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Lee Sin Counters: Who Beats Lee Sin

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Lee Sin counters are junglers who out-sustain his early fights, stop his dashes, or shrug off his slow. He’s a 125-range fighter with a skillshot that sets up a dash, a dash to allies that shields, a slowing shockwave, and the roundhouse kick that knocks one champion into the rest of their team.

Each pick answers a specific part of his patch 26.21 kit: the dashes, the early damage or the slow. There’s no win-rate table behind them.

Lee Sin counters: Lee Sin, the Blind Monk, splash art

Why is Lee Sin hard to counter?

  • Flurry (passive): after each ability, his next 2 basic attacks gain Attack Speed and return Energy.
  • Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike (Q): a wave that damages the first enemy hit; for 3 seconds after a hit he can dash to that target for damage based on missing Health. Cooldown 10/9/8/7/6.
  • Safeguard / Iron Will (W): he rushes to an ally and shields himself (and the ally, if it’s a champion), then can cast Iron Will for Omnivamp. Cooldown 7.
  • Tempest / Cripple (E): a shockwave that deals magic damage and reveals enemies, followed by Cripple, which slows those it hit. Cooldown 8.
  • Dragon’s Rage (R): a kick that launches the target back, damaging them and anyone they collide with, and knocking those enemies into the air. Cooldown 110/85/60.

Lee Sin is strongest early and moves a lot (that’s the whole appeal). Sonic Wave plus Resonating Strike is a gap closer, Safeguard is a second dash, this one to an ally, and Dragon’s Rage can kick your carry into your own team. He also keeps his Energy flowing with Flurry. What’s the soft spot? Two of his three mobility tools are dashes, his damage drops off if the early fights don’t go his way, and Iron Will’s Omnivamp is healing that Grievous Wounds can cut. A jungler who survives the first few skirmishes usually ends up ahead.

Which champions are the best Lee Sin counters?

Poppy

Resonating Strike dashes Lee to the target his wave hit. Safeguard rushes him to an ally. Steadfast Presence (W) stops enemy dashes around Poppy while active, slowing and grounding whoever she stops, and both of those count as dashes in Riot’s wording. That leaves Lee with only Flash for the famous kick setup. Heroic Charge (E) stuns him against a wall, Hammer Shock (Q) slows and explodes, and Keeper’s Verdict (R) launches him very far away, which is a bit ironic against the champion known for knockbacks. Iron Ambassador (passive) adds a shield when she grabs her buckler.

Rammus

Every ability Lee uses buffs his next two attacks through Flurry, and those attacks bounce off Defensive Ball Curl (W), which returns damage to attackers on top of giving Rammus heavy Armor and Magic Resist. Sonic Wave and Dragon’s Rage deal physical damage, which Armor reduces. Frenzying Taunt (E) forces Lee to attack him (into the spikes, again), Powerball (Q) slows on impact, and Soaring Slam (R) knocks up enemies near the center when cast mid-roll. Spiked Shell (passive) adds Attack Damage based on his resistances. Plain and simple, it’s a bad duel for Lee.

Warwick

Lee wants to win early skirmishes. Warwick heals through them. Eternal Hunger (passive) adds magic damage to his attacks and heals him by the same amount below 50% Health, three times as much below 25%, while Jaws of the Beast (Q) lunges, bites for damage based on maximum Health and heals off it. Pressing Primal Howl (E) cuts incoming damage for 2.5 seconds and ends with a howl that sends anyone close running for a second. Blood Hunt (W) gives Move Speed toward enemies below 50% Health, and Infinite Duress (R) suppresses the first champion it hits for 1.5 seconds. Thing is, a Lee who dives a low Warwick often just feeds him the heal.

Udyr

Iron Mantle (W) gives Udyr a shield and makes his next two attacks heal him, with a bigger shield and a max-Health heal on recast. Blazing Stampede (E) adds Move Speed and stuns each target on the first attack, and its recast grants immunity to immobilizing effects for a couple of seconds. For damage, Wilding Claw (Q) speeds up and empowers two attacks, while the storm stance (R) chills and hurts whoever stands near him. Bridge Between (passive) lets him swap stances and empower any ability by recasting it. To be fair, Udyr is a skirmisher too, so this is a fight about who commits first.

Sejuani

Cripple slows the enemies Tempest hit, and Sejuani’s Frost Armor (from Fury of the North, her passive) makes her immune to slows while also adding Armor and Magic Resist after she’s been out of combat. Her Q, Arctic Assault, is a charge that tosses enemies up and halts when it meets a champion. Winter’s Wrath (W) slows and stacks Frost, Permafrost (E) stuns a champion at maximum Frost, and Glacial Prison (R) freezes the first champion it hits. Her passive also shatters stunned enemies for heavy magic damage. Long story short, Sejuani makes Lee fight a tank who ignores half of his kit.

How do you play against Lee Sin in the jungle?

  • Dodge Sonic Wave. Resonating Strike only works on the enemy the wave hit, so a miss takes away his gap closer.
  • Stay away from your own carries when he has his ultimate. Dragon’s Rage knocks the target back into anyone they collide with.
  • Track Safeguard. It’s on a 7 second cooldown, and it’s his escape as much as his engage.
  • Get out of Tempest range. If it hits you, Cripple follows and slows you.
  • Scale past his early game. His kit is built for skirmishes, so trading evenly early is a win for most counters.

Which items counter Lee Sin?

Armor and anti-healing. Sonic Wave, Resonating Strike and Dragon’s Rage deal physical damage, and Iron Will grants Omnivamp. Plated Steelcaps give 25 Armor and reduce damage from attacks, which matters for the Flurry attacks after every ability. Frozen Heart lowers the Attack Speed of champions around you, taking the edge off Flurry too. Thornmail applies Wounds when attackers hit you, cutting Iron Will’s Omnivamp, and Bramble Vest does the same for less gold. Death’s Dance spreads a burst combo over 3 seconds for damage dealers, and Edge of Night’s Spell Shield can block Sonic Wave, removing the Resonating Strike follow-up. The full list is in our items database.

When is Lee Sin at his weakest?

When Sonic Wave misses. Without a hit, there’s no Resonating Strike, and his only other dash goes to allies rather than enemies. That’s a 125-range fighter walking at you, slowed or not. In practice, the junglers above win by making that wave miss or by being too tanky to care.

He’s also weaker as the game goes on. Flurry, Iron Will and his early damage are tuned for short fights, and tanks with healing or resistances make those fights long. Isn’t that true of every early jungler? Mostly, but Lee’s kit has fewer late-game tools than most, beyond the kick.

New to jungling? Our guide to LoL roles explains how the jungle differs from the lanes. To browse other champions, try the guide index page. Lee’s outfits are listed on the Lee Sin skins page, and the ARAM version gets the Lee Sin ARAM guide. Put simply, Lee Sin counters survive his early game and stop his dashes.

FAQ

Who counters Lee Sin the most?

Junglers who stop his dashes or out-sustain his early fights: Poppy, Rammus, Warwick, Udyr and Sejuani.

How does Lee Sin’s kick work?

Dragon’s Rage launches the target back, dealing physical damage to them and to any enemies they collide with. Those enemies are knocked into the air for a short duration.

Can Poppy stop Lee Sin’s dashes?

Yes. Steadfast Presence stops enemy dashes around Poppy while it’s active, and both Resonating Strike and Safeguard are dashes.

Does Grievous Wounds help against Lee Sin?

Yes. Iron Will gives Lee Sin Omnivamp, which heals him, and Wounds reduce that healing.

How were these counters chosen?

Kit against kit: Lee Sin’s patch 26.21 abilities on one side, each candidate’s on the other, kept only if they beat his dashes, damage or slow. No match statistics were used.