Garen vs Sion
Skill matchup
Build vs Sion
Build adapted to this matchup
Recommended items for Garen: Stridebreaker, Phantom Dancer, Mortal Reminder, Berserker's Greaves, Dead Man's Plate, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Black Cleaver, Lord Dominik's Regards.
Starting items
Core build
Standard
Summoner spells
Anti CC
Other options
Power Spikes
Strength by game phase
Sion's abilities
Passive, spells and ultimate
After being killed, Sion will temporarily reanimate with rapidly decaying Health. His attacks become very rapid, heal him, and deal bonus damage based on his target's maximum Health.
Cooldowns
Cooldowns by spell rank
| Level | Q | W | E | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 10s | 15s | 12s | – |
| 6 | 8s | 15s | 12s | 2m20 |
| 9 | 6s | 14s | 12s | 2m20 |
| 11 | 6s | 13s | 12s | 1m40 |
| 16 | 6s | 11s | 10s | 1m |
| 18 | 6s | 11s | 8s | 1m |
Playing as Garen
Tips to maximize your impact
- Silence, spin, back off
Trade with Decisive Strike (Q), then Judgment (E), and back off: the Decisive Strike silence stops your opponent from answering with spells.
- Stay closest to your opponent
During Judgment (E), stay closer to your opponent than to their minions: the nearest enemy takes extra damage.
- Back off to regenerate
After a trade, back off until Perseverance (passive) kicks in: without recent damage taken, you regenerate part of your health every second.
- Courage just before impact
Activate Courage (W) just before the bulk of the damage: you first gain a shield and tenacity, then a longer damage reduction.
- Save your R to finish
Save Demacian Justice (R) to finish: its true damage grows with the target's missing health.
Playing against Sion
How to counter and exploit weaknesses
- Leave his Smash area
Leave the area while he charges Decimating Smash (Q): past 1 second of charge, the hit applies a knock-up and a stun, for up to 2.25 seconds.
- Break his shield
Break the Soul Furnace (W) shield before he detonates it: he can only trigger it if the shield still holds.
- Dodge his charge sideways
Step to the side of Unstoppable Onslaught (R): he turns poorly once it's launched, and his charge stops on the first champion hit.
- Back off when he comes back to life
Back off as soon as he dies: during Glory in Death (passive), his autos are much faster and deal damage based on your max health, but his health drains fast.
Other Garen matchups
Patch 16.21.1