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Hello, I'm Gleebglarbu, a challenger ranked player on the NA server who is currently rank 32 as of updating this guide (1/8/14). Leona is one of the strongest supports in the current patch and a champion that every support main should pick up. She brings a strong laning phase that can easily get kills in a 2v2 situation as well as set up ganks. Leona also has massive lock down, initiation capabilities, and a massive defensive steroid, all of which make her a great support.

1/10/13 - Added Doran's Shield to items.

Pros

1. Two stuns
2. Can solo kill wards with auto + Shield of Daybreak + auto
3. Very tank when Eclipse is active
4. High burst damage
5. Sets up ganks well

Cons

1. Squishy when Eclipse is down
2. Melee
3. Can't do anything in lane if behind
4. No sustain

9x 9x 9x 3x

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greater mark of hybrid penetration Greater Seal of Armor Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Greater Quintessence of Health

9 x Greater mark of hybrid penetration

I prefer these runes over Greater Mark of Magic Penetration on Leona because you have 58 AD at level one which is really high for a support. You also get 3 auto attacks off in rapid succession when using the auto attack + Shield of Daybreak + auto attack combo which is a lot of physical damage, especially in the early game. All or your skills do magic damage as well which makes hybrid penetration a good choice.

9 x Greater Seal of Armor

These runes are very effective at mitigating physical damage. They are mandatory as a support because you will be taking physical damage from the enemy AD, the enemy support, and creeps in lane.

9 x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

Leona is a tank support and benefits from extra defense against magic damage. There isn't really any other viable option for glyphs as long the enemy team has relevant magic damage. If they have so little that you can ignore it, you can use either Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction or Greater Glyph of Armor.



3 x Greater Quintessence of Health

Health works especially well on Leona for quintessences because she already has such a huge resist steroid with Eclipse that makes each point of health you get that much more valuable. Your main role on your team is to initiate fights, tank, and lock down targets, all of which are easier to do when you are more beefy.

0/16/14 is a great page to run for Leona, giving her both the defensive stats she needs to be incredibly difficult in kills, as well as the gold generation benefits from the utility tree to make sure she does not fall behind in items. Increased range on trinkets does not do anything worthwhile and I prefer the mana regen in Utility over the movement speed so that I can continually force trades when I have the upper hand without the worry of running out of mana.

This mastery set up gives up gold generation and starting gold for higher defensive stats. In general the extra gold flow is better so I would only run this page when your team lacks any tanks and you are the sole front line for your team.

This start works really well on Leona for a multitude of reasons:
First, Relic Shield allows you to push the wave quickly to get past your incredibly weak level one.
Second, having 4 biscuits gives you enough sustain to outlast most other supports who will most likely have less potions.
Third, the early warding totem will help keep you safe from ganks in the early game until you can later afford a sightstone.






These are the main items you are going to look to build towards in the early stage of the game. It is imperative to upgrade from Relic Shield to targon's brace as soon as possible because you generate a stack every 30 seconds as opposed to every 60 and you can hold 3 stacks instead of two. Sightstone is great for making you more durable and completely taking care of your warding needs outside of Vision Wards. Once you have this, the Stealth Ward becomes obsolete and you can switch it to a Sweeping Lens. I like to get a Vision Ward early as well and drop it in bushes that the enemy often can't access easily such as tri if you are blue side or the tri bush behind your tower to ward against dives if you are purple side.






These are the main items I tend to complete first as Leona. Upgrading boots to Mobility Boots is often best because if gives you unparalleled roaming ability and gives you the speed you need to catch enemies out of position with Solar Flare. Locket of the Iron Solari provides a nice magic resist aura as well as an active that is great for teamfights. If the enemy is lacking on magical damage you should itemize for a different item, such as Sunfire Aegis or Randuin's Omen in place of it. Oracle's Lens is an important buy to get as well because it greatly enhances your ability to control vision






I like to finish off my build usually by upgrading to Ruby Sightstone for an extra ward and durability, getting Mikael's Blessing to protect from magic damage and save teammates, and Randuin's Omen to further lock down foes and become an even bigger tank. It's also good to upgrade targon's brace to face of the mountain for more defensive stats as well as another way to protect your teammates or yourself, depending on the circumstances




Situational Items

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Good early game item, the damage makes it harder to ignore you and you become a wall against AD champions before they get Last Whisper. Only get if the enemy team is primarily AD and the enemy team does not have enough magic / AOE damage to justify getting a Locket of the Iron Solari.

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This is a great late game tank item against heavy AD teams. You should buy this in place of your Mikael's Blessing if you find yourself needing armor more than magic resist and there is no incredibly important CC on the enemy team to have a crucible for such as Terrify.

Talisman of Ascension

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Very strong support item that gives massive CDR as well as a great active. Leona does not really need the speed up to engage and she benefits from tank stats more than CDR as a whole, but if you find yourself still having trouble getting onto the enemy team this can be a smart purchase. It is especially strong against poke comps where you need the extra speed to get onto them and start a fight.

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Good boot choice if you need to be even tankier and if the enemy team is primarily physical damage and auto attackers. This will reduce your ability to roam the map and catch people out of position in exchange for enhanced durability.

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I wouldn't recommend starting this on Leona because the gold generation you get from Relic Shield is really useful, but picking up a shield early-mid game makes you absurdly tanky for that portion of the game. Good pick up if you are sitting on 500g approx and don't have any major items to put it towards.

Take your ultimate, Solar Flare, at 6, 11, and 16 because the cool down decreases by 15 seconds with each rank and the base damage increases significantly.

Maxing Eclipse first in lane will give you solid damage in a 2v2 scenario as well as the defensive stats needed to initiate the fights and come out alive. The resist steroid goes from 25 armor and magic resist at rank one to 65 armor / magic resist at rank 5, making it imperative that you max it first.

I max Shield of Daybreak second because it allows you to lock down targets more frequently with the lower cool down on the stun. Zenith Blade's cool down decreases with rank as well but the lockdown on the skill is not as long as that of the Shield of Daybreak.

I make Zenith Blade last because it does everything it needs to do as a skill with just one point. It holds the enemy in place for a very brief duration and moves you to them, all ranking it up does is slightly increase the damage and reduce the cool down which is not as important as getting your other skills to max rank first.


For solo queue, Flash and Ignite are always the best summoners to take. Soloqueue is about snowballing the game and getting a lead for your team, this is easiest to do with the added kill pressure from Ignite. In competitive play, Exhaust can be a smarter choice against certain champions such as Kennen and Zed, while Heal is a strong teamfight summoner against a lot of AoE damage such as Karthus and Vladimir. The con to Heal is that, while strong, it has an incredibly long cool down and can not be used offensively to secure kills.

Laning as Annie is pretty simple but there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Get bush control. This is especially important for melee supports with CC such as Leona, Taric, and Alistar. You want to be able to get into one of the bushes in bot lane and ideally kill the ward the enemy places in it right away so that they can not see you. This will put pressure on the enemy AD and force him to play more passively because he will be unable to see the windup on your Zenith Blade if you choose to engage.

2. Use the auto + Shield of Daybreak + auto combo. Leona is able to use her auto attack, followed by Shield of Daybreak, followed by another auto attack command to get three auto attacks off in quick succession. This is useful to solo kill wards the enemy team puts down as well as to maximize the amount of damage you put out when you use your Zenith Blade on the enemy.

3. Pay attention to the map. This is not specific to Leona but is important for laning in general. If you haven't seen the jungler in a while you should play cautiously, especially if you are pushed up. Mid lane can often roam down bot as well so make sure to check the mini map and keep tabs on the enemy team.

4. Turn on Eclipse when you are taking damage. This sounds pretty basic but it is something I see a lot of Leona players forget to do. Your Eclipse gives 25 MR and Armor at rank 1, making it a very powerful damage mitigation tool that you should be using when you know you are about to take high amounts of damage.

These will be rated from 1 - 10 with 1 being very easy and 10 being very hard. A difficulty of 5 would mean the match up is even. I won't discuss every match up in this section, though.

5 : Sona has a big advantage in the early levels, but as you get a few points in your Eclipse you can engage and try to blow her or her AD up. Her ultimate is a much longer cool down than yours, so when you trade ultimates bot you know you can force again right when yours comes up. If she is using tanky runes/masteries and constantly shoves you to tower she can win the lane, if not you can kill her. This match up can go either way.


5 : This is a skill match up for Leona and can go either way depending on how well you play the match up and how well the Thresh does. His ranged auto attacks let him control the lane better than you in the early levels, but you scale harder with Eclipse and if you manage to get both stuns on him he is pretty easy to blow up with the help of your AD carry. Try to hold your Zenith Blade until he casts Flay because a well timed Flay will interrupt your Zenith Blade and make it so that you can not get in range to cast Shield of Daybreak on him.

6 : Karma has a lot of poke and can push you up to tower for the entire lane phase. Her speed ups make it hard to hit either her or her AD with your ult but if you do manage to get a stun on her she is easy to burst. Just try not to eat free damage from her Q and then kill her when your jungler is near because she has to push up on you to win the lane.

2 : This lane is ridiculously easy for Leona. He is made of paper and his damage is negligible. You can engage on him whenever you get the opportunity and almost instantly kill him in a 2v2. The only thing you need to be weary for is that his Terrify can get you killed if you allow him to fear you when his jungler is near so make sure you keep wards up and watch the map.

4 : She has the advantage in the very early levels but after a while you can start to push her around. She does not do enough damage to blow you up right away and she does not have sufficient peel or escape mechanisms to protect either herself or her AD from you, allowing you to engage on either at will.

I hope you enjoyed my guide for Leona! This is one of my favorite heroes and her kit offers great damage, engage, and lane pressure, allowing you to bully your laner and also be a menacing tank. Following the advice presented here should make you a much better Leona player and help you to perform well both in and out of lane. If you want to see me play Leona, you can follow my stream at www.twitch.tv/gleebglarb1