Diana Build Guide by JimmyIZundead

Introduction

This is my first build so go easy on me. What inspired me to create this build, is looking at others, The builds are pure AP, which i don't like on Dianna. It doesn't make sense to build her the way other's do, mainly because she isnt fun with straight AP. With solid range/mage champions like Zyra, you get to have fun, and use strategy. With melee/ranged champions like Akali you get to have fun jumping around the map. the way others play Diana, is they don't do ANYTHING until One Crescent Strike/ Lunar Rush combo is enough to kill. It has no skill, and is no fun to do. Wuth my build, i revolve around Diana's passive: Moonsilver Blade and a Nashor's Tooth.

Dianna is an Ap scaling Assassin, good for any role aside from the two bot lane roles. Her skill set is perfect for obliterating the squishy champions (I.e Annie, Akali, or Nidalee). Her passive Moonsilver Blade is my favorite in the game. It just melts everyone in Auto-Attack range (at least in this build it does). Her Q Crescent Strike is tricky to dodge to some people, because the angle is travels is slightly confusing. Her W Pale Cascade is a sheild. DO NOT GET COCKY WITH THIS because early game this will not save you until mid/late game. At that point, it will shield close to 500 damage. Her E Moonfall is a CC wonderland. It will draw enemies to you, and slow them enough to melt their face. Her R Lunar Rush is lovely, but unlike most champions you do not rely on this ability. Only use it too jump. I'll go more into detail when the time comes.

With this build, i promise you will be laughing about how stupid her damage is. If you want to watch a video, this series helps me a lot with every champion.

Pros and cons

These arent the official "Pro's and Con's" just the ones of Diana. The main thing that separates My Dianna and others, is the Nashor's Tooth that proc's her passive, and my preference for the Hextech Gunblade. People hate me for it, but I get results.

PRO'S text [*] High burst mage [*] Easy Farming [*] Isn't COMPLETELY screwed by MR like some mages [*] Very Flexible in terms of fighting [*] Mobile

text CON'S text [*] easily ganked in lane. [*] easily killed while farming mid-lane [*] No Ranged AA (only con in MID lane) [*] No real escape [*] Long cooldown on her CC text text text

Runes and Masteries

Masteries: Do the typical 21-9-0 masteries. Four points in Sorcery , because cooldown reduction is amazing on Diana. Four points in Blast . It might not seem like much AP, but you need the points in Blast so you can put 1 point in Arcane Knowledge , which gives 8% magic penetration, which is pretty huge for a mastery. after that, put three points in Havoc to get some additional damage. Now on to tier 4. You want to get the AP masteries still so get 3 points in Mental Force and 1 point in Spellsword . Spell Blade is my favorite masterie, because it makes last hitting 5% easier. It makes a difference. Tier 5 take 4 points in Archmage , for 5% more AP. that gives you a huge advantage. The only tier 6 option is Executioner . This increases damage against dying champions. Now defense branch. put 4 points in Durability so you can put 1 point in Veteran's Scars for 30 additional health, for more sustain in lane. In mid lane, put three points in Resistance for MR against mages, and one point in Hardiness for some armor. In top lane switch those. These masteries offer Damage, and enough protection to get you through early game ganks..

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Runes: Most people get get Nine Greater Mark of Ability Power, Nine Greater Seal of Magic Resist, Nine Greater Glyph of Magic Penetration and Three Greater Quintessence of Ability Power. I personally go straight up AP all the way. If you start off with nothing but greater AP runes, and the above masteries, and a Doran's Ring, you get a starting AP of 67 ap. People always call me crazy for this, but it gets me results. I love the extra kick. Later game it falls off, but by then I have an Abyssal Mask and (depending on if the enemy team is stacking MR) a Void Staff, which makes up for my lack of Mage Pen runes. As for the MR, you make up for it when you get the Abyssal Mask. To me, it makes sense to get solid AP runes on Diana.

Skills explained

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MoonSilver blade is an amazing passive. Every third strike, Diana does additional AoE damage. she just MELTS people's faces with her passive. It's literally the only reason to get Nashor's Tooth and Hextech Gunblade. Plus butting a sheen on top of that, it's TONS OF DAMAGE. at level 18 the passive hits 250 damage, ontop of your AD. At that point your AD will be about 150 so 400 on the passive alone. Not to mention the 150 + 150 from the first two hits it takes to hit the passive. 400 + 300 is 700, in a matter of seconds. You can just Cast Moonfall to attack them even more. So let's say you can proc it Twice, that's 1.4k damage. Adding a sheen is an additional 150 damage to that equation. FROM A PASSIVE ALONE. People who don't recognize this passive, are the Diana players that make me sick. . This is Crescent Strike, Diana's bread and butter skill. This does a base damage of 60/95/130/165/200[+70% of ability power. It travels in a curve from Diana's right, at damages all on the path. At the end, the strike blows up and strikes all inside a small circle. Targets struck are given the debuff "Moonlight". Moonlight is consumed when you cast your ultimate on the target. Consuming Moonlight refreshes the cool down on your Lunar Rush to Zero. This sets up Diana's combo. Your main source of poke is Crescent Strike. Post level 6, when you land Crescent Strike, you activate Pale Cascade, and then land Lunar Rush. There isn't much more to Crescent Strike other than that so let's move on. . Pale Cascade Is a VERY weak sheild before mid game so, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, do not think "I'm so high and mighty because I'm Diana, and my shield will save me from EVERY DAMAGE THAT COMES MY WAY" because if you do this, i'll find you, and I WILL kill you! It blocks 40/55/70/85/100(+30% Ability Power), and summons 3 orbs that deal 22/34/46/58/72(20% Ability Power) each on impact. THIS WILL DO NOTHING UNTIL LATE GAME. It's rediculous how cocky people get because they have a shield. Sure, 1 shield (that does damage) is better than none, but it wont protect you from an Annie stun + Nocturne ultimate. Use this when farming, diving, or just securing a kill. The orbs have potential to secure a kill, and more damage is better than none when killing a LeBlanc . Moonfall does no damage. If it did, Diana would get more nerfs than Irelia. Moonfall draws in all nearby Enemy units, and slows them for 35/40/45/50% of their movement speed. The purpose of this is to catch a running away champion such as Akali when she can't use Shadow Dance, or to find her when she activates Twilight Shroud. When she is slowed, and you followed this guide, the damage from your Pale Cascade+ Crescent Strike+ Lunar Rush+ Moonsilver Blade should be more than enough to get her blood. If you can kill an Akali, you'll be good against most people, because her skill set is yours, plus an escape and more jumps. I have yet to kill an Akali because no one besides me still plays her, but that's a different guide. Back to the topic. Moonfall is very simple to understand. . Lunar Rush is Diana's Ultimate that enables Diana to jump to any target champion, dealing 100/160/220(+60 ability power0. If target is afflicted with the Moonlight debuff, it is consumed and the cooldown on Lunar Rush is refreshed. Personally, I don't like this ultimate in comparison to Stranglethorns, Shadow Dance, or Summon: Tibbers. It's just a Jump that deals some damage. Nothing to significant. The only reason I even bother using it at all is to get in range for Moonsliver Blade. Sure it gives a bit of damage, but it's just a set up skill, and an ultimate should be the greatest part of a champions combo, not the set up. I don't know it just really bugs me...

Skill order

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SPACEThis is the General Order of Skills

So basically R>Q>W>E. Here's why:
Your Crescent Strike is your only source of poke. It's cooldown is short, and the damage is fair. It's not hard to land after a few games with Diana. It needs to be maxed ASAP, so you can get some damage out there going into Mid game. People always pour into mid and make that the lane to push. You're going to need damage to attempt forcing 1 or 3 people out of your lane, which isn't unheard of as Diana. The reason being, is once you get your Abyssal Mask, you become a legitimate threat to some people, especially ADC's and APC's. With maxed out poke, you can just tickle them out of your lane. Next you need to max your sheild over your slow. the reason being, is your slow draw's people towards you. If you pull a Fiora into you, you're screwed, no mater how slowed she is. So if you have a decent shield, (*cough* Pale Cascade *cough*), you have aSMALL chance. It's not a 100% insurance policy, but it's better than nothing. Finally, max your Moonfall, because late game, the slow is WAY too mean. Jumping and landing a full combo + passive on an enemy carry, is bad enough. However, if the live (unlikely), you can jump to them, and slow them, and continue to melt their face. If you want to swap your E<W for E>W, you can, but I highly discourage that.

Items

FIRST TRIP OUT: I like to grab a Doran's Ring and 1 of each potion, instead of boots. The reason being, is Doran's ring gives you health, AP, and mana regen, with room left over. i'd rather a kill than speed, unless the enemy jungler is camping your lane.

then the rest is up to you.

. This item destroys a decent amount of Magic REsist on your enemies that you'll be up on with your Lunar Rush. It also gives you good AP, to stuff down their throats when attacking. over all a good item that needs little explanation. But here's one anyways. Abyssal Mask Gives you Magic resistance which is HUGE in mid lane. even if it isn't that much, it can make a difference. In addition to that, if steals Magic Resistance from opponents in a designated area. That's why i love this item. Your Lunar Rush will put that target (and others) in range of Abyssal Mask, giving you, and any AP casters on your team more damage. -20 MR doesn't apear to be much, but more damage, is more damage. Especially now that Nashor's Tooth scales on AP.

THIS IS A MUST HAVE ON DIANA. If you don't get it, have fun with that, you're going to have no fun as Diana. This item gives you literally everything useful on Diana. Cooldown reduction to spam Crescent Strike, Ability power to give you more damage, and attack speed to buff Moonsilver Blade. You Cannot go wrong with this Item! I always rush this after Abyssal Mask. The reason is, that 20MR against Nashor's Tooth is quite significant.

Pretty standard Item on every APC, so you can't go wrong with it. A lot of Ability power, but that's about it. You do need this Item because, after all, Diana is an Ability powered champion. youre pretty dumb if you don't get this, but i delay getting this until after Nashor's Tooth and Abyssal Mask and maybe even Hextech Gunblade. My reason is, Mid/Early game, you will be a lot more Nashor's Tooth based, therefore you will be relying on your auto attacks a lot more. Late game, when people have damage and aurmor, Your auto attacks will hurt less, therefore you need your abilities to hurt more. What else gives you this much of an AP buff aside from Rabadon's Deathcap

If you've ever played Diana, you must be laughing at this point. But if you pair this with a Nashor's Tooth, you get 105 Ap, attack speed, 20% spell vamp, Life steal, an active that deals 150+ damage, and you cannot go wrong with that on diana, with how much you'll be Auto Attacking. I keep this until the end, because even though you won't be auto attacking as much late game, you still get spell vamp. Also, if your enemy's don't stack Armor and Mr, your auto attacks will be viable still. There for you'll be melting faces from dusk till dawn. Also, it gives you an additional slow when Moonfall is on cooldown. So it sets you up for more face melting. CC from an item is awesome. Which brings me to my next item

If you arent doing too hot, because of your health, and not lack of damage, i suggest getting a Rylai's Crystal Scepter. It gives you a nice amount of sustain (500 FREAKIN' HEALTH!!!!) and a slow plus Ability Power. As previously stated, CC is amazing on Diana. Basically Crescent Strike will slow your enemies just long enough to get you in range for Lunar Rush, which is pretty legit, in my opinion. The biggest challenge is to catch people who run when they get hit with Crescent Strike.

I havent tried this, or seen this on diana player's yet, but the thought of it gives me chills. SO MUCH EXTRA DAMAGE. Since i haven't tried it yet, i'll keep you posted.

Like the Sheen, i haven't tried this out, but it looks nice on paper. It gives you the extra damage from sheen, and also a slow similar to Rylai's Crystal Scepter, which is good. It also gives you a nice amount of Ability Power.

This item is a must have on Diana according to the META, but not to me. i don't like it because i'm a very active person, not someone who ulti's in, and cowards with a ******** Zhonyas. plus once it wears off youre still going to be in the middle of a team, with refreshed cooldowns, so youre screwed. But if you don't have trust issues, you might have a chance if your team cleans up in the 1 second you'll be in stasis. I however can't trust on my premade teammates, let alone randoms. Therefore i almost never get this item, despite the 120 AP.

I wouldn't get this item unless youre against LeBlanc, Zyra, Annie, Akali, Diana, or someone who needs combos to kill. Sure mana and health + mage resist is good in mid lane, but not when up against a champion like Ziggs who don't have combos, just dons of damage. Think before you buy this. sure it'll save you occasionally, and give you a decent amount of MR, but I wouldnt rely on this item like other's do. Most people build this AGAINST Diana, which is a REALLY smart idea. It's the only solid way to Counter her. Either that or dodge her Crescent Strike.

Don't get this unless the enemy team is stacking Magic Resist, and your Abyssal Mask isn't enough to get your damage out. It's kinda over kill and the utility isnt as much as your other items, again, unless your enemy team is stacking MR. If you want to, you can get it, but you raise the likely hood that people will focus you. It basically says "HI GUYS!!! YOUR MAGIC RESISTANCE IS NOTHING, IT CAN BURN IN ELO HELL!!! MUAHAWASFDAZSTHXJDCKF" and people will not like that.

This item is a gamble. when you die, it's normally in 5v5 situations, and only getting 500 health back inside an enemy team, isn't going to give you much, so i advise against it, but it's your life and your ELO. As I said earlier, i have trust issues, and cannot rely on teammates. Welcome to bronze IV

There are other viable items on Diana, but these are the ones I suggest to people going the Nashor's path.

Early Game.

First off, buy a Doran's Ring One Health Potion and one Mana Potion. (or what ever potions you find fit. If you feel like you're safe, grab two Mana Potion or if you're against a really bursty champion in lane, grab two Health Potion and hope for the best. If you do that, try not to spam your Crescent Strike.) Once you're in lane, your goal is to focus on last hitting minions. Meanwhile, analyze the situation. If you think you can manage some harassment, try harassing with Crescent Strike. Put most of your efforts into not killing, but bullying your enemy out of lane. The less he is there, the more you can farm. Diana's goal is to hit level 6 and get a point in Lunar Rush. Once you do that, and you have at least a Blasting Wand or an Negatron Cloak, you're set to start killing. If you belive you can Flash and get a kill before level 6, feel free, but you are easily ganked, with no reliable method of escape. The last thing you need is to give a kill to a jungler. The reason being, is the jungler is considered a global presence (if they are skilled), and if they get slightly fed, their ganks become increasingly dangerous. That in mind, bottom lane becomes scared to push because, thanks to you, the jungler has more gold, so he doesn't need to stay in the jungle getting CS. It also makes him more likely to set your jugnler behind due to enemy counter jungling. Once a jungler gets a reliable amount of damage, they will want more kills. Since jungle routs are predictable, an enemy jungler can wait for your jungler (or you since youre the APC) to show up at blue buff, where he can smite steal your blue, get a kill off of you and/or your jungler, and give your lane opponent their blue buff, since the jungler has yours. GET CREEP-SCORE AND DON'T GET KILL GREEDY. It is too dangerous, and you'll have plenty of chances to get kills in mid/late game. If you can, ask your jungler is you can have an early Blue Buff. This will help you in ways i can't even describe early game.

Mid Game/Team Fights

This is where Diana shines the most. "Mid-game" starts when 1 of 3 things happens. A) your tier 1 Tower has been destroyed, or your enemy's tier 1 tower has been destroyed. B) You start working as a team, and stop "laning" (farming your lane going for your tower and fighting 1v1(1v2 depending on jungler involvement)). C) it's 20:00 into the game. By now, if youre just farming and are at 0-0-0 Kill/Death ratio (which is unlikely), you should have an Abyssal Mask and if you're ahead, a Nashor's Tooth. If youre behind, then just hang in there, your time is coming. Also, by now, you should be around level 13, having two points in youre Lunar Rush, a maxed out Crescent Strike, and a maxed out Pale Cascade. Get ready for some team fights! Your goal is to locate the ADC. When you think she's considered "isolated", you land your Crescent Strike. If you miss, just wait for the cooldown to end, and try again. When you finally land it, jump onto her with Lunar Rush, and turn on Pale Cascade and start auto attacking. When able, land another Crescent Strike/ Lunar Rush combo. if she's going to get away, activate Moonfall to slow her down. Normally in mid game, she will not last that long against you. When she's dead, combo onto the APC (generally the person you laned against). If you laned against a tank such as Cho'Gath or Vladimir, try to focus the enemy support or jungle (unless they are a tank). When it's nothing but tanks, just sit back and wait to find who your team is targeting. When the enemy team loses 2 carries and a support, they tend to back off. When that happens, pick a tier 1 tower, and destroy it. if you can get as many towers as your can, or maybe even dragon if your team has enough health for it.

If you can't force a team fight, just travel as a team, and take out checkpoints such as Dragon or baron Nashor . Also, if you don't already have it, ask your jungler for a Blue Buff, or steal the enemy's Blue buff. If you find yourself Auto Attacking more often than you thought, you CAN get greedy and ask/steal either of the Red Buffs, because the extra damage adds up. However, keep in mind that it might be more useful of your ADC, so make sure you ask your team if it's okay.

Late Game

Diana may or may not fall off late game. I consider when 4+ people are level 18 to be "late game". Rather you stay strong or fall off, depends entirely on your level of greediness. If you have a decent amount of kills, and a decent amount of farm don't get greedy with the kills. Set up your carry for kills, and I like to be nice and let either top lane/ the jungler get some kills, unless i need them. Once i get 5/6 items, i stop aiming for kills and just aim for attacking towers or their nexus. After 30 minutes, and you score a Triple Kill - An ACE, now is the ideal time to go kill Baron Nashor . With the "Baron Buff", you get a remarkable amount of AP and AD, perfect for pushing lanes to the base. When the enemy team realizes you have killed Baron Nashor , they generally will not leave their base, giving you time to farm and push. Once your team groups up, you have the man power to over run the enemy team. Assuming you have a well build team of: 1 ADC, 1 Support, 1-2 Tanks/hybrids, and 1 APC (you), you will be able to tower dive them under their Nexus turrets, get their carry's out of the game for a good 40 seconds, and possibly take out another Turret (or more depending on how fast the fight was). If they don't surrender, just push to win, and keep aiming the APC/ADC in fights. Also,
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Dark Valkyrie Diana

THIS IS ENTIRELY BASED ON MY OWN EYE SIGHT!
To me, Diana's skin "Dark Valkyrie Diana" offers a slight advantage in game. The reason being is the color of Crescent Strike and Pale Cascade. Unlike Syndra's Dark Sphere, where the outline of the ability is circled in red, these ability's have no coloration differences. Therefore, It will be increasingly difficult to dodge Crescent Strike, which WILL make a difference later in the game, when you need to land your combo. i'm not saying that Crescent Strike and Pale Cascade are invisible, but they're harder to see, especially if the brightness settings are low for the other person. I'm not sure if i'm correct, so if someone can screen shot this for me, that would be awesome, so i can show people what i mean.

Basically, with Diana's classic skin, her abilities are a neon yellow. That's not hard to spot on a map that's primarily dark green, brown, and black (when you're in an area without sight). That being said, let me give you a situation: You're in lane and let's say you are an Evelyn laning against a Diana when this BRIGHT yellow Crescent Strike comes at you. It will not be hard to dodge, due to your high mobility. Say that Crescent Strike was black. It MIGHT not register to you that it is Crescent Strike. It's not invisible, it's just harder to notice.

This is entirely up to speculation. Once i gather proof, i will gladly show you, but until i get that, take my word for it.

Results:

If you could send me your results in the comments, i'd love to feature people who tried this build! I have some results that i'm working on posting on here, also i'm going to add an Opponent section, but i have to do more research before i do that, so yeah. LET ME KNOW HOW I CAN IMPROVE THIS!

CHANGE LOG

*guide created* - 6-09-13
*Game phases added* 6-14-13
*Skill order explained added* 6-14-13
*Redesigned Items section* 6-14-13
*Detailed runes and masteries section* 6-16-13
*Added Dark Valkyrie Diana Section* 6-16-13
*Added "don't feed diana"* 6-16-13
*Realized i could not have added don't feed diana on 4-16-13* 6-16-13
*Put Iceborn Gauntles in the ITEM section* 6-17-13
*Put Rylai's crystal scepter in the ITEM section* 6-17-13
*Added junge Diana Build* 6-17-13