No Updates anymore - Outdated guide
Table of Content
Welcome to my
Leona Guide. Please read through the guide and tell me what you think or how it worked out for you!
I also stream on
www.twitch.tv/LoliconPriest - on this channel there will also be videos included into this guide. Stay tuned! (Sadly, I won't be streaming until we move in some months!)
I hope you can learn something and have fun with the guide!
Keep in mind that there will be more changes coming with S4, alot of updating will be done!
Pros
+Great Initiation
+Great Peeling
+Very Tanky
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Leona is a natural tank. She can soak up alot of damage and assist her mates. Leona's skills increase the overall damage of your team due to her passive. Her long CC combo can lock down high prioriy targets for a whole teamfight.
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Cons
If you miss CC with Leona the possibility of a counterstrike will be very high. Apart from your CC you do not have any other means to be a real threat.
Be careful and aim properly or retreat as fast as possible!
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-No Sustain
-Low Movementspeed
-Missing CC can backfire
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Runesetup #1 Standard/Defensive

Click for detailed explaination
These will grant you 9 flat armor and help you survive harrass.
In addition to the Marks this will lead into having +21 armor at level 1
But there is not only the ADC on the bottom lane, therefore, we go for some magic resist.
+13 flat MR at level 1!
Health is the most efficient defensive stat in the game.
Without any extra HP the resistances you get from items and runes will not be as strong as their potential in combination with HP. +78flat HP at level 1 will give you the edge to maximum tankyness in early levels.
Runesetup #2 Offensive/Kill-Lane

Click for detailed explaination
This is a little addition to the Marks. 1% critical chance can turn the tide of a fight or put you even more ahead. It is a little gamble, but the sacrifice is minimalistic, so there is no reason to not take it!
+7,6 AD to help you bash those squishies on bottom lane!
Even if you are on a kill lane, defensive stats are always a need. Otherwise you will die instead!
Same reason as for the Seals, you want to survive in order to kill!
Using these together with the Marks, the total extra AD will be you +14, your hits are going to hurt!
Runesetup #1 or Runesetup #2?
Which setup to use is up to your preferences and plans on bottom lane.
However, if you are new to supporting, I suggest using Runesetup #1 as they can be used for every support and will help you get a hang of the role.
Ohterwise you can look into the Matchup-Section and take Runesetup #2 on every support labeled as Easy-Medium!
Defensive Choice 00-21-09

Take 00-21-09 if...
Take this setup if you are new to
Leona or are unsure about the other choices.
If you expect heavy harrass and a bad laning phase, this is perfect.
But this also works the other way around, if you want to fight alot this setup is great aswell!
Defensive Gold Income Choice 00-13-17

Take 00-13-17 if...
Take this setup if you are expecting a farm lane with alot of back and forth trading, the extra points in defence will help to reduce the incoming damage while still having the maximum gold income
Utility Gold Income Choice 00-09-21

Take 00-09-21 if...
Take this setup if you are expecting a farm lane with less to no trading. This mastery setup will give you more utility and gold while having the minimum of defence to survive!
Start
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Start with 3 Stealth Ward.
You can only have up to 3 Stealth Wards placed, including your Stealth Ward, but this will give you the possibility to stay longer and have a better early game coverage.
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You can only place 1 Vision Ward per player in a team. It is visible to the enemy, but reveals enemy wards in sight. Place it on spots where your enemies can either not go or are being zoned from.
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Stealth Ward lets you place a 60 second Stealth Ward. You can freely use this to gain vision in lane. As a coverage ward for defense against a jungler, this is sadly insufficient.
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Rush ASAP
Rush one of the following:
Targon's Brace |
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Get this ASAP if you are thinking of extending the laning phase and most importantly if your ADC also picks it up!
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This upgrades into a Talisman of Ascension which gives your team a movementspeed buff. It can be used for both chasing and escaping. The active also helps your team to catch up after your initiation.
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Other Core Items
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Locket of the Iron Solari will be picked up by your jungler most of the time. If not feel free to pick it up. It gives a shield to nearby allies, which makes up for Leona's lacking sustain.
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Guardian Angel is a great choice. Having it up will drop alot of focus off of you and you will have more space to move.
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Boots
Oracle's Lense
Mobile solution to destroy enemy wards.
Very useful for a team and against a team with fast movement and rotation.
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Greater Vision Totem
Durable ward that is never going to run out unless it gets destroyed.
Therefore, it is mostly used for defensive warding in your own jungle/spots that are not common to past by often.
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Passive
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Sunlight applies a debuff on all enemies hit by any skill of Leona. If anyone else in your team, excluding Leona, attack the same target, the Sunlight debuff will explode and deal additional magic damage.
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Q
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Shield of Daybreak makes your next basic attack stun the target. Look into the Skill Combo section to learn more!
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W
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Eclipse grants you bonus armor and magic resist for 3 seconds. After the 3 seconds are over, it will explode and deal damage to nearby enemies. If you hit anything with the explosion the duration will be extended by another 3 seconds!
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E
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Zenith Blade is a skillshot that will pull yourself behind the last hit target. Keep that in mind to avoid initiations you did not want!
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Ability Sequence |
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Maxing
Eclipse first is the most efficient way to spent your skill points.
Due to the extra armor and megic resist plus the damage and the slow you can easily win trades in lanes. None of the other 2 skills can live up to
Eclipse in lane.
After that
Shield of Daybreak wil be maxed, the cooldown will be decreased which allows you to stun more often in a fight.
Zenith Blade only has its use for initiation and making plays. The damage is very low and the aoe small.
LOGO
or
A simple rule to choose between
Exhaust or
Ignite is the amount of assassins in the enemy team you need to keep away from your carry. Even one assassin can screw your ADC over.
Which means:
Assassins in enemy team? YES -
Exhaust
Assassins in enemy team? NO -
Ignite
If you are using Runesetup #2
Ignite is recommended, it will boost your kill potential alot.
Take
Ignite despite the enemy team having an assassin if you are confident to win the lane and keep said assassin down or kill him before he becomes a threat!
LOGO
Note for all combos!
One very important part about comboing with
Leona is letting your AD Carry pop every
Sunlight stack when possible. Of course some AD Carrys can do that better than others. But always try!
Triple-Hit-Combo
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This is something you may need to practice, at least when using it against Wards.
This also helps alot in early such as level 1 engages on bottomlane where you have the surprise effect on your side
Level 2 Engage Combo
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Usually you can use
Shield of Daybreak before using
Zenith Blade so your combo becomes faster.
This can also be used as a counter engage. If the enemy support uses crowd control on your ADC, jump on the enemy ADC to minimize their damage. Afterall you do not have any sustain or defensive skills.
Level 3 Engage Combo
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This is basically the same as the Level 2 Engage Combo. The only difference is that you now have your
Eclipse which makes this combo way stronger than the Level 2 Engange Combo. You cast
Eclipse before
Zenith Blade or
Shield of Daybreak because it takes 3 seconds to explode. This way you can achieve a high burst damage.
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This is the level 6 combo with
Zenith Blade as the initiation skill. Try to chain the cc as long as possible. Don't use every stun / slow at once. Do them one by one.
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This is basically the same as the Level 6
Zenith Blade engage. But you start with a
Solar Flare to pin them down and catch up to them. So in general you use this combo to chase enemies, or catch enemies that are too far away for a
Zenith Blade combo.
LOGO
Early Laning
The early game is all about getting an advantage on farm and money.
Try to utilize every
Relic Shield stack and push the very first wave to their tower. At this point most junglers will not be ready to gank, yet.
By pushing the first wave to the enemy tower you will be level 2 before them, trading now will result in a heavy win for your lane and basically win the lane.
Mid Game
The fierst Tier 3 towers are starting to fall. Gain control over dragon and keep up your 3/3 wards on the map.
Since you cannot spam wards, stay with your ADC and get more money with
Targon's Brace.
Little skirmishes will break out, use your vision wisely to win these.
Late Game
Due to your gold income with
Face of the Mountain, you are pretty much one of the tankiest people in the game now.
Your
Eclipse scales with your maximum armor and magic resist, making it incredibly strong lategame.
Your focus now should be:
Catch enemies that are out of position > Peel and Protect your ADC > Initiate
If your team does not have another main initatior, it is your job. In that case, initiate a fight with one of the combos in the combo section above and then back off to peel and protect your ADC!
Warding
You are only able to put up 3
Stealth Ward and 1
Vision Ward.
Here is a map of possible locations. The limited amount of wards force you to use them according to the situation. Ask your team to use their ward-limit aswell to cover as much as possible:
Ward Placement
Depending on the situation you might have to sacrifice vision for vision on some other spot.
Here are some exmaples that show the vision given by wards in the same spot but with different placement (click on the picturs for a bigger size):

This ward placed at Blue almost grants no vision.
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This one on the other hand reveals the paths and the Bluebuff at the same time.
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Both of these Wards are good. But depending on the vision you want you can place it the way you need.
When warding a brush, it is wise to ward deeper inside of it, than at the edge.
Otherwise you will lose the actual vision inside of the brush.
Only ward the edges if you want to gain vision on spots behind the brush or its entrance!
LOGO
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Difficulty: Easy
 Spoiler: Click to view
You are a counter to this Champion. Whenever he hooks you, you counter initiate on his ADC or him. To add more pressure on him as a natural counter, tell your ADC to push the lane. This might sound dumb, but a Blitzcrank without any control over the bottom-lane cannot land any good hooks, as your minions will always be pushing and blocking a wide area, preventhing him from taking action. Of course this also makes your bottomlane vulnerable to ganks and you are running into the risk of getting grabbed under tower.
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Difficulty: Easy
 Spoiler: Click to view
He is similar to Blitzcrank. You can counter initatie everytime he tries to take action. But be aware of his Flay, since it can stop your Zenith Blade. The only way he can do something against you is his range, he has a 475 auto-attack range which makes it easier for him to harrass you early on. Do not let that happen and try to avoid losing HP for no reason.
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Difficulty: Medium
 Spoiler: Click to view
Her Whimsy can turn you into a squirrel while you are flying towards them with Zenith Blade. But keep in mind that it will not stop you form landing onto your target, where you can continue your combo. However, her Wild Growth can stop your advance with Zenith Blade.
Especially her early game is stronger than yours. The range with Pix, Faerie Companion and Glitterlance will keep you back and sometimes even low on health. But if you can turn the tides and punish Lulu for overextending while harrassing, the lane becomes yours.
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Difficulty: Easy
 Spoiler: Click to view
Sona has one of the lowest base armor and the lowest base HP in game. She can do nothing against your engages pre-6 and even afterwards she will most likely miss you with her Crescendo, since Zenith Blade places you at the last target hit and behind the target. You can easily use Sona as material to feed your ADC.
The only advantage she might have is her range early on. Stay away unless you want to start a fight!
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Difficulty: Hard
 Spoiler: Click to view
Alistar is a beefy support with alot if disrupting CC. His Ultimate Unbreakable Will reduces all damage done to him and frees/makes him immune to all sorts of CC.
In lane it is hard to engage on him or his ADC due to his Pulverize and Headbutt.
After you hit him with Zenith Blade he will Pulverize and then Headbutt you back without you achieving anything. If you hit his ADC with Zenith Blade he will immediately Headbutt> Pulverize combo you and stop the engage.
Additionally to his immense counter mechanics he can heal with Triumphant Roar, which means he will outsustain you at some point.
To outplay him, I'd suggest to either:
- Keep him low on health so he would not dare to jump in
- Save your Zenith Blade to bait his CC
- Do not use Solar Flare when his CC is up
- Do not focus him, unless there is no other possible way
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Difficulty: Hard
 Spoiler: Click to view
Janna is a ranged support with the potential to negate Leona's burst with her Eye of the Storm. She can stop Zenith Blade with Howling Gale and gives her team alot of movementspeed due to her passive Tailwind and even more movementspeed to herself with Zephyr.
Her ultimate Monsoon resets any aggressions towards her team and misplaces you due to the push-away.
When your Zenith Blade is on cooldown, Janna will easily kite you with Zephyr and Howling Gale. She can stop your engage with Solar Flare by simply using Monsoon. This can even put you into a dangerous spot if you used Zenith Blade, since you might be pushed into the enemy tower and away from your ADC.
To win the lane against her:
- Bait her Howling Gale by using Shield of Daybreak and just running towards her, then dodge it and engage with Zenith Blade afterwards.
- Janna is a squishy champion, her Eye of the Storm gives additional AD to the target she used it on. Burst it down to negate the effect.
- Wait for Eye of the Storm to end before engaging, because it will still be on cooldown and nothing else can negate your burst.
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LOGO
14.08.2013 / 11:17pm
- Deleted everything about Jungling
- Changed runes and Core items for both Supportbuilds
15.08.2013 / 00:38am
- Added Boots to the Items section
15.10.2013 / 00:22am
- Changed Cheat Sheet Items
- Changed skillorder
- Changed Items-Chapter
- Cleaned the Chapters
- Switched positions in the Combo-Chapter
- Added Blitzcrank, Thresh, Lulu, Sona to the Matchup-Chapter
15.10.2013 / 10:42am
- Added Alistar and Janna to the Matchup-Chapter
27.11.2013 / 05:41pm
- General S4 Update
- Oracle's Lens vs. Warding Totem added
30.11.2013 / 03:00pm
- Overall Guide Update with new formatting
22.01.2014 / 03:00pm
- Updates stopped, not playing Support anymore
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