Hello, my name's Ugu and this is my first ever guide to Leona. Now, I'm not some pro-player with the absolute best advice, but I do feel some confidence in my gameplay in League. I mostly play normals / draft and I've been playing for a little over a year. Leona was the very first support I picked up way back when and she's been on of my very favorite supports in the last few months.

I hope that reading this guide can give you some ideas as well as some aspects to how to (somewhat) play Leona.

Enjoy the read and I highly appreciate any and all feedback!

Hello, Mobafire readers, welcome to my guide to playing Leona, the Radiant Dawn.
Leona's a naturally tanky and aggressive support with great amounts of utility and CC. She fits well in most team compositions with her great skills and ability to start fights at almost any level. I feel she one of the best tanks in the game, being able to dive and help just about any ADC secure early-game kills, as well as rolling right into late game. She feels as though she only gets stronger as the game goes on, even if she doesn't have the best of early-games.

Pros

- Very Tanky with her W
- High amounts of CC
- Makes early-game kills easy for the ADC
- Great Ultimate
- WEQR combo can lead to the death of at least 1 target
- Rewarded for being aggressive

Cons

- Requires good communication with the ADC / Team
- Reliant on having her E and R hitting the desired target
- A lot of players forget to use your passive for last hitting / extra damage
- Though very CC-heavy, she does not provide any sort of sustain for lane partner

These are my preferred Summoner Skills; Exhaust is just too good for securing and shutting AD's down, especially in early-game moments. Flash is just that good for everything spells, Riot should just bind it to our F keys (or D, whatever you use).


Heal is pretty good now in Season 3, and it gives Leona a nice sustain choice for you and your lane partner, but I feel late game it only creates "Oh, phew, you saved me" moments before someone gets mauled right after. Still nice if someone takes it, but I feel Exhaust completely trumps this spell.

Notably, most of the other summoner spells don't really attribute all too much to Leona (or supports in general), Clairvoyance is probably the only other decent choice to help secure objectives.

Leona's early game revolves heavily on applying pressure and helping your ADC stay alive, as with most aggressive supports.

Early game engagements are rather straight forward in the early levels. Level One, you just want to land a stun in a good position for your ADC (not behind enemy lines, not too far into the lane, not when your ADC is positioned to far from you, etc). Level Two, pick up E and look for a good position and ping for you ADC (or tell them over Skype, for you fancier players), then swing that sword with your Q activated, Exhaust target if necessary. Never waste Flash for an engage unless you are absolutely positive it'll lead to good results. As with Exhaust, make a judgment call with it, it's not always necessary to use in every single engage early game, simply for the case they flash or if the fight is interrupted by the enemy jungler, or even mid, you want to be able to save a life of a carry in the worst possible scenario, and Exhaust can help with that pre-6.

Warding is key to being successful; try to utilize the Explorer's Ward for early scouting on enemy bush or to bait out Vision Wards. With [ward]s, wait until about the 4 minute mark to place in the top bush / near Dragon, unless you suspect invades or an early gank from a champion such as Lee Sin or Shaco (just an example, not all Lee's and Shaco's do this). You could also delay placing wards if they have a slower jungler, but not well advised to do so.
With Vision Wards, you want to be smart about placing them. You want to counter wards, obviously, but you don't want to get into a V. ward battle, try to make your you wards stay up and keep them from placing Visions to counter you. As a rule of thumb, if you're losing the lane, placing a vision ward while your enemy has one... you're going to have a bad time, usually.

Past the Laning phase, your optimal spots to wards are high-traffic areas such as...

Near Dragon
Paths near Wraiths (on each side)
Near Baron
Tri-bushes in bot and top
Enemy buffs, when able
Your own buffs, if you're getting countered

Note: I have an affinity for Sunfire Aegis, Shurelya's Battlesong, and Twin Shadows in the same build (when I'm doing well), so take their combined use as just my preference. A more well-rounded build is something like the second example.

A tanky Leona is best Leona. Runic Bulwark is a must for almost all occasions, with Shurelya's Battlesong being second most necessary. The stats you acquire from these items are well worth the investment and the utility they bring to your team are just beyond amazing. Sightstone / Ruby Sightstone are really good to have as a support, as they save you some money in the long run, ward wise, and the HP is a nice bonus from grabbing this item. From there, you have a lot options towards being tanky, some items come down to preference, or what the situation calls for.

Heavy AD teams easily call for items such as Randuin's Omen, Thornmail, and Frozen Heart, each with their unique uses. Omen and Heart can hurt attack speed enemies, and Thornmail can make you more of a diving machine and punishes ADs for focusing you.

HP items like Warmog's Armor and Sunfire Aegis give you more stats for diving or tanking in general, though having them does not warrant you being wreckless, they just give you some breathing room.

Items with actives such as

Twin Shadows
Locket of the Iron Solari
Ohmwrecker
Shard of True Ice
Randuin's Omen

all bring utility for your team. They can make or break a fight or saving a life in some situations, with Locket and Omen. Twin, Shard, and Ohmwrecker give your team a more offense approach to finding enemies, chasing enemies down, and securing kills. They're all good buys, just depends on who you're placing against and how your team plays. For example, more aggressive teams can make use of the Ohmwrecker's active and Shard of True Ice. Omen makes you an initiating machine; you can easily dive into a fight with your E, stun a carry / entire team, and Omen to keep anyone from running.

Other notable items are Abyssal Mask and Zeke's Herald.
Abyssal is more of a, "I'm rich and I wish to counter AP's a little more", as long as no one else has picked it up first. Remember, all your skills are AP based, so dealing an extra bit of damage can help your team pick up kills, and the aura makes it so your AP teammates have more impact in fights.
Zeke's is a GREAT item, but I personally don't find myself building it unless I have a top or jungler who is attack speed / AD reliant, otherwise, you just get CDR for yourself and you give your ADC some leeway on lifesteal, which is nice too, but I prefer giving my entire team utility, not just a single member.

I hope this guide has given you some insight to playing Leona bottom and in all cases, you can see this as a beginner (maybe intermediate) approach to her gameplay. She's a great pick and a wonderful champion to own for anyone who likes supporting, I highly recommend her.

With time, and some feedback, I will come back and add more information as I learn more and more about guide writing.

Once again, my name's Ugu, and I hope you have great success playing Leona, the Radiant Dawn!