Hey guys, I'm GG alert, player on EUW. In this guide I'm gonna be focussing on supporting with Leona. She's pretty much your point-and-click support to win games.

Note: I'm assuming you've read my general support guide. This guide is mostly an extension of that one to go more in-depth to Leona in specific. Please read my general support guide as well.

Feel free to check out my stream, where I'll be playing support most of the time: http://www.twitch.tv/gg_alert

Leona works great with offensive adc's (e.g. Lucian, Draven) to snowball a lane. Lategame she's a strong initiator and a CC monster.

Pro's
-Amazing CC
-Get's really tanky
-Good engage on teams
-Works in wombo-combo's
-Get's the adc fed really well
-Reasonable damage
-Rather easy to play

Con's
-No sustain
-Could get kited
-Can get poked heavily early game

As primary summoner spell you'll always want to bring Flash. You can use it to suprise enemies by flashing in, escaping or pulling of an awesome flashjuke.

Secondly you can take either Exhaust or Ignite. I like to take Ignite as it counters Heal (that is, if you use it first) and you can secure kills with it or just deal more damage in order to win the fight. Taking Ignite brings more kill presence to the support, so now the enemies don't only have to be wary of your CC but your damage as well.
It's a bit overkill to take Exhaust on top of your CC kit, but if the enemy team has champions like Rengar and Zed, Exhaust can help greatly while peeling for your carry.

I don't recommend taking anything else then these three summoner spells.

-Runes
I take everything that makes me more tanky. You could use health seals/quints instead.

-Masteries
Above you see my preferred mastery setup. You can take 0/16/14 as well as it gives you more utility (mostly gold).

Passive: Sunlight
This passive gives Leona a lot of burst damage when toghether with her adc/anyone. Nothing much to note, except that you could try to get the mark procced before you use another ability, but this will slow down your CC combo.

Q: Shield of Daybreak
Your main CC. You can use this as an autoattack-reset to deal more damage, but it's safest to use instantly.

W: Eclipse
This ability makes Leona incredibly tanky. Use this right before you go in. The damage is quite high as well and even this ability has CC (that is, upon detonation).

E: Zenith Blade
Your way to initate and close the gap. It has a small cast time and snares everyone in it's path. If possible, use your Shield of Daybreak first, to make sure you can close the gap if they use Flash or something. Mostly you'll be using this as initation.
Note: you'll land behind the target that is most far away. Keep this in mind while using Zenith Blade.

R: Solar Flare
This low-cooldown AoE stun is that makes her win most botlane skirmishes. It's safest to use when the enemy is already stunned, but you can initate fights with it if they aren't in range for your Zenith Blade. Great to engage teamfights with in small area's like the jungle or the Baron pit.

I max R>W>Q>E. You can swap the order of E and Q if you're more busy initiating then you're peeling/fighting.

-Boots
Most of the time I take Mercury's Treads to get tenacity and magic resistance. If you're a fan of Mobility Boots you can take them. If the whole enemy team is AD and they lack CC, you can get Ninja Tabi.

-Gold income
Almost everytime I'll take an Relic Shield to offer some sustain for my carry and to shield him later on. If you feel like your team needs a talisman of ascension you can get an Ancient Coin or sell your Relic Shield later on in the game.

-Early game
If the both enemies are ranged or if I feel like I need to be tanky, I take a Doran's Shield as soon as I spawn. Otherwise I'll just get my Relic Shield. If I feel like we need a lot of wards fast I start of with a Ruby Crystal and upgrade that into a Sightstone on my first recall.
After I get a Sightstone I'll upgrade my gold income item and get Boots. As soon as you get a Sightstone you'll want to sell your Stealth Ward and get a Sweeping Lens.
If you're doing well in lane you can already upgrade your Sightstone into a Ruby Sightstone or already build some midgame item receipes.

-Midgame
Here is when I'll start getting pretty tanky by buying a Giant's Belt. If I now need more armor I'll finish my Randuin's Omen or Sunfire Aegis, if I need magic resistance I'll get a Locket of the Iron Solari or a Banshee's Veil. If the enemy team has a lot of CC (e.g. Thresh) I'll build a Mikael's Blessing for my adc. I'll get that depending on how well my adc can dodge and if he has escapes ( Tumble, Arcane Shift etc)

-Lategame/full build
At this point your build will look like this: boots + Ruby Sightstone + Sunfire Aegis + face of the mountain + Locket of the Iron Solari and maybe a Mikael's Blessing. You can now finish according to what you/your team needs.

Armor: Get a Randuin's Omen or a Thornmail. Consider an Iceborn Gauntlet if you're ahead and want some extra peel/CC/damage.

Magic Resistance: Banshee's Veil is great against poke comps. Spirit Visage gives you more CDR in case you need it.

Utility: Twin Shadows gives you some more damage and a sweet active to hunt people down.

When you're full build, don't forget to buy elixirs and upgrade your trinket into an Oracle's Lens.

A lane can easily be won (or lost) in the first couple of minutes. Pay therefore attention to the first few levels as you're really strong.

Level 1: After you gave a quick leash to your jungler, head into your lane and try to start pushing. If you hit level 2 first you can easily score first blood. You'll hit level 2 after getting experience from 6 melee and 3 ranged minions. Count them.

Level 2: If you hit level 2 first, engage instantly. Use ctrl+q to level your Shield of Daybreak and try to hit your target (mostly the adc, but when a squishy support is out of position you can hit them as well).

Level 3: You now have your Eclipse to tank more damage. Engage when there's an opening.

During the rest of the lane, you can walk in and out of the bush to zone the enemies. When using Zenith Blade make sure to engage upon the right target. You can easily set up ganks with your CC. You should play agressive and randomly walk up to enemies to zone them, as they'll most likely be scared of you (and they should be). Don't take unnecesary poke tho'.

Make sure to ward the river/tribush and later on the dragon as well. Sweep the lanebushes to stand in to scare the enemies away from them.

Try to stick with your carries as it's your job to protect them. Make sure to ward Baron Nashor and other chokepoints. Try to make a pick by using your vision, as that is the easiest way of forcing a 4vs5 fight or just straight up winning the game.

Look at your team composition. Do you have a siege comp? Group up and siege towers. Do you have 2 strong plitpushers? Stay midlane, waveclear and pray nobody get's cought. This works the same for poke comps.

As Leona you can easily engage teamfights with your Solar Flare. Afterwards walk out before you take to much damage and start peeling for your carries. You're probably the main initiator, but make sure the situation is right before you engage (your team is complete etc).

Leona is pretty straight-forward, but there are some things to note:

-While escaping, look out if someone runs ahead of you. If so, use your Zenith Blade on them, as it will place you behind them (and CC them as a bonus)

-If someome places a ward near to you, attack it and then use your Shield of Daybreak as autoattack reset. It will allow you to clear the ward.

I hope you now know how to support with Leona. She's your point-and-click agressive support to climb the ladder.

Please read my general support guide as well.

If you have any questions or if I forgot anything/you would like to know more about something, please comment down below or catch me on my stream: http://www.twitch.tv/gg_alert

17/06/2014 - Guide launched