Leona/Strategy

Skill usage

 * Maximize 's potential by timing your skills to give allies enough time to consume each mark.
 * can be activated by any skill including DoT like.
 * can be used to help Leona destroy towers, or get last-hits as it resets her attack timer and deals bonus damage, even to structures.
 * With high natural CC, Leona can set up kills for her jungler even if they lack natural CC like.
 * If is hit by a knock-back while  is in flight, she will be knocked back, but then immediately blink to the last enemy hit by the skill, even though she has been knocked farther away.
 * Against champions with knockbacks or blinks, it is generally better to save until after they expend their distance-creating ability whenever possible.
 * A standard combo would be to activate at a distance and then use  to dash to an enemy champion, activating  in mid-flight.
 * Leona lanes well with aggressive teammates with powerful early-game harassment skills such as, and.
 * Conversely, Leona is a poor partner for lane-mates who require significant babysitting early game like, or.
 * When not voice-chatting with your lane-mate, activating can be a good signal to them that you are about to initiate your combo.
 * Place where it will hit as many enemies as possible, not only for the stun and 80% slow, but also to maximize  bonus damage.
 * The cooldown on the ability is fairly low, so don't be afraid to use it to set up kills or to save teammates.
 * It is a good idea to prioritize skill points into . It deals the most damage of any of your skills, and has the most significant bonuses upon level-up.
 * It is important to get a point in early to complete Leona's combo, but extra points in the ability aren't particularly noticeable.
 * Maxing after  is the best way to help Leona overcome her lackluster farming, enabling her to kill minion waves with one combo by level 9.
 * can be used even against enemies who you cannot see, making it good for chasing enemies who become invisible or flee into brush or over walls.
 * Remember, will not reveal a stealthed enemy so Leona will not be able to follow up with a, though  can still damage them.
 * Spell shields, like on will prevent Leona's abilities from applying . But they will not stop  from pulling Leona to her target or prevent  defense bonus.
 * Aim so that the desired target is the last enemy hit by the skill.
 * and can be used to mark minions with  to make it easier for your lane-mate to last-hit large waves, especially if they have AoE skills.
 * Beware casting near enemy towers; you can be pulled under the tower and take aggro.
 * projectile does have a travel time, so it is generally unwise to use the spell at the tip of its range since the enemy champion has time to dodge.
 * When laning, control the brush whenever possible as her ability to set up kills gives her excellent zoning.
 * If lane-mate is fed enough, and/or her laning partner is a good 1 v 2 champion (like ), she can begin roaming as soon as she purchases movement speed and at least 1 (if not 2) gold generating items.
 * Her massive CC allows her to set up kills easily, especially when is available.
 * When coordinating a roaming gank with your team's jungler, Leona's ganking ability is more potent.
 * abilities have a decent amount of base power, especially . Use this to your advantage to kill fragile characters who underestimate your burst damage.
 * has the ability to clear enemy wards just after their placement. Deal a basic attack, activate for another attack, and immediately issue an attack command afterwards.

Build usage

 * is described as a "pure tank", favoring builds that only emphasize her defensive stats.
 * Despite the fact that all of abilities scale with ability power, it is not suggested to build AP as she has low AP ratios and long cooldowns.
 * However, due to the fact that all of her abilities including her passive deal magical damage AND she tends to be in the center of the battle, is an acceptable choice.
 * In between her cooldowns, can be quite vulnerable early game and your opponents may decide to focus you down (especially when  often puts you behind enemy lines). Consider getting  early to make your enemies think twice about coming near you. It gives a nice chunk of defense and also helps with farming/pushing.
 * If you have, try to use its active ability while is up.  active increases in duration the higher your armor and magic resist is which  provides (the total armor and magic resist are taken into account).
 * It is recommended to build as much cooldown reduction as possible without hindering her survival items. The more CDR she has, the more she can spam her CC and tank for her team to clean up. Remember that the cap is 40% CDR.
 * ,, and fit this description perfectly.
 * resets attack timer and applies on-hit effects, so it will work with and . Since  has a base cooldown of (11/10/9/8/7) seconds, spacing out your ability usage is necessary to maximize Sheen procs. In lane, this can lead to very strong burst -  activates one proc on the way in and places  on your target and  resets your attack timer for another strike and reapplies.
 * Alternatively, you can get plenty cooldown reduction items (the cap being 40%) to bring down cooldown to 4.2 seconds at skill level 5.
 * Due to being melee range, having subpar farming and normally being paired with someone who needs last hits more than her, is a good choice on Leona.
 * Since Leona has no direct way to support her lane-mate, it may be beneficial to build an early to provide a health regeneration aura. The  can later be built into an  and eventually a  for further aura support.
 * Since provides Leona a high amount of armor and magic resist, even with no items, she will, generally, gain more of a survivability boost from items, runes and masteries which provide bonus health as opposed to more armor or magic resist.
 * effectiveness is heavily based on her ability to position herself correctly in team fights. Runes, masteries, spells and items which improve her mobility and/or increase her resistance to slows, stuns, etc. should be considered especially useful.
 * Leona can be built as an AD tank, due to her high armor stats when you use, you have two stuns (one with and the other with a well timed ). If you consider this build, you must buy  and  for CDR, durability, as well for getting a decent amount of health, mana, and attack damage.

Countering

 * In lane, will attempt a combo of  immediately followed by  to jump to you and  to stun and ensure Eclipse damage.
 * This combo is especially dangerous from brush - keep track of her.
 * hits a rather small area - staying at range will allow you to dodge it.
 * If uses  to farm minions, it can sometimes be advantageous to make it hit you - without her combo lined up, she doesn't hit too hard.
 * Stay mobile in order to make it harder for her to effectively initiate with and her combo.
 * Spread out to minimize how many people will be hit by the stun from, and possibly the entire ability.
 * Catch alone whenever possible, as she cannot make  deal damage without a partner.
 * Any damage from her lane partner will proc, greatly increasing damage taken. Avoid her partner's attacks, especially Damage over Time effects.
 * is hard to finish off in combat due to to bonus defensive stats of . Only commit to killing her if you are sure of victory.
 * largest source of personal damage comes from, which also provides her the most defense. Try to keep your distance from her when you see her activate it.
 * It is difficult to disengage from Leona, but once you do may be a fantastic gap closer, but the projectile speed and cast animation are slow enough that it makes it hard for Leona to effectively chase with it. Coupled with her low base movespeed, it is quite possible to escape Leona simply by running in a straight line away from her.
 * While laning, Leona is most effective when she can surprise her foes from the brush; warding your lane's brush can be a very effective way to shut down her zoning ability.
 * Be careful about using knockback abilities such as or  on  when she uses . If you fire before  starts her dash, she will be knocked back only to dash to the last enemy champion hit regardless. Instead, try to time the shot to hit just as she starts to dash, which will break her dash and knock her back, effectively canceling her gap closer.
 * Remember that places  behind her target with respect to her point of view on using . This can be exploited by knockback abilities to either throw her into one of your turrets, into your team, or to  her into a wall with proper positioning.

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