Welcome to the League of Legends Champion Spotlight featuring Lee Sin, the Blind Monk
Lee Sin is a melee fighter. He rushes around battle, dealing consistent damage with his attacks and abilities.
Alternatively, he can dash in and out of combat, dealing damage in short bursts before retreating.
Lee Sin uses energy to fuel his abilities, meaning he’s limited more by cooldowns and maximum energy than regeneration.
His three non-ultimate abilities are actually two skills in one: After using each skill, the secondary version is available for a few seconds.
Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike sends out a skill-shot nuke.
If it hits an enemy, Lee Sin may dash to that target, damaging it and dealing extra damage based on the target’s missing health.
With Safeguard / Iron Will, Lee Sin rushes to target allied minion or champion, shielding it and himself when he arrives.
You may also self-cast the ability to receive the shield without dashing.
Afterwards, Lee Sin may cast Iron Will, which temporarily gives him increased life steal, spell vamp, and armor.
Tempest / Cripple damages nearby enemies and reveals them for a few seconds.
Lee Sin may then cast Cripple, slowing the movement and attack speeds of nearby targets hit by Tempest. This slow gradually dies out over its duration.
Lee Sin’s ultimate is Dragon’s Rage. Target enemy champion is damaged and knocked back.
Enemies struck by the rebounding champion also take damage and are knocked into the air.
Lee Sin’s passive is Flurry. Following every ability cast, Lee Sin’s next two basic attacks are faster and refund 10 energy each.
This buff does not stack upon itself, so spacing out your abilities will maximize your gains.
Taking Sonic Wave at level 1, I’m able to easily harass Fiddlesticks. Whenever I get the chance, I force him back away from the minions, denying experience.
Using Safeguard, I move to a position where I can land another Sonic Wave. Once he burns Terrify, I know I can dive for the kill with Exhaust.
The turret kills me, but it was worth it, because I said so in chat.
This harassment gets even easier once you learn Tempest / Cripple. I wait patiently killing minions.
Once I see Fiddlesticks move too close to escape, I know I can rush in for the kill. Sonic Wave to Resonating Strike plus a quick Tempest puts me at 2-1.
One of the best advantages that Lee Sin has with Iron Will and Wriggle’s Lantern is lifesteal.
Here I recklessly dive Fiddlesticks under his turret, knowing full well that I can’t kill him.
I simply disengage and regenerate my health on minions, ready to fight again.
Soon, I’m able to spring a trap from the brush, killing Fiddlesticks.
I find a teamfight in progress. Landing Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike, I deal as much damage as I can to Katarina while slowing her with Tempest / Cripple.
As she escapes, I use Dragon’s Rage on Lee Sin to knock Katarina into the air. I would have picked up the kill with Tempest, but Heimerdinger grabs it with his rockets.
Once Amumu initiates, I jump onto Fiddlesticks quickly with Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike and noticing that I’ve pulled tower aggro, run away with the shield from Safeguard.
Always remember that Safeguard lets you escape to a nearby teammate. Here the enemy Lee Sin tries to kick me back into his team with Dragon’s Rage.
Right as he starts casting it, I dash in front of him with Safeguard, causing him to push me to safety instead.
Safeguard may also be cast as an initiation move. Here we catch Warwick off to the side.
I Safeguard to the nearest minion, cast Exhaust, and chase him down with Tempest / Cripple.
I last hit with Dragon’s Rage just in case he starts channeling Infinite Duress on one of us.
Some may say that was a kill steal, but for Lee Sin the Blind Monk, every kill is his to take.
A teamfight erupts in the enemy base. I make a point to kick away Katarina with Dragon’s Rage, immediately chasing her and the enemy Lee Sin.
I follow my team back in for Alistar, but as soon as I see myself low, I immediately try to Safeguard out of the battle.
We start another fight in mid. I prioritize Katarina right away, using my energy on the offensive spells of Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike and Tempest / Cripple.
I then chase down Alistar, using Tempest / Cripple to slow him. He gets one Headbutt off before running out of mana due to Wit’s End.
Because he Flashes away, I chase with Ghost. With his mana still too low to react, I pick up the kill with Exhaust.
Immediately afterwards, I get attacked, but Tempest / Cripple ensures I chase down the enemy Lee Sin.
While I play Lee Sin in lane, he can also jungle. In the background I’ll show his jungle route to level 5 while detailing his laning and jungling builds.
While laning, I take armor penetration marks, armor per level seals, magic resist per level glyphs, and flat health regeneration quintessences.
In the jungle I trade my seals for flat armor and my quintessences for more armor penetration.
My laning masteries are 22/6/2, taking almost everything but critical damage in offense, plus resistances in defense and improving my Exhaust and Ghost summoner spells.
In the jungle, I take similar 21/0/9 masteries, replacing Exhaust for Smite and ensuring I reach 9 points in utility for increased buff durations.
My laning skill order maxes out Sonic Wave as soon as possible, taking an early point in Tempest at level 3, but otherwise maxing Safeguard.
In the jungle, I swap the order, maxing Tempest first with a point in Sonic Wave at 4.
When jungling, I start with just a Vampiric Scepter, taking a Cloth Armor when I first go back to base.
Otherwise follow the laning build as follows: Start with Cloth Armor and Health Potions. I grab Wriggle’s Lantern, Mercury Treads, and Wit’s End early on.
Frozen Mallet, Youmuu’s Ghostblade, and Guardian Angel add to my durability and damage, rounding out my items.
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Thanks for tuning into the Lee Sin, the Blind Monk Champion Spotlight. Lee Sin is actually coming to League of Legends on April 1, 2011.