I'm currently making a game on my own. http://rashtal.com/ This means that updates for this guide are coming slower since I don't play league as much as before.

If you like Sion, make sure to come by our subreddit! https://www.reddit.com/r/DirtySionMains/

Are you tired of going ADC and feeling overwhelmed by everything that the enemy team throws at you? You want to play the game, but it feels like it takes forever to scale. Sometimes you die 4 times in lane, and it feels impossible to come back and have an impact on the game.

Well, congratulation, you are reading the right guide. It turns out that ADC Sion will fix all your problems as well as give you a new very valuable view over the game.

For those interested in watching me play, you can find my stream on http://www.twitch.tv/apostolique
Come say hi!

This guide is a work in progress, positive feedback welcomed. Guide will be updated accordingly.

Here is the win streak you can expect to get if you learn to play ADC Sion correctly: Snip.

First of all, why play Sion in the bot lane, won't he get kited? And if you're going for a melee, why pick Sion over someone else.

Here are some advantages that Sion brings over other champions:

His passive is amazing when built AD. If you go tank Sion, more often than not, your passive can be ignored the longer the game lasts. With AD Sion, when you die, you will kill most enemies in 3 hits or less.

His Q is similar to an auto attack. This is what makes ADC Sion work. Without charging, it has a range of 300. This scales up to 600. For comparison, Lucian has an auto attack range of 500. In terms of damage, using the Q without charging will always deal roughly the same damage as your AD value, which means you'll always at least have an AOE 'auto attack'. At full charge, your AD value gets tripled. This is why ADC Sion always deals so much damage even early game.

His W is a shield with a health scaling passive. For each 10 minutes in the game, you should expect to gain at least 200 health. By 30 minutes, that's 600 extra health. The range on W is 500. If the Lucian is hitting you, you can hit him too.

E is a single target armor shred, or an AOE slow + AOE armor shred. The slow is amazing to setup your Q.

Lastly, his ultimate allows him to completely obliterate one or many targets. The charge time to reach the full damage is 3 seconds. Every time that it is up, you can kill someone in the game.

Why Sion bot though? Once you learn to fill the shoes of an ADC, having a support with you allows you to setup your Q. Also being bot means you can kill two people instead of only one which means you get to snowball yourself, snowball your support and effectively stop two people from their team from playing the game. If your jungler also comes for a gank, well you're a Sion, so every time a jungler comes, you will get a free kill.

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Another important point is Sion's ability to flex into a position even during the game itself. If for example you have a strong top, mid and jungle. You can transition into a tank or a support to facilitate the victory. If you're team is really strong but lack AP damage, you can transition into a more AP oriented Sion build. (Having said that, Sion fits really well into an all AD team comp.)

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All of this combined means that Sion becomes impossible to stop when he pulls ahead even slightly. At worst, his kit is still good for the CC it provides, and given the absolute worst, death, he becomes a massive threat that cannot be ignored.

Pros

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Cons

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There are two rune pages to pick from.

I2212 P310
D1134 P310

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Glacial Augment

Glacial Augment is really useful as a safety net. It gives you some sticking power during fights. You can think of this as a free Frozen Mallet.

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Magical Footwear

Magical Footwear is awesome. Free boots with an extra 10 MS. And the more kills or assists that you get, the faster you get them. This along with Future's Market really helps speed up the game reach reach you power spikes.

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Future's Market

Future's Market is pretty useful. It allows you to recall less optimally when you don't have enough gold to buy anything. In the bot lane, it gives you the opportunity to build a lead without doing anything. Think of it this way, if you CS evenly against the enemy ADC, and then both of you recall at the same time, you will in fact come back with better items. Usually this will mean getting your boots earlier, completing a big item first, getting a control wards, etc.

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Approach Velocity

Approach Velocity is a good combo with Glacial Augment. It gives you better sticking power, combos with Q and E. It lets you be more effective at staying in range of fights. Most of the time you won't notice it's power, but it's there and it's helping you.

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Electrocute

Electrocute is a really good keystone for Sion. His E can apply two stacks using a minion, so it's easy to proc it.

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Cheap Shot

Cheap Shot is pretty much the best choice for this row. Combos well with your Q, E and R. If Sudden Impact ever gets fixed and activates on Sion's ult, then that could be an option too, but maybe that's a stretch.

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Eyeball Collection

Eyeball Collection is good for the extra AD. It's very easy to collect the Eyeballs. If you don't care about the extra damage, then Zombie Ward is also an option. A lot of people don't bother clearing the Zombie Wards all across the map which makes it be a really good vision tool.

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Ultimate Hunter

Ultimate Hunter This row is more up to personal preference. I find that AD Sion relies a lot on his ult so Ultimate Hunter really helps be more dynamic. And makes late game fights easier to manage. Ravenous Hunter is also a good option if you want better sustain in lane. I feel like Ingenious Hunter would be wasted since I don't really get that many active items and the ones I get have a short cooldown already. Relentless Hunter would be really good if you want to play the map more. Push side lanes, rotate, etc. Really good for a proactive playstyle.

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Presence of Mind

Presence of Mind is a rune I'm liking more and more. It will often bring the ult down to 20 seconds after a fight. On average, I find that I can ult at least 3 extra times per game. Triumph is also an option if you want to fight hard and live longer.

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Legend: Alacrity

Legend: Alacrity is my favorite rune from this row. It makes Sion's auto attack feel much better.

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Bone Plating

Bone Plating This is a pretty good option in hard lanes.

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Second Wind

Second Wind This is a pretty good option in hard lanes.

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Flash

Flash is really important just to reposition when in danger, or to get on top of your target to murder them. Usually Flash should be used as an aggressive spell. If you need to flash out of a fight, that usually means you were positioning badly.

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Ignite

Take Ignite if you think you can snowball the game as early as possible. Ignite counters the opponent's heal. You can also take Ignite to counter healing champions like Vladimir.

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Heal

Heal is nice in order to turn fights around. Some matchups aren't won with simple brute force. It's a really good baiting spell.

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Ghost

Ghost is like having a second Flash. It gives you a lot of sticking power. It's a very forgiving spell when you realize you are over extended and need to get out of a sticky situation. It allows you to ignore unit collision during fights where you need to run through a lot of units to get to your targets.

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Cleanse

Can be taken if you face a team that has so much CC that you won't be able to do anything. You can pop this spell during those nasty team fights.

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Items Choices

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Doran's Ring

Good starting item if you buy a second one. Gives infinite mana sustain. Makes the laning phase way easier.

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Control Ward

You need a Control Ward in the brush closest to the enemy's tower at all times if you're going to push the lane. This allows you to charge Q from that brush while knowing they 100% don't have any vision on you. It's also good to have if you're going to get dragon or baron. I buy on average 3 Control Ward per game. Strategically, you want to place it close to brush closer to your side of the map. At level 6, you let the enemy team spot it and try to kill it, this acts as a bait so that you can ult them for free.

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Health Potion

If you're leaving the base with an empty inventory slot and enough gold to buy at least one pot, buy some. You lose lane if you get poked and start to lose health. The gold you spend on pots is never wasted. If you don't get pots, you can adopt a lamer playstyle were you only fight during all ins. In order to pull that off, you lane in a way to never get poked. If their ADC or support steps towards you, you back off a bit to always be out of their range. This means you might have to give up some CS.

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Youmuu's Ghostblade

Core item. Very easy to build early since it is very cheap. If you die, it gives you that extra movement speed boost to catch up to your targets when you combine it with your Death Surge ability. Also gives some much needed lethality.

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Duskblade of Draktharr

Core item. Really useful item, I buy it as my core nowadays. Gives some much needed lethality and allows your to clear wards once in a while.

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Lord Dominik's Regards

Core item. This gives pure stats. Sion loves pure stats. The only reason you wouldn't buy this is if you need a Mortal Reminder for the healing reduction.

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Mortal Reminder

Core item most of the time if their team has a strong healer. I've lost at least one game in which I can 100% blame the loss on not getting this item. Get an early Executioner's Calling in those games to keep the [ Vladimir, Soraka, Darius, etc] under control.

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Trinity Force

Really good item, especially now that they removed the Crit from it and replaced it with attack speed and more CDR. Can be built as 3rd usually. This item gives you a really big power spike.

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Sterak's Gage

Really good item to survive fights better. The passive is shared with Maw of Malmortius this means that you should never build both of them together.

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Guardian Angel

Must get item in some games where you already have enough damage and you need to survive fights. This item can be the difference between a win and a loss. I almost buy this item as a core nowadays. When facing champions like Yasuo, Irelia, Camille, Jax, etc, build Guardian Angel as a second item.

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Mercurial Scimitar

I buy this often lately. Really good to have against champions like Anivia and Zoe, or against supports that can completely stop you from doing anything.

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Maw of Malmortius

I buy this item when I'm not really scared to get CCed, but I want to survive AP burst.

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Phantom Dancer

Very nice item to have. Makes Sion's attack speed stop being a joke. It fixes his hitbox problems when trying to reach his targets in a fight. Makes 1v1 fights be much easier against assassins. It allows you to take towers much faster.

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Blade of the Ruined King

I mostly only take this against tanks. If you don't have this, it takes forever to kill them.

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Edge of Night

If it turns out that you're the team's primary engage even as an ADC, this item can help.

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Titanic Hydra

This items provides a nice auto attack reset that hit like a wall of brick full building made of brick that crushes you.

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Mercury's Treads

Get this if you don't want to deal with their ******** CC or if you think you need some extra MR. Or if you just feel like building it 'cause why not. Usually a pretty good pair of boots and that's an understatement.

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Ninja Tabi

Blocks 12% of the damage from auto attacks. That can be a pretty big deal.

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Elixir of Wrath

You're full build? Get this. You're not full build and you're going to leave the base with 1k gold perhaps? Can't complete an item, and you're likely going to team fight soon? Get this. You pay 500 gold for a temporary effect that gives you a boost for 3 minutes that is worth at least ~2 times its cost (Give or take). It also gives a bit of sustain against champions, something that you don't get from this build.

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Death's Dance

I've built this item only once. The healing felt hard to notice. Gives good AD, so I'm sure it can be a good pick up instead of Youmuu's Ghostblade maybe.

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Ravenous Hydra

Nice item when you want lifesteal and AOE damage. In most cases, you'll want something else, but if you have the gold, can be fun to build.

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Game start

I buy that in 99% of games the mana sustain is too good. I buy a second one as soon as I can.

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Your first goal is to work towards a Youmuu's Ghostblade.

Second item is Duskblade of Draktharr followed by your tier two boots. Berserker's Greaves if you want to be greedy. Mercury's Treads if you don't need the extra attack speed and would rather have Tenacity and early MR. Ninja Tabi against auto attack heavy teams, or if you need early armor. Boots of Swiftness for extra mobility.

At this point, try to notice how the game is going. If they have a healer champion, you can pick up a single Executioner's Calling. You don't need to complete it until much later.

As your third item, get either Lord Dominik's Regards or Mortal Reminder, this will give you a big power spike. That's the point where you want to have big team fights.

If the game is going really well, start building a Sterak's Gage otherwise, Guardian Angel or Mercurial Scimitar is the way to go. Most games, you can build two of those items anyway.

This is just a draft, this section needs to be more detailed for each support specifically.

With Sion ADC, you get to play with a support. It's really nice since his kit is pretty much designed to fight in 2v2 fights. The best synergy is with supports that help him setup his combo.

Personally I prefer to team up with champions that deal AP burst damage like Annie, Vel'Koz, Zyra, Sona, Morgana, Lulu, Nami, Brand, Karma.

When teaming up with tanky supports, you need to trust your support a bit more since mistakes usually end up in you or them being dead. Blitzcrank, Taric, Thresh, Leona, Alistar can usually do good, but you need to be a good leader.

If you team up with a Janna or a Soraka, it's a bit harder since they tend to be the ones that can set the lane's pacing. With them, I always tell them the following: In this lane, the only one that is allowed to take damage is me. If you, as a Janna or Soraka take poke, any poke, it's bad. Having said that, I have seen really good Soraka players that were able to aggro switch really well and it really felt like they were doing the carrying.

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Braum

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You are two melee champions, so you are likely to get poked a lot early game. If you get pushed in, you might have to give up a bit of CS so ask for an early gank. Really strong duo after the first back if you keep buying pots.

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Zyra

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Really strong lane even before the first back. She is able to do a lot of work for you with her incredible poke. With her Grasping Roots she can setup your Q, or vice versa. Make sure she doesn't get too cocky. If she over extends, the other team can punish her and deal a lot of damage to her. I find that a lot of Zyra players really like to step up close and personal with the enemy team. That's usually bad.

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Blitzcrank

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Really strong lane, but with a bit of anti-synergy since he can pull people out of your abilities. His Rocket Grab is on a really long cooldown so don't waste your Q before he is about the grab someone.

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Janna

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Strong lane, but with a bit of anti-synergy since she can push people out of your abilities with her Monsoon. She is really amazing at protecting you. If you have vision control over the brush you are in, you can cheese a Q + Howling Gale combo to one shot people.

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Early Game

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Your first goal when you start the game is to farm to get your first 1100 gold for your first Serrated Dirk. That's your first power spike. If you need to recall earlier, get a Refillable Potion and your Control Ward.

Before that happens, you want to play safe so that you don't die. Try to land your Q on your two opponents. Notice how they react. Does their ADC respect you and backs away when you walk towards him? If he doesn't then you can harass him out of lane. Always mind your own positioning. Sion can get minion blocked really hard.

If they push the lane, you might have to use Q on the minion wave to counter their pushing. Or you can also freeze the lane in front of your tower. You can also ask your support to help you push if you need.

Written gameplay coming soon, meanwhile you can watch the following videos:
Play Video

Archives

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Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video

Sion has a lot of hidden mechanics. I'll try to document them here.

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When you aren't sure if enemies are hidden in brushes, especially during the laning phase, you can use E to throw a minion into the brush. If you aim it right, you will get vision inside the brush from a really long range.

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Sion's Q deals massive damage when you can full charge it. It's really easy to charge a Q fully when enemies run into you. The indicator is only visible if the enemy has vision on you. This means that you can charge it from fog of war, or in brushes makes for a powerful ambush. They won't see what hit them. You can use control wards to bait people into running into you. Or get your team to run towards you if they are getting chased.

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Sion's ult ignores CC. This means that you can use it as a black shield if you time it right. For example, if a Vayne is about to condemn you. Or if a Lux is about to root you. Or to dodge a Nautilus ult.

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Sion's E can be buffered. The only thing that stops it is death. This allows to make plays such as E + Flash for instant kills.

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Sion's E can be comboed with many other champions such as: Bard, Fiddlesticks, Jinx, Jhin, Lee Sin, Malzahar, Master Yi, Miss Fortune, Sivir, Tristana, Twisted Fate, Yasuo, Zilean.

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Sion's W deals massive damage. It can work as an execute against low health enemies. Quite often they will not expect a flash + W instant kill. To do it, you need to charge W 3 seconds early. If you can get the enemy within flashing distance, they will not have the time to react.

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When you stop Sion's ult manually, he does a leap animation. This makes it possible to jump over player made terrain. This is useful when ulting champions like Azir. When you're about to hit him, or his wall, you can stop the ult. This will make you jump over it so that you can be on top of the Azir.

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When you are playing against a Nocturne, make sure to ult before he does. The Nocturne vision limit won't be applied to you since Sion's ult stops all effects on him.

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Sion's ult can damage towers, and the damage is no joke.

Play Video

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