Lethality Sion is one of the scariest builds to face in solo queue. It’s an “inting” playstyle with little to no counter available. And if you want to learn more about it, you’ve come to the right place!
Building lethality on Sion allows you to one-shot a squishy enemy or demolish a turret even after you die. With the zombie form, you can still use active items like Prowler’s Claw and chase down enemies. But you also benefit from Hullbreaker’s passive for destroying enemy turrets super fast.
In this post, I’ll cover everything you need to know about playing lethality Sion. I’ll explain the runes you’re going to need as well as the items you’ll need to purchase.
Inting Sion is one of the most fun playstyles in LoL and I really recommend you try it out, especially if you’re a top laner.
So, let’s begin!
How to Play Lethality Sion? (Inting Sion Explained)
Before we jump into the build guide, I’d like to talk about a few key points here.
First of all, make sure you know what Sion’s abilities do before you actually try this build. This goes for non-Sion players that want to try this playstyle.
And if you need to understand how this champion works, you can check this guide and see how Sion’s abilities work as well as what type of damage/ratios they have.
Once you jump into a game with this build, your whole job is to keep pushing waves. Of course, you shouldn’t be doing this blindly and simply int without achieving anything. But that’s the idea in a nutshell.
You see, Sion has an easy wave clear with Q. And he doesn’t always need to trade and keep the wave in the middle.
Pushing lanes with Sion allows him to always have an advantage. Focusing on the wave is good because the minions grant you gold. And even if the enemy jungler comes and slays you, you can use your zombie form to get the entire minion wave, including the cannon minion.
However, escaping a gank with R is also an important part of this playstyle. Sometimes it’s worth sacrificing a minion wave to not give gold to your opponents, especially if you have a bounty on you.
But sometimes, all you need to do is use your R to quickly tear down a turret. Sion synergizes with Demolish unlike any other champion in LoL, so make sure to check its timing and cooldown beforehand.
Since your build will mostly consist of lethality items, you’ll also be good at fighting your lane opponent in 1v1 battles. Hiding in the brush and using your Q to deal massive damage is always recommended. So, definitely take advantage of how broken lethality Sion’s damage is!
Even though there are tons of other tips I could give you, I urge you to watch this YouTube video if you want to learn how lethality Sion works.
You can also check Thebausffs YouTube channel and see how he climbs to Challenger with lethality Sion. He’s also pretty good at other similar playstyles such as lethality Volibear and AP Volibear.
That said, let’s talk about the runes and items for lethality Sion!
Read Also: Full Lethality Renekton Build Guide
Lethality Sion Season 13 Build – Runes
- Phase Rush
- Manaflow Band
- Absolute Focus
- Gathering Storm
- Demolish
- Conditioning
Phase Rush
PHASE RUSH is the keystone that enables Sion to do what he does best – annoy players. The rune synergizes with Sion’s playstyle and allows him to chase down opponents even in zombie form.
With Phase Rush, you get a burst of movement speed when you strike an enemy champion 3 times. On top of this, you also get a 75% slow resistance so you can keep running towards or away from your target.
Phase Rush is super-useful on Sion, especially with this lethality playstyle. So make sure you utilize it to the fullest.
Manaflow Band
MANAFLOW BAND isn’t an essential rune for lethality Sion but it’s still pretty helpful. It increases your maximum mana and mana regeneration so you always have enough of it during combat.
Sion’s abilities don’t require too much mana, but you’ll certainly need much of it if you keep spamming your spells.
Absolute Focus
ABSOLUTE FOCUS is another rune that synergizes fantastically with Sion’s kit. What it does is that it gives you bonus AD when you’re above 70% health. And when you drow below that number, the bonus AD goes away.
However, when Sion gets slain and comes back as a zombie, Absolute Focus is active once again, at least for a few seconds. And that may be enough for you to assassinate your target.
Gathering Storm
GATHERING STORM is a rune you take for scaling. It doesn’t give you anything right of the bat but it grants attack damage every 10 minutes while you’re in the game.
Gathering Storm may not seem like a particularly strong rune, but the longer the match goes on the more valuable it is.
Demolish
DEMOLISH is an absolute must-have rune for lethality Sion. And frankly speaking, the build would be significantly weaker without it.
Demolish allows you to destroy enemy turrets insanely fast. Sion’s R is already an ability that can damage turrets in LoL but combined with Demolish, you’re going to tear the base of your opponents alone!
The reason why this lethality/inting Sion playstyle works so well is exactly that – destroying turrets and inhibitors even while dying from the whole enemy team. So, Demolish is essential!
Conditioning
CONDITIONING is the last rune you need to get and it’s an important one. After 12 minutes, it gives you bonus magic resist and armor and it increases both of those stats by 4%.
When you’re playing lethality Sion, you’re usually squishy and you don’t have too much of any defensive stat. So being a bit tankier while having so much damage is a huge advantage for you in the top lane!
Read Also: Lethality Varus Poke Build Guide
Lethality Sion Season 13 Build – Items
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
- Prowler’s Claw
- Hullbreaker
- Youmuu’s Ghostblade
- The Collector
- Lord Dominik’s Regard
Ioanian Boots of Lucidity
IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY are the boots that most Sion players go for when they opt for the lethality build. They’re cheap, useful, and you can get them pretty early on.
Of course, you don’t always need to upgrade your boots. Sometimes is better for you to complete your mythic item first since that’s exactly what can make or break your game as lethality Sion.
Prowler’s Claw
PROWLER’S CLAW is the mythic item I’m talking about here. It’s the ideal item for inting Sion and it makes the whole playstyle a hundred times more interesting and broken.
What Prowler’s Claw does is that it allows you to dash to an enemy champion and deal damage in the process. It’s a point-click item active effect that you can’t miss and you can use it in Sion’s zombie form.
Besides this, Prowler’s Claw gives you lethality, damage, and ability haste. So, definitely spend your gold on this item first!
Read Also: Lethality Aatrox Build Guide
Hullbreaker
HULLBREAKER is another core item for Sion and you need to buy it as soon as possible. It doesn’t give you lethality, but it fits the whole playstyle incredibly well.
With Hullbreaker, you get bonus armor, magic resist, and damage to turrets if none of your allies are close to you. This item more than doubles your split-pushing power and makes Sion a monster when it comes to pushing lanes.
Youmuu’s Ghostblade
YOUMUU’S GHOSTBLADE is another active item that you take for mobility. Besides lethality and damage, it allows you to get more movement speed and ghosting for a couple of seconds.
Youmuu’s Ghostblade is generally used for either engaging or running away from your enemy. It’s not the most powerful item in League, but it’s useful in certain situations.
The Collector
THE COLLECTOR is one of the most broken items in LoL and you definitely need it on lethality Sion. It grants you more AD and lethality, as well as a bit of critical strike chance.
However, the best part about The Collector is that it executes enemies when you damage them below 5% HP. It makes you way more lethal, especially in the late game.
Lord Dominik’s Regard
LORD DOMINIK’S REGARD can be a great armor penetration item for the late game, especially in matches where you’re up against a tanky top laner.
With Lord Dominik’s Regard, your abilities and auto-attacks will do so much more damage, so it’s always worth spending your money on this item.
Read Also: Akali AD Bruiser Build Guide
Optional and Situational Items for Lethality Sion
When you’re playing lethality Sion, you always have the option to build a few tank or fighter items too. And if your damage is high enough, you don’t need to get six lethality items and remain squishy.
For example, you can always build Sterak’s Gage or Titanic Hydra. Both of these items give you a lot of health as well as bonus AD. So, they might be better options for the late game.
However, if your goal is to only split-push and duel opponents, you might opt for items like Edge of Night or Guardian Angel. Both of them are good for combat, so definitely pick them up sometimes.
Conclusion
I can’t tell you how many games I’ve lost because of an inting/lethality Sion in the enemy team. You can be a 20/0/10 mid laner and the enemy lethality Sion will still one-shot you or at least take all of your turrets by the time you’ve farmed enough to fight him.
But I’ve also won a lot of games with this build myself!
So, playing lethality Sion and annoying the entire enemy team is a great way to get some free LP. Unfortunately, the playstyle doesn’t guarantee victories all the time and you’ll likely lose some games too.
However, it’s definitely an “easy” way to win games in League, so make sure to try it out!
Good luck!
Read Also: Lethality & Crit Garen Build Guide
