17.07.11:
- added Frozen Mallet and Randuins with an explanation why these items are also effective on her
- included the spotlight video for people who want to see her skills in action
- corrected some grammar mistakes, help me out with these if you find some =O
- added another skill order in the section "Skill leveling" with explanation, try it out ! =)
- added a second Sheet with the other suggested build, while the first one is a bit more offensive oriented and offers better mobility, the second one makes you way harder to kill and easier to stick to key targets, enjoy :3

19.07.11:
- New section available: Teamfights and useful Teamcombinations

On the upper slopes of Mount Targon, the warriors of Rakkor live and breathe only for war. However, Targon's peak is reserved for a special group of Rakkoran who answer to a ''higher'' calling. Members of this group, called the Solari, retire their mantles of war, choosing instead to devote their lives to reverence of the sun. According to legend, the Solari were formed by a warrior who could call the raw might of the sun down upon his enemies in combat. He claimed Mount Targon's summit, the point on Valoran closest to the sun, for his solar devotion, a tradition which generations of Solari have preserved to this day. Though they maintain their reverence, no other warrior possessed the gifts of the founder -- until Leona.

Leona's parents were traditional Rakkorans, both bred for the heat of battle. To them, Leona was a problem child. She was capable of fighting as fiercely as any other -- including her childhood friend, Pantheon -- but she did not share their zeal for killing. She believed that the true worth of a soldier lay in her ability to defend and protect. When it came time for her Rite of Kor, a ceremony in which two Rakkoran teens battle to the death for the right to bear a relic-weapon, Leona refused to fight. For this, the Rakkoran leaders ordered her execution, but when they tried to strike the fatal blow, sunlight burst forth, bathing Mount Targon in light. As it faded, Leona stood unharmed and her executioners lay unconscious around her. The Solari immediately claimed Leona, demanding that her sentence be repealed. She donned the golden armor of the Solari and they bestowed upon her the sword and shield passed down from the ancient sun-warrior of legend. The Solari helped Leona focus her abilities, and when she was ready she left to join the League of Legends.

''The sun's rays reach all of Runeterra, so too must the image of its champion.''
-Leona

Related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6tV11acSRk

Pros:
+ A lot of CC ( 2 stuns, 1 huge slow, 1 Immobalizer)
+ Good chaser because of short cooldown stun and a long range charge
+ Good early game towerdiver because of Eclipse
+ Boosts the damage of your teammates because of her passive (140dmg at 18 after activating the mark)
+ One best steroid skill in the game (70 armor + 70 magic resistance for 6 seconds and low CD)
+ Not much farm needed because of huge AoE abilities ---> good amount of assists can be gathered
+ Female Tank!

Cons:
- Very low 1 v 1 damage
- Can't do much when your team dies
- E skill can be tricky to hit sometimes
- Very mana dependent early on
- Very team dependent
- Boobs could irritate you =P

Marks: Flat armor
These will help you against any champions and guards you from their autoattacks wether carry or mage. Furthermore these will reduce the damage you take from minions when you try to harass the enemy and they also will allow you to towerdive fairly easy past 6 in combination with "Eclipse" on. But you can also take marks, if you know for sure that the enemy team is heavy magic damage oriented or you'll have to lane against someone with strong magic harass.

Seals: Flat armor

Same as mentioned above, but i should note that Greater Seal of Vitality is also a good choice on her

Glyphs: Mr/ level

They'll guard you from magic damage and in my opinion you won't need that much magic resistance early on that's why i prefer /level glyphs but are also good if you want to stick to them =)


Quints: I prefer
since I'm not getting any health early on. they will be enough health combined with the masteries for the early game.

I use 9/21/0 a fairly standart tank page. The defense tree let's you survive longer while also increasing your lane sustainability because of "strength of spirit". We won't get any magic penetration on my build that's why i like going 9 in offense and not in utility since all your damage will be magic while also grabbing improved exhaust. But going 0/21/9 can also work if you want to level up faster!

Start of with: and x1

After your first trip back you should be able to upgrade your pendant to
Philosopher's Stone
and if you have enough money left buy and one Sight Ward

Upgrade your boots later on to or if they haven't got much cc. When getting the cooldownreduction boots then replace glacial shroud with another item from the list below otherwise you'll waste alot of cooldownreduction.

Now get a as it will proc with your Q spell and deal extra damage to towers. If you time your skills right, you are pretty much able to proc 3 times in one combo.
Why sheen you may ask? Well My runes and masteries + your W spell will ensure that you will have enough defense stats to survive long enough. You won't need to much survivability early on, but damage doesn't hurt since your skills scale badly and you still have to represent a treat in order to get focused. Sheen gives mana, some ap and a nice proc everything we need!
Note: Don't upgrade it to Triforce yet as this would delay your build too much and doesn't make that much of a difference.
If you don't like Triforce/Sheen that much you can also consider getting a early on which may slow an enemy just the right time and ensure a kill. It's all up to your preference!

Items you will need: and at the 30min mark because of the extra gold you will get from Philosophers , upgrade the Shroud later to in order to maximize your armor, cooldownreduction and cripple enemy carrys and other autoattackers on the enemy side.

This will put you in combination with the 3% cooldownreduction from the offense tree to 38% cooldownreduction meaning that you will stun every 5 secs and your ult will be castable every 50secs while also reducing the cooldowns of your other two spells significantly.

Against heavy AD teams:
or you could replace Frozen Heart with if they are sticking to your carry and you need to slow them down pretty hard. (Don't forget to activate Eclipse before using Randuins for longer duration of the Randuins debuff!)

Against heavy AP teams:
can replace , is a very good choice as it also improves your movementspeed

Lategame:

in order to gain extra movementspeed and a decent amount of damage.

or if you decided to start with a phage and not with the sheen upgrade it to as it will give you a better health bonus and a guaranteed perma-slow allowing your team to get this stupid flashing carrys easier!

Additional Note:

Please never forget that you can change the given purchase order at any time in the game, it is up to you if you want for example to rush sheen or not! Look at the enemy team, watch out if they have high burst early on and then decide what to buy next. This is pretty much one of the most important things, tanks actually have to do.

Max first as it will allow you to stun more frequently as it gains -Cooldown per leveling up.
Secondly max to gain more armor/magic resistance but also in order to help you farm alot better in lane cause of the AoE dmg.
Thirdly max your as this will only reduce the Cooldown and increase damage, but most of the time you won#t need this skill more than once in early on as the cooldown without Shurelya's and Frozen heart will still be too long.
Level whenever possible.

On a side note you can actually also level firstly , then and lastly if you are against strong harassers in lane and you don't need a faster recharging stun when someone comes to gank. Furthermore this order will allow you to farm better because of the AoE damage of but will also push your lane faster so beware!

The next video will show you how her skills work, I may have to say that in my opinion Phreak is going too much after the kills cause as a tank you are better off protecting your carries. Furthermore he gives you an alternative item build which you can also try out =) Play Video

I use in order to be able to jump to my teammates to assist them, initiate, counterinitiate, run from ganks early game and hop over walls. Most versatile spell imo =9

Secondly I take with me because as a tank i want to assist my team and this spell is most suited for this action. Slows down enemies for your carries, reduces dmg of enemies who try to kill your team and helps temmates to excape from tough situations.

Other viable spells:
can replace Flash
can replace and if taking solo top with her it can secure dragon kills though this spell is very situational.
I don't really like this spell on her as it doesn't have any utility but only raw damage, but you could argue that it reduces healing effects and with the recent changes also lifesteal and spellvamp are affected by it, so go on and take it if you wish!

Some things I noticed:

*Eclipse pops banshees when activated near the enemy not only when it detonates!
Might be a bug, but I'm not sure. Try it out, it works!

*Activating Eclipse in bushes makes you visible for enemies, care!

*Friendly sunfires proc your passive too, use this as a neat initiation:
Leona ult + running in Tanky DPS with sunfire.

*Enemies running into fog of war will automatically proc Leonas passive if it was applied
before on them. Is this a bug?Not sure probably, but working right now!

When a teamfight is about to happen you need to always follow some "rules" as Leona:
1. You are the Tank, you are responsible for the surviving of your carry and are the one who has to soak up
damage for your teammates.
But what does this mean?
Never ever chase in a teamfight champions when it isn't ensured that your carry and other squishies can handle the other enemies on their own. Always care about them first!

2. You are probably one of the best initiators in the game. Some people might disagree with me and will tell me " but but but, amumu is way better !". Nope he isn't the best initiator on your team if this team also contains Leona. Using Leona's first will ensure at level 18 +140 bonus damage to every enemy cought in her beam and this means, that if it happens that you have 2 tanks on your team example: , , and heck even then you have to be the first one going in and therefore boosting the damage of your other initiaters.
Leona harmonizes very well with AoE ultimates because these will ensure that pretty much every passive from her will be used.
Other useful Teammates you might consider taking with you in a premade game:
and of course *insert any champion with good AoE abilities*

3. Be a pain in the .... for the enemy to recognize you! Even though you aren't dealing that much damage try going for the enemy carry, making the enemy team aware of you, and throwing down CC to stop you. With our CDR you will have a stun from your every 5 seconds ready and this in combination with a or will cripple the carry and the enemy will have to recognize a threat in you. But always remember point "1" on this list and know when to retreat and protect the others!


Initiating:

You have pretty much 2 options to initiate with:
You can start with from a range allowing other teammates to follow up with their own initiation (see point" 2" above) or you can start with and then follow up with and going right for the carry! Always remember that will put you to the last person hit. Because of the fact that squishies stand mostly in the backrow of the team you should be "blinked" to them if properly used. I know it isn't that easy early on to master her skills, but practice some more and you will get the hang out of it, trust me =)

I want to thank you for reading my first guide and I hope you give this guide a try. I know my english is not the best, but I really hope you could understand it, and please leave a comment. Thank you =)