(This guide is still for S2 and I don't really like it since I wasn't that experienced when I wrote it so I'll update it if I ever feel like it. Alternatively I may just make a whole new guide.)

I welcome you to Arcane's - Leona, the Radiant Dawn. Within the depths of the guide below you will learn how to effectively play Leona as one of the most powerful tanks in the game. Newcomers be warned: if you are looking to play a DPS champion (such as Fiora), this is not the champions for you!!! For those who are looking for a tank I warmly accept your curiosity and hope I can help you succeed with one of my favorite champions.


(Thank you to jhoijhoi for her guide to making guides)

Pros Great Crowd Control Epic Tanking Good initiating with Zenith Blade and Solar Flare Awesome Ganking Burst Damage goes well with Carries Works EXTREMELY well with Carries Solar Flare has relatively low cooldown

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Cons Doesn't have very good DPS No good way to escape when Ultimate is on cooldown No taunts to force opponent to fight you Not very good at farming . . . .

The highest tier runes you can buy that boost health, armor, magic resist, or increase gold are all viable and very helpful; although if you're below level 20 you shouldn't really bother with runes.

Personally I would recommend the following:

• 9 Greater Mark of Health
• 9 Greater Seal of Armor
• 9 Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
• 3 Greater Quintessence of Gold

Other good runes include:

• Greater Glyph of Health
• Greater Glyph of Vigor
• Greater Mark of Armor
• Greater Mark of Vitality
• Greater Seal of Health
• Greater Seal of Evasion
• Greater Quintessence of Vitality
• Greater Quintessence of Magic Resist

Masteries are pretty simple for Leona, either look above at the mastery trees and copy them or follow the somewhat simple instructions below:

1. Add 1 Mastery point to the following in the Utility Tree Summoner's Insight Good Hands Improved Recall .

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2. Now, max out every mastery in the Defense Tree except for the following and add 2 to Enlightenment Summoner's Resolve Tough Skin Bladed Armor Indomitable Mercenary

These emphasize tanky stats that Leona will need for survival as well as some useful Summoner Spell CDR, faster Recall, and less time spent dead.

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Shield of Daybreak - Leona uses her shield to perform her next basic attack, dealing bonus magic damage and stunning the target.
The next basic attack deals an additional 40/70/100/130/160 (+0.3) magic damage and stuns an enemy for 1.25 seconds.

Cost
45/50/55/60/65 Mana
Range
0

Eclipse - Leona raises her shield to gain Armor and Magic Resistance. When the duration first ends, if there are nearby enemies she will deal magic damage to them and prolong the duration of the effect.
Gains 30/40/50/60/70 bonus Armor and Magic Resist for 3 seconds. When the effect ends, nearby enemies struck take 60/110/160/210/260 (+0.4) magic damage and Leona retains her bonus Armor and Magic Resist for 3 seconds.

Cost
60 Mana
Range
450

Zenith Blade - Leona projects a solar image of her sword, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a line. When the image fades, the last enemy champion struck will be briefly immobilized and Leona will dash to them.
Strikes all enemies in a line dealing 60/100/140/180/220 (+0.4) magic damage. The last enemy Champion struck will be briefly rooted and Leona will dash to them.

Cost
60 Mana
Range
875

Solar Flare - Leona calls down a beam of solar energy, dealing damage to enemies in an area. Enemies in the center of the area are stunned, while enemies on the outside are slowed.
Calls down a radiant beam of solar energy dealing 150/250/350 (+0.8) magic damage and slowing enemies by 80% for 1.5 seconds. Enemies in the center of the flare are stunned instead of slowed.

Cost
100/150/200 Mana
Range
1200

Sunlight - Damaging spells afflict enemies with Sunlight for 3.5 seconds. When allied Champions deal damage to those targets, they consume the Sunlight debuff to deal additional magic damage.

The skill sequence for Leona is somewhat simple to remember if you practice enough.

Things to remember:

• Always level Solar Flare as soon as you can.
• Max Eclipse first.
• Once Eclipse is maxed the order for Daybreak Shield and Zenith Blade doesn't really matter

Tips:
If you're laning with certain carries such as Vayne you may want to level Daybreak Shield first and Eclipse third. Experience with a partner is the only way to be sure of what works best for you.

A typical combo with Leona goes as follows: e + w + q. With practice you will almost always hit this combo.

Your build is very important and is subject to change depending on your team and your enemies.

IMPORTANT!: Feel free to add wards and potions whenever you want.

Your core build will consist of:
Philosopher's Stone OR Philosopher's Stone
.

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You should build your Boots into either:
Boots of Lucidity OR Mercury Treads

Boots of Lucidity offer CDR which is very useful throughout the entire game and helps you support your carries.

Mercury Treads give you Tenacity and magic resistance, you should pick these up if your facing lots of AP champions or champions with CC.
.

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Your next item will depend on whether you pick up a Kindlegem or Heart of Gold in your core build so think ahead. Accordingly build either:
OR .

Randuin's Omen supplies lots of armor, a little health, some health regeneration, a bit of CDR, and a very useful CC active. A good all around item for a tank.

Shurelya's Battlesong also provides a little bit of health, a lot of health and mana regeneration, quite a bit of CDR, and another good active. Careful with this item though because now you don't have any GP10 items, you may have to build another one.
.

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Since your build will vary from match to match here are a list of good items to use:

Frozen Mallet- Piles on a large amount of health and some attack damage along with CC for good measure. An awesome item to have on Leona.

Force of Nature- Lots of magic resistance and health regeneration. AP champions will beg for mercy when you build this item.

Sunfire Aegis- Decent armor and quite a bit of health, it's unique passive is great for discouraging people from attacking you directly at melee range.

Frozen Heart- Provides large amounts of armor and slows enemy attack speeds, good if you have trouble against AD champions.

Banshee's Veil- Bestows you with a little health, a lot of mana, a fair amount of magic resistance, and one of the best unique passives in the game. Fantastic against AP and CC champions.

Thornmail- 1 armor more than Frozen Heart and returns 30% of the damage back to AD champions, obviously another counter to AD.

Guardian Angel- Provides of Armor and Magic Resistance; has an interesting passive which is good for a variety of reasons such retreating, rejoining the fight, and stalling the enemy.

Aegis of the Legion- Gives you an aura that increases allies Armor, Magic Resistance, and Damage; good if your team is having trouble in team fights or taking too much damage in general.

Warmog's Armor- Gives tons of health and health regeneration. Good if you need more survivability during the match.

Abyssal Mask- More magic resistance is always helpful, especially if it comes with AP. Leona may occasionally need a bit of a boost in the damage department to help win teamfights.

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My choice for Summoner Spells are Flash and Exhaust. These are by far the best combination for Leona as Flash is an awesome way to escape and make a crafty initiation or set up a gank by going through a wall. Exhaust can be used for escaping as well but can be epic in team fights for slowing the enemy carry or catching champions who are running away.

Other viable choices are:

• Heal- Nice way to gain some health in a sticky situation, not as useful late game since it doesn't heal enough damage
• Teleport- Easy way to get back to a lane or help another lane out quickly, not nearly as useful once your team's turrets start going down
• Ghost- Another way to escape or chase down kills, not as versatile as Flash though

Leona is very much a team player that often helps carries become fed. She has to protect them from as much damage as possible and use CC to help manage the enemy and win the fight. It will take practice to achieve full potential but it will win you matches (assuming the rest of your team is any good). Here are some of Leona's best partners for laning and team fights:

• Vayne
• Talon
• Miss Fortune
• Corki
• Gangplank
• Teemo
• Ashe
• And many more

Talon and Vayne are the two best partners for Leona because they benefit the most from CC and have ranged abilities and/or basic attacks that fit well with Leona.

Ranked play with Leona isn’t changing a whole lot. However, GP10 items are much more important now then before because the Carry gets all the minion kills (they still should be getting the majority of minion kills even in non-ranked). The only exception to this rule is if they aren't around, then you should get the minions as to not waste potential money. Command the field using your Solar Flare ability in team fights to quickly turn the tide of battle to your advantage as your carries kill the enemies who were stunned and slowed. This is a guaranteed way to make sure they are fed.

Although there are plenty of other things I could probably throw in here I think this should pretty much cover everything you need to know in your first few matches. Besides, the best way to learn Leona is discovering your own personal preferences and strategies through experience. I hope this cleared a few things up to the point where you can go right into League of Legends and get started.

Post any questions and I'll try to respond in a timely fashion.

~The Arcane One

8/13/2012 - Fixed some really obvious mistakes right off the bat.
8/14/2012 - Still fixing some grammar/spelling and BBcode mistakes; redid the build a little bit to improve.
8/16/2012 - Thanks to Isthatok for the BBcode to improve the guide aesthetically.
8/23/2012 - Rewrote a bunch of the guide.