Guide · Jungle

Lee Sin Guide

the Blind Monk

Fighter

Assassin

Tier B Jungle

Lee Sin, the Blind Monk, is a fighter and assassin champion of medium difficulty. Across our 2066 analysed ranked games, Lee Sin is mostly played in the Jungle (100% of its games), with a 50.1% win rate in that role: tier B among Jungle champions (#24 of 48, ranked by win rate). Lee Sin's damage is mostly physical (80%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 53.2% in short games (under 25 min, 727 games) versus 48.3% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min).

Averages measured over 2066 Jungle games played with Lee Sin, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Lee Sin is a jungler built on mobility and initiative. He chains two-part abilities (Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike, Safeguard / Iron Will, Tempest / Cripple) to chase, protect or escape. His passive speeds up his next two attacks after each ability, which rewards fast chains. His ultimate kicks the target backward and damages whoever it hits.

The classic pick

Q › Q › AA AA › E › AA AA

When: An enemy is isolated within Sonic Wave range.

Sonic Wave connects, Resonating Strike carries you to the target (damage based on their missing health). Follow with the fast attacks from your passive and Tempest to reveal and slow.

The ultimate engage

Q › Q › R

When: You want to remove a carry from their position.

After Resonating Strike, Dragon's Rage kicks the target backward: it damages the enemies it hits and knocks them up briefly. Aim at a target that will cross their line.

The escape or the reinforcement

W › W › E

When: An ally is in danger or you need to get out.

Safeguard dashes you to an ally (who is also shielded if a champion), then Iron Will gives you omnivamp. Tempest and Cripple slow whoever is chasing.

Laning phase

In the jungle, keep some energy: each two-part ability costs some. Use Tempest to reveal enemies and Sonic Wave to engage. Safeguard lets you dash to an ally, which works as well to protect them as to join a fight.

Common mistakes

• Recasting Resonating Strike too late: you have 3 seconds after Sonic Wave lands.
• Casting Sonic Wave without enough energy left for the second part.
• Using Dragon's Rage without looking behind the target: enemies it hits are damaged and knocked up, so aim at a target that crosses their line rather than yours.

Riot's official tips for playing Lee Sin

• Use Sonic Wave before Dragon's Rage so you can chase the target with Resonating Strike.
• Take advantage of Flurry by weaving in basic attacks between spell casts - this maximizes damage output and minimizes Energy loss.
• Self-casting Safeguard and using Iron Will are powerful tools for killing neutral monsters (in the jungle).

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Black Cleaver, Death's Dance, and Eclipse (308 games, 58.1% win rate).

Black Cleaver+Death's Dance+Eclipse

308 games · 58.1%

Death's Dance+Sundered Sky+Eclipse

231 games · 55.4%

Black Cleaver+Sundered Sky+Eclipse

150 games · 53.3%

Summoner spells

Flash + Smite50.1% · 2066 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Inspiration

50.7% · 1821 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Alacrity97%

Coup de Grace66%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight100%

Magical Footwear96%

Shards

Attack speed93%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling65%

Conqueror + Domination

47.2% · 142 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph97%

Legend: Alacrity91%

Coup de Grace84%

Secondary tree · Domination

Sudden Impact99%

Treasure Hunter89%

Shards

Attack speed83%

Adaptive force99%

Health scaling89%

Dark Harvest + Precision

50.0% · 44 games

Primary tree · Domination

Sudden Impact100%

Grisly Mementos89%

Treasure Hunter75%

Secondary tree · Precision

Triumph89%

Legend: Alacrity52%

Shards

Attack speed50%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling66%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Lee Sin's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team53.2% · 543 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Eclipse 52.9%

Sundered Sky 58.5% ▲

Black Cleaver 53.5%

Death's Dance 63.1% ▲

Maw of Malmortius 52.5%

Voltaic Cyclosword 48.1%

The item that stands out most is Sundered Sky: 58.5% win rate, +7 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team49.2% · 547 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Eclipse 51.5%

Death's Dance 61.0%

Black Cleaver 57.4% ▲

Sundered Sky 47.7% ▼

Voltaic Cyclosword 47.5%

Profane Hydra 44.7% ▼

The item that stands out most is Black Cleaver: 57.4% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team48.9% · 976 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Eclipse 47.8%

Black Cleaver 51.3%

Sundered Sky 49.1%

Death's Dance 54.1% ▼

Voltaic Cyclosword 53.5%

Profane Hydra 52.2%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Lee Sin in the Jungle

Shaco Lee Sin: 30.3%33 games

Shaco has the edge in 70% of the 33 Jungle duels against Lee Sin. See the Shaco guide.

Jayce Lee Sin: 31.0%29 games

Jayce has the edge in 69% of the 29 Jungle duels against Lee Sin. See the Jayce guide.

Naafiri Lee Sin: 38.9%36 games

Naafiri has the edge in 61% of the 36 Jungle duels against Lee Sin. See the Naafiri guide.

Vi Lee Sin: 41.7%60 games

Vi has the edge in 58% of the 60 Jungle duels against Lee Sin. See the Vi guide.

Shyvana Lee Sin: 48.4%31 games

Shyvana has the edge in 52% of the 31 Jungle duels against Lee Sin. See the Shyvana guide.

Who Lee Sin is strong against

Hecarim62.5% · 32 games

Kayn60.7% · 28 games

Viego57.4% · 61 games

Wukong55.3% · 38 games

Jarvan IV54.5% · 55 games

How to play against Lee Sin

• Stay spread out to minimize the impact of Lee Sin's ultimate, Dragon's Rage.
• Lee Sin has powerful tools to combat physical damage in Iron Will and Cripple but he is still vulnerable to magic damage.
• Lee Sin relies heavily on following up with his abilities. Use disables to prevent him from chaining together his abilities and attacks.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Lee Sin's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveFlurry

After Lee Sin uses an ability, his next 2 basic attacks gain Attack Speed and return Energy.

QSonic Wave / Resonating Strike

Sonic Wave: Lee Sin projects a discordant wave of sound to locate his enemies, dealing physical damage to the first enemy it encounters. If Sonic Wave hits, Lee Sin can cast Resonating Strike for the next 3 seconds.
Resonating Strike: Lee Sin dashes to the enemy hit by Sonic Wave, dealing physical damage based on the target's missing Health.

WSafeguard / Iron Will

Safeguard: Lee Sin rushes to target ally, shielding himself from damage. If the ally is a champion, they are also shielded. After using Safeguard, Lee Sin can cast Iron Will.
Iron Will: Lee Sin's intense training allows him to thrive in battle. Lee Sin gains Omnivamp.

ETempest / Cripple

Tempest: Lee Sin smashes the ground, sending out a shockwave that deals magic damage and reveals enemy units hit. If Tempest hits an enemy, Lee Sin can cast cripple.
Cripple: Lee Sin cripples nearby enemies damaged by Tempest, reducing their Move Speed. Move Speed recovers gradually over the duration.

RDragon's Rage

Lee Sin performs a powerful roundhouse kick launching his target back, dealing physical damage to the target and any enemies they collide with. Enemies the target collides with are knocked into the air for a short duration. This technique was taught to him by Jesse Perring, although Lee Sin does not kick players off the map.

Frequently asked questions

Full Lee Sin page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides