter.

Medium matchup


You can beat him but when he gets some good armor you're screwed. Try to kill him as early as possible and focus on farming later on. Watch for ganks since his Shadow Dash with jungler help can be easy kill. If you got some lead on him by early gank or fist blood there is potential of zoning him even later on. Also when he tries to teleport with his Stand United kick him with Dragon's Rage to prevent the teleport.

Medium matchup


This matchup is a farm war. Zone him early and punish his weak early game as he will punish you and your team with his great late game. Don't let him Fling you as there can be their jungler waiting just for that. Very important thing that everybody should know already. DO NOT CHASE Singed!.

Easy-medium matchup


Difficuilty of this matchup depends on if it's AP Sion or AD Sion. AP one has high burst so be aware of that and be sure to pop his shiled whenever he activates it to cripple his damage. Good news for you is that when he spams his Cryptic Gaze on you he will run out of mana. AD Sion has weaker early game but absolutely brutally OP late game. This guy in late game with items can solo your whole team if csed well. Don't let him farm early but be aware of his attacks because of his Enrage they hurt a lot.

Medium-hard matchup


Much more seen on mid but he can solo with ease too. He has weak early game and you MUST take advantage of that because once he hits lvl 6 he will be extremely hard to kill and you won't be able to push him out of lane. Don't even try to trade with him after level 6. Even if you somehow manage to win the trade he will het his hp back in blink of an eye with his Ravenous Flock.
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Videos

In this section i will show you some videos of me playing Lee Sin showing some tactics, luck and fun stuff :D
/league-of-legends/champion/olaf-53 /league-of-legends/champion/olaf-53 /league-of-legends/champion/olaf-53 combo with few autoattacks then I just waited for cooldown on my and finished him off.

You can ignore the voice in the background. It's one of my friends talking about some irrelevant sh*t :D
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Good Lane Partners

Lee Sin is good with everybody on his lane but those who really shines are:

Supports

Janna : Great support champ she has knock up, slow, shield which absorbs damage and increase your attack damage and of course her life saving healing ultimate.
Taric : Heal, stun and aura. What else do you want ?
Sona : True definition of support. Heal, movement speed boost, spell increasing attack damage and AP, aura's and AoE stun.
Nidalee : Overall good lane partner for Lee Sin her heal will boost your passive even more and her javelin even if played as support can really hurt.

Carry's

Caitlyn : Her range, high damage but most importantly TRAPS TRAPS OMFG.
Twitch : His brutal damage, slow and his finishing Expunge makes him great lane partner.
Ashe : Slow and global ulti with stun, with that you will get some easy kills.
Vayne : Stun, high damage +true damage and also fact that nobody can escape her.

Tanks

Rammus : You will love his OP taunt while laning with him.
Singed : Extreme AoE slow and his Fling are just awesome.

I would give more examples of good partners but Lee Sin is truly good with everybody. You are laning with Riven ? Good she will stun your target and you will aim your Q more easily. You lane with Soraka ? Good she will heal every harras done on you by your enemies. And I could countinue from champions on A such as Akali to Z Zilean. And I could say at least one good reason about laning with that champion.
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The End

Looks like you red through my guide to end. I hope you liked my playstyle of Lee Sin please leave me comment and try before voting.
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