Let's talk about Sion

Hello Everyone,

Today I would like to talk about the champion who has in my opinion the weirdest kit in the game, Sion.

Sion is a magical zombie, who has a weird accent based off of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Okay, not really sure how these two things fit together, but moving on...

Sion was originally designed to be a melee fighter bruiser kind of champion, which some spells to help bring his kit together. However, instead of bringing his kit together, his spells has done the exact opposite. Split his kit apart into two different specs, the melee fighter that he was intended to be, and an AP bruiser than deals high damage every few seconds, similarly to AP Twisted Fate, other than having the bruiser aspect instead of the ult utility of Twisted Fate.

This has left Sion in quite the awkward position. As an AP Champion, he really only has 2 spells in combat, his stun and his shield. As an AD, his E and Ult come into play, and the utility of the stun sticks around, but his shield falls off in usefulness. His passive is an odd one, but useful for both specs.

So no matter which spec you play, you can never feel good for using all of your abilities, which in my opinion is bad for a character in a game like League of Legends where each character has so few abilities. It makes you feel like you only have half a kit (especially for AP), and having a passive like his that is so invisible in team fights just makes things worse. So from a straight up how he can use his abilities standpoint, Sion is in a very bad spot in my opinion.

Next, let us look as his kit thematically. Sion is a magical zombie who was a powerful warrior in life. So let us look at his abilities as to how they fit with that theme. First his Passive. Sion has a chance to randomly take less damage from auto attacks. Well, Zombies have a lot less vital points than the living, so okay, this checks out as fitting. Secondly, His Q which allows his gaze to stun people. I like the idea of using your magical abilities to fear someone, perhaps so much that they cannot move for a brief period. While the whole idea of a stun from your eyes doesn't really seem to work in my mind with enemies who are not facing you, this kind of ability at it's roots is close enough to being able to fit.



Next, let us analyze his W, the shield. This may fit under the magical part of his theme, but it really does not feel like the kind of spell a zombie would use. I would expect a zombie to raise undead minions (like Yorick) or be able to turn others (perhaps minions, or a killed champion) into zombies. Something like these kind of ideas, that fit more with the undead theme, like his Q does (kinda). The exploding shield just seems kind of tacked onto his kit in my opinion.

His next ability is his E, which gives Sion extra damage, and can give him permanent extra health on kills. This damage part fits the warrior in life theme, and the gaining extra health on kills makes sense since zombies in some renditions do grow stronger as they feast.

Lastly, let us look to his Ultimate. This ability grants him attack speed and lifesteal, and also heals nearby allies. Attack speed once again fits with the warrior in life theme, and stealing life from your pray fits the zombie theme. However, healing nearby allies, especially nonzombies, does not really fit in in my opinion, so I am going to have to say that this ability only 2/3rds fits thematically. Still not bad for an old champion though.

Now as many of you would probably already be thinking, I have already talked about a lot, and I have not even began to propose a solution to Sion's problems. So, I will have two more parts in this series about Sion. The first will be what I would do to Sion if he was a champion that had not yet been released. The second will be what I would do to him now, since players already have expectations about what makes Sion Sion.

I will try to get these posts up in the next few days. Until then, "Get on my Chopper!"
-Rikukun