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Spells:
Exhaust
Flash
Ability Order
Sunlight (PASSIVE)
Leona Passive Ability
Introduction

Dawn. I picked up Leona on release because I loved her skill set and lore. I've played
countless normal games with her and have just recently brought the culmination of this
experience into ranked, with pretty decent results, but I'll let you be the judge.
-TimeMech
My Results:



Pros
- Great Crowd Control
- Versatile in the way she can apply the CC.- Zenith Blade goes THROUGH enemies and warps to the last one hit. No Body Blocking You from YOUR target if aimed properly.
- Built in Resistances
- Allows for a more flexible build later game; while still allowing you to play the Primary Tank.
- Extremely good in her lane.
- Thankfully, since bottom lane is the only place you should EVER see a serious Leona.
Cons
- Can be difficult to master.
- Her Solar Flare can be used very, very wrong.
- Extremely Team Dependent.
- If your team doesn't take advantage of the opportunities you give them; gg.* This doesn't mean you should always blame them. COMMUNICATE!!!- Nearly every True Tank has this particular Con though.
- Requires PATIENCE; do not just try and MAKE things happen. Look for openings.. be patient.
First of all, let me just say that I love
Leona. Everything about her is amazing and she's a load of fun to play once you get her down. However, what exactly do I believe her role is? Well, I've seen others label her as many thing-- tank, off tank, support, trinity tank; the list goes on; however I label her as a SUPANK.
Now before you start pointing and laughing at your screen, let me explain: Leona goes bottom lane as most of you know-- but she is not necessarily a "Support" at that time; as a matter of fact she has more of a "Support-esque" flare later game the way I build her. Sure, she's filling that position by being down there, but the primary difference is that unlike a support Leona does NOT want to be passive in her lane. She wants to KILL the enemy. Keep this in mind as it dictates her favored carry lane-mates.
To Elaborate on why I call her a "SUPANK"-- which isn't just because you "Spank" the enemy team when played right mind you. It is literally because you are able to fulfill both roles throughout the course of the game due to her amazing kit. Due to her built in resistances, once you've established your primary Armor/MR items-- you can focus on building items that will help your team; much like a support does, while still being the primary tank OF your team.
What doing this allows to do is generate THREAT. For those of you who don't know what I mean-- threat is a mechanic in most MMO's which causes NPC enemies to attack you and ignore your more damage dealing allies. If you don't generate the required threat to pull the enemy's attention from your allies; then you're a useless Tank.
Now, I know human players aren't subject to the in-game math that this MMO mechanic applies; so you may be saying to yourself, "What the hell is this guy talking about..?". Let me explain in a simple fashion.
1. If you are too tanky, any player/team will ignore you.
2. The thing to remember is the difference between generating threat in an MMO and MOBA style games, is you have to be a desirable target based on your abilities. So while I don't have the best tank items-- I have the best items for control of the battlefield through my skills/auras.
These two simple things are overlooked by many; and why I structure my build how I do. It's a strange thought process to some at first but in plain black and white here it is:
If you look un-killable and are not a constant buff/debuff beacon; you will be ignored completely 9 out of 10 times.
So what does this mean? It means trick the enemy team by being at least PARTIALLY vulnerable.
Anyway, many may not agree with me on this; but this is the premise which my build revolves around. Read on and you may change your mind.
Auras, Shields, and Tanking. This is Leona, the SUPANK.
-TimeMech

Now before you start pointing and laughing at your screen, let me explain: Leona goes bottom lane as most of you know-- but she is not necessarily a "Support" at that time; as a matter of fact she has more of a "Support-esque" flare later game the way I build her. Sure, she's filling that position by being down there, but the primary difference is that unlike a support Leona does NOT want to be passive in her lane. She wants to KILL the enemy. Keep this in mind as it dictates her favored carry lane-mates.
To Elaborate on why I call her a "SUPANK"-- which isn't just because you "Spank" the enemy team when played right mind you. It is literally because you are able to fulfill both roles throughout the course of the game due to her amazing kit. Due to her built in resistances, once you've established your primary Armor/MR items-- you can focus on building items that will help your team; much like a support does, while still being the primary tank OF your team.
What doing this allows to do is generate THREAT. For those of you who don't know what I mean-- threat is a mechanic in most MMO's which causes NPC enemies to attack you and ignore your more damage dealing allies. If you don't generate the required threat to pull the enemy's attention from your allies; then you're a useless Tank.
Now, I know human players aren't subject to the in-game math that this MMO mechanic applies; so you may be saying to yourself, "What the hell is this guy talking about..?". Let me explain in a simple fashion.
1. If you are too tanky, any player/team will ignore you.
2. The thing to remember is the difference between generating threat in an MMO and MOBA style games, is you have to be a desirable target based on your abilities. So while I don't have the best tank items-- I have the best items for control of the battlefield through my skills/auras.
These two simple things are overlooked by many; and why I structure my build how I do. It's a strange thought process to some at first but in plain black and white here it is:
If you look un-killable and are not a constant buff/debuff beacon; you will be ignored completely 9 out of 10 times.
So what does this mean? It means trick the enemy team by being at least PARTIALLY vulnerable.
Anyway, many may not agree with me on this; but this is the premise which my build revolves around. Read on and you may change your mind.
Auras, Shields, and Tanking. This is Leona, the SUPANK.
-TimeMech
Primary Reasons:
-10% CDR off the bat.
-10% Magic Pen (with no flat magic pen to get in the way makes it scale better into late game)
-Faster Summoner Spells.
-More Gold Gen/starting Gold
Now, in this section I've been told I should list alternative mastery routes that would work as well; but to be perfectly honest, I can't. For this particular build. If I create another
Leona build then there will obviously be different ways to set up her mastery page, but for this build-- for what you're aiming to do; this set up is ideal and therefore to arbitrarily put up alternatives for it would be a waste of your/my time.
-10% Magic Pen (with no flat magic pen to get in the way makes it scale better into late game)
-Faster Summoner Spells.
-More Gold Gen/starting Gold
Now, in this section I've been told I should list alternative mastery routes that would work as well; but to be perfectly honest, I can't. For this particular build. If I create another

**NOTE**
I changed the runes up a bit.. as I found that losing a small amount of gold gen was worth the extra armor afforded early. However you can still run this method with a lot of success. It's all a matter of tweaking things over time and preference. I prefer more armor as I'm more aggressive earlier-- if you're more passive, (shouldn't be TOO passive with Leona), then go ahead and run the extra bit of gold gen as follows.
Quintessences
3 Greater Quintessences of Avarice
Glyphs
9 Greater Glyphs of Shielding
Seals
9 Greater Seal of Avarice
Marks
9 Greater Mark of Resilience
(I suggest the Resilience Marks, as I notice the lack of armor more than the lack of magic pen on Leona early.)
Arranging your runes this way (and your mastery page) will afford Leona 7.25 gold generation from the beginning of the game. More than a gold per 10 item. I find by doing this; it allows you to ward and purchase items as you need them without feeling it at all if you're doing even half way decent in game.
**Note that every character has passive gold generation built in; and generates 13 gold per 10 regardless of runes/masteries starting at 1:30 into the game. I will not be taking this generation into account; however you will be sitting on even more money due to it so, yay, right?**
All Gold Generation Math is assuming the upper bound time in the purchase of the GP10 core items.
So, if you followed this; your gold generation after getting your core is amazing with these runes-- and allows you to get to your core easier/earlier than you otherwise could while still being able to purchase wards and other necessities of a good support.
Let's be honest, it's like you have Daddy freakin' Warbucks just pumping money into your bank account for nothing. Fitting considering the name of this guide, amirite? xD
So I've been doing some research/experimentation lately and I just wanted to mention that it's possible to run only the gold generation quints and masteries, while then taking the liberty to run Armor Seals in conjunction with the armor marks-- this affords ALOT of harassment soak early game.
However, since I'm greedy, what I've been doing is running 4 of the .25 gold gen seals and the other 5, flat armor seals. I'll not be making a chart for how this changes the gold generation over the times, since it merely cuts off around 60 gold or so every 10 minutes this way. For the extra mitigation early, I find it's worth it so far. Feel free to test out this change-- or stick with my original way of doing things, as both work fine.
I changed the runes up a bit.. as I found that losing a small amount of gold gen was worth the extra armor afforded early. However you can still run this method with a lot of success. It's all a matter of tweaking things over time and preference. I prefer more armor as I'm more aggressive earlier-- if you're more passive, (shouldn't be TOO passive with Leona), then go ahead and run the extra bit of gold gen as follows.
Quintessences
3 Greater Quintessences of Avarice

Glyphs
9 Greater Glyphs of Shielding

Seals
9 Greater Seal of Avarice

Marks
9 Greater Mark of Resilience

(I suggest the Resilience Marks, as I notice the lack of armor more than the lack of magic pen on Leona early.)
VERY IMPORTANT EXPLANATION
Arranging your runes this way (and your mastery page) will afford Leona 7.25 gold generation from the beginning of the game. More than a gold per 10 item. I find by doing this; it allows you to ward and purchase items as you need them without feeling it at all if you're doing even half way decent in game.
**Note that every character has passive gold generation built in; and generates 13 gold per 10 regardless of runes/masteries starting at 1:30 into the game. I will not be taking this generation into account; however you will be sitting on even more money due to it so, yay, right?**
All Gold Generation Math is assuming the upper bound time in the purchase of the GP10 core items.
Purchase Time1:30 - 5:00 5:00 - 7:00 Philo 8:00 -11:00 HoG 11:00-21:00 Other |
SPACE |
Gold Gen7.25 7.25 + 5 7.25 + 10 17.25 |
SPACE |
Gold Gen'd7.25 x 6 = 43.5 per minute. 43.5 x 5:30 = 348 12.25 x 6 = 73.5 per minute. 73.5 x 4:00 = 294 17.25 x 6 = 103.5 per minute. 103.5 x 10:00 = 1035 103.5 x 20:00 = 2070 (IF you don't turn your HoG into a Locket) |
So, if you followed this; your gold generation after getting your core is amazing with these runes-- and allows you to get to your core easier/earlier than you otherwise could while still being able to purchase wards and other necessities of a good support.
Let's be honest, it's like you have Daddy freakin' Warbucks just pumping money into your bank account for nothing. Fitting considering the name of this guide, amirite? xD
UPDATE
(5/4/12)So I've been doing some research/experimentation lately and I just wanted to mention that it's possible to run only the gold generation quints and masteries, while then taking the liberty to run Armor Seals in conjunction with the armor marks-- this affords ALOT of harassment soak early game.
However, since I'm greedy, what I've been doing is running 4 of the .25 gold gen seals and the other 5, flat armor seals. I'll not be making a chart for how this changes the gold generation over the times, since it merely cuts off around 60 gold or so every 10 minutes this way. For the extra mitigation early, I find it's worth it so far. Feel free to test out this change-- or stick with my original way of doing things, as both work fine.
You know, I can't say I've been on the fence about this issue in earnest-- because I haven't. I've been firmly planted on the "No freaking way." side of it since
Leona first came out-- well, then and since the new jungle when I tried it again to no great results.
However, since I created this guide I figured I'd take the time to look at other
Leona guides and see if they could offer me some insight into why this could/would be viable. And thusfar none have changed my mind. Just today, I noticed an up and coming guide younger than my own gaining prominence-- it contained a jungle
Leona build and a Support Lane build. I focused mainly on the jungle one, and its failed to change my mind at all for its popularity. This is my comment to that guide, with my reasoning.
_____________________________
Is counter-jungling never an issue to you?
Honestly, I just don't understand this. You say it yourself-- Leona cannot 1 v 1. This means Leona is free prey for any enemy jungler that can divine where she is at any given time-- which isn't hard early since you're going to have to start at blue. I can understand Leona's ganking potential, but really, she should never make it to her first gank unless she gets blue and hits top lane/bot lane respective of the team she's on. Because if I'm the enemy jungler and Leona even TRIES to go into the Red Buff side of her jungle, I'm going to kill her and hey, if she doesn't-- I get a free Red and maybe some Wraiths/Golems.
Junglers who should have no problem doing this are I.E. Shyvana, Lee Sin, Udyr, Skarner, Nocturne, etc... any good jungler really.
Other than that, your item build is interesting. I enjoy how you build incremental health with your items, it's my favorite thing to do as well. However, I don't agree with the way you go into it. Between your runes/masteries/first items; ( Boots of Speed + 3 health potions --> Sheen?), if you don't have an excellent lane phase you might as well stick a fork in yourself-- because you're done. You have very little sustain (even with 3 pots) no passive gold generation (except the 13 gp10 all champions have) and will not have sustain in lane for what seems to be far too long.
Overall, I feel this is an extremely situation dependent build/guide; and while you should always attempt to build according to the situation you're in, when I say "situation dependent", again I mean best case scenario required in order for this to be viable. And that's something you should never subscribe to; always plan for the worst which means you'll be even better at your best.
-TimeMech

However, since I created this guide I figured I'd take the time to look at other


_____________________________
Is counter-jungling never an issue to you?
Honestly, I just don't understand this. You say it yourself-- Leona cannot 1 v 1. This means Leona is free prey for any enemy jungler that can divine where she is at any given time-- which isn't hard early since you're going to have to start at blue. I can understand Leona's ganking potential, but really, she should never make it to her first gank unless she gets blue and hits top lane/bot lane respective of the team she's on. Because if I'm the enemy jungler and Leona even TRIES to go into the Red Buff side of her jungle, I'm going to kill her and hey, if she doesn't-- I get a free Red and maybe some Wraiths/Golems.
Junglers who should have no problem doing this are I.E. Shyvana, Lee Sin, Udyr, Skarner, Nocturne, etc... any good jungler really.
Other than that, your item build is interesting. I enjoy how you build incremental health with your items, it's my favorite thing to do as well. However, I don't agree with the way you go into it. Between your runes/masteries/first items; ( Boots of Speed + 3 health potions --> Sheen?), if you don't have an excellent lane phase you might as well stick a fork in yourself-- because you're done. You have very little sustain (even with 3 pots) no passive gold generation (except the 13 gp10 all champions have) and will not have sustain in lane for what seems to be far too long.
Overall, I feel this is an extremely situation dependent build/guide; and while you should always attempt to build according to the situation you're in, when I say "situation dependent", again I mean best case scenario required in order for this to be viable. And that's something you should never subscribe to; always plan for the worst which means you'll be even better at your best.
-TimeMech
Heal
______
Needed to effectively play more of a support role throughout the game for your carry early/team later. (also useful for tower dives as you're tanking the tower)
Flash
______
Needed to make plays such as escaping/catching/outpositioning the enemy throughout the ENTIRE game.
Flash is just a superior summoner spell in every way for
Leona. It helps you land unexpected
Solar Flares,
Zenith Blades and even
Shield of Daybreaks at close enough range.
Much in the same way as the mastery page, I feel these summoner spells are tantamount to successfully playing
Leona in this way. However, there is a tad bit more flexibility here than in the masteries.
For example:
Teleport
______
I used to run this in bot lane, and it could be very useful at times; especially in the beginning of the game; as you would nearly always buy your GP10 items on the lower bound of the previously described purchase times. You could also bait the enemy to attack you early and take massive damage in exchange for your carry being able to poke for free-- then the enemy lane thinks they have the upper hand by having you at low health: pop
Teleport back with full health and philosopher stone. Troll Face.
Not only that but some would say it could help you stop a push or start a push unexpectedly, or aide an ally from across the map if used right. And they'd be right. However I find these situations not as likely on
Leona as she is a Team Fight Tank. She wants to be travelling together with her team more often than not and therefore this becomes more of a crutch for getting to and even still being unable to defend a lane by herself considering her poor 1 v 1 potential.
You can take it and not be terrible though. I still suggest
Heal overall.
Ignite
______
This one I'm not too sure about. I mean... I guess if your carry is running
Exhaust and the enemy lane has a
Soraka this could be viable. It just doesn't seem like it does much for
Leona or her team later in the game, as your solo top and/or mid will probably be running this spell if they're confident players.
But hey to each their own..
Exhaust
______
Began to run this spell more frequently than heal. Is honestly a little ridiculous how well it works. I still run heal from time to time-- but if you have a good carry, exhaust helps them even more because they take advantage of the time the enemy carry is weakened more than a small chunk of health you grant them.
Ghost
______
Ugh... whoever gets this over
Flash better have a dang good kiting game. And even if they have that, who cares?
Flash is still more useful in 9/10 situations. Get this and you better have
Flash too because you're trying to be untouchable or something...
Since we all know
Leona isn't trying to be untouchable-- she's trying to TANK-- we shouldn't have this then, should we? :D
As for any other summoner spells, I feel they're not worth mentioning. If anyone disagrees, be my guest and give me an explanation why, I'm up for suggestions.

______
Needed to effectively play more of a support role throughout the game for your carry early/team later. (also useful for tower dives as you're tanking the tower)
Flash

______
Needed to make plays such as escaping/catching/outpositioning the enemy throughout the ENTIRE game.





Much in the same way as the mastery page, I feel these summoner spells are tantamount to successfully playing

For example:
Teleport

______
I used to run this in bot lane, and it could be very useful at times; especially in the beginning of the game; as you would nearly always buy your GP10 items on the lower bound of the previously described purchase times. You could also bait the enemy to attack you early and take massive damage in exchange for your carry being able to poke for free-- then the enemy lane thinks they have the upper hand by having you at low health: pop

Not only that but some would say it could help you stop a push or start a push unexpectedly, or aide an ally from across the map if used right. And they'd be right. However I find these situations not as likely on

You can take it and not be terrible though. I still suggest

Ignite

______
This one I'm not too sure about. I mean... I guess if your carry is running



But hey to each their own..
Exhaust

______
Began to run this spell more frequently than heal. Is honestly a little ridiculous how well it works. I still run heal from time to time-- but if you have a good carry, exhaust helps them even more because they take advantage of the time the enemy carry is weakened more than a small chunk of health you grant them.
Ghost

______
Ugh... whoever gets this over



Since we all know

As for any other summoner spells, I feel they're not worth mentioning. If anyone disagrees, be my guest and give me an explanation why, I'm up for suggestions.
The skill sequence is pretty straight forward. About the only thing I do different is level up
Shield of Daybreak over
Zenith Blade earlier on.
This is because I feel shaving time off of
Shield of Daybreak's cooldown far outweighs
Zenith Blade's higher damage scaling per level (it's honestly negligible.) And fractions of seconds can be FOREVER in the right situations.


This is because I feel shaving time off of


In this section I'll explain Leona's Core; the purchase order of the items that come after it and why.
Philosopher's Stone
So you followed the
Regrowth Pendant and Sight Ward starting items, built into a Philosopher's Stone and went straight for
Heart of Gold followed by your
Ionian Boots of Lucidity to put you at a nice 25% CDR, decently tanky health for the time in the game and have great resistances granted by focus leveling your Eclipse. Good. Next up is something I also consider core the way we will be building Leona-- that's a
Giant's Belt. By getting this item next, you become untouchable at this point in the game. You're fat, have amazing mitigation with Eclipse on; and are one step closer to
Sunfire Aegis for later.
So now you have:
Philosopher's Stone
Next comes the fork. Look at the enemy team... what is doing well? What isn't? Is everything relatively neutral/going through the motions of the game? I'll answer each of these more specifically.
1.) An AD character is doing well-- either their jungler or solo top or even the AD carry you're facing off against is becoming a problem! You need more armor, build a
Chain Vest
2.) An AP character is doing well-- either their mid or perhaps solo top; more rarely their jungler (as there are few viable AP junglers). You need more MR, build a
Negatron Cloak
3.) Everything is doing relatively neutral. I prefer rushing into a
Sunfire Aegis As it is more useful for killing enemies early game; since the 35 magic damage DoT will mean more.
Now, keep this in mind; no matter how fed their AP nuker is--
Negatron Cloak is your answer; it will put you at around 95 MR + the 70 from your Eclipse, you'll be resisting him plenty well. Finish that
Sunfire Aegis for the AOE damage tick and to free up space in your inventory, before finishing off
Force of Nature.
At this point you have a choice, because more often than not you'll be sitting here:
Philosopher's Stone
You will now have one slot left for holding your Sight Ward's.
Is the AP on their team truly nasty enough to finish a
Force of Nature, for the extra MR at this point? Or perhaps are you having trouble catching opponents, so you want it for the movement speed? More often than not I find the answer to both of these is No. Because it's a much better idea to finish your
Locket of the Iron Solari. You should be around level 13 - 14 anyway, meaning its shield proc will be quite useful in your support role; plus it gives you a bit more health and you/your allies a passive 15 HP5 regeneration for some more sustain during team pokes.
Granted you'll be losing some Gold Gen, but at this point in the game; assists is where it's at anyway. And you have more than a built in GP10 item-- so while turning this item into something more useful/with more utility at this point in the game might hurt a differently Runed Tank; you STILL have MORE gold generation than they do with both of their GP10 items intact.
This is not the only choice however. You could choose to hold onto your
Heart of Gold a little longer, and instead start to rush a Zeke's Herald for your AD carry and other Melee AD team members.
Going this route however, means you have no slots for warding once you purchase it or the
Kindlegem for the CDR and Health boost before the main item is complete.
While this is unfortunate, at this point in the game you should be able to afford an
Oracle's Elixir for your team; and leave the warding to everyone else while taking up counter-warding in its place. There should be no complaints from your team if you simply communicate your intentions to them and/or have been making a good effort of warding for them thus-far.
So, depending on which route you take/item you finish first; you will eventually be finishing both. However, I find that I choose one of these item routes and then finish my
Force of Nature in between to sure up my Magic Resist, Movement Speed and Health Regen for late game harass/sustain team confrontations.
Either way, you'll end up at:
Philosopher's Stone
Zeke's Herald
This build makes you Tanky enough to be the MAIN TANK, while at the same time you have a few ways of supporting your team at your disposal through
Locket of the Iron Solari/ Zeke's Herald/
Heal and damaging the enemy team through
Sunfire Aegis.
For some reason, at the top of this guide it claims that the overall Cooldown Reduction is 30%; but it is NOT taking into account the 10% you have from Masteries from the beginning.
Your CDR is actually maxed at this point. 10% Masteries + 15%
Ionian Boots of Lucidity + 15% Zeke's Herald = 40%
That makes for about a 36 second
Solar Flare and about 4.5 second
Shield of Daybreak.
Eclipse will be nearly permanent when it hits a target-- lasts 6 seconds; cools down in 8.
In essence, you are a threat to be left alive; due to your aura's and quick CDR skills, yet are not easy to kill. However if they leave you alive you're granting many positives to your team that are well worth the small cooldown from stun to stun, where you're "useless" because Leona honestly has a toy sword.
I rarely make it beyond this build as the enemy team has folded before this.
However some suggestions I would make for a final item would be:
:
This would raise your base resistances, give you yet another chunk of health; and help your allies resist damage as well; all for cheap. (Keep the Aura Generator Going)
This would allow you to raise your base MR, increase your damage slightly late game-- and more importantly, lower the enemy team's MR by 20 for your AP wielding team members.(Keep the Aura Generator Going.)
The reason I don't suggest this item over Force of Nature early, is that it does not grant the same sustain required of a true tank that Force of Nature does through its Unique Passive.
Also if you see fit,
You could build this right out of your Philosopher's Stone instead of selling it as I would late game for one of the aforementioned items. But the reason I wouldn't bother with this item, is that every stat it gives except its speed proc is a dead stat. Meaning you already have it in spades and no longer require it.
i.e. Cooldown Reduction, Health Regeneration, etc...
However, I neglected to mention the possibility of this item: (Thanks to Specolar)
This would build right out of that Philosopher's Stone you've been sitting on, providing a substantial HP+MANA Regen boost and some tenacity to boot. I never get this myself, as I never notice CC being an issue for
Leona, I mean if they're wasting CC on you then good, that means they're focusing you and that's exactly what you want. But if it seems like their entire team is just built of team stun (i.e.
Veigar,
Kennen,
Morgana(HOW DID THIS NOT GET BANNED?),
Amumu, or some other large scale team stunner) this might be worth an even earlier investment, and is definitely worth the 500g if you decide to slap it on late game for the win. +1 over
Shurelya's Battlesong when it comes to this particular build.
But if you are really have trouble catching the enemy team late game, it couldn't hurt. I just don't recommend it.
CORE
Philosopher's Stone


So you followed the





So now you have:
FINISHED CORE
Philosopher's Stone



Next comes the fork. Look at the enemy team... what is doing well? What isn't? Is everything relatively neutral/going through the motions of the game? I'll answer each of these more specifically.
1.) An AD character is doing well-- either their jungler or solo top or even the AD carry you're facing off against is becoming a problem! You need more armor, build a

2.) An AP character is doing well-- either their mid or perhaps solo top; more rarely their jungler (as there are few viable AP junglers). You need more MR, build a

3.) Everything is doing relatively neutral. I prefer rushing into a

Now, keep this in mind; no matter how fed their AP nuker is--



At this point you have a choice, because more often than not you'll be sitting here:
Philosopher's Stone




You will now have one slot left for holding your Sight Ward's.
Is the AP on their team truly nasty enough to finish a


Granted you'll be losing some Gold Gen, but at this point in the game; assists is where it's at anyway. And you have more than a built in GP10 item-- so while turning this item into something more useful/with more utility at this point in the game might hurt a differently Runed Tank; you STILL have MORE gold generation than they do with both of their GP10 items intact.
This is not the only choice however. You could choose to hold onto your

Going this route however, means you have no slots for warding once you purchase it or the

While this is unfortunate, at this point in the game you should be able to afford an

So, depending on which route you take/item you finish first; you will eventually be finishing both. However, I find that I choose one of these item routes and then finish my

Either way, you'll end up at:
Main Build
Philosopher's Stone




This build makes you Tanky enough to be the MAIN TANK, while at the same time you have a few ways of supporting your team at your disposal through



IMPORTANT NOTE
For some reason, at the top of this guide it claims that the overall Cooldown Reduction is 30%; but it is NOT taking into account the 10% you have from Masteries from the beginning.
Your CDR is actually maxed at this point. 10% Masteries + 15%

That makes for about a 36 second



In essence, you are a threat to be left alive; due to your aura's and quick CDR skills, yet are not easy to kill. However if they leave you alive you're granting many positives to your team that are well worth the small cooldown from stun to stun, where you're "useless" because Leona honestly has a toy sword.
I rarely make it beyond this build as the enemy team has folded before this.
However some suggestions I would make for a final item would be:

This would raise your base resistances, give you yet another chunk of health; and help your allies resist damage as well; all for cheap. (Keep the Aura Generator Going)

This would allow you to raise your base MR, increase your damage slightly late game-- and more importantly, lower the enemy team's MR by 20 for your AP wielding team members.(Keep the Aura Generator Going.)
The reason I don't suggest this item over Force of Nature early, is that it does not grant the same sustain required of a true tank that Force of Nature does through its Unique Passive.
Also if you see fit,

You could build this right out of your Philosopher's Stone instead of selling it as I would late game for one of the aforementioned items. But the reason I wouldn't bother with this item, is that every stat it gives except its speed proc is a dead stat. Meaning you already have it in spades and no longer require it.
i.e. Cooldown Reduction, Health Regeneration, etc...
However, I neglected to mention the possibility of this item: (Thanks to Specolar)

This would build right out of that Philosopher's Stone you've been sitting on, providing a substantial HP+MANA Regen boost and some tenacity to boot. I never get this myself, as I never notice CC being an issue for






But if you are really have trouble catching the enemy team late game, it couldn't hurt. I just don't recommend it.
In this section of the guide I'll be going through every AD Carry and why each one is a better or worse choice than the others in laning with Leona.
After that, we'll be mixing the meta up, and will explore the other viable "kill" lanes that Leona is a part of.
Number 1
Sivir is in my opinion; the best AD carry to pair with
Leona. She is one of the more durable AD carries, her spell shield helps counter
Caitlyn's
Yordle Snap Trap and
Nidalee's
Bushwhack / Pounce when you have to face them in lane and it lets her ignore high damage skills entirely from AD Carries like
Graves,
Tristana and
Ezreal among others.
Adding to this
Sivir is a soft counter to the following in that she completely ignores
Taric's
Dazzle,
Alistar's Q to delayed W and also
Janna's Tornado.
However, the main reason why
Sivir and
Leona are Best Friends in lane comes down to burst damage potential and
Sunlight proc'ing potential.
Sivir excels at this due to her
Boomerang Blade and
Ricochet skills. Throw in
On The Hunt later which gives her a nice attack and movement speed boost and when
Leona initiates on something; she is there instantly, throwing her burst out and then DPS'ing the target to hell. It's also important to note that her new passive grants her 50 flat movement speed for basic attacking an enemy champion, so it's doubtful anything is getting away without at least burning a
Flash-- and if
Leona is on top of her game even that escape can be thwarted.
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Number 2
Graves comes in at number 2 for his sheer burst potential, mixed with his high early attack speed out of
Quickdraw. Not to mention his passive causes him to be very hard to kill as long as the
Graves player is skilled enough to keep it stacked more often than not.
Graves also has a really easy harass with
Buckshot, but he should be careful not to carelessly waste his mana or push the lane without making sure he'll get a hit on the enemy carry. There are also times when it is not worth it for him to do this; i.e. facing a
Soraka as the damage will be healed off. However it could be useful to bait a heal from
Soraka before a true initiate, since
Buckshot will come off of cooldown long before
Astral Blessing.
When
Leona initiates on a target,
Graves should do the obvious and
Quickdraw to an immediate
Buckshot for the highest possible burst he can achieve. Afterward, he can AOE slow and disorient the enemies with a quick smokescreen, all the while shooting them up though his temporarily buffed attack speed, which allows him to hit most of the
Sunlight procs.
This is a good lane because once a proper initiate occurs; it's very, very hard for the enemy duo to turn this fight around.
Graves is just too tanky for an AD carry and
Leona is obviously a tank so more power to them for focusing her.
Need I mention
Collateral Damage? I didn't think so.
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Number 3
Corki takes number 3 for some of the same reasons
Sivir and
Graves take number 1 and 2 respectively. However it's what he isn't/can't do that puts him here. While he has amazing burst damage through his
Gatling Gun ability, he is as squishy as glass; and
Leona isn't that great at protecting a squishy carry early-- so if they get in a pinch the most she can do is
Zenith Blade to
Shield of Daybreak to get the enemy off early. She should also have
Heal as discussed, though that's a one time use long cooldown spell-- and is better used offensively than defensively, though obviously use it if you need it.
However,
Corki makes up for this a little later by having
Valkyrie. He is a tough little SoB to catch with that skill... but it's a double-edged sword. See, he could be escaping, but leaving
Leona up the proverbial "Creek without a paddle.", as he'll be so far away after using it that he'll most likely be of no help unless he has
Missile Barrage up. Couple this with his high mana dependency and he can become quite a chore to lane with.
When things do go right for
Corki and
Leona though, watch out; because he will proc every single
Sunlight almost without fail due to his
Gatling Gun-- and his true damage is nothing to laugh at on top of all his burst and those
Sunlight procs, you will eat through a well initiated-on enemy's health like nothing.
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Number 4
Ezreal and
Corki are nearly interchangeable at spots 3 and 4, but the reason I put
Corki as 3 instead of
Ezreal is that this champion is even more mana dependent. That and
Corki's True Damage passive is just broken and applies to his basic's; so even when he's out of mana he is doing more damage than an
Ezreal on average in a situation where they'd both have 0 mana.
Although I do recognize
Ezreal for his quick gap closer:
Arcane Shift as it allows for an amazing
Leona initiate to
Ezreal barrage of 100% accurate death.
Ezreal is very reliable at proc'ing
Sunlight due to this, but again once the mana is gone, say bye-bye to being offensive in lane, in any capacity.
Ezreal does surpass
Corki in one way in my opinion; he can use his
Trueshot Barrage for long range ally support, Dragon and Baron steals and overall fun. This is obviously highly dependent on the skill of the player however...
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Number 5
Vayne is number 5 on my list. Now I know you may be thinking, "What the heck, she's an amazing carry, why is she all the way down here?!"; and if you are slap yourself because you haven't been paying attention to anything I've been typing about the prior carries at all. =P
I'll explain again anyway,
Leona likes a few things in a carry partner; high burst damage,
Sunlight proc potential and survive-ability (i.e. hardiness or great escapes).
Vayne fails 1 and 1/2 of these. She has the burst damage-- but no efficient way of proc'ing
Sunlight for sure. She's also one of the squishiest AD carries early and though she has good escape potential at level 6 with her ultimate, she's actually not that great at running with tumble alone.
There's also the problem of
Condemn. You see
Leona can't really set
Vayne up to make the most of this move. She's more of a "Ready? Set? GO!~" initiator who jumps on her target NO MATTER WHERE THEY ARE IN THE LANE, and holds them there in that one place for a pretty long time. There is no guarantee nor course of action for having this happen near a wall so that
Vayne can condemn for a stun-- and
Leona doesn't really want that anyway, she brings all the CC to the table on top of extra damage, she just depends on the CARRY to proc it, and Vayne comes up a little short of these responsibilities early game.
As far as Tanks in bottom lane,
Vayne's Best Friend to my knowledge, is
Alistar; so go look him up if you like laning with this particular carry that much. However,
Leona doesn't hate
Vayne, just don't expect to play as aggressively with
Vayne as you would any of the prior listed carries; unless you happen to catch an enemy near a wall-- and 9 out of 10 enemies aren't stupid enough to put themselves there.
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Number 6
Tristana is number 6, tentatively. You see, she's a very hard carry for me to place due to my troubled history with her. She has quite a few of the things in her kit that
Leona looks for in an AD carry partner, but in alot of the games I have played with her at my side she has just failed me terribly.
The most notable thing is that her
Rocket Jump is kind of laggy so she cant capitalize on that as much, though most good ones I have seen don't
Rocket Jump until the enemy is running to get back in range of them, once we have had a good initiate.
Tristana's high attack speed granted from rapid shot, allows her to proc
Sunlight pretty well and she is also naturally hardy/survive-able.
Perhaps the reason she has been good in some matches and terrible in others is due to the fact she is free?
Tristana is just very hard to place, and I put her down here below
Vayne because I personally haven't seen consistently good game-play from her with
Leona even though she technically has a kit that caters to
Leona's killing style in lane.
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Other AD Carries In No Particular Order (Due to lack of experience playing with them)
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Caitlyn
I've very rarely laned with this carry, and while I know she's a good one; just in analyzing her kit I can tell I wouldn't vote for her over any of the previously described as a
Leona lane carry. She's mainly a harass over time champion-- the epitome of the current meta of bot lane as a matter of fact. And
Leona is the support/tank that tries to and succeeds if played right, in destroying that campy/farmy behavior.
Ashe
Another one I don't lane with often-- not because I don't see her, but because I'd rather pair her with
Janna, another champion I play rather well who fits Ashe much better. Overall not a great choice to lane with
Leona due to her lack luster burst potential. She's more of a utility carry in my opinion.
Kog'Maw
Great mid and late game carry, pretty weak early in my experience. However I've seldom laned with him so perhaps he could be better than I give him credit for. Not much more to say about him.
Miss Fortune
Laned with her while playing
Leona one time. Was a decent lane, but I've never done it again and I can't say with confidence one way or another whether she's a good partner for
Leona or not. I will say that from what I've seen she'd probably fall into the
Ezreal/
Corki zone since she seemed to be very mana dependent.
Twitch
Never done this, and probably will never have to.
Master Yi and
Tryndamere are also considered AD carries but do not appear in bot lane usually.
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Leona Bottom Kill Lane Combos
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Try to keep an open mind when looking over the following suggestions. Also, remember that these lanes are very hit or miss, depending on both the enemy team's carry/support combination and the relative skill of both the
Leona player and Assassin player she's laning with. Not to mention the skill of the enemy. Anyway, here are some fun lanes to mix up the meta with, that I have tried and have yielded decent results.
+
This lane was so much fun for so long. Done right,
Talon can not only proc every
Sunlight proc
Leona lands, but he also deals increased damage through his passive for longer while the enemy is stunned into his slow into another potential stun from
Solar Flare.
Talon has decent range on his
Rake ability to attempt harassing the enemy lane, and ganks/exchanges can begin occurring as early as level 2 if
Leona and
Talon are on point.
Once this lane hits level 6, people gonna die if it's done right.
Vayne +
Sona
Ashe +
Sona
etc...
Pretty much any relatively squishy or easy to catch carry and a
Sona, you'll learn that these lanes are pure food for a well played
Leona/
Talon combo.
***Note*** Make sure you still have a true AD carry on your team, such as
Gangplank or
Tryndamere-- or even any of the ranged AD carries mentioned above who go mid to counter that pesky
Kassadin so that
Leona and
Talon can put in work bot lane, lol :D
Sivir +
Alistar /
Soraka
Graves +
Alistar /
Soraka
Pretty much any lane with a
Soraka and a fat/hard to kill carry. Also
Alistar since his
Pulverize and
Headbutt completely ruin a good
Leona/
Talon initiate on any carry.
However, if either of these supports are laning with a squishy carry, feel free to try your luck, it can go either way.
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+
This lane is deceptively nasty. It takes advantage of the fact that both
Leona and
Xin Zhao shine brightest in terms of their damage, early game. Not only that, but they both have amazing gap closing abilities and CC which compliments the other's perfectly.
i.e.
Leona
Zenith Blades to a target and stuns it with
Shield of Daybreak, followed by
Xin Zhao's
Audacious Charge, by the time the target of this assault comes out of
Leona's stun,
Xin Zhao should have hit it twice at least, meaning his third hit hit will trigger his Knock Up, causing the enemy to be unable to flee for even longer as they continue to take damage. Once the enemy's flash is burned, this lane becomes a vicious nightmare. Add in
Solar Flare at level 6 and this combo becomes ridiculous.
Much like
Leona +
Talon, this lane combo doesn't like
Alistars, however it deals better with [{Soraka]s and beefy carries, if only for the fact that
Xin Zhao has more steady damage and early sustain than
Talon.
Very fun lane.
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+
This kill lane takes a bit longer to take off than the aforementioned.
Twisted Fate must play like an AD carry at first, and then switch to AP/On Hit effects later; but it becomes a very potent kill lane with 3 straight out stuns between
Leona and
Twisted Fate alone; rendering whatever carry you are focusing on utterly helpless during an exchange and their support champion scrambling to do something useful.
Overall, this lane is extremely fun and potent when you have the patience and skill to make it work. For an example of the AP/On Hit build I see on
Twisted Fates where this works: try purchasing boots and
Health Potion first, into an early
Sheen for maximum burst damage and early AP on your skills. Beyond that,
Malady,
Ionic Spark, and the like are all great ideas for a
Twisted Fate played in this way.
This particular kill lane doesn't "hate" any lanes, it completely depends on the skill and patients of the ones running it. This lane has almost as much versatility as
Leona and a true AD carry. Not only that, but
Twisted Fate can pass as an AD carry in a pinch if your team isn't running one with your kill lane.
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+
Now this one is fun. Be wary however, as it works best with a
Brand you know and are sure is running decent MP5, because a
Brand without mana is of no use. Early on, Brand should be able to harass well with his pillar of fire and by around level 3, you'll have a nice stun lock up and ready between your Q and Brand's E or W to Q. Of course this requires good positioning and communication to land successfully, but even if you don't perform perfectly,
Brand's damage, passive tick and your
Sunlight are just devastating for the enemy team to deal with. A good initiate by
Leona at higher levels in this lane spells instant death for the enemy carry-- or even a slow and painful tick to death through
Brand's passive if they're lucky enough not to be consumed by all the fire that will be flying around the screen between
Leona and
Brand.
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After that, we'll be mixing the meta up, and will explore the other viable "kill" lanes that Leona is a part of.
AD CARRY FRIENDS
The Best in My Opinion
Number 1










Adding to this





However, the main reason why










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Number 2










When





This is a good lane because once a proper initiate occurs; it's very, very hard for the enemy duo to turn this fight around.


Need I mention

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Number 3









However,




When things do go right for





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Number 4







Although I do recognize









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Number 5


I'll explain again anyway,




There's also the problem of





As far as Tanks in bottom lane,





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Number 6



The most notable thing is that her




Perhaps the reason she has been good in some matches and terrible in others is due to the fact she is free?




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Other AD Carries In No Particular Order (Due to lack of experience playing with them)
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I've very rarely laned with this carry, and while I know she's a good one; just in analyzing her kit I can tell I wouldn't vote for her over any of the previously described as a



Another one I don't lane with often-- not because I don't see her, but because I'd rather pair her with



Great mid and late game carry, pretty weak early in my experience. However I've seldom laned with him so perhaps he could be better than I give him credit for. Not much more to say about him.

Laned with her while playing





Never done this, and probably will never have to.


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((((((Disclaimer: Assume each of these lanes still has an AD carry on the team, whether I specifically mention it or not, I support this; since going into a game without a True AD carry is never advisable, and though it is not impossible to win without one; it just makes the game that much harder-- and why would you want to do that to yourself?))))))
Try to keep an open mind when looking over the following suggestions. Also, remember that these lanes are very hit or miss, depending on both the enemy team's carry/support combination and the relative skill of both the

Kill Lane #1


This lane was so much fun for so long. Done right,








Once this lane hits level 6, people gonna die if it's done right.
LANE COMBINATIONS YOU DUNK HARD




etc...
Pretty much any relatively squishy or easy to catch carry and a



***Note*** Make sure you still have a true AD carry on your team, such as





LANE COMBINATIONS TO AVOID AT ALL COSTS






Pretty much any lane with a






However, if either of these supports are laning with a squishy carry, feel free to try your luck, it can go either way.
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Kill Lane #2


This lane is deceptively nasty. It takes advantage of the fact that both


i.e.








Much like





Very fun lane.
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Kill Lane #3


This kill lane takes a bit longer to take off than the aforementioned.



Overall, this lane is extremely fun and potent when you have the patience and skill to make it work. For an example of the AP/On Hit build I see on






This particular kill lane doesn't "hate" any lanes, it completely depends on the skill and patients of the ones running it. This lane has almost as much versatility as


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Kill Lane #4


Now this one is fun. Be wary however, as it works best with a








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