Table of contents

About me Why Diana? Skillset Skill Sequence Runes

Gameplay: -Diana in laning phase -Diana on ganks -Diana in teamfights

Build: -Items order Threats to Diana Finally...

Hello! My name is Jacob and I'm from Warsaw, Poland. I love reading books (especially fantasy) and playing computer games but I also enjoy spending time outside (I know, sick). I play League since Season 5 and I've always been maining mages.
Why should you trust this guide? Well, I am a high elo player I got out of bronze with Diana, so that's something, I guess. Another cool fact is, that at this moment I have about 150k mastery points on Diana. I hope this guide will prove useful to you and help you get to Challenger!

Back to top







Diana is a highly mobile champion, initially designed as an assasin, eliminating single targets and then escaping/dying. Because of that, her impact on the late game is relatively small, because you have to get really far ahead in early game to be able to just get close to enemy ADC or mage. And that's why I thought - "Why not do something about it and make her do more in teamfights?". Introducing - tons of dmg, loads of HP and zero cooldowns, new, better and even stronger - HP Mage Diaaaaaana! Enjoy :D (maybe it's not new, but still enjoy)(please).


Back to top






Okay, let's look at Diana's skillset, which makes her so mobile and flexible.


Diana's Passive - Moonsilver Blade


Casting an ability grants Diana 30% - 90% (based on Moonfall's Rank) bonus attack speed for her next 3 basic attacks.
Every third basic attack within 3.5 seconds cleaves nearby enemies for 20 - 250 (based on level) (+ 80% AP) bonus Ability power magic damage and restores (15% AP) mana.

Diana's Q - Crescent Strike


Diana unleashes a bolt of lunar energy that travels in an arc, dealing magic damage to enemies hit and afflicting them with Moonlight for 3 seconds, granting sight of them for the duration.

Diana's W - Pale Cascade


Diana shields herself for up to 5 seconds and creates three spheres that orbit her for the duration, detonating upon contact with an enemy and dealing magic damage to nearby enemies upon detonation. If all three spheres detonate, Pale Cascade's shield is reapplied, stacking with its original shield, and its duration is refreshed.


Diana's E - Moonfall

PASSIVE: Increases the attack speed gained from Moonsilver Blade.
Diana reveals and draws in all nearby enemies to her location, slowing them for 2 seconds afterwards.

Diana's R - Lunar Rush


Diana dashes to the target enemy, dealing magic damage. If the target is afflicted with Moonlight, the effect is consumed on all enemies and Lunar Rush's cooldown is reset.


Back to top








Maxing Qfirst is good for harassing and dmg dealing, but if you prefer you can go for W first, like this:


Back to top






I recommend picking Precision as your primary path and Resolve as the secondary.

Keystone Number 1: Precision

Your role - stamina fighter/assassin - determines the runes you should take. Precision gives you basically 18% Attack Speed, which is very valuable when fighting in lane, since it enables you to use your passive more often.


Slot 1: Press The Attack
Great for fighter Diana - it makes you deal more damage only by auto-attacking.


Slot 2: Presence of Mind
Diana uses a lot of mana, so Presence of Mind will prove useful. It will restore your mana and refund 10% of your ultimate's maximum cooldown after a chamion kill.

Slot 3: Legend: Alacrity
Legend: Alacrity boosts your Attack Speed.


Slot 4: Cut Down
This build doesn't focus on tank version of Diana, so there will be many champions with higher HP than you. But don't worry, Cut Down will level the playing field.

Keystone Number 2: Resolve

As I've already mentioned, you might encounter champions tankier than you. Resolve grants bonuses based on which stat you already have the most bonuses for.


Slot 1: Demolish
Demolish - definitely useful, since it enhances your basic attacks.

Slot 2: Conditioning
Conditioning will increase your armor and magic resistance - this is useful in almost every game.



Back to top







Diana in laning phase:
Thanks to her passive, Diana can clear waves quickly and a well-placed Qcan damage all 6/7 minions. It is also a good zoning tool, because so long as Diana is a melee champion, she's vulnerable to range attacks. A recommended strategy during the laning phase is to:

1. Wait for minions to come on your half of the lane, then try hitting them and the opponent with Q .
2. Kill first three of them with basic attacks (melee minions), then kill other 3 (caster minions) with W . Those actions will slowly get you closer your opponent. He will probably try harassing you, but thanks to shield from W you won't lose much health.
3. When you are near the opponent midlaner, start fighting him. Drag him to you with E , then use your basic attacks to reduce his health. If you manage to land your 3rd AA, it will give you a pretty advantage over him, because in early game no one's basic attack deal as much damage as Diana's.
4. After you get lvl 6, land your Q and immediately follow with your R +W +E . Hit enemy with 1 or 2 basic attacks, then ult him one more time and finish with Ignite . That should probably be enough to kill everyone in the early game.


Diana on ganks:
Crescent Strike'scast time is quite long so you don't always have time to hit your enemy with it, wait until it hits them and then press your ultimate. Sometimes you have to react quickly, usually while walking down midlane and ganking. In that case, start with Lunar Rush , press W +E and land your Q . If that's not enough, you probably won't be able to do much more, because of Diana's high cooldowns. You can always try Flashing and auto-attacking.


Diana in teamfights:
Diana is a very good engaging champion. You can easily jump into enemy team, slow everyone for 28944383 years with Eand kill enemy ADC before anyone notices. And that's the main target. Diana isn't a hard, mechanical champion. You just cast your R , then press every possible button and Zhonya or Flash out. Simple?
Simple. If you manage to kill somebody or survive - good for you.

Back to top






As I have already mentioned, Diana is very flexible. There are many ways of building her - full AP, Tank, Split-pusher and what I call HP Mage. In this guide I'm gonna focus on the last one.

HP Mage Diana

This build is the main topic of this guide. Its characterictics are:

+Big sustain, thanks to Rod of Ages which provides much health and mana
+Cooldown reduction, crucial because of Diana's high cooldowns
+A pretty amount of dmg
+A strong engaging power
-It needs time to reveal its true potential

Core item:

Rod of Ages

We want this item for the mana and health it gives. ROA provides a great sustain: huge amount of mana that enables Diana stay on line and spam her skills and health that helps her survive enemy jungler's ganks and engage teamfights.



Important items:

Luden's Echo

Gives us more dmg, mana and cdr. Doesn't need explanation.

Lich Bane

Some dmg, but what is more important - Cooldown Reduction, Mana and stronger basic attacks (when stacked with Diana's passive o_O).



Most important situational items


Note: in some games they are only situational, but sometimes they become crucial.

Zhonya's Hourglass

When you are losing vs AD champ, Zhonya's is necessary. But except it saves your life from Zed's Death Mark, it also enables Diana to jump into enemy team, strike a full combo and SURVIVE.

Abyssal Mask

Gives Magic Resistance, crucial while playing vs e.g. Syndra. Thanks to the Abyssal Mask, you can take on your chin her combo and then attack by yourself.



Useful items:

Rabadon's Deathcap

Tons of AP=tons of dmg. That's it.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

More HP and Slow, useful while chasing enemies.

Hextech Protobelt-01

Kind of similar to Rylai's Crystal Scepter, but instead of CC you get a short dash.



Situational items:


Note: these items are only situational. None of them is a permanent part of this build.

Guardian Angel

Useful in engaging, can be a substitue for Zhonya's or an additional item.

Nashor's Tooth

Great for split-pushing and when there are 2+ melee champions in enemy team.

Banshee's Veil

Buy it when enemy team has strong CC and they keep focusing you.


Boots:

Ionian boots of Lucidity

For more CDR (I always prefer them to other boots)

Sorcerer's Shoes

When enemy is building Magic Resistance.

Mercury's Treads

Against AP team/composition with a lot of Crowd Control

Note: Other boost can be bought, but they do not work that well.


Back to top





Now let's look at item buying order.

Note: Every color indicates a certain Full Item, e.g. purple is used for component parts of Rod of Ages.


Starting items:

Corrupting Potion

For more sustain

Doran's Ring

For more dmg. Going in Doran's Ring might require an earlier recall, because it won't give you that much mana supply.


First back (optimistically):

Catalyst of Aeons

Start building Rod of Ages, unless you have serious problem with surviving enemy's attacks.

Negatron Cloak

Grab it when you feel you can't endure enemy's magic damage.

Seeker's Armguard

Same thing as Negatron's Cloak, but vs AD midlaner.



First full item:

Rod of Ages

Your core item, should be your first item, unless you need to get some AP resist/armour. In that case, try buying it before boots.

Abyssal Mask

Vs AP Midlaner, like LeBlanc

Zhonya's Hourglass

Vs AD Midlaner, like Zed


Then proceed with necessary items.



Back to top




Section still in development

In this chapter I'm gonna try to explain when Diana is a good pick and when choosing her is a suicide. All counter information welcome.


Medium-easy
Kind of easy to play against. Your build provides you enough HP to survive his ultimate and if he tries to hit you with his empowered attacks - well, punish him with your passive.


Medium
Also not that bad to play against, since Zed depends on his basic attacks and will probably want to show their strength.


Medium
Since Katarina's update she doesn't only use AP, so it's harder to build against her. But you still can harass her with Qand when you fight her remember to save E and use it to interrupt her ultimate.


Medium
He's gonna win in the early game and harass you a lot, since his skill don't require mana. But after getting lvl 6, force him into a close fight - your passive will give you advantage.


Hard
If you get close to her, she's gonna root you with her chain. You can't let that happen, so you will probably won't be able to depend much on your basic attacks. Abyssal Mask is a must-have.


Hard
His darts make Diana's auto-attacks useless and he can harass you easily. Stay away from him, spam your Qand wait for lvl 6.


Disastrous!!!
If you see that enemy has picked Fiora leave the game or swap with your teammate. I haven't found a way to counter Fiora, unless she's a first-time.


Back to top






Congratulations, you have survived to the end of this guide. I hope it wasn't that bad ;D

Thanks for reading it, please leave a comment, since this is my first guide and I'd like to know your opinion about it.

Guide was created 5th March 2017 and published 11th March the same year
6.04.17 - first 10k views
Back to top