Diana Build Guide by milkncookies

Introduction

Dear Reader,
If you are reading this, you are interested in learning to play Diana. Congratulations! You have made an excellent choice. Diana is a powerful addition to any team. She revels in the role of mid-laner, but is versatile enough to jungle, offtank, and even support. A good Diana is at home in almost every position on the field.

This is my first guide (the first, I hope, of many) and thus will certainly suffer from numerous issues at first. This is a work in progress! I will put it up when I have the bare minimum of my build explained, but will keep on updating it with corrections, matchups, graphics, etc. etc. etc. I welcome corrections, suggestions, encouragements, and constructive criticism. I do some things in an unorthodox way, so I'm sure some aspects of my guide will clash with someone's tastes. Challenge me on them! I appreciate both positive and negative feedback, but I beg you to keep vehement attacks to a minimum.

Don't forget! This is just a guide. As such, it is meant to direct you on your quest to perfect your Diana game. However, this is a game that requires strategy to win! Always think about what YOU and your TEAM need, and adjust accordingly. I'll try to provide some variations in the different aspects of my build, but I hope that you will think of your own. Let me know how you play Diana!

Good luck and have fun!

Patch Notes

August Patch:
General:
Base Health Regen reduced to 7 from 10
Updated model and splash art for Dark Valkyrie Diana
Crescent Strike:
Damage reduced to 70/110/150/190/230 from 80/125/170/215/260
Ability Power ratio reduced to 0.7 from 0.8
Pale Cascade:
Damage per orb reduced to 20/34/48/62/76 from 20/36/52/68/84
Lunar Rush:
Cooldown increased to 25/20/15 seconds from 20/16/12
(Taken from the League of Legends patch preview.)
Notes:
This is the nerf patch and, as such, all of Diana's abilities are taking a hit. The crucial things to note here are the reduced health regen and the increased CD on Lunar Rush. The lower health means Diana will have reduced sustain in lane, and greater care will need to be taken in the laning phase of the game. The higher cd on Lunar Rush means that ulting before landing a Crescent Strike will become even less desirable. Furthermore, it means that hitting your enemy with a Crescent Strike after the first Lunar Rush will mean much greater readiness to re-engage immediately than otherwise.

Pros / Cons

Pros: Good survivability Great damage output Awesome gap closing High versatility

Cons: Highly desirable target Average mobility Limited escape options

Recommended Runes

These runes are slightly different from standard caster runes! The standard rune allocations for casters, as well as some other rune possibilities can be found in the next section.

A note on flat runes vs. scaled runes: A question as old as time -- should I take flat runes, or runes that will scale as I level? Well, that depends on what your game plan is. Do you want an early edge or do you want to be more effective later on? Personally, I prefer the early advantage, to allow myself to gain the lead and build my items faster, since I believe the effect of runes to be lower than that of items. However, a little extra AP at endgame never hurts to put yourself just the slightest bit ahead in teamfights. Consider when you want your runes to be most beneficial when choosing between flat and scaled runes.

• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: These runes are included to add a further early game AP advantage, while also providing extra AP at higher levels, which our quints will not. These can be replaced with flat glyphs if you desire an even greater early game edge.
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: These runes are included to help overcome the other team's defenses. Having a bit magic penetration will let you deal that extra bit of damage to your foes.
• greater seal of replenishment: These runes are there to provide an early mana regen advantage and allow higher sustain. Diana can be fairly mana hungry, especially if you want to poke often. Which you do. I know you do.
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: These are used primarily to give yourself a sizable early game AP advantage. Their effectiveness is lower at higher levels, which is why I paired them in this build with the Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Powers. These can be replaced with scaled runes if you desire more of an advantage in the late game.

Masteries

I usually employ astandard caster set of masteries when playing with Diana. These are self explanatory, consisting of offensive masteries to boost your AP and damage, and a few defensive masteries to keep you in lane longer. I use 22-8, however, to allow myself to take Summoner's Wrath , as Ignite is always in my arsenal. If you do not use it, put an extra point into Vigor instead.

If you aren't worried about defense (after all, you'll be getting items to keep you protected in mid and late game), try the following masteries which use the utility tree.

These masteries are great if you want tokeep your mana up while poking aggressively. A further two points are used on Swiftness . This helps overcome Diana's relatively slow movement, and her lack of escapes. Additionally, a point is put into Summoner's Insight to allow more frequent usage of Flash, further assisting in improving Diana's mobility. If you don't take Flash, put an extra point into Swiftness .

Summoner Spells

Summoner spells are definitely a matter of personal taste and playstyle. However, there are definitely some summoner spells that are better than others on Diana. Consider these suggestions and your own style to determine which spells to take!

See more detailed descriptions in the next section!

Good: Flash Ignite: Exhaust

Bad: Revive Surge Cleanse Promote

Think about:

An interesting option to consider, Ghost can help you to continuously pursue fleeing enemies, as opposed to the one time gap closing ability of Flash. With the upcoming increase to the cooldown of Lunar Rush this may be the preferred option, keeping you in range long enough to hit the enemy with an additional attack or two, as well as (most importantly) an additional Crescent Strike. It can also help you in escaping, and has a significantly lower cooldown than Flash as well!

If you love to poke, or are just having trouble landing Crescent Strike, take this. It'll let you be more wasteful than otherwise, keeping the opponent from getting comfortable, and keeping you in lane longer. However, frugal use of abilities, as well as obtaining the blue buff will keep you from needing to use this.

Take this if you are jungling. Don't take this if you aren't jungling. Not much else to say.

Summoner Spells Explained

A powerful spell when used both offensively and defensively. Use it to catch fleeing enemies, or to flee yourself. Flash provides you with the ability to escape if you find yourself ambushed or face a gank after overextending in your lane. Try to flash to your towers and across walls, but be careful! It is a terrible feeling to use Flash and find yourself stuck behind the wall you were trying to clear. The cooldown is very long! Use it wisely, and try to use Lunar Rush first when pursuing.

Not only does this give you some extra fiery damage to inflict on an opponent who is fleeing out of sight or to a turret, or finish of a Tryndamere who's used his ultimate and feels safe and cocky,its passive while on cooldown boosts your skills' damage!

Another good option. I prefer to use the prior two abilities, but Exhaust is also quite viable. Use it to slow pursuers (especially ones trying to hit you with a short ranged CC ability such as Volibear or Singed) and fleeing targets.

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There's really no point to taking this skill. It is a skill oriented towards the Dominion gametype!

You should be dominating 1v1 anyway, and dealing most of your damage through your abilities, so this skill is definitely one to avoid.

Diana doesn't have the mobility to get away from enemies easily, so your skill slot is much better spent on a skill that increases her mobility.

This is, admittedly, a fun skill to use, but fairly useless. A super minion may cause your opponents some minor irritation, but you should still take a skill that directly helps you instead.

Skill Sequence

Skill Explanations:

This skill is your bread and butter as Diana. It is what you're going to use to poke while laning. Landing it is key, as you want to stay in lane at least until you get your ult, so make sure to use it frugally. Try to launch it slightly behind your opponent, as they will try to juke back to avoid it, and attempt to line as many enemies up in its path as you can. If you're up against a tough ranged champ, use Crescent Strike to farm. This will drain your mana fast though, so don't overdo it. When engaging after level 6, make sure to land this first. A combo involving Lunar Rush, Pale Cascade, Moonfall, and another Lunar Rush should take care of the enemy, but if you doubt yourself, wait to hit with another Q to allow an additional Lunar Rush.

This skill is primarily defensive. Hit W any time you engage an enemy or a jungle mob for a shield and some extra damage output. This is an absolute must when jungling. Take it first if you're your team's jungle.

This is all the CC you're gonna get as Diana. Use it wisely. The best times to use this are in engagements with the enemy. Don't use this against minions or in the jungle. When challenging an enemy one on one, use this skill after your first Lunar Rush. This will buy you a little more time to get another Crescent Strike ready to go. In teamfights, use E to catch fleeing enemies or disrupt channeled skills. If your jungler is ready to gank at a lower level, especially when you're in a solo lane, take E at level 3 to help catch the enemy.

This is the skill to use when you wish to engage. Be sure you can finish off the enemy, or that your team is ready to support you, because you will have a hard time getting out once you've used it. Getting an extra Crescent Strike in after the first ult will let you have three with no cooldown. This will guarantee a kill against almost any enemy. If you follow your foe behind his minions and use Lunar Rush on them to escape. Keep this in mind any time you're engaging in an exposed position.

Items

My build revolves around rushing to Rabadon's Deathcap for quick loads of AP. The rest of the items provide AP along with magic resistance or armor.This build aims for survivability. Once you've taken advantage of your high early AP, you can become an offtank in midgame, but since your items will still be giving you decent AP, you'll maintain a sizable damage output. Combining these items with Lunar Rush jukes, the CC from your E, and the shield from Pale Cascade, Diana becomes a deadly force, staying alive throughout the battle, and dealing massive damage to all. The inclusion of Abyssal Mask also ensures that the enemies' own defenses are less useful. rylaj's crystal scepter can be replaced with another item of your choice. It's unlikely that you will get to that point in your build, and if you do, some extra health will probably be useful. A good item to use instead is Morello's Evil Tome, which provides AP, mana, and a counter to healing champs.

And Beyond...

I will keep updating as I play more and more Diana. Look for sections detailing mid and top lane match ups, as well as general strategies for the various positions. Please suggest other things that I could include, and leave some feedback!

Thanks for reading, and good luck!