Sion vs Vladimir — Top Lane Matchup Guide

How to win lane as Sion against Vladimir · 49.77% win rate over 2,811 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27

Verdict: Sion is favoured — Sion owns 3 of the 7 game windows to Vladimir's 1. Sion wins 49.77% of games vs Vladimir in top lane (2,811 Emerald+ games analysed).

Favour timeline — who owns each window

StageFavouredWhy
Level 1Even / skillBoth champions are weak early: Vladimir has no meaningful escape pre-W and Sion's charged Q is telegraphed. Farm, land W-shield on his poke trades, and use first blood priority to deny his Q-last-hit sustain.
Level 2Even / skillW-shield absorbs his E poke in short trades and your HP passive gets a minion stack — bait his pool by walking up with a half-charged Q, then back off to reset the cooldown clock.
Level 3SionFull kit online: fake the charged-Q approach to force pool, wait out the 22-second cooldown, then stun him into E armor-shred for a real kill window.
Levels 4-5Even / skillHe heals with Q and you stack HP kills; neither can force a clean trade. Control the wave to deny him free Q sustain on minions, and look for Herald with your HP lead.
Level 6SionUnstoppable Onslaught closes the gap before he can reposition; if he pools the engage, charge Q immediately and stun him the moment untargetability ends.
First itemSionHeartsteel plus HP passive kills stack into a bulk lead his Rylai's can't match yet — keep forcing short trades where W-shield absorbs his E and then back out before his Q drain matters.
Two+ itemsVladimirFull-AP Vladimir's R burst and Q drain outscale your W-shield value and HP pool; play as an initiation wall for your team rather than trying to solo-kill him.

Early game (levels 1–5)

Build MR second item and plan for it early — Vladimir's E poke is AP and your W-shield does not stop it, so eating three E's in a row costs you a chunk of HP you will not get back in trades. The key level 1-3 pattern is telegraphing a charged Q to bait his pool, then walking up again once the 22-second cooldown ticks down and landing the real charge for the stun into E armor-shred. His Q drain during your W-shield window barely breaks even, so short trades where you land W-shield then immediately back off are slightly in your favour. Never let him stack three E pokes in a row unopposed — that is when his sustain edge shows up.

Read the rest of this matchup

The full Sion vs Vladimir 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? Vladimir vs Sion guide →
All Sion top lane matchups →