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Runes: Recommended runes
1
2
3
Resolve
Precision
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
+8 Magic Resist
Spells:
Support Leona
Flash
Ignite
Recommended Items
Items
Ability Order Abilities
Sunlight (PASSIVE)
Leona Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Ashe
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Ashe
Summoner Spells
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![]() | Remember that if you play Leona + Yasuo botlane, Yasuo should have Ignite, you should have Exhaust or Heal. |
Runes - primary tree
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Runes - secondary tree, shards
Precision tree runes are most likely the strongest on Leona in current meta, but the Inspiration tree ones are another, early game focused option.
Some enemy teamcomps still contain the champions from older high elo metas (Ryze, Kaisa, Alistar, ...). In games against these short range, often pokeless champions, the mobility and snowball-focused Domination tree runes may be still viable.
Some enemy teamcomps still contain the champions from older high elo metas (Ryze, Kaisa, Alistar, ...). In games against these short range, often pokeless champions, the mobility and snowball-focused Domination tree runes may be still viable.
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Items




Classic buy for a melee tanky support. Use only 0-1 Steel Shoulderguards stack for the first minion wave, save as much as possible for second minion wave to get level 2 faster than enemies (if it is possible - which is not for example against Thresh + Jinx).
In most games, Steel Shoulderguards is better than Relic Shield. In the early game, when you go in, you use auto attacks a lot and have only 3 abilities (no R). Only if you expect that the laning phase is unwinnable - or freewin anyway - you can go for Relic Shield and have better lategame, though this support damage boost is nothing compared to damage of other roles in that later phases of the game.












Buy boots and cheap items according to your situation, planned buildpath and available gold. Think about your gameplan - what you will do in next few minutes. Will enemy support all in you (often Thresh, Blitzcrank, Alistar)? You need HP to survive engages on you or blocking engages on your adc. Is enemy midlaner ungankable (Azir, Vladimir etc.)? You can't roam so you don't have to rush tier 2 boots that fast. Is enemy botlane easily killable (often Sona + Kaisa, Nami + Jhin etc.)? You need having movement speed (boots) for engaging them and killing them many times. You can't roam and can't all in? Focus on farm.
Boots of Swiftness are better than Boots of Mobility if you have lane-oriented gameplay, and want to be strong in teamfights. Boots of Mobility are good only for roaming and if you buy them during early game, you should sell them during midgame and buy different T2 boots. And - as written above - in many games you just can't roam so in that cases buying Mobis is a big mistake. Specifically against Morgana, consider buying Mercury Treads, against full AD teams, consider buying Plated Steelcaps. Remember that using Relentless Hunter (as Secondary Domination rune) gives you pretty much Movement Speed for initiation so in case of playing with this rune you don't even need Mobis that much.
Remember: Buy red trinket while shopping and having warding in support item available already.

























These are examples of situationally viable core builds. Use the buildpath that fits best in your current game.
Evenshroud

Locket of the Iron Solari

Sunfire Aegis

Anathema's Chains

Knight's Vow

Frozen Heart

Zeke's Convergence

Thornmail

Abyssal Mask


Occasionally, when enemy team has much healing and your team lacks antiheal, you can buy antiheal item (Oblivion Orb


Knight's Vow is often better to be built before Zeke's Convergence to protect your fed carries as much as possible in current assassin meta.
Never have Boots of Mobility and Knight's Vow at the same time - damage to your partner slows you.
Buying (or upgrading later on) the Wardstone

If you have no gold for buying full 3rd "normal item" before the last, game winning fight, just consume Elixir of Iron



Sheen


Abilities
Take Q level 1 in most cases. E should be better against ranged botlanes, but in real situations it mostly has no value. Squishy ranged enemy support or adc is sometimes stupid enough to come close into your autoattack range - and in this situation Q is much stronger than E. Also, if you hit E lvl1 on enemy ranged botlane, you most likely lose that trade. So having E on lvl1 only really very rarely can be useful.
Personally I recommend having all Leona spells onnormal cast. It is a little slower and makes "flash during E cast" combo harder to do, but it gives you exact knowledge of all ranges and sometimes also more time to think about what you want to do instead of instant casting spells without thinking.
Learn how to use combos (Practice tool can help you with it):
AA + QAA + AA (good for destroying wards or for maximalizing damage in combat)
E + AA + QAA + AA (classic all in combo, rooting and stunning enemy for a long time, often forces summoner spells or leads to a kill)
E + QAA + AA (all in against enemies with flash up who you want to die instantly without using flash)
E + flash during start of E cast (enemies can't react with flash on this combo - E is instant)
E + QAA + R in Q duration (for permastunning enemy - very strong initiation combo)
E + R in E duration (+ AA) + QAA + AA (pretty safe, unexpected for enemies)
R + E + QAA + AA (initiating with R should be used only if you are 100 % sure that you hit enemy champion correctly; you need enemy to move in 1 direction or be already stunned by someone else to know properly his position and stun him with R; wrong use of R initiation can cause many problems with escaping enemies or lack of CC in 5v5 fight opened by enemies reengaging on you)
✦ Use W defensively - especially against damage over time (DoT) spells like Cassiopeia Q, Kaisa Q, while diving Heimerdinger and his turrets, while diving enemy in a minion wave etc. Do not overuse W for defensive purpose in lane - Leona is very mana hungry champion.
Use W offensively after being sure that E hits enemy champion. If you start combo with W and then try to use E, you make enemies know that you want to engage, so they go back instantly. Additionally, casting W without hitting E makes you lose W mana for free.
✦ Occasionally, when you have to shove minion waves, use W or E to help your adc kill minions faster. A good ADC with waveclear spell (Ashe W, Caitlyn Q, Jinx prolongued autoattacks etc.) will wait for your W or E and then kill minions with the applied Leona Passive.
Teamfights
✦ Before the teamfight starts, think about what you want to do. Generally, try to focus enemy carries and defend your carries from enemy initiation. For example if enemy team has Sejuani, Rakan etc., stay in front of your carries to protect them from possible enemy engage.
Remember cooldowns of enemy flashes. Flashless enemy carry champions, caught out of position, are the easiest targets for you.
✦ If you are the one who wants to engage and start fight, always remember that with Relentless Hunter you are faster than your teammates. Your teammates always have to be in position for following your engage.
Use engage with R mostly as a rare option - when many enemies are on 1 place and your team is ready to fight, you can R first. But usually starting teamfights with R is risky - R stun is the longest from Leona's CC kit, but pretty hard to hit on randomly moving enemies.
Waiting with R, defensive Flash or Flash + Q for the best time often pays off more than just using everything as soon as possible.
✦ If enemy has mage with Damage over Time ultimate (Vel'koz, Fiddlesticks etc.), you should keep R or Q ready and use it to interrupt its casting. If enemy has Yasuo, you sometimes can CC him right when someone in your team is knocked up so he can't use R.
✦ When your team starts Baron Nashor, Dragon or Rift Herald and enemy jungler is coming, try to zone him out or CC chain him to prevent the steal.
Remember cooldowns of enemy flashes. Flashless enemy carry champions, caught out of position, are the easiest targets for you.
✦ If you are the one who wants to engage and start fight, always remember that with Relentless Hunter you are faster than your teammates. Your teammates always have to be in position for following your engage.
Use engage with R mostly as a rare option - when many enemies are on 1 place and your team is ready to fight, you can R first. But usually starting teamfights with R is risky - R stun is the longest from Leona's CC kit, but pretty hard to hit on randomly moving enemies.
Waiting with R, defensive Flash or Flash + Q for the best time often pays off more than just using everything as soon as possible.
✦ If enemy has mage with Damage over Time ultimate (Vel'koz, Fiddlesticks etc.), you should keep R or Q ready and use it to interrupt its casting. If enemy has Yasuo, you sometimes can CC him right when someone in your team is knocked up so he can't use R.
✦ When your team starts Baron Nashor, Dragon or Rift Herald and enemy jungler is coming, try to zone him out or CC chain him to prevent the steal.
Extra tips
✦ On level 1, watch out where enemy jungler started (usually one of his sidelanes helps him and comes to his lane later and with lower hp, mana or both). According to enemy jungler's start and champion you can predict when he ganks botlane. Especially when you are on red side, remember that enemy Jarvan or Elise can gank you on lvl1 if they started on red buff. If enemy jungler started botside and doesn't go for lvl1 gank, most likely he won't gank bot before 3:30. If enemy jungler started topside, he might gank bot around 2:45. Watch the minimap and place wards when you think that enemy jungler will gank bot soon. While warding river bushes, you can ping your adc to go with you and help you. In case of enemy jungler waiting in bush, he won't initiate on 2 people if enemy botlaners are far.
✦ Don't permapush botlane. You can use ping to persuade your adc not to shove minion waves (or in some different situations to shove minion waves), because you can't engage onto enemies when they are too close to their turret. You also can't engage onto enemies when they are standing in a big minion wave. Remember that even a little minion wave can reduce damage output of your botlane by intercepting/absorbing spells like Ezreal Q, Kaisa W or some Q shots, Ashe W etc. if enemy ADC is behind them.
✦ Use lane management for creating enough space for you to engage and get kills - if it's possible. In some situations you don't have to get kills or plates to get lead. Remember that CS difference can put you ahead too. If you freeze lane (enemies have more minions than you, minions push towards you, your minions are killed by enemy minions) and zone enemy adc from CS, your adc can get ahead too without fighting. Overall, Leona's positioning in lane is very important - can force enemies to take an unfavorable fight, can force flashes, Leona can stay in bush and surprise enemies coming from base, can deny enemy warding of important bushes by instant destruction of wards etc.
✦ If botlane is warded by enemies and your jungler wants to gank, use pings to tell him where enemy wards are before he arrives at your lane.
✦ Roam only when you go from base or when your ADC has a frozen lane so he can (or soon will be able to) farm safely under turret.
✦ Don't permapush botlane. You can use ping to persuade your adc not to shove minion waves (or in some different situations to shove minion waves), because you can't engage onto enemies when they are too close to their turret. You also can't engage onto enemies when they are standing in a big minion wave. Remember that even a little minion wave can reduce damage output of your botlane by intercepting/absorbing spells like Ezreal Q, Kaisa W or some Q shots, Ashe W etc. if enemy ADC is behind them.
✦ Use lane management for creating enough space for you to engage and get kills - if it's possible. In some situations you don't have to get kills or plates to get lead. Remember that CS difference can put you ahead too. If you freeze lane (enemies have more minions than you, minions push towards you, your minions are killed by enemy minions) and zone enemy adc from CS, your adc can get ahead too without fighting. Overall, Leona's positioning in lane is very important - can force enemies to take an unfavorable fight, can force flashes, Leona can stay in bush and surprise enemies coming from base, can deny enemy warding of important bushes by instant destruction of wards etc.
✦ If botlane is warded by enemies and your jungler wants to gank, use pings to tell him where enemy wards are before he arrives at your lane.
✦ Roam only when you go from base or when your ADC has a frozen lane so he can (or soon will be able to) farm safely under turret.
Author
LimTheDestructor, European high elo Leona main, best Leona world EUW main EUW smurf EUNE main NA "main", mostly 125-130 ping YouTube channel Full replays of some of my Leona games |
[S12] Guide by Rank 1 Leona World
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