Leona Build Guide by TimeMech

Introduction

Hey all, this is my first guide ever and it's on my most played Champion Leona, The Radiant
Dawn. I picked up Leona on release because I loved her skill set and lore. I've played
countless normal games with her and have just recently brought the culmination of this
experience into ranked, with pretty decent results, but I'll let you be the judge.

-TimeMech

My Results:

Pros / Cons

Pros

• Great Crowd Control
  - Versatile in the way she can apply the CC.

  - Zenith Blade goes THROUGH enemies and warps to the last one hit. No Body Blocking You from YOUR target if aimed properly.
  
• Built in Resistances
  - Allows for a more flexible build later game; while still allowing you to play the Primary Tank.
  
• Extremely good in her lane.
  - Thankfully, since bottom lane is the only place you should EVER see a serious Leona.

Cons

• Can be difficult to master.
  - Her Solar Flare can be used very, very wrong.
  
• Extremely Team Dependent.
  - If your team doesn't take advantage of the opportunities you give them; gg.

  * This doesn't mean you should always blame them. COMMUNICATE!!!

  - Nearly every True Tank has this particular Con though.
  
• Requires PATIENCE; do not just try and MAKE things happen. Look for openings.. be patient.

My Opinion/Approach of/to Leona

Masteries

9/0/21

Why do I do this?

Runes

**NOTE**

I changed the runes up a bit.. as I found that losing a small amount of gold gen was worth the extra armor afforded early. However you can still run this method with a lot of success. It's all a matter of tweaking things over time and preference. I prefer more armor as I'm more aggressive earlier-- if you're more passive, (shouldn't be TOO passive with Leona), then go ahead and run the extra bit of gold gen as follows.

Quintessences
3 Greater Quintessences of Avarice


Glyphs
9 Greater Glyphs of Shielding


Seals
9 Greater Seal of Avarice


Marks
9 Greater Mark of Resilience


(I suggest the Resilience Marks, as I notice the lack of armor more than the lack of magic pen on Leona early.)

VERY IMPORTANT EXPLANATION

Arranging your runes this way (and your mastery page) will afford Leona 7.25 gold generation from the beginning of the game. More than a gold per 10 item. I find by doing this; it allows you to ward and purchase items as you need them without feeling it at all if you're doing even half way decent in game.



**Note that every character has passive gold generation built in; and generates 13 gold per 10 regardless of runes/masteries starting at 1:30 into the game. I will not be taking this generation into account; however you will be sitting on even more money due to it so, yay, right?**

All Gold Generation Math is assuming the upper bound time in the purchase of the GP10 core items.

Purchase Time 1:30 - 5:00 5:00 - 7:00 Philo 8:00 -11:00 HoG 11:00-21:00 Other

SPACE

Gold Gen 7.25 7.25 + 5 7.25 + 10 17.25

SPACE

Gold Gen'd 7.25 x 6 = 43.5 per minute. 43.5 x 5:30 = 348 12.25 x 6 = 73.5 per minute. 73.5 x 4:00 = 294 17.25 x 6 = 103.5 per minute. 103.5 x 10:00 = 1035 103.5 x 20:00 = 2070 (IF you don't turn your HoG into a Locket)

So, if you followed this; your gold generation after getting your core is amazing with these runes-- and allows you to get to your core easier/earlier than you otherwise could while still being able to purchase wards and other necessities of a good support.

Let's be honest, it's like you have Daddy freakin' Warbucks just pumping money into your bank account for nothing. Fitting considering the name of this guide, amirite? xD

UPDATE

(5/4/12)

So I've been doing some research/experimentation lately and I just wanted to mention that it's possible to run only the gold generation quints and masteries, while then taking the liberty to run Armor Seals in conjunction with the armor marks-- this affords ALOT of harassment soak early game.

However, since I'm greedy, what I've been doing is running 4 of the .25 gold gen seals and the other 5, flat armor seals. I'll not be making a chart for how this changes the gold generation over the times, since it merely cuts off around 60 gold or so every 10 minutes this way. For the extra mitigation early, I find it's worth it so far. Feel free to test out this change-- or stick with my original way of doing things, as both work fine.

Jungling

You know, I can't say I've been on the fence about this issue in earnest-- because I haven't. I've been firmly planted on the "No freaking way." side of it since Leona first came out-- well, then and since the new jungle when I tried it again to no great results.

However, since I created this guide I figured I'd take the time to look at other Leona guides and see if they could offer me some insight into why this could/would be viable. And thusfar none have changed my mind. Just today, I noticed an up and coming guide younger than my own gaining prominence-- it contained a jungle Leona build and a Support Lane build. I focused mainly on the jungle one, and its failed to change my mind at all for its popularity. This is my comment to that guide, with my reasoning.

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Is counter-jungling never an issue to you?

Honestly, I just don't understand this. You say it yourself-- Leona cannot 1 v 1. This means Leona is free prey for any enemy jungler that can divine where she is at any given time-- which isn't hard early since you're going to have to start at blue. I can understand Leona's ganking potential, but really, she should never make it to her first gank unless she gets blue and hits top lane/bot lane respective of the team she's on. Because if I'm the enemy jungler and Leona even TRIES to go into the Red Buff side of her jungle, I'm going to kill her and hey, if she doesn't-- I get a free Red and maybe some Wraiths/Golems.

Junglers who should have no problem doing this are I.E. Shyvana, Lee Sin, Udyr, Skarner, Nocturne, etc... any good jungler really.


Other than that, your item build is interesting. I enjoy how you build incremental health with your items, it's my favorite thing to do as well. However, I don't agree with the way you go into it. Between your runes/masteries/first items; ( Boots of Speed + 3 health potions --> Sheen?), if you don't have an excellent lane phase you might as well stick a fork in yourself-- because you're done. You have very little sustain (even with 3 pots) no passive gold generation (except the 13 gp10 all champions have) and will not have sustain in lane for what seems to be far too long.

Overall, I feel this is an extremely situation dependent build/guide; and while you should always attempt to build according to the situation you're in, when I say "situation dependent", again I mean best case scenario required in order for this to be viable. And that's something you should never subscribe to; always plan for the worst which means you'll be even better at your best.

-TimeMech

Summoner Spells

Heal

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Needed to effectively play more of a support role throughout the game for your carry early/team later. (also useful for tower dives as you're tanking the tower)


Flash

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Needed to make plays such as escaping/catching/outpositioning the enemy throughout the ENTIRE game. Flash is just a superior summoner spell in every way for Leona. It helps you land unexpected Solar Flares, Zenith Blades and even Shield of Daybreaks at close enough range.


Much in the same way as the mastery page, I feel these summoner spells are tantamount to successfully playing Leona in this way. However, there is a tad bit more flexibility here than in the masteries.

For example:


Teleport

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I used to run this in bot lane, and it could be very useful at times; especially in the beginning of the game; as you would nearly always buy your GP10 items on the lower bound of the previously described purchase times. You could also bait the enemy to attack you early and take massive damage in exchange for your carry being able to poke for free-- then the enemy lane thinks they have the upper hand by having you at low health: pop Teleport back with full health and philosopher stone. Troll Face.

Not only that but some would say it could help you stop a push or start a push unexpectedly, or aide an ally from across the map if used right. And they'd be right. However I find these situations not as likely on Leona as she is a Team Fight Tank. She wants to be travelling together with her team more often than not and therefore this becomes more of a crutch for getting to and even still being unable to defend a lane by herself considering her poor 1 v 1 potential.

You can take it and not be terrible though. I still suggest Heal overall.


Ignite

______
This one I'm not too sure about. I mean... I guess if your carry is running Exhaust and the enemy lane has a Soraka this could be viable. It just doesn't seem like it does much for Leona or her team later in the game, as your solo top and/or mid will probably be running this spell if they're confident players.

But hey to each their own..


Exhaust

______
Began to run this spell more frequently than heal. Is honestly a little ridiculous how well it works. I still run heal from time to time-- but if you have a good carry, exhaust helps them even more because they take advantage of the time the enemy carry is weakened more than a small chunk of health you grant them.

Ghost

______
Ugh... whoever gets this over Flash better have a dang good kiting game. And even if they have that, who cares? Flash is still more useful in 9/10 situations. Get this and you better have Flash too because you're trying to be untouchable or something...
Since we all know Leona isn't trying to be untouchable-- she's trying to TANK-- we shouldn't have this then, should we? :D




As for any other summoner spells, I feel they're not worth mentioning. If anyone disagrees, be my guest and give me an explanation why, I'm up for suggestions.

Skill Sequence

Items: Core + Purchase Order Explanation

In this section I'll explain Leona's Core; the purchase order of the items that come after it and why.

CORE

So you followed the Regrowth Pendant and Sight Ward starting items, built into a Philosopher's Stone and went straight for Heart of Gold followed by your Ionian Boots of Lucidity to put you at a nice 25% CDR, decently tanky health for the time in the game and have great resistances granted by focus leveling your Eclipse. Good. Next up is something I also consider core the way we will be building Leona-- that's a Giant's Belt. By getting this item next, you become untouchable at this point in the game. You're fat, have amazing mitigation with Eclipse on; and are one step closer to Sunfire Cape for later.

So now you have:

FINISHED CORE

Next comes the fork. Look at the enemy team... what is doing well? What isn't? Is everything relatively neutral/going through the motions of the game? I'll answer each of these more specifically.

1.) An AD character is doing well-- either their jungler or solo top or even the AD carry you're facing off against is becoming a problem! You need more armor, build a Chain Vest

2.) An AP character is doing well-- either their mid or perhaps solo top; more rarely their jungler (as there are few viable AP junglers). You need more MR, build a Negatron Cloak

3.) Everything is doing relatively neutral. I prefer rushing into a Sunfire Cape As it is more useful for killing enemies early game; since the 35 magic damage DoT will mean more.


Now, keep this in mind; no matter how fed their AP nuker is-- Negatron Cloak is your answer; it will put you at around 95 MR + the 70 from your Eclipse, you'll be resisting him plenty well. Finish that Sunfire Cape for the AOE damage tick and to free up space in your inventory, before finishing off Force of Nature.

At this point you have a choice, because more often than not you'll be sitting here:


You will now have one slot left for holding your Sight Ward's.

Is the AP on their team truly nasty enough to finish a Force of Nature, for the extra MR at this point? Or perhaps are you having trouble catching opponents, so you want it for the movement speed? More often than not I find the answer to both of these is No. Because it's a much better idea to finish your Locket of the Iron Solari. You should be around level 13 - 14 anyway, meaning its shield proc will be quite useful in your support role; plus it gives you a bit more health and you/your allies a passive 15 HP5 regeneration for some more sustain during team pokes.

Granted you'll be losing some Gold Gen, but at this point in the game; assists is where it's at anyway. And you have more than a built in GP10 item-- so while turning this item into something more useful/with more utility at this point in the game might hurt a differently Runed Tank; you STILL have MORE gold generation than they do with both of their GP10 items intact.

This is not the only choice however. You could choose to hold onto your Heart of Gold a little longer, and instead start to rush a Zeke's Herald for your AD carry and other Melee AD team members.

Going this route however, means you have no slots for warding once you purchase it or the Kindlegem for the CDR and Health boost before the main item is complete.
While this is unfortunate, at this point in the game you should be able to afford an Oracle's Elixir for your team; and leave the warding to everyone else while taking up counter-warding in its place. There should be no complaints from your team if you simply communicate your intentions to them and/or have been making a good effort of warding for them thus-far.

So, depending on which route you take/item you finish first; you will eventually be finishing both. However, I find that I choose one of these item routes and then finish my Force of Nature in between to sure up my Magic Resist, Movement Speed and Health Regen for late game harass/sustain team confrontations.

Either way, you'll end up at:

Main Build

This build makes you Tanky enough to be the MAIN TANK, while at the same time you have a few ways of supporting your team at your disposal through Locket of the Iron Solari/ Zeke's Herald/ Heal and damaging the enemy team through Sunfire Cape.

IMPORTANT NOTE

For some reason, at the top of this guide it claims that the overall Cooldown Reduction is 30%; but it is NOT taking into account the 10% you have from Masteries from the beginning.

Your CDR is actually maxed at this point. 10% Masteries + 15% Ionian Boots of Lucidity + 15% Zeke's Herald = 40%

That makes for about a 36 second Solar Flare and about 4.5 second Shield of Daybreak. Eclipse will be nearly permanent when it hits a target-- lasts 6 seconds; cools down in 8.

In essence, you are a threat to be left alive; due to your aura's and quick CDR skills, yet are not easy to kill. However if they leave you alive you're granting many positives to your team that are well worth the small cooldown from stun to stun, where you're "useless" because Leona honestly has a toy sword.

I rarely make it beyond this build as the enemy team has folded before this.

However some suggestions I would make for a final item would be:
:
This would raise your base resistances, give you yet another chunk of health; and help your allies resist damage as well; all for cheap. (Keep the Aura Generator Going)


This would allow you to raise your base MR, increase your damage slightly late game-- and more importantly, lower the enemy team's MR by 20 for your AP wielding team members.(Keep the Aura Generator Going.)
The reason I don't suggest this item over Force of Nature early, is that it does not grant the same sustain required of a true tank that Force of Nature does through its Unique Passive.

Also if you see fit,

You could build this right out of your Philosopher's Stone instead of selling it as I would late game for one of the aforementioned items. But the reason I wouldn't bother with this item, is that every stat it gives except its speed proc is a dead stat. Meaning you already have it in spades and no longer require it.
i.e. Cooldown Reduction, Health Regeneration, etc...


However, I neglected to mention the possibility of this item: (Thanks to Specolar)

This would build right out of that Philosopher's Stone you've been sitting on, providing a substantial HP+MANA Regen boost and some tenacity to boot. I never get this myself, as I never notice CC being an issue for Leona, I mean if they're wasting CC on you then good, that means they're focusing you and that's exactly what you want. But if it seems like their entire team is just built of team stun (i.e. Veigar, Kennen, Morgana(HOW DID THIS NOT GET BANNED?), Amumu, or some other large scale team stunner) this might be worth an even earlier investment, and is definitely worth the 500g if you decide to slap it on late game for the win. +1 over Shurelya's Reverie when it comes to this particular build.


But if you are really have trouble catching the enemy team late game, it couldn't hurt. I just don't recommend it.

Leona and Friends Laning List~!

In this section of the guide I'll be going through every AD Carry and why each one is a better or worse choice than the others in laning with Leona.

After that, we'll be mixing the meta up, and will explore the other viable "kill" lanes that Leona is a part of.

AD CARRY FRIENDS

The Best in My Opinion

Number 1

Sivir is in my opinion; the best AD carry to pair with Leona. She is one of the more durable AD carries, her spell shield helps counter Caitlyn's Yordle Snap Trap and Nidalee's Bushwhack / Pounce when you have to face them in lane and it lets her ignore high damage skills entirely from AD Carries like Graves, Tristana and Ezreal among others.

Adding to this Sivir is a soft counter to the following in that she completely ignores Taric's Dazzle, Alistar's Q to delayed W and also Janna's Tornado.

However, the main reason why Sivir and Leona are Best Friends in lane comes down to burst damage potential and Sunlight proc'ing potential. Sivir excels at this due to her Boomerang Blade and Ricochet skills. Throw in On The Hunt later which gives her a nice attack and movement speed boost and when Leona initiates on something; she is there instantly, throwing her burst out and then DPS'ing the target to hell. It's also important to note that her new passive grants her 50 flat movement speed for basic attacking an enemy champion, so it's doubtful anything is getting away without at least burning a Flash-- and if Leona is on top of her game even that escape can be thwarted.
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Number 2

Graves comes in at number 2 for his sheer burst potential, mixed with his high early attack speed out of Quickdraw. Not to mention his passive causes him to be very hard to kill as long as the Graves player is skilled enough to keep it stacked more often than not. Graves also has a really easy harass with Buckshot, but he should be careful not to carelessly waste his mana or push the lane without making sure he'll get a hit on the enemy carry. There are also times when it is not worth it for him to do this; i.e. facing a Soraka as the damage will be healed off. However it could be useful to bait a heal from Soraka before a true initiate, since Buckshot will come off of cooldown long before Astral Blessing.

When Leona initiates on a target, Graves should do the obvious and Quickdraw to an immediate Buckshot for the highest possible burst he can achieve. Afterward, he can AOE slow and disorient the enemies with a quick smokescreen, all the while shooting them up though his temporarily buffed attack speed, which allows him to hit most of the Sunlight procs.

This is a good lane because once a proper initiate occurs; it's very, very hard for the enemy duo to turn this fight around. Graves is just too tanky for an AD carry and Leona is obviously a tank so more power to them for focusing her.

Need I mention Collateral Damage? I didn't think so.

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Number 3

Corki takes number 3 for some of the same reasons Sivir and Graves take number 1 and 2 respectively. However it's what he isn't/can't do that puts him here. While he has amazing burst damage through his Gatling Gun ability, he is as squishy as glass; and Leona isn't that great at protecting a squishy carry early-- so if they get in a pinch the most she can do is Zenith Blade to Shield of Daybreak to get the enemy off early. She should also have Heal as discussed, though that's a one time use long cooldown spell-- and is better used offensively than defensively, though obviously use it if you need it.

However, Corki makes up for this a little later by having Valkyrie. He is a tough little SoB to catch with that skill... but it's a double-edged sword. See, he could be escaping, but leaving Leona up the proverbial "Creek without a paddle.", as he'll be so far away after using it that he'll most likely be of no help unless he has Missile Barrage up. Couple this with his high mana dependency and he can become quite a chore to lane with.

When things do go right for Corki and Leona though, watch out; because he will proc every single Sunlight almost without fail due to his Gatling Gun-- and his true damage is nothing to laugh at on top of all his burst and those Sunlight procs, you will eat through a well initiated-on enemy's health like nothing.


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Number 4

Ezreal and Corki are nearly interchangeable at spots 3 and 4, but the reason I put Corki as 3 instead of Ezreal is that this champion is even more mana dependent. That and Corki's True Damage passive is just broken and applies to his basic's; so even when he's out of mana he is doing more damage than an Ezreal on average in a situation where they'd both have 0 mana.

Although I do recognize Ezreal for his quick gap closer: Arcane Shift as it allows for an amazing Leona initiate to Ezreal barrage of 100% accurate death. Ezreal is very reliable at proc'ing Sunlight due to this, but again once the mana is gone, say bye-bye to being offensive in lane, in any capacity. Ezreal does surpass Corki in one way in my opinion; he can use his Trueshot Barrage for long range ally support, Dragon and Baron steals and overall fun. This is obviously highly dependent on the skill of the player however...


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Number 5

Vayne is number 5 on my list. Now I know you may be thinking, "What the heck, she's an amazing carry, why is she all the way down here?!"; and if you are slap yourself because you haven't been paying attention to anything I've been typing about the prior carries at all. =P
I'll explain again anyway, Leona likes a few things in a carry partner; high burst damage, Sunlight proc potential and survive-ability (i.e. hardiness or great escapes).

Vayne fails 1 and 1/2 of these. She has the burst damage-- but no efficient way of proc'ing Sunlight for sure. She's also one of the squishiest AD carries early and though she has good escape potential at level 6 with her ultimate, she's actually not that great at running with tumble alone.

There's also the problem of Condemn. You see Leona can't really set Vayne up to make the most of this move. She's more of a "Ready? Set? GO!~" initiator who jumps on her target NO MATTER WHERE THEY ARE IN THE LANE, and holds them there in that one place for a pretty long time. There is no guarantee nor course of action for having this happen near a wall so that Vayne can condemn for a stun-- and Leona doesn't really want that anyway, she brings all the CC to the table on top of extra damage, she just depends on the CARRY to proc it, and Vayne comes up a little short of these responsibilities early game.

As far as Tanks in bottom lane, Vayne's Best Friend to my knowledge, is Alistar; so go look him up if you like laning with this particular carry that much. However, Leona doesn't hate Vayne, just don't expect to play as aggressively with Vayne as you would any of the prior listed carries; unless you happen to catch an enemy near a wall-- and 9 out of 10 enemies aren't stupid enough to put themselves there.

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Number 6

Tristana is number 6, tentatively. You see, she's a very hard carry for me to place due to my troubled history with her. She has quite a few of the things in her kit that Leona looks for in an AD carry partner, but in alot of the games I have played with her at my side she has just failed me terribly.

The most notable thing is that her Rocket Jump is kind of laggy so she cant capitalize on that as much, though most good ones I have seen don't Rocket Jump until the enemy is running to get back in range of them, once we have had a good initiate. Tristana's high attack speed granted from rapid shot, allows her to proc Sunlight pretty well and she is also naturally hardy/survive-able.

Perhaps the reason she has been good in some matches and terrible in others is due to the fact she is free? Tristana is just very hard to place, and I put her down here below Vayne because I personally haven't seen consistently good game-play from her with Leona even though she technically has a kit that caters to Leona's killing style in lane.

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Other AD Carries In No Particular Order (Due to lack of experience playing with them)
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Caitlyn
I've very rarely laned with this carry, and while I know she's a good one; just in analyzing her kit I can tell I wouldn't vote for her over any of the previously described as a Leona lane carry. She's mainly a harass over time champion-- the epitome of the current meta of bot lane as a matter of fact. And Leona is the support/tank that tries to and succeeds if played right, in destroying that campy/farmy behavior.


Ashe
Another one I don't lane with often-- not because I don't see her, but because I'd rather pair her with Janna, another champion I play rather well who fits Ashe much better. Overall not a great choice to lane with Leona due to her lack luster burst potential. She's more of a utility carry in my opinion.


Kog'Maw
Great mid and late game carry, pretty weak early in my experience. However I've seldom laned with him so perhaps he could be better than I give him credit for. Not much more to say about him.


Miss Fortune
Laned with her while playing Leona one time. Was a decent lane, but I've never done it again and I can't say with confidence one way or another whether she's a good partner for Leona or not. I will say that from what I've seen she'd probably fall into the Ezreal/ Corki zone since she seemed to be very mana dependent.


Twitch
Never done this, and probably will never have to.


Master Yi and Tryndamere are also considered AD carries but do not appear in bot lane usually.




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Leona Bottom Kill Lane Combos
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((((((Disclaimer: Assume each of these lanes still has an AD carry on the team, whether I specifically mention it or not, I support this; since going into a game without a True AD carry is never advisable, and though it is not impossible to win without one; it just makes the game that much harder-- and why would you want to do that to yourself?))))))

Try to keep an open mind when looking over the following suggestions. Also, remember that these lanes are very hit or miss, depending on both the enemy team's carry/support combination and the relative skill of both the Leona player and Assassin player she's laning with. Not to mention the skill of the enemy. Anyway, here are some fun lanes to mix up the meta with, that I have tried and have yielded decent results.

Kill Lane #1

+

This lane was so much fun for so long. Done right, Talon can not only proc every Sunlight proc Leona lands, but he also deals increased damage through his passive for longer while the enemy is stunned into his slow into another potential stun from Solar Flare. Talon has decent range on his Rake ability to attempt harassing the enemy lane, and ganks/exchanges can begin occurring as early as level 2 if Leona and Talon are on point.

Once this lane hits level 6, people gonna die if it's done right.

LANE COMBINATIONS YOU DUNK HARD

Vayne + Sona
Ashe + Sona
etc...
Pretty much any relatively squishy or easy to catch carry and a Sona, you'll learn that these lanes are pure food for a well played Leona/ Talon combo.


***Note*** Make sure you still have a true AD carry on your team, such as Gangplank or Tryndamere-- or even any of the ranged AD carries mentioned above who go mid to counter that pesky Kassadin so that Leona and Talon can put in work bot lane, lol :D

LANE COMBINATIONS TO AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Sivir + Alistar / Soraka

Graves + Alistar / Soraka

Pretty much any lane with a Soraka and a fat/hard to kill carry. Also Alistar since his Pulverize and Headbutt completely ruin a good Leona/ Talon initiate on any carry.
However, if either of these supports are laning with a squishy carry, feel free to try your luck, it can go either way.

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Kill Lane #2

+

This lane is deceptively nasty. It takes advantage of the fact that both Leona and Xin Zhao shine brightest in terms of their damage, early game. Not only that, but they both have amazing gap closing abilities and CC which compliments the other's perfectly.

i.e. Leona Zenith Blades to a target and stuns it with Shield of Daybreak, followed by Xin Zhao's Audacious Charge, by the time the target of this assault comes out of Leona's stun, Xin Zhao should have hit it twice at least, meaning his third hit hit will trigger his Knock Up, causing the enemy to be unable to flee for even longer as they continue to take damage. Once the enemy's flash is burned, this lane becomes a vicious nightmare. Add in Solar Flare at level 6 and this combo becomes ridiculous.


Much like Leona + Talon, this lane combo doesn't like Alistars, however it deals better with [{Soraka]s and beefy carries, if only for the fact that Xin Zhao has more steady damage and early sustain than Talon.


Very fun lane.


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Kill Lane #3

+

This kill lane takes a bit longer to take off than the aforementioned. Twisted Fate must play like an AD carry at first, and then switch to AP/On Hit effects later; but it becomes a very potent kill lane with 3 straight out stuns between Leona and Twisted Fate alone; rendering whatever carry you are focusing on utterly helpless during an exchange and their support champion scrambling to do something useful.

Overall, this lane is extremely fun and potent when you have the patience and skill to make it work. For an example of the AP/On Hit build I see on Twisted Fates where this works: try purchasing boots and health potions first, into an early Sheen for maximum burst damage and early AP on your skills. Beyond that, Malady, Ionic Spark, and the like are all great ideas for a Twisted Fate played in this way.

This particular kill lane doesn't "hate" any lanes, it completely depends on the skill and patients of the ones running it. This lane has almost as much versatility as Leona and a true AD carry. Not only that, but Twisted Fate can pass as an AD carry in a pinch if your team isn't running one with your kill lane.


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Kill Lane #4

+

Now this one is fun. Be wary however, as it works best with a Brand you know and are sure is running decent MP5, because a Brand without mana is of no use. Early on, Brand should be able to harass well with his pillar of fire and by around level 3, you'll have a nice stun lock up and ready between your Q and Brand's E or W to Q. Of course this requires good positioning and communication to land successfully, but even if you don't perform perfectly, Brand's damage, passive tick and your Sunlight are just devastating for the enemy team to deal with. A good initiate by Leona at higher levels in this lane spells instant death for the enemy carry-- or even a slow and painful tick to death through Brand's passive if they're lucky enough not to be consumed by all the fire that will be flying around the screen between Leona and Brand.




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-======UNDER CONSTRUCTION======-