TANK

Always

This is tank diana's most important item, you want this on your first back no matter what, if you start raptors and full clear then do raptors krugs again you can reset with a perfect buy of dark seal and blasting wand. if you lose dark seal stacks after 3/4 items can replace with a large rod then finish into a rabadons once youre full build.

Nashor's Tooth is Diana's best first item by far, especially necessary with tank diana. start with blasting wand, work your way into recurve bow then fiendish codex last until you complete the item. Complete this item always before buying any boots or other items besides dark seal.

Riftmaker should be your 2nd item, this synergizes with the defensive stats so you will get even stronger as you build more items.

Mejais should only be upgraded when you are not afraid of dying or when the game is completely doomed and the only way back into the game is with playing for mejai stacks. You really dont want to lose stacks so you should only upgrade this when you feel safe whether that's from enemy team being weak or youre alreadyu strong with your tank items/build. once youre full build can replace mejais (or booits) with rabadons, even at full stacks rabadons gives more ap, its just too expensive.

Game Dependent

Boots

Plated steelcaps should be your default boots every game, only shift away if one is much better or steelcaps give little value. reduced damage on autos is too strong especially at this price point

Mercury Treads should only be built if there are immense amount of CC on the enemy team. You're playing a tank if they want to waste every amount of cc on you it shouldnt matter too much, you dont get much value out of tenacity from being a tank, but you still want to be able to at least move. So if Mercury Treads are required then can pivot away from Steelcaps.

This is very rare but if steelcaps and mercury treads don't give good value you can substitute it with boots of swiftness, extra movement speed is always good especially since these boots are so cheap. so for instance if youre vs true damage champs where boots wont matter or non auto attackers like ezreal adc/smolder mid then can pivot away from defensive boots.

Again in games where you dont get much value from plated steelcaps or mercury treads you can substitute for another pair of boots and magic pen is always gonna be useful on diana even with this tank iteration. so for instance if youre vs true damage champs where boots wont matter or non auto attackers like ezreal adc/smolder mid then can pivot away from defensive boots.

Armor Items

Randuin's Omen is generally the best armor item you can go, in the meta right now most games will have 2+ crit champs, randuin's is very strong in these games.

Thornmail is probably the second best armor item you can go for, very cheap and gives good stats for what you want. Thornmail is really good into healing but its also really good into on hit champions. these champions usually have built in healing and thornmail procs on every auto.

Unending Despair is really good after the recent buffs, its a good default if Randuin's and thornmail arent excessively good. If going this item you usually want to pair it with spirit visage, unless rookern is much better in the game.

Magic Resistance

Kaenic Rookern is the best default MR item and should be built nearly every game, this item gives by far the most MR and isnt super expensive, along with a shield on top. Best into burst champs.

Spirit Visage is also a really good item on diana every game, although its not as good as Kaenic there are games where it can be better. Especially powerfull when paired with an enchanter like yuumi or with lots of chemtech souls.

Force of Nature should rarely be bought, but when it is bought it's one of the most overpowered items in the game, this item gives you the most mr in the game when stacked and also gives movement speed. Base stats are also not terrible. So you want to buy this when vs a lot of DoT or burn champions like brand/karthus. If there is burst on enemy team you will die a lot of the time before getting value from this item.

Abyssal Mask used to be a very good item for this build, however they removed the bonus MR from the passive. now it only reduces enemy MR which is good but not your goal when playing tank diana. abyssal doesnt give enough stats for its price point to merit going it unless you really need the magic pen for your team and youre not scared of getting blown up. both these conditions should be met when fed, otherwise you can build this if youre giga behind because you can at least be a support for your team since you will most likely not be tanky anyways.

ABILITY POWER

Default

It's always worth it to buy dark seal on any ap jungler, it is already stat efficient even without any stacks. This should always be bought on your first back, if you start raptors and 6 camp and reclear raptors krugs you can get a perfect base for blasting wand and dark seal. Diana is also really strong at dueling so its very easy to start stacking this

Nashor's Tooth is Diana's best starting item, it's a massive power spike and you beat most champs in the game once you reach this spike, it also massively increases your clear speed. Always start with Nashor's as your first item aside from dark seal. Start with blasting wand, then go into recurve bow and lastly fiendish codex before finishing the item.

Almost every game you go AP diana you should go Sorcerer's shoes, the magic pen is way too valuable for how diana wants to play when building assassin. Especially since when combined with the power spike of nashor's you are almost unstoppable at one item.

Even though rabadon's is supposedly best with more ap you get this is still diana's best second item, it's expensive but with how fast diana clears and her good dueling you can get this item as quick as most other champion's second item. Diana has high ap scaling on her ult so this gives you a big punch in teamfights. Diana also isnt the best user of other normal secondary items.

Zhonya's is almost always necessary when playing AP diana, she is very squishy so you want to guarantee you can get your combo off before getting blown up. as well as without zhonya's it would be nearly possible to escape after engaging unless you can one shot them. This allows you to stay alive for tempo and objectives. Zhonya's also allows you to play around certain counters like lee sin, trist, janna R. If you activate zhonyas before they can ult you away you almost guarantee your damage to land, in these cases you usually want to buy zhonya's second before rabadons as it's more valuable in those games.

Mejais should only be upgraded when you are not afraid of dying or when the game is completely doomed and the only way back into the game is with playing for mejai stacks. You really dont want to lose stacks so you should only upgrade this when you feel safe whether that's from enemy team being weak or youre alreadyu strong with your items. this is usually after completing zhonyas whether thats second or third item.

IMPORTANT: when playing tank diana its important to keep your mejai/seal stacks so usually you want to build mejais after getting some tank items, in games where im not afraid of dying and im super far ahead i may upgrade to mejais right after nashors

Impossible Matchups

Master Yi q completely negates diana combo, as well as his w reduces dianas burst. HARDEST DIANA COUNTER IN GAME DODGE ON SIGHT UNPLAYABLE

Kha'zix just benefits in this matchup in every single way possible. If you can make it to 3 items without getting behind it become diana favored but its nearly impossible to get to that point. there are windows you can kill kha zix but its very small and depends on khazix either being without ult or jump and also usually requires diana to have the ambush. Try to stay away from Kha zix unless you have help

Kindred will almost always beat diana in a 1v1 and his ult completely counters her burst in teamfights. I would recommend banning kindred

Poppy is very hard to kill for diana and can cancel diana dash not allowing it to reset

Diana isnt a champion that can invade very easily. allowing shyvana to be able to free farm and will end up stat checking diana from level 6 onwards. Diana almost never can beat shyvana in a fight

Diana excels in teamfights, mordekaisers ability to remove her from a teamfight completely shuts her down, and diana will almost never win in a 1v1 fight to morde

Difficult Matchups

While her rocks make it really hard to play the game with dashes, she is pretty easy to duel as diana so long as you can get on top of her, use your dueling power to snowball before her counterpick matters.

Ekko ult makes it nearly impossible to ever 1v1 as diana

Elise E can negate Diana ult damage when timed perfectly. Very hard to kill for diana

Reksai is very easy to assassinate if you get ahead as diana however, reksai has the advantage for how strong his early game is and being able to snowball. He also can use his ultimate to negate diana ultimate damage, but if you can use zhonyas it will guarantee your ultimate to hit because he wont be able to ult to dodge it

Wukong with his clone can make it hard to land your combo on the correct one. diana can win at certain points, and i think it is favored for diana when played correctly but after 2 items wukong almost always will win. play for objectives at that point

Tristana has a dash and ult that completely counter dianas assassination. and if you misstep she will blow you up

Vayne condemn as well as shieldbow makes it almost impossible to ever assassinate vayne

Lulu shield, and ultimate make it hard for any assassin to burst. however, she is easy to jump onto and kill if you are strong enough

Even/Skill Matchups

These champions play on a knife's edge, both can win this matchup and it's super volatile, be aware all game because if you make a mistake it will be costly. whoever gets ahead or has more help from team usually ends up hard snowballing this matchup.

Nocturne isn't too hard to fight for diana once you get items, however his spell shield if timed well can negate a lot of your damage and it is also very hard to gank vs a nocturne because he can counter your ganks very easily

Graves is a skill matchup, both champs have timers to duel each other, depending on skills hit/dodged and level advantage this matchup is very volatile. weakest point is before your first item but after first item you win 1v1 pretty hard so long as you hit r and dont get kited. Against graves i like to 3 camp cheater recall for a dark seal because graves likes to early invade, this item can give you an unexpected edge and allow you to snowball.

Karthus is pretty easy for diana to deal with but i put it as an even matchup because every karthus takes exhaust which makes combatting karthus very hard. If you can bait his exhaust before an all in it becomes very easy to win, but him having exhaust makes it very hard to punish straight up.

Shaco is not a bad matchup, just gotta get through first 2 clears without dying and you pretty much can never die to him after that, your q mark stays on the correct shaco if you use it before he ults so makes it pretty easy to tell which is the correct shaco under those conditions. also with aoe spells you can determine which is correct depending on which takes less damage.

Easy Matchups

Nidalee only strength early is kiting and playing from afar to weaken her enemy. Diana can dash onto nidalee and beat her in almost any fight. However, diana level 2 is very week so just need to be careful of the level 2 invade and you will win. Against nidalee i like to 3 camp cheater recall for a dark seal because nidalee likes to early invade, this item can give you an unexpected edge and allow you to snowball.

Hecarim is a very easy matchup for diana, you beat hecarim pretty much throughout the entire game. However, if you let him free farm he becomes hard to punish from clear speed and mov speed. use your power early before he becomes a problem

Fiddlesticks is a champ that wants to farm to get strong, which is perfect for diana because diana is strong enough to invade him at any point. She also clears much faster so will be able to free farm all game

Lee sin is a pretty easy matchup for diana, diana only loses 1v1 to lee sin very early in the game so as long as you stay safe during that point he isnt much of a threat. the only thing to notice against him is that his ult can prevent you from landing any damage on him so try to time your ult properly or zhonyas (if ap) so he cant ult you away. Against lee sin i like to 3 camp cheater recall for a dark seal because lee sin likes to early invade, this item can give you an unexpected edge and allow you to snowball.

Your abilities will give additional attack speed for a short period, so its best to spred out your abilities in fights or when clearing your jungle.

Diana q will give vision on an enemy it hits so can use it to get over walls on unexpected enemies. You can also use diana q on minions as a gap closer to make a gank much easier. Most of the time all you need to make a successful gank is to dash on the enemy and ult, so its ok to use your q on the minion as a gap closer.

Diana's W procs twice, so if in a close duel make sure to pop the orbs around you by running into the target. Can also use this to gain a shield when running away, instead of just pressing w, also run into a minion wave or jungle camp to proc the 2nd part of the shield.

Think of your e cd as your q cd, dont use e unless you can reset with q or guarantee to kill/survive or a massive ult engage

Diana ult will do more damage the more enemies it hits.

even though youre playing tank so most your damage comes from nashors rather than raw ap, dark seal stacks are still a crucial part of the build and its important to make sure you dont lose them easily. if you happen to lose them and its too late in game to stack it again you can sell it for a large rod and hold it until you can finish rabadons after finishing rest of build

since you dont do as much burst and most of your damage comes from rotation of spells its important to be patient when playing tank diana, think of your e cooldown as your q cooldown, only ever use your e without reset if you need to and know you wont need a reset.

you have a massive power spike at nashors/sorcs so make sure to use it to take obj, fight, or plates

Cheater recall Play Video
Standard Full Clear Play Video
Fast Level 5 Play Video

Your goal when playing Diana is to do your first clear without being killed, at that point youre in a pretty good spot to get fed from how fast diana clears. Don't underestimate how much damage Diana does early if she can land her full combo especially with conqueror stacks. only take fights before 6 if they are a guaranteed kill. if you stall your level 6 it will be much harder to win.

IMPORTANT: when playing tank diana all of your damage comes from your dark seal so it is important to protect your dark seal stacks and not go for fights you will lose your stacks in unless it is overall worth it for the game state.

When going ap diana you need to be careful to go in without stopwatch as you will have almost no way out, a lot of the time you can look to jump to a minion then your target for an engage but be careful as you will be overextending from your team so dont int too hard. If you have stop watch its a lot easier to go for a fight because even if you dont kill the enemies your combo should get them low enough for your team to collapse and clean up.

When playing tank diana most of your damage comes from over time and you are very tanky, she uses a ton of mana so if you are not fighting in the jungle sometimes you will need blue buff or you will need to pay attention to your mana costs and not take too long of fights. with jaksho you become insanely tanky and still do insane damage assuming you have a good amount of dark seal stacks. You can use your q to stack your jak sho stacks before fighting so you can have extra armor/mr before committing to a fight. if you jump in without jak sho stacks a lot of the time you can get one shot

The path i like to take on Diana is to start raptors solo and full clear red side into a cheater recall for dark seal. This gives you a secret edge for the scuttle fight and allows you to start stacking your dark seal early into the game. On your way back to your jungle you can take your wolves, blue, and gromp before scuttle spawning, just be weary of your lanes if there is a lane you need to protect, however getting your level 4 for scuttle along with having dark seal is important as well because you will straight up win most fights from that. This extra dark seal will give you the edge in most fights.

As Diana you want to be a very greedy jungler meaning do whatever gets you the biggest lead possible. You almost always want to take the kills for yourself as well as not do coinflip ganks. If you can be consistent with farm and keep your dark seal stacks, it is very easy to carry a game as Diana. You want to be on your camps nearly as soon as they spawn and look for invades on enemy camps if you know they are free to take. Dragon isnt necessary on diana however, once you are past 6 it is good to look for objective fights

Once Diana has a little bit of ap her clear is very fast meaning its almost always best to be full clearing on diana. any camp you leave up is missed gold and exp from the camp resetting. You can use your q on minions to get vision on it in fog of war and dash to it to get over walls and farm faster. As well, when you use abilities on diana she gets an attack speed buff for a short amount of time so you do not want to use all your abilities at once but try to spread them out over time to keep your attack speed buff.