'Sup everyone, I'm Fyriif and this is my Leona Tank Jungler guide. This is my first guide but I worked pretty hard on this so feedback and suggestions are more than welcome. The guide has both FULL ARMOR and BALANCED builds depending on what kind of team you are going up against.

Pros Cons

+ Easy to Learn + Super Fun + Great Late Game + High Survivability + Very Tanky + Great CC / Lockdown Potential - Hard to Master - Poor Jungle & Wave Clear - Easy to Shutdown (Early On) - Hard to Comeback With - Very Item Dependent - Very Immobile

Leona can be a great jungle pick depending on both your and enemy's team picks. Her skills allow for great lockdown and CC potential on high value targets such as ADCs that love to sit at the back of the fights. Her kit also allows to control fed or 'jump in' type champions such as Zed or Xin Zhao and provided that you are able to have a good clear, hitting that early level 3, you can easily go back and with Boots gank any lane you desire. As a side note, most people think you're being a troll and will take you less seriously (lower their guard) or have no idea how to deal with you as it is VERY uncommon pick (I never saw anyone beside me do this). The main problem with the pick lies in her early game which can be abysmal due to jungle invades or jungle ganking type champions such as Shaco that can easily set you back and make it very hard to itemize and progress. This leaves your team vulnerable to ganks and attacks forcing them to fend for themselves which is bad. Furthermore Leona is very item dependent which could make it difficult to fulfill your duty as a tank as your W ( Eclipse) will continue to be weaker as the game progresses.

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Sunlight: Leona's damaging spells affect the target with Sunlight for 3.5 seconds. When allied champions deal damage to those targets they consume the Sunlight debuff to deal additional magic damage. Leona is unable to activate the additional damage herself.
Shield of Daybreak: Leona's next basic attack will deal additional magic damage and stun the target for 1.25 seconds.
Eclipse: Leona raises her shield to gain bonus Armor and Magic Resistance for 3 seconds. When the effect ends she deals magic damage to nearby enemies and prolongs the effect for a bonus 3 seconds if any enemies are struck.
Zenith Blade: Leona projects a solar image of her sword, which deals magic damage to all enemies in a line. When the image fades, the last enemy champion struck will be immobilized for 0.5 seconds and Leona will dash to them.
Solar Flare: After a brief delay, Leona calls down a beam of solar energy dealing magic damage and slowing enemies by 80% for 1.5 seconds. Enemies in the center of the beam are stunned instead of slowed.

• Use your Q ( Shield of Daybreak) when Leona is in the middle of the traveling animation to the target hit by her E ( Zenith Blade) so that it hits the right target (provided you have Auto Attacks turned on).
• Use your W ( Eclipse) just before you go in with your E ( Zenith Blade) as the enemies will be hit by the skill dealing damage and giving you additional 3 seconds of bonus Armor and MR (Magic Resist).
• You can bait out enemy's skills or even summoner spells by using your E ( Zenith Blade) in the slightly wrong direction where no enemies will be hit.
• Your ult R ( Solar Flare) is best placed slightly in front of the target in the direction of their movement. You can also try to predict their jumps/teleports/flashes if once you get accustomed to the skill.

Starting Items:

I found that Hunter's Machete and Refillable Potion is the best start for me as the starting items provide me with enough sustain to hit level 3 and back to prepare for the ganks.

You can look into replacing the Hunter's Machete with Hunter's Talisman for added mana regeneration as Leona is very mana dependent (especially early game).
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First Back:

Boots are great for increased movement speed which should allow you to better gank other lanes as Leona's base movement speed is fairly low and thus she can be pretty easily outrun by most champtions.

Hunter's Potion is good enough to provide you with sustain for the rest of the game or, well, at least until you hit the full build mark. There is no real point in going Ruby Crystal or Stalker's Blade this early on as they serve no real benefit for ganks and your clear should be good enough that you don't have to back every 2 jungle camps.

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Early Game:

Stalker's Blade will allow you to slow down enemy team when you're ganking or having a teamfight with others. Slowing the enemy is important as it allows your team to stay on the target during chase or for you to catch up and use your skills to further CC the enemy.

Bami's Cinder is great as it does AOE damage and gives you health (sustain) which works well with your W ( Eclipse) as the skill gives you Armor and MR but do make sure not to use the skill too early as you are still fairly feeble and can be popped easily by bursty champions such as Graves.

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First Few:

Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk should be your first finished item and it helps with all sorts of things such as jungling and sustain in fights as well as overall laning.

Depending on which build you are following, go for either Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads. Personally I would suggest going for Ninja Tabi regardless as the passive 10% basic attack reduction for incoming damage is far more valuable in fights than reduced CC timings as you are the one who will be initiating and locking down ADC or any other high value target so you should really be avoiding most of the damage anyway.

Of course if the target is AP and is heavily fed you should probably go for Mercury's Treads but other than that go for Ninja Tabi instead.

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Mid Game:

Again depending on which build you're following and how your game is going at the moment you should build either Dead Man's Plate or Locket of the Iron Solari. Personal preference is Dead Man's Plate as health gained is higher than with the later option and you get armor which is usually more valuable (especially in current meta where AP champions are far less bursty). Furthermore the item will give you +60 movement speed which is great for initiating team fights from unwarded areas for surprise attacks on top of running away or rushing in.

Locket of the Iron Solari will give you AND your team bonus MR as well as provide you with 10% cool down reduction which is nice for your skills and ult making them a bit more spammy. In addition to this it will give you an active that can be used to shield your nearby team-mates from incoming damage potentially saving them from otherwise imminent death.

Enchantment: Alacrity will give you a little bit extra movement speed which is needed to chase down (or run away) from enemy champions.
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Late Game:


Warmog's Armor is amazing item for when you're taking damage from multiple sources and for when you want that extra sustain. Provided you have 3k+ Health (3,000+) you will get 15% of your health back every 5 seconds (after not taking damage for 8 seconds). It also works well against full AD team when you're a bit ahead as you can finish it and go straight for Thornmail which gives you pure Armor and its amazing passive of reflecting damage upon the attacker (great against any ADC or Assassin).

Thornmail should only be bought provided you need a lot of armor and have a lot of health to back it up (I would suggest having at least 3,000/3k HP) as it needs it to be fully effective.

Randuin's Omen is your typical armor and health item but is good on Leona as it gives you critical damage reduction (more sustain for you) and has an active that slows nearby units down which is good for both chasing and escaping.

Spirit Visage is my go to MR giving item but I usually don't build it since most teams will be AD heavy but when they're not go for this as it also improves healing and thus being a great pair up for Warmog's Armor on top of giving you base health regeneration and a nice bit of cool down reduction (10%)

Banshee's Veil is an alternative to Spirit Visage but I would advise to stay away from it as the passive isnt really all that useful even when playing against CC heavy team yourself. Base health regeneration is also a bit lower than the one on Spirit Visage and you loose the passive of the Spirit Visage which sucks.

Sterak's Gage is amazing for when you need to do a bit more damage so that the enemy doesn't completely ignore you and go for the carry. Gives you nice sustain with its shield if you get burst down a bit too much.
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Full Armor Build:

This build is what I found to be the most optimal for me as you can easily catch up to enemies and have amazing sustain with the use of Warmog's Armor and Thornmail especially.

Balanced Build Number 1:

Thornmailsize=50
This bui is when you