Welcome to my guide on Leona. Leona is an easy-medium difficulty tank so she's not that hard to learn how to play. I wouldn't recommend her as a first tank though just because of the need to use skillshots for Zenith Blade and the positioning of her ult, Solar Flare.

PROS
Leona is a tank with 3 stuns which means stunlock.
Her Eclipse makes her tanky even if you lack good items.
This build earns gold well with Heart of Gold and philosopher's stone, so you can give your last hits to your lane partner.
Her passive, Sunlight can help your team pick up kills.

CONS
Has some cooldown issues. However this is greatly helped by Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Randuin's Omen and possibly Frozen Heart or Shurelya's Battlesong.
Skill shot can take getting used to, since you go to the LAST champion you hit rather than the first.
Solar Flare is positional and delayed so might not activate when you need it most. You might also need to predict your opponents' movement so they run into your ult.
She has extremely low damage even with Trinity Force to help her out.
Not a good pick in ranked.

These are pretty standard tank runes.

greater mark of desolation gives some armor Pen allowing for more damage.

Greater Seal of Armor gives a nice armor boost. Considering, you don't have too many tank items early game, this is important as this along with Eclipse will be allowing you to tank.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist same logic as above.

Greater Quintessence of Health allows for major health boost early game. This will allow you to stay in lane longer.

I take 0/21/9 masteries. The reasoning behind taking Ardor is that the Triforce supplies you with these stats. i take Greed in utility, but Utility Mastery works too.

Good Summoner Spells

Flash on Leona is great with the ability to escape and chase. This can allow for better positioning or allow you to close the gap for Zenith Blade.


Most tanks don't take Ignite as you may end up ksing your carry. I still like Ignite for the extra damage an as long as both you and your carry know what you're doing, it really shouldn't be a big issue.


If you don't like Ignite, just take Teleport instead. This allows for better pushing and allows you to defend you turrets when they're getting pushed.

Decent Summoner Spells

Take this if you don't like Flash, but remember CC can still shut you down with this on.


Some slow never hurts, but you have essentially three stuns, so I tend not to use this.


Yes KEEP THOSE TURRETS ALIVE. usually, Teleport works fine, but if you're being split pushed, this might be your solution.


Prevent first blood. Get first blood. Probably never use heal again after early game. Good for those noobs under level 10 though.

GENERALLY AVOID THESE SPELLS

Meh. You really should be the one doing the CCing, but this does have its uses...i guess. I personally avoid this spell.


No real mana issues considering the philosopher's stone regen is ridiculously good. Let your support take this.


I mean I guess you could CV a bush before Zenith Blade on it but you can always guess and get lucky too. Again, probably wanna leave this for your support.

TABOO: DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT GETTING THESE

STOP DYING. YOUR THE TANK. RAWR.


nice joke.


Want a jungle tank? Play Amumu.

Let me just say that leon can stunlock someone for a very long time. In general when targetting someone, use Eclipse first, then Zenith Blade onto target. From there, you can Shield of Daybreak them to stun them for even longer. By now, your Eclipse probably exploded, contributing to more damage. Finally, you can Solar Flare to prevent escapes. Now here are details on the skills.


I take one point in this first because it's an easy stun to pull off. I max this last however, because Zenith Blade's range is just that much more amazing.


I max Eclipse first, because most of my tankiness early game comes from this, my runes, and a Heart of Gold. This lets Leona buy more damage oriented items earlier on and still be able to fulfill her role.


Nice range and pretty fast. It can go through targets. HOWEVER please note that you drag yourself to the LAST champion you hit, rather than the first target like Amumu's Bandage Toss. Because of this, you may unintentionally dive turrets, so be careful.


Use this during teamfights to wreak havoc. It can be used o none target as well after Zenith Blade, marking around where you are, so they get stunlocked for even longer. This attack is delayed however, so try to predict your opponent's moves. For example, if an enemy is low on health and they're running away, put the AoE a bit in front of them, so they'll run into it. Sometimes they might even Flash into your ult, if you can predict their moves.

Start with this and one Health Potion. This gives good lane sustain an builds into a nice philosopher's stone.

philosopher's stone
Regens and gold. Possibly build into Shurelya's Battlesong or Eleisa's Miracle, now that it gives as much tenacity as Mercury's Treads. Or sell the stone. Your call.



Yay for CDR boots, considering your skills have terrible cooldowns. This can make the difference between opponents dying and opponents escaping.


I get the Sheen first for more damage. You might wonder why I'm building an offense oriented item on a tank. First of all, Eclipse lets Leona have enough tanky stats, that we can spare an item slot. Secondly, Leona has low damage even by tank standards, so she needs some damage output. I rush this because Eclipse is tanky enough up to this point.


Again, Eclipse provides excellent stats, so I build health early on. Warmog's Armor can be farmed fast with the use of your explosive Eclipse and Zenith Blade can farm minions well too.


It has a nice active and remember to use it. Gives some CDR too.


More movement speed for chasing opponents with Zenith Blade. Not to mention hardcore magic resist.


Block an enemy spell like Requiem. Gosh, I hate Karthus. Helps prevent CCs too.

Basically, your end game build (suggesting your game goes on this long) should look like:

Tanks are very situational champs. Their items depend on the enemy's team comp and who on their team is destroying your team. Remember, none of the core items are set in ston, so you can replace them.


Master Yi destroying your team? No problem. Thornmail can counter most hardcore AD dps champs.


Recently, this item got a tenacity boost, making it have as much tenacity as Mercury's Treads. Since we grab Ionian Boots of Lucidity over Mercury's Treads, you can use this for tenacity. It builds from your philosopher's stone.


Again, this comes from a philospher's stone. This has pretty decent stats and can give move speed to your allies.


Another armor heavy item good for countering AD DPS champs. It also gives a large CDR boost.


Good early game aura, but it isn't very useful late game. If you get this, you might sell it later on.


Nice stats and reviving ability (you'll still probably die thought cause they'll guard your body. Sorry to be so negative)


I like Sunfire Aegis on most of my tanks, save for Leona. I feel other tanks either need it for farming like Malphite or it stacks well with other abilities like Amumu's Despair. But on Leona she doesn't really need it, but it's still a very viable item.

All in all, Leona is a fun champ with great stuns and is a great contributor to teamfights. While, she might not be the best tank in the world, she is still worth trying out. And remember, Leona is the light that shall lead you to victory!