Guide Sections (15)
- Champion Stats
- The Frontline Opener
- Ranking Sion's Skins
- When They Ban Sion
- Sion's Keystone Choice
- Skill Max Order for Sion
- Mastering Sion's Kit
- The Sion Matchup Sheet
- Tanking Without Purpose
- When They Melt Through You
- Peeling vs Engaging
- The CC Machine Build
- When Sion Comes Online
- The Immovable Object
- Recent Patch History
Champion Stats
Low Elo players focus entirely on KDA. They see a 0/8 Sion and think they are winning, while that Sion has 11 CS/min and has taken every Tier 1 and Tier 2 tower. Sion's Passive (Glory in Death) allows you to clear waves even after dying, ensuring you never fall behind in XP. Smurfs use this to effectively 'proxy' or sacrifice their life for massive tower damage, creating a lose-lose situation for the enemy.
The Frontline Opener
The 'Passive Buff Steal'. Start W (Soul Furnace). Walk to the enemy's top-side buff (Blue/Red). Let the buff kill you. Use your Passive to kill the buff + small monsters. You respawn at Level 2 with a Buff and Teleport back to lane. Alternatively, hide in the 'L-bush' for a fully charged Q that chunks the enemy for 40% HP at level 1.
Charge Q from a bush. If they don't have vision, it's a guaranteed stun. Use your W shield before the Q impact for extra burst. Level 1, your Q is the scariest ability in the game. Respect the axe.
Ranking Sion's Skins
'Mecha Zero Sion' is the indisputable 'Pay-to-Win' skin. The sound of the Ultimate (The Train Whistle) is global and psychological, and the Q hitbox indicator is traditionally the hardest to see. 'High Noon' is for the grit, and 'Lumberjack' is the classic 'disrespect' skin.
'Mecha Zero' transforms into a literal train. 'Worldbreaker' makes you look like a god. 'Lumberjack' is for the irony. Pick your soul and start the harvest.
'Mecha Zero' transforms you into a train. The psychological damage of the 'Choo Choo' sound is unmatched. 'High Noon' is beautiful. 'Lumberjack' is the classic disrespect. Mecha Zero is mandatory for optimal drifting.
When They Ban Sion
If Sion is banned, Cho'Gath for the infinite scaling. Yorick for the tower pressure. Dr. Mundo for being an unkillable meatball.
Cho'Gath gets huge. Dr. Mundo goes where he pleases. Yorick splits. Cho'Gath is the infinite scaling tank alternative.
Cho'Gath for the HP stacking. Dr. Mundo for the regeneration. Yorick for the tower destruction. Cho'Gath matches the 'Giant Monster' raid boss energy perfectly.
Sion's Keystone Choice
Grasp of the Undying is standard for tanking. Phase Rush is the ELITE smurf choice for proxying—it allows you to escape almost any collapse by Qing someone and running at mach speed. Demolish is NON-NEGOTIABLE; it is your primary weapon.
Skill Max Order for Sion
Max Q first for waveclear and the 1000+ damage fully charged hits. Max W second for the 'Raid Boss' health shield. E last (it's primarily for the armor shred/slow).
Mastering Sion's Kit
Decimating Smash. The longer you charge, the more damage/CC. If you charge for 1s, it KNOCKS UP. Hide in bushes so the enemy can't see the indicator.
Soul Furnace. Passive: Permanent HP for every unit killed. Active: Shield that explodes. Scaling HP makes you an infinite tank.
Roar of the Slayer. Kicks a minion/monster. Reduces Armor by 20% and slows. Use this to setup your Q.
Unstoppable Onslaught. You become a train. Deals massive damage/stun based on distance. You can release it early to slam the ground. Use it to escape across the map too!
The Sion Matchup Sheet
The Hardest Counter. Do not fight her. Proxy waves between her towers and ignore her. If you fight, you lose.
Dangerous early. Level 6+, if you miss your Q, he kills you. Just clear waves and scale.
Free Lane. You out-scale him in terms of HP and tower pressure. He can never kill you solo.
Tanking Without Purpose
Stop missing your Ultimate! Do not just 'aim it down mid'. Use it from Fog of War, or use the 'Drift' (releasing R early to slide) to hit targets. Also, if you are 'inting' for a tower, make sure the wave is there. Dying for 200 tower damage without a wave is just feeding. Efficiency is everything.
Stop ulting the air. Your R is a steering challenge. Practice the 'drifts' in the jungle. If you hit a wall, you're a target. Hit a champion, and you're a legend.
When They Melt Through You
Dodge Fiora, Gwen, or Vayne. They deal % Max HP True Damage. Your 6000 HP means nothing to them; you are just a giant battery for their healing.
Fiora/Vayne/Gwen deal true damage. Standard tank items don't work. Build shield items (Sterak's/Fimbulwinter) or damage to kill them first.
Dodge Fiora/Gwen/Vayne. % Max HP True Damage counts as 'bullying' for Sion players. You are a health potion to them. Do not play this. It is misery.
Peeling vs Engaging
You are the primary disruptor. Your Ultimate (R) is a global map pressure tool. You can 'drift' from your own base into the mid-lane fight. Once in, your goal is to land a multi-man Q. Even if you die, your passive's % Max HP damage on-hit makes you a nightmare for carries who stayed too close to your corpse.
R into the fight. Hit a wall? Oops. Hit a carry? Win. Use Q from brush for knockup. W shield pop deals huge % HP damage.
The CC Machine Build
Full Lethality 'The Baus Special'. Youmuu's Ghostblade -> Hubris -> Lord Dominik's Regards. You hide in a bush, fully charge Q, and one-shot a squishy. When you die, your passive hits for 10% Max HP per auto. You are a glass cannon that explodes twice.
Lethality Sion is about the one-shot. Prowler's Claw (if it were still here, but we use Opportunity) active into Q. If they have 1500 HP, they disappear. It's high-risk, high-reward, high-tilt.
Tank Sion. Heartsteel -> Sunfire -> Titanic Hydra. You are a bomb. Stack HP. Walk into their team. Charge Q. If you die, kill them with passive. Tactical inting is a strategy.
When Sion Comes Online
Level 6 (The Global Threat). Hullbreaker completion (You become the Tower Shredder). 3000+ HP (Usually around 20-25 mins) where you become hard to solo-kill.
Hullbreaker makes you a solo threat. Sunfire helps pushing. Heartsteel gives infinite scaling. Stack HP, ignore team, hit towers (mostly).
Level 6 Train. Heartsteel completion. 3000 HP. You become a problem that requires 3 people to solve. If they send 2, you kill them both.
The Immovable Object
Spamming the 'Train' emote after taking a tower. Typing 'Good Death' in all-chat when you die but take a tower. Pinging your 11 CS per minute against their 0/10/0 scoreboard.
Your passive 'Glory in Death' is your second life. Every auto deals 10% Max HP. If you die near a carry, they die too. Use your active speed boost to chase them down. Sion never stops fighting.
Drifting around the map with R. Hitting a drift into a fully charged Q from a bush. Dancing on their corpse in passive form. Type 'Good death' in all-chat.
Recent Patch History
Recent Balance Changes
| Patch | Date | Type | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| V14.14 | Jul 17, 2024 | BUFF | W buffed |
| V14.6 | Mar 20, 2024 | NERF | Q adjusted, W adjusted |
| V14.4 | Feb 22, 2024 | NERF | W nerfed |
| V13.9 | May 3, 2023 | BUFF | P buffed |
| V13.1 | Jan 11, 2023 | BUFF | Q buffed, Base stats buffed |
