Weird Picks #74: Windspeaker Lee Sin Support

So I was watching my friends play some ranked the other day, where oddly enough, they were matched up against a D4 Lee Sin support (screenshot of games). I know what you're thinking and my thoughts were the same.

This guy got to D4 with Windspeaker Lee support? Why am I so BAD?!

Anyway, I can't really tell how good his win rate with Lee support by itself is since he also jungles Lee Sin sporting a cumulative 52% win rate rate. Meanwhile, whenever he plays Lee as a support, it looks like he's always paired with a Yasuo ADC. Again, wtf am I doing wrong right?

Regardless, since it does work I figured I'd pick a low hanging fruit this week for WPW and have a little chat about it.

Archive post, February 2017. The 45% cooldown the build aims at belongs to a system the game retired. League priced cooldowns as a capped percentage back then, and Riot swapped the whole stat for ability haste in the 2021 preseason, so that figure isn't something you can chase today. The argument underneath survives it: a Lee Sin who can keep moving is the reason anyone tried him as a support at all.

Weird Pick #74

Windspeaker Lee Sin Support

February 2017

Introduction

This guy got to D4 with Windspeaker Lee support? Why am I so BAD?!

How to Play

Primary Runes: Guardian, Font of Life, Bone Plating, Revitalize
Secondary Runes: Manaflow Band, Transcendence
Abilities: W, Q, W, E then prioritize R > W > E > Q
Summoner Spells: Flash + Exhaust
Starting Items: World Atlas + Refillable Potion
Core Items: Dream Maker
Control Ward
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Locket of the Iron Solari
Dead Man's Plate
Maw of Malmortius

Why It Works

Extreme Mobility

At 45% cooldown, Lee Sin maximizes his mobility, going from an annoying but outplayable champion to an EXTREMELY annoying champion. With high cooldown, Lee can dodge skillshots and shield with his Safeguard (W) and not worry about getting ganked by the enemy jungler with his escape down (for too long).

Manaless Shields
Although the majority of sustain based champions (Janna, Soraka, etc.) almost never run out of mana in lane, it's worth noting that Lee does have free shields that he can make use of. This means that trading just requires timing and thoughts on cooldowns rather than considering the war of attrition.

Potential AOE Knock-Up
The reason why he works well with Yasuo is of course, the potential fiveman knock-up via his ultimate. You'll probably never see it at its maximum potential, but even kicking two people is often enough to turn around a team fight if you have follow-up crowd control.

Potential Pitfalls

High Skillcap
Playing Lee Sin support is somewhat like playing Blitzcrank with five times as much effort. This build provides relatively little in the way of initiation unless you're good at kicking enemy champions back to your team.

Needs to All-In
Since Lee Sin is a melee champion fighting in a ranged support dominated world, he needs to be able to kill the enemy laner in order to be effective in the game. This makes you highly reliant on your marksman (or other duo laner) to work with you. If they don't, you essentially have no kill potential or usefulness in lane.

Conclusions

Lee Sin support is one of those zany supports that really needs either a Yasuo, Pantheon, or Jarvan in lane to be effective. Otherwise, you're just a meatball jumping around for fun. The good part is, if you go with this full tank build, it can help you practice your insec moves with high cooldown.

If you're really intent on playing Lee Sin as a solo queue support without a duo partner, he would probably work much better with Electrocute and damage items.

Suggested Rating: Low Tier 3