Introduction
🚀 Lee Sin is an early game nuker that can outburst most junglers early in game. Pre-6 is Lee Sin's playground as he can easily deal damage without the help of his ultimate. He's also very mobile thanks to his two gap closers that both shares a decent cooldown. Pick him if you want to apply pressure anywhere around the map without sacrificing jungle camps for ganks. Getting ahead of the enemy jungler is also one of Lee Sin's strength. You might also want to lock him in if you want to have an ally snowball and smash their lane. 🚀
Why Jungle Lee Sin?
📝 One of the most iconic, mechanically demanding champions in League of Legends has to be Lee Sin, the Blind Monk. With the reputation for highly mobile, heavy ganks and making or breaking games with his plays, Lee Sin is definitely a staple pick among players in search of dynamic and fast-paced gameplay. If you are thinking about picking up Lee Sin, here are some very compelling reasons that he ought to form a part of your champion pool.
📝 The storytelling in the role of Lee Sin in the jungle cannot be emphasized further. His versatile kit enables him to dive in and out of engagements in the jungle, perform ganks, and secure objectives. Sonic Wave/Resonating Strike (Q) helps him be very mobile and close gaps. Safeguard/Iron Will (W) can give him very good mobility and sustain, thus making him one very good duelist and ganker. The fact that he's able to dash to allies, wards, or minions gives him unmatched flexibility in the way he engages and disengages from fights.
📝 Another one of the major reasons to play Lee Sin is his high potential for making game-changing plays. His ultimate, Dragon's Rage (R), can kick enemies into your team, which allows for opportunities at multikills or breaking up an enemy formation. This ability seals the deal on Lee Sin as one of the best champions to make picks and turn the tides of a fight with a well-timed kick. Players who relish in game-defining moments full of flashiness will be amply rewarded by mastering Lee Sin's combos and mechanics.
📝 Another high point for Lee Sin is his early game presence. He is one early-game jungler who can apply so much pressure to the map. He can execute quick and effective ganks that will have your team easily snowballing to secure an early lead. His early-game power allows you to invade an enemy jungle, set up for a skirmish, or dive an enemy under their tower—in other words, he dictates the pace of the game and constantly keeps enemies on the back foot.
📝 Lee Sin is quite strong early in his gold curve and items a bit decently towards the mid-game, where he prevails to be good through his utility and crowd control. His damage will be a bit dwindling into the later stages, yet due to his capability of peeling for the carry, causing disruption to enemy forces, and even executing necessary key targets, he shall always be relevant in one way or another for the entirety of a match. His building can be more defensive or offensive towards the needs of the team due to his versatility.
📝 Lastly, Lee Sin has a high skill ceiling, which ensures that he feels rewarding when mastered. In essence, the difficulty of playing his champion often equates to the sense of accomplishment one obtains from mastering his mechanics or executing a complex play. He rewards players who invest the time to actually learn his combos and ward-hop techniques. A deep understanding of the game lets you clutch up almost any situation. For those who like a champion offering a depth that requires precision, Lee Sin is the perfect match.
📝 Ultimately, Lee Sin is a champion that goes highly versatile, with plenty of potential for high-impact playmaking and great satisfaction for mastering mechanics. His devotion to taking the initiative early into the game and influencing the same, combined with his utility and mobility, cements the fact that he is at the top of the jungle tier list. No matter if you are a veteran jungler in need of something new, Lee Sin is a champion worth mastering in League of Legends.
Lee Sin's Pros and Cons
✅ Pros
✔️ Highly mobile
✔️ Fast camp clearing
✔️ Good ganking potential
✔️ Good early game damage
❌ Cons
✘ High skill ceiling
✘ Suffers when behind
✘ Falls off late-game (when played as off-tank)
✘ Risky plays
✘ Energy hungry
✔️ With 2 gap closers in his kit, Lee Sin makes ganking really easily and less risky. His fast camp clears thanks to his passive, Flurry are also worth notable since you would spend less time on the jungle and more time around the map. Capitalize on these advantages to try and have your laners snowball and dominate their lanes.
❌ Lee Sin's early game damage would eventually fall off if you build him as an off-tank, which is definitely the ones in this guide. Going lethality or assassin route would also make sense if you still want to be a big threat late game. Knowing when to engage and disengage is the key for a better Lee Sin game by building him off-tank. This makes him more like a utility champion that helps pick carries to try and win a team fight.
Lee Sin Summoner Spells
Lee Sin Runes
Lee Sin Items
Lee Sin Skill Order
🛠️ Tips of Abilities:
📌 PASSIVE - Flurry
🛠️ This is very potent during trades, always use it to gain energy back and you will clear camps faster too which combines nicely with Hunter's Machete's passive. Between each spell cast when clearing, use both procs, however at about level 7, when using Safeguard only use the first proc, and then cast Iron Will as it's cooldown is low enough so you always have Flurry up. A lot of the time when you are in a close fight with an enemy you will usually land the killing auto attack first due to this passive.
📌 Q (First Cast) - Sonic Wave/Resonating Strike
🛠️ I always max Sonic Wave/Resonating Strike first, however I take it at level 2. One tip is after doing red buff, use Sonic Wave over the Krugs wall on the large krug. Then wait for it to walk away from the wall a bit and Resonating Strike in. Keep the Large krug between you and the small one to avoid taking damage from it. Resonating Strike is an execute, so you want to put as much damage into the enemy before using it. Always try to start a fight with this, that was as the fight evolves and plays out it will come back off cooldown, giving you an escape tool. You lose a lot of power if you miss Sonic Wave, so usually it will tell you whether you should fight or not. Do not hold onto Sonic Wave for too long or you will usually lose the fight.
📌 W (First Cast) - Safeguard/Iron Will
🛠️ I take this at level 1 because as well as being a shield to yourself and an ally. It could save them from ignite or let you catch up to an escaping enemy. In addition to this Iron Will gives you spell vamp and lifesteal which will help you sustain in the jungle, especially in the early stages. You can also jump to wards to get away however this is tricky for beginners because it requires a 5th move (usually under the thumb; 'C' or 'V' for me). Remember that the cooldown isn't halved if you don't dash to a champion as is the energy cost, so be wary of this. Be careful to also not accidentally cast Iron Will as this will further drain your energy. Also be careful when using this in combat on yourself, as it counts as a dash even if you self-cast Safeguard. This means if you are mid attack animation, it will cancel which can lose you a duel, so always try cast it after an attack has landed. For the same aforementioned reason, you cannot self-cast Safeguard when rooted. Iron Will combined with Conqueror will let you outsustain a lot of champions in the early game such as Vi and Jarvan IV, and survive bursts from Rengar and Gragas. Do not underestimate the combination of the two.
📌 E (First Cast) - Tempest/Cripple
🛠️ This is AOE damage, take this at level 3 for stronger gank potential as well as being able to keep your passive Flurry procced more often. This spell has to hit an enemy to be able to use the second part, Cripple. This spell is good for trading or for kiting/catching opponents. It is also good for peeling your enemies off your carries. Another thing about this is that it does magic damage so enemies need Magic Resistance to defend themselves which is pretty good as it stop them building pure armor. Finally, during early ganks you can Sonic Wave - Resonating Strike - Tempest to quickly activate Electrocute if you take that instead of Conqueror. Sometimes you should Tempest+ Flash to catch opponents off guard and giving them less time to react.
📌 R - Dragon's Rage
🛠️ This is a nuke of an ult which scales double your bonus attack damage, it can be used to defend yourself or kill an enemy but most importantly in the early game to set up ganks and kills for your teammates. The Q-R-Q combo is you landing Sonic Wave on your enemy, you then kick the with your ult, Dragon's Rage and subsequently catch them again with Resonating Strike. It is also a knock-up and disrupts teamfights as well as damaging all enemies behind the kicked one for the same amount + 15% of the kicked players bonus health. Due to the low cooldown of this ability don't be afraid to use it liberally to disengage or save yourself if you see a fight turning sour. Alternatively, if you have Conqueror stacked fully you can gain a lot of health and deal a lot of damage if you hit multiple targets with Dragon's Rage.
Lee Sin Ability Combos
✔️ E + AA + E + AA + W + AA + Q + AA + AA + Q: Start with E, then AA, E, AA, W, AA, Q, AA, AA and finish with your Q again.
✔️ T + W + AA + AA + E + AA + E + AA + Q + Q: Start off with a quick ward hop with T & W, then AA, AA, E, AA, E, AA and finish with a Q, Q.
✔️ W + AA + E + AA + E + AA + W + AA + R + Q: Self cast your W, then AA, E, AA, E, AA, W, AA then use your R and Q twice to finish them off.
✔️ Q + Q + T + W + R: Q Q to your enemy, then use T and W to ward hop behind them and R them into your team.
✔️ Q + Q + R + FLASH: Q and Q again to your enemy and then R and Flash to knock them back into your team.
✔️ Q + T + W + R + Q + AA: Q then T and W to ward hop to your enemy, then use your R, and Q again followed by an AA.
✔️ Q + T + W + R + Q + AA + E + AA: Q on your target, then ward hop with T and W, then R, Q again, AA E and AA to finish.
✔️ Q + FLASH + R + Q + E: Use your Q and Flash R Q and E.
✔️ Q + Q + FLASH + T + W + R: Use your Q and Q again to get nearer your target, then Flash and ward hop before using your R
✔️ Q + Q + T + W + R + FLASH: Q and Q again to a target, then use your T and W to ward hop and then R Flash to kick them back into your allies.
⚠️ Notes: T is Stealth ward.
Jungle Clear
💡 Standard full clear (E Start)
💡 Raptors > Krugs > Red > Check for gank, if not possible > Wolves > Blue > Gromp > Scuttle Crab
💡 Aggresive invade (E Start)
✅ Raptors (don't use smite) > move towards enemy Blue.
✅ If Blue is up, take it + Gromp. Afterwards you can gank enemy sidelane or recall to defend your Blue side
✅ If it's not up, enemy is at Gromp, wait around 5 seconds, catch him at his Gromp, smite Gromp and try to get the kill aswell.
Game plan
⚠️ Analyze your Jungle matchup, are they an early game jungler like Lee Sin? or would they rather full clear and scale for late? If they are an early game jungler, establish your win con and look to gank that lane, pay attention to summoner spell usage and regank lanes who don't have Flash. Track the enemy jungler's starting buff and pay attention to where they show on the map. Communicate these things to your team and always think about where the enemy jungler could be if you aren't 100% sure.
⚠️ If they are a scaling/farming jungler you want to look to punish their weak early game by doing a potential invade, or setting up a countergank. Disrupting a scaling junglers first clear/gank is a great way to gain jungle tempo. Look for a fast level 3 (Red/Raptors/Gromp or Red/Blue/Gromp) into an invade on their second buff. Make sure you are tracking where they start and invade the opposite buff. Communicate to your team you want to invade. If you don't have lane prio, don't invade. Instead gank the lanes that are pushed in.
⚠️ It's important you consider laner matchups (volatile vs farming lanes) as well as gank setup when deciding who to gank first. Sometimes you want your bot lane to win but you know its hard to gank the enemy Ezreal/Yuumi without any CC or gank setup. That being said, play for a lane that has gank setup in the mean time and you can start to focus bot when you have your ult. Remember to punish lanes who don't have flashes.
⚠️ You don't always have to hit a flashy insec/play to win games and team fights. Analyze the game state, is your carry stronger than theirs? do you need to peel yours? or is it more important for you to kick the fed enemy carry into your team?
⚠️ Always look to make plays when R is up, look for number advantages in fights and punish the enemy team accordingly.
Warding
Summary: Teamwork/Teamfights
⚠️ Early Game, 0-10 minutes:
☑️ Shut down carries
☑️ Get kills/assists
☑️ Give blue to mid
⚠️ Mid Game, 11-25 minutes:
☑️ If you are ahead you can pretty much 100-0 any non-pure tank champions, which you can use especially to kill squishy midlaners and adc's farming sidelanes or walking through unwarded jungle areas.
☑️ Start building Health, Armor and Magic Resistance if you are behind and start playing like a second support especially if you have a fed midlaner or adc.
☑️ Move around the map as much as you can with all your bonus movement speed, take objectives such as dragon
⚠️ Late Game, 26+ minutes
☑️ Initiater
☑️ Tank/Offtank if someone like Shen is in top
☑️ Peeler>Save carries
⚠️ In teamfights go straight for their ADC/Mid. They are your primary target, if they are someone like Kassadin or Talon who get quite beefy try to zone them out. Remember to lay out your moves equally apart so that you get maximum benefit. Use Randuins omen at start and then your Tempest Cripple about 3 seconds later, this will give the enemy a slow that lasts 5 seconds.
Lee Sin's Tips and Tricks
🛠️ Bind your trinket to your Mouse Button (If possible) and smart cast it. This will really help speed up your ward hopping. Which will then speed up your Insec's, Chinese Insec's and so much more.
🛠️ Sometimes it's better to hold Sonic Wave than it is to use it. The threat of you throwing Sonic Wave can cause enemies to completely outplay themselves. That being said, try to setup easy Sonic Wave's with Safeguard and then Tempest and slowing with Cripple.
🛠️ Sonic Wave cooldown begins on first cast. That being said, you can land Sonic Wave, wait a few seconds, take the second Resonating Strike and your Sonic Wave will almost be off cooldown again. This really helps when bursting enemies and catching slippery targets. You can Sonic Wave, wait until the end of the cooldown, take Resonating Strike, Tempest, Cripple, Dragon's Rage and Sonic Wave is back off cooldown again to finish them off.
🛠️ Always use Yellow Trinket (Obviously), don't ever sell it.
🛠️ Always try to have atleast 1 Control Ward in your inventory, it can net you a kill or save your Flash/life. Don't always buy 2 Control Ward, this can really waste your money, especially if you're behind.
🛠️ Tagging with Sonic Wave and then Safeguard to a ward to bait out an escape ability or get in range for Tempest/or auto attacks is a really strong tactic to catch enemies off guard. Most times enemies will think you are using your Resonating Strike when really it's just Safeguard. A lot of times this combo is necessary to get enough damage prior to executing with Resonating Strike
🛠️ Practice in practice tool. You can practice ward hopping, Insec's, Chinese Insec's, Ghost Kicks, Full Damage Combos etc. This will really improve your mechanics.
Conclusion
✍️ This guide will be continually updated to add more information. I will keep the guide updated as new patches come out.
✍️ Anything else you want out of the guide? Comment and let me know! 😊
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