-Merc Treads
-Tri-Force
-Banshee's Veil
-Randuin's
-Stark's Fervor
-Gunblade

You have enough HP and resistances to tank for a while, plus TONS of lifesteal/spell vamp to keep you going while you're getting hit. Usually I never get the gunblade (I build tri-force, then tanky while adding on to the stark's until I have everything except gunblade) but for a late game item it would be awesome. Like other have said, don't initiate, but go in asap when the team fight starks and activate randuin's to debuff their whole team. Then try to single out their carry with your ULT and continue to beat on them til' dead. That's how I play anyway

I have 250+ games with Lee Sin, as he is one of my favourite champions added to the game. I don’t believe I am the best player with this champ, nor do I feel my builds are the best but I am efficient with what I do play and these fit my style very well. I hope my proceeding post can help those that are not familiar with this highly underrated champion, and bring him to new heights in game through play and build ups.

However to answer the purposed question of how to play Lee mid- late game is not a simple question.

I find it relies on several factors out side of how in game your champ is performing;
{a side note: Lee Sin is a champion that is heavily Item dependent. }

Depending on team composition and role you are playing determines: how you play Lee sin.

There are several positions you can play as Lee Sin every one requires some different degree of skill to pull off well through exceptional: moreover every build I list below can accomplish the task played.

Practice makes perfect: he is a difficult champion to play well despite what some may comment that he is easy.

Knowing his limitations and your opposition is the difference between QQ ing into a fight and dying; and when harassing is enough.

Simple ideas for this are:

Having a champion at a position that you can hit them with Q&Q but you will die if you dive hit them. Instead chose a target close to that champion that will leave the champion inside of E’s range but far enough they can’t get you, and cast ee and back off with W,
or just hit them with Q over and over.

One is harder to do and risks a qq ing accidental death. The other a slow moving opposition and time to flee or peg with Q and thus a possible better fighting positing

Lee sin’s passive is easily to keep track of on the left hand Character information box watch under attack speed.

The 50% speed boost bumps your attack speed up and down per 2 hits generating bonus return energy.

Time your spells to maintain the speed boost as long as possible which recovers your energy faster.
{a note: animations on character do not directly match this speed increment some of the time}

The second Q does [b] 10% missing health[b] as physical – damage amount is reduced by armour of the target after your armour reductions are applied.
This is staggering to any champ and even more to heath stacking champs keep this in mind when choosing to finish a champ off with a Q-Q combo: ensure they are low enough or face a chase or engage in a full out fight.

Dragon kick {R}: Is probably lee’s weakest ability simply on it is difficult to be in position to knock an enemy back towards an intended target and rarely triggers knock-up effects.

The damage out put scale 250% of ad. The damage for R can be staggering but is reduced by armour. I have seen far too many champions knocked backwards and run away with less then 50 heath while a player tried to finish them off with R

I use this only when chasing to guarantee my kill that I can’t catch up to fast enough and in cases I know they have a teleport skill on cool downs and so is my Q.

R is most often used for me as a finisher in team fights when I need to shift attention to a secondary target faster or defensively to escape a gank on my self or break up a focus attack on my team mate.

R –can stop ults from other champions when they are engaged.

The safest best way to use R to get a kill is to Q R Q the target:
plus its fun to watch you and the target fly though the air at the same time

The positions are:
solo mid , 1 v 2, 2 v 1, Jungle, Double Jungle

I am not going to cover finer points to each position directly in this questionnaire.
I will out line some build archetypes and general roles:

Tanky - dps:

You are the initiator, your task in a team fight is
Remove, isolate, disable or kill key threats first -> Healer -> Dps -> tank

During any battle you slow down oppositions and protect your team with items and area of effects {AoE}

summoner spells:
Cleanse, ghost/flash

Q & W both being situational teleport ability I prefer ghost over flash

{I prefer the ghost option to get away as well as chasing: The reason I prefer ghost is it allows you to catch up to a battle in progress or sprint to an overaggressive opposition and turn it around on them.

Flash is fairly good at both reasons mentioned above also its a good way to escape over terrain to flee or purse:

However a well played Q – Q and W can perform the same task.

Being tankier and having the extra flash skill is a wasted slot in my opinion: as you should be able to get in and survive combat easily enough not to warrant this.

Cleanses is to remove debuffs to aid in combat and perform the task of a tank easier and more effectively.

mastery's:

0|21|9 - spec for ghost & cleanse. {if using these spells}
- in defence spec for dodge and nimbleness

runes:
marks: Armour pens x9
seals: Dodge x9 or Armour x9
glyphs: magic resistance x9
quins: Armour pens x3 or dodge x3

skill upgrade orders first 6.

Q W E W Q R - maxing Q -> E -> W

items:
mercury treads {magic resistance and other bonuses} or nijatabies {for Armour/dodge}
Atama's impaler,
Warmongers,
Triforce,
Force of nature or Banshees Veil
Starks fervor or Blood Thrister or Phage or Rhuidn's Omen - depending on what you feel you need as a final item.

With this build you are a tank with some significant damage out put:

You can use {Q|Q} to get into the middle of a team battle and drop down {E|E} to slow the enemy group down and pick on single targets that are priority

You can walk into combat directly or flank team battles and take out their support or ranged dps using Q-Q and EE to slow their retreat down. This can shift combat focus back to a protect retreat formation shifting tactics in your teams favour.

You have shield {w} to give some longevity to a team mate in combat and a bonus lifesteal & spellvamp {w}

{w} also doubles as a cover option to help team mates get away by getting in the middle of them being chased and focused.

You have the advantage that you can knock back {R} the enemy tank leaving the squishier champs exposed and knocked up if the kick is well placed.

Or you can kick the threat champ away from their team & isolate them in the middle of your team.

Or defensively kick away a threat from your self our allies to retreat.

You regeneration rates are significant and will enable you to stay in the fight a very long time: the damage you deal will take out multiple low hit point champs very quickly or force a retreat.

in combat you have on-hit and when hit effects{depending on item choices} that slows down the enemies attack rates and ability to retreat which gives your team a significant advantage to win the battle.


off tank
You are an initiator, a pseudo protector; you are a pursuer and can press an attack with lethal damage and prevent people from getting away with activated abilities.

In combat your job is to take out the support and dps as quickly as possible using aoe activated abilities and can combo attack a target and take it out readily.

Your heath regeneration effects sustain you as consistent threat in a team fight shifting focus from attack to protecting.

You have more ap then the tank-dps build thus your shield has more protection and allows you to stay in combat or keep your dps/ support alive longer.

Choosing when to initiate in combat is slightly more critical then the tank,
Use W to enter combat onto your tank & dps, or flank targets with Q-Q to assure a kill: another option is to kill a primary target and use your regeneration and skills to get out of retaliation from the team and help your team retreat while forcing them back all while lowering their hit points as you retreat.

summoner spells:
Exhaust / Cleanse, ghost / flash

This role is similar to tanky dps but you have a higher damage output and less regeneration abilities.

Cleans will keep debuffs off you: or choose exhaust to be more of a tanky punisher

mastery's:

0|21|9 - see tanky dps.

21|0|9 - master exhaust and ghost : a more aggressive damage out put in this build play more defensively aggressive and capitalizing on mistakes.

15|6|9 - master exhaust and ghost, this is a balance of the two: more magic and armour resistance while still boasting exp gains and longer buff bonuses with slight increased attack speed and damage.

runes:
marks: Armour pens x9
seals: Dodge x9 or Armour x9 :
glyphs: magic resistance x9
quins: Armour pens x3

skill upgrade orders first 6.

Q E W Q Q R - maxing Q -> E -> W

items:
Mercury treads
Triforce
Rhuidn's omen
Ghostblade
Force of nature
Hextex Gunblade

You can use {Q|Q} to get into the middle of a team battle and drop down {E|E} to slow the enemy group down and pick on single targets that are priority

With this build you are slightly tanky with some significant damage out put:

You have the option of being a partial nuke with a combo attack on a selected target and possible taking them out or force them to retreat:

Basic combo: QQ W {the dive & escape: master it}
No one can out tower dive lee sin’s
Medium combo: QQ physical DEE physical physical R
Advance combo: W D physical physical Q physical EE physical R Q

Flank team battles and take out their support or ranged dps using Q-Q and EE to slow their retreat down. This can shift combat focus back to a protect retreat formation shifting tactics in your teams favour.

You have shield with more ap then the tanky-dps thus your {w} gives longevity to a team mate in combat and a bonus lifesteal & spellvamp {w}

{w} also doubles as a cover option to help team mates get away by getting in the middle of them being chased and focused.

You also have the advantage that you can knock back {R} the enemy tank leaving the squishier champs exposed and knocked up if the kick is well placed.

Or you can kick the threat champ away from their team & isolate them in the middle of your team.

Or defensively kick away a threat from your self our allies to retreat.

You regeneration rates are decent and will enable you to stay in the fight a long time: the damage you deal will take out multiple mid-low hit point champs very quickly or force a retreat.

In combat you have on-hit and when hit effects that slows down the enemies attack rates and ability to retreat which gives your team a significant advantage to win the battle.

You have three activated abilities: these take practice to get used.
Each has their role in offensive and defensive combat and can offset a losing battle or make a winning more eminent.

Blind Rage -- my personal build.

You are an assassin, a punisher and a pursuer and a very dangerous nuke.
Your Primary role is to capitalize on peoples mistakes quickly and decisively then escape.

Focus and Combo hit primary targets trough flank attacks { Healers -> Dps -> tank } only after a team battle has initiated and you know major crowd control effects have been cast.

You have relatively low survivability and are very weak to crowd control effects avoid them as much as possible.

Your mobility is your greatest assets use it to your advantage to peek off targets that other wise would be impossible to hit as a team.




Full build and well played Lee Sin can kill 1 v 1 almost any champ before they get inside your range to engage in combat with just QQ

Your team is your back bone;
You do not survive team fights 5 on 5 with out them keeping you alive.

Choose who to attack and when are critical to long term survival: attack when you have a sure way out.

Engage targets only after the tank has initiated and most crowed effects have been used makes it easier to pick off targets.

During laning phase:
At level 2 and on ward you can tower dive and kill ? through ? heath champions with QQ and W to get away.

summoner spells:
Exhaust / smite, ghost / flash

With this build I prefer to jungle: Lee sin can jungle with out smite it does slow you down however you get to keep your exhaust which makes more of a difference in combat.

Also having smite allows for more optional paths to jungle with.

mastery's:

21|0|9 - master exhaust/smite and ghost : a more aggressive damage out put in this build play more defensively aggressive and capitalizing on mistakes.

15|6|9 - master exhaust and ghost, this is a balance of the two: more magic and armour resistance while still boasting exp gains and longer buff bonuses with slight increased attack speed and damage. {I’ll use this more for laning this type of build for the added resistances}

runes:
marks: Armour pens x9
seals: Dodge x9
glyphs: flat cool down reduction x 9
quins: Armour pens x3

skill upgrade orders first 6.

{jungle }
E Q W QQ R - maxing Q -> E -> W

{Lane }
Q W E QQ R - maxing Q -> E -> W

items:
Mercury treads
Triforce
Sword of the Occult
Blood Thirster
Infinity Edge
Last whisper

This is the hardest of the three builds to play well; it requires a full team to support your champ 100%.

You are a squishy nuke; you can combo kill champs even with very low heath if they don’t back off and pursue you.

Wait for cool downs to lapse using W/ ghost as you ‘flee’ then turn on them with full force and smash the keyboard for a full out assault.

Play style is very aggressive, kill or force back champions with a brutal combo from the brush. Keeping them out of lane is just as effective as killing when reducing their income and exp net.

Basic combo: QQ W {the dive & escape: master it}
No one can out tower dive lee sin’s
Medium combo: QQ physical DEE physical physical R
Advance combo: W D physical physical Q physical EE physical R Q

Use you minions and allies or wards / targetable objects to launch an aggressive combo attack from a new angle to land your Q skill shot and start the combo.

Keep in mind what champs can stun or snare and play around it as much as possible if you see/hear it being cast: use W to back up further or out of range before it hits.

If you don’t have W to allies even Q to different enemy target can keep you from being hit by it {unless it’s a locked target spell like TF’s gold card}

-- Remember distance keeps them from getting to you until the stun/snare wares off

Your items are stack dependant to be effective.
- 40 kills for blood thirster is several minutes of farming.

Use Aoe in team fights can keep your stacks up or equal even when you die if your team can take down 1+ champions.

Stacks by the numbers:
@ 20,19,18, you lose 6.
@ 17,16,15 you lose 5
@ 14,13,11 you lose 4
@ 10,9,8,7 you lose 3 -- very easy to maintain 10 stacks with aoe’s
@ 6,5,4 you lose 2
@ 3,2,1 you lose 1.


Well I think this is long enough for a how to play lee sin.
Hope it has some tips and tricks to try out and practice in game to improve you Lee sin.

In turn I hope you ‘listen’ to some of my advice: enjoy the game have fun and above all else play well with others not every one plays to be a ‘pro’ and simply enjoys the game for what it is A game.

ps.
if it helps i can add to this and include build order.

Something incredibly important to note; ALWAYS safeguard into a gank if you can. Safeguard is the safest (totally intended) way to get into a gank, and give you positioning to apply cc (red buff/cripple)

Many people dont seem to realize that leading with safeguard lets you get your full combo off (tempst, autoattacks, cripple, autoattacks, sonic wave, autoattacks, resonating strike, autoattacks,) instead of cutting off a lot (if you initiate with sonic wave/resonating strike, you lose some autoattacks, and lose earlier cc. Its also so easily dodgeable)

Try to avoid casting resonating strike early, as well - Land the sonic wave, then wait as much as possible to bait their flash/blink/etc, unless you know its down/they already used it. Remember that if you miss your q, youre pretty much screwed..

I often, if I cant land a good safeguard, will flash into tempest. flashing into tempest saves me the q until, again, they flash/blink, so I can better secure the kill.

additionally, and this should be painfully obvious, dont ult people away from your team. Just dont. If you dont think ult will kill them, and its positioned the wrong way, just dont use it. leesin,even without ult, will deal a lot of damage and be fine. Worst case, just kinda ult someone randomly (like a tank, or someone with cc, shortrange abilities) just to disrupt thing.

During teamfights, youll want to stay out of it until you can safeguard into the fight. If you can safeguard into xin/jax/kassadin/akali etc, they get defense boost through the shield, and you land where you need to be to land cripple/ult.

Remember the rhythm of flurry, and keep track of the autoattack timings in your head if you cant really see whats going on. During a teamfight leesin really needs his energy, so he really needs to autoattack.

Leesin isnt that difficult to use, but hes very difficult to master. A good leesin will take command of a game from start to finish, carrying sometimes almost unnoticably. He can easily set up kills for a carry to pick up, particularly during laning. Lategame his abilities are just incredibly good because of their awesome scaling, and just general utility (60% slow/ attackspeeddebuff, two blinks, aoe knockup ult)

tl, dr - Safeguard into things. Cripple is your friend. Dont miss qs. Carry hard.

Thank you guys for the advice, builds, etc. I may try to include a few of your item choices next time I play.