Leona Build Guide by Gragner

Introduction

Welcome to my first build here in MOBAFire!

I'll try to explain in detail as much as I can in this guide, I do hope it would be of help for all the Leona players out there. Keeping this build updated as much as I can will be my first priority as I will be testing Leona to see what improvements can be done

Keep in mind that a guide is just a guide only, it helps you understand the champ better, deviate new builds and find your own play-style, also everygame is different.

As my first quick look into Leona, I do see that people tend to use her as AP, to be quite honest I don't think it's worth to have Leona as ability power, and reason behind it that she is designed to be a tank, there are more champions that are more worth of being geared with ability power then Leona and are still beefy like Rumble, Mordekaiser & Gragas, and the damage output would even be higher. But this is just my vision of Leona.

I hope you all enjoy this guide, and please leave comments and help me improve my guide.

Thanks

Pros / Cons

Pros:
- Very good at locking down, or peeling off enemies.
- Three stuns
- Great initiator
- High amount of armor and magic resistance

Cons:
- Lacking some damage
- Might be squishy early game
- Frustrating to farm with early game

Abilities

Passive - This passive helps a lot in getting first blood and also nuke down enemies either AoE or Single Target. Using the correct ability sequence will deal out some nice damage, and might possibly pick up kills as that might be the extra 20 damage u needed to give a champion before he runs away.

Q Spell - I do take this ability a bit late, first point at level 4, reason behind it that I find it quite difficult to rush into enemies without being sure I can get out of it alive, being at level 4 will give me enough HP and defences thanks to Eclipse. This spell is great to get a kill from it, or to save allies from dying if they are rushed.

W Spell - This is one of best spell on Leona, giving her enough defensive stats to survive in all fights, and dealing out nice AoE damage to pick up the assists in team fights, and not being left behind in gold. Also works best with the passive Sunlight, giving the enemy team the mark that deals substantial ammount of damage

E Spell - One of the best Initiator spells there is the this game. Giving you the ability to go in a team fight without being targeted while you walk in them and spawning in a champion will taunt the enemy team to try to focus you while your team are doing their job. Also a great skill to be used with Shield of Daybreak as it can stop an enemy from running away.

R Spell - This is Leona ultimate, again, gives her the ability to but out a stack of Sunlight to all champions being hit, and might be a life saver in team fights. Stunning Ultimate's of Champions like Nunu Katarina Malzahar & Warwick would give the team the advantage of staying the the fight and saves your team some damage.

Skill Sequence

One thing to remember - never take your first skill instantly, it depends on situation you are in. 95% of the time I take W - Eclipse, but there are situations where you really need that stun Q - Shield of Daybreak to help to get First Blood or to prevent from you or teammate dying depending on the situation you are in. So always leave the skill unlearned till you are really sure which one is better at the moment.

I tend to max Eclipse first, as this gives me the defensive stats I need, to stay alive in combats or when trying to gank. Also will give a nice damage output when maxed out in early levels of the game. Giving you the ability to farm some minions also.

Then I max Zanith Blade, This the second spell that gives the best damage output, also another reason is that the damage I deal from this spell does help me catch up with enemy champions and kill them before they run away.

Why I don't max early? Shield of Daybrake early? The reason behind is that the stun duration stays the same from skill level 1 - 5. The stun is the main reason it's usually used for, it's not the best spell to deal damage with, as this deals the lowest amount of damage from all Leona spells.

Runes

These are what I recommend for Leona but different summoners have different play style's so you might want to test runes yourself also, see what suites you best.

>>> Greater Mark of Health - I find these Marks the best, as they give me enough HP Early game.

>>> Greater Seal of Armor - I tested these out and worked quite well, was using Greater Seal of Evasion but did not work quite well for my play style. Also you might want to consider Greater Seal of Vitality if you like your HP to be high in late games. Personally, I let Warmog's Armor do the job for me, and focus on defensive stats. Found out that it will keep me in fight longer. Stacking HP is not what I call Tanking

>>> Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - I get these glyphs with nearly all combat champions I use, nearly all champions we play against deal some magic damage, and some early Magic Resist will never hurt.


>>> Greater Quintessence of Health - I never tried anything else apart from these Quintessence's as this are my favourite as a tank, really good amount of base health in early levels. Helps put if you are soloing a lane, keeping you in the more and protect your tower.

Masteries

Most probably you know that this is the normal tanky mastery build, not really much to say, tested out some mastery builds, did also try 0/9/21, that personally did not find out quite as good for my play style. 0/21/9 is the standard tanky build for nearly all tanks, I find it quite strong with Leona and Strength of Spirit is something that I find good with her, keeping in mind that you last more in a lane before you have to recall, and also in combats. Works quite well with Force of Nature. I can't say how many times I stood in fights alive with 10-200 HP thanks to Strength of Spirit Force of Nature & Warmog's Armor

Summoner Spells

Recommended

Reason being is that Teleport can save your turrets, being a tank is not that easy for them to tower dive you, especially when they know that you got 2 stuns. Flash will help you to get out of fights, start a fight, and chase someone. Can't say how many times Flash saved me!

Might Consider

These are just some other summoner spells that every summoner would like to try out and see what works best for him. Ghost will help you to run around and try to be in time to save someone, Ignite Will help with champs like Dr. Mundo & Warwick. Heal... Never said no to some extra heals that keeps me alive!

Items

Early Game

Ruby Crystal > Boots of Speed > Cloth Armor > Mercury's Treads > Heart of Gold

Using my first 450G on Ruby Crystal is the first item I usually find best to start with, Giving me that extra bit of HP I need to help team mate take first blood or staying alive from a gank then followed by Boots of Speed for 350g giving me the mobility and works better with Eclipse, this gives me the time to hit them and run back taking minimal damage. Then going for Null-Magic Mentle & Cloth Armor for 700g and start building up my defences, makes me more durable in fights, so then getting Mercury's Treads for the extra mobility and tenacity.

Spending a total of 1975g at this stage I should be round about level 7-9, still quite early in the game, and as you might wonder, it's a bit too expensive. That is why my next item is Heart of Gold 350g, I keep this item trough out the whole game, giving me a very good boost to get the items I need as fast as I can, since probably I would leave all the minions to be taken by our carry. Total amount of 2325g.

Mid Game

Ruby Crystal > Null-Magic Mantle > Aegis of the Legion > Chain Vest > Negatron Cloak > Giant's Belt

Starting to go into Mid game I start buy rushing into Ruby Crystal 475g & Null-Magic Mantle 400g to get Aegis of the Legion 750g helping me and my team defensive stats to start our ganks.

To continue with my defensive stats, as the enemy team post probably start getting some nice damage output. Starting off with Chain Vest 700g & Negatron Cloak 740g followed by Giant's Belt 1100g to gain some HP. Total amount of 6040g.

Late Game

Force of Nature > Guardian Angel > Warmog's Armor > Randuin's Omen

Now is the time when the real time fight starts, making it hard to stay alive with all the AoE that they might have or the ganks that you might get. Starting to get my Force of Nature 1870g as it gives me the extra speed plus the passive for health regeneration, as mention above health regeneration saved me most of the times, also keeps me hard to stay on lanes and protect the turrets as hard as I can.

Guardian Angel 1900g would be my next item to balance out my armor and magic resist, also keeping the enemy team from focusing me, and that means more time for me to stun them as much as I can with Shield of Daybreak and apply my passive Sunlight to nuke the enemy team down and then proceed with Warmog's Armor to upgrade your HP.

Last but not least! Randuin's Omen 1650 this item dominates the carry's against us, and allows me to apply an additional slow apart from the on from Solar Flare. there is no way that the enemy team will run away now, too many cc's coming from myself only and also trying to keep my team mates as safe as I can thanks to the attack speed reduction. Total amount of 5420g

Full amount of item cost is 14695g

Items you need to consider

Being a tank is not easy as it sounds, you need to adapt yourself depending on your enemy team. These are some items you need to take a look at, to see if it will maximise your survivability. For exaple, in a game where you mostly need armor, you need to consider frozen hearth 2775g & Thornmail 2000g These are the biggest boosts to your armor stat, and also as a counter to your enemy team, allowing you to slow their attack speed and take some damage if they focus you.

For magic resist I tend to take a look at Abyssal Mask 2650g & Banshee's Veil 2715g. These are the ones I did test out so far, Abyssal Mask I really like due to the fact you reduce their magic resist also, giving you and your team mates more damage output. Banshee's Veil is of course one of the best, saving yourself from a nuke, stun, or a huge amount of damage and it will also increase your health pool by an extra 375.

Full Item Sequence

Ruby Crystal > Boots of Speed > Cloth Armor > Mercury's Treads > Heart of Gold > Ruby Crystal > Null-Magic Mantle > Aegis of the Legion > Chain Vest > Negatron Cloak > Giant's Belt > Force of Nature > Guardian Angel > Warmog's Armor > Randuin's Omen

These are all the items I did test out so far, please if you have any suggestions leave a comment, always happy to take feedback, to keep this build as updated as I can.

Skill Sequence

Starting a Fight

Before starting a fight, always use Eclipse to increase stats, give you more survivability and take minimal damage, followed by Zenith Blade gives you the ability to move into the middle of your enemy team without being targeted. Also add up a stack of Sunlight to all the targets hit. when you're in the middle of your enemy team, Eclipse should proc and give out AoE damage, also adds up Sunlight to all enemy team members, makes it easier for your team to reduce the enemy team HP from the start of the fight. Shield of Daybreak to stun your focus, adding an additional Sunlight on your focus. I usually tend to pop Solar Flare immediately when I go in the fight, reason behind it is that it will prevent them from nuking me down as some of the champions will be stunned, and gives my team mates time to go in without being focused. Only on certain fights I leave Solar Flare for the exact timing to stun enemy teams ultimate, like the ones of Katarina, Nunu, Malzahar, Warwick & Galio.

Why don't you use Shield of Daybreak before you go in with Zenith Blade?

Two reasons

1. Hitting target with Zenith Blade and Shield of Daybreak at once will only add up one Sunlight, loose a substantial amount of damage and also not using the most your can from your passive.

2. You will hit the last target you teleport with Zenith Blade this means that if your focus is not the last target you hit you will be stunning the wrong champion, as well as misusing your passive.

Summary

I hope that my Leona guide was of help to you, will try my best to keep this guide updated and detailed as much as possible. Still working on some more parts such as screen shots, but launched it as I do appreciate all the feedback you guys give me, so I will be able to improve my builds in the future.

Please, Comment on any parts you would like me to fix, change or update. If you will need any help I will try to reply or update the guide as quick as I can.


Thanks for your time to read this guide.

Gragner