I'm currently making a game on my own. http://rashtal.com/ This means that updates for this guide are coming slower as this guide is a side project.

If you like Sion, make sure to come by our subreddit! https://www.reddit.com/r/DirtySionMains/

I have played Sion in every role and in every lane throughout the seasons. Built every possible mythics and used every single runes. Lately I have been playing a lot of support Sion and climbed to diamond. I think he is a great pick without any true counters in the bot lane. Constructive feedback is welcome in comments.

Pros

---

Cons

---

---

Glory in Death

Passive is nice, but you shouldn't play to die. Don't build for it, don't die ever. If you ever do die, don't chase for kills, attack whoever is closest to you or use it to zone so your team can win the fight. In lane, it is sometimes better to go for CS if you don't think you can catch. If you see yourself in an inevitable death scenario, plan you death location accordingly. A good place to die would be in a brush, since people don't see you revive, they will sometimes forget about it and you will be able to come out of the bush and surprise them. If you are about to die in a 1v1 situation, try to hit the E before dying, it will usually make it a fair trade. As the support, the passive is great for putting wards down deeper.

---

Decimating Smash

Q is really amazing to stop people from jumping on you or your carries. An E Q W combo is really decimating. Use it to stop channels. It becomes a game changer in team fights, and as a peeling tool. Remember, people think it's easy to outplay your Q, but if anything, it is a guaranteed source of damage. Just release it before they get out of it. It's also a really easy way to get their flash when they realize they can't get out of an almost full charge Q. Did someone just come in to auto attack you? Do they now have the minion aggro on them? Make them pay with a well placed stun, make sure they remember not to touch you ever again. A simple combo with a melee range Q is to follow it up with an auto attack while your target is knocked up (Alistar style). I use this combo mostly for last hitting cannon minions when I know my Q won't deal enough damage to finish it. I like to max this first against melee support to punish them whenever to go for a relic stack or into immobile lanes.

---

Soul Furnace

W is amazing. It makes you really tanky. It's a win every trade ability. It does use a good amount of mana early on. Out of lane, it allows you to melt tanks. At max rank, it's an AOE spell that melts people for more than 14% of their health. You will need to learn to protect your shield, a broken shield is useless to you as it doesn't deal any damage. Late game, when people have Banshee's Veil, Edge of Night, Spell Shield, you can ultimate in with shield started, and pop the shield right before you hit to pop them and land the ult. Also, this spell is really good for bursting the Scuttler, Dragon, or Baron. It does a guaranteed 400 damage to them on top of it's own base damage. (Not true damage, but still a really good burst in those really close smite battles.) Level 1 shield will only shield for ~66 damage. In lane, I like to put at least 2 points in this ability. I like to max this first if I don't trust my ADC to carry. This ability allows you to bully the lane solo. It's great for the flash + W combo to instantly kill low heal targets.

---

Roar of the Slayer

E is by far your best spell. This is what makes your enemy laners hate you really hard. It throws minions in a line. Practice it, make it land. It costs (35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55) mana on a rather short cooldown. There is a catch though, if you don't use it right, your ADC will miss valuable CS, therefore, it is best to use it on higher HP creeps. Aside from the harass, this spell is amazing to wave clear. The slow is enough to let you escape from ganks. Make sure you have it up if your jungler wants to gank as this ability is required for the gank setup. Here is a trick to hit the E with a minion: aim at the enemy's feet. With a bit of prediction and practice, it's really easy to hit. Fundamentally, it is literally impossible to miss an E when someone is walking towards you. This means that you can use that to your advantage in lane when people walk towards you. You can usually get people to walk towards you by running at them with a shield then running away from them. When they walk back, this is usually a good time to E. You can also snipe people that come back to lane after going to ward since their trajectory is pretty easy to predict at that time. Against people that are better, keep in mind that side stepping that particular E is pretty trivial as they will expect you to do it. TLDR: You can hit people easily when their movements become polarized, predictable. E is a channeled ability which means that you can E first, then flash when an opponent is running away to extend it's range and masterfully snipe them. Roar of the Slayer has a range of 1350. For comparison, Xerath's full charge Arcanopulse has a range of 1450. I max this first in ranged lanes or if I know my jungler will be ganking a lot. Or if I have an ADC that benefits from the armor shred for example a Lucian. You can use E to bring scuttle to your side of the map so the jungler can take it uncontested. If you have a few points in E, the cooldown is short enough that scuttle can never escape. You can also use it to prevent enemies from stealing buffs. You do that by pushing the buff away from its leash range so that it can reset and heal back to full.

---

Unstoppable Onslaught

Your W and E win you the lane, your ultimate wins you the game. This ultimate is one of the best engage in the game. It's also a free homeguard from anywhere on the map. With or without your jungler nearby, you can gank your own lane after a recall. Later, it's on a really short cooldown. (Rank 3 ultimate with 35% CDR puts it on a 39 seconds cooldown.) Don't get carried away though, only engage when your teammates can follow up. You should experiment with the ult in the practice tool. It's quite mobile across the map if you know how to drive or drift.

Here are the three pages that I propose in this guide.

Rune Page 1 - Sustain

View

---

Fleet Footwork

My current favorite keystone for Sion. This gives a lot of sustain. It also can be used as a speed boost to run in for a fight or run away from a gank by attacking a minion.

---

Presence of Mind

Always good on Sion.

---

Legend: Tenacity

A bit of a slow rune for support. Can be swapped for Legend: Alacrity. There's nothing truly good on this row.

---

Coup de Grace

It's useful to finish kills. Can also take Last Stand instead but this rune page has so much sustain that you're gonna be high health a lot of the time.

---

Font of Life

This rune enables the enchanter items. For example it's a must have for Echoes of Helia. If you want to be greedier or you want to trade more in lane, Shield Bash is an option.

---

Second Wind

I like this one the most for this sustain rune page. Unflinching Can also be an option if you think you can survive the early game. Revitalize is also an option. If you're extra greedy Conditioning is an option too.

---

Rune Page 2 - Tanky

View

---

Aftershock

Good for trading in lane. A lot of the time in the bot lane you'll land a good Q but lose the trade because the other laner can attack you for free. Aftershock prevents them from trading back. The cooldown is low so it will be up every wave. It's also good later in the game when you want to engage. Guardian is a good alternative. I like Guardian for roaming. A lot of the time it will come in clutch in 2v2 fights.

---

Font of Life

Always good for support. Combos with Sion's Q, E, R. I get really high value from this rune most of the time. Alternatively Shield Bash is always an option since it allows you to bully the lane much harder.

---

Second Wind

This gets a lot of value in the bot lane. Conditioning is also an option but then you have to play the lane well to survive the first 12 minutes.

---

Revitalize

Gets a high value on support Sion. Has synergy with Guardian, Font of Life, and most of the enchanter items.

---

Presence of Mind

One of my favorite rune for Sion. Makes that you never run out of mana. Allows you to max W first which is the easiest way to pilot Sion.

---

Legend: Tenacity

I've been taking this rune. I don't think it's that good since it comes online a bit late but tenacity is probably fine, Coup de Grace is also an option if you notice you always need a bit more damage to finish kills.

---

Rune Page 3 - Utility

View

---

Glacial Augment

Great at punishing immobile champions. Generally good for making picks throuhought the game.

---

Magical Footwear

This is what I like the most from this row. It sucks not to have boots early but Approach Velocity helps running in after landing an E. It does mean you're more vulnerable to ganks early so you have to play accordingly.

---

Biscuit Delivery

Since this rune page doesn't go into the resolve tree, this rune is a good alternative to survive the laning phase.

---

Approach Velocity

Very good rune for Sion to get into position for charging Q or applying the W damage after a good E.

---

Presence of Mind

One of my favorite rune for Sion. Makes that you never run out of mana. Allows you to max W first which is the easiest way to pilot Sion.

---

Legend: Tenacity

I've been taking this rune. I don't think it's that good since it comes online a bit late but tenacity is probably fine, Coup de Grace is also an option if you notice you always need a bit more damage to finish kills.

---

I finish both pages with double adaptive runes and either armor or magic resist. I tested with 0 or 1 adaptive but I saw too many kills escape with 1 HP so I think the double adaptive is a must have.

---

Flash

Flash is really important just to reposition when in danger, or to get on top of your target to murder them. Usually flash should be used as an aggressive spell. If you need to flash out of a fight, that usually means you were positioning badly.

---

Ignite

Take Ignite for the kill pressure. Ignite counters Heal. You can also take Ignite to counter healing champions like Samira.

---

---

Exhaust

This is usually what I default to. In higher elo ADCs prefer that I go ignite but for Sion I think the extra peel from Exhaust is really useful.

---

---

Heal

I climbed through platinum with an 85% win rate using heal quite often. It has synergy with Revitalize. I think it's a good spell to outplay. Fights that look lost are suddently turned. I often use it effectively while roaming. For example roaming top with a Guardian and heal can make up for a weaker top laner and can usually turn the lane.

---

---

I ran exhaust with ignite in a bunch of games. I think it's a good setup to take pressure off the other lanes. It's hard for the enemy bot lane to punish Sion so they'll need help from the jungler or the mid. I would often stand my ground during those ganks and outplay them 2v3. These spells make it hard to escape a fight but during the fight you're a lot stronger. It's weaker when your own jungler wants to gank for you since you don't have the flash engage combo so you rely only on long range E early game. For counter ganks though you have some better tools at your disposal.

---

---

Same as above but with heal instead. You can be Yuumi 2.0. Usually I consider this if my ADC doesn't take heal and I still want kill pressure while aggroing the map.

---

On support Sion, it's possible to max any of your abilities in any order. You mostly want to adapt to the game. If your jungler wants to play for bot lane, it's worth it to be a few points into E. If you're weakside W is great. I max Q into immobile lanes or melee lanes. It's easy to get a free Q on Blitzcrank or Alistar when they go for relic stacks. I'll usually put a few points in W early so that I can fully tank at least 1 or 2 abilities from their support. That allows me to bully the lane.

Items Choices

---

Steel Shoulderguards

I usually pick this if I plan to max Q first.

---

Relic Shield

I usually pick this if I plan to max W or E first.

---

Control Ward

I get this often. Before I turn level 6, I place one in the furthest bush in the bot lane. Then I wait for them to find it which gives me an easy ult to land if they try to kill it. Otherwise they can be placed at the usual support spots.

---

Refillable Potion

I almost consider this a core item. It's really useful early to mid game.

---

Boots of Swiftness

Core item. Get this every game. My favorite boots. It really helps landing the damage part of the W and getting out after. Also what you need most is to be on time to fights. Every second matters. Great for dodging skillshots too.

---

Warmog's Armor

I really like this item on support Sion. The build path is really confortable. By the time you finish it, you always have 1100 bonus HP already. It's a win more item. In fights, you want to back off before you die so that you can reset your health bar. This item is especially good to push for objectives after a team fight. It's great for gaining tempo.

---

Frozen Heart

There have been games where I rushed this first item. You don't really have to thing about it, you get value just from existing in a fight. Has synergy with Jak'Sho, The Protean since it prevents going out of combat while enemies are around.

---

Force of Nature

Easy item to pick. Almost always good in every game. Great for moving around in fights.

---

Gargoyle Stoneplate

Not always easy to get on support Sion since it costs so much. I tend to build it if I went for a greedy item early then I need to quickly balance my armor and magic resist.

---

Chemtech Putrifier

Usually you want someone else on your team to counter healing but if it has to be you, this is easier to apply than Thornmail. It has nice synergy with Sion's shield.

---

Thornmail

While Sion can use this pretty well, I think it's not as good for support Sion. I've been building this less and less over time. Still, if you need armor, it's always an option.

---

Dead Man's Plate

Good item for making picks. Great mobility around the map.

---

Anathema's Chains

If you're getting blown up, this is the item to get. It's also a good option if you can land Qs easily since it can reduce tenacity into the negative effectively increasing the stun duration and slow effectiveness.

---

Abyssal Mask

I'd only consider this if my team was all AP, or I have 1 fed AP carry that needs to carry and enemies are buying magic resist. The range is only slightly more than Sion's W which makes it hard to use in some games.

---

Axiom Arc

If the game is a clown fiesta and people are fighting non stop, this item gets great value. Works well even if you build full tank.

---

Knight's Vow

If you like your ADC then this is a good item. I once built it first item and the first fight back to lane my ADC lived with 10 HP after we double killed them. You effectively become a portable Death's Dance for them.

---

Mikael's Blessing

This can always be good. I guess it requires skill to use properly so you have to expect which CC you want to prevent. Has great synergy with Sion by default though with the extra heal and shield power.

---

Randuin's Omen

I don't build this often on support Sion but I think it can be good if you can afford it. Counters crit.

---

Redemption

Generally good. If your team is really coordinated then it's an easy item to use.

---

Serpent's Fang

Good against teams with a lot of shields.

---

Spirit Visage

You'll usually want Force of Nature instead but in some games this is better. Great for getting huge shields.

---

Sunfire Aegis

Good damage item against melee teams. Good for grabbing tower aggro.

---

Turbo Chemtank

If you need some extra catch power this can be good. Can be an option instead of Force of Nature.

---

Umbral Glaive

Great vision control. If you get this early in the laning phase, you can deal a lot of poke damage with Q even without charging.

---

Vigilant Wardstone

Don't buy this before level 13. This item is pretty much always good. Allows you to place more wards on the map and more control wards.

---

Heartsteel

Always great on Sion even for support. It's not a really supporty item though. Get this item if you want to deal damage.

---

Jak'Sho, The Protean

I tend to get this in lost games. I think it's a good comeback item since it allows me to get caught, tank a lot of enemy cooldowns, if enemies aren't coordinated I'll usually live with a few HP. Makes it really hard for them to end the game.

---

Evenshroud

Generally good support item. You can always build it since Sion applies it well but I tend to prefer this against teams with high CC.

---

Everfrost

Sion support can lack a bit of peel. This item helps with that. The build path sucks though. Especially good against immobile teams.

---

Locket of the Iron Solari

Generally good support item. You can always build it. I tend to consider it against poke teams or assassins.

---

Radiant Virtue

I tend to build this as a win more anti-throw item. If I think my team is doing well then I get this.

---

Iceborn Gauntlet

I've been building this more and more. Since it reduces damage from your main target, it can make you appear extra tanky.

---

Echoes of Helia

New "support" item that just came out. You have to run Font of Life for it to work with Sion. It's a win more item. You mark enemies with Q, E or R putting the leaf of death on them, then allies attack the leaf for huge heals and damage.

---

In the bot lane, Sion brings long range poke and AOE hard CC. His shield also allows him to be a lane bully. Some ADCs have really bad wave clear or they have to spend a lot of mana to push the waves. With Sion, all his abilities deal damage. Also his Q can be controlled to deal precise damage to leave minions at 1 hit making it easier to CS for the ADC. You can always punish bad enemy backs by hard shoving. Sion always has kill pressure with a good E setup.

Early game

---

Before the first wave, your goal is to stop invades. Sion's Q can solo destroy invades. On the blue side you can stand in the tri-brush or the brush behind red. On the red side you'll usually stand in the brush near the river behind the blue buff.

In lane, you want to fight for level 2. Use the Spoils of War passive on the second wave's melee minions. You can also use Q on the first wave. If they concede the level 2, then you can stop attacking minions and start a slow push.

At level 2 you have to decide if you level E or W. If the lane goes well or is even, I'll usually take E. Sometimes I take W to outplay a fight.

Sion loves to push the lane gaining tempo and fighting for scuttle with the jungler. If you have lane prio, you can dictate how the game goes early on. Usually if there's a fight going on you want to be there. You can even help the jungler with their clear so that you can gank a lane together, controlling the map.

With Sion, you want to do fast plays on the map. You don't want to let enemies react. If a play takes too long, then their backup arrives, you want to leave before that happens.

In lane, make sure to always clear the wards in the lane brushes. Especially after 10 minutes, if you push enemies will look for TP plays. You can't allow TPs behind you. If they do TP, Sion thrives in fights where you have vision control.

Mid game

---

In the mid game, towers have started to fall, that shrinks the map. You want to look and punish anyone that overextends. A lot of players don't respect Sion's ability to ult down a lane or along the river. You'll want to place deep lane wards or on rotation spots to find good choke point for your ults. This part of the game is support Sion's bread and butter. You're looking to create power plays and put a lot of gold on your carries.

Late game

---

Lategame tends to be where Sion can both shine or completely throw a game by himself. There are two ways to play the late game, either you want to team fight and get an ace, or you want to avoid direct team fights by out rotating the enemy team and taking objectives quickly (towers, dragon, baron, inhibitors, catches). Having a Vigilant Wardstone is really important in this part of the game for the vision control game. If your team has good depush, I like to side lane with the top or mid laner. I'll stand back a few screens away from them ready to ult against anyone that comes to match them. If nothing happens, I can ult mid where the rest of the team should be at for a good flank angle.

Play Video

I played a lot of support Sion this season into every matchup. I find it a really fun pick with a lot of skill expression. I climbed to diamond 3 so far after not really playing for 2 seasons.

This guide is a work in progress. Is there anything missing? Leave feedback in the comments and I'll improve the guide.