Hello, it's DeadFaith once again with another Diana guide, this time for both jungle and mid!

As you might notice already, I love Diana a bit too much, some randoms in game started to recognise me whenever they see a Diana in game and then they wish they banned my little Goddess.
Anyway, again trying out more building paths, so I'm back to the standard assassin style, as it has wrought the best results throughout 85 000 mastery points worth of games.

So let's dive right into it!

Changed my AP runepage to a runepage specifically made for Diana.
Now I run:
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration x9
Greater Seal of Armor x9
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist x9
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power x9
This is in my opinion a better option then flat AP Marks, both for jungle and mid lane. Magic Pen also works on jungle camps, and this Magic Pen helps you clear them faster.

I went for Thunderlord's Decree Keystone mastery cause it's a solid damage boost in the mid to late game where Diana's power truly shines. I've done some testing with Deathfire Touch but since all Diana's abilities are AoE, that mastery dosen't shine as Thunderlord's Decree on Diana.
The rest is just suited for jungling, extra buff duration and other utility.

For playing Diana in mid, use:
- Secret Stash mastery instead of Runic Affinity mastery
- Sorcery mastery instead of Fury
- Double Edged Sword mastery instead of Feast mastery
- Natural Talent mastery instead of Recovery mastery
- Oppressor mastery instead of Explorer mastery

Items!
EDIT: After posting this guide on a FB LoL Page I've had suggestions to clarify whether its better to start with Hunter's Machete or Hunter's Talisman, and here it is:
- Start with Hunter's Machete if you want to clear jungle camps faster. This items bonus damage on hit to jungle monsters severely increases camp clearing, but dosent do as much regarding sustaing your mana and hp. thats where
- Hunter's Talisman comes in. this item, while lacking in damage to quickly clear camps, works great in sustaining your hp and mana high while clearing said camps.
Depending on the player preference, pick between the 2 starting items. Myself, I prefer to start with Hunter's Machete as I want to finish my first jungle clear as fast as possible. As a Diana, i dont do much for my teammates in the early game, so the sooner i complete my Stalker's Blade - Runeglaive and lvl 6, the sooner I can start making a difference in my team, and even make picks on my own.
There are many different item paths you can take on Diana and I feel this core works best:
Stalker's Blade - Runeglaive Abyssal Mask Zhonya's Hourglass Sorcerer's Shoes - Alacrity
After that you can build to your preference, going for more offensive or defensive stats with items such as Rabadon's Deathcap Luden's Tempest Liandry's Torment Rylai's Crystal Scepter Nashor's Tooth and Athene's Unholy Grail
For a more hipster approach, you can go for options such as Guinsoo's Rageblade Rod of Ages Hextech Gunblade and Archangel's Staff

This build goes well with what Diana does best: Burst and Chase down fleeing foes. With quite an ammount of movement speed, toughness and burst potential, not even the biggest of enemies are able to fight or escape.

Let's go over some item explanations:

Stalker's Blade - Runeglaive - It's the ideal early game item for Diana. As she's basically a hybrid champ (mostly cause of her passive, Moonsilver Blade), this item is nicely rounded up by enhancing her next basic attack after using an ability, and giving you some mana regen while clearing out jungle camps. It even gives mana, which in my opinion is a stat much needed on Diana, especially in the early game.

Abyssal Mask - Its usually the second item I build, for several reasons:
- Gives a nice ammount of Magic Res, which is much needed for a close-quarter fighter/assassin such as Diana, you want to be able to stay alive for as long as possible.
- Reduces Magic Res to all the enemies around you! Holy **** I can't stress enough how awesome this passive is! As you will always be straight in their face (except when using your Q), they will always have their MR reduced by that flat ammount. It even works on jungle camps and minions, so they will take even more damage then they usually would have, as their MR goes into negative.

Zhonya's Hourglass - What can I say? It's friggin Zhonya. You just dont build a close-quarter mage without this baby. Respectable ammount of armor combined with a huge ammount of AP and a sick life-saving active is just too much to pass on.

Sorcerer's Shoes - Alacrity - I usually go for Alacrity as the flat move speed is really good for what Diana is made for. Chasing and obliterating. The flat magic pen is also pretty nice. Who would pass on boots that enhance your damage!?

Once again, items!
Aaaaand yet again, there are many different building paths for Mid lane Diana, But I feel like this one is the safest path.
Depending on how you're doing in lane and who your opponent is, you have 3 options on what item you'll build first:
1. Lich's Bane - I build this item if I notice im out CS-ing my opponent while harassing him a lot. Lich's enables more burst damage and zones your opponent out pretty well.
2. Abyssal Mask - I take Abyssal if I'm in lane vs an AP lane bully, like Xerath, Katarina, Vel'Koz, Le Blanc and so on. The MR helps a ton, and the AP and passive aura make it easier for you to poke and burst you opponent.
3. Zhonya's Hourglass - I make Zhonya's if I'm in lane vs an AD champ, such as Yasuo or Zed. The active will save you from their ults and the armor will do a lot for taking down a a lot of their damage. Sometimes, when laning against Yasuo, The first item I make is Rod of Ages. Its just too good vs him.

No matter what you are in lane against, you should complete all these items before going onto situational items, such as Athene's Unholy Grail and Liandry's Torment/ Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Here is the ability sequence I usually go for.
Start off with your W as it provides both damage and sustain in the early jungle clears, continuing into Q for more damage. My third ability point goes towards my E. It's quite unusual, but I take it to gather jungle camps in range of my passive cleave, and to CC the Scuttler, as it reduces his resists from 60 to only 10, making him that much easier to kill.
After that, max out your Q first, followed by your W, and lastly your E. make sure to level your ult on levels 6, 11 and 16.

In case youre in lane, the only difference is the one that you take your Q lvl 1 instead of your W.

Diana is in my mind a completely balanced champion, as it's easy to learn, but hard to master.
You can make tonnes of mistakes playing her, but if you play her right, the rewards are massive.

Pros:
- High burst damage with + and high sustain with
- Seems squishy to your opponents, while she can tank a ****load of damage with her build path and
- High mobilty and gap-closing with her
- Above average AP Scalings
- Very fast jungle clears, making her great at counter-jungling and shutting down opposing jungler
- Mid and lategame monster

Cons:
- Difficult Skillshot
- Long cooldown on her only CC and shield ability
- Hard to execute her main combo - very dependant on landing your curved skillshot
- Very mana-hungry - blue is a necessity for pretty much everything (consider building Archangel's Staff or Morellonomicon)
- Easily shut down early-game with counter-jungling, poor gank execution or no help from teammates while ganking

This is the jungle path I usually take:
> Start with Krugs
> Raptors
> Scuttler
> Check opponent Blue
> Gank mid/bot?
> Red
> Wolves
> Blue
> Scuttler
> Gank mid/top?
> Gromp
> Back -> Get items
> clear lesser camps - smite either Wolf (Rift Spirit ward thingy) or Raptor (ward detection buff) for smite bonuses
> Gank like a **********er and get superfed
> TeamFighting phase

Early game, get 2 stacks of your passive, Moonsilver Blade and try to get your third strike on your lane opponent. It deals a fair ammount of damage and puts a lot of pressure on your opponent, as they will try to evade your third strike, therefore you'll zone them easily.
Dont be afraid to use your abilities to farm, just try to use them to harass your opponent as well. When they come too close, use your W to mitigate whatever damage they might deal to you, and if they are out of your range and hiding behind minions, use your Q to poke them.
If you can use your Q to get 2 minion kills out of your range, its definitely worth it.
Try your best to get lvl 6 before your lanne opponent, as its a huge power spike for Diana. Ask your jungler to come gank and ensure your kill, starting your snowballing.

If your opponent is forced to go back due to low health, freeze the lane just under your tower. Get your last hits but dont push it out unless you want to roam to the botlane.

After getting 2-3 kills in mid and bot lanes, you will snowball super hard, you will become an unstoppable force.

There are several tricks you can do on Diana, and here are some of my favorites.

1. Use your Q+R combo on a minion as a gapcloser to a low-hp enemy out of range, you can pretend to be Yasuo and dash to a minion marked with Moonlight, and then ult to your opponent to pack the finishing punch.

2. A mistake a lot of new Diana players make: DO NOT AIM THE ENEMY WITH THE END OF YOUR Q! This severely reduces your chances to hit that enemy with your Q, and makes it easier for your opponent to dodge your combo enabler. Instead, aim your Q so your enemy gets hit by the curved part of your Q. There is no penalty for that, you dont lose on any damage, you just increase your chance to land your skillshot.

3. Use your Q to check the bushes. Enemies hit with your Q are revealed for several seconds. Use this often not to facerush into ambushes.

4. If in a sticky situation, hit a jungle camp with your Q over the wall, and then ult to that camp for a quick escape. I mostly use this tactic on Dragon or Baron Nashor (only if I know I wont get killed by them). There are several spots on the wall over the Dragon and Baron pit from which you can land your Q and ult to them over the wall. Specifically 3 on Dragon wall and 5 on Baron wall.

5. If youre being chased by an opponent champion with no movement abilities or gapclosers, you can ensure your escape by using your E on them and Flashing away. They will be slowed for 2 seconds, and you will have an easy escape.

6. For a suprise attack, use your Q and ult on an opponent instantly is youre sure your Q will land. This will give your target very little frame of time to react, and your ult will reset even tho the animation of your Q will land after your ult finishes.