NOTE: THIS IS A GIGANTIC BLOCK OF TEXT. PLEASE DO NOT DOWNVOTE BECAUSE OF THAT!!! Thank you...

WhawhaWHAT!!! Who goes Lifesteal and Spirit Visage... There can't be a Lifesteal Tank. HA!!! You are an idiot...

WRONG!!! Lifesteal Tank is very viable. It doesn't base itself on tank items, but on raw power with lifesteal keeping you alive while your teammates do work. If the other team doesn't concentrate you first, they have problems. Combined with his ultimate, Sion is the ONLY person I have found to make this kind of build work well. Master Yi or Irelia technically could do it, but all of the crowd control would hit someone with almost no health and that isn't good. Because of Enrage, Sion becomes bulky no matter what build you go, as long as you get a lot of last hits. And that is the downfall and the reason people do not believe this could work. If someone who cannot get last hits well goes after this type of build, they will not do well at all. I will try to clear some of the confusion around this.

For the sake of this build's life, (NO TROLLS PLEASE)I will also add a AD Sion build onto this and elaborate on it. The discussion on the AD Sion build will end after the Items sections.

Lifesteal Tank Sion

Pros:
- So unique (I will explain in another section)
- Deadliness causes damage to be focused on you, which is what a tank wants.
- Fun
- A way to tank and have a ton of damage, too
- A great ganker
- Takes advantage of Ultimate and Enrage
- You will feel like a Warwick MageWick using Hungering Strike...

Cons:
- Difficult to play and master
- Last hits on minions are ESSENTIAL
- Everyone will call you a noob...(until they die XD)
- Slightly squishy in beginning
- For long games
- Ranked play will find this less viable (I will also explain this)

AD Sion

Pros

- Can "eat" up the other team (Nom Nom)
- Powerful use of stun and ultimate
- Damage is astounding
- 1 v 1, no one could take you.
- Great carry

Cons:

- Shield is almost useless
- Very farm dependent at times
- Squishy
- Will be taken down FAST

- Cryptic Gaze - Blasts a single enemy, dealing 70 / 125 / 180 / 240 / 300 (+100% of ability power) magic damage and stunning for 2 seconds.

- Personally, I think this is cheap. It does decent damage even without AP and it is a long stun. In 2 seconds, more than just 1 person could die. This is great for starting a team fight or ganking. Stun lock equals death.

- Death's Caress - Sion surrounds himself with a shield which absorbs 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 / 310 (+100% of ability power) damage. If the shield is not destroyed in 10 seconds, it will explode, dealing 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 / 310 (+100% of ability power) magic damage to surrounding enemies.
Cast again after 4 seconds to manually detonate.

- SHIELDZORS!!! Well, this ability is just used to survive that extra second. 310 damage shields don't last long, so it really isn't much else. Better for an AP build, but still good.

- Enrage - Toggle: Increase Sion's damage by 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65, and he gains 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 maximum health per kill.

- ALWAYS keep this on. There is no reason to not have it on. The damage boot is INCREDIBLE and the bonus health is what you will use to tank. Probably the BEST skill in his arsenal of amazingness, not including his long stun.


ULTIMATE -- Cannibalism - Grants Sion 50 / 75 / 100% lifesteal and 50% attack speed for 20 seconds, additionally Sion's attacks heal surrounding allies for 25 / 37.5 / 50% of damage dealt.

- THIS is why I find Lifesteal Tank to only work on Sion, other than Enrage. Used to increase Lifesteal to the most amazing levels. 190% lifesteal with this build and fully stacked Bloodthirsters anyone??? The AoE heal to your team is just a bonus.


PASSIVE -- Feel No Pain - Sion has a 40% chance to ignore up to 30/40/50 damage each time he is attacked. The damage reduction is calculated before armor benefits are taken into account.

- And this is why he can tank. 50 damage ignored when he is attacked, before armor, is great. This can save your life and will activate at the best moments. Best passive for Sion out of all the passives that I can think of...

Lifesteal Tank Sion:

Marks: I find that Armor Penetration is very useful, but armor or magic resist could be put here

Glyphs: I find Mana Regeneration to be useful, but again with the armor and magic resist.

Seals: I find Dodge to be of extra use here. Armor and magic resist are options.

Quintessences: I find Attack Speed to be great. It gives that extra oomph early game to get last hits on minions a little faster. Also helps a little over time. Armor, Magic Resist, and Armor Penetration are options here.

AD Sion:

Marks: Armor Penetration for sure. No questions asked.

Glyphs: Mana Regeneration is great for helping with your very TINY mana pool early game. This way, you can spam your stun more often.

Seals: Dodge is the simple choice here. Go with what suits you, though.

Quintessences: Armor Penetration again here please...

Lifesteal Tank Sion:

0/21/9 is the obvious choice, for Cleanse and Ghost, the damage reduction, extra experience, and extra regeneration. The experience is key. If you don't level fast, you won't be able to kill people as efficiently.

AD Sion:

21/0/9 is also the obvious choice for this.

I find Ghost and Cleanse as the best spells for Sion. Cleanse keeps you from being stunned and slowed while ghost lets you chase/run away from everyone. You could also grab flash if that suits you better then ghost, but I wouldn't go without Cleanse.

Enrage is FIRST. You need it maxed ASAP to help you gain that health that you need to not be as squishy. Stun is second followed by your shield. Get your Ultimate whenever you can. In other words:

R > E > Q > W

Start with a Doran's Blade. It will give nice survivability while also giving damage and slight lifesteal boost to start your lifesteal rampage. From there, I would go on to get Vampiric Scepter for increased lifesteal, then boots for that nice speed boost. Following that, go for a Stark's, using the vampiric scepter you just got. By the time you get that, you will need 2nd tier boots, so get Berzerker's Greaves for increased attack speed, since Sion's attack speed is ungodly SLOW!!! Following that, get a Spirit Visage to make a core of:

Core:

From there, I usually go for max lifesteal that I can get without sacrificing damage. I get 2 vampiric scepters for cheap lifesteal that I will build into Bloodthirsters later. Then, make an Atma's to abuse that health gained by Enrage. Then, make the Bloodthirsters.

If you are lacking any survivability due to crowd control, a couple of these items might help.
- Banshee's Veil - This is amazing for those times when you are constantly focused by stuns and other nasty abilities. Every 30 seconds, a nice little spell shield pops up for you. But, only get it if you really need it.

- Force of Nature - Not only will you increase your magic resist, but you will move faster and heal a lot faster. Now you have 2 ways to regenerate!

- Mercury's Treads - Exchange those Berzerker's Greaves for these bad boys if you need some more survivability than a nice spell shield from Banshee's Veil.

- Guardian Angel - Hey, if you die too early, you can just jump back into the fray with this bad boy. Not only does it give nice armor and magic resist, it adds the revive that, unlike some people, you can use to your advantage. Although you start with low health when you revive with it, it will easily be regenerated with your lifesteal.

- Hexdrinker - Not only does it give some damage and magic resist, it adds a nice shield that pops up when you are about to get owned by some ability. Nice mid-game, but easily overpowered in its use by other items.

FOR MUNDO!!!:

- Executioner's Calling - Not only does it give lifesteal and critical chance, it destroys that pesky Dr. Mundo or even Fiddlesticks. (God I hate it so much when they go against me that I HAD to add this item. It fits quite well.)

AD Sion is no exact science. He could be used as a Critical build or a pure damage build. Either way, it really is a good build.

I usually start with a Long Sword and a Health Potion. This allows for nice damage to get first blood and builds into other items later. Then, I go directly for Boots of Swiftness as Enrage adds decent enough damage in the beginning. Following that, I make the Long Sword into a Madred's Razors, then get a Emblem of Valour, then a Pickaxe, then a Stark's, then Madred's Bloodrazors. The reason I rotate on working on getting both items is that they work out so well in seperate pieces like that, and it is slightly cheaper on you and you don't have to wait as long to go back, making the process smoother. You should end up with:

Core:

This will give you nice survivability while giving yourself decent damage and the ability to decimate tanks. After this, it is situational items. But, if you can, you should at least get an Atma's, as it synergizes so well with your Enrage.

Some situational items are as follows:
- Banshee's Veil - This is amazing for those times when you are constantly focused by stuns and other nasty abilities. Every 30 seconds, a nice little spell shield pops up for you. But, only get it if you really need it.

- Force of Nature - Not only will you increase your magic resist, but you will move faster and heal a lot faster. Now you have 2 ways to regenerate!

- Mercury's Treads - Exchange those Boots of Swiftness for these bad boys if you need some more survivability than a nice spell shield from Banshee's Veil.

- Hexdrinker - Not only does it give some damage and magic resist, it adds a nice shield that pops up when you are about to get owned by some ability. Nice mid-game, but easily overpowered in its use by other items.

FOR MUNDO!!!:

- Executioner's Calling - Not only does it give lifesteal and critical chance, it destroys that pesky Dr. Mundo or even Fiddlesticks. (God I hate it so much when they go against me that I HAD to add this item. It fits quite well.)

NOTE: Yes, I copied out of the Lifesteal Tank Section... I did it because of the explanations will end up being the same anyways. Other than the Guardian Angel. I left that out of this section because I feel that you wouldn't be as vital

This is very unique for a build. I have NEVER seen anyone to try or do this this way but me. I feel that this build could very easily be one of the best builds for Sion if people just figure out it's faults and find ways around it. If this works out well for anyone else, I would love some feedback.

It is funny how much lifesteal can help. Magewick is a different build for Warwick that focuses on getting AP to raise damage of Hungering Strike. With a high amount of AP, a Magewick can heal all of their health back. Well, a Lifesteal Tank is very much the same way with 1 strike. Here is my math.

Have to redo the section as the Spirit Visage change caused the regen to decrease. It should still be over 1.7k for the last number.

Without Enrage:

Without Crits

Total AD: 362.9
Lifesteal without ult or SV: 326.61
Lifesteal without ult and with SV: 375.60
Lifesteal with Ult and without SV: 689.51
Lifesteal with Ult and with SV: 792.94

With Crits

Total AD: 362.9
Lifesteal without ult or SV: 653.22
Lifesteal without ult and with SV: 781.20
Lifesteal with ult and without SV: 1379.02
Lifesteal with ult and with SV: 1585.87

With Enrage:

Without Crits

Total AD: 427.9
Lifesteal without ult or SV: 385.11
Lifesteal without ult and with SV: 442.88
Lifesteal with ult and without SV: 813.01
Lifesteal with ult and with SV: 934.96

With Crits

Total AD: 427.9
Lifesteal without ult or SV: 770.22
Lifesteal without ult and with SV: 885.75
Lifesteal with ult and without SV: 1626.02
Lifesteal with ult and with SV: 1869.92

FARM FARM FARM. Whenever you are not ganking or dead, you must farm. Make sure you get as many last hits as possible. If you don't, you will not have enough health to benefit from atma's at the fullest.

- Stun them first, then blow up your shield in their face. Enough said, it is the Sion rotation.

- If you see a team member in trouble, stun the person that is making that trouble. Don't let anyone die.

- You are a tank... INITIATE. It is important to do that. Who wouldn't be scared, anyway, of a hulking Lifesteal behemoth.

- Watch your health. If you are slightly low, go into the jungle and kill a camp with your shield on. It should heal you up all the way mid to late game.

In ranked, this would not work out well as a lone tank. If you are going to go this way, have someone build a tank as well. That way, if you get underleveled or are focused, your team still has someone to help.

Also, Premade games are a little more organized than solo games. I would NOT recommend this build during that unless you know what you are doing. It would not do well in premade because of the fact of the increasing amount of CC found there. It might be wise to go Mercury Treads in a premade because of this.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful, out-of-the-box, method of building Sion. Please try it and give me your thoughts.

-mobrebel (IGN: IVIoB Rebel)
(OIGN: RealistFreak)

2-22-11 - Added change log.
2-26-11 - Added color to Magewick section to aid readability.
3-27-11 - Updated numbers due to Spirit Visage nerf... (I finally came around to it...)