MOBAFire's first Mini Guide Contest of Season 14 is here! Create or update guides for the 30 featured champions and compete for up to $200 in prizes! 🏆

Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page

Diana Build Guide by

Diana Guide, Epic Offtank (AP)

14 5

111,800 Views

19 Comments

Diana Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (19) More Diana Guides

Spells:

Teleport

Flash

Ability Order

Diana Passive Ability

Introduction

Greetings! This is my Diana Guide, for now focused on my favorite build, AP offtank (Top Lane). I will include other lanes/roles shortly, after I do some more research/testing. Always in progress! (Can never be perfect, but can always try). This is my first Guide. About myself. I do not consider myself a great player, but I do understand the tactics and way the game is played.

I watch plenty of tournaments and draw ideas from the Professionals I see play, as well as their streams, and their own guides!

I hope this guide works for you and if not, please let me know in a message or comments what you had issue with. Above all else, have fun, and enjoy! And please attempt this build before taking one look at items and saying NO SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE STRAIGHT GLASS CANNON LIKE AKALI 2.0!

PROGRESS NOTES: I have gotten to the point where I feel comfortable sharing this guide with everyone. I focused on what I feel is able to help You and Others understand the why's, what's, and how's of Diana and my particular Build(s). Enjoy! Feedback in comments or PM's is most appreciated! More roles to come soon!

If you don't need the why's, what's, or how's then feel free to put SHORT VERSION in your Find and it should show you a really short summary on each section. Just no complaining YOU DONT MAKE SENSE! Cause if you actually read the why's, what's, and how's it would make sense. Enjoy!

Pros / Cons

SPACE

Pros

Ability to close the gap to kill enemy carry.
(even if they are trying to not be on the front line of a fight.)
Even her shield ability gives some damage.
Good Poke ability especially against a straight melee in lane!
Versatility (Offtank, AP Carry, Jungle)
Short Cooldowns!
Can push FAST

SPACE

Cons

Takes some skill and practice to get used to her Q.
Not the best escape ability, yes the E does slow enemies but also brings them to you.
Can be mana hungry, must know how to manage your mana especially early game!
[*} Easy to over push a lane, must know how to avoid ganks.

Runes

Choices Choices Choices!

are for more MR mid-late game when you will normally see AP more.
Since this is mostly for Top Lane, majority of the time you are dealing with AD not AP, you can sub these for flat MR Glyphs if you feel you will face magic damage earlier than level 10 (where the scaling MR runes even with the flat MR runes) or even AP Glyphs if you are not worried about their magic damage at all.

just helps with some early game magic penetration for your abilities. Better than .59 Ability Power from

adds good armor for your early game, again, as I said, you will mostly be against an AD top. If not, I still like the early game Armor for their jungler. If they are AP too. Well you can get greater seal of defense but usually I feel fine with flat armor.

Flat 15 AP is always a nice bonus! Particularly early levels

Other Choices

or other Attacks Speed runes.... they are nice for procing her passive, but I still like the magic pen better since I will not be buying sorcerers shoes or anything soon.

SHORT VERSION It's not that long a section, please read, but if not then here's the short.... my runes = safe and good. Period.

Masteries

Mastery Explaining:

The masteries I suggest are to maximize your durability from defensive tree. As well as give you some magic penetration and cooldown reduction in the offensive tree.

Note: You can switch 9 from offense to utility if you are having too much trouble with mana management + , like a shorter flash CD , and for longer buff duration .

Now if you choose as a summoner spell, i'd advise moving a point from to . Same if you're jungling, extra 10 gold from smite can be the slight difference maker if you use smite when you can throughout the game, sometimes i'll smite a minion while pushing just because it'll give me 10 gold! 70 Second CD!

And for those who just can't live without the offensive tree, or want a bit more damage instead of more health and damage/cc reduction from defensive tree you can put 21 in offense, just like this

Tada! Now on to the next section...

SHORT VERSION
Defensive Masteries = more health, damage/cc reduction.
Offensive Masteries = More damage

Summoner Spells

Summoner Spells!

I like so I can have my "free" trips to 'b' and buy things and get back to lane without losing much, if any, minions and XP. As well as the ability to help teammates in their lanes when needed, or to set up a nice 4v2 gank on the bottom using wards!

2nd Spell: I like is , as noted in the cons, she doesn't have the best escapability in the world. Though I am good at using my ult with minions or other enemies to escape, (Tips & Tricks), it is not always the best decision.

Other spells to consider.

SPACE

Ignite great overall damaging ability and healing reducer with 1 point in Summoner's Wrath it can help boost your stats too!
Exhaust facing someone who hits hard fast? On hit-procs? Or just has high mobility? Take Exhaust! (Example: Irelia, helps counter her true damage on W so she can't sustain as much nor hurt as much in a fight) Also helpful to use against an AD Carry.

SPACE

Heal Too many people hate on Heal, I've been called a noob (and other not so nice things) for taking it, even after it secures a 1v1 for me, especially early game! I'll Take this if I face someone I know will be to the wire in 1v1's and that extra bit of health will give me the edge I need. Also helps with tower dives.
Ghost I like this on certain champs, Diana not one of them though. I suppose it can give you that extra bit of gap-closing to be close enough to R an opponent or get to a teammate in trouble faster. Teleport gets to teammates in trouble plenty fast if you ask me though.

Any of the above spells can be subbed out with Teleport or Flash, or both if you want. I make my choices based on who I believe I will be facing (Draft Mode and Ranked!) If I pick too early and get countered, I can alter my spells to best make sure I do not get dominated in lane.

SHORT VERSION

to get back to lane after 'base' faster, save towers, help teammates. to escape better.

Skill Sequence

Lets talk about some of her Skills real quick shall we?

Her passive passively gives her 20% increased attack speed, and every 3rd melee attack she will deal anywhere from 20 to 290 (+0.6 per ability power) additional magic damage to the target and nearby enemies.

This I believe is a very nice passive, especially when pushing minions to try and get a tower. I like to position myself every 3rd strike to try and hit the most minions I can if I am pushing my lane. Test for yourself and you will get the hang of where it will hit and be able to position yourself accordingly.

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

I like to start off with my Q . This is her main spell, it takes some time to get used to the delay on the arc of it, but the nice thing is it's A) ranged B) costs the same amount of mana at each rank, and C) will reveal enemies for 3 seconds! No ward? Want to see if there's a gank waiting in those bushes? Q and you shall find out!

After that we go for our W, . This ability will summon 3 orbiting spheres around you that lasts 4 seconds or until they each detonate on contact, dealing magic damage to ALL NEARBY ENEMIES Also, if all of them detonate, it will refresh the shield. (So my suggestion is position yourself in the middle of a minion group or near multiple enemies in team fights)

After that you go for right? Wrong! This ability will pull enemies in a short radius towards you, and slow them for 2 seconds. Nice skill, but 90% of the time I do not get it 3rd. Instead I will get 3rd for increased damage to harass from distance. Now if you feel good enough with your Q as is, then go for this 3rd and you will be happy as you can try to stop them from running. Otherwise, grab this 4th.

This is her ultimate. You get this whenever you can, no exceptions. I love it. Let me repeat that again. I LOVE IT. No it's not going to do massive damage from pressing it once, but it has a 12 second (shorter with CD) cooldown at 3rd rank, as well as it dashes to your target to deal damage to them. Oh, and did I mention if you use your Q and have moonlight on the target and use this before it disappears you get it instantly refreshed? Yeah, this ability with her is perfect reaching those squishies in the back of a team fight trying to hide behind their tanks, or chasing down the ones trying to escape an Ace.

SHORT VERSION So basically, You learn Q, W, Q, E then it's R>Q>W>E.

Items

These items focus on getting you enough AP to quickly kill 'squishy' champs, as well as sustain long enough to kill the rest of them.

CORE (2,740 gold if you happen to get all 4 choices, around 2,000 if you didn't take one of the GP10's)

philosopher's stone,kage's lucky pick or ,

MIDGAME (This will cost you 11,000 gold to this point, not too hard with gp10's really)

kage's lucky pick,, ,,

ENDGAME ITEMS (This is 17,050 or under, depends what 6th item choice]

,,,,,

NOTE: My final build, is 17.050. Which can be hard to get in a game unless you do very very well or it is a longer game. Most final builds on guides are north of 17k, all that I have seen anyways. I just want to take a moment to say yes you can probably be SLIGHTLY (not enough to matter much) tankier and hurt a tiny bit more for 17,050 gold, BUT the chances you get anywhere near 17,050 gold and the speed at which you get to that point. Is a lot more probable and effective in MY build since I include at least 2, and your choice THREE Gold Per 10 Items giving you an extra 1 or 1.5 gold per second for a majority of the game. And you build them INTO final items so no waste Do NOT underestimate how much this can add up over time especially when you get them early which for me I get 2 by 8 minutes regularly.

First items are up to you but 90% of the time I will start with a and either a or , depending which I think I will need more.

When I can I go back to base and get a philosopher's stone to help with my health and mana sustain in lane. I either push my opponent enough to make them base so I have time to do the same, or I base and use my to get back to lane ASAP. Remember, earlier the GP10 the longer you will have it and the more use you'll get out of the passive!

2nd trip back if i'm doing ok in lane and not having issues escaping ganks, or chasing the enemy, I will go for my 2nd GP10 item, either Kage's lucky pick or . Again this is usually based on how the game is going, do I feel I need more health at the moment to survive or have I done good and am pushing them around so I get a Kage's for the extra AP to try and get more damage?

3rd Item I will get is 90% of the time , just to give me extra mobility, but if it's still really early in the game and I have been dominating without them, have my ult to chase and am doing fine. I will consider the Kage's or Heart of Gold (Whatever I did not get) just cause I know I will be able to go back and get boots I want shortly, either with my 15 gold per 10 seconds just trickling in with my CS or I get another kill.

--Also consider if you want some extra mana, AP, and a nice passive since you have good base AD.

Next on the list I like to have 3GP10's, level 1 boots by 15 minutes tops, and maybe make them level 2 boots, if I am needing the extra mobility to chase or escape, these boots are usually so I can avoid CC better, but if they are really giving me issues as an AD top I can go ahead and grab Ninja Tabai which certainly help quite a bit.
-- are also ok if they are light on CC and AD not bothering you. Who doesn't like shorter CD's or Magic Pen?

After those core items I like to get as fast as possible,(reason I like it so early in FAQ at bottom) I try to get Sheen if I don't have it already, as Diana has one of the better base attack damages and the proc on it will help, as well as give you a extra bit of Ability Power.
--This can then be turned into a for more Ability Power, Magic resistance, movement speed, plus the passive which by now your AP is higher by quite a bit than your base AD.

Now is the Situational choices

I can get more health if needed, a , which later goes into . Or if I just think i need more armor instead I can get my Chain Mail to go into a later.

Heck maybe I want more AP and get the to later contribute to a or CD/AP Mix and get which builds into (Which will do MASSIVE damage, 25% of health + 4% per 100AP so endgame looking at 40%. with 200 AP it's 33% of their max health every 60 seconds).

As for your last item, will just make your opponent cry cry cry, though it is expensive so you can choose from a lot of other items, more health, CD, and speed? Shureyla's Reverie if you kept your ! Maybe a so when they focus me down i can come right back, whatever you feel is necessary you should be able to judge what you need based on how the game is playing.

Note, you may or may not want to build into (from and before your final two items, I usually do just to give item space. Please Please PLEASE do not forget about the ACTIVE on it can be the edge required to turn a fight around

Some More options, but i think above 3 are best

Frozen Heart Incredibly powerful against a heavy AD team. I'd replace Randuins with this if you do not want two armor items, it is a preference. I just like using the Heart of Gold to build into Randuin's. Get both if it's an All AD team or their AD is just -really- hurting! Would probably replace Rabadon's Deathcap personally but that is up to you.
Zhonya's Hourglass nice flat 100 ability power, and 50 more armor. The active is great though if you are getting focused you can pop it to make them focus on someone else for 2 seconds before you return to action. Maybe 2 seconds before your shield's CD is up but you need it NOW? Bam, there's your 2 seconds to get it. Suggestion: Replace Deathfire Grasp or Rabadon's Deathcap
Thornmail man those AD hurting a LOT! Armor and return damage to those fed people!
Warmog's Armor MUST, GET, MORE, HEALTH!
Nashor's Tooth some like this a lot. More procs on your passive. Lower CD, Ability Power, Mana Regen, not bad, not bad.
Wit's End nice item choice, i'll get this 5th or 6th if I need more than 30-50 (fully stacked) Magic Resistance, and it increases your DPS with it's on-hit effects plus making your passive hit more. Typically a strong choice against multiple AP Champions
Force of Nature LOTS of MR for when that AP damage is just being too much for you. More movement speed, and awesome health regen.
Abyssal Mask AP and some MR, reducing enemies MR for you and your other AP teammates. What's not to like?
Rod of Ages if you wanted to take the catalyst the protector early, probably in place of a Kage's or Philosophers stone, it's a good item. Health, Mana, AP, what's not to like?

A Full Lichbane Explanation, and how to use it best in Tips & TRICKS

SHORT VERSION

, , , ,, costs 17,050 gold, gives you..

170ish Armor
130ish Magic Resistance
3000 Health
500+ AP with Lich Bane to proc and a 45% of their max health nuke in Deathfire Grasp

Team Fights!

So it's mid to end-game now, you guys are team fighting a lot, what should you do?

Team fights, you want to kill them before they kill you. Simple to understand why right? Right. Now how should we do that... Usually the Carries will be doing the most damage at this point, and therefore hurt your team more.

Your job, will be to either protect your carry, or most of the time kill theirs then the rest of their team. With Lich-bane and 200AP you can burst down their squishies rather quick. You should attempt to catch one on a without initiating completely yet, and if you do. Initiate! Use that ult to get to them in typically the back of the group trying to stay safe, and make them unsafe. Start procing that Lichbane and using those abilities! You should be able to kill them before you get focused down. And hopefully be able to take care of the rest of their team without dying either.

OH NO THE AD CARRY IS RUNNING AWAY NOW! Do you have your ult? If so, Are they going to die rather quickly? If yes again, go for it! If they ran reallly fast and they still have a lot of health, let them abandon their team and you have a healthy 5v4. or 5v3 if another of their team members start to run too. If they come back, jump right back on them!

You killed their AP and AD carries yay, now what? Well, with your team, start focusing down the other targets or chasing them if they are running at this point. I'd start with killing the ones that are hurting a teammate most. If your own carry is about to die to one of them, hit them, hit them hard, and use your E to try and drag them away from your carry.

Now for skill rotations, I explain them in Tips and Tricks with the Lichbane but here it is in short.
Q-R-aa-2 second delay-W-aa-2 second delay-REPEAT

Q the target, R to them, your next melee will hit them with , wait 2 seconds for the Lichbane CD to be up again, W (don't be afraid to w sooner if you are getting hit too much) then you'll melee them again, hitting with the proc and your pale cascade will be hurting them as well by the time 2 seconds after you use that ability, your Q will just be off CD so you can use your Q again, and get ANOTHER free R, use it! Rinse, Repeat... they try to run? E they flashed to get away? This is why I don't use my R twice in a row instantly unless it's a kill shot when i'm still in melee range of them. They , I can R to them THEN E and save my own flash for something else. Chances are won't be up again in the 1 second it took to do that, so kill them. Next target up!

Final note, it will take a few practices to get used to your mental clock telling you when 2 seconds is up for , in heat of moment you may press your next ability too early and not get the proc. But if you do don't be afraid to use your E to proc it, it works!

SHORT VERSION

Kill their Carries, Protect yours, take lots of damage, and live to tell about it.

Jungling! (Will be more later)

Start + 3 so you have good health after getting level 3 so you can gank. Boots help get in range for to slow down enemy especially if say it's an ad carry and they like to start .

Route!
Blue>Wolves>Wraiths>Red>whatever, wanna gank? Go for it! B for an item? pick up golems or wraiths again first!

For now I will keep this short and sweet, in the jungle i'll switch out for , unless nobody on my team takes it, then I feel the need to keep it for saving towers or pushing a tower fast if they are out of place. In that case take out instead. Don't jungle without , please, just don't do it or I will happily watch skilled players steal your jungle, buffs, dragon, baron.

Also, I will not always take Philosopher's stone because of Blue Buffs mana regen properties. I will take Philosopher's stone if I want to be able to give away the blue buff at 7 minute mark.

Take 3rd if you are going to gank after Red.

Use your Q from bushes to set up your free Ult to them later on

Tips & Tricks

Fun stuff! Lets start with the basic ones.

You can Flash over certain walls to escape! (Map of where will come shortly!) Main ones, behind Baron, and pretty much all the walls surrounding the Golems, Wolves, Wraiths, and Lizards (jungle creeps)
Another thing is using your Crescent Strike to check bushes. If you can SAFELY do so, try to get the curve to cover as much of the bush as you can for better chance of revealing someone

Jukes with the ult!
I will post Videos when I can get them edited. But pretty much if you are being chased and need to get away. You can

Try to ult to an enemy minion to quickly go past the champions chasing you, or increase distance between you.
If no minions are around, and the enemy is rather spread out, you can ult to the one furthest from you, in the back, and try to just run the opposite direction to get away or closer to teammates.
The ones that make me smile most! Used in bushes.
Most the time if you enter bushes the enemy will CLICK to move to the bushes to
face check you. So you go in there, sit, wait for them to come face check, and at
the last moment ult to the one furthest away and start running opposite direction.
Chances are they will for a moment or two keep running towards bushes you were in while
processing what just happened... YOU SUCKA'S GOT JUKED!

LICH BANE USE AND EXPLANATION
--- Just as an extra explanation and note, I get Lich Bane ASAP after my core items because of the extra defences it provides and the burst capability it provides. As I noted in the Pro's, Diana's CD's get to be nice and short, with her Q, W, E, and R I can continuously forever hit Lich Bane proc every 2 seconds (the CD) you just have to space out your abilities enough to make sure you get the Proc every time, but with some practice it becomes easy. I like to Q then R to an opponent, which i'll do too fast to get 2 procs of Lich Bane, but then my R is refreshed and I can use my W 2 seconds later, By the time the Lich Bane CD from using W is down, my Q is back up again or a half second from it, so I can just q again, hit proc, r again, hit proc, q again, hit proc, etc etc etc. You get the point, this is why I even though you will have just over 200AP mid-game, you will be doing an extra 200 in PHYSICAL damage equal to your AP, every 2 seconds... with your abilities AP ratios and your passsive, you will do more than enough to kill any squishy person in very little time, As well as you have the survivability to take some damage from the rest of the team to move from target to target. Endgame if you get Rabadon's Deathcap you will have around 500AP and be tanky as heck... they will usually cry.

Lane Matchups, Counters, etc etc.

When in top, there's few so far I have had issues with. If you have any you want to suggest let me know and I will add it!

Anyone with a Silence can hurt you pretty well, since you can't use your abilities. so i'll throw in , , , .

Another issue can be someone with great sustain, i've faced top and he can sustain well but I adjusted my gameplay and just harassed him from far and took extra health pots to try and keep even with him. Or this would be a case where I may take Heal for those close fights.

Champion is new so this is just what sticks out to me right now. Otherwise i'm a firm believer that Adjustments can help you survive counter picks. For instance a lot of people take GP10's if they can't farm as well cause of their lane opponent.... well my build already takes care of that! So you can try to farm under tower, etc. And wait for your jungles help.

Game Stats!

Unfortunately at the time of writing this part right now, I have not played Diana in the past 10 games because they have been banned, wanted by my jungler, or the other team. And I pick champs based on matchups, i'm not a one-trick pony! I do have others using this build and will show some stats of theirs when I can!

^^^ those are the first 4 games with my build from NA Server Summoner Seanstephen.

Here are MY last few games with my build below! Yes one was a loss but hey, nobody has a 100% win record, though i will include stats from that loss because I still think I personally did well. It is a team game folks!

^^^wouldn't fit all on one printscreen with others

Losses Stats.

For what it's worth. My first 3 games with this build were 2 wins and a loss. one was a clean sheet 10/0/9 and the loss was a 9/9/12. The other I cannot remember but I will do my best to have videos and stats coming soon, feel free to PM me if you have any you'd like to share! I have been tinkering with this build since the PBE and felt I tweaked it enough to get what I wanted. So far it has been great and I hope you all Enjoy as well.

Special Thanks

Seanstephen for taking me seriously and using my build for others opinions!

AND OF COURSE! Thank you to JhoiJhoi who I have never met but her "how to" for guides really helped me with this one! (MY first guide!) Your text to link here...

I would also like to thank all YOU who vote and comment, as well as try it yourselves and give me feedback, as you help me make it better and keep it up!

Good Luck, Have Fun, and I will do my best to make this guide better and better with each day.

FAQ (from comments)

I thought these were good questions and felt a need for a chapter to share responses easier than going through the comments. And they may be questions/comments you have.

Wispofdoom in short questioned getting so early. My response. At the point in the game i'd get it, the build total would be under 8,000 gold. I expect this say around if not before level 12 with my build. At that point the Lich Bane Proc would give an extra 40 damage with the AP at that point being 40 more than my Attack Damage. That 40 damage I believe is a good chunk when it's every 2 seconds (20 more DPS than if proc'd efficiently) As well as the added bonus of +7% movement speed AND the 30 Magic Resist. Again everything is situational, and up to you. Judge by the way the game is going just majority of the time I figure this to be most efficient.