If League of Legends players can agree on one thing it would be that Lee Sin is an unlimited champion. Seriously, you can play Lee in any role and with any build you want.
And recently, I’ve been playing a lot of AP Lee Sin as a support. It’s tons of fun!
So in this post, I’ll go over everything you need to know about playing Lee Sin AP. I’ll talk about the runes and the items you’ll need, but also about the things you must be aware of.
This guide will include potential dangers and weaknesses, but also tips on how to overcome them.
That said, let’s jump into the guide and see how you should play Lee Sin AP in LoL season 13.
Does Lee Sin Support Work?
AP Lee Sin support can be an interesting playstyle for support mains that also like Lee Sin. The build focuses on increasing your shield power and lowering your overall cooldown.
The idea is to always have a shield available for your allies while helping them kite and providing CC.
When you start playing Lee Sin with this build, you quickly realize how good of a support this champion can be. He has everything a support really needs, from early game damage and lane control to crowd control and large shields for his allies.
Depending on how well you know the champion, Lee Sin can be one of the best off-meta supports in League of Legends you can ever try. And it’s one of my personal favorite exotic picks too.
AP Lee Sin still deals great damage, especially before level 6. You can always harass your lane opponents with your Q and make quick trades with E.
And as long as you have your W available to get back and shield your ADC, you’ll do just fine.
One thing that stops many players from actually playing Lee Sin support is the level of skill he requires. Yes, his Q is a skill shot and his R requires a different positioning in fights.
However, if you practice the champion a bit, you can even do advanced things like “InSec kicks” for your teammates.
And lastly, you can also play Lee Sin support with the full lethality build. It does way more damage than AP Lee Sin, but it lacks protection for his ADC.
Read Also: AP Gragas One-Shot Build Guide
Does Lee Sin Have AP?
Lee Sin has only one ability that scales with ability power – W: Safeguard/Iron Will. It allows him to dash to an allied champion, shielding himself and the ally in the process.
Lee Sin’s W causes no damage, but the shield scales with 80% of his AP. So the more AP Lee has, the bigger the shield is.
Despite not having AP damaging numbers, Lee Sin works quite well with his AP build. He doesn’t need magic damage abilities in order to be lethal. The base damage on his Q, E, and R are quite high, especially early on.
And so, even if you build only AP items on Lee, your damage will be totally decent. Even in the late game, you’ll deal a good amount of damage to squishy champions.
And against tanks, you can use your CC to allow your teammates to do damage for you.
When you want to build Lee Sin AP, you should focus on the supportive items more than the offensive ones.
Since there’s no point in building Void Staff on Lee (physical damage doesn’t benefit from magic penetration), it’s much better to build Ardent Censer.
That way you can still build AP to increase your shield while getting additional effect when you use your W.
That said, here are the actual items you’re going to need on AP Lee Sin in LoL season 13!
Read Also: Full AP Ashe Support Build Guide
AP Lee Sin S13 Runes – Explained
- Guardian
- Shield Bash
- Bone Plating
- Revitalize
- Transcendence
- Gathering Storm
GUARDIAN is the best keystone for playing AP Lee Sin support. It grants huge shields on both you and your closest teammate when either of you gets damaged at the start of the fight.
With Lee Sin, you can always dash to your ADC with W and cause Guardian to proc. This alone can win you many 2v2 fights in the bot lane.
At the start, Guardian has a huge cooldown of 70 seconds. However, this cooldown reduces as game goes on, so you’ll be able to give your ADC multiple shields in the mid/late game team fights.
SHIELD BASH is a defensive rune that fits AP Lee Sin’s playstyle really well. Basically, it gives you 1-10 armor and magic resist based on level whenever you have a shield on yourself.
Lee Sin automatically puts a shield on himself whenever he shields another ally with W, so Shield Bash can always be active on Lee.
Additionally, if you use 2 shields in a row, Shield Bash will increase the damage of your next attack against an enemy champion.
So with both Guardian and Safeguard, you can take advantage of this effect and win early trades in the bot lane.
BONE PLATING is a must-have rune if you plan on playing aggressively during the laning phase. When you first get hit, it reduces the damage you receive from the next 3 spells or attacks.
This rune can be crucial for those early game skirmishes, so you definitely want to have it in all of your games.
REVITALIZE is simply there to increase your shield potential. If you have it selected, your shields and heals will always be 5% stronger than normal.
However, if your ADC gets to 40% HP or lower, your shield will be 10% stronger instead. This is really useful for Lee Sin who has multiple shields available in his kit.
TRANSCENDENCE is another super helpful rune in League of Legends. It grants 5 ability haste on level 5 and 5 ability haste on level 8.
But when you reach level 11, the rune starts to reset the 20% remaining cooldown on your basic abilities when you score a champion takedown.
This simply means that you’ll have Lee Sin’s W more frequently during a team fight, which is definitely what you want.
GATHERING STORM is the last rune you’ll need to get on AP Lee Sin. It’s a great rune for scaling because it passively increases your ability power every 10 minutes.
So even if you lose your lane, Gathering Storm will work on increasing your shield in the late game. It’s an investment I advocate for!
Read Also: Full AP Leona Build Guide
AP Lee Sin S12 Items – Explained
- Relic Shield
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
- Locket of the Iron Solari
- Staff of Flowing Water
- Ardent Censer
- Knight’s Vow
RELIC SHIELD is the recommended starting support item for Lee Sin. It grants a bit of AP, a bit of health, and a bit of health regeneration. It allows you to execute minions on low HP and transforms into a warding item once you collect 500 gold with it.
Relic Shield can help you utilize your W for making plays too since you’ll always have a ward to use Lee’s W on.
IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY are the boots you want on Lee Sin support. They’re among the cheapest upgrades in League of Legends and they give you a ton of value.
For only 950 gold, these boots will give you 20 ability haste and lower the cooldown of your shield early on.
LOCKET OF THE IRON SOLARI is my favorite mythic item for AP Lee Sin support. Its base stats are super useful for melee supports such as Lee.
He needs health, ability haste, armor, and magic resist, and Lock gives him all of that. Plus its price is only 2500 gold.
However, the main reason why you want this mythic is the active. Locket of the Iron Solari can shield all allied champions around Lee Sin when you use it. Since Lee’s W can only affect one target, Locket allows him to also have an AoE shield.
Additionally, Locket grants all allies bonus armor and magic resist just by being near Lee Sin.
STAFF OF THE FLOWING WATER is definitely a must-have item for Lee Sin support, especially if you play with an AP carry or an ADC that benefits from both AD and AP.
Besides the 10% increase in shield power, Staff of the Flowing Water grants 25-45 ability power based on level and 20 ability haste each time you use Lee Sin’s W.
This effect lasts for 4 seconds and it can help you deal more damage and use more abilities during a fight.
ARDENT CENSER is another key item because it also increases your shield power by 10%. Additionally, it grants 60 ability power so Lee’s W gets stronger overall too.
And when you shield an ally, you and your allies get an increase in attack speed and on-hit damage.
I’d recommend you to purchase Ardent Censer before Staff of the Flowing Water if you play with an ADC marksman in the bot lane.
The additional damage and attack speed can be crucial in winning fights, especially around neutral objectives in the mid game.
KNIGHT’S VOW is a defensive item for you and your ADC. It gives you 400 health, 10 ability haste, and 200% base health regeneration. However, it also allows you to bind yourself to your ADC.
Once bound, Knight’s Vow will redirect 10% of the damage done to your ADC onto you. And if they’re below 30% HP, the reduction is increased to 20%.
This way you can protect your ADC simply by being near them in a team fight.
Read Also: Full AP Alistar Build Guide
Optional and Situational Items for AP Lee Sin Support
Since each game requires different items, here are the situational items you should consider on AP Lee Sin.
First of all, Shurelya Battlesong and Everfrost can both work as mythic items for Lee Sin. However, I wouldn’t recommend trying them in your first game as Lee Sin support. You’ll lose a big portion of your shielding power.
Mikael’s Crucible and Redemption can be great purchases in many different scenarios. The first allows you to remove CC from your ally while the second will add an AoE heal to your kit.
And lastly, Chemtech Putrifier is my recommended item for countering healing supports such as Soraka and Nami.
Read Also: How to Do Lee Sin InSec Kicks in LoL? (Step-by-Step Guide)
Conclusion
As far as counter picks are concerned, I must say that Morgana is the biggest counter to Lee Sin. She can bind him so he can’t use his dash/shield and her E makes it impossible for Lee to kick an enemy.
For synergies, the best ones are definitely Draven and Senna. With Draven, Lee can be very aggressive. And with Senna, Lee gets even more sustain in lane.
All in all, that’s everything you need to know to start playing Lee Sin as an AP support! Good luck!
