With the change to Bastion, Lee Sin has catapulted from the least popular champion to most popular seemingly overnight. A course correction in the next patch seems all but guaranteed. Meanwhile, the prevalence of Lee Sin + Targon decks both in tournaments and the ladder has many players asking "what the heck beats this deck?" We've scoured the internet for answers to that question, and these are the 19 decks we found.
Aggro
In true rock-paper-scissors fashion, aggressive burn decks can usually burn through your opponent's nexus health before they can get their combos online. Miss Fortune stands out thanks to her Love Tap's ability to both pop Lee's barrier and ping Dragonlings before combat damage, but realistically any aggro deck should have a favored matchup. Since there's nothing especially novel about this approach, rather than discussing strategy we're just going to list why we chose these particular decklists:
- NicMakesPlays has upgraded his famous Nightfall deck and claims great success against Lee on Masters ladder
- FakeHero3 also had prospered using this version of Discard Aggro on Masters ladder
- Szerro faced many Lee Sin decks with this Pirate Burn deck to win Giant Slayer Fight Night Week #12
- Zolw Lamparci placed 2nd at Team Aretuza's invitational also bringing pirates, but his Sejuani + Gangplank deck has less burst and more late-game bombs
- There are several popular variants of scouts and all punish slower decks; we're picking this deck from Team Aretuza's meta listings that incorporates 1x Screeching Dragon
Frostbites
Frostbite is a great counter to Lee Sin -- not only does it negate Lee Sin's damage, but if his attack is 0 when his Dragon's Rage kick occurs then the defender will stay on the board. Remember that SpellShield can only block certain types of effects: it will always negate a spell cast from hand like Flash Freeze and Harsh Winds, but unit's "instant" abilities like Ashe, Sejuani, and Icevale Archer will sneak past SpellShield. Rimefang Wolf is especially valuable, as his ability to kill units with 0 health can threaten killing Lee regardless of whether he has SpellShield or Barrier.
- Mogwai refreshed the original Ashe + Sejuani Noxus midrange archetype to incorporate Rimefang Wolf and Troll Chant
- FreshLobster also tweaked that archetype, but his variant works in the new Darius + Apprehend package to gain rallies
- GrappLr solution is a more control-oriented Ashe + Lux
- DonJuan qualified for the Aretuza inventational tournament this weekend using this version of Zombie Ashe
- Control updated his Teemo + Sejuani Shroom deck
Stuns
The other major counter to Lee Sin is a stun. Instant stuns like The Infinite Mindsplitter and Swain are preferred as they too are unaffected by SpellShield. You do however want to get the stun in prior to your opponent declares their attack; if you wait until mid-combat, then the Dragon's Rage kick will still occur (you will at least negate any additional overwhelm damage). Leona's stun are vulnerable to SpellShield; however she initiates so many of them sometimes its useful just a cheap way to open Lee up to an even worse spell like Single Combat.
- FakeHero homebrewed this Leona + Lux deck with some very promising results
- SilverFuse has disassembled many Lee Sin decks with this Demacia Dragons deck
- NolaGold was seen dusting off a traditional Yasuo + Katarina stun deck
- BruisedByGod was experimenting with this Yasuo + Swain stun deck
They Who Endure
Xeloo made his Fight Night debut with this take on They Who Endure and had good success against Lee decks. "But Hush hard-counters TWE," you say? Xeloo addressed those matchups by applying raw pressure -- you'll notice he's culled a few cards to fit in 2x Sejuani, who provides a very nice tempo play and can even occassionally frostbite on command thanks to Unspeakable Horror. There's also a 1x Shroud of Darkness which can provide the TWE with some protection against Lee's Dragon's Rage and removal like Falling Comet.
Casino
Another deck from Fight Night, Glop brought this interested variation on Casino . While TF's Gold Card can't stop L2 Lee's Dragon's Rage kick if the attack has already been declared, it will at least stop the overwhelm damage likely buying you another attack. Red Card and Super Mega Death Rocket! are also fantastic AoE, great at popping SpellShields and clearing low-health units. Note the dropping of some of value-focused cards like Suit Up!, Flame Chompers!, and 3rd Slotbot in favor of more aggressive cards like Poro Cannon and Jagged Taskmaster.
Fiora Targon
We mentioned BruisedByGod's Yasuo + Swain stun deck earlier, but he actually seems to have the most success against Lee when not specifically targeting them. He posted a video recently about a Taric + Lux deck, but it was his Taric + Fiora deck that caught our eyes. Both look to outmuscle through traditional control strategies and can utilize Bastion to negate the Dragon's Rage kick. Fiora offers an alternative win condition, though, and most Lee decks are running cards like Eye of the Dragon and Solari Priestess which line up very unfavorably against Fiora.
Mono Lee
Finally, we have the age-old adage: "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." This is Szerro's other Fight Night deck built especially with mirror matches in mind. Note dropping aggressive cards like Zed, Mountain Goat, and Claws of the Dragon in favor of more control tools like Spacey Sketcher, Concussive Palm, 3rd Deny and 3rd Bastion.
That's it for our list anti-Lee decks. Have you found any decks particularly effective? Let us know below!
Comments
I'm a new player. Please, tell me if my assumption is correct: the difference between a stun from Leona and a stun from Swain is the fact that Leona's stun is tied to the Daybreak keyword which i assume is classified as an ability (thus, it's negated by spellshield). There's a lot of interactions that i still need to learn.
The important thing is whether it "goes on the stack" or not (e.g., shows a circular icon on the middle of the screen). Both Leona's "Play" effect and her L2 passive ability will put a Solar Flare icon on the middle of the field and pass priority to your opponent to respond, at which point they can play Deny, Bastion, or other clever tricks to interact with the stun before it resolves. Swain's stun just happens instantly, though -- no icon, no passing priority -- therefore it can't be Deny'ed or Bastion'ed and hits through SpellShield.
Unfortunately the game doesn't telegraph which skills are instant versus which go on the stack in the cards text, so you kinda just need to play them and remember.
Correction: Lamparci placed 3rd at the Aretuza Invitational; Fresh Lobster placed 2nd and Stan placed 1st. It doesn't impact the narrative of the article at all but that's been bothering me all morning. >.<
https://twitter.com/TeamAretuza/status/1313195599228006400