Hello there everyone! My name is gladBats and I'd like to welcome you to my second guide which revolves around one of my new favorite junglers, Diana!

You probably only know me from the Trundle guide and, if so, will notice that this guide is set up very much the same. I try to cover all of the core concepts of the champion, offer the builds that I run, along with runes and masteries. Just like the Trundle guide, I will also be doing a few videos to accompany this guide, so stay tuned!

As with my last guide as well, I would love to hear people's feedback and questions regarding my choices. This is simply showing how I personally go about playing Diana, which is not how everyone might. I'm looking to grow and get better with the champion as much as anyone else and would love to learn new things from people.

So if you enjoy the guide, vote it up, or if you like my jungling videos you can subscribe to my Youtube channel and check those out as well (:

If you don't enjoy it for whatever reason, hey I get that! We all play differently and have our own opinions. If you're going to downvote, I'd at least like to know what yours are in order to improve myself and my guide. It's really very appreciated and I'm sure we could both learn something from it (:

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Oh yeah, obligatory picture of my latest streak with Diana:

August 21st 2012: Item builds and Masteries changed up quite a bit.

August 13th 2012: Guide Published! Let's see what people think~

An unyielding avatar of the moon's power, Diana wages a dark crusade against the sun-worshiping Solari. Though she once sought the acceptance of her people, years of futile struggle shaped her into a bitter, resentful warrior. She now presents her foes with a terrible ultimatum: revere the moon's light, or die by her crescent blade.
Though she was born to the Solari, Diana's inquisitive nature set her apart from her brethren. She had always found solace and guidance in the night sky, and questioned the dominance of the sun in her society. The Solari elders responded to her challenges with only derision and punishment. Diana remained convinced, however, that if she could find evidence of the moon's power, the elders would listen to reason. For years, she studied Solari archives in solitude until she discovered an encoded message hidden in an old tome. This clue led her to a secluded valley on Mount Targon where she unearthed the hidden entrance to an ancient, sealed temple. Inside, among aging relics and faded murals, she found an ornate suit of armor and a beautiful crescent blade, both inscribed with sigils of the moon. Diana donned the armaments and returned to the Solari elders that night. She declared that the artifacts proved others had once worshiped the moon as she did. Her discovery of evidence challenging Solari dominion shocked the elders. To Diana's horror, they pronounced her a heretic and condemned her to death. As the elders prepared her for execution, Diana's anger and sorrow overwhelmed her desire for acceptance. She lifted her gaze to the sky, calling upon the moon for strength. Lunar power surged within her and she shattered her bindings. Raising her relic blade, she turned and slaughtered the elders. With the temple in ruins behind her, Diana resolved to destroy all those who would deny the power of the moon.

"The sun does not reveal truth. Its light only burns and blinds."
―Diana

Okay, so the previous section detailed her backstory and her classification, but here are my thoughts of her:

Diana is an incredibly fast, fun, and unique AP jungler, which is sort of a feat in its own right. She can do immense single target damage and substantial AOE damage with her kit. That same kit also allows her to fit into different niches within the league.

She can be a powerful laning, counter-mid assassin like Akali.

She can be a powerful AP tank with great initiation/disruption skills.

She can be built into a tanky, AP bruiser with no skimping on damage.

She can be a mobile, jungling assassin who picks out high-priority targets in teamfights.

Really, she is so varied and unique as a champion it's kind of staggering. Riot did a very good job on her overall. If you're thinking about buying and playing her, I'd seriously recommend it, even if you don't agree with my builds or playstyles. Just give Diana a chance and see if she fits your style too (:

Pros + Great clear speed with decent sustain + Powerful gank presence + Well rounded champ, doesn't get shut down too hard + Amazing ability to assassinate squishies + Fun/Unique kit + Very versatile thanks to her kit and can fit a few different roles + I know I said Trundle had the best jokes, but seriously, /j

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Cons - Can get focused - Weak against hard CC - Can have mana problems early - Is a very good jungler and gets banned often - Has a higher learning curve - No inherent sustain or heals

INDENTDiana's Mastery pages are pretty standard for your AP jungler, but there are a few things to note. I'll go over the AP-Tank, AP-Bruiser, and Laning masteries as well.
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Smite If it already isn't known, I'm going to make it known: I despise junglers who don't take smite. It's a lower-skill level decision that can seriously bite you in the *** if you're a jungler. I'll list the same reasons from the Trundle Guide as to why it's good to have: Stealing Dragon Stealing Baron Stealing Enemy Buffs Making Sure You Get Your Buffs Some Extra Gold From the Mastery Smiting Cannon Minions to Push Lanes Clearing Annoying Heimer Turrets In Desperation, Clearing Annoying Zyra Plants In Desperation, Clearing Annoying Shaco Boxes In Desperation, Clearing Annoying Yorick Ghouls And I'm sure much more. Nuff said.

space Flash I can't believe I'm recommending Flash, but it's just downright an amazing spell on her. With Diana, you don't need the extra distance gained from running Ghost. Flash with Diana is an incredible initiating and retreating tool. Not to mention you can set up jukes and position yourself for assassinations. It is a very good spell on her.

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Exhaust Exhaust is nice because Diana is already a very powerful ganker. Even if they drop flash, a well-placed exhaust and Moonfall will net you at least one kill.

Promote This is not a spell for a Jungler. Don't even pay any mind to it.

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Ghost Diana is an Assassin, who really has all the chasing and positioning advantage she needs. Ghost will not help her out really. Flash is a better alternative in her case.

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Surge There is synergy with her passive but no. Just no.

• Moonsilver Blade
  (Innate): Diana gains 20% additional attack speed. Every third strike cleaves nearby enemies for 20 / 25 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 / 125 / 140 / 155 / 175 / 195 / 215 / 240 / 265 / 290 (+0.6 per ability power) additional magic damage.
  
  This is a great boost to Diana's overall damage and what really makes her a great jungler. With AP runes and offensive masteries her early clear speed is fantastic. This also gives Diana naturally high Attack Speed and scales pretty decently with AP.
  
  
• Crescent Strike (Q)
  Active): Diana unleashes a bolt of lunar energy, dealing Magic Damage: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+0.8 per ability power) in an arc. Crescent Strike afflicts enemies struck with Moonlight, revealing them for 3 seconds.
  Cost: 55 mana
  Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 seconds
  Range to center of AoE: 400min (estimate), 830max
  Radius of AoE: 50 (estimate)
  
  This is Diana's main damaging ability and, not to mention, flat out sick spell. It casts in a curve, which allows for skilled players so set up interesting hits. It also inflicts Moonlight, which can give you vision on jungle camps and bushes before you go all in. Due to her passive and the sheer damage of Crescent Strike, Diana is a great farmer and pusher as well. When you farm minions with this, try to line up the curve so it hits as many of the wave as you can.
  
  
• Pale Cascade (W)
  (Active): Diana creates three orbiting spheres that last up to 4 seconds and detonate on contact, dealing 20 / 36 / 52 / 68 / 84 (+0.2 per ability power) magic damage per orb to all nearby enemies. She also gains a temporary shield that absorbs 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 (+0.4 per ability power) damage. This shield is refreshed if all three spheres detonate.
  Cooldown: 10 seconds
  AoE diameter of sphere damage: 200 (estimate)
  
  
  Just another interesting spell to her kit. Early levels this allows Diana to soak up plenty of damage from jungle camps. The shield isn't amazing at any point, but it can definitely save you in a pinch and she wouldn't be able to jungle as well without it. Remember to save the ability for when you actually start to take damage to get the most out of the shield you can. Also, use it when people are clumped together. The orbs explode and deal AOE damage when they contact someone.
  
  
• Moonfall (E)
  (Active): Diana draws in all nearby enemies and slows them for 2 seconds.
  Cost: 70 mana
  Effect radius: 450
  Cooldown: 26 / 24 / 22 / 20 / 18 seconds
  Slow: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 %
  
  
  Diana's utility, gank assurance. It's great to disrupt team fights and essentially pull people to their deaths. Note that it does at every point in the game have a depressingly long cooldown, so make sure when you use it, it does something.
  
  
• Lunar Rush (R)
  (Active): Diana becomes the living embodiment of the vengeful moon, teleporting to an enemy and dealing 100 / 160 / 220 (+0.6 per ability power) magic damage.
  Lunar Rush has no cooldown when used to teleport to an enemy afflicted with Moonlight, and will consume all active Moonlight debuffs.
  Range: 900
  Cost: 50 / 65 / 80 mana
  Cooldown: 20 / 16 / 12 seconds
  
  Diana's ultimate. So, what's bad about this spell? That's right. Nothing! This is what makes her an assassin on par with Akali. Darting around teamfights or chasing squishy targets off is as easy as hitting them with Crescent Strike. Then, when they flash or use an escape, just ult again. Even when you don't go to an enemy with Moonlight on it, the cooldown is absurdly short.
  The two things that I love best about her ult are:
  1: You can use it to port to minions and such without wasting the cooldown just by hitting with your Q. If you can't quite catch up to someone, Q a minion wave, ult to the farthest minion, then ult to the player. It's just like ping-ponging with Akali.
  2: She takes Dragon impressively fast with this. Spam Q on it, ult, wait for Q, repeat. You never waste the cooldown and it gives you an extra burst for it.

So as always (pretty much), any time you can put a point in Diana's R, do so. You get damage increases and cdr, what more could you want with it?

Crescent Strike comes next on the hierarchy. It's her powerhouse and does amazing damage, with a great utility from the vision it grants. Max it immediately, regardless of how you're playing her.

Pale Cascade is another great utility and does decent damage. The shield is very helpful early on for jungling and helps out in teamfights as a damage soak. This is the third priority spell, max it second.

Lastly we have Moonfall. A few points here and there in Moonfall is actually very beneficial because of the very long cooldown. Even so, the slow doesn't increase dramatically per level and this is her only non-damaging, true utility. As Phreak might say, take a point in Moonfall first and max it last.

This video is really the only example I have so far of how awesome her kit is at picking people out of teamfights.

I only wanted to touch briefly on ganking with Diana.

Ganking is pretty much the same no matter who you are. Some junglers are much better at successfully ganking than others. I'm not sure where Diana would fall on the "Awesome at Ganking" hierarchy, but she's pretty freakin sweet.

When coming in from the river, don't give yourself away by throwing your Q in first. Save it for when the enemy/ies are running. This way, you're almost guaranteed to hit both of them. This is especially important after lvl 6, because that means you can either jump to the carry or the support and not blow a cooldown. Very handy if one of them burns flash and the other doesn't have it up.

When you come in to gank a lane, don't run right for the enemies. I know it's a hard instinct to fight, but run straight through the middle of the lane. If you have been communicating with your bottom lane, hopefully they engaged. You'll get to mid lane just about when the enemy lane will. This will tempt them to burn flash and most of them will. All of these things lead up to using Moonfall properly. Ganking in this fashion sets it up that, no matter where they run to, you'll be able to land an ability. Be it Crescent Strike or Moonfall. It'll help a lot and bot lane will appreciate the kills.

Those are pretty much all of my notes on ganking with Diana. I'll upload pictures sooner than later, or on request (:

These four items are this version of Diana's core, the things she tries to acquire as early as possible, outside of boots of course.

Sheen really marks Diana's first damage spike. It gives some AP and some mana which will help sustain you in small teamfights, dragon, and the jungle camps.

Hextech Revolver is really a buffer item since she doesn't have any inherent sustain. It makes coming away from jungle camps with high health very easy and can help in a pinch when you skirmish.

The Giant's Belt and Needlessly Large Rod will be built into your important mid-game items. That doesn't make them useless, however. The belt will give you enough health to not get bursted down in skirmishes and small teamfights. The Needlessly Large Rod boosts your damage quite a bit.




These three items are the core of the AP-Tank Jungle Diana of this guide. They give her tankiness, sustain, and some AP for her damage.

Philosopher's Stone early will pay for itself after a while in game and also give you some good health and mana regen. This will aid in sustaining between fights and camps while still building into something later.

Rod of Ages is pretty much the rush item of AP-Tanks. Getting it early means you'll get the full bonus of the item earlier, which will make you very tanky. You should have no worries about mana with this item. Also it gives some decent AP, which can only help.

The Giant's Belt is self explanatory. It's more health buffering so you can get in the middle of groups or drive high damage targets away from the fight.



These are the core early games for a Diana looking to build AP-Bruiser in the jungle. I changed these up recently to incorporate an early Rod of Ages and also Nashor's Tooth. I was pretty against the tooth on Diana, but as a bruiser it's not a bad item.

Even though these are pretty self-explained in the build, these three items make up Diana's core mid game as a Jungling Assassin.

I can never really tell which is more beneficial to get first: Rabadon's or Lich Bane. One is an enormous spike in AP, but costly, and the other is an enormous spike in damage, based off of AP.

I usually get Rabadon's first for the sheer power of the AP surge. Then I go into finishing Rylai's to survive teamfights and chase more effectively. Finally, snag Lich Bane to make you bonkers.




Tanking is a very situational venture so you will have to call which items counters the enemy team hardest. This setup, I find, is pretty stable overall. Rylai's gives you the sticking potential that Diana benefits from, while Shurelya's makes you into an even scarier initiator. Third is a new replacement to Force of Nature. Since a tanking Diana will be in the fray at all times, Frozen Heart is simply a better item when tanking with her.



So AP-Bruiser is fairly new to me and I still need to test this out a lot, but here's what I would recommend for Diana's Jungle AP-Bruiser Mid-Game.

Rylai's is mainly for survivability, the slow, and extra AP to play with.

Nashor's Tooth has come to replace Hextech Gunblade. Although the gunblade will give you great sustain and a boost in damage, Nashor's Tooth will help Diana's kit out more effectively. The CDR and Attack Speed have a very nice synergy with her abilities.

Rabadon's is standard. Gets you the APs so you gets the kills.

Late game, if you make it here, is a scary place where you have to build right to win, because one teamfight sways the game. I recently had an hour and 12 minute game as Diana where super late-game hit and, let me tell you, she never really loses out on damage even with a Banshee's Veil and Guardian Angel. So build intelligently and think about what you need.

Oh, and if you're full build, buy all the elixirs! They help and that gold isn't going anywhere else.

That being said, Guardian Angel and Void Staff would be my recommendation for late-game core items. The Void Staff gives you the ability to punch through any MR the enemy might have builts and more AP to punch harder with. The Guardian Angel is just assurance, because trust me, unless your team dies, you will come back and you will kill something.



Tanking is still situational, especially late game. Build what you need.

Abyssal Scepter will help not only you, but all the other AP damage dealing folks on your team. When you pop Shurelya's and dive into their team, onto their squishy, and reduce all their MR, it's a pretty sick combo.



Pretty much all you'd need at that point. You have the sustain, the damage. Void Staff makes your damage scarier, even to tanks, and elixirs help pull you the rest of the way through. Sorry, not much to really say about these things (:

Well, that's it everyone!

These are just my takes on Diana. Feel free to experiment and see what feels right for you with her and feel free to leave a comment with questions/suggestions/thoughts. They are always appreciated and I'll try to answer all that I can to the best of my ability (:

I'm going to update this guide a few times fairly soon as I really cement things with her as well as add more videos and pictures, so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading/viewing and give Diana a try! You won't regret it.

-gladbats

HUGE thank you to JhoiJhoi for her original Guide to Making guides. Go check it out if you're interested in making a guide of your own. It compiles everything you need to know in a legible, easy to access manner.

jhoijhoi's Guide to Making Guides