Hi guys, I'm S Fate and this is my first guide on this site. I feel that Leona can be played in two ways.

Tri Force + Tanky like Jarvan and Irelia

OR

Supporting Tank
CDR and She MUST survive the first burst, and the Banshee's really helps her survive.

In my opinion, her damage is meh as a Supporting Tank. is a lot better to have as a main tank. She deals great damage as a Tanky DPS/off-tank though. She carries better burst when build Tri Force and can give notable CC and damage that your enemies can fear.

I feel she's better built with Tri Force. But that's just me.

This is my preferred set up for Leona. Armor Penetration for punishing damage, mana regen for harassment in lane, magic resist for bulkiness, movement speed for laning mobility and team fight mobility.

Marks

Another good replacement for these are Magic Penetration. Especially if you're going support/tank build. You deal a lot more magical when support/tanking for your team. You need to deal as much damage as you possibly can and stay annoying.

Seals

Good replacements for this section are Armor and HP P/Lv

Armor allows you to be bulkier to sustained damage and allows you to take some more damage. HP P/Lv allows you to take more upfront burst and is pretty good when tanking as well as it makes you look even more beefier.

Glyphs

Good replacements for this are CDR and CDR P/Lv

Both are self explanatory. You need CDR to lay out more skills and that means more disruptions and damage. Having CDR is such a good utility area and can really change games by how much you can cast during a team fight. Look how much Vlad's 1 sec Q nerf changed him, he's seen as under powered now.

Quintessences

There are many good replacements for these. Strength, Desolation, Insight, and Greed are good replacements.

Why? Strength can help you last hit a LOT better in lane. Desolation gives you more late game and can allow your blows to deal great damage. Insight is if you're support tanking and you want the enemies to feel some damage. Avarice is good if you're letting your lane partner get all the gold. It helps if you're supporting a lane.

These are my favored masteries. The defensive tree gives her good early bulkiness and the Strength of Spirit mastery REALLY helps with her staying power. She has great HP regen, and is bulky. For the utility page. You want + to always be up. Also, Leona has pretty long cool downs so grabbing the CDR mastery is a must for me. Greed is a great mastery especially if support tanking as you can get more money to buy wards and give up more farm for your duo lane partner.

Laning Items

- Infinite mana regen and magic resist, if you're having trouble with casters and need to match their harass, this is a good buy.
philosopher's stone - Great mana and health regen and gold. A core item in my opinion.
- Great HP gain and gives gold, a core item as well.
- More lane mobility means less skills hitting you, and being able to manuever faster than your enemy.
- Good early game damage.
- Easier last hitting and gives lifesteal for staying power
kage's lucky pick - AP and gold, also builds into

Boots

- No...these boots suck
berzerker's greaves - These boots are okay, not my favorite pair, but are good if you're carrying and/or they have no CC
ninja tabis - Against heavy AD? Worth it...if they don't have 2+ AD Carries, these aren't needed.
- If supporting/tanking, a good pair as Leona's CD feel long. I usually carry an with these boots though.
- Roam meta is dead now, ever since Eve nerf and AD + Support meta.
- You have magic damage when not building Tanky DPS Leona as your damage majority. But is the magic pen worth it? No.
- These are good no matter what character. If you want a safe pick, this works.

Damage Items

- A good item, especially if you have good HP. This will make you bulkier and give you more damage at the same time, a good pick.
- If going support tank, this will give you a cheap nuke that'd make you a source of threatening damage.
- A good counter to [imgsmall=champ/karthus.png], also makes you beefier.
- A good item if going DPS. Usually not that good if not.
- Against high HP and playing DPS Leona? This works well.
- If support tank, this item gives a little damage and slows people which helps your team.
- Attack speed, a little AP, and reduction of MR. This is a good item and MR reduction can do a lot for your team.
- Armor reduction aura + life steal aura. If you have some other AD Carries on your team, this is a good pick.
- A good item for Leona. Most people get flamed for building this because normal players and 1300 below are just ******ed. Top ELO builds this, and I thought about this before Leona came out. It's a core item as DPS Leona.
- A good damage item. ArmPen, attack speed, CDR, and damage.
- An item for jungle Leona. You can also grab this item if you've been denied a bit of farm early game so you can spend less time mid game farming in the jungle or on free lanes.
- Gives more attack speed, some nice magical damage and magic resist. Good against caster heavy teams.
- Reduces armor, not that good of an item imo. But it works.
- You don't scale with damage AT ALL. It gives a little defensive stats but isn't really worth it.

Defensive Items

- A good aura item for your team. A good choice if supporting/tanking
- Helps you survive the fight's initial burst, in my opinion, a core item mid-late game.
- Gives good MR and anti-mage carry properties. A great pick
- Slows down carry attack speeds and gives you armor as well as CDR. [imgsmall=items/ionian-boots-of-lucidity.png] are not needed if you plan on this purchase.
- Gives a nice revival passive and can really help if your team is winning.
- A good armor item and slows down the other team when chasing or when running away. Also helps a lot in team fights as your team will take less damage due to less attacks going around.
- A good item built from a philosopher's stone. Gives your team a threatening initiation/chase.
- A great item and gives you some damage. I usually purchase this if I'm carrying in fights, Randuin's is a better buy otherwise.
- A counter to heroes that have high crit and are based on auto attacks.
- A good item against casters to survive burst, or if you plan to buy

Solo Lane DPS

START

/

CORE

philosopher's stone

MID GAME

Against stronger AD mid game
Against stronger AP mid game
Against massive burst or strong initiations

LATE GAME

If you went for you should now go to
If you went for , you should now go for
If you went for go for if more damage or they're dominant magic. OR go for if you're needing armor
If you're carrying and don't really need to counter at all, build

Duo Lane Support/Tank

START

x2

CORE

kage's lucky pick catalyst the protector

MID GAME

If the enemy team is balanced, go straight for a
If the enemy team has a slight edge on your team, go for a
Finish whichever item you didn't get afterwards.

LATE GAME

If the enemy team is balanced, go for your

After all these items, you then purchase and

Jungle Leona

START

x5

AFTER CLEAR

sight ward

However many potions you can afford. Ward their blue, dragon, or red.

CORE

MID GAME

If the enemy team has an edge or you need to be tankier quick, take
If everything's going normally, build

Get whichever you didn't get between the two next.

LATE GAME

If you need to be tankier, take before finishing
If you're doing well, take

Take whichever you didn't take afterwards.

- We're not maxing this because it deals weak damage and you have to be upclose to use the spell. Also, it's not like it increases stun time as well. This is last.

- Eclipse is Leona's strongest damaging spell, and it's AoE and for sure to hit. It also makes you beefier, max this first.

- Zenith Blade is the second highest damage dealing spell. I'd max this next because of the scaling CD and the stronger damage.

- A great spell and should be taken whenever available.

My Preferences

Exhaust is an EXTREMELY useful spell. Slows people, shuts down carries. It can turn a carry into an even easier target. Good for chasing, good for a game changing fight that you would lose because the carry does good damage. A great choice.


A good spell on mostly anyone. Usually flash over shadows this spell on squishier targets. I find Ghost better when playing a bulky character as they won't need a insta-jump-out-of-fight card. A good chasing spell and a good spell to make a threatening initiation.



A good spell for a surprise initiation. Works for everyone.

Good Choices

A good spell on anyone that's not a main carry. If you're supporting this is a decent substitute. This will allow you to check bushes, buffs, dragon, or baron. This can really change a game. Map awareness WINS GAMES



Too much CC for you to handle? This is a good take and can save your life in sticky situations when stun locked or slowed and glued to the floor.



A good spell, deals good damage. Just don't hit the creep.

Tanky DPS

You're playing as DPS Leona, the lane you want to request is top. If top isn't available, ask if you can have mid. If you can't solo, take bot with a support or go jungle. I'm going to apply the jungle portion on this girl later, after a few runs of her jungle to see if she's even viable there. You want a solo lane for farm as Tri Force is such an expensive item and is core on her.

Make sure to get last hits whenever available. To kill mage minions under turret, auto attack + Q to reset auto attack timer. Another thing you can do is attack mage minions before and after turret damage. When last hitting melee creeps, last hit when available. Wait for two turret hits on melee minions under tower and then last hit to ensure your gold.

Support Tank

You're playing as Support Leona, take a lane on bot with an AD carry. There's not much in this section besides just creating a zone for your AD Carry.

Take bush control and harass with your combo whenever you can and make sure they stay in reach for your carry to pop your passive. Make sure your carry stays safe as well. You want to give last hits to your carry and only take ones that your carry won't be able to grab.

Tanky DPS

During this phase of the game, you should have your core built. Usually, you'll stay at top lane to push a bit more during this phase to get more farm for your . Warding your lane is important during this phase of the game so you don't get ganked while farming.

This is also the part of the game where you'll be wanting to build certain items like or because those items scale a lot better mid game. They deal a set amount of damage and give a set amount of defensive stats.

Support Tank

During this part of the game, you should have your core. Most teams you'll be going against have a strong nuke in their team, so you'll usually want to get as soon as possible. This item is necessary as it allows you to survive a fight's initial burst. You want to stay with your team during this part of the game just in-case they get into sticky situations. You're there to guard your team. you want to guide them to certain things such as dragon and when to push. Also, you have to keep wards up on dragon.

This stage of the game, there's already a clear gap between who's winning and not. The only game changers for the losing team are two dragons, a baron snatch, or an ace. You want to be smart with your initiations as one small mistake may cause an ace and cause a loss for your team. Warding is also crucial, items like ] and sight ward are crucial as a small placement mistake WILL eff up your team. You need to keep constant jungle wards and constant dragon/baron wards to prevent a game change from happening.

Whether as DPS or Support/Tank you are the initiator of fights (unless you have another tank that has a better initiation). You're also heavy on single target focus due to your passive and your Q so you have to stick like glue to their carry.

In conclusion, Leona in my opinion is a strong Tanky DPS, in the same class as and . Same role, similar damage outputs, and just as tanky as each other. I don't find her as a strong tank compared to others. She's just simply out classed in this category by tanks like or . They just have better initiations. She's a decent support but the pure supports are a lot better. And as an AP tank, you just can't compare her to the OP cow, aka