League of Legends Leona Guide: Best Build, Runes, Items, Combos

Leona is one of the most powerful tank supports in League of Legends, known for her crowd control-heavy kit and ability to lock down enemies for her team. With strong engage potential and great synergy with aggressive ADCs, Leona can dictate the pace of the laning phase and initiate fights with ease. In this guide, we’ll cover the best Leona build, runes, items, and combos to help you become a reliable frontline threat in every game. Whether you’re new to support or looking to master Leona’s aggressive playstyle, this guide has everything you need to dominate bot lane.

Leona Abilities Overview In League of Legends

Here’s a quick overview of Leona’s abilities in League of Legends:

Passive – Sunlight: Leona’s abilities mark enemies with Sunlight. When allied champions deal damage to marked enemies, the mark is consumed to deal bonus magic damage.

Q – Shield of Daybreak: Leona empowers her next basic attack to deal bonus magic damage and stun the target briefly. This is her primary tool for initiating trades or locking down priority targets.

W – Eclipse: Leona gains bonus armor and magic resist for a few seconds, then explodes, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies. If she hits an enemy, the bonus resistances are extended. It makes her tanky during engages.

E – Zenith Blade: Leona fires a sword of light in a line, damaging all enemies it passes through. She dashes to the last enemy hit and briefly roots them, setting up follow-up CC with Q.

R – Solar Flare: Leona calls down a beam of solar energy. Enemies in the center are stunned, while others around it are slowed. It’s a powerful teamfight ultimate and can also be used to catch fleeing enemies or peel for allies.

How To Play Leona In League of Legends

Best Summoner Spells For Leona

The best summoner spells for Leona are Flash and Ignite. Flash gives her the ability to make sudden, aggressive engages or escape tricky situations, especially when paired with Zenith Blade and Shield of Daybreak. Ignite adds kill pressure in lane, helping secure early takedowns and reduce enemy healing during all-ins. If you’re playing in a more defensive or scaling comp, Exhaust can also be a solid alternative to reduce damage from high-threat enemies like assassins.

Best Runes For Leona

The best runes for Leona are in the Resolve tree with Inspiration as the secondary:

Primary (Resolve):
• Aftershock – Grants bonus resistances and AoE damage after immobilizing enemies, perfect for Leona’s hard engage style.
• Font of Life – Marks enemies you impair, allowing allies to heal when attacking them.
• Bone Plating – Reduces damage from enemy burst when engaging.
• Unflinching – Grants tenacity and slow resistance after casting summoner spells, helping you stay in the fight longer.

Secondary (Inspiration):
• Hextech Flashtraption – Gives you playmaking potential even when Flash is down.
• Cosmic Insight – Reduces cooldowns for summoner spells and items, letting you engage more often.

Stat shards:
• +Health Scaling
• +Armor
• +Magic Resist or additional Armor (based on lane opponents)

This rune setup makes Leona tanky, sticky, and incredibly hard to deal with during engages.

Best Build For Leona

The best build for Leona focuses on tankiness and utility to maximize her ability to engage and peel for her team. Start with Steel Shoulderguards (support item) and Relic Shield upgrade path. Rush Plated Steelcaps or Mercury’s Treads based on enemy damage type. Your core items should be:
• Locket of the Iron Solari – Provides a team shield and solid resistances, perfect for teamfighting.
• Zeke’s Convergence – Boosts your synergy with your ADC or carry by adding bonus damage and slowing enemies near them.
• Knight’s Vow – Link to a squishy teammate to absorb some of their damage and gain sustain.

For situational items:
• Thornmail – If enemies have strong healing or heavy AD.
• Frozen Heart – Great versus auto attackers.
• Redemption – Adds utility and healing for extended teamfights.
• Anathema’s Chains – Use against a specific high-threat carry to reduce their damage and increase your CC effectiveness.

This build keeps Leona tanky while maximizing her role as an initiator and protector.

Best Combos To Learn For Leona

To play Leona effectively, the key is mastering her quick engage and lock-down combos. A simple and reliable combo is E (Zenith Blade) → Q (Shield of Daybreak) → Auto Attack. This instantly stuns your target after the dash and lets you follow up with damage. For a full engage, especially when you have your ultimate, use R (Solar Flare) → E → Q. Casting your ultimate first stuns or slows enemies, making it easier to land Zenith Blade and chain the stun with Shield of Daybreak. If you’re trying to surprise enemies, you can Flash right before your Q hits for a Flash + Q combo to instantly stun a priority target. Mastering these combos will let you consistently catch enemies off guard and peel or engage effectively for your team.

Conclusion

Leona is one of the most reliable engage supports in League of Legends, with a toolkit built around crowd control, tankiness, and playmaking. When played right with the best runes, build, and combos, she can dominate the laning phase and be the backbone of every teamfight. Whether you’re diving onto squishy backliners or peeling for your carries, Leona brings consistent impact to every game.