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Diana Build Guide by

Diana, The Akali on Mana, Mid/Jungle Guide (Working Project)

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9 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Krznixtkransj

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Ability Order

Diana Passive Ability

Introduction

Hey people! I’m Krznixtkransj, and this is the first guide I’m writing. A little about myself, if you’re interested: I’ve played League of Legends for about 6 months now. That may not seem as that much, but I’ve played quite a lot and learned a lot from friends that have played for far longer.

Anyway! To the guide! As you probably know by now the guide is about Diana, Scorn of the Moon. Diana is, at the moment of writing, the newest champion to enter the League. When I first read about her and saw her skills, I immediately realized that she was a champion I was gonna like. I logged onto the PBE server to try her out, and I fell in love with how amazing she is.

Diana is a champion that has the skills, mobility and utility to be able to be played in many different ways, however the one I think is the most effective is as a bursty, high-mobility AP carry. My build gives a lot of AP, a good dose of health and decent amounts of armor and magic resist. I will explain all choices as good as I can, and hope that you also have success with her after reading my guide.

Note:
I’m not saying that this is the best build for Diana. I’m not even saying that it’s the best way to play Diana, it’s just what I have tried out and found out too work. I think that her abilities scale too well with AP to not utilize this and get a lot of AP, but I also think that an AP/Attack Speed Hybrid to take advantage of her Passive might also be viable. Building her like a tanky bruiser and using the abilities mostly for utility may also be viable. Please, if you do have any ideas to how you can improve my builds, or new ideas to builds in general, tell me. I would appreciate new minds and ideas to this champion.

Note: Since Diana hasn't been properly implemented into the Mobafire database it seems, not all icons are showing as they should. Her stats are also not right. Please ignore this and remember that what is written still applies.

Lore

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

Pros / Cons - Laning

Pros / Cons

spaaaaaaace

Pros

+ Great Passive for early fights with few abilities.
+ Good harass and possibly last-hitting with Crescent Strike.
+ Pale Cascade brings a little survivability.
+ Moonfang is perfect for setting up ganks.
+ After level 6 you have a huge burst combo.
+ Low cooldowns on Q, W and R.

space

Cons

- Can't spam her spells forever without blue buff.
- Very little sustain in lane before Hextech Revolver.
- Can be zoned from basic attack last-hitting against strong mid champions.
- No real escape ability, unless an enemy happens to be in the direction you're escaping.
- Crescent Strike can be hard to master.

Pros / Cons - Jungling

Pros / Cons

spaaaaaaace

Pros

+ Fast clearing times.
+ Good sustain in jungle.
+ Strong ganks pre-6.
+ Amazing ganks pro-6.
+ If attacked in the jungle can use Q-R combo to teleport to nearby camps.

space

Cons

- Very blue buff dependant early game.
- No escape machanism pre-6.
- It's impossible to leave small minions alive at enemy buffs camp unless you pull them away.

Abilities

Ability Explanation

Moonsilver Blade: 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.
Crescent Strike (Q): Diana unleashes a bolt of lunar energy, dealing 80/125/170/ 215/260 (+0.8 per ability power) magic damage in an arc an also damage in a small area at the end of the arc. Crescent Strike afflicts enemies struck with Moonlight, revealing them for 3 seconds.
Pale Cascade (W): Diana creates three orbiting spheres that last up to 4 seconds and detonate on contact, each dealing 20/36/52/68/84 (+0.2 per ability power) magic damage 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.
Moonfall (E): Diana draws in all nearby enemies and slows them by 35/40/ 45/ 50 /55 % for 2 seconds.
Lunar Rush (R): 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 Moonlight stacks on the target.

Tips and Tricks

Try to always hit Crescent Strike before using Lunar Rush.
It's easier to land Crescent Strike in the area where it ends, as opposed to the line of the Arc.
Crescent Strike gives vision of enemies, so can be used with Lunar Rush to quickly move around the jungle.
Pale Cascade can save your life with its double shield.
Activate Pale Cascade right before using Moonfall to pull your enemies onto your orbs to damage them.
Moonfall is the perfect skill for setting up ganks if your enemy gets too close.
Use Moonfall in the middle of teamfights to cancel ultimate and mess with the enemy teams positioning.
Lunar Rush can be used with Crescent Strike for a double gap-closer.
Lunar Rush always consider if you should use Lunar Rush twice after landing Crescent Strike or use it once and wait for Crescent Strike to come back of cooldown to land your combo again.
Lunar Rush can be used in many places to escape from enemies. I will post a video further down demonstrating some.
Moonsilver Blade can be used combined with Lich Bane to easily deal more than 1300 damage late game.
Don't underestimate Moonsilver Blade. It has a lot of consistent burst damage when you've gotten a bit of AP.

Ability Sequence

Jungling

When jungling I will start with for the shield and decent damage it does to jungle camps early game. The shield will protect you from a lot of the damage, since it will appear twice after the damage. I usually max it first as well, but can be maxed after getting to level 3.

After I get, and max, . This is for faster clearing times in the jungle, and more damage during ganks.

I take one point in at level 4 for the utility in ganks, and max it last.

, as most ultimates, should be levelled at 6, 11 and 16.

Laning

When laning it's a little bit different. In lane I start with and max it first, for more damage and harassing. It's also good for last hitting groups of minions that are all low, or last-hitting from a safe distance if you're being zoned.

is next, for the shield, and a little more damage if your enemy gets close to you.

As when jungling I take one point in at level 4 and max it last, simply because of the utility. It's great for setting up ganks for your jungler.

shall be levelled whenever possible.

Combo Sequence

There are quite a few possible combos with . After you've reached level 6 there are 2 combos I like to use, which only have one difference. The first is:

In this combo, you'll open with , followed by an immediate , followed by an immediate . This way you'll get your ultimate off cooldown immediately, and the spheres from shield you, damages your opponent, and restores your shield almost immediately. Remember to use basic attacks whenever you can within range for the extra damage and triggering of your passive. Always save until they try to run away. Also, unless another would kill them, land another first if you can.

The second combo

This is quite similar to the above combo. The only difference is that is before . I like to use this combo instead when there are minions between me and my target. Otherwise would be wasted on the minions.

Lategame when you're getting close to your full build, you can, and should, involve s passive into your combo. Just remember that for every 2 seconds the fight lasts, you'll get an extra 700 damage on your opponent.

Runes

The reason I use these runes are pretty simple. The Quints and Marks give more damage with the extra Ability Power and Magic Penetration, while the Seals and Glyphs are for resists. I take 3 flat ones, and 6 per level to get a little more armor and MR early game, when it's most important in my opinion, and then it scales more every time you level up.

Masteries

Items

Good early game items

Philosopher's StoneCatalyst the Protector

Good mid-game items

Good late-game items

Items

My Standard Build

: I usually take these because they bring a good amount of Magic Penetration so that the enemies MR isn't quite as effective as it otherwise would be.
: Hextech Gunblade is an amazing item on Diana. It gives Spell Vamp, Life Steal, Attack Damage and Ability Power. It gives Diana good sustain from using her skills and basic attacks, and brings a little more damage to the basic attacks that trigger her passive. It also has an active 50% slow, which is pretty good.
: No AP carry is complete without this. 140 AP + a 30% increase is just too good to pass on. Buying this item will pretty much double your AP, and give you the power to burst down enemies before they have time to react.
: This item should be bought as soon as possible. After 10 minutes it gives you 80 AP, and a lot of Hp and Mana. It's passive also helps you keep sustained in lane whenever you level up.
: This is another item that is amazing for Diana. It got good AP, a movement speed bonus, a little Magic Resist and a passive that will add so much to your combo. This passive is amazing on Diana since 3 of her abilities involve either already being close to your opponent, or getting close to them. W, E or R followed by a basic attack will all deal heavy damage. Using this for your combo is guaranteed to bring a lot of extra firepower if you can pull it off.
: This is an item I tend to get if there is no serious need for anything else. It gives a good amount of HP, AP and a nice slow to aid you in chasing enemies. If the enemy AD carry is fed though, you might be better off getting something with armor. That is up to each and every player, who has to judge for themselves what would be wise to get. Rylai's is simply my first choice if there is nothing special to take into consideration.

Reason for full build

(For the ones with a special interest for opinions.)

Spoiler: Click to view

Just to say the overall reason to why this is my full build. With these items you will have enough health to take a few punches, which is important considering the following: All of Dianas abilities, with exception of involves Diana being close to her opponent in some way. can only deal damage if she's standing right next to them. Only works if she is relatively close to her enemies, and by using it pulls them even closer. teleports to the target enemy, placing herself right next to them. Since so many of her skills involve her being close to enemies, it's important to have a little hp they can tear away.

The next is mana. Most of Dianas damage comes from abilities, so mana is of course important. No mana = Little damage. Now, I'm not saying you should be stacking mana like a crazy person, I'm just saying that one mana item won't hurt you. Since this item, in my build, is you'll also get a bit of the important hp in one item. What a bargain!

AP is up. Out of all the things AP is probably the most important. Muy importante! With this build, you'll get 5 items that bring AP to the table. Since they all also have other stats, they're all worth it in my opinion. They should be changed according to circumstances though.

Sustain. From this build you'll get good sustain. Lot of HP, lot of mana, Life Steal and Spell Vamp. Also the passive from every time you level up. This is more than enough to stay in lane for quite some time, unless taking heavy harassment.

Other stuff that are important:

Boots are never a bad idea. If you can't run up to your enemies and get in range for your ultimate, you're pretty useless. Never sell your boots, in my opinion. They got great stats for a cheap price.
The MR from Lich Bane is always useful, but the real reason to get it is because of the damage it brings to our combo. Combined with the rest of the build, your basic attacks will do just about 750 damage, every 2 seconds. Combine that with your passive, Moonsilver Blade, and every couple of seconds you will do 1300+ damage, just from your basic attacks.

Other good and Viable options

: I tend to always get at least one of these early game when laning, unless I happen to beat my opponent on both farm and harass, at which point I just get an early [Hextech Revolver]. it gives good stats for a cheap price. If you're being zoned and falling behind on farm, you can stack a couple of these if you like to get some cheap sustain and damage. 2 is good. 3 is the most you'll get. 4 is a waste, 5 is ridiculous and 6 is trolling.
Philosopher's Stone: This is one of the first items I get while jungling. Just start with a Regrowth Pendant at the beginning, and build it into a Philosopher's Stone on your first trip back to base. it gives good sustain both hp-wise and mana-wise, and it also gives you a little extra gold, which pays itself back by the time you're selling it lategame.
: If you get an early Tear of the Goddess and get it fully charged, you can buy this for the extra AP it give you, to make your burst even more powerful. I don't usually recommend it, but if you go full AP it can be a great choice with the amount of mana you'll already be having without it. With the Rod of Ages and this, I figured you would be at about 3200+ Mana, which gives a bonus AP of 96.
: This item is great if you both need Mr and the other team has a little too much of it.
: Even though I feel that the Hextech Gunblade is superior to this, it is still a good and viable item. You can replace the Gunblade with it, or maybe even have both if you feel like it.
: Even though this item is more suited for champions that are very mana-thirsty, I think it still can be viable for Diana. It got good AP, Mr and a nice CDR as well. And the passive would also make sure it would be pretty impossible for you to run out of mana when you really need it.
: This item is great if you need more armor. It also has a nice passive that can buy you a couple of seconds for your abilities to come off cooldown, or for your team to initiate when you're in the middle of the enemy team.
: A good last item if the enemy team has a lot of magic damage or an ability you want protection from. It gives good stats and the passive can save your life every 45 seconds.
: This is also a good item if you're being focused and killed too fast lategame. just buy this to get a nice amount of armor and MR, and an extra life every 5 minutes.
: Even though it's not really the item for an AP Carry, if the enemy team has a lot of physical damage, you can buy this. It gives good armor and a bit of hp aswell as HP regen. Coupled with that are a few useful passives and an active effect.
: If you need to ignore a bit of the enemies MR, buy this item and all of a sudden, their resistances won't matter. Well, almost. 40% of it won't at least.
: This item is great if someone is stacking hp and little Magic Resist to add a nice 40-50% of their hp in damage to your burst. It also has a nice amount of AP, CDR and builds out of a gp/10 item, Kage's Lucky Pick

Boots of Viability

: These boots are excellent if you need a little more magic resistance and the enemy team has a lot of strong cc.
: Diana has pretty low cooldowns, so I think these boots would work pretty well on her.
: These boots are only for the ones that want to trigger [Moonsilver Blade] more often. I woudn't recommend them as Diana benefits more from the other boots.

Situational Items

: Frozen Heart is great if you need extra armor. It also brings a good portion of mana, some CDR and a nice Aura.
: Like Frozen Heart, this is a great item if you need more resist. Magic Resist that is. This is the item with the most magic resist in the game, and it gives you a lot of hp regen as well. With this build you'd also get a good amount of hp, so the passive from Force of Nature is great for healing. It also has a nice movement speed bonus.
: This is a VERY situational item. If you're dominating early game, and getting fed, you might consider buying this item. If you think you can stay alive and finish the game fast, it can be worth it. It's risky gambling though, so I wouldn't recommend it. Personally I rarely get this item.
If the enemy has alot of cc, and you get always get stunned and shut down early in fights, this can save your life. Also it's cheap and brings some nice MR as well.

Summoner Spells

is a great spell for both offensive and defensive uses. It lets you escape from ganks, catch up to running enemies for the kill, jump over walls and more. Flash can be substituted with , but I don't think it's worth it on Diana.

space

is great for when you're laning. It's great for killing enemies that would otherwise get away with very little hp. It also shuts down Dr. Mundo, hard. I usually take this when I go mid, and sometimes top.

space

is great for when you go top, where there are often strong champions that use AD for damage. Exhaust is great to use in a fight going sour, or when you need to catch up to your enemy, get away from them, or using it when your jungler ganks.

is a spell that is absolutely necessary when jungling with Diana. It helps you secure buffs, get buffs easier early game, secure dragon and Baron, and possibly steal the enemies buff right in front of their face. It also can save your life because it heals you after you've gotten spell vamp.

Lunar Rush

I felt I should dedicate a chapter for . Let's just be reminded at what it does.

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 Moonlight stacks on the target.

What does this mean? This mean that after level 6, you have an amazing, damaging gap closer, possibly times two. Now, what can you use this Ultimate for?

Jump to your enemy to burst them down.
Jump to minions to clear them faster.
Save allys by jumping onto chasing enemies and pressing E.
Running away from chasing enemies into the jungle and mess with their heads with your Q-R combo.

Here's an image of Summoner's Rift. The red lines present the confirmed possible jumps to the different jungle camps, with your Q-R combo Please note a few things about this picture:

Unless there is a ward with vision of the camp, you need to land your Q, before . This will grant you vision needed, but will also make the monsters move away from their original position. With most camps this is not a problem. The exceptions are the wolves and the Dragon. Here's why:

The jump over to the dragon needs quick reflexes. The dragon starts moving out of its little cave and out of range from where you're standing pretty fast. You need to use your Q and ready your R. As soon as you see the dragon, click on it and you should make it. If not it will come out of it's cave, and being targeted you will run towards it. If you don't click anything else you will jump to it after about 2 seconds.

Then the wolves. The jump when you're standing closer to your base is fine, shouldn't be much of a problem. The one where you're standing around blue buff though, may. The wolves are fast runners and will be out of their camp and at your place in 2 seconds, at which point using your ultimate would be a waste. Quick reflexes are needed.

Soon to come, hopefully: Video demosntrating the different places to jump.

Jungle Route

Here is the jungle route I use when playing Diana. Of course this can be changed under different circumstances. It is up to each and every player, but I strongly suggest to start with blue, or wolves followed by blue.

It's a lot of lines in the picture, so here is the route in text:

Start by buying your Regrowth Pendant and 1 Health Potion, as well as putting one point in Pale Cascade
Make your way out from the summoner platform and run one lap around your Nexus for good fortune.
Make your way to the blue buff and watch over the river if nobody else is, to prevent invading.
Get a pull on the Golem and activate Pale Cascade whenever you can. Smite the Golem at 425 HP.
Put one point in Crescent Strike and make your way to the wolves. Attack them, activate Pale Cascade and hit them with Crescent Strike. Keep on doing this combination until they are dead.
Make your way to the wraiths. Attack the blue wraith, activate W, and put Q on top of everyone until they are dead.
Run down to the double golems and attack them the same way until they die.
Put another point in W and go to the Elder Lizard. Kill it as you killed the other camps and smite it when it's low enough.
Run back to the Wraiths, who should respawn when you arrive at their camp, and kill them again. Get level 4 and put a point in Moonfall.
Now it's your decision: Gank a pushed lane, go back to base and buy your Philosopher's Stone or go kill the wolves again.

Match History

These are the only normal-game Diana games that is still on my match history. I will post more later, but as you can see, this build has been pretty dominating in game, even though there's only 2/4 wins. If I remember right, the first and last one is jungling, while the other's are mid.

Here's some stats from SyrixGG

If you get some good games with this build, feel free to send pictures of it and I may include it in my guide.

Final Words

First of all I would congratulate you on reaching the end of my guide, and hope you liked it. Please leave a comment if you like, and if you have any ideas or questions that would be great. If you think something is missing, tell me. I'm always interested in hearing new ways of playing champions, so if you have any input I would appreciate it.

Also I would like to thank jhoijhoi for her "Making A Guide"-guide, which have helped me greatly in making this one. Thanks again jhoijhoi, you've me a whole load of time and effort. You're awesome!

And then the real Final Words. Thank you for reading the guide I made. I hope it wasn't too boring to get through and that you got some good ideas and tips from it. If not, I'm sorry that I wasted your time, even though it was in my best intentions.

PS: Keep coming back in the future, and things may be updated. I feel there's still a lot to write, and possibly things to change. I ain't done with this guide just yet.