So I've taken it upon myself to learn another champion and I have chosen to go with Sion. Ive been giving AP Sion a shot and I'm not really liking how things are going. What are some builds that you find work best. And some general tips would be much apreciated.

dorans ring, boots, mejis, merctreds, rabbadons, sheen, ga, lichbane, abyssal scepter

in that order, you if you ever get meis to 8 stack (which your ap sion who has a monstorous early/mid game while good late so you should) those 8 stacks will become 20 and you will never loose them
its like 750 ap 150/200 armor/mr

you can get lichbane before ga but get a chainmail before thinking about completing the lichbane, the negatron cloak can also be bought before lichabne(for the abyssal scepter) if you are getting bursted really hard. If your not confident enough to get mejis and keep stacks go for something else that gives a lot of ap like hour glass, but that wouldnt be till after abyssal scepter

I use 9/0/21 masteries, and would probably use mag pen reds, mp5 yellows, cdr blues, and either ap or mag pen quints (more likely ap currently dont feel like spending the ip so I just use movespeed for a deafault page of mine lol)

My build:

Sion(AP), Flash, Ignite
-------------------
+ Doran's Ring
+ Doran's #2 and maybe 3.
+ boots 1
+ NLR
+ antimagic
-> Sorc Shoes
-> Deathcap
-> LichBane
+ Deathfire Grasp



You max out Shield first, followed by Stun with 1 point in enrage at level 4 where it is always left on.

Dorans is the perfect item for Sion providing a toughness boost, MP5 regen and 15 AP. 800+ gold worth of goodies for 475.

As Dorans is my main source of mana regen, I get 2 or 3 of em which helps me really dominate the laning and farm like crazy.

A needlessly large rod (after boots) provides a large AP boost. We want as much AP as possible because it provides protection to keep our shield from being knocked down by enemy nukes, and also massive damage vs creeps so we can 1-shot them. The goal is to kill all 6 creeps in a wave with 1 spell.

Then you upgrade to Sorc Shoes for even more magic penetration and to a Deathcap for huge AP.

So now you have some pots, sorc boots, 2 or 3 dorans, and a Deathcap. You have huge burst damage from Stun/Shield. This is a 6000 gold build.

Once you have an extra few thousand gold past the core, sell a Dorans(if needed) and replace with a Sheen/Lichbane. This provides you with an extra nuke and even more burst damage since by 18 only 2 nukes doesnt quite cut it.

A deathfire grasp is excellent too since your high AP ensures it deals high damage and provides yet another nuke.

Vs several strong magic damagers get a Negatron and upgrade to an Abyssal Scepter. This gives you lots of magic resist and is pretty offensive too (vs taking a banshee)

I love playing me Sion, a bit different as I play an AD Sion. This means that early game I have to be VERY careful and wont get much kills.

Start with a vampiric scepter, and Q ability. From there I just lvl enrage as I go, bouncing to the W. As Q is a 2 sec stun no matter what and I dont want it eating my mana. I keep enrage on at all times as vamp scepter makes my enrage not really hurt. I then get my ult when I can and lvl enrage all the way followed by Q then W.

Items:
Vamp Scepter: at the start

Boots: I prefer zerkers greaves do to increased attack speeds, but if your having issues then pick up the merc treads.

Frozen Mallet: This will give you much more kills as now your opponents will have more trouble getting away when you Q, ult whack,whack they come unstunned and run to find they cant run.

From I tend to build against the enemy team, possibly picking up banshee's veil or some other defensive item to protect against their nukes only. If I don't have a problem with their nukes I pick up Sword of the Divine, which is nice and hefty with enrage and the ult going on, plus it'll tear through their jax's and yi's when active.

At this point you should be a stupid raging monster, in which you can make almost whatever you want, I like Atma's Impaler. It says nomnomnom my 4k+ health now gives me 80 additional attack damage.

This playstyle is very passive in the begining and can be hard to start, however late game you have to be super agressive and never run from a fight. Your lifesteal should keep you alive. I have heard many other AD Sion's saying you need to grab bloodthirster to survive, I tried it but it just didn't work as well to me so I forgo it for other items. Should you choose to grab bloodthirster I would say grab it before the mallet so you can stack it early.

While I like the vampiric scepter, it doesnt let you start with any health pots. This means in order to heal, you MUST keep hitting things. Therefore you can be shut down very easily with a string of nukes. Once at half health, its over. You cant approach to hit minions without risking death and you cannot regenerate well.


As an alternative, I would suggest a Regrowth Pendant +1health pot. The pendant pays for 1 level 1 enrage every 2 seconds, or 1 level 5 enrage every 5 seconds. So it will keep you in top shape for last hitting very well. The potion quickly recovers from a heavy burst.

Furthermore upgrading it to a Philosophers stone is a very good play. Not only do you get 22 HP5 regen, but also 10 mana regen which is HUGE. This ensures you can spam your stuns a LOT more and be much more dominant in lane. Being able to 2 sec stun and uber-Whack a melee who tries to lasthit is very powerful. With that mana regen alone thats 1 free stun every 50 seconds. While not amazing by itself, this stacks with the mana regen you already have plus when you level up. In addition, 30 gold per minute for free is a nice bonus.


After the Philo stone, you will want boots, zeal most likely or whatever else, and then a Emblem of Valor which adds more regen and high lifesteal.


Another alternative is a Rejuv BEAD +multiple pots, upgrading to an Emblem on your first B. This is a decent approach too, but I think the heavier out-of-combat health regen and mana regen potential of Rejuv/Philo is better.


In any case, AP Sion is considered better because you are a lot stronger during early game and can farm much better. AD Sion can really own late game but needs a lot of farm to be effective. Plus, a champ like Mundo for example is VERY similar to AD Sion skillwise and is generally easier to play. Mundo has no mana issues, a better passive, higher Enrage equivalent, a more general purpose Cleaver (no stun, but faster cooldown, much longer range, scaling damage, great for chasing), and the Ult is more consistent for chasing and healing. Plus his 4th ability is a bit more useful than your Shield which is way underutilized with AD Sion.

OOO I really like that idea with the regrowth and pot, it would really help make Sion much more viable earlier, Smart thinking Warrax. Lol funny enough Mundo is my main, although I still love my Sion.