In my opinion Leona is a true carry support and she she can snowball the game incredibly hard. Her CC is unsurpassed, with Eclipse she is extremely tanky, and with a small amount of ability power she can put out a surprisingly large amount of damage.

I love playing Leona and in solo ranked I currently have a 64% win ratio so I thought I would put this guide together, hope you enjoy it :).

Leona is very strong against low HP champions which lack any good escapes ( Ashe, Varus, Vayne). She is also strong against low HP supports which have to land skill shots ( Nidalee, Lux, Zyra). Leona is weak against champions with escapes ( Ezreal, Tristana, Corki) and high poke supports ( Sona, Lulu). Most other lanes are a skill match up.

Pros

• Huge amounts of CC
• Very tanky with her Eclipse
• Decent early/mid game damage which surprises many players
• A carry support which can win bot lane

Cons

• A melee champ so vulnerable to poke
• Doesn't have any sustain
• Pretty useless when enemy pushed under tower (e.g. in a Caitlyn lane)

Before we get into skills etc. it's important that you go into Leona games with the right mindset. Leona is an extremely aggressive support and must be played aggressively if you are to have success. If you play a passive farm lane with Leona then you are wasting your time and will fall behind later in the game.

Leona can straight up duel many ADC at level 3 and she has so much CC at level 6 that you can lock a champion down for about 3 or 4 seconds before they can even flash, let alone retaliate. Early game before the big items arrive, Leona should be the first one into a fight and the last one to leave.

I take standard flat armour seals on every single champion because they are OP and help win early game trades

I take scaling MR glyphs because it's unlikely I will ever get to build any MR items so this stops me getting one-hit nuked by their solo laner

I take Magic Pen marks because I want to give my abilities a little bit of extra bite when we go for a fight. This combines well with the Kage's Lucky Pick to give some decent early/mid game damage potential.

I take 2 gold quints and 1 movement quint. Gold quints are important on support to help your income but I like to take 1 movement quint too which when combined with my speedy boots help me escape bad situations when warding.

I always take Exhaust to win the lane fights. If you want to go mega aggressive you could take Ignite but it's a risk and you're pretty much screwed if you lose the first engagement

Flash is just OP because it is so strong offensively and defensively. I wouldn't recommend Ghost on Leona because she has no use for it and none of the other summoners are that strong right now.

I would say Exhaust/ Flash is pretty much mandatory.

Leona's passive is what makes her such a deadly support since it means that your ADC will hit with increased damage once your CC train starts. In team fights if you are able to detonate Eclipse in the middle of the enemy back line then your team is going to hit like a truck.

For me this ability is a good one-point wonder although many Leona players like to max it early. It provides a nice 1.25 second stun to your next auto attack and also does a decent amount of damage scaling off AP.

One important part of this skill is that the bonus magic damage applies to enemy base structures so remember to use it as often as possible when pushing down towers or inhibitors.

This is Leona's most powerful ability and what makes her such a tanky monster early game. The shield element of the ability provides a HUGE amount of armour and resistance early game which allows Leona to 2v1 the enemy ADC and support.

Once the shield detonates it provides a pretty powerful AOE nuke which also applies the Sunlight debuff to any enemy champion or minion caught in the blast.

You should max this skill second (after Solar Flare) since it improves both Leona's defensive and offensive capabilities.

Also remember that the shield lasts for an additional 3 seconds if you catch an enemy in the blast radius so you don't need to run away as soon as it pops.

This is Leona's defining ability and usually signals the beginning of a fight! Zenith Blade has a number of uses:

• Primarily you will use it to initiate a fight by landing it on an enemy champion and then chaining your other abilities
• When chasing a weakened enemy you can use it to gap close and stun them for the kill
• Provides decent wave clear / farming potential, especially when used in combination with Eclipse
• If you are stuck behind enemy lines then you can escape with Zenith Blade by targeting a distant enemy champion.
• You can also help your ADC escape ganks when pushed up lane by jumping back to the enemy jungler and stunning them while your ADC runs for the tower

It is important to remember that Zenith Blade locks onto the LAST enemy champion it reaches. This means that it can be fired through the minion line to reach an enemy champion without the skill shot being blocked. It also means that you need to be very aware of the range of the animation and be careful not to "overshoot" by hitting a target standing behind your desired target.

I usually max Zenith Blade third because it improves my ability to wave clear and also lowers the cooldown so I can spam this a bit more (it's not about the kills, it's about sending a message)

Leona's ultimate stacks even more CC on what is already a CC heavy champion, turning Leona into the ultimate killing (kill securing) machine.

Although solar flare has a large radius it is actually a surprisingly difficult ultimate to land correctly because only a small area in the centre of the target area will stun the target. usually you will have to lead moving targets and be wary that there is a brief charge up animation before the effect detonates so you need to factor that in.

Mastering Leona is all about mastering her ultimate because it can literally be game changing if you catch a number of enemy champions. Solar Flare can be used offensively to secure a kill or defensively to provide disengage or escape. Usually I will hold onto Solar Flare until my target/s have blown their main escape tools and then use it for the re-engage.

However if a number of enemies line up then just loose it off first and then run in to follow up with Shield of Daybreak (saving Zenith Blade for the re-engage)

Finally, Solar Flare completes the tri-force of Leona's farming abilities since it provides pretty decent wave clear. If you need to kill a lot of minions in a hurry then Zenith Blade into Eclipse into Solar Flare will usually do the trick.

I take a point in Zenith Blade at level 1 because it helps with chasing and kill securing during the early invades/counter invades/damage trades. Some people prefer to start with Q but the problem here is that for level 2 trades you really need Zenith Blade (for the engage) and Eclipse (for the pseudo tankiness) which means starting Q really nerfs your ability to engage until level 3.

After that I put a point in each ability before focussing on Eclipse since this helps me be a tanky bastard.

At level 6 I stick a point in Solar Flare before maxing Eclipse and then levelling up Zenith Blade

Finally I stick my remaining points in Shield of Daybreak.

pre-level 6 Bread and Butter Combo

The standard Leona combo is to charge your Eclipse shield and then gap close onto the enemy with your Zenith Blade then immediately stun them with your Shield of Daybreak. If timed correctly then your Eclipse should pop shortly after the stun wears off.

This combo usually works better if you begin from the fog of war (either hiding in a bush or over ledge) otherwise Eclipse will provide a clue to your intentions.

pre-level 6 Re-engage Combo

An alternative combo when the enemy has an escape ( Ezreal, Tristana) is to engage with Shield of Daybreak and then charge Eclipse. Once your enemy escapes use Zenith Blade to re-engage and if timed correctly your shield should pop shortly after it lands.

If you are against a really slippery champion ( Corki) then sometimes it is worth Flash engaging with Shield of Daybreak so you can already cover some distance before they use their escape, ensuring your are in range for the Zenith Blade follow up

post level 6 combo

Post level 6 your combo is the same but now you have the option of using Solar Flare either to initiate or to re-initiate.

For initiation, pop Solar Flare and then go straight in for Shield of Daybreak, using Zenith Blade to re-engage as before once they use their escape.

Alternatively, engage with Zenith Blade then use Solar Flare to stun them again once they use their escape, giving you time to close the distance before using Shield of Daybreak to lock them down for the kill.

In both cases, you need to time Eclipse correctly so that it detonates during either the engage or re-engage. This just takes practise so keep playing until you can nail it.

when to use exhaust

Similar to Eclipse this just takes practise. I usually use Exhaust during the re-engage if I expect the target to escape however if they have no escapes I will use it as soon as the initial burst of CC has ended.

Try not to use Exhaust at the start of the combo because this is a huge waste (your target cannot attack anyway). Similarly, remember to time your abilities and not spam them out all in one go. ideally you are looking to extend the duration that the target is stunned, giving your ADC/team plenty of time to burst them down.

Don't forget to auto-attack

At early levels Leona's mighty sword deals pretty significant damage so remember to auto attack as often as possible in between your abilities. Usually the enemy ADC will ignore you but after you start chunking their health bar they will soon realize their mistake. At this point your cooldowns will be back up and you can make them pay for their ignorance.

This is a solo queue build so we're focussing here on income rather than vision control. You won't have any mana problems with Leona so take the Rejuvenation Bead for some sustain and to work towards your philosopher's stone.

The Health Potion allows you to trade at level 2 and let them know you mean business. Jump in, do some damage, but only commit to the fight if you know you 100% have a kill. Afterwards just heal up using your pot

The wards are self explanatory.

One of the reason Leona is so good for solo queue is that she synergises so well with the early game support items:


philosopher's stone gives you plenty of regen so you can keep damage trading with the enemy laners. It also provides decent gold income when combined with...

kage's lucky pick gives you a nice little burst of AP so your attacks really start to hurt the enemy ADC. With both these GP items your gold will start flowing in, giving you a strong transition into the mid game

Because your Sightstone is delayed you will have to stock up on regular sight wards for the time being. I prefer to delay my sightstone and get my income rolling first before I buy it. I've not done the math but I would hope that picking up my GP10 items first will ultimately reduce the cost of the whole build (since I have them longer) and in solo Q I find that you can get by with regular sight wards for the first few minutes of the game.

With Leona you are hoping to achieve such dominance in lane that even if the enemy support starts with pink wards they will never actually get the opportunity to leave lane and sweep your wards without risking a 2v1 fight.

Now your money is flowing in you will be able to pick up your Ruby Sightstone and Mobility Boots pretty quickly. These items are standard OP support items and self-explanatory.

At this stage in the game you may also need an Oracle's Elixir but just play it by ear. If my wards are not being destroyed then usually I skip it but if the enemy support is clearing all of my vision then I usually invest in an early elixir. My philosophy is more to provide vision for my team rather than deny vision (except around the neutral objectives)

If the game goes really late then generally I like to build Leona as a disruption tank whilst not neglecting my support responsibilities.


Shurelya's Battlesong and Mikael's Blessing are classic support items and pretty much self explanatory.

Sunfire Aegis is a luxury item if you go really big in lane. It helps Leona farm and makes her dives even more scary. If you're building this before the 25 min mark then you've already won the game.

Locket of the Iron Solari is strong when they are running a lot of AP champs or assassins. If they have no AP then sometimes I prefer to work towards a Randuin's Omen instead (although we're talking really late game here).

It is often worth selling your Mobility Boots for some more defensive boots.

I will always sell kage's lucky pick before the end game so I have more space in my inventory for wards. If you want some damage then Rylai's Crystal Scepter is an option but I think of this as a "game is already" won kind of item, certainly not appropriate for most games.

Leona is a strong, versatile champion that can easily snowball bottom lane and bully out the enemy AD Carry. If you want to climb the solo queue ladder, then Leona can show you the light :)