Leona AP or AD?

Elite4Runner·12/13/2019, 4:56:53 PM·1 votes·2,597 views

I think Leona is an interesting case. She definitely prioritizes defensive stats, but I think you generally end up with a little bit of offense as well. With the changes to support items, you have the option of Steel Shoulderguards or Relic Shield. I'm curious what the preference is. Her abilities have no actual AD scaling, but her AP scalings don't seem to matter so much because she doesn't really function as a burst damage support / tank. The utility from her abilities allow for her to cc and duel her target with basic attacks, which benefit from AD.

Correct me if I'm wrong about this, ..

From my perspective, AP is best if your carry / team is able to burst your target down quickly and don't require drawn out fights. Otherwise, AD improves her ability to deal sustained damage through basic attacks over an extended fight.

17 Comments

CaptainAntiHeroz12/13/2019, 5:08:47 PM2 votes

item 3748 item 3078 item 3110 item 3053 item 3065 item 3111

ez win

CaptainAntiHeroz12/13/2019, 5:23:58 PM1 votes

If im supporting I take item 3858 simply because all my abilities are ap including my passive, but if i ever actually build damage its ad bruiser because AP leona isn't good enough especially considering if you want an ap tanky champ you just go THE ROCK Malphite and do better than leona would

Modnar Erom12/13/2019, 5:48:33 PM1 votes

AD is generally too expensive as support (especially these days). If you are way ahead, you can afford it, but if you are way ahead you can just style on them regardless of build. Or if you are playing leona in a solo lane / jungle, AD is good.

AP is also not great unless vs a bunch of squishies. Against tanks or bruisers, you just become a CC bot (and there are better choices at that point).

If you want to have some kill potential vs squishies, just go iceborn into tank. If it goes lategame, and you have the cash and really feel like you need the extra damage, then titanic.

Warmogs is super useful if you don't have Ocean. Allows you to initiate tower dives / fights, back out, and regen back to full.

HideSide12/13/2019, 5:59:57 PM1 votes

Leona deserves spells update, has so big unused potential she can become trough rework.

Linna Excel12/13/2019, 6:13:50 PM1 votes

I kind of wish riot would give her AD scalings on her Q and E at least. Maybe even her passive.

Since we aren't talking about aram specifically and I'm assuming you are talking about support leona instead of jungle/top, buying damage for her is rough. TF gives her a lot of stats and the passives work well with her, but it's too expensive for a support. People get an Iceborn early instead, which I understand, but you really shouldn't be getting armor/mr before getting HP.

https://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/items/leona

Generally speaking, buying offensive items at all seems to hurt her, or else they aren't popular enough to really talk about. Statistically only BC,TF, and frozen mallet have a good winrate on her. She really needs to buy beef and doesn't have the income to go damage.

Darkdemon65312/13/2019, 6:18:33 PM1 votes

Don't build offense on Leona. If you have to do it to satisfy some primal urge, don't go beyond Frozen Fist.

Sire Hippington12/13/2019, 7:41:49 PM1 votes

Maybe i'm a bit biased from playing toplane leona, but for me it's 100% AD. Sure, she doesn't have direct ad-scaleings, but her AP scaleings are REALLY low aswell, and what most people don't know is that her Q doesn't just reset her AA once, but actually twice(if you rightclick your target imideatly after the shield bash, you will get another AA-reset for a quick triple hit). This means she actually has a high ad/on-hit ratio on that Q if fully used. Also, for early bot fights, you rarlly have full 100-0 bursts, most fights are a bit more scrappy, and with her high CDs, ad has just sooo much more value in extendet fights

Also, some quick math on her burst if we asume you land E, follow with AA-q-AA and then get another AA of thx to the stun. This would mean her combo has a total ad and on-hit ratio of 4.0 The total AP ratio of her q+w+e+ is 1.1, and unless you use E befor the engage(whiich usually is a stupid idea cause it warns your opponents that you are looking for an engage) you will have 0.4 of that ratio only after 3 sec dealay, which means you could add in another ~2-3 AAs to increase the total ad-ratio to 6-7

If we are very generous to AP, we throw in the ult and say you only get off 6 AAs in the fight, which makes it a 6.0 ad ratio vs 1.9 AP Now if we look at the support items, it's 24 ad vs 40AP, so the AD-one gives 144 damage to the all-in while the AP one only adds 76, so the ad one is nearly twice as much damage! Now there are some other advantages for AP as it's magic damage and mr overall is lower than armor, and it's on aoe. However, your goal usually is to lock down and burst a priority target, so the aoe part isn't a big deal, and AD also does allot more after your combo is on CD, especially since the only low CD skill has basically a 2.0 ad ratio thx to the resets.

Also, if you look for an damage option as support, there are 3 items to look at: item 3025 , good defense and utillity, but also nice extra damage on the Qs for a reasonable price(rather high end for support, but not totally out of reach) item 3050 , lots of damage potential and extra cc for lowish costs, but requires your carry to actually follow up on your engage, so not always usefull in soloQ item 3001 , if you have solid magic damage followup from your team, the 15% amp is massive. However, the high cost means it's only a good option if fed or if your team has high magic damge, aswell as your opponents so you also get high value from the MR Fun fact: the 15% amp gives leonas combo upt to 120damage from base damages alone, without any passive procs(though E and sometimes ult usually hit outside the aoe) which equals 60 APfor her

Skia Asteri12/14/2019, 4:07:19 AM1 votes

https://lolalytics.com/lol/leona/?lane=support

Leona is SO HOT12/14/2019, 4:59:27 AM1 votes

if you are playing support then you should stick to the AD relic + general support items + general tank items the reason why you should pick AD relic over AP is because her AP ratios are bad and you wont gain any noticeable dmg unless you build full AP leona is an early game champ and AD gives her the advantage she needs in that stage of the game

but if you are going to play her mid/jungle/top do you want to play full AP/AD or play as a bruiser ? its up to you

Ariel the Cruel12/14/2019, 5:09:33 AM1 votes

In terms of damage output, AP is more valuable in team fights if you can AoE multiple targets. Otherwise, AD is better since it is available more consistently (Q resets) and helps push structures.

If you'll pardon the dust, I actually calculated it out a few seasons ago. Though as for current game state, I haven't really played rift in a long time. (>_>)

blindasleep12/14/2019, 7:20:49 AM1 votes

She is generally best full tank or AD depending on role and game state. Her AP scaling is just too low to really matter in most cases.

NaughtyWord12/14/2019, 10:35:23 AM1 votes

AP leona would be a thing if they actually made an AP tiamat item. Literally the only thing stopping it from working.