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GoliathGames' Master guide to Sion
Build Guide By I Am Goliath
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930
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Sion Build Guide By I Am Goliath
4,075,489
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79
Comments
Sion Build Guide By I Am Goliath
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Choose Champion Build:
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The Juggernaut
![LoL Champion: Sion]()
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Glacial Augment
![LoL Champion: Sion]()
Recommended Items
Runes:
Resolve
Inspiration
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Items
Ability Order
Glory in Death (PASSIVE)
Sion Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
Show All
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Fiora
I think Fiora is insane right now and she does especially well against tanks because his ult is insane against them. Try your best not to get hit by her vitals because this will heal her also allowing her to heal up your E poke, be careful charging your Q on her because she can parry it fairly easily or she can just Q to dash out of it, a good Fiora is really slippery and will dodge most of sions abilities and then just kill you at level 6 with her ult if you overextend sightly. Basically play super passive in this match up and try to impact other lanes with ult or teleport.
Synergies
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
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My other guides:
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Hey guys, My name is Goliath. I've played League of Legends since season 2 and have mained top lane since season 3. I've been high Diamond in every season since season 4, peaking at Master tier. League of Legends has always been the main game that I have stuck with over the years. Here is my OP.GG for anyone interested. If you want to see me play, maybe learn a thing or two, or ask me some questions, you can find my stream here. Stop by some time, I'm always down for giving advice and helping you improve. If streams aren't up you alley, you can also check out my YouTube channel here. I'm going to start uploading informative videos, as well as stream and gameplay highlights. If you want more general info, like when I upload, or update, a guide, then you can find my twitter here. If I'm offline on twitch but you still want some pointers or just wanna chill, then feel free to join my discord server and hit me up.
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Why Sion?
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I see Sion as one of the more interesting and "fun" tanks. Unlike other tanks, he's actually capable of being a heavy lane bully, and can also scale decently into late game.
Sion is usually my go to pick whenever I wanna play a more "skill-based" tank, or for when I want to play a tank that requires actual aiming on his abilities. Due to the skill-shots necessary when playing Sion, using him can feel very rewarding when you actually hit your targets. Another reason I love playing Sion is his Unstoppable Onslaught(R), which is not only useful, but also really fun to use. After level 6, you can get your teams lanes ahead by ganking with Unstoppable Onslaught(R), so it's a good tool for possibly turning a game around.
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TL;DR: If you like being a rage filled leviathan that bullies lane and focuses on skill-shots, or if you like trains, then you'll like Sion.
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Pros
+ Lots of CC. + Good engage. + Good peel. + Good gank and TP ability. + Good poke. |
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Cons
- Abilities are easy to juke. - No sustain. - Low mobility. - Long cooldowns |
In my eyes Sion has an about even amount of pros and cons. One thing to keep in mind is that the cons are going to be much worse the higher elo that you get. At higher elo people will sidestep your abilities much more often, as well as poke you down in lane more. However, I think against lower elo players, Sion can be extremely good. You can easily destroy lane and transition well into the mid game if you use Unstoppable Onslaught(R) properly.
Unstoppable Onslaught(R) properly.
- OPTION 1 -
- Resolve -
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Every 4 seconds in combat, your next basic attack on a champion will: |
Due to the added sustain and free hp provided by
Grasp of the Undying, I see it as much more consistent and safe pick for your laning phase when compared to Glacial Augment. I usually take Grasp if I'm against one of Sion's more difficult match-ups, or when I'm against a champion that is somewhat difficult in general.
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PASSIVE: You generate stacks on enemy structures within 600 units, up to 6 after 3 seconds. Your next attack versus a structure with 6 stacks deals 100 (+ 35% of your maximum health) bonus physical damage. Demolish will only go on cooldown upon triggering the damage. |
This rune is great for helping tanks such as Sion take turrets quicker, it's especially good because it scales off your max HP as well which Sion gets a lot of. Another tip with this rune is you can get can proc it in your passive if you're close to a turret when you die.
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PASSIVE: After taking damage from an enemy champion, for 1.5 seconds, the next 3 spells or attacks you receive from the same enemy champion deal 30 − 60 (based on level) less damage. |
This rune just helps you win trades especially early game and is especially good at all in champs like Kled,Riven,Renekton, etc..
Note: If you're against a poke lane make sure to take
Second Wind.
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PASSIVE: Every 8 monsters or enemy minions that die near you permanently grants 3 bonus health. |
Also another scaling rune here,Sion gets a ton of max HP so more bonus HP is always welcomed.
- Inspiration -
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PASSIVE: Receive a Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will item Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will at 2:00, 4:00 and 6:00. If the inventory is full while receiving a biscuit, the biscuit(s) will appear as soon as a place in the inventory is freed. |
This rune helps a lot with early laning phase as Sion, also another nice thing about this rune is it helps your mana problems early on and increases your maximum mana as well which is great, also if you sell the biscuits for whatever reason you get some gold and still get the mana increase.
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PASSIVE: Gain Cooldown reduction icon 5% cooldown reduction and increases the cooldown reduction cap to 45%. Additionally, reduces the cooldown of Summoner spell icon summoner spells and item actives by 5%.Great Rune on Sion since cooldown reduction is an amazing stat and really helps with getting more W's in fights which essentially makes you more tankier, this rune is also going to lower your item CDR and summoner spell CDR which is really good too. |
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- OPTION 2 -
- Inspiration -
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Basic attacking a champion slows them for 2 seconds. The slow increases up to its maximum strength over its duration. |
Glacial Augment is actually very solid on Sion, and a great pick if you want to adopt a more aggressive playstyle. The main thing that this rune is used for is Autoing an enemy, then following up with
Decimating Smash(Q); the slowdown caused by Glacial Augment allows you to hit Decimating Smash(Q)'s fairly easily in lane. This rune also comes in handy for picking up kills while in your passive, and for extra slows for your team with Turbo Chemtank active.
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You get free Slightly Magical Boots at 10 min, but you cannot buy boots before then. For each takedown you acquire the boots 30 seconds sooner. |
I just take these for the free boots, but if you're against a hard match up, or if they have a good jungle/top combo that has big potential to dive you, then I would recommend
Perfect Timing, however in most cases magical footwear should be fine.
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Biscuit Delivery: Gain a Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will at 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 and 12:00. |
This rune just gives you a
Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will every couple of minutes during the early game, which will add to your sustain and help you win your lane early on. The main reason we take this is because it synergizes well with Time Warp Tonic. Also, the biscuits increase your mana permanently, which is a really nice added benefit allowing you to spam Decimating Smash(Q) more.
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Your potions, elixirs, and biscuits last 20% longer. |
This rune is just amazing since you pretty much always grab a
Corrupting Potion when playing Sion. There's not to much to say about this rune other than that it just gives you a ton of sustain, and allows you to spam Decimating Smash(Q) in lane way more due to the extra mana gained from the Corrupting Potion. You also get a mini boost of MS while under the effects of consumables, which may seem small but can actually help out a lot.
- Resolve -
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After taking damage from an enemy champion, their next three spells or attacks against you deal 15-40 less damage (at levels 1-18). |
This rune is just a must in my opinion since it helps you so much for trading; not to mention, the other ones in the slot aren't very good anyway.
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Permanently gain 0.2% maximum health for every 8 monsters or enemy minions that die near you. |
Also another scaling rune here,
Revitalize is also viable for a bigger shield from Soul Furnace(W), but I prefer to go Overgrowth since the % max HP boost gained actually ends up being massive. I've had games with Sion where I was getting 600 HP just from my overgrowth rune.
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Flash: This spell is kind of a "must" on most champions, and the same is true for Sion. Flash gives you some much needed mobility. Allowing you to flash away from getting killed or ganked, while also allowing you to get some kills. |
Teleport: Teleport is a very useful spell for most top laners, and extremely good on Sion since his ganks are so strong. Consider running halfway to a lane, and then using Unstoppable Onslaught(R) to kill the enemy, and then using TP to get back to your lane. Also, you can just TP to one of your friendly turrets and use Unstoppable Onslaught(R) from there, but you won't have a quick way back to lane, so try to plan this out ahead of time.
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Upon taking fatal damage, Sion briefly becomes invulnerable then enters a frenzy, restoring himself to full health but begins to drain (1 + level) health for the first tick and increasing by (0.7 + (0.7 x level)) health per tick. Sion can freely move and attack during this time, gaining 100% lifesteal, attacking at 1.75 attack speed and dealing 10% of his target's maximum health as on-hit physical damage (capped at 75 bonus damage against monsters). |
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Glory in Death: Sion's passive is a very strange ability, most of the time it is not very good, but every once awhile you can go ham with it. It all depends on if you're able to stick onto a target. Basically, once you "die," you go into a frenzy where your autos do a bunch of damage, while also giving you lifesteal. During this, your HP will drain very quickly, so try to auto whoever is closest to you to maximize it's usefulness. Also remember this passive has an active that will give you a small speed boost, so make sure you always use this to try to get to a target or to stick onto a target. |
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First cast: Sion starts channeling, increasing the damage of Decimating Smash over the next 2 seconds. If Sion's channel is interrupted by crowd control, Decimating Smash will have a reduced cooldown. |
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Decimating Smash: Sion's Q is a very strong ability, having good base damage, and also scaling well with bonus AD; the downside to this being that it can be dodged fairly easily, and can also be canceled by other stuns, so keep that in mind. You're going to want to hit them with Roar of the Slayer(E) first to slow them, allowing for an easier hit. This ability is very useful for chaining CC with somebody, because if the enemy champion is already caught in a stun, you get the opportunity to charge your Q up, chaining into an additional, even longer, stun. Remember that this ability can be used in brush, and they won't be able to see you charging it.This is a very strong ability, so try your best to land it; even if it means not charging it up for the full duration. If you charge it for over a second it will stun the enemy, but charging for less than 1 second will just slow them. |
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Passive: Sion permanently gains 3 bonus health whenever he kills a unit, increased to 10 against large units and champion kills and assists. |
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Soul Furnace: This is Sion's only defensive ability, and gives him a small shield that can be reactivated for a bit of damage as long as the shield doesn't break. This ability is usually used as an extra little bit of damage in your combo, or just to tank a little bit of damage. You're going to want to get a point in this ability early on because of it's passive, which allows you to get 2 permanent bonus HP every time you kill a minion, and 10 permanent bonus HP if you kill a cannon minion, large jungle monster, or champion. This ability is not very strong until later on in the game, since the shield scales with your % max hp, and the magic damage it does scales with your targets max % hp; but the passive is amazing for scaling, and allows Sion to get a ridiculous amount of total HP throughout the game. |
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Sion bellows in the target direction, dealing 65 / 100 / 135 / 170 / 205 (+55% of ability power) magic damage to the first enemy he hits, as well as slowing it by 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60% and reducing its armor by 20% for 4 seconds. |
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Roar of the Slayer: This ability is very convenient for poking in lane, as well as sniping kills. Basically you'll want to throw their own minions at them for the increased damage, but this ability also works on it's own. This ability is great in laning phase because it doesn't cost that much mana, and you can use it from a safe distance. Another thing to keep in mind is that this ability lowers the targets armor, and applys a slow, while also doing magic damage. |
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Sion charges in the target direction for up to 8 seconds, during which time he cannot cast abilities nor attack, but is immune to all crowd control effects. Sion's trajectory will update toward the mouse cursor over the duration, but his rotation speed is significantly slow. |
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Unstoppable Onslaught: Sions has a pretty interesting ult. It scales great into late game with bonus AD, and is also, atleast in my opinion, one of the most fun abilities to use in the entire game. You aim with your mouse cursor, and you'll move super fast until you hit an enemy champion or terrain. It will go through minions and damage them, so as long as you don't hit terrain, then you can keep cruising along. Usually you'll want to use this ability to gank a lane, or to engage a team fight. Be aware that you can stop this ability early as well. This causes you to slam the ground and do a ton of area of effect damage, just try be sure and hit a champion with it if you can, as it also can apply a stun. The range on this ability is amazing, allowing you to use it all the way from a Tier two turret, to a lane. Another great thing about this ability is that you're immune to CC while you're charging making this great for engaging and escaping, just keep in mind if you use this ability to escape that you can still be blocked by somebody Flashing or dashing on top of you. The downside to this ability however is people will Flash it, or dodge it entirely with an ability, so try to use it when an enemy is off guard. |
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Ability Sequence
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Laning phase with Sion is really different and more fun then your usual tank in my eyes. You can be a total lane bully, and try to hit the enemy champion with their own minion as much as you can by using Roar of the Slayer(E), then follow up with a Decimating Smash(Q), or go in the top brushes and see if you can get a cheesey Decimating Smash(Q) off on them. You can also use Decimating Smash(Q) to zone them off a minion, preferably a cannon minion. You want to try to bully them out of lane, or atleast keep their HP low enough to where they can't go in on you. Another thing you want to do during the laning phase is use Unstoppable Onslaught(R) to gank for mid, or bot, and then TP back to lane. Doing this will help your team out a lot early on and you don't lose much time doing it. If the enemy top lane is somebody with a lot of poke, don't be afraid to max Roar of the Slayer(E) and poke them back, or, if you're having trouble csing, this can allow you to get some cs and still survive. |
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Sion does not do well against ganks, so make sure you're buying Control Wards and warding with your trinket as much as you can. Don't be afraid to use Unstoppable Onslaught(R) to get away from a gank. Since Unstoppable Onslaught(R) can't be canceled by CC, it makes for a great escape tool, just keep in mind that it can be blocked if they Flash or if they jump in front of you while you're charging away. |
Threat List
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Nautilus: Nautilus should never kill Sion, as there's just not enough damage unless you're eating all of his E's. Just keep poking him with Roar of the Slayer(E) and use Unstoppable Onslaught(R) to roam. He can cancel your Decimating Smash(Q) with his Q pretty easily though, so try to hide behind minions when you channel Decimating Smash(Q). You also both scale pretty evenly, so try to outfarm him. After you get a cowl, or any type of magic resist item, he really shouldn't do anything to you.
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Gragas: You can win this matchup for sure. Gragas should never really be able to kill you, because he just doesn't have enough damage for how tank you can get. You should be able to hit Roar of the Slayer(E) and Decimating Smash(Q) on him, he does have pretty good escape, but even if you're not able to kill him he really shouldn't ever had the damage to kill you; especially after you pick up one magic resist item.
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Renekton: I usually win this matchup, but it can be kinda tough in the very early game just because of renektons raw damage in his kit. He can cancel your Decimating Smash(Q) with his W, and also E out of your Decimating Smash(Q), so it can be challenging to land Decimating Smash(Q) on him. However, once you get some armor he doesn't really have enough damage to all in you or even kill you. Sunfire plus ninja tabi's should allow you to win 1v1's, and renekton falls off pretty hard mid to late game, so I think this is a pretty easy match up.
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Lissandra: This is a hard match up early because of her poke damage against you, but once you get a spirit visage she shouldn't be able to kill you. Try your best to match her poke and survive until you can get some magic resist. If she E's away you should still be able to hit Roar of the Slayer(E) on her, and also sometimes your Decimating Smash(Q) if you start charging it early, as she has to wait a little bit for her E to travel before she Teleports to it.
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Galio: Galio is pretty strong in the top lane as of right now, but I think this match up is winnable. I'd say it's very similar to the Gragas matchup, although I think Galio does a bit more damage, and has the potential to kill you if he lands everything. Also keep in mind Galio's ult is about the same range as yours is, so he can get to a fight when he hears you use Unstoppable Onslaught(R).
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Kled:Kled doesn't have very good sustain, so I think you can win this matchup most of the time; Although it is annoying because of how much hp he has. If you can poke him down and get him off skarl, then you should be able to all in him and kill him pretty easily. Once you get ninja tabi's he shouldn't really be able to kill you unless he gets a gank so make sure you're warding up. Once he gets super bulky you probably won't be able to kill him, but that's just how Kled is, he can E away from your Decimating Smash(Q)'s and also Q away from them when he is off skarl. His Q will interrupt your Decimating Smash(Q), but only after it procs, so just activate Decimating Smash(Q) before it pulls you in and you will be fine. Both of your ults are pretty similar, although I think his is a little better since it gives a speed boost to his allies as well. You might want to consider getting a thornmail in this match up since he is pretty much all auto attacks.
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Riven: This can be a hard matchup, as she has the mobility to dodge your Decimating Smash(Q) and Roar of the Slayer(E), and she has two ways to cancel your Decimating Smash(Q). I've won this matchup a few times early on in the laning phase, but I feel like if the riven is good the lane is definitely in her favor. It's still very hard for her to kill you though, so I don't have a huge problem with this matchup, just poke as much as you can, and if she E's your Roar of the Slayer(E) then try to go in for a quick trade while her shield is down. Never 1v1 all in her though, especially when she is 6 because she has more consistent damage than you.
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Gnar: This is a really annoying matchup, especially in the early levels. Try not to get hit by his third W proc often, as the damage will start to add up. Respect his mega form and play passive when it's up. However I find the mini gnar is more annoying when playing a hard tank like sion, because of the W procs. Once you get some armor and health items he shouldn't do to much to you, but Gnar also scales pretty well into the late game so I'd say this is a fairly even matchup that is annoying for you early. Remember when he is in mega he can use his W and R to cancel your Decimating Smash(Q) channel.
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Nasus: Nasus is a hard matchup since he scales really well into late game and because he can sustain your poke. Either try to get your team really ahead by roaming a lot, or have your jungler camp your lane because you do not want a Nasus to get out of control. Other then that he can't really kill you during lane, and he will be focused on just getting cs.
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Camille: Pretty easy match up early, but late game she will destroy you especially since her ultimate is so good against tanks. Try not to get hit by her second Q proc that does true damage, if she doesn't hit you with that then she really doesn't have enough damage to kill you. Remember that you can't escape her ultimate, so if she ults you just try to get a Decimating Smash(Q) knock up off on her. It's really hard to answer her split late game, and most champions can't, so try to force team fights with Unstoppable Onslaught(R) late game.
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Darius: This matchup is very hard, as Darius does super well against tank characters. He can also cancel your Decimating Smash(Q) with his E so keep that in mind. It's not super easy for him to kill you, but it's practically impossible to kill him in this lane, so try your best to just survive and scale up. Use Unstoppable Onslaught(R) to get other lanes ahead. If he ever gets a few stacks on you just back off of him.
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Yasuo: This is a hard matchup since he is so slippery and can dodge most of your stuff, very hard to hit Decimating Smash(Q) on yasuo's and sometimes Roar of the Slayer(E) if he is really good. Your best bet is to try to win this matchup early because at 6 he can kill you if he lands a tornado on you. Yasuo is pretty punishable early though so take advantage of that just be careful because if he snowballs at all the lanes probably over. Remember that his winwall does not block your Roar of the Slayer(E) since the minion is not a projectile.
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Fiora: I think Fiora is insane right now, and she does especially well against tanks because her ult is insane against them. Try your best not to get hit by her vitals because this will heal her also allowing her to heal up your Roar of the Slayer(E) poke, be careful charging your Decimating Smash(Q) on her because she can parry it fairly easily or she can just Q to dash out of it, a good Fiora is really slippery and will dodge most of sions abilities and then just kill you at level 6 with her ult if you overextend sightly. Basically play super passive in this match up and try to impact other lanes with Unstoppable Onslaught(R) or Teleport.
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Team fighting with Sion is fairly easy. You can usually hit your abilities on someone, or at least use your abilities to zone. Although Sion has great engage with Unstoppable Onslaught(R), I normally use it for peeling one of the enemy champions off for a guaranteed stun, and then you can chain it with Roar of the Slayer(E) and Decimating Smash(Q) making them stunned for even longer. I think Sion does a great job at soaking damage and staying alive, while also having amazing peel for your team Never try to charge in and get their ADC with Sion however; You have no mobility, and will usually get kited. Try your best to peel for your team, and zone with Decimating Smash(Q) as you can block off small paths with this ability, or get a good knock up into stun. Sion synergizes very well with teams that already have a lot of CC, as they make it much easier for you to hit your abilities. Champions like Morgana, that have a super long stun, make it very easy for Sion to get a fully charged Decimating Smash(Q), so I would recommend picking Sion if your team comp looks like it has some solid CC. |
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Try your best to sit on your carries, and peel them while they do damage. I know sometimes just charging at the enemy ADC with Unstoppable Onslaught(R) can be tempting, but you will win way more games if you play Sion as a wall that just peels for your team. |
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Overall Sion is a very fun and rewarding tank to play because of how much skill he takes. If you find tank champions to be somewhat boring, then you should definitely give Sion a try. The way in which he is a tank with great CC and survivability, but also has the ability to do tons of damage and win most lanes, makes him kinda unique among the other tanks in his class. The fact that you have to aim most of Sion's abilities is part of the reason he is so fun, but also ends up being one of his biggest downsides. I would say if you're above diamond, you probably shouldn't play this champion since players will better at sidestepping, dodging, and also canceling your abilities. I do however think Sion is amazing below this elo, as some players will not know how to play against you, and you can usually crush them in lane, or get one nice roam with Unstoppable Onslaught(R) that can snowball the game. |
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