[2.6a] Leona Guide - Bruiser/Tank Leona

Disclaimer: this will not talk about how to play Leona. If you are new, I suggest Excoundrel’s Leona guide to learn her abilities and how to use them, it is very informative. The build he provides, in my opinion, is outdated, but you can try it to see how it works for you. However, I feel strongly this build is more effective in the long run. If you have already done that, then play some games with her or go into Practice Mode. Doing this gives you a better understanding of her abilities and a better understanding of her limitations. Also, this build is a late game build. So it is good to remember that, because comebacks are possible with this build even if you may have given up more kills than you wanted to in the early game. She is an All-In champion, make sure your all-ins are worth. This guide is for the item and rune choices and why I choose them.

Let’s begin with the runes.

Aftershock for the keystone should be pretty self explanatory. Gives you a boost in armor and magic resist when you immobilize an enemy, then deals damage based on your health around you. This is naturally the best rune for her since she is a tank, and her abilities provide a lot of CC, so triggering Aftershock is super easy.

Triumph is chosen primarily for the heal on takedowns. Most players run Weakness in this spot for obvious reason, but when you are climbing, it feels very hard to be matched up with players who understand how to play WITH a Leona, so yes, Triumph is a selfish pick in this slot. You’ll see more selfish picks as you continue reading. This makes you tanky even with assists thanks to the heal on takedowns. The extra damage from that allows you to finish off opponents more easily, so you can get kills easier, which mean you get more gold, which gets turned into more items.

Conditioning has really two purposes. 1: it makes you tankier late game, and 2: it allows your Eclipse and Aftershock to scale better into the late game as well. This is just good synergy with Leona. Second Wind or Hunter Titan can be taken alternatively based on lane matchup and enemy team comp.

Hunter-Genius is, again, a selfish pick. If you get takedowns, you get more CD. More CD means you can use your abilities more. Using your abilities make you more valuable to your team. If you do not have or are not sure of the reliability of your teammates, I recommend Pack Hunter for the sake of a little more consistency and gold for items, or Manaflow Band to boost Winter’s Approach and more spam freedom.

Now for the item choices.

Sunfire Aegis and Thornmail are standard on Leona because you are a tank. Sunfire Aegis gives you more ability haste and health. Thornmail gives ability haste, health, armor, and antiheal. Antiheal is key since everyone has some sort of healing at most points of the game, especially when they have a Nami or other healing supports. 95% of games these are the first two items in your build.

I almost always get Mercurys Treads for the MR and Tenacity. The Tenacity is important because if you are stunned or locked down by any CC, you can’t use your abilities, you are a sitting duck and you are useless to your team. But, if the enemy comp is AD, then you have to get Steelcaps. It is too valuable in those situations.The enchantment is situational, however I typically get Redemption since it is easy to use and is very good in team fights. Locket is another good enchantment to use as well or Stoneplate, though I don’t recommend Stoneplate as much as the other two mentioned.

Yes, you will probably get flamed for building a Tear of the Goddess item, but Winter’s Approach has way more value than most players give credit for. Now you should build it later for two reasons. 1: Tear of the Goddess stacks actually come to you very easily when you are in mid to late game, because you will be spamming your abilities most of the time. 2: the amount of health and ability haste it grants you is too much to ignore along with a massive mana pool to spam abilities even more. Also that shield it provides at max stacks is really nice. Don’t overlook this item.

Now the last two items are some what situational. In most games, I go Spirit Visage for the extra healing it provides, which is nice since you are running Triumph, the MR and ability haste it also gives you. Warmog’s Armor as last item is so you do not have to rely on going back to base nearly as often since you heal on Warmogs passive. Also gives ability haste, which is always nice.

To give you an idea of how effective this build is, after building Winter’s Approach as your third core item, you will nearly be able to keep Eclipse up indefinitely. At full build, Eclipse CAN stay up indefinitely, and that is a very powerful feeling.

All in all, this build is a selfish build for a selfless reason. You are a tanky support, and you need to take most of the damage given by the opposition. If you die or are not able to use your abilities, then you are a liability to the team. If you are still alive and can still use your abilities, you are doing your job and you are valuable to the team. 

Have fun with it and hope it helps you in your climb as a Leona Support