How to win lane as Sion against Illaoi · 52.46% win rate over 1,851 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| 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 | Her tentacle density builds throughout the mid-game and her passive sustain is significant — brawl only when her E is on cooldown and the field is thin. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | Unstoppable Onslaught is your panic button when her E lands: R instantly out of vessel range, reset the scenario, and re-engage on cooldown. |
| 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.
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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Playing the other side? Illaoi vs Sion guide →
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