Hey guys its Ninja here, I'm coming to you with my favorite support pick that no one sees coming, Support Sion. Now I know what your thinking "He's a top laner!" but what does a support do? Well supports generally provide decent CC (Crowd Control (Snare, Stun, Knockup, Etc.)), good peel for the carries, and good engage or utility. Well Sion happens to do all of those things and more! Read through the guide and if you aren't convinced by the end, or have any questions please leave them in the comments! Also any feedback towards the Guide as a whole would be great! So now I give you my support Sion guide! I worked quite hard to get this out to you, and I would very much appreciate you taking the time to test the build/guide before you downvote, or question the build extensively. It works and it works well! Thank you for your time.

Pros + Incredibly Tanky + A LOT of Crowd Control + Really high base damage + Can carry lane if need be. + Great Diver Glory in Death + Utility Ultimate Unstoppable Onslaught + Good poke with Roar of the Slayer Sion offers a dominant lane presence using a massive amount of CC to lock your targets down, while still dealing a massive amount of damage. You get good poke in with your E Roar of the Slayer and you have a massive distance as long as you hit a minion; which doubles your range. You can easily proc Courage of the Colossus with your Q Decimating Smash giving you a good shield which you can combo together with Soul Furnace that way you can tank all the damages! Ultimate is an AOE stun that you can stop at whim, or you can just run it down mid. Your passive keeps your relevant in trades even if you die, as you reanimate and continue to do damage or kill secure. Lastly, Sion translates well into late game as Soul Furnace's passive allows you to just get tankier and tankier.

Cons - Requires aggressive behavior - Predictable CC - Immobile with now escapes - Can be punished by ranged supports - No sustain - Ultimate easily dodged Honestly, there are very little cons to Sion that you can't work around. Yes, his CC is predictable, however if you get in a bush and surprise them... You are very slow, and you have no escapes, but you are very tanky. You can be punished by ranged supports but if you position correctly you can trade back effectively. The big cons are that it requires a very aggressive lane from yourself and your lane partner, but if your ADC doesn't step up you can honestly take the kills and just roam; plus you have no sustain at all, if you get hit for 90% of your health you need to back.

• Greater Quintessence of Armor: Since you are using Greater Seal of Scaling Health seals to give you a bigger health pool, we need to get some armor to help mitigate the ADCs AD. This also gives you more armor than you would have gotten from seals, and makes it easy to trade and hard to die in lane.
  
• Greater Mark of Lethality: Lethality is a stat that helps shred through base/runes/masteries armor, allowing your high base damage inflict more pain on this pain train to the nexus CHOO CHOO MOTHA-! Oh sorry got a little carried away.
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Health: Scaling health I've learned is a great stat to slot into any tank's rune page. It allows you to gain a significant amount of health at level 18 (215.5 HP) and at level 7 you have 10 more HP than if you used flat seals. This also means by level 8 you have a pretty significant amount of extra life than the enemy AD or Sup.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Honestly mage supports are all the rage right now, and while I don't like running much MR in my rune page (as I prefer more CDR) this will help you resist against poke from mage supports.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction: CDR is a 100% a player preference thing, at level 18 it's about 10% CDR with scaling, and most of your build isn't going to include CDR. You can honestly just put in more MR if you would prefer.

So I wanted to go ahead and get the Keystone out of the way, because it's possible that it may change shortly. I believe that Sion abuses Courage of the Colossus as his Decimating Smash is an AOE knock up, and his Unstoppable Onslaught is an AOE stun; both of these proc the keystone. Since you are usually in the center of the fight laying down as much CC as possible, peeling, and just generally doing tank things the whole "Gain a shield for 3 - 54 (based on level) (+ 5% maximum health) per nearby enemy champion" means it scales well for Sion. I will be doing testing with the new Bond Of Stone Rework coming on patch 7.6/7.7 as it reads ""Gain 5% total health. Your crowd control effects brand enemy champions with an earthen rune for 4 seconds. Other ally champions who attack branded enemies heal for 5 + 2.5% of your maximum health over 2 seconds (halved if you are ranged)."

Once you win your lane, you will be roaming quite a lot! This mastery allows you to have a little extra move speed to get you from lane to lane, as well as to get wards in the jungle and get out.

This mastery is just literally gold generation for a support, and is a must on pretty much all supports. Plus you trade a lot in lane, which this rewards you for especially since you're a melee charater.

This mastery basically just makes your Soul Furnace active so much better, and it may not be hard sustain but it does keep you in lane longer if you use it properly.

These were all the Mastery places I thought were different or had unique synergy with Sion the rest is just basic tank support stuff.

Flash: Is a Get Out of Jail Free card or "Whoops, my bad"; it also allows you cover distance if you need to to make a play. Pretty much standard.

Exhaust: Literally this is just an amazing summoner, it can be used to prevent just enough damage to save a life or just to chase someone down. With exhaust you'll know HOW TOOO SAAAAAVVVVEEEE A LIFE! as well as help kill a target or just simply make them useless for a fight.

Ignite: This spell is only gonna be used if you are being a carry machine, or you are laned against high sustain; I.E. Soraka, Sona, Taric, Etc. Don't recommend this one.

• Glory In Death: This passive allows you to defie death, in a similar fashion to Karthus, allowing you to move around and hit things while your health decays; during your are 'Frenzy' you also proc any on hit items such as our Titanic Hydra, you do % health damage, you gain a bunch of lifesteal, and a bunch of attack speed. During this 'Frenzy' all your abilities are replaced by an active that allows you to move incredibly fast for a short time. The passive is part of what makes you strong as even if your lane kills you, you are still a threat; especially to low health targets.
  
  Glory In Death (Wiki)

  Upon taking fatal damage, Sion briefly becomes untargetable and enters a frenzy, restoring himself to 100% maximum health but losing 2 - 19 (based on level) every 0.25 seconds, increasing by 1.4 - 13.3 (based on level) per subsequent tick.
  
  Sion can freely move and use basic attacks during this time, gaining 100% life steal, attacking at 1.75 attack speed, and dealing 10% of target's maximum health as bonus on-hit physical damage, capped at 75 against minions and monsters.
  
  While Glory in Death is active Sion's standard abilities are replaced with Death Surge.
  
  
• Decimating Smash RANGE: 300 / 600 COST: 45 MANA COOLDOWN: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 (Q):
  Sion's Q is a charged ability meaning you can charge the ability up for more damage and more CC; If you only charge the ability half way you slow your target, if charged all the way you do a massive amount of more damage as well as knock anyone up in the target area. This allows you to proc Courage of the Colossus easily and is your bread & butter.
  
  Decimating Smash (Wiki)

  
  FIRST CAST: Sion channels for up to 2 seconds in the
  direction of the mouse cursor, increasing Decimating Smash's damage over the
  duration (up to 300%) and its range over the next second. If the channel is
  interrupted, Decimating Smash goes on a reduced 2 seconds cooldown.
  
  MINIMUM DAMAGE: 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 / 60 (+ 39% AD)
  
  SECOND CAST: Sion deals physical damage to all enemies in
  the target area, increased by 33.3% against monsters and 66.7% against
  champions.
  
  MINIMUM MONSTER DAMAGE: 16 / 32 / 48 / 64 / 80 (+ 52% AD)
  
  MINIMUM CHAMPION DAMAGE: 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 (+ 65%
  AD)
  
  If Decimating Smash was charged for less than 1 second, Sion
  Slow icon slows all enemies in the area by 50% for 0.25 seconds. Otherwise, if
  Decimating Smash was charged for at least 1 second, he Airborne icon knocks up
  all enemies hit for 1.25 - 2.25 seconds, based on how long Decimating Smash was
  channeled.
  
  
• Soul Furnace RANGE: 550 COST: 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 MANA COOLDOWN: 13 (W):
  Sion's W is a two part ability with both a passive and an active:
  
  The passive allows you to gain bonus health on minion & champion kills/assists; this works well with our Face of the mountain items as we get to execute minions often fueling the passive.
  
  The active, for the most part, is just a shield that scales into the game; occasionally your shield will survive the damage coming your way and you can activate the ability again to deal a pretty decent amount of % damage in an AOE around yourself. Use this to block damage and if your shield survives pop it for some additional burst damage.
  
  Soul Furnace (Wiki)

  
  PASSIVE: Sion permanently gains 2 bonus health whenever he kills an enemy, increased to 10 bonus health against large enemies and enemy champion takedowns.
  
  FIRST CAST: Sion shields himself for up to 6 seconds. After 3 seconds, Soul Furnace can be reactivated to detonate the shield, detonating automatically if it persists for the full duration.
  SHIELD STRENGTH: 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 (+ 40% AP) (+ 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10% maximum health)
  
  SECOND CAST: Soul Furnace's shield detonates to deal magic damage to enemies around Sion, capped at 400 against minions and monsters.
  MAGIC DAMAGE: 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+ 40% AP) (+ 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14% of target's maximum health)
  
  
  
• Roar Of The Slayer RANGE: 725 / 1500 COST: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 MANA COOLDOWN: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 (E):
  Sion's E is a pretty unique one, in that it has a ridiculous range and can push mobs around. Basically it's a linear skill shot that deals damage to whatever it hits, slowing your target, and reducing its armor. However if you hit a minionin lane, you double your range and you still do the damage, slow, and armor reduction; at a range of 1500 that's pretty much the entire lane... It's a poke tool and you will take it first to apply pressure in lane early.
  
  Roar Of The Slayer (Wiki)

  
  ACTIVE: Sion bellows in the target direction, dealing magic damage to the first enemy hit, Slow icon slowing them as well as having their armor reduced by 20% for 2.5 seconds.
  
  MAGIC DAMAGE: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+ 40% AP)
  SLOW: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%
  
  If the target is a minion or non-epic monster, they are Airborne icon knocked back, dealing 30% increased damage to all enemies they pass through and Slow icon slowing them by the same amount for 2.5 seconds. Projectile enemies stop upon colliding with terrain or reaching the end of their trajectory.
  
  
• Unstoppable Onslaught SPEED: 950 COST: 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 140 / 100 / 60 (R):
  Sion's R is his transformation into the PAIN TRAIN!!! Sion basically storms down a lane at high speed and when he stops he damages and slows all enemies in an AOE around him; if sion hits someone however they are stunned, the stun duration and damage scale on the distance he's ran. While going for the long range play is quite appealing, it is very easy to dodge and if sion hits the wall he stuns himself so... We don't care about the hail marys or the "from down town" ults, we are going to point blank ult a target. This guarantee's a stun, which you can follow up with an E for slow, a W to keep you from taking damage, and then a Q to knock them up on top of that. This gives your team a window of like 3 whole seconds where the target is entirely locked down. It should also be noted that this does proc Courage of the Colossus making it even better.
  
  Unstoppable Onslaught (Wiki)

  
  FIRST CAST: Sion charges in the target direction for up to 8 seconds, during which he cannot cast abilities nor attack, but is immune to all crowd control. Sion's trajectory updates itself toward the cursor over the duration, but his capacity to change directions is reduced.
  
  SECOND CAST: Sion halts his charge and slams the ground after a brief delay, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies and enemy turrets. If Sion stops directly in front of narrow terrain, he dashes over it.
  If Sion collides with an enemy champion, structure, terrain, or charges for the full duration, he slams the ground, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies and turrets, briefly Stun icon stunning himself for structure and terrain collision.
  
  MINIMUM PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 150 / 300 / 450 (+ 40% bonus AD)
  
  Damaged enemies are Slow icon slowed for 3 seconds, and those Sion directly collides with are also Airborne icon pulled into him as well as Stun icon stunned for 0.75 seconds.
  
  SLOW: 40 / 45 / 50%
  
  Unstoppable Onslaught's damage and Stun icon stun duration increase over the charge's first few seconds, capping at 200% damage and 1.75 seconds, respectively.

The above is the general order that you are going to max your skills as a whole. The road we take to get to this, however, is a bit tricky as we want to maximize lane pressure and dominance. The below is the order in which you allot skill points from level to level.


You will notice that you begin with Roar of the Slayer as your first ability; this is so that you can poke the enemy lane from a distance without taking too much damage. Once you have reached level 2 you can then take your Decimating Smash, which you will be maxing first, so that you can slow with your E and then move up to fully charge a Q knocking your lane opponent up and procing Courage of the Colossus for some good harass/trading. The good part, however, lies at level 3 as you can repeat level two, however you have a shield to mitigate a portion of the damage with the Courage proc. This allows for intense trading with little to no fear of death. At level 6, you now have access to your ultimate. This means that you can now return to lane quickly if need be, provide AOE stuns, and provide really good engage that is not easily avoided if you ult at point blank range. This skill order creates a very oppressive trade pattern with your lane that isn't easily broken.

Face Of the Mountain

Face Of the Mountain: So as mentioned previously face of the mountain allows us to be able to farm minions to feed into our Soul Furnace passive without hurting our laner, as well as giving us some extra beef in lane. I chose face of the mountain over eye of the equinox(which can be good in some games)as we want to provide ultimate peel for our carry, the Active shield keeps our carry or teammate alive so that they can continue damage the enemy team or give them just enough for us to CC the enemy.

Sunfire Cape: This is an item typically used in top lane builds for tanks as it allows you to passively deal magic damage to the enemy just by being in proximity. While we still like the damage that is given to you for trades, and so on, we also are getting armor and health. Both of these stats are important to helping mitigate damage from the AD so you can trade longer and harder.

Ruby Sightstone: While honestly there isn't much to say about this item, other than it is a staple in the support item kit, it gives us item active CDR as well as more health to keep us alive longer.

Titanic Hydra: As most of our build consists of health and either MR or Armor, it isn't a huge leap to say that Hydra is an amazing item on Support Sion. The item scales on max health which synergize with the build path as well as the Soul Furnace passive. Now it isn't an item you'll get every game, but if you are severely ahead it just makes your trading even more oppressive. If you are in 'Hard Carry' mode this item can also be used to effectively split push lanes, before grouping up with your team. Out of 10 games I'd probably build this in at least 7 of them it's a great item on Sion but if you are behind know your role!

Knight's Vow: Knight's Vow is an item that goes really well in a game where you are ahead and are facing a large amount of assassins.

Frozen Mallet: Frozen mallet is an item you can get only if you are EXTREMELY ahead; it gives you health, AD, and provides a slow on-hit. This allows you to chase down your enemies even further, and synergizes with Titanic Hydra as well.

As state earlier, most items are fluid when it comes to Sion's build path, this is especially true when it comes to defensive items. If the enemy team has fed AD member build items with armor such as Randuin's Omen; if the enemy team has fed AP build items with MR such as Spirit Visage. Either way resistances and health is what you are looking for in defensive items. However there are some items that are situational item, if the enemy team has a mix of damage you wouldn't want to build a Thornmail; the same goes for items such as Locket of the Iron Solari, Banner of Command, etc. So when you build just keep the enemy team in mind, and what your team needs are.

P.S. Thornmail is useless unless you have the health to stay up long enough to harm enemy ADs; I suggest never getting it until you have about 3K health.

Guardian Angel: So guardian angel is an item that is super annoying as this gives you TWO reanimations of sorts; it is also a great item for you if you know that you are the main tank of the team. If you are the only tank on the team this item forces your opponent to deal with you instead of you other teammates as even if they burn everything on you and kill you, you come back to life before dying once again and coming back a third time. This makes it hard to just engage on you, and easy for you to go full throttle into the enemy team.

Zz'Rot Portal: This item I've found does well when the enemy team is contesting big objectives on the map, or if you just need to apply pressure on the map with minions. This item can also be used in 'Hard Carry' mode as it will help you split your way to victory like the inner Darshan wants you too! (NA LCS joke)

Redemption:This item is borderline not situational nor defensive. Honestly it's a great item and I wouldn't be opposed to building it in most situations however, I just feel that with Sion you want more balls to the wall mentality and just be the Pain Train you are; most of the time your peel is so strong that you don't need to heal your team up.

Boots are in the same category as defensive items... Kinda... Boots are player preference as well as dependent on the teams needs.

Sion is not a support, he is a top laner that just happens to do all the things a support needs and should do. There will be a time where Riot puts him back in line with a more traditional top laner but until then lets abuse him. He literally is so easy to win with, part of which comes from the sheer surprise of seeing a top laner in the bot lane; most lanes will think that you aren't going to be helpful or are just trolling. Sion has quickly replaced Nautilus as my favorite non-support support!

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