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Recommended Items
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Ability Order
Glory in Death (PASSIVE)
Sion Passive Ability
Before you dive in...
I'd like to first thank those who have commented on the previous draft, as it has helped develop the guide and myself as well.
Thank you.
The Basics
Now, for starters, let's talk about what I'll be covering in this guide.


Your core item is

Your laning may be hard early game. Before you have


After you buy



Disclaimer: Strategy in fights is not currently covered! Should you need more information on what to buy from there, please consult the "Items" section, or, if you feel you're lost even after reading the guide, please leave me a note in the comment section!
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Unfamiliar Terms:
TL;DR- Too Long, Didn't Read (Summary segment)
AoE- Area of Effect
MR- Magic Resist
HP- Health Points
Pen- Penetration (armor, typically)
Regen- Regeneration
Playstyle- The way you play champions
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TL;DR: This guide is going to go over how to build


Pros:
- Awesome mid-late game
- Doesn't require lots of skill
- Builds damage for a good time
- Plenty of survivability in fights
- Totally Annihilates in 1v2's, 2v3's, and sometimes 1v3's
- Ignores Damage as a passive
Cons:
- Rough early game
- Takes some practice
- Short stun duration
- Hard to chase with
- Lame in-game appearance (to some)
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TL;DR: He's a little hard early, but really easy late.
Here's a quick rundown on how your Runes should look. Remember to watch for the pro tips!
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MARKS:
SEALS:
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GLYPHS:
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QUINTESSENCES:
This is up to you, and these are all the Quintessences I see as viable options on AD
Sion. Remember, Runes are your utility, and can be used for either making you do tons of damage, or better balancing your build. I prefer the balancing options, but if you decide to rush huge damage early on, that's your playstyle, and I can't say it's not good if you can get it to work. However I still emphasize that the viability of this guide is playstyle dependent and therefore requires some general understanding of
Sion to work. Practice makes perfect.
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TL;DR: Attack Speed Marks, Armor Seals, AD-based Quints, and Glyphs will most likely be MR.
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MARKS:
- First Choice: Attack Speed makes for GREAT utility, all the way through the game. It really works with his
Enrage and
Cannibalism.
- Second Choice: Damage. Damage is always good, whether it be scaling or not.
SEALS:
- First Choice: Flat Armor. Better late game.
- Second Choice: Mana Regen can help those who aren't the best with mana throughout the game, if need be. Although I wouldn't recommend it specifically, I must admit that
Sion burns mana very quickly, whether it be early, mid, or late game.
- Third Choice: .5% Max HP stacks decently with his
Enrage, and also gives you a reason to rush
Atma's Impaler second. It's what I personally use, but the pros definitely don't recommend this. Trust me, I got yelled at for it, heh.
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GLYPHS:
- First Choice: Flat Magic Resist. If you're against AP early game, this can help.
- Second Choice: Ability Power. Now, I said wtf at first too. But his
Death's Caress, aka his shield, really scales well with AP. This can really help you early game, and while I wouldn't recommend it being your first choice, if it's what you have it's better than nothing, until you can save for MR runes. However, MR is definitely your best option.
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QUINTESSENCES:
- 1.5% HP is what I have/use. Again, the pros recommend better runes, but if you're stacking huge hp and building primarily tanky items after
Ravenous Hydra, such as
Frozen Mallet,
Atma's Impaler,
Spirit Visage,
Black Cleaver, or any mix of them, then sometimes hp% increases aren't so bad.
- Attack Speed Quints are a great option. Attack speed is great on
Sion, and if you have it in your rune set, all the better.
- Armor Pen can really pay off, considering you're a top, and typically top has tanky champs. Whether your Marks have Armor Pen or not, your Quints can be Armor Pen too.
- Armor Can really help you protect that health.
- MR can be a good option for protecting that health as well.
- Movement Speed is nice, and especially good early game. If you use these and buy a
Phantom Dancer,
Statikk Shiv, or
Zephyr, then you may not even need boots.
- Lifesteal is always a good option on
Sion, if you're just looking for that "boost" in performance.
- Mana Regen and HP Regen are possible Quints that I would NOT recommend (EVER), but are still possible, especially if it's all you have. I would, again, not ever specifically recommend these.
This is up to you, and these are all the Quintessences I see as viable options on AD


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TL;DR: Attack Speed Marks, Armor Seals, AD-based Quints, and Glyphs will most likely be MR.
All masteries are subject to alteration according to personal preference.
If you don't agree with the Mastery up top, here are some possible alternatives:
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Balanced:
I use 15,15,0 for my pages for a good balance of Damage and Defense, as seen below.

This is a "decent" tree for a good balance of offense and defense. I use this one, but I'm not completely educated on the best masteries, so below are some better recommendations from the pros:
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Offense:
For an offensive approach, you could use this 21/9/0 tree:

Here's an alternate 21/9/0 tree:

Defense:
As for a defensive approach, this 9/21/0 tree works for a good balance of defensive stats:

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If this section is not in-depth enough, please mention that in the comments section, as I did not spend very long on this. Thank you!
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TL;DR: Just read the mastery chart and copy it as you see fit.
The typical spells
Flash and
Ignite work on
Sion just fine, with the mention that cleanse/ghost/teleport replace flash quite well. However, here's a little more of an in-depth explanation of what spells do/don't work on
Sion.
Sion, as previously stated, has one escape from one champion. A single target stun (
Cryptic Gaze) isn't a very good escape, leaving you less of a "fight or flight" champion than most. This is where
Flash,
Ghost, and possibly
Exhaust** come in handy.
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My playstyle for
Sion, as you may have noticed, is unlike most. However, I remind you that if you don't take ghost, you'll need some form of gap closer, or cc remover. I pick
Exhaust over
Ghost. In early game initiates, which sometimes happen, it's easier to get their health lower by slowing them down instead of speeding you up, thus granting you more time to exchange before their turret, as well as reducing their damage output, and making them easier to kill if you change your masteries slightly. I'm not saying
Flash or
Ghost are worse, however. Using them as an escape is fine, it's simply my personal preference to pick someone off in a teamfight using
Exhaust, as well as escape if you
Exhaust the right champ. It takes some learning, but I still use
Exhaust. Either way you look at it though, you definitely need some form of escape.
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Teleport or
Ignite work well, depending on your playstyle, or even
Barrier/
Cleanse, by personal preference.
Sion doesn't have many escapes, so you'll most likely want to start playing him with flash or ghost.
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TL;DR: Exhaust can substitute ghost and flash if you know how, and ignite, teleport, and barrier are all good options for a secondary.









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My playstyle for








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TL;DR: Exhaust can substitute ghost and flash if you know how, and ignite, teleport, and barrier are all good options for a secondary.
It's to be noted that you should not select a skill to level up, no matter who you're against, until you're sure what you will need, absolutely sure, or else you can get behind on your farming to
Ravenous Hydra, making laning take a little longer, thus giving them more opportunities to poke you/kill you/gank you.
The point of
Sion's
Enrage is to get huge HP early. Also, on a sidenote, the reason AP
Sion works is because his
Enrage only has to be active at the time of a kill for him to gain HP. It could be a kill made by his shield blowing up, just as long as his
Enrage is toggled on, he'll receive HP. This is fantastic for farmers, especially AD farmers who benefit from the excess damage. Therefore, I always get my
Enrage first. However, it's notable that, if in lane, you're against a champ with a lot of poke at level 1, such as
Jayce, I recommend you get your
Cryptic Gaze first to play it safe.
His
Death's Caress has a little more priority than his
Cryptic Gaze, in my opinion, if not slightly more. Farming also has a great impact on which skill you're getting, but again, his
Enrage is always a great rush. Now, as for his
Death's Caress, this ability is a shield, and it can damage nearby enemies if deployed correctly. What more could you want?
You could want a stun.
Death's Caress is a good second level-up for if you're not having too much trouble at level 1, if you got your
Enrage first. However, if you know they're poking really hard, chasing a lot, or if they just plain have the upper hand at level 2, you might want to level your
Cryptic Gaze second. "Why would I need a stun at level 2?" Escapes. We all know
Master Yi enjoys his
Alpha Strike. We all know that there's going to be a
Singed with
Exhaust and
Ghost, who gets his
Mega Adhesive at level 2, therefore you have a stun to escape with should you need it. Now, as for level 3, If you're not having too much trouble still, I recommend getting a point in your
Enrage again.
"Wait, isn't
Cryptic Gaze/
Death's Caress more useful?" Early game? Sure. But here's the thing about
Sion. You're not going to dominate your opponents at level 3. I don't care if you've perfectly last hit every minion and gotten first blood. Unless you have
Ravenous Hydra,
Cannibalism, or at least
Tiamat, DO NOT ENGAGE. Your
Enrage is for farming, and what do you want to do early? Farm. Poking isn't needed. Pushing is fine if you're prepared for a face full of jungler, and for those who level their
Cryptic Gaze early and get
Ghost. But for the purpose of this guide, I'm going to advise against initiating at level 3. I'd say, sure, get all your 3 abilities at level 3, but I personally wouldn't. They're really not useful enough for an AD champ at that level in the game. (Maybe that's just me, but take whatever you want out of this guide.) At level 4, I have 2 on
Enrage, and 1
Cryptic Gaze and 1
Death's Caress. This seems to work quite well, and is almost always a 100% must, whether you leveled your
Enrage or not as your third level. Overall, remember to prioritize
Enrage, then
Death's Caress, then
Cryptic Gaze.
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TL;DR: E->W->E->Q works well if you're not having laning issues, otherwise, Q->W->E for very pokey champs, Q->E->W->E for mildly pokey champs, E->Q->W->E if you're having an OK laning phase.

The point of








His




You could want a stun.










"Wait, isn't
















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TL;DR: E->W->E->Q works well if you're not having laning issues, otherwise, Q->W->E for very pokey champs, Q->E->W->E for mildly pokey champs, E->Q->W->E if you're having an OK laning phase.
Yes, we've all seen it. There's always a time when you're stuck 2v1 at top because the enemy team decided not to have a jungler. The good thing is, their late game is gonna suck. The bad thing? Your early game already sucks, and now you're 2v1 of all things. In this situation, I wouldn't even consider getting my













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TL;DR: Dang it I'm 2v1 top, time to go W->Q->W->E or somethin'.


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TL;DR: His ult can heal close and you've got tons of damage. Just run in and stun whoever you well please if you're too lazy to read that.^
This is going to be long, as many items work on Sion. I have mentioned some that are not the best, but in certain situations are godlike. Should you feel these items are sub-par or not viable, or that I am missing any, please feel free to mention so, explaining why, in the comments section.
Starter Kits
Starter Kit A: For those who really need to lane for the longest time possible, with high sustainability but less utility early game besides a longer lane phase. Has it's pros and cons.
Starter Kit B:








Starter kit C: A risky option, not recommended by pros, for those who are somewhat confident in their abilities and need to get that health back from having your

Starter Kit D: For really defensive

Alternate Starter Kit D: This is a fine option for if you're comfortable using


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Main
Core:
Sion needs a good farm, as well as a decent sustain, and a high damage output.
Build Order:






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Semi-Situational
Offense/movement:
Sion will have trouble chasing foes, this is a given. He will also need damage and lifesteal.












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Defense/escapes:
Sion is, again, a low-escape champion. If you're going to go without flash or ghost, you're going to want one of these.







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Boots: I recommend





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Other Useful Items
Notable Mentions:
Ah, the part I long dreaded. Time to explain the partial validity of certain items.










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Worthy Buys
Useful Consumables: These are all pretty self explanatory. Buy them as you need them. I prefer






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Item Sequence

Berserker's Greaves
1100

Phantom Dancer
2650

Ravenous Hydra
3300

Atma's Impaler
2300

Bloodthirster
3400

Last Whisper
1450
Example Build is merely to provide you with an idea of what you can do with your build.
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By request
Should you feel that this guide is insufficient, Logarithm recommends that you build 5 of
EDIT: Logarithm now also recommends

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TL;DR: Get some attack speed, damage, and crits/lifesteal/armor pen as you see fit, along with whatever survivability you choose.
Build damage and some lifesteal. As long as you've got
Ravenous Hydra, the rest of your build is situational, making him really fun to play around with. Enjoy my
Sion guide, and please feel free to leave feedback. I'd love to improve my guide in any and all ways possible, but I ask that you please do some testing first. Thank you!~<3


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