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Build Guide By Gleir
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Diana Build Guide By Gleir Updated on September 3, 2017
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Choose Champion Build:
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Diana Assassin/Mage
![LoL Champion: Diana]()
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Diana Assassin/Fighter
![LoL Champion: Diana]()
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Diana Assassin/Duelist
![LoL Champion: Diana]()
Recommended Items
Spells:
Teleport
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Moonsilver Blade (PASSIVE)
Diana Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Show All
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Ahri
You can 100-0 her if she's without ult; but if she's with it, you can't catch her. Unless you're extremely fed, she won't die from a QWR, and she won't let you get off a second R by charming mid-R and then ulting away.
Annie
The bad girl of midlane. Nightmare for most, if not all, assassins (except kass and maybe, Fizz?). Only mage who's a hybrid of a burst mage and a battlemage. Enough burst to 100-0 you; and if she did R>Flash, then possibly without any counterplay too. Your only hope against her is Banshee's Veil; if she's at 4 passive stacks, then she can't pop your veil without wasting stun; which gives you enough time to burst her down even if she's tanky. And thats why you go for a assassin build vs her; just build a Mantle quickly; and finish it to Banshee's as soon as possible. And of course, take treads.
Brand
Easy peasy. He's dead if he can't get off his E+Q stun; and he's dead too if he does a full combo (and hits the W) with all 3 ult procs because you burst so fast. And if you're even or ahead; your shield is enough to survive his combo, albeit barely. He's 2 because his pre-6 harass is easier to dodge than Lux/Velkoz/Xerath.
Lux
Strong pre-6 poke, strong teamfight; dead everytime you land a Q when she's alone post-6. Unlike Brand, her snare can interrupt you mid-dash; wasting 1 ult (and forcing you to use a 2nd R to gapclose), so watch out for that if not fed. Also try not to engage without a decent HP pool; because a Q+Ult can kill you because you couldn't proc your full shield (as you're snared mid-dash).
Orianna
Strong pre-6 poke, strong teamfight; and dies if caught out with a Q. Considering many Oriannas take Barrier; and couple that with her E+Flash she might manage to go back under tower if her summoners are up.
Syndra
Skill matchup; albeit in your favour. Strong pre-6 poke; decent teamfighting. She can cancel 1 dash with her E which is much harder to avoid than a Lux snare. If she has 2+ spheres around her Ult does more damage than the Lux Ult and cannot be dodged. Take treads.
Taliyah
Easiest matchup for Diana. Her pre-6 poke is easy to avoid, as is her CC. And importantly, her Q isn't instant and she has no damaging Ult thus you can risk going all-in on her even when low. And with TP, you have the opportunity to follow her Ult for a decisive countergank.
Twisted Fate
Similar to Taliyah: easy to dodge pre-6 poke, no combat ult; but because he has a point-click stun its a bit more difficult to 100-0 him. And as usual; whenever he ults, you can follow his ult with TP for a decisive countergank.
Veigar
Similar to Syndra. Sure, if you play it right he's dead; but if you don't, you'll get caught in his cage and die to a full combo (which, mid-game onwards, can 100-0 far more bruisery champs than you). His pre-6 poke is easier to dodge; and unlike Syndra, his cage can't interrupt your R; and even if you get caged after your first R; you can usually pull a E+R followup to finish him off even if you get stunned. On top of that, your Q debuff lasts longer than his cage so you can try baiting it out. Take treads.
Vel'Koz
Strong pre-6 poke, strong teamfighting. Similar to Xerath. Dies if caught out to a Q unless near tower with summoners up.
Viktor
Similar to Veigar; if you're itemized and hit a Q he'll die before his stun can proc; but sometimes it'll proc and he can get of his full combo which really hurts lategame. His pre-6 harass is decent; and that clutch Q shield might cause you problems if you dont go full assassin.
Xerath
Strong pre-6 poke, strong teamfighting. Similar to Velkoz. Dies if caught out to a Q unless near tower with summoners up.
Ziggs
Strong pre-6 poke, strong teamfighting. Similar to Orianna. Dies if caught out to a Q unless near tower with summoners up; because R puts you in so close range that he can't satchel charge you away far enough; plus you can juke it with your second R if necessary. Remember that like Ori's ult; ziggs ult isn't a channel like Xerath/Velkoz, so if they do a normal combo then Ult (after you dive them); they might be able to kill you if you're low (and Ziggs can do so even after dying).
Synergies
Recommended Items
Spells:
Teleport
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Moonsilver Blade (PASSIVE)
Diana Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Show All
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Akali
Yep, a good Akali is difficult to duel as Diana. She can W to dodge your Q, and then retaliate. So you have to play it carefully. Fortunately, ROA+Nashors gives us the edge in duels, because our QR sustatined damage is close enough to her Q+passive sustained damage; but our passive with Nashor's far outstrips her R/E damage and even her passive's heal. As long as you're not too low from her initial burst, you'll outduel her. Except that she spikes with Gunblade (1 Item); while you need 2; and she still has that annoying shroud that can cause you to miss aas. Stay on your toes, even if ahead, don't randomly throw Qs if she can gapclose within its CD; NEVER duel in her shroud; and don't let R go on CD vs. her. Consider taking ignite or Morello.
Diana
Fighter Diana beats Assassin Diana beats Duelist Diana. Just counter their build. Or, outplay them with better macro/micro. Remember to dodge the Qs. But why're you playing Blind?
Ekko
Simple. Dont get stunned by his stun sphere. And dont allow your R to go on CD if his ult is up and its location is near you. As long as you keep these two things in mind, you vastly outdamage him. Also, try to juke his return Q with a well-timed melee QR (if used in melee, R puts you behind your target). Again, ignite or Morello helps to cut down how much his Ult heals him, so consider it.
Fizz
Only notable thing he has is using his polevault to dodge your Q and gapclose and all-in while your Q goes on CD. So don't allow him that; just walk up to him and duel him without either QR; with 2 itmes; you'll usually do more DPS thus forcing him to polevault away, at which point you use your QR to melt him. In duels, it is possible to use R in melee to juke his Ult; so keep an eye on his sprite. Because much of his DPS is %HP; consider rushing a mantle.
Kassadin
Annoying as hell to pin down. At earlier levels; if you can catch him in a Q in a exposed area you'll usually kill him by following his R with your second R; but once he gets leveled his R CD gets ridiculously short and starts becoming a major DPS tool. It can also dodge your Q. And he has that bullshit antimagic passive with Q magic shield; if he builds a ROA+Banshee, you might as well forget killing him because he's too tanky; and can just get away if things get bad. Once he gets enough mana to cast fully charged Rs consecutively; you'll probably even lose a fair duel. Your best bet is to splitpush (because Diana is one of the best turret takers); and/or snowball during early midgame pre-11/16 and before Kassadin can stack his Tear/complete a second mana item. I wonder if its possible to time a E to interrupt his R escape...
Katarina
Diana's E interrupts Kat's Ult. A ROA Diana is too tanky for Kat to melt with a just a couple Q+E+passivex2. As long as you can time your E so that she doesn't get more than ~1 sec of channelling her ult; you'll win the duel. Consider rushing boots (to escape her Ult incase you don't have E) and/or building Void Staff (instead of Nashors), because a Kat facing Diana has no choice but to build a Banshee to stand a chance against her. And since Kats don't usually build HP items, you dont need a Nashors to melt her. As usual, vs high damage AP carries; a early mantle helps somewhat. The main reason to go a Nashors vs Kat is that good Kats if caught out can dodge a Q at range with her shunpo, so you can't rely on a QR combo to outdamage her (you'll still want to engage with a Q to force her to shunpo).
LeBlanc
Lebonkers with one of the highest damaging bursts within ~2 secs. Survive that burst; or doddge her chains; you get to kill her. While she can get away from you with a WRW (which is too fast to respond with a QRR from Diana), she needs her Ult to do that; and if she uses it to escape; she cant use it to burst down your ADC. So either force that; or survive her initial burst with ROA and kill her. Infact, if you can hit her with a Q (difficult because Leblanc will respond with a W), you'll straight out melt her because she's usually a total glass cannon and a QRWR is enough; even without Ludens/LichBane. Also, in lane; her W has massive CD especially since she has to level Q to be able to actually burst a ROA Diana; while your Q CD 8-6 secs.
Talon
Typical assassin. Massive (600% bonus AD)+ burst and massive strategic mobility. Fortunately, his duelling power is pretty meh; once his abilities go on CD, he's only good for aa (which actually hurt). Because Talon builds lethality; an early Armguard (after Catalyst/ROA usually) totally shuts him down. Once you do that; fights become less riskier: even if he jumps you with his full combo; chances are you'll atleast get to kill him before you bleed out; if not outright turn the tables. Another matchup where you dont really need Banshee; but if Talon rushes Maw, consider a Void. Remember, a well timed E (usually a QRE) can interrupt his wallvault; and you can follow atleast 1 wallvault with R if you have vision opposite.
Yasuo
The cancer kid amongst assassins. He literally has everything: Utility (Windwall), Damage (...), Durability (Flow Shield), Mobility (...), Control (...). Fortunately, all of it has lots of strings attached to it. But if the Yasuo is skilled; you're going to have a hard time. He'll windwall to block your first Q, and only then engage (else he probably shouldn't engage). Charge up his tornado, then EQ for an undodgeable knockup (very hard to juke with R) into Ult; and then just stat check her to death. And worst is that Yasuo is a pretty strong splitpusher himself; so Diana can't just rely on splitpushing. Just rush an Armguard and build into Zhonya (Zhonya his knockup); and rememeber you outduel him before he has 100% crit (and probably also max CDR through AS for his Q). Even pre-6; as long as you put 2-3 points in your shield. A Randuin actually helps; once you've gotten your ROA Nashors Boots Zhonya and their team's carries are mostly AD. A Void is helpful if he builds Maw.
Zed
Kind of an easier matchup. If he's in the open and you jump on him with QR, you'll kill him because you can follow his shadow jump with R. And his poke is nothing special as long as you rush an Armguard (to counter lethality). Usually tho, he's hard to kill because he can just dodge his Q with a Shadow Jump; but watch out; he can counter engage with Ult after you Q. This is why you build ROA+Armguard/Zhonya so that even if he jumps; his damage is nothing major. Don't get overaggressive: he's a safe laner hard to gank and kill, so poke with Q exploiting the fact your Q has a short CD (like Leblanc), and remember you can juke out his ult by dashing to a far away minion/monster after he reappears behind you to dodge almost all his damage. Because, your Ult has at most 30 sec CD; while his is a massive 120 sec at 6 (0% CDR). Rushing Void is pretty helpful if he rushes Maw; instead of Lethality.
Synergies
Recommended Items
Spells:
Teleport
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Moonsilver Blade (PASSIVE)
Diana Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Show All
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Anivia
Keep your E to interrupt her Ult. Build Treads to reduce how long she stuns you when you jump her; try getting off a double jump (QRR) or a QR>Flash to juke her stun. Dont dive her without landing Q because she'll stun you, wall; and go away. And, most importantly; waveclear fast and snowball other lanes. She is much weaker without the protection of towers because her egg is mostly useless then; and if your jungler is smart; she won't dare to recklessly push into your tower because she and her egg will get bursted down in the middle of the lane. Remember to save your E for her Ult or the egg TP cheese. The main difficulty facing her is to have good enough macro to snowball the game hard enough before she gets rolling; because she'll just outperform you hard in teamfights (well, unless you're fed).
Aurelion Sol
He can disengage twice with Q and Ult; but his ult has a massive CD; and, very importantly; if you're in melee range and you see him ulting (indicator); R and you'll dodge it. For this reason, and the fact he does mostly 0 damage at melee range due to the nature of his passive; gives you the edge. One of the few battlemages you can actually kill 1v1. E if he uses his Comet of Legend to try to escape.
Azir
A good Azir will teach you the pain of pre-6 Diana. And post-6; he'll play safe and you can't do shit because of his ult which shuts down any and all dashes. Tanky Diana is no help here because if you keep taking hits a ROA and/or Banshee won't keep you from melting. The best solution again is the simple one; just avoid fighting him: waveclear with a couple Q, and snowball other lanes; before he has his items; his roams and turret taking power is nothing compared to yours. TP home early for a quick Crystal/Sheen; and ask your Jungler for blue buff to be able to farm from range. Remember, if you can catch him to far away from his tower(s); you should be able to outmaneuver around his soldiers even if he ults; because he just sucks at 1v1 vs mobile champs.
Cassiopeia
Good luck! One of the worst lanebullies of midlane; vs someone with a really shitty pre-6 laning... just try not to be too behind in CS; practice farming with Q and dont push so far that you lose out on experience. Don't ever let her land any kind of poison on you; because you'll just go 100-50 or even 100-0. She never misses CS because of her on-kill-refund-everything E, and poking her with Q is just a waste because she'll just heal it back with a couple QE on minions. Post-6; your only chance is to jump her before she can W; and go behind her with a second ult when she tries to R. Buys Boots ASAP; and try to dodge that green poison even if you're dueling. As usual fpr hypercarries: to beat her; waveclear and snowball the game in other lanes before she can get rolling.
Cho'Gath
Don't even think of killing this guy in lane (unless he's brainded). Infact, tanks like this are the reason why you just forget about getting ROA; you need to melt him faster than he can lower you into his OHKO Ult range. Waveclear, roam and splitpush so that he never really gets to shine in his favourite siege/teamfight situations with his long range knockup or all-AOE abilities. When dueling; dodge his knockup (should be pretty easy) and don't fight him when low unless you know his Ult is on CD.
Fiddlesticks
A slightly more manageable annoyance; because you can E to interrupt his Drain or Ult channel. Not that it'll help if he Ults from out of LOS... His laning poke with Dark Wind is oppressive; while you can't really poke him because of his drain. But post-6, it becomes a lot easier as he's no match for your dueling power; but because he builds tanky, gets Zhonya, and can usually bait your E with a drain before he Ults... is why you don't really want to play AP assassin. That, and his Dark Wind silences.
Galio
That poke from a Galio Q... hurts. And ROA doesn't help, because its %HP damage. Dodge it. Don't bother poking him. Same to Cho'gath: waveclear, roam, snowball other lanes, splitpush; and generally make it impossible for him to get a good 5v5 he loves. Also, watch out for his Ult; don't get baited into a 3v2 for it to become a 3v3 with a AOE knockup (unless you can quickly turn that 3v2 into a 3v1).
Gragas
Deals way too much damage for a tank. Has a dash on top of it; plus a massively disrupting Ult. Treads highly recommended; when dueling, don't dive with R before he rolls his barrel; and try to dodge/juke his ult with a second R.
Heimerdinger
Zoning and CC similar to Anivia; but unlike her his turrets can't be 'interrupted' with a E. Waveclear, clear as many turrets as you can; and don't trade deaths with him by 100-0ing him in middle of a turret layout then dying; because of his stun he'll outperform you in lategame 5v5s. He's similarly hard to the midlane tanks: where the tanks make it hard to gank successfully (because their counterganks are very powerful); Heim makes roaming hard due to the immense pressure he gives to your turret by halving (or quartering) your lane length. Try to get a good TP gank in and use that lead to get that lane's turret quickly before Heim inevitably takes yours (and some even build Zz'Rots); and then waveclear and roam/splitpush as usual (trading your outer relieves you of a lot of lane pressure).
Karma
Tons of poke. And its not all that easy to 100-0 her; all she needs is a Ult-tether for that massive heal (unless she dies before healing, kinda hard because she also has a shield) to turn the tables around on the diver. Fortunately; you don't really need too much time to kill her before her tether triggers... if she doesn't build tanky (aka ROA). But she will. And thats why, its just not possible for the AP Assassin Diana to get fed off her; so go for the Duelist build and roam other lanes. Because she has no instant CC and offers utility rather than damage; her ganks are weaker than proper mages. Waveclear, roam, snowball and splitpush. And jump and kill her if she's too careless.
Karthus
Karthus you'd be hard pressed to get a free kill on a good Karthus. And it doesn't help he can bully you hard pre-6. To counter it; roam. Sure, he has his ult; but you can roam many times more than he can ult early game; and win before he can scale hard into lategame.
Kennen
His ult is scary in teamfights. Fortunately; you have the opportunity to end the game before it gets to that stage. Do so. While he's hard to kill because of his stuns and E; if he's careless; its possible, jump and E yourself to pull him back and make him waste some duration on his E; then chase him for a while until it runs out (pretty soon), the R to him to kill him. Watch out if he has Zhonyas or stun stacks on you; because that could potentially turn the situation around.
Lissandra
You won't kill her unless she's stupid. Get used to it. Root, dash, stun, invulnerability; and even slow. Just forget about killing her. Her waveclear costs a lot of mana; so exploit that and waveclear yourself quickly and then go roam. Sure, she can roam herself; but when she gets back to lane she'll not find her tower anymore. And if she counterganks you; well... your burst is too fast for her to succeed. Just don't linger around after a failed gank.
Lulu
The anti-assassin sorceress herself; except she's far less scary when she's only making herself assassin-proof; not the carry. Don't oblige her by jumping on her; leave her (her waveclear is kinda meh) and do your thing. And unlike some of the harder counterparts here; if you can catch her out; you melt her, even if she unloads all of her abilities.
Malzahar
Malzahar is broken; particuarly against assassins against whom he can just EWR and follow up with a Q; or, if his jungler is nearby, just a (Flash)>R will do. Just avoid it by not messing with him at all. Waveclear, leave lane; and leave the onus on him to keep up with your pressure. Well its true his counterganks are deadly; but, as long as he isn't right behind you, you'll kill you target(s) faster than he can follow you.
Mordekaiser
So, all these hard matchups you can bypass by roaming... because outside lane, you have a lot more kill pressure. But Mordekaiser? Nope. You can't kill him in lane because he's tanky and does a shitload of damage. And oh, if you die to his ult; your tower falls soon. Poke is pointless because of his sustain and shield; but worst of all is that if you try to roam; he'll just follow you through jg at your heels, and you can't really turn around and try to duel him if you both are even. Just play around him: his waveclear sucks, so clear faster than him (via AAs and passive along with Q, because he isn't ranged) and leave lane in less obvious paths (or via TP) for ganks. Or, ask the jungler for help, he has no escapes.
Morgana
If you jumped her, you get rooted, pooled, and potentially ganked and/or ulted to death. So don't. Either bait out her root or walk up to her and hope to juke it with a R at close range. But you can't do this when she's sitting safe behind tower and waveclearing like crazy with the pool; so you waveclear, leave lane; and see if Morg overextends; sure, she has a CC-proof shield; but it pops to magic damage (and a mid Morg can't afford to level it early) aka 1 Q, so all you need is your jg to contribute for an easy picking. And if she doesn't want to push; gank other lanes, force them to back; and take their towers. Sure you'll lose CS, but thats a given for most of these matchups where you need to end fast.
Ryze
I'll just put it as a 5. Skill matchup. Good Ryzes are rare; but a really good one can actually outduel Diana because his DPS is ranged, he has a root, and an inbuilt speed boost and recharging shield; so your Nashors won't be able to see much use. Flipside is that he needs mana for that DPS. A lot of it. And he wont get it before a while. So use that time to... you know... just do your thing, just not in your lane. Remember; your E can interrupt his Ult; so use it if he's using it to flee.
Swain
Just don't try to 100-0 him. You'll die faster. Unless you have ignite or Morello. Seriously, buy it. With that; you'll have much more freedom when roaming because your ZoC is now actually lethal (aka you can potentially 100-0 if he steps in your ZoC aka Q range minus 100). Since you can't do shit in lane (all while getting poke to oblivion); leave it, and win before he can do his thing (sitting in center of a 5v5 teamfight with Ult on; and probably Zhonya'd). Oh, and don't get rooted; dodge it with your R.
Vladimir
Poke and heal. Poke and heal. Rinse and repeat. Hit a Q? Now gonna go in? Sanguine pool. Now what'll you do? Gap close with your second ult? and try to duel with just AA's and shield vs his abilities? and his Ult? Well, you can actually do it, but you need Morello/Ignite. Get it, and similar to Swain now your ZoC's threat level went waaay up. As long as he's near tower you can't really do much; so, leave lane, and do your thing elsewhere; and win before he gets to his beloved lategame.
Zilean
Okay, I've never played versus Zil in lane; but I don't think he's any harder than most of the other champs. As usual you probably can't kill him in lane because of his bullshit ultimate; but outside of lane its easy. This should restrict his counterganks allowing easier roams; before the game gets to the teamfighting stage where he annoys the crap outta you by ulting your target and those AOE stuns.
Zyra
If you can catch her out without plants, she dies (juke her root if possible). But inside plants, at best it'll be a 1for1; since she'll definitely go tanky and you cant 100-0 her with QRWR. So leave lane; roam, get towers; and force her to leave her killzone. And end fast, because she (and many others on this list) brings many times more teamfight utility than Diana can ever hope to.
Synergies
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