I decided to write this guide after I played a lot of games with Leona as a support and after coming to Mobafire I found that there were no guides that mirrored my build. So here is one of many Leona guides you will find on Mobafire. Since this is my first atempt at writing guides please be patient with me. Thank you.

UPDATE:
15/12/12

• Masteries went from 1.28.1 to 0.23.7 to reduce cdr on Flash and exaust by taking Mastermind from utility tree
• Added "Personal thoughts and tips" chapter to the guide
• Added total cost to each build (look in the notes next to each build)
• Added different versions of my core build and added some notes to explain them.
• Made it possible to vote with no comments, hope it helps with the upvotes :)

26/12/12

• Updated summmoner spells, name of the build, masteries and items

• Armor and Magic resistance issue:
  Many of you might argue that 150-160 magic resistance and armor is too litle on a tank and I see a lot of Leona players out there trying to max their resistance output going as far as stacking up to 250 armor and mres. Maybe on other tanks/supports it wouldd have been a good idea but not on Leona. Her Eclipse will give you 70 armor and mres for 6 seconds and it can be cast 6 seconds later!!!! Yes we have 150-160 mres and armor but once you cast your Eclipse it will become 220-230 armor and mres!!! This is ENOUGH resistance for ANY tank and to stack more would be a waste of money and slots.
  
• Build Order
  The build order you see above is not compulsary, I just placed those items in such an order so you can see what have changed in each version of the build as quickly as possible. Build whatever you feel that you need at that point of the game.

The ONLY spells you can take when you are a support are these...

• Flash - Flash is the best summoner spell you can have on Leona, there will be many times when you will need this not only to escape but to initiate a teamfigh with a Solar Flare or Zenith Blade
  
• Exhaust - this spell is also important because its essential that in any teamfight you need to use it on AD/AP carry ASAP. Not only it will reduce their threat but it will aso make them an easier target with movement reduction. Exhaust also can be used to chase or escape.
  
• Heal - you can take heal since Leona has no sustain. This spell will be the only thing that can help your laning parner, but usually when you take Leona, your AD partner will almost always take this spell himself.
  
• Clairvoyance - clairvoyance or CV is rarelly taken in the current meta game after it was nerfed a while ago but I myself consider coming back to it since you can use it to track the movement of enemy jungler and prevent eraly invasion.

Alternative spells

• Ignite - take this if only you are laning with a friend. Also ignite will be usefull if enemy team has many health regeneration champs like Dr. Mundo or Vladimir since ignite will reduce the healing they recive.
  
• Ghost - also a good spell and by all means feel free to take it instead of flash but IMHO flash has more utility on Leona than ghost.

Rest of the spells are useless on support Leona and probably on any support for that matter, have tried them all to say that :)

Since we will be supporting we will need 6th slot to be free for wards and at the same time you need to be biffy to survive the teamfights this is where runes come in.

• Greater Quintessence of Gold - after the removal of Heart of Gold supports became even more gold dependant making these Quintessences even more usefull on supports.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - as the above this is needed to make you a threat late game.
  
• Greater Seal of Gold - since we are support we need to get money for wards and items these runes will give you 2 gold per 10 seconds free. Together with Greater Quintessence of Gold you will get a free gold item at the start of the game.
  
• Greater Mark of Armor - to give us more armor and compenstate the lack of armor seals we will need this. Gives you just enough armor to survive the laning phase of the game.

Alternative Runes
After you feel a bit more comfortable playing Leona, as a support I would recomend swaping the following runes:

• Greater Mark of Armor for Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
  + will be able to deal more damage early laning phase resulting in more kills for you lane partner
  - less protection early game

30 sec!!!

PS: It seemth that Mobafire doesnt take in to accoun the masteries when showing you the character sheet at the top of the page. If I am not mistaken Leona will have 12 more magic resistance and 12 armor as well as 100 more HP.

1st: Shield of Daybreak - ALWAYS start with a shield of daybreak there are many situations when you will need it at the start of the game, either when you are invading enemy jungle or defending your own. You can also wait in an enemy tribush with your lane partner to gank enemy support or ad when they come back to lane.

2nd: Zenith Blade - you might ask why not take Eclipse as a second ability? Reason behind this, are those rare opportunites when you need to catch the enemy to defend your AD, or help him to get the kill. Eclipse will not give you those opportunities.

3rd: Eclipse - after lvl 3 and so on you always max eclipse when possible.

4th: Solar Flare - at lvl 6 you get the the best spell for wich Leona is either hated or loved but that depends on which side she is atm :)

I prefer to max second Zenith Blade instead of Shield of Daybreak for 2 reasons:

- it can help Leona clear the enemy minions fast when there is noone around to help.

- You need it off CD ASAP when you are chasing, your stun will be useless when enemy is not around to land it on. Believe me Zenith Blade SHOULD be maxed second.

Since we will be playing a tank/support, this build is oriented to give you a free slot at the end of the game to buy sight wards and/or Ruby Sightstone, and be VERY cheap AND at the same time give you good stats to survive the team fights and help your team. Full core build of these items will cost you just 10950 gold (excluding cost of Eleisa's Miracle(1100) and Ruby Sightstone (1300)), most of the supports get that money from the gold items I will go in to more detail below.

PS: Core item build V2 will cost you as low as 8960gold!!! (excluding cost of Eleisa's Miracle(1100) and Ruby Sightstone (1300))

With this build you can start with either:

• Rejuvenation Bead + 3 sight ward and 2 Health Potion
  + lane is more secured + you can heal yourself with a health potion if needed
  - longer build time
  
• Faerie Charm + 3 sight ward and 2 Health Potion
  + lane is more secured + you can heal yourself with a health potion if needed
  - longer build time
  
• Faerie Charm + Rejuvenation Bead + 1 sight ward and 1 Health Potion
  + fast transition to philosopher's stone
  - lane very open for ganks
  
• Boots + 1 sight ward + 1 Health Potion
  + much needed early movement speed
  - longer transition to philosopher's stone

I myself prefer the first option, since 3 sight wards will help you stay in lane longer and ward as much as you feel like it.

I see many builds here on mobafire will tell you to buy Randuin's Omen(an expencive item after it lost the benefit of Heart of Gold), or Frozen Heart or Warmog's Armor or even a Sunfire Aegis BUT once thing they dont tell you is where do you get all those money to finish those builds. Remember that you are playing a support you dont get farm, so you dont have that much money to buy those flashy items that give you those supper stats. You need to finish your build ASAP and as CHEAP as possible to be of any use to your team.

The items I listed above should be self explanatory but here is what I like about my build is the cost:

1st slot:
Mercury's Treads
Cost: 1200

2nd slot:
Runic Bulwark - a must have for ANY support
Cost: 3200

3rd slot:
Locket of the Iron Solari = after the rework this item became a must have for supports IMHO. First of all it now gives cooldown reduction and the price was reduced.
Cost: 2000

4th slot:
Zeke's Herald - well after the remake the cost went down and now it heas a bit weaker aura but to compensate it we would have a 15% CD reduction. :)
Cost: 2450

5th slot:
Shurelya's Battlesong - a transition from your philosopher's stone
Cost: 2100
PS: some of the cost will be refunded by the time you finish this item thanks to philosopher's stone

6st slot:
FREE!!!! for you to buy a sight ward or Ruby Sightstone :)


TOTAL COST OF THE BUILD 10950!!! (pre remake cost was 9975) (excluding cost of Eleisa's Miracle(1100)))


PS: Also you will need to add the cost of sight wardss and/or Ruby Sightstone but despite the extra cost I belive my build is the cheapest out there :)

IMHO with those stats this build is still VERY cheap :)

The other issue adressed by this build will be cooldown reduction (CDR) and why it is so impotant on Leona.

The only thing why Leona is loved/hated is her utility and ability to dish out her stuns on enemy AD/AP carry. Cooldown on those stuns with no CDR is too high, making Leona useless in teamfights AFTER she has initiated, because by the time the teamfight is over her abilites almost always will be on CD. Hitting the CDR cap of 40% is very important on ANY Leona build IMHO, here is why...

CONS 0% cdr Shield of Daybreak = 7sec Eclipse = 14 sec Zenith Blade = 9 sec Solar Flare = 60 sec

SPACE

SPACE

PROS 35% cdr Shield of Daybreak = 4,48 sec Eclipse = 8,96 sec Zenith Blade = 5,76 sec Solar Flare = 38,4 sec

Being a support means you need to ward and to do it properly you need to know how to do it correctly. If you are new to being support let me tell you this, - warding is a difficlut task and being a good support means that you need to know where and when to place a ward. I can write a whole guide just on that topic but why bother if there are already good topics out there about wards :). My favourite one is this -

Warding by Kommerzgandalf

My veryown youtube channel. Videos are old and I will not uptate it in the near future but nevertheless enjoy it :) The build used in videos is an old one, not from this guide but results will be the same.

Leona youtube chanel
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