Sion can be
played as either an AP burst champion or a powerful AD carry relying on
his life-steal ultimate to keep him alive in extended battles. This
guide will focus on the AP Sion, who has an amazing game presence due to
his stun and burst potential. Sion is very capable in a solo lane but
is just as powerful in a duo lane especially when combined with another
source of crowd control.
This Sion guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Sion, it is recommended for people just starting to use Sion.
This Sion guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Sion, it is recommended for people just starting to use Sion.
Abilities
-
Feel No Pain (Passive)
Helps make Sion reasonably beefy early game and can help reduce
harassment. It drops off quickly throughout the mid-late game, but free
damage reduction is free damage reduction it may just save your life. -
Cryptic Gaze
This skills packs a powerful AP ratio, making it not only a very
reliable stun but also a powerful damage ability. This ability also
combines very well with Death's Caress, as it allows Sion to close the
gap between him and his enemies. This reliable stun is also great for
shutting down enemies that require a channel time on their skills. -
Death's Caress
This ability also has a strong AP ratio, which increases the damage the
shield deals while also increasing the punishment that it can absorb,
making it very powerful. This skill is simply amazing at farming minions
and combines with Cryptic Gaze to crate your basic damage dealing
combo. -
Enrage
This skill has limited uses on an AP Sion build but it still helps with
early fights and last hitting as it gives you a reasonable boost to
your auto-attack. The bonus HP is a nice boost but is nothing
game-breaking. -
Cannibalism (Ultimate)
Similar to Enrage it has limited uses on an AP Sion, but is by no means
useless. This ability provides AP Sion with some great tower destroying
capabilities and also gives some decent regeneration once your packing
Lich Bane.
Ability Order
Death's Caress > Cryptic Gaze > Enrage > Cannibalism (Ultimate)
Taking Cryptic Gaze first gives you some protection from early ganks and is also a very solid stun to have for level 1 team fights. You want to max out Death's Caress first because it serves two purposes as each level increases its damage dealt and absorbed, making it strong both offensively and defensively, this will also allow you to farm entire minion waves sooner.
Maxing out Cryptic Gaze second adds to your already powerful burst damage while also reducing its cooldown. While grabbing a single point of Enrage at level 3 helps you grab last hits, gives you a strong auto-attack and also starts building up your health pool. You want to leave your ultimate till last as AP Sion but you still want to take a point at level 6 for the attack speed boost it provides which will help you destroy towers (each rank of this skill does not affect the attack speed boost).
Runes
Yellow (Seals) - Mana Regeneration Per Level
Blue (Glyphs) - Cooldown Reduction
Purple (Quintessences) - Health // Ability Power
On an AP Sion build you want to run Magic Penetration Marks to boost your damage output. Running Mana Regeneration on Seals gives you powerful mana regeneration allowing you to focus on Ability Power from items as opposed to mana regeneration. Cooldown Reduction are your best bet for Glyphs as they allow to stun and shield more often. Running Health on Quintessences boosts Sion's strong laning presence further by giving you a solid chunk of Health, alternatively you can ability power.
Summoner Spells
Best Summoner Spells:
-Flash
-Ignite
Flash and Ignite should be your default summoner spells when playing Sion. Flash gives you the escape skill that Sion lacks and also allows you to Flash in and stun a target for initiation. Ignite compliments your strong burst damage and can help you get those early game kills to propel you into a powerful mid-game.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Ghost
-Clarity
Ghost can replace Flash as your escape initiation tool if it suits your playstyle better but Flash is alot better in most situations. Clarity is only a solid choice for low-level summoners who lack full mastery setups and runes, as it is very hard to maintain Sion's mana costs without these.
-Flash
-Ignite
Flash and Ignite should be your default summoner spells when playing Sion. Flash gives you the escape skill that Sion lacks and also allows you to Flash in and stun a target for initiation. Ignite compliments your strong burst damage and can help you get those early game kills to propel you into a powerful mid-game.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Ghost
-Clarity
Ghost can replace Flash as your escape initiation tool if it suits your playstyle better but Flash is alot better in most situations. Clarity is only a solid choice for low-level summoners who lack full mastery setups and runes, as it is very hard to maintain Sion's mana costs without these.
Masteries
The offensive tree gives you ability power, cooldown reduction and the vital spell penetration mastery.
While the utility tree offers you reduced death timers, increased experience, mana regeneration, improved mana regeneration, movement speed, cooldown reduction and improved summoner spells.
Item Build
Final Item Build:
-Sorcerer's Shoes
-Deathfire Grasp
-Zhonya's Hourglass
-Abyssal Scepter
-Rabadon's Deathcap
-Lich Bane
Steps/Reasoning:
-Start with a Doran's Ring, this will boost your health pool, mana regeneration and give you some added ability power.
-On your first trip back you want to purchase Boots of Speed and either a Needlessly Large Rod or a Blasting Wand depending on how much gold you a have.
-From here you'll want to upgrade your boots into Sorcerer's Shoes, giving you some very important magic penetration to increase your damage output.
-From here you want to build your Rabadon's Deathcap, giving you an amazing amount of Ability Power, you should have this item reasonably quickly thanks to Sion's farming potential.
-Your 2nd core item is Lich Bane, giving you more burst damage, some movement speed and a much needed mana boost.
-From here your items will be built based on your needs, if you need more burst damage look at picking up a Deathfire Grasp. On the other hand if you need to boost your survivability look towards Abyssal Scepter for magic resistance and Zhonya's Hourglass for armor.
Alternatives:
-Banshee's Veil (A nice health and mana pool boost, while also giving you a free spell block.)
-Void Staff (An important item if the enemy starts building lots of magic resistance.)
-Mejai's Soulstealer (Great item if you do very well early game, this will allow you to snowball into mid-late game.)
General Sion Tips
- AP Sion is all about burst damage, be very careful about drawn out encounters as you lack sustained damage.
- Your main combo as AP Sion is to activate your shield, then set yourself up in a position to land a stun on your enemy, by this time your shield can be detonated.
- Don't forget that your ultimate can still devastate towers despite the fact that your building AP.
- Try to blow up your shield when you are in range of multiple enemies, this will increase your overall damage output.
- Once you get your Enrage skill, don't forget to activate it (your axe will glow red), this makes early game last hitting very easily and slowly builds your health pool.
Early Game (Level 1-6)
- Your stun has a very high mana cost, try to avoid using it unless necessary.
- Your shield is not powerful enough to farm effectively yet, use it to absorb damage and damage the enemy champion.
- Once you unlock Enrage focus on last-hitting with your auto-attacks, it also allows you deal some reasonable early game sustained damage.
Mid Game (Level 7-12)
- Start using your shield to destroy minion waves, using your shield on the caster minions should leave them low enough for a single auto-attack to finish them off.
- As Sion you can push your lane heavily and then leave your lane to create a gank opportunity. If you reach an enemy tower and it is safe to do so you can use your ultimate to cause alot of damage to it.
- As Sion you want to be constantly farming minion waves, AP Sion's mid-game strength comes from his ability to farm heavily.
- Focus your stun and shield combo on the enemy squishy champions (generally the carry or support). This not only stops them from dealing damage or healing their team, but also causes lots of damage to them.
Late Game (13-18)
- Keep your shield up at all times, this will prevent poke from the enemy and will mean you are always ready to blow up your shield for considerable burst damage
- Save your stun for anybody that over-commits from the enemy team, Sion can really punish over-extended with his reasonable stun duration.
- By now you probably have or are working towards a Lich Bane, this gives your ultimate some healing potential.
- Don't forget that your shield is basically bonus health (based on your Ability Power), don't be afraid to take skill shots for your weaker allies.
