I'd just like to start out by saying this is my first guide, be gentle. I'll update, and improve it as I go, especially if it's getting rated decently.

That being said, this is my guide to building a tank Leona. Building her pure tank and CD reduction, at least for the time being, is the only way to go with her. Her AP scales poorly, so I don't waste any stats on trying to boost her damage.

Leona is a tank that has the ability to shut down the other team for long periods of time, and even lock down one enemy for several seconds. She's a black hole. Enemies come at you, but they get stunned, slowed, disabled so many times they won't know what hit them. If you play her right your team will have ample time to melt that pesky carry in no time.

That being said, lets get down to business...

Pros:

Stuns, stuns, and more stuns
Tends to get focused right off the bat, keeps enemies off your carries
Can completely shutdown an enemy for several seconds
Decent AoE, especially early game


Cons:

Because of her ability to shut down enemies, mages tend to focus her
Almost no mobility - No early escape, no going back once you've initated
Tendency to KS with shield - not a huge deal, but it'll happen
Very mana dependent - you have to take clarity or you'll be sucking for mana until about mid game

As far as summoner spells go, I like Teleport and Clarity. Teleport allows you to quickly join your team, or defend a tower. Clarity is needed, especially early game to augment relatively bad mana problems. Late game, especially after getting a Banshee's Viel, your mana problems are less of an issue, but I've found myself starved for it quite a bit until then. Plus, it's nice to have for your teammates sake.

Alternatives:

Flash - Good for escapes, setting up your stun

Cleanse - You're going to get stunned and cc'd as Leona, this is a great way to deal with it.

All other spells are... well just not that great for Leona. I highly suggest you use some combination of Teleport, Clarity, Flash and Cleanse.

Pure defense. How you want to Rune her is up to you, I prefer more armor. If you prefer more magic res that's fine too, Leona does tend to get focused early because of her ability to shut down the other team for long periods of time. I take a lot of armor, but Mages can melt her quickly, bare that in mind as you choose what Runes you'd like to select.

Masteries are pretty cut and dry with Defense and Support. If you're going to take the spells I suggest then go ahead and put in for the masteries for them, as I show. Take all the mana/health regen you can, you'll need it.

Okay, so quickly, I go for first. Why? This does a lot of things to help out your team. You get the bonus armor/magic resistance, which is great with your , and a huge AoE that really puts the hurt on the opposing team early to mid game. People freak out when you activate this, you can really range the other champions in your lane with it when they start to realize you're taking huge chunks of life out of their bars.

and do their jobs fine at rank one. The cooldowns may be a bit long, but that's why we're building cd reduction early and often.

I've seen guides that promote getting first. This skill gives you two things, a stun and some (very small) damage. is really just a superior choice. Maxed out it costs 60 mana. It's cheap, pretty spammable, gives you great resistances, scares the other team, and does a nice amount of AoE all throughout the match.

Okay now onto the items. As previously stated, Leona should be built pure tank. Not every game is the same, so this build isn't something you have to follow exactly.

Core Items: , ,

is a nice starting item for Leona, I always take it, as it allows her to lane for a long period time, and giving her over 700 HP to start with.

The first time you go back you'll want to grab , A or two, and a sight ward. Protecting you, and yourself lane partner, from ganks is always a plus, no two ways about it.

The first real item you'll want to aim for is the , this way your laning partner can get to last hits they need, and you can roll in some free gold, for a while.

Next you'll want finish your boots. I go for the full 40% cooldown reduction, so I take Everytime. If you want to take Ninja Tabi for the extra dodge, or Merc's for the magic resistance, which you may need, then that up to you. I think it's really important to max out her cd reduction, so you can spam your ability more often. In team fights what you bring to the table is your abilities. If everything is on CD you're not doing anything to assist in a team fight. Do yourself a favor, get

The next item I take is a Philosopher's Stone, and go ahead and roll that into . This item is beautiful for Leona early and into late game. The health,cooldown reduction, and regen are perfect for Leona early game. Tanks are glorified support champions. The active allows you some bit of mobility, which she lacks big time. She is super slow. Using the active to set up your Zenith Blade will help you stop enemies from fleeing all game. Just don't forget to use it. It could save several of your allies, or help them in a chase as well.

Next up is the . This is another item I think is perfect for Leona's play style. The Omen gives Leona another disable. With her shield up (great synergy here) the slow can last forever, giving your team time to get away, or keeping the opposing teams slippery champs from escaping. If your ults down, this can make up for the slow, or if its up, after the initial slow effect wears off, use this to give you even more time to catch up. The way to go with Leona is to shut the other team down as much as possible.

After this you have some leeway with where you can go...

If your team is having trouble with mages wait to get for after you get . The extra MR is a nice thing to have. If you're not struggling with Mages, however, go ahead and take the , the AoE in conjunction with all your stuns and slows can add up quick, and you get tons of armor from it. Another alternative, would be skip on the or for an early . The cleanse on it is nice, as well as the Magic Resist and it's cheap. Build accordingly to what the other team has, and who is doing well. Just pay attention to who's dishing out the most damage, specifically to you.

You can also go ahead and rush your if you want here. The extra mana only helps, as Leona tends to suck it up quick, and it further helps with the Mages.

Lastly, I go for a . This will help augment your health late game, protect you from mages, and gives you a speed boost, which we talked about she needs. If it's getting late in the game, and it looks like it's going to drag on, then go ahead and replace this with a . Warmog's continues to stack health, so it's almost like 2 items in one.

Early/Laning phase

Early game is simple enough. You'll want to focus on harassing the opposing champs that stay in range of their creeps with your where your mana permits. If you have a laning partner, let them get the last hits early, you'll be able to farm late game if need be.
When you hit 3 and have all your skills, you'll want to plan out a good time to try for an early gank. You can, even early game, shut down an enemy for a few seconds, and if your partner has an exhaust, you can a kill quickly. Your takes out huge chunks of enemy health by the time you're level 5.

Mid Game/Ganking

Ganking with Leona can be a bit tricky, since she's so slow. Wait in the bushes until you know you can grab an enemy with your Zeneth Blade, activate then stun them with . If they try to run away try to focus the middle of on them and you've probably already taken away half of their life, just by yourself. She's very powerful early game, take advantage of it.

Late Game

Late game you have to be the initator. You need to act before the other team does, because if they're smart they'll lock you down before you can lock their carry down. You'll want to do the same rotation as Mid Game. , Zeneth Blade , , . After you've gone through your rotation just use your Q and E to keep the enemies from chasing after your squishies. As long as you can initiate for your team first, before you get melted by the mages, you'll win most any team fight. Teams tend to try to avoid Rushing after Leona, for fear of their lives, so you shouldn't have much trouble. You'll have to practice with your Zeneth Blad as it is a skill shot. It's important to know its range, or you'll get kited, and have wasted a valuable cooldown. Mastering it is the hardest part of playing her, so once you have it down, you should be set.

Alright, so what did we learn?

Leona can shut down enemies for unforgivable amounts of time. If you can get an entire spell sequence off, the enemies are shut down forever. She especially excels at shutting down one at time. With the item choices, which include slows and cooldown reduction, you should be able to annoy all enemies who get close to you, bouncing from one enemy to the next. She does tend to have mana problems, so you'll have to be careful how you plan your attacks early game, but after you get into mid game you can be a bit more liberal with your skills. Don't let yourself be caught alone late game, you'll get melted and you have no way to escape, save a sprint and some slows, but you don't want to waste your ult on anything but a team fight.

If you gave this guide a read, thanks for the time. Feel free to comment, and leave your feedback.