Renekton is a tough matchup for tanks. His empowered W (if his bar is red) will destroy shields then apply the damage and stun. This is rough for Sion as the shield is so crucial for trades. The best thing to do against him now is to always have an eye on his fury bar and get a feel for when he wants to engage on you. If you think he is going to all-in then save your shield till after he uses his empowered W.

The recent rework to Garen makes it easier for him to apply Conqueror stacks. He should be stronger against tanks making this matchup even worse. He now has more tools to beat you, the only benefit for Sion is Garen will not be rewarded as much for buying Black Cleaver with the rework.

Aatrox is one of those matchups that is heavily reliant on skill and how strong Aatrox is in the meta. His passive is really strong against you (doing max health bonus damage on his first auto attack). His Q can be really annoying and his W is hard to avoid as Sion because you have very little mobility. To avoid his W, try to stand behind minions, it is hard to dodge if you are out in the open (similar to something like Illaoi E). Aatrox is a very cooldown dependent champion and from my experience, most Aatrox players spam their abilities on cooldown pretty much. You can use this to your advantage by waiting for him to use his Q and W, then fight him. If the Aatrox is good though, he will probably manage his cooldowns better, giving you fewer options. If he is able to cancel your Q, it's not a huge deal because your Q goes to a 2-second cooldown when interrupted and most people do not know that. As with any matchup that has a lot of healing in lane, you are going to want to rush Bramble Vest to reduce his healing then later upgrade into Thornmail (2nd or 3rd item).

Jax is not a problem in laning phase. You can cancel his dash with your Q stun. You can win most short trades but he will look to all-in you. He will win any all-in 1v1. He is going to be a threat late game if gets fed in lane. Do whatever you can to stop or avoid his snowball. He will shred you later on and near oneshot your ADCs. If he does get fed, look for when he tries to jump on your ADC and peel for him.

Neeko is rarely seen toplane but when she is picked top she is very annoying. Her snare seems to last forever and it's very hard to dodge cause it's fast and goes through minions. You can tank most of her damage however. You will likely be more useful mid game when you group with your team. If she builds the AD on-hit build you should build items like Plated Steelcaps and Bramblevest, otherwise build magic resist items. The AD on-hit build is much less popular now though so you shouldn't have to worry about it.

Akali is an annoying matchup. She is very mobile and has her shroud which makes it very hard to fight back. Fortunately she is very squishy so if you ever land a Q on her you will win a trade. You can max W if you think she is going to oneshot you. She can use her E to follow your ult if you decide to try to run away with it. Just look for her to make mistakes and capitalize off it.

Yasuo top lane is pretty rare. While he is annoying by dashing all over the place, he is pretty weak early. His Windwall blocks your E but it will not block a minion that you throw at him. Most Yasuo's will play very aggressive making them susceptible to ganks. He is almost definitely going to push you under tower. Take advantage of this and create a freeze by leaving 3 or 4 enemy caster minions just in front of your tower but not under tower. He will have to walk all the way up to CS and he won't be able to dash away. This will make him very vulnerable to ganks. Watch out for late game Yasuo. No matter how bad he plays early game he will shred you later on in the game. Don't fight him 1v1 once he gets 100% crit. Late game you want to get a Randuin's Omen to counter his crit damage.

Most Irelia players are not good enough to pull her off to her full potential. A very good Irelia can easily destroy you in lane but this is very rare in low-mid elos. She is going to be annoying, dashing all over the place and healing. If she misses her E or R you should win the fight. If her W is up she will use it to tank your Q, if you see her standing still with W while your Q is channeling charge it all the way. She will be cc'd for a while which will let you win the trade even though she blocked most of your Q damage. The best way to deal with an Irelia is to freeze the wave under your tower, this way she will be unable to CS or Q your minions without walking far up and being vulnerable to ganks, she will not be able to dash to any minions to escape because they are in front of her. A simple trick that can work against many Irelia players is to pay attention to the health of your minions, she is going to try to dash to the low health minions. You can charge your Q on your own low health minions forcing her to either get the minon(s) but get hit by your Q or she will miss the minion(s). I would recommend taking Grasp or Glacial Augment against Irelia and rushing Bramble Vest and Plated Steelcaps.

Because you are a tank, Nasus is basically going to ignore you in lane and stack Q. Most Nasus players will get greedy for minions, use this to your advantage. Charge your Q near a minion you know he is trying to stack on. The best way to deal with Nasus is to freeze the wave under your tower and force him to walk all the way up to CS. If you freeze under tower your jungler will probably come gank and you can kill him. You can take any keystone against Nasus but I would recommend Grasp. Think about rushing a healing reduction item such as Bramble Vest then build Plated Steelcaps and a mythic item.

Maokai is a very unpopular top laner right now so you will not see him often. He will beat you in mostly every way. His Q will cancel your Q, he can W to dodge your Q or E, his saplings do percent health, his passive gives him a ton of sustain. It is very difficult to come out of this lane with a lead. He will rarely have enough damage to kill you ever though without a gank. Just look to farm. Rush Abyssal Mask here.

You need to be very careful in this matchup, especially early game. He's going to try to auto attack you then E away very often, even under your tower. Most Tryndamere players will E behind you while you channel your Q so you may need to let go of your Q earlier than normal if you notice him doing that. If you time it right you can cancel his spin/dash with your Q as long as you channeled for at least 1 second. You can't really beat him in a 1v1 but if your jungler comes you can likely kill him. If you are ever low-mid health under tower you have to be very cautious of tower dives. His ult gives him 5 seconds of invulnerability, which is plenty to dive you and kill you. If you are vulnerable under tower, you have to save your abilities for when he dives you. If he's bad he will use his dash right away, allowing you to just CC him under your tower. You can walk around your tower to try and evade his auto attacks and stall out his ult but if his E is up he'll dash through. If you really have to, you can ult away from him when he tries to dive, but I think it's better in most situations to ult him instead to CC him and setup your Q. Just make sure his E is not up before you use your abilities or it will be a waste.

Urgot is pretty strong against tanks. His trades early game (if he knows what he's doing), are very strong. If he E's towards you just try to get away and wait out his W, if his Q ever lands on your don't stand near him or his W will fire at you. A good way to counter him is to plan ahead and charge your Q in time to cancel his E dash, this can shutdown his combo pretty hard as Urgot usually plans his whole combo around his E, especially his ult. Urgot has very low mobility, so he is very vulnerable to ganks. Freezing is always a good strategy against low mobility opponents as it forces them to walk all the way up to your tower to CS.

He's going to spam Q's on you nonstop. When he gets his empowered Q, run away. Try not to ult him or use your Q on him until he uses his pool. You can slow him with your E right before he pools to slow his pool down. Rush Abyssal Mask, once you get it, the matchup will become much easier. Vladimir is very vulnerable to ganks so freezing is a good way to setup ganks for your jungler.

Another annoying bruiser that is strong against tanks. You have to play around his W to win this matchup. His W is a very long cooldown and if he doesn't use it correctly he can easily die. Don't charge your Q right in front of him or he'll just E you and cancel it. Try not to take extended trades against him as he will usually win unless you play it well. You should just try to play safe in lane and wait for ganks if possible. Freezing against Sett is a really good idea, making him walk all the way up to farm and enabling jungle ganks. He's very easy to hit with your ult so you can setup ganks pretty well, just make sure to try and land your E first before you ult him. Also when your jungler comes you still have to be careful as Sett definitely has 1v2 outplay potential. Just try not to stand right next to your jungler so he can't AOE you both.

Cho'gath is a little annoying and is a fairly difficult matchup for Sion. Bait his W and Q then use your E and Q while popping your W. If he misses his W and/or Q you should win the trade. Never use your Q right in front of him or he will cancel with his W or Q. Rush magic resist, any rune page or ability max will work here.

Mundo is annoying and seems impossible to kill at times. He has way more sustain than you and has no mana costs. His Q does percent health as well. While he is annoying, he is impossible difficult to deal with. He will likely push to your tower non-stop. Use this to your advantage by freezing under your tower and waiting for a gank. He will be very easy to kill in a gank if he does not have R. It would be a good idea to rush Bramble Vest or Executioner's to reduce his healing.

This is a skill matchup that can slightly favor Illaoi. The key to winning this matchup is to dodge the E and if she does land it you need to fight her to stop her from attacking your spirit. Stand behind the spirit and aim your Q infront of it so if she tries to attack it she gets knocked up. When she gets her ult she can be a serious threat, if she does ult, try to wait to fight her until her ult is over. If your jungler comes when she's 6 she could easily 1v2 if you and your jungler are stacked ontop of each other and get hit by her E. Rush Bramble Vest to reduce her healing then later upgrade into Thornmail.

Fiora is a champion that on paper should hard counter Sion. She does percent health true damage. While she will definitely counter you pretty hard lategame, you should have the edge in the laning phase. One trick that works 90% of the time against Fiora is to fully charge your Q. Basically, if you let go of your Q too early, she will Riposte it and stun you instead but if you hold it down and don't flinch she will almost always use her Riposte a little too early and get hit by the full chargeup of your Q. Once she realizes what's happening you will have to adapt and kind of play mind games with her on how long you channel your Q. At level 6 you really need to watch out, don't push up too far or she'll ult you and run you down. Also, try not to use your ult against her unless her Riposte is on cooldown unless to setup a gank. For items, Bramble Vest and Plated Steelcaps are Fiora's worst nightmare, they counter her incredibly hard. If they have a lot of auto attack focused champions you could also think about getting a Randuin's or Frozen Heart later as it works well against Fiora and other heavy auto attack champions.

You won't run into lane Gragas very often, but if you do it's a pretty even matchup, maybe slightly favoring Gragas. If you charge your Q in front of him he'll easily just E into you and do his combo. Try to stand behind your minons when you Q so he can't just stun you every time. You can also cancel his dash your your Q (as long as you charged for at least 1 second). He is going to out sustain you in lain due to his passive so keep that in mind. This will end up being a boring matchup with neither dying unless jungle interferes.

Poppy has a very good laning phase and plays like a bruiser. She does very high damage for a tank and will try to bully you. Her abilities are for the most part, very close range so you can easily retaliate when she tries to bully you. Don't stand next to walls or she'll pin you against them and stun you. As long as you don't let her stun you, you should be okay. If you are smart about it, you could even bait her E by charging your Q, but I would only do that if you know you won't be stunned by it and you have minions to attack her. Her W does not stop your ult as it is not a dash so there's no need to worry about that.

Viego is a really frustrating champion to deal with. His base kit isn't too crazy but his ability to become other champions is incredibly unbalanced. The fact that he does not use mana and that his auto attacks give him bonus healing from enemies that he lands his abilities on allows him to take nonstop aggressive trades and remain at high health over a long period of time. He WILL out sustain you in the laning phase. He also does %health bonus on hit damage so he will shred your health very easily. The best way to deal with him is to rush Bramble Vest to reduce his healing and Plated Steelcaps to further reduce his damage. I recommend starting with Corrupting Potion and taking Biscuits in runes so that you can sustain a bit more in the laning phase to and keep up with him. His early game is fairly weak too and if you and the jungler setup a couple ganks on him early you should be able to shut him down before he can start to ramp up. Like with all top lane matchups, if you can freeze the enemy wave a little outside your tower range then he will have to walk all the way up to farm minions, making him very vulnerable to ganks.

Gwen is another newer champion that is very annoying to deal with. She has a short cooldown dash that she can use to dodge your abilities and weave in and out of trades with you. She does really crazy on-hit damage and she really ramps up to try not to take long fights with her. If you can do consistent short trades you should be fine as long as she doesn't all in you. You really have to dodge her Q and her R if you really want to win the matchup. Rush some magic resist as she does mostly magic damage. If you freeze your wave against her she will have to run all the way up to farm making her very vulnerable to jungle ganks.

Tahm has been a threat in the top lane a few times but currently he is not great and easy to deal with. He is extremely susceptible to ganks. Freeze under your tower, let him push up and ask for a gank. He will be very easy to kill with your jungler. He does mostly magic damage so you can consider buying Mercury Treads and other magic resist items.

This can be a hard matchup depending on how good the Camille is. You do mixed damage as Sion so you are pretty good against her passive. Try to predict her E and land your E and/or Q where you think she is going to go. You can stop her E midway through with your Q. She is very weak when her E is down. Watch out for her ult, you CANNOT ult out of her ult.

Most Riven matchups are very easy but some good Riven players may outplay you. Riven only does one type of damage so she's very easy to itemize against. Get a Frozen Heart and Ninja Tabi and she won't be able to do much against you. If you are having a hard time against a good Riven you can max W first. Don't use your Q unless you are hidden or she has used all of her dashes. Keep track of when she uses her dashes and look to fight her while they are on cooldown.

Sion does pretty well against assassins like Ekko. While he is annoying to deal with, he will very rarely do enough damage to be able to kill you. He is also a melee champion so after you does his combo you can fight back and usually win the trade. His ult can be a little annoying to deal with but you also have an opportunity to predict his ult and outplay him.

A good Jayce is hard to deal with as Sion but most Jayce players are not good enough to abuse you. In most situations you can just slow him with your E and Q him when he tries to go up and poke you. If he jumps on you with hammer form he will try to cancel your Q with he hammer form E. This is fine as it puts your Q on a 2 second cooldown and if you can catch up to him you should be able to win the trade.

Karma is rarely good as a laner but when she is, she can be pretty stressful to play against. She will try to stand at max range with her W on you and poke you down. There's not a whole lot you can do in this matchup other than farm and wait for ganks. She likely won't be able to solo kill you so as long as you recall at good times you should be completely fine and scale well into the late game.

Galio has a couple ways to cancel your Q. You can win this matchup by just waiting for him to use his E and his W then using your E to slow him into your Q. His magic damage shield is a bit annoying cause your E and W do magic damage but your Q still does high physical damage so it's not a huge deal. He will look to roam with his ult pretty often when he's level 6, you should look to follow with your ult if you can, if not just push the minions to his tower and either recall or do good damage to his tower.

Jarvan is pretty decent against tanks. His passive auto attack is quite strong against Sion and his E->Q combo will easily cancel your Q. His ult can also easily stop your ult. To win this matchup you just need to wait for him to make a mistake. If he E->Q's on you and misses or doesn't cancel your Q then he has no way of escaping and will be very vulnerable. A small tip, although maybe not practical is that if you are ulting and Jarvan wall is right infront of you, cancel your ult. If you timed it right you will jump over his wall which can be useful if trying to escape or chase him.

Kennen has good poke and a good stun. Be aware of the stacks of lightning on you, that's how you'll know if he's going to stun you. Just try to use your Q outside of his stun window. Use your E before or during his E to slow him down a good amount. If you're ever in danger and in his ult you can easily just ult away from him and get to safety.

If the Kled is good you might have a hard time but overall, this matchup isn't bad. Just try to poke him down as much as possible to dismount him. When he's dismounted, try to time your Q when he Q's so you can cancel his small dash and kill him. While he's dismounted his will be very easy to ult as he only has like 275 movespeed, just make sure he doesn't have his Q ready or he might be able to dodge.

Malphite does pretty good poke damage and will try to stop you from farming and basically just annoy you by spamming Q's on you. Malphite runs out of mana very fast though so you should be able to stay in lane longer than him. Abyssal Mask is a good purchase if the enemy jungler in not a big AD threat. Malphite shouldn't be able to ever kill you unless you make a big mistake or get ganked. The enemy jungler will be the main threat in this matchup so just watch out for ganks.

Ornn usually does pretty well in this matchup but he can't kill you unless you make a pretty big mistake. The junglers will be the deciding factor in this lane. Abyssal Mask can be a nice purchase to help you sustain against him in lane. Freezing the wave is a great strategy to beat Ornn, he'll have to walk all the way up to your tower to CS and he'll have no escape if your jungler comes to gank.

If it's Rengar top lane, he will be jumping in and out of bushes nonstop. He's going to jump to low health minions to last hit them. Just aim your Q over your low health minions while he's in the bush, so he'll either miss the minion(s) or get hit by your Q for a lot of damage and CC. Your E is pretty effective against him as well, slowing him down enough to not let him get back in the bush right away. If he builds assassin, he shouldn't be able to oneshot you. If he goes tank or bruiser he'll be more of a threat. When he ults away, it's not worth trying to chase him, you won't catch him unless you have a teammate on him. If you can consistently Q him at the right times and time or shield correctly you should be able to win this matchup fairly easily. He's pretty hard to kill though so don't greed for kills, just farm up and you'll be fine.

Warwick top is a rare cheese pick, usually picked by one-tricks. He does okay into Sion but Sion should be able to win. Just buy healing reduction ASAP. If he takes barrier, don't get baited by his low health, that's what he wants. Don't let him Q spam on you and if he does, punish him. If he doesn't start Doran's Ring or Corrupting Pot, he'll run out of mana fast. Once you get healing reduction he's pretty easy to deal with.

For a tank, Shen does very high damage, almost like a bruiser. His early game trades are very strong. If he's good, he'll use his Q right as his passive and Grasp are up to win short trades and slowly chip away at your health. Be aware of where his blade is, don't let him Q the blade through you as it will slow you and give him a lot more damage. When he's level 6, you need to shove minions to his tower nonstop, forcing him to miss a lot of minions if he wants to ult somewhere else. If you see him ulting, you can easily cancel it with your ult or your Q. Just be careful though, don't ult him if you're low as he'll just taunt you and kill you. He does counter your passive very hard with his W, just blocking all of your autos but this is not a huge deal as Sion passive isn't that useful in most situations anyways.

This matchup might've been difficult if Abyssal Mask wasn't an item. Abyssal Mask was basically made for this situation. He's going to push you in a lot early game and you'll miss some CS. As soon as you get Abyssal Mask you will be able to sustain against him and keep up with his pushing. If he tries to proxy you (killing the wave behind your tower before it gets to the middle of the lane), just ignore him and don't miss the CS at your tower. Only try to kill him when your jungler is around, otherwise he'll just slow you and run away.

Sylas, like all newer champions has a pretty crazy and overloaded kit. His heal is insane and he can dash out and stun you when you Q. An early Executioner's Calling is a great purchase to reduce his healing (don't upgrade it though). Just buy Abyssal Mask and wait for him to make a mistake and you'll be good. If he's ever in trouble he'll likely steal your ult and run away with it but that's fine as it's a long cooldown and I've seen a lot of Sylas players mess up Sion ult cause they don't know how to use it.

Wukong has very good, short trades. The key is to wait till he uses his E then use your E into your Q. Whenever he charges on you make sure you activate your shield to absorb most of the damage from his combo. He's pretty scary in the early game so just play safe. Once you get some armor and health you should be able to fight him. After level 6 you have to be careful using your ult against him. He can easily just use his clone to block your ult so you should generally save your ult until him clone is down. Wukong is vulnerable to ganks so it would be a good idea to freeze the minions at your tower so he'll have to walk all the way up to farm. If your jungler comes it will be an easy kill.

Gangplank is not much of a threat in lane but he will outscale you. If he is good then you may actually have a bit of trouble in lane but most will GPs will be very easy to deal with. He will take minion aggro when he Q's you so if you can slow him with E or Q while he is tanking minions you will easily win a trade. If his orange is on cooldown he is easy to lockdown with CC and kill, especially with a jungler. I like to take Comet and max E against gp to poke him down hard and punish him when he tries to Q you.

Gnar is a little annoying but not too much of a threat. If he is Mini Gnar, you should be able to 1v1 him pretty easily as long as you can catch him. The best way to kill Mini Gnar is to run up to him and charge your Q, most Gnars will instinctively jump away which allows you to let go of your Q as soon as he jumps and cancel it. This will leave him without an escape and could easily kill him. When he gets Mega Gnar, he can be a bit more of a threat. Just watch his rage bar and watch out for when he tries to engage on you. It's very easy to recognize Gnar's pattern and if you choose the right times to fight you will easily win this matchup.

Quinn is annoying but she doesn't do that well against tanks. She'll poke you down a lot but you should be able to survive. Her E will cancel your Q so watch out for that. She is quite vulnerable so if she ever makes any mistakes you can easily punish her. Try to freeze against her so she'll have to walk up to your tower to farm. This will make her incredibly vulnerable to ganks as she has very few ways to escape.

Assassins, like Qiyana don't do well against tanks. She should never be able to do enough damage to completely oneshot you. She can avoid your Q pretty easily in a couple ways but she shouldn't be much of a threat. Just try to wait out her abilities then retaliate.

He's going to shove you into tower a lot early game but he isn't very much of a threat. Get an Abyssal Mask to be able to sustain in lane and push the waves back to him. Rumble is extremely vulnerable to ganks so if you can, freezing is a good idea. You can easily just ult him when your jungle is near and he'll either have to flash or likely die.

Pretty easy to beat the reworked Pantheon. You are too tanky for him to kill you. He could win if he goes anti-tank runes/build and is good but otherwise it should be pretty easy and you will quickly outscale. Watch out for the first few levels though. You can also stop his W in midair before he reaches you if you time your Q right. Just try not to die early game and you will outscale him and be way more useful.

Swain seems to mostly be played bot lane these days. If you do end up facing him in lane he'll try to poke you down but he really doesn't do that much damage. His abilities have very short range so just fight back when you get the chance. Abyssal Mask is a good first item against him. Try not to Q right in front of him, it will allow him to get a from E and pull of on you. Swain is very vulnerable to ganks so, if possible try to setup your jungler by freezing your wave and setting up a good pink ward.

Only problem with Heimerdinger is the fact that he'll shove lanes to your tower nonstop. You need a mana item (Abyssal Mask) to keep up with him and shove your waves. You can actually throw his turrets with your E, allowing you to reposition them to better manage your waves. You can even throw his turrets towards your tower so your tower fires at it. He will not be much of a threat at all unless his jungler comes.

Lissandra will poke you down a lot but she really doesn't do enough damage to be a real threat. If she ever gets too close to you just use your E to slow her into your Q. If she tries to E away you can Q her and stun her so she can't take it if she's not quick enough. You could also ult her right when she takes her E. Overall, just don't let her bully you and always try to fight her (while still farming) and you should win this matchup.

It's unlikely that you'll face a Karthus in lane but if you do, he'll be very easy to deal with. He is extremely immobile, use that to your advantage. Always look to fight him and get in his face. Don't let him farm, don't let him poke you. Level 6, just E him and ult him then Q and he'll either be dead or very close to it. He has no way to escape that combo unless he has flash.

Annie's stun is really the only threat she has. Just try to not use Q when her stun is ready and you'll be good. When she uses Tibbers you can actually E Tibbers to throw him away from you, just be careful to not throw him too far away from Annie or he'll teleport back to her.

Kayle has a very weak laning phase, you must use this to your advantage or she will outscale you. Always look to E her into your Q for poke and trades. Don't let her farm for free. She is basically a melee champion pre-6. You might want to ask for ganks if she's pushing your lane as she's very vulnerable and Sion can setup ganks very well. Watch out for her level 6/11/16 power spikes.

Very easy matchup for Sion. DON'T TAKE GRASP KEYSTONE, TAKE COMET OR UNSEALED SPELLBOOK INSTEAD. Start Doran's Ring and max E. Spam your E, throwing minions at him to poke him. If you are close enough, run up after you land E to Q him. There's not much he can do in this matchup. Rush Magic Resist items and health