Lee Sin is one of the flashiest and most versatile champions in all of League of Legends. He is the champion with the deepest mechanics that will take a very long time for you to master. Here’s everything you need to know to get you started playing the Blind Monk.

There’s only a handful of champions in League of Legends that don’t require massive reworks or significant changes in their kit just to keep up with the current meta. Lee Sin is one of those champions. He has immense versatility in the range of things he can do for your team. He has crowd control, burst, shields, sustain, and even wave clear. It’s safe to say that Lee Sin is a joy to play. Although, he isn’t exactly the easiest champion to play. In fact, he has a very high skill ceiling as his combos are pretty easy to mess up. However, if you find it in you to invest your time learning how to play him, you’ll be rewarded with a very strong champion that can help carry games while doing it very stylishly.

Abilities

Lee Sin’s kit is pretty overloaded. So, he can pretty much do everything for your team. 

Passive – Flurry

After Lee Sin uses an ability, his next 2 basic attacks gain 40% Attack Speed and return Energy each.

Lee Sin’s passive is pretty straightforward. Flurry essentially increases his DPS thanks to the attack speed boost while also giving him a bit of sustain thanks to the return Energy.

Q – Sonic Wave/Returning Strike

Sonic Wave: Lee Sin projects a discordant wave of sound to locate his enemies, dealing physical damage to the first enemy it encounters, granting True Sight of the target. If Sonic Wave hits, Lee Sin can cast Resonating Strike for the next 3 seconds.

Resonating Strike: Lee Sin dashes to the enemy hit by Sonic Wave, dealing physical damage (Max: 400 Damage vs. Monsters) increasing based on target’s missing Health.

This ability is Lee Sin’s bread and butter. This is your primary source of damage. It has a lot of uses so make sure to use it wisely and creatively when trading with an enemy. It’s a big reason why Lee Sin is super mobile.

W – Safeguard/Iron Will

Safeguard: Lee Sin rushes to a target ally. If the ally is a champion, Lee Sin shields the ally and himself for 2 seconds and Safeguard’s cooldown is reduced by 50% After using Safeguard, Lee Sin can cast Iron Will for the next 3 seconds.

Iron Will: Lee Sin gains Life Steal and Spell Vamp for 4 seconds.

Safeguard is great for a lot of purposes. It can give both you and one of your allies a shield that can protect them while also getting a shield of your own. It also lets Lee Sin dash, adding another layer of mobility. Iron Will, on the other hand, gives Lee Sin a bit of sustain to help him survive in lane or in the jungle.

E – Tempest/Cripple

Tempest: Lee Sin smashes the ground, sending out a shockwave that deals magic damage. If Tempest hits an enemy, Lee Sin can cast Cripple for the next 3 seconds.

Cripple: Lee Sin cripples nearby enemies struck by Tempest for 4 seconds, slowing their Movement Speed. Movement Speed recovers gradually over the duration.

Tempest is Lee Sin’s only AoE spell and his main method of clearing waves. Cripple gives you crowd control in the form of a slow. 

R – Dragon’s Rage

Lee Sin performs a powerful roundhouse kick knocking an enemy champion back and dealing physical damage. Enemies the target collides with are knocked into the air briefly and take physical damage.

Lee Sin’s ultimate is one of the best in the game. It may be a single target spell but it is very impactful in team fight scenarios. When used in combo with your other abilities, it can be a devastating set up that can win a team fight for your team.

Runes and Item Builds

When it comes to items, you need to focus on increasing both Lee Sin’s damage and survivability.

Starting Items

Since Lee Sin is a Jungler, he’ll be starting the game using the items optimized for the jungle. In his case, Emberknife is the best option. It gives him everything he needs early on while also turning his Smite into Challenging Smite after 5 uses. Challenging Smite is better since it increases Lee Sin’s overall damage output.

Mythic Items

For your Mythic item, you have two choices: Goredrinker or Duskblade of Draktharr. For the most part, you’ll be better off sticking with Goredrinker since it gives you both damage and survivability. Plus it has an active that restores your health depending on how many enemy champions you hit with it. Duskblade of Draktharr, on the other hand, will give you substantially more damage but less survivability. So if you want to be a bit beefier or are just unsure of what to get, the safe choice is Goredrinker.

Full Build

After purchasing your desired Mythic, go for tier 2 boots. The standard is Plated Steelcaps but you can swap it for Mercury’s Treads if you feel like you need it. Next, go for Death’s Dance so you can deal more damage while also increasing your survivability. Then, you’ll need Black Cleaver for the health and attack damage plus the armor shred on enemies you attack. After, go for Maw of Malmortius for the spell shield. Finish off your build with a Sterak’s Gage for more damage and more survivability.

Runes

For your runes, go with the Precision tree and take Conqueror as your keystone. This will increase both your sustain and overall damage output in extended fights. Next, take Triumph for the sustain, Legend: Alacrity for the attack speed, and Coup De Grace to help you finish off low health targets. For secondaries, take Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight from the Inspiration tree. Magical Footwear gives you free boots while Cosmic Insight reduces your cooldowns on Items and Summoner Spells. For rune shards, take Attack Speed, Adaptive Force, and Armor.

Useful Tips

1. Try to learn popular combos you can use on Lee Sin. A simple but effective combo would be to use Sonic Wave on an enemy then hitting them with a Dragon’s Rage right after and using Returning Strike to deal a good burst of damage.
2. Lee Sin is countered by Karthus, Diana, Talon, Lillia, and Rengar. If you’re matched up against these champions, try to play it safe instead of being aggressive.
3. For your summoner spells, always take Flash and Smite. Flash adds another layer of mobility in your kit while Smite will help you clear jungle camps faster as well as letting you secure objectives like Dragon or Baron.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Lee Sin in League of Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more awesome guides on your favorite games. Have fun and we’ll see you on the Rift!