How to win lane as Sion against Illaoi · 52.46% win rate (1,851 Emerald+ games, lolalytics, sampled July 2026) · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Fight away from tentacles — charged Q, out-scale.
Track: Illaoi's E — Test of Spirit (16–12s cooldown). Her vessel pull. Sidestep it.
Read from Sion's seat: which stage windows this plan plays for against Illaoi.
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Her tentacles need time to place — level 1 she only has a passive slam if one is nearby. Farm safely and don't stand adjacent to a tentacle. |
| Level 2 | Sion | W-shield absorbs a tentacle slam at level 2, letting you charge Q without eating full damage — her E is not yet reliably positioned to punish. |
| Level 3 | Sion | With E and W both up, you E-shred her armor, W-absorb a slam, and land charged Q knockup before she can reposition — the full combo wins the extended trade. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | Tentacle density builds and Prophet of an Elder God heals her off every slam — brawl only in the 16s after Test of Spirit misses, and away from the field. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | Test of Spirit at 6 forces you to run: R out of vessel range the moment it lands, and come back only once the tentacle field has thinned. |
| First item | Sion | Heartsteel compounds your HP passive from kills and stacks — your W-shield value and zombie durability both scale here, making sustained brawls near her field winnable. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | A full tentacle field plus her R makes late teamfights inside her zone catastrophic — split and force the 1v1 where your HP bulk and zombie passive deny her clean resets. |
Short trades favor you at level 2 once your W-shield is online — absorb a tentacle auto-attack with the shield, then immediately charge Q toward her. Her E (Test of Spirit) is the only thing that turns the lane: if she lands it, walk your spirit away from every tentacle until the vessel expires rather than fighting through it. At level 3 with E armor-shred in hand, you can full-combo her after a blocked tentacle slam — shred her armor, land the charged-Q knockup, and brawl. The window before she lands E is genuinely yours; the moment she hits it near two or more tentacles, walk away cleanly.
Pooled Emerald+ win rates from Sion's side, sampled July 2026.
The full Sion vs Illaoi report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Sion, slightly — a 52.46% win rate edge over 1,851 games; execution can flip it.
Mostly — Sion has a small statistical edge (52.46% win rate), but execution decides this lane far more than the pick does.
Not a hard counter — Sion has a slight edge (52.46% win rate), and play quality decides the rest.
Sion takes Grasp of the Undying on the Resolve tree with Demolish, Second Wind and Overgrowth, and Precision secondary (Triumph and Legend: Haste) vs Illaoi.
Start Doran's Shield + Health Potion and back for Executioner's Calling (≈800g) — cuts her healing. Build Heartsteel (W + passive love HP) first, then Warmog's Armor / Thornmail, with Plated Steelcaps.
Playing the other side? Illaoi vs Sion guide →
All Sion top lane matchups →
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