# Sion Counters, Matchups & Tips | Baron Buff See Sion counters, hardest matchups, and tips to play against or draft around Sion in League of Legends. Canonical HTML: https://baronbuff.com/champions/sion/ Markdown URL: https://baronbuff.com/champions/sion.md Language: en ## Breadcrumbs - [Baron Buff](https://baronbuff.com/) - [Champion Tier List](https://baronbuff.com/champions/) - Sion ## Page Content Tank · Vanguard · Top, Mid Prepare for battle with Sion — master their strengths and exploit their weaknesses before the game starts. ## Playstyle Profile Sion is an initiator — excels at engaging grouped enemies with impactful openings Teamfight Role Vanguard Initiator Power Spike Late game Split Threat None Backline Access Low ## Sion's Strengths - Starts fights on your terms — Sion's engage forces enemies to react, giving your team the initiative - Creates map pressure through split-push — Sion forces enemies to answer the side lane or lose towers - Outscales most opponents — Sion grows stronger every minute and takes over in extended games ## How to Play Sion Champion-specific pre-match tips ### Lane Phase Block the first incoming minion wave with your champion's body before it reaches the middle of the lane to force an immediate slow push toward your side. ### Lane Phase Cast E through a minion to apply armor shred and a slow, using this brief window to channel a guaranteed knock-up with your Q. ### Lane Phase Activate W right before walking up to contest a minion, holding the detonation until the enemy steps into your melee range to trade. ### Mid Game Press Q during your ult charge to cancel the dash early if an enemy steps out of your turning radius. ### Mid Game Hide in an out-of-vision brush near a crashed wave and channel a fully charged Q just as the enemy walks up to clear the minions. ### Mid Game Push side lanes past the river only when your ult is off cooldown, allowing you to instantly rotate into a flank angle for Dragon or Baron fights. ### Late Game Pre-cast W three seconds before engaging with your ult so you can instantly detonate the shield for burst damage upon impact. ### Late Game Start your ult charge from a blind jungle flank rather than straight down a lane to minimize enemy reaction time during objective standoffs. ### Late Game Target an immobile carry immediately upon entering your passive state to force them to burn flash or die to your max-health auto attacks. For matchup-tailored tips, download Baron Buff's AI Coach & Companion App. ## Core Build Ranked from real ranked-match itemization We look at ranked games after each item was bought. If the player or team gained ground in gold, we rate that item higher. - Heartsteel — 3,000 - Plated Steelcaps (Boots) — 1,200 - Hollow Radiance — 2,800 - Unending Despair — 2,800 - Thornmail — 2,450 - Jak'Sho, The Protean — 3,200 total: 15,450 ## How to Counter Sion Counter strategies and draft context build percent-health damage, kite effectively, or bypass them entirely to reach carries - Weak to disengage and spread comps — Sion's engage loses value when enemies aren't grouped - Split-push collapses against coordinated responses — a strong duelist or 5-man collapse shuts Sion down - Weak early game — Sion needs time to scale and can be punished before hitting full power - Split-push threats that avoid 5v5 team fights entirely ### Sion's Weaknesses - Heavy disengage compositions — Sion's engages get peeled off before the team can follow up - Strong duelist sent to match — Sion's split push stalls when the enemy sends a superior 1v1 champion - Aggressive early compositions — Sion falls behind before scaling when the enemy forces the pace early ## Best Synergies with Sion Team synergies and draft context - Follow-up damage dealers who capitalize on Sion's engage — burst mages and ADCs with range - Strong teamfight compositions that win 4v4 while Sion splits — map pressure forces impossible rotations - Waveclear and disengage allies that stall the game for Sion's scaling — every minute makes them stronger - Assassins that flank while you hold enemy attention at the front ### Draft Context - Pairs another engage champion with no follow-up damage to capitalize on Sion's initiation - Locks in a full teamfight comp that can't hold 4v5 while Sion pressures side lanes - Drafts an aggressive early comp that can't protect Sion through the scaling phase ## Learning Curve [Based on 1.2M+ matches](https://baronbuff.com/blog/mastery_by_tier/) across all ranked elos, showing how Sion's win rate changes with mastery level Sion has exceptional depth — there is always something new to learn, but getting results takes patience. Expect lower win rates early while building the experience to unlock this champion's potential. Skill Cap Very High Cost of Learning High Win Rate Delta by Mastery Mastery Level | Win Rate | 1-2 | 48.2% | 3-4 | 48.2% | 5-6 | 49.2% | 7-8 | 52.9% | 9-12 | 54.3% | 13-16 * | 57.8% | 17+ | 57.8% | [← Champions](https://baronbuff.com/champions/) ## Machine-Readable References - [LLM index](https://baronbuff.com/llms.txt) - [Full LLM reference](https://baronbuff.com/llms-full.txt) - [Sitemap](https://baronbuff.com/sitemap.xml)