Guten Tag, Buenos Dias, Bonjour and welcome to my Diana jungle Guide.

So Diana is already out for quite a bit and so far I can say that I have most likely seen every item built on her from like 5.000 different Diana players. One build more effective, one less effective. Oner super duper strong, one just plain bad. For myself, I'va played her like 50 times since her release and found a really strong and promising way to play Diana.

As the headline says, this is a quick guide, no in depth-ness. Just the basics of Diana and some thought-processes why to do what in certain situations.

Visual updates to come, going to remove some typos in the next couple hours

I will try not to use that much of insider short cuts, but sometimes it will just happen.
Therefor, this should explain 'em all.

"MR"=magic resist
"AA"=auto attack
"AP"=ability power
"AD"=attack damage
"AS"=attack speed
"CC"=crowd control
"CDR"=cooldown reduction

Passive: Moonsilver Blade

Now this is one really sick passive. At max lvl this abilitiy easily deals 600 dmg every ~2 seconds ans makes a huge portion of your damage. Sadly there is no counter to see at what AA youre at, so the only way to keep track of it is to COUNT THE AUTOHITS IN YOUR HEAD.

Q: Crescent Strike

Diana's signature move. This spell is 50% of your dmg. If you miss your Q you won't be able to kill people. It's crucial to hit this. Keep in mind that the arc always comes from Diana's right side (just watch in what hand she holds her sickle). Hit this and your dmg will be absurd, miss this and you will most likely have to wait another ~4 seconds to do your job.

W: Pale Cascade

This spell allows Diana to jungle incredibly safely. You basically dont lose health anymore as soon as you got like 2 point into your W. Other than this its also one of your main dmg sources.

E: Moonfall

This is your ganking tool. It's basically a small vortex soaking people in and allowing you to stick to them with ease.

R: Lunar Rush

This is what makes Diana so incredibly annoying to play against. Combo'd correctly with your Q it will be impossible for your targets to escape. Though the dmg doesnt actually seem that much, the fact that you can basically "spam" this without cooldown allows you to get this off multiple times per fight.

Smite, you need Smite. You can jungle without Smite, but you cant jungle without Smite.

Theres a HUGE difference between a JUNGLER and a GUY RUNNING AROUND IN THE JUNGLE.
Smite speeds up your jungling time, Smite safes buffs, Smite safes Dragons and Smite safes Barons. Not to mention that you can totally RAPE your opponent jungler with good Smite skills if he uses his Smite poorly.
Smite to finish off creeps, dont engage with Smite - imagine: You're doin' Lizard, you don't have Smite, the Lizard is at 400 health. SUDDENLY a wild Shaco appears through the brush, he smites your Lizard and vanishs. And you're like... FUUUUU?!?!?1 Replace Lizard with Baron or Dragon and you know the importance of Smite.

The second summoner is really personal preference, I would really suggest Flash.
I used to run with Ghost for a long time. You are a melee champ. With Ghost you are able to stick at your enemy. You stay in melee range and he's just not able to flee.
The pooblem with Ghost is... Diana has no escape skill. If you get caught in a kinda bad situation... without Flash, you're wrecked.
I finally changed my mind and replaced Ghost with Flash to get a viable escape skill and be able to do those crazy things like WALL FLASHING!

There's pretty much nothing you can do wrong with runes.

For marks, take 9 Greater Mark of Attack Speed. This greatly affects your passive and thus your jungling speed.
For seals, take 9 Greater Seal of Armor. The only real necessary runes - let you take less dmg while jungling.
For glyphs, take 9 Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power. Moar dmg is always good, these runes do very much for your lategame strenght.
For quints, take 9 Greater Quintessence of Ability Power. Again, moar dmg = mucho sexy. Diana has 4 AP scaling spells, these quints will greatly improve her performance.

Basically: R>Q>W>E

Always level R asap for obvious reasons.
Max Q next since it's your main source of dmg.
Max W next as E offers no dmg and only slightly improves utility.
Max E last as it offers you nothing but an increased slow.

Skill W first so you don't take that much dmg from jungle creeps. Then simply follow the above mentioned priority.

Items on Diana are all situational. There is no "one build" working in every match, in every situation, vs every team, everytime. You have to think about your item choices. Think about what to get when, think about how you can counter your enemy and don't blindly follow some pseudo-intelectual build orders of some guide writers.
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So lets get things started.

What to start with:

There are 2 options on what to start with.
Most of the time you want to start Boots+3 Health Potion. Diana can sustain the jungle pretty well with only her W and a pot here and there.
There are certain situations when you want to start with Cloth Armor+5 Health Potion. I usually only grab these if Im HEAVILY afraid of counterjungling. So if you're afraid of an enemy Shaco or Lee Sin wandering around in your jungle all day, take these items first. But keep in mind that u can't use the Cloth Armor for any of your later item choices - only buy it if you REALLY think you need it.
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First trip back:

Several options here. The most basic item to buy now would be a Philosopher's Stone. Diana is pretty mana hungry (you will realize this pretty quickly), so the extra mp5 is really nice. Other than this, your shield will block nearly all dmg the jungle creeps do to you, the hp5 will do the rest. Lastly the gp10 aspect is what matters most. Diana has pretty strong base values and she actually does nice dmg without items as long as she has enough mana. So if you pick up gp1ß items, you will focus your concentration on her lategame power.
Option 2 is buying 2 Doran's Ring. I would only recommend this if you already got some early kills. As mentioned above, Diana has pretty strong base values and doesnt really need the AP early on - but it's nice if you plan on snowballing hard early on.
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The game goes on:

Depending on what you bought at your first back you'll have to make more decisions. If you decided for the gp10 route, build a Kage's Lucky Pick and a Heart of Gold afterwards. You now have sustain, a little hp cushion and a little bit extra AP. And on top of that, your 3 gold items start ticking towards lategame. After you got your 3 gp10 items, go and grab some Sorcerer's Shoes.
If you picked up the double Doran's Ring quickly follow up with Sorcerer's Shoes and if youre a really tough gangster guy, even consider a Mejai's Soulstealer.
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So far your build should somewhat look like either this
Sorcerer's Shoes Philosopher's Stone Kage's Lucky Pick Heart of Gold
or this
Sorcerer's Shoes Doran's Ring Doran's Ring( Mejai's Soulstealer)
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No start to use your brain for further item purchases:

DECISION ONE: So now you have your first 3-4 items, now look at your enemy team and decide what to do next. No one in the enemy team is fed, everyone is evenly farmed but their whole team seems rather squishy. In this situation I usually grab a Deathfire Grasp. In many games this is my first big item if Im not afraid of anyone in the enemy team. With DFG you're able to kill squishy AP or AD champs within one combo. The Ap benefits you, and the CDR works really nice aswell on Diana.
DECISION TWO: They're playing a double AP comp and maybe even have an AP-ish jungler like Maokai. Or their AP midlane is really fed while their AD carry is a bit behind. At this point I consider grabbing a quick Abyssal Mask. You will be a bit more tanky vs their main source of dmg now, and on top of this you will deal even more dmg to to the AP in combination with the flat magic penetration.
DECISION THREE: They have 3 physical dmg dealers. Their toplane, jungle and bot are AD and start to scare you really hard. Buy a Zhonya's Hourglass in this case. The armor part makes you tankier, the AP part lets you deal more dmg and the passive lets you dive into ther backlines without taking any dmg at all.
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Now your build will most likely look somewhat like this
Sorcerer's Shoes Philosopher's Stone Heart of Gold Deathfire Grasp

If thats the route you choose, take the other 2 items now if you need them. You burst quite hard now, and if youre afraid of AD grab a Zhonya, if youre afraid of AP grab an Abyssal.
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So youre pretty tanky now. If you feel that youre tanky enough, go for straight dmg items. Sell your left over gp10 items and buy items like Rabadon's Deathcap or Void Staff. Your dmg will be absurd now and with your tanky items vs AP and AD you should be able to stay in the danger zone for much longer.
STILL not tanky enough? Well, then it's definitely time for a Guardian Angel now. With a GA you will be able to headlessly dive your enemy backlines since you should simply not die anymore now.
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Now, your final build could look somewhat like that
Sorcerer's Shoes Deathfire Grasp Abyssal Mask Zhonya's Hourglass Rabadon's Deathcap Guardian Angel
If you ever get to finish this build it's will be almost a guaranteed win for you since you can pretty much kill anyone.

But this is just an idea of a build. There are other options aswell.
Sorcerer's Shoes Doran's Ring Doran's Ring Deathfire Grasp Abyssal Mask Haunting Guise
This build works exceptionally well on Diana. Since her base values on her spells are pretty high, you will shred through your enemies with this build. 60 flat magic penetration will easily instagib any low MRes target.
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Items to consider:

Archangel's Staff could be pretty usefull on Diana. She's actually pretty mana hungry and can stack the tear quickly with ease. The problem is just that it offers 0 defense. Only pick this up if you know you wonÄt be focussed that much.
Athene's Unholy Grail Great item on Diana. Again, she is pretty mana hungry and can use the mana regen insanely well. The AP is nice, the MRes works well vs AP comps and CDR is a SUPER STRONG stat on Diana. Imo this item is just way too expensive, and offers less vs AP teams than Abyssal Scepter.
Guinsoo's Rageblade I've seen people building this on Diana. Basically for the stacking AS and AP. Imo, AS is kinda wasted on Diana. With most AS items you wont get anough AP to burst well or do enough sustained dps. Another fact, this item offers no defense again. I don't recommend building this.
Hextech Gunblade Already seen this several times aswell. I would never recommend buying this item. They ranged slow + burst is nice, but you pay way too much for stats u can't effectively use.
Lich Bane In theory, super item. Lich Bane will give u a sick amount of dmg, a tiny bit MRes and really sexy Movement Speed. Sadly it's really expensive. I would not recommend getting this item if you chose the tanky build - with the tanky build you will have way too less AP to make a "big" use off this item. If you go for a rather burst route or Sorc Shoes, double Dorans and Rabadon, then this item will give you sick amounts of sustained dps + burst.
Nashor's Tooth Mhhhmmm. I really tried this item, very often. I just don't like it at all. NS will effectively boost your AS from 1.1 to like 1.3 and that's nothing tbh. The AP and CDR are really nice, but the AS is really wasted for the time you could get this item ingame. The hybrid way of AS/AP Diana is just meh in my opinion.
Rod of Ages Just like Archangel's Staff, the mana part is really neat on Diana. But the health won't make u tanky aswell. If you want to grab this, dont grab gp10 items. If you dont grab gp10 items you will cripple your lategame a bit and your early game will be even weaker than with triple gp10s. It works, but I don't recommend it.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter Meh, there's nothing more to say. It's basically a Rod of Ages without mana and more HP therefor. But this will still not make you THAT tanky. The slow is just not good on Diana since many of your abilities are considered AoE and thus only apply a 15% slow. Just use your E and u will be fine.
Will of the Ancients In theory very nice on Diana since she can spam spells and heal really much with this. Sadly, her passive doesn't applay spell vamp and most of her kit only spell vamps for 33%. So it's too expensive for what it gives to you.

A new lvl 30 summoner is able to jungle with Annie if he got the right runes and follows the right route. Even though that guy might be able to land several successfull ganks, still, he's far from being a real jungler.

Jungling is actually one of the hardest, if not the hardest, jobs in game. Good junglers are often carrying games. Good junglers have to keep track of spawn timers. Junglers have to have the highest map awareness. Good junglers know when to gank where.
Bad junglers... can do those things too, but rarely they can do all at once.

So let's start with the more or less easy part:

Jungle Timers

• Small creep camps (Wolves, Wraiths, Double Golems), spawn at 1:40 and respawn after 1 minute.
• Buff creeps (Blue & Red), spawn at 1:55 and respawn after 5 minutes.
• Dragon, spawns at 2:30 and respawns after 6 minutes.
• Baron Nashor, spawns at 15:00 and respawns after 7 minutes.

Watch for these. You don't need to write down every respawn of your wraiths. But type down a simple "dragon 23:00" if you killed dragon at minute 17. If you know your enemy started at blue, his blue died at the ~2:10 mark - you know it will respawn around minute 7... so gor for it and try to steal it. Tracking these timers is crucial due to their strategic importance. Stealing your enemies blue all day long will totally rape their jungle Amumu or Karthus in mid, especially when you give your blue to your midlaner everytime.
Taking every dragon results in a boost of

1000g for your team per dragon kill.

Even Nashor povides you with

1500 teamgold and... this minor usefull buff ;D

Another important part:

Know your enemy
So you see that Nocturne starting at blue, why not go for his Wraiths and Double Golems? Simply steal a little bit of his jungle, go back to yours and go on with your route.
The information where your enemy starts is also important for your team. Enemy Xin Zhao starting at Double Golems on purple side? Call your bot lane to be carefull. Seeing a Shaco starting at Red Buff on purple side? Call your top lane to be prepared.
You have to make conclusions about the information you get of your enemy jungler. Seeing a Warwick means your team is prolly safe till minute 7, cuz Warwick ganks pre 6 suck. Seeing an Lee Sin? This guy is freakin unpredictable. He can start everywhere and gank whenever he pleases. Know your enemies, know their habits, prepare yourself and your team therefor.

And another part:

Know when to gank and when not to gank
Countless times I see my jungling mates come out of jungle with 50% hp to assist a lane with 10% hp. They try to kill this sneaky 100% health Udyr... and they fail... cuz, well, it's Udyr. You can't gank someone like Annie with half of your hp, she would just one shot you. So even if your laners ping for ganks like crazy, YOU, and only YOU, decide when to gank where. YOU decide if you can gank now and YOU decide if a target is gankable. Ignore those million pings if you know the position of wards, ignore 'em if you know you and maybe your mate could die, ignore them all if you simply feel something will go terribly wrong. BUT, that doesn't mean that you are the boss. If your mid lane pings for you to hold the lane, you need to get there asap. Even if your mid has to back each 2 minutes... you have to keep that lane, cuz he will die otherwise. If you can't gank due to this, it's not your fault.

And the prolly most important part:

Map awareness
You don't have to watch your Diana as she Auto Hits those wolves to death without any problems. Always watch your lanes as much as possible. Make the best out of every CV thrown by your supporter.

See their jungler pop up at bot? -> Take his upper jungle.
See their jungler top? -> best chance to do Dragon.
See your enemy pushs bot like crazy? -> Set up a gank there.
Your top lane pushed hard by your Warwick? -> Hide in the side brushes at top, let your Warwick fall back and do the gank time.

Read your enemies, inform your team and punish them for mistakes.
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That's what makes a jungler. Maybe your supporter is called "babysitter", but you should be the babysitter of your whole team. A good jungler can easily lead his team to win, and a bad jungler can easily destroy a game by totally failling his job. Your job is jungling, so stay in your jungle. A jungler needs farm, too. Even though ganking 24/7 seems really cool, at some point you will have less and less success while ganking, effectively leaving you behind in level and farm. Clear your jungle, watch the map, use opportunities. Some junglers like Udyr can easily farm like any lane. Some are a little bit worse at farming, but there is no point to be at a 50 creepscore as Diana, while your Caitlyn in Bot has 220.

Diana's gameplay is pretty straight forward.

Pick your starting items of choice (either Boots or Cloth Armor). Head to wolves and level W first. Get some help from your laners and kill wolves before blue buff spwans.
Next, get a leash from your laners again and kill blue buff - kill it with Smite at around ~450 hp.
Level Q next, then head to wraith camp, followed by another wolf camp kill.
After wolves level W once more and do red buff - kill it with Smite at around ~500 hp.
Lastly do wraith camp once more, hit lvl 4, level E and start ganking.
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Dianas ganking has 2 phases:

Phase 1 ranges from 1 to 5. Your ganks are meh here. You have no gapcloser and you mostly rely on your laners to set up ganks with their CC. So let your midlane Ryze start with a snare, hit as many of your Qs as you can, activate W once u reached the enym and activate E as they try to flee. It's likely that you won't kill people in this phase since you just can't unload enough dmg before they're in their safe zone.

Phase 2 starts at lvl 6 and puts you on a whole new lvl of ganking. You can set uo ganks now aswell. Ht enemies with your Q, follow u with R W and hinder them from fleeing with your E. Now either decide if you can safe your R till u hit another Q or if you just want to unload all your dmg with a QRRWQ comp.

So, that's it. My rather quick guide on how to play a really neat Diana. Pretty successfull so far with this build and I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Feel free to constructively criticize (pls nothing like "ololol, didnt work in my first game, useless suckaaaa" or "omgomgomg, just roflstomped 100 elo with this guide, so brilliant").

And now have fun with Sailor Moon on the fields of justice!
~~~ Gasparde

13-08-2012 Guide created