I see so many comments about top lane Sion being ridiculously strong, but I just don't believe it. Sion isn't the universal lane bully everyone wants to make him out to be. He's actually quite vulnerable during the laning phase, but most people don't seem to understand how to abuse his weaknesses. Let's compare Sion to Nasus: both infinitely scaling tanks. Are you going to run just any champion pick into a Nasus? No, you want to shut that shit down before it gets out of hand. If you don't treat Sion the same way you treat Nasus, come 20 minutes into the game, you are going to have a monster on the loose tearing your team apart. Who would have thought?!?!
If you buff up on Sion you will find:
- He telegraphs every intention through his actions
- He starts the game with extremely low health as an immobile tank
- He lacks sustain and will become mana-gated by spell usage
From here you have a few options:
- Pick a champion with superior all-in
- Pick a champion with superior range and poke
- Pick a champion with superior sustain
Protip: there are plenty champs who possess one or all three of those qualities. Sion's match-ups go two ways: he can either get away with free farm or he cannot. The catch is that if Sion can't beat the all-in, poke or sustain he has to whittle his opponent down from range using E to land Q's and W's or he has leave lane to roam and make plays somewhere else. Give him two options: fight you for his farm or wait until you push it into his tower. If he tries to contest, pressure him from the side and work him into the all-in that he can't survive. He won't escape with his life unless you run out of lane, he burns flash or his jungler comes to save him. If he roams, push his towers down and pick on him in team engagements before he's tanky enough to handle it.
For those of you willfully determined to farm behind of or in the middle of the minion wave, Sion will land his combo and fuck you up good. Don't sit there patiently asking for an empowered E to the face. On top of that obvious counter-play, Riot mana-gated the shit out of his poke in one of the recent patches. If he tries to poke you down on his terms and you avoid any number of Q's, W's or E's then his mana bar won't allow him remain a threat. My last piece of advice: Sion players are gullible and most of them don't have the self-control or patience to properly engage. He will blow R at the whisper of an opportunity to finish someone off or engage a team-fight. Side-step the R and kite him to death. Even better if it's under your tower. If he left his team, then dive his carries because he won't be in any position to protect them. If you can't do any of these things, then you didn't pick the right team composition and you probably should've dodged.
This is all so mind-blowing, I know. Truly ground-breaking information. No, I'm kidding. These are simple strategies that take basic skills to execute. Never forget: the number one rule to fighting Sion is listen to Sion. He will tell you what he is doing as he yells at the top of his lungs, stands still to channel his axe smash or shouts angrily in your general direction. Sion is literally the definition of counter-play and if you guys couldn't figure it out before they gutted him, then I think League's worse off than I had previously thought.
