The Leona changes were very bad for her

Valhalla Rising··2 votes·794 views

The goal was to make her late game better but at the cost of her early game, which is counter productive because she needed to bully the early game to transition in to the late game with a lead

Now that she cant bully nearly as well she is more likely to lose lane than bully it, which in turn makes her weak late game, so the changes are really pure nerfs.

Lets break it down, flat damage nerfs to her Passive, Q, W, and ultimate, in exchange for what?

Shorter CD on Q, well, if she doesnt make her first Q count shes probably a sitting duck and gonna die so thats not worth a damage nerf. She doesnt need the extra range so take that back and return the damage plz. Plus they fixed a bug that made her stun a bit longer than intended which is technically a nerf since shes had that for as long as I can remember.

What else, oh her E roots .25 seconds longer, big deal...

And now she has this really pointless on hit damage that is only active for 5 seconds after casting her biggest spell. So basically they made it so she needs to be in a vulnerable position/all-in every time she wants to make the full use of her ult.

Bad bad bad. revert revert revert. fix fix fix.

As far as im concerned Leona is more viable in a solo lane or jungle where she can just farm her way to the late game when she finally turns on.

As far as the supp role goes, too much risk for too little reward, t3 supp at best.

5 Comments

WoonStruck2 votes

I find her a lot more successful in solo lanes/jungle compared to support.

Even if you're stuck just soaking EXP, you're extremely strong in teamfights. Still more gold/exp than as support.

You have a rough early game, but maxing Q gives you good teamfight DPS for your Sunfire+IBG+Abyssal combo, no matter which two of the three you end up going first.

If you jungle her, rush cinder+sheen, starting item 1041 item 2031 (+60 damage every Q and 20+ dps, which is far more than item 1039)). This makes your clearing surprisingly fast without giving up too much tankiness, since you have your W and SotA via jungling. You'll often want to start your first camp smiteless, if your bot lane is willing. If not, gromp->blue->scuttle->wolves. Krug side is never really an issue, but that extra clear speed from your bot lane is too invaluable to give up.

If you lane her, start item 2033. It lets you out-trade a lot of people, especially if you Q, delay (until they're starting to get away from melees), E, Q off C them in a minion wave with it. If you're vs Quinn, Ryze, Darius, Riven, Lulu, you're going to be soaking EXP for a while, but you should be able to last hit fine under tower, especially if you went 0/12/18. Freezing lane in front of it is exceptionally strong on her, since she locks down for ganks exceedingly well. item 3027 artificially inflates her tankiness an absurd amount if you can afford to grab it early without being set back. If not, oh well. Grab DMP and come closer to 1 shotting that carry.

You end up doing 2/3 of most carry's life with her initial burst (Abyssal alone makes her far outdamage her old iteration, while also offering 60 MR), and can often follow-up with another Q -> E -> Q to finish them off. That's not even considering her pick potential and general utility of her kit throughout the game.

Best part is that if you fall behind for whatever reason, it doesn't really matter. You have Leona's utility with essentially no drawbacks and your ADC has someone else that can peel for them without having to all-in. All of her weaknesses are mitigated, and she fills top/jungle roles' jobs exceedingly well now with the amped dps via Q max and retarded itemization anyone that has a gold income can use.

redfeenix1 votes

Thanks !

Caítlyn1 votes

Are you kidding? All I saw was they buffed all her CC durations AND lowered the cds. Like wtf?

Best Darius KR1 votes

They nerfed almost everything to in turn buff her ult.

Chamuel851 votes

I agree the changes ended up being a hefty nerf. Leona does pretty much need a lead to stay relevant as a support. As an all in melee support, she lacks the sort of tankiness Alistar R, Nautilus W (The shield right?), or Braum E will give you. Her W doesn't give very many stats at all until late game. If she's not ahead by then, she'll be too squishy to even do her job correctly. Because tank items are cost at "Full income" amounts, a low income role will have a terrible time trying to afford them at a rate that you'll need them to keep up with the other damage items in the game.

That being said I think that she's viable... but only if you know your ADC and play with them... Otherwise it's way too risky to play Leona with someone you do not know. Unless the ADC is right up there with you when you go in, you'll feed, or you'll end up doing nothing because you never try going in to battle!

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