I'm complexity, and this is my Leona guide. I tanked a lot in World of Warcraft, and started playing tanks junglers and supports too in League of Legends. One of my favorites is Leona. I enjoy playing her because she feels like a real play maker compared to the other supports. She is a crowd control fiend who is played in the bottom lane as a supporter who jumps on enemies to make kills for her lane partner, the AD carry (ADC). After you get out of lane and begin grouping together, roaming the map, and team fighting, Leona becomes a shield for her ADC, and a disrupting element to the enemy team. Because MobaFire has no good season 3 guide for her yet, I have made this one. Please enjoy.

Pros Has lots of crowd control Ulti has a short cooldown Free defenses with Eclipse Has a gap closer Really good base statistics

Cons Very team reliant Can die easily without Eclipse Has to use all of her skills at once Very restricted by cooldowns Can't proc her own passive

• Greater Mark of Armor: You need armor to reduce damage from the enemy carry.
• Greater Seal of Armor: You need armor to reduce damage from the enemy carry.
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: There are many enemy supports who do high magic damage early game, so you shouldn't use purely Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist. I use a mixture of both.
• Greater Quintessence of Gold: Increased gold generation to buy new items.

• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Magic penetration is actually not useful on Leona even though her spells are magic. Sunlight's damage calculates the magic penetration of the allied champion who triggers it. If you want to do more damage, get AD marks to have stronger autoattack damage and help your ADC kill faster.

Summoner's Wrath : Makes Exhaust stronger when you focus an enemy.

Perseverance: Leona has no healing spell and you want health regen for bottom lane.
Durability : Health per level makes you more tanky.
Hardiness : Extra armor to go with your armor runes.
Unyielding : Needed for tanking damage from enemy champions.
Veteran's Scars : Having flat health makes you more tanky specifically in early levels.
Block : Needed for tanking damage from enemy champions.

Summoner's Insight : To give Flash a shorter cooldown.
Swiftness : Gets you back to lane faster and you can catch people.
Mastermind : Even shorter cooldown on Flash, and also Exhaust.
Artificer : Makes Locket and Reverie's cooldowns shorter.
Greed : More gold generation to go with your gold runes.
Wealth : Extra gold at start means starting with various items.
Biscuiteer : Extra health and mana restore early.
Explorer : The ward has a shorter duration but it's good for a support.

Meditation : Leona has high mana regen. You don't need extra.
Pickpocket : Pickpocket is terrible for melee. They don't autoattack harass like ranged.

There are only 4 summoner spells you need to pay any attention to. I've listed them in order of how good they are on Leona.

Flash: Flash is for closing distance and escaping over walls.
Exhaust: It can bait out an enemy to use Cleanse pre-emptively so you can stun them after. The debuff helps your team focus and damage a certain enemy.
Heal: Strong spell to bait with or tower dive. In team fights, it counters AoE damage.
Ignite: It gives you higher kill potential in bottom lane.

Flash + Exhaust will work 99% of the time. You can also try things like Exhaust + Heal, or Ignite + Heal if you're a super aggressive diver.

• Leona's passive makes her skills add a shiny to enemies when they get hit by her skill damage.
• When a friendly champion hits the enemy, the shiny explodes and the enemy takes magic damage.
• Leona can't set this off herself.
• The damage is based on the magic penetration of your allied champion.

• Resets your autoattack timer.
• Stun time doesn't go up with each level.
• It won't stun if your autoattack is blocked.
• Low mana cost.

• Strong area damage.
• If your carry uses an AoE skill after, they will proc all of the Sunlights.
• The defense buff is significant. You are weak without it.

• Very thin AoE.
• It will teleport you to a stealthed champion if you hit them, but not reveal them.
• It will break spell shields and teleport you to that champion, but they won't take damage.
• Use it when someone is doing another action to land it easily.

• Very short cooldown at max level.
• The AoE will give you vision on the area.
• In a lane, or a tight space, you can use it to zone enemies instead of stun.

• LVL 1: Q1. You can try to kill wards with the autoattack reset from Q.
• LVL 2: E1. Now you can do your blink and stun combo.
• LVL 3-5: W1-3. Your most important skill for lane. You get armor and good damage.
• LVL 6: R1.
• LVL 7: W4.
• LVL 8: E2. Alternate between E and Q. You want them to have similar cooldowns because there's no point jumping in with E unless Q is also up.
• LVL 9: W5.
• LVL 10: E3. (11 sec cd)
• LVL 11: R2.
• LVL 12: Q2. (10 sec cd)
• LVL 13: E4. (10 sec cd)
• LVL 14: Q3. (8 sec cd)
• LVL 15: E5. (9 sec cd)
• LVL 16: R3.
• LVL 17: Q4. (8 sec cd)
• LVL 18: Q5. (7 sec cd)

All 6 of these items are really good on a tanky support.

Ruby Sightstone: This replaces both Heart of Gold and Sight Wards. You should buy one quickly to have more health and wards. You save a lot of money.

Locket of the Iron Solari: Gives you everything a support tank needs! The active will absorb some of the damage in a team fight, thereby increasing your effective health pool.

Runic Bulwark: Tank item. It gives a lot of magic resistance. You can not build any other magic resist items, in fact. Plus the aura helps your team.

Ninja Tabi: Good shoes for a tank.

Iceborn Gauntlet: Strong item on tanks. With the slow, you really stick to targets. Early and mid game, Leona's Q and E will have high cooldowns and the passive won't be used as much. Build it later.

Shurelya's Battlesong: Use this and Flash to start something.


Enchantment: Captain: Tanks are the ones to initiate. With movespeed, the team can catch up to you and fight.

Enchantment: Homeguard: Get back to lane and regroup with team faster.


Doran's Shield: With Unyielding and Block , it's GG for enemy ADC.
Replacement For: Nothing. Sell later.

Mercury's Treads: Anti-crowd control item.
Replacement For: Ninja Tabi, ofc.

Abyssal Mask: Your spells are stronger, your team mate's spells are stronger, and your Sunlight procs will hurt more.
Replacement For: If versus less AP, replace Runic Bulwark. If versus more AP, replace Iceborn Gauntlet.

Twin Shadows: Ult people when you find them.
Replacement For: Any.

Ohmwrecker: Tower diving item.
Replacement For: Any.

Sunfire Aegis: Anti-melee/bruiser item.
Replacement For: Iceborn Gauntlet or Runic Bulwark.

Ezreal: He is really mobile and his Q damage is good. Your ult and his ult make a good long range combo too.

Graves: Both of you are tanky and have AoE. He can gap close if you blink too far away.

Corki: Basically all of his skills are AoE. When you are using skill after skill, you will be constantly applying Sunlight, and the constant hits from his Gatling will set them all off.

Miss Fortune: Her Q is really strong. Your ult and her ult make a good damage combo.

Varus: His ult and your ult make a good stun combo. His damage isn't as high as the others, but his Soil is powerful.


Ashe: Doesn't do enough damage to fully take advantage of Leona.

Caitlyn: Leona has to go all-in at once and use all of her cooldowns. Caitlyn wants long drawn out poke fests.

Sivir: She has short range. If you Zenith Blade to someone far away, she might not be able to catch up.

Vayne: It's hard to combo together your stuns. Her stun range is short.


Ashe, Miss Fortune, Varus: If they don't have a support who can force you away, it is pretty much GG. They can't avoid you without Flash.

Draven: Draven doesn't have a gap closer, but he can knock you away. After that, though, he's screwed. You can still Flash and ult him.

Blitzcrank: Most supports are afraid of being pulled, but Leona would love to be pulled closer to the enemy ADC.


Lulu: Terrible to lane against. She can stop your aggression and kite you. Her ult will counter sudden burst damage too.

Alistar: Similar, but as bad as Lulu. He can Headbutt you away.

Vayne: She can knock you away.

Janna: She can knock you or back up during blink and cancel the effect.

Zyra: She can root you in place from really far range.

Sona: Her level one damage can ruin you, but you can kill her at level 2.

Tristana: Can also knock you away.

If you have been able to build items and are doing okay this game, you should be a decent tank. In team fights, you will be able to initiate and stick on high priority targets. Use your ult to start, and E to a high damage target. Then Q to stun and apply Sunlight. The stun from your ult and Q will lock them down for a long time. Pop your W appropriately to reduce damage. Once you've used your cooldowns, back off. You have no more cooldonws. Devote the rest of your power to protecting your ADC.

If you've been killed a lot and don't have many items, you will possibly melt quickly even if you have W turned on. So, instead of jumping on people, you need to sit on your ADC and peel. Stun people who come toward him, use Locket to shield him, and put your ult down defensively. Q is still a stun, but E becomes a utility for the root and make Sunlights instead of a method of clinging to a priority target. If the assassin focuses you instead of your carry, that's good. Pop W to reduce how much they hurt you.

• If you are invading, set down your Explorer Ward instead of using a regular ward in an appropriate spot to scout.
• Avoid confrontation at level 1. You don't have E or W yet.
• Create space for your carry by standing near the other support and ADC. If the ADC tries to hit you, walk away. If they walk too close, your ADC can hit them.
• When you hit level 2, try to look for openings to E in. When the enemy ADC stops to autoattack a creep, you can E in.
• Cast Q and W while moving so you autoattack the enemy ADC and stun them immediately. This is key when you are against Soraka. You can get silenced if you aren't quick enough.
• For match ups, see chapter 9.
• Item Goals: Ruby Sightstone, Boots, Emblem of Valor, Philosopher's Stone

• Use pink wards to control drake.
• Ward buff areas and areas where towers have been destroyed.
• Once you have high level W, you can tower dive low HP champions.
• If your mid is losing, roam mid with your ult up to try and force a Flash or get a kill.
• Your Q damage works on towers. Remember that when you are taking them down.
• For team fights, see chapter 10.
• Item Goals: Locket of the Iron Solari, Ninja Tabi, Aegis of the Legion

• Buy Oracle's Elixir to control Nashor.
• Stick with your team, especially your ADC.
• For team fights, see chapter 10.
• Item Goals: Iceborn Gauntlet, Shurelya's Battlesong, Runic Bulwark

In summary, here is how you play Leona:

• Summoners: Flash and Exhaust
• Masteries: 1/13/16
• Runes: Armor, magic resist, and gold
• Items: Ruby Sightstone, Ninja Tabi, Locket of the Iron Solari, Iceborn Gauntlet, Shurelya's Battlesong, Runic Bulwark
• Skill Order: R > W > E > Q
• Good With: High early damage ADC
• Bad With: Low early damage ADC
• Good Against: ADC without gap closer
• Bad Against: Support or ADC who can knock you away/kite you
• Team Fight Priority: Enemy carry if you are strong, enemy assassin if you are weaker

Thanks for reading. Comment or leave feedback if this guide helped you.

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