Who on Earth beats Diana?

Ben SwoIo·Aug 3, 2017·13 votes·4,662 views

I play Zed / Talon mid lane. I have a couple back up AP players, but that's who I mainly play. Zed is a toss up against her, Talon I got absolutely man handled (new Talon, not sure if this is winable.) She is extremely strong. That Q is super awkward to dodge and has a long reach. Her constant gap closing gave me an issue and her constant shielding kept me from winning skirmishes. I couldn't even get a good gauge on the distance to which she could dash, some points she seemed pretty damn far off but dashed right onto me. Anyway, who would be a good pick into her? What is a good way to beat her? I've been running into quite a few Diana's recently for some reason.

I'm also curious, why is she being picked more all of a sudden? Did I miss something? Seen a lot of Diana picks today.

66 Comments

48983507DEL1Aug 3, 20178 votes

Ekko

He can engage on her before she gets her ultimate, and his ultimate undoes her all-in. Plus, his poke and waveclear is better in my opinion.

HaIlMonitorAug 3, 20172 votes

Well he is the upgraded version.

48983507DEL1Aug 3, 20172 votes

Essentially.

HaIlMonitorAug 3, 20171 votes

A little less damage for way more utility: EZ PZ lol

48983507DEL1Aug 3, 20175 votes

Well...

Diana is really hit-or-miss. Literally. If you hit Q, you all-in for a free kill. Miss it, and you wait for another try.

Ekko is ridiculously versatile in his approach. You can go all-in and use your ult as an escape. You can fake an all-in, back off, then ult for a surprise re-engage. You can do a bit of both. That's why Riot loves buffing him tho, because he's incredibly fun to watch due to everything I just said. This also makes him annoying to face.

HaIlMonitorAug 3, 20171 votes

Ekko having versatility is exactly why he is the stronger version. Outside of maybe being with Yasuo (because Diana E sets off his ult) Ekko is better at team fights, he can peel, he can engage/disengage. Oh, and he call still blow up squishies.

He does less damage in hit burst, but he still hurts. Outside of needing an AP jg when elise is banned, I cant really think of a true reason to pick her over Ekko right now.

Pierce The VealAug 3, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Ekko having versatility is exactly why he is the stronger version. Outside of maybe being with Yasuo (because Diana E sets off his ult) Ekko is better at team fights, he can peel, he can engage/disengage. Oh, and he call still blow up squishies.

He does less damage in hit burst, but he still hurts. Outside of needing an AP jg when elise is banned, I cant really think of a true reason to pick her over Ekko right now.

She's more fun and can snowball harder, especially if she roams. If you decide to go that build, she is a godlike splitpusher.

Moonfall SaberAug 3, 20171 votes

I love laning vs Ekko ad Diana. It's in dianas favor.

Chembaron YamadaAug 3, 20171 votes

It is? The guys before said that Ekko is beating her. Could you elaborate?

M7 Ekko myself, but never really had to deal with Dianas in mid lane in the past, she was a weak pick. And I don't play mid lane very often.

Moonfall SaberAug 3, 20172 votes

Well maybe the Diana player does not play her correctly. Here's basically how my Diana vs Ekko match up goes. Ekko does alot of poke with his q. Meanwhile I am maxing my w so that I can stay in lane longer and farm because Ekko will die if he gets to close because Diana can beat him with her autos (this is where the majority of Diana players fail). Never stop auto attacking as Diana. Her passive does a ton of damage. Secondly when each pkayer reaches 6 Diana can chace Ekko away from where he would want to return to with his ult. Also she can double dive him if he attempts to flee. You have to outplay in this match up but when done correctly Diana has all the advantages

AimléssAug 3, 20171 votes

Yep, Diana wins all ins, advantage #1. Diana has more reliable cc, and more dashes #2. And she has shields for days. #3

Only way to beat a skilled Diana as Ekko is to roam and get your kills off of that, then come back in lane with a gold advantage. Pure AP Ekko does a disgusting amount of damage full build and has a more versatile team fight. One good W stun can win a game.

SH AzykanAug 3, 20177 votes

Level 7 ex-diana player here to shed some light on why I quit playing probably my favorite champion in league (and she is getting picked more because of her buffs)

Preface to individual matchups though, her biggest weakness is an opponent who knows how to manipulate the minion wave to always have her extended away from her tower, and vision to keep her honest on her roams. (melee, no real escape, she fears junglers)

Ahri abuse your range and sustain advantage early, post 6 every time diana misses a Q hard punish her for it, if diana lands the q and you are low enough for kill threat to be there, prepare to ult + charm and trade back since diana will be dashing at you in a straight line. If you aren't low enough for kill threat, don't blow your ult, just charm + W+Q if she does use an ult charge on you. and basically auto attack diana as much as you can get away with.

Anivia probably the roughest lane as a Diana player. Anivia hurts early, and wall makes any time you ult as Diana a complete committal + anivia's egg passive makes securing the kill hard. And diana is never going to get lane priority to free-roam post lv6 if the anivia has any sense to her.

Annie Very similar to ahri, abuse Diana early, and post 6 hold stun and just harass+farm with autos. If diana misses the Q either hard shove the wave into her tower and roam, or punish Diana in the lane. Diana has to overextend to threaten, and annie's Point+click stun with Q makes jungle ganks your best friend, remind your jg of that.

Azir caveat of you have to be practiced on azir, but you can really bully diana early again, and if you catch diana with a ult into your tower she is fck'd, do recommend a very early banshees in the matchup though.

Cassiopeia grounded prevents diana from ulting, and cassio does very well bullying melee's lv2+ if diana does get an ult onto you it is a free return ult and you hard out dps Diana in an extended trade.

Ekko literally my ban, as a Diana player if I want to play her I will always ban ekko, he outclasses your shove and he fights really even with you at every point in the game. He also brings more utility to the table so if he falls behind he is still useful and can snowball the matchup in his favor just as hard as you theoretically could.

Galio I mean I am not even going to bother explaining why the anti AP tank with waveclear would do well vs an AP fighter/Diver

by the time Diana would have kill threat on you, you are now a lv6 kassadin. probably not going to bully her, but you are going to 100% outscale her.

Kennen just AA her constantly, she jumps on you, press E, stun her, keep autoing. Really, it is that simple to play kennen vs her.

can lock diana down. dont forget to use your passive for as effective of trades as possible. Post 6 the matchup should be really obvious. And lissandra is deceptively hard to kill.

Morgana Fuck this lane, so glad morg mid isnt popular, Diana can NEVER kill her (if she does, morg is bad and should feel bad), and morg has plenty of kill threat of her own.

Orianna put an early 2nd point into E, AA diana constantly (dont forget how ori's passive works, this is a lane where she really gets to abuse it) you can always trade well into diana, and you teamfight way better.

Pantheon fuck this champ

Riven really a skill matchup, but a good riven beats a good diana. get an early hexdrinker and you can take trades. use E to avoid the Q and you will win almost any trade post 6.

Swain fuck this champ

Taliyah a really interesting matchup. you can keep diana under tower really easy. use your bonus Ms on worked ground to avoid Q as much as possible, if diana does land it, immediately throw out your E, and if Diana ults on you, W her off through the E in a different direction than she dashed through (so you get as much value out of E as possible.) It is a hard lane, but not impossible, and Taliyah definitely scales well.

Talon One of your champs you brought up. I definitely feel this one favors Talon. His lv2 is way stronger (especially if he hits it first). An early hexdrinker is a must of course. Level 6, if she all ins, you can immediately ult and take the trade as you do have more damage. You also have access to actual lane sustain and not just a shield. so if you can trade early while her shield is on cd it is almost always a + for you. take summoner 3 and stormraiders and you definitely have a huge edge in any fight with her.

Veigar farm, harass, and post 6 if she hits a Q, cage and back off. missing a couple cs is okay as long as she cant really force you out of lane.

Vladimir can hard abuse her, out sustains her damage unless she is fed, and then is an AoE monster after scaling.

also summoner 3 is literally her worst nightmare. she jumps on you, and gets exhausted and you are playing anyone with kill pressure? Congratz you probably just traded your exhaust for her flash and can now bully her out of farm and bring your jungler in for some glorious punishment on the melee, no escape mid lane.

even the buffs on diana just made her scale a little harder, but there really isnt much point to blind picking her over some other mids (like Fizz, even though she actually dumpsters Fizz...) she has way too many matchups where if the opponent plays correctly, she has very little window to actually get a snowball going, and she is really bad if not ahead.

SH AzykanAug 3, 20171 votes

also intentionally left out Malzahar because a good diana doesnt fight malz, she dodges the lobby when she sees him.

Sire HippingtonAug 3, 20171 votes

isn't that the case for every melee-assasin vs malz?

You also left out cho, though he isn't used alot midlane. Annd from my experience, a well played syndra is disgusting, her harras and waveclear keep you under tower all earlygame, and if she reacts properly, her E cancles your ulr dash while her ult gives huge counterkill potential.

Moonfall SaberAug 3, 20171 votes

I main Diana. I can 1v1 darius so Idk what your talking about. The only match up I can't do is swain or Fiora.

SH AzykanAug 4, 20171 votes

diana can beat darius, I didnt mention him, I mentioned lanes she might face mid. and darius has issues fighting people with sustained damage that can also burst and stick. since if they can get the good hp lead to start, and they can also avoid his Q heal, he usually loses the trade. Diana is exactly the type of fighter that darius struggles to win the fight with, because she brings the upfront burst to the fight and then matches his sustained damage

Ben SwoIoAug 3, 20172 votes

Thanks a whole lot, this helps. Great break down. I'm a mastery 7 Morgana and I completely forgot about bringing her mid lane.....used to bringing her in as support!

ArdunoAug 3, 20176 votes

Leona

Ben SwoIoAug 3, 20171 votes

Lol

GelmousAug 3, 20173 votes

you need to practice

Ben SwoIoAug 3, 20171 votes

Don't we all?

GelmousAug 3, 20173 votes

and that's why instead of complaining about it, work on it

MiraweaveAug 3, 20172 votes

Most ranged champions do pretty well against her assuming the player knows what they're doing. In particular I've had a lot of trouble with Ori and I've basically never lost lane to a Diana as Ori.

VallalanAug 3, 20172 votes

doesn't diana get shit on by basically everyone pre 6?

I mean thats your time to beat her. Post 6 she's very strong, just like Akali for a window where she has to abuse that power to snowball or get out scaled due to her kit.

It's not the best design, its not necessarily healthy, but she's not "broken" or "op".

You just have to understand when she is strong and when she is weak.

Ben SwoIoAug 3, 20171 votes

Doesn't feel like it. Even when I dodge her Q she still hurts, and that's not including the damage reduction she gets because of her shield. It's hard to win skirmishes with her as an assassin (for me anyway). That's why I was curious as to who is a better or more successful mid laner to use against her.

Sire HippingtonAug 3, 20171 votes

prettymuch every non assasin. The reason why diana is usually weak pre 6 is that she has no gapcloser, so she can't punish ranged champs that harras her pre 6. Diana is basically a counter-assasin assasin, her fighter like profile allows her to outstat other assasins in melee, but she has a harder time vs ranged and mostly she lacks escapes. The worst thing for diana is the opposing jungler, if she goes in, she usually will be far from her tower while no haveing any escape.

LankPantsAug 3, 20172 votes

Probably your best bet's a mage with a strong early lane and solid disengage/turn.

Someone like Syndra Cassiopeia Jayce Taliyah Malzahar Anivia should do well. Azir is probably the absolutely ideal pick if you can play him, but very few people can.

I'm also curious, why is she being picked more all of a sudden? Did I miss something? Seen a lot of Diana picks today.

She got some fairly significant buffs because she was honestly completely worthless on 7.13.

Pierce The VealAug 3, 20172 votes

Step forward, backward, or to her left to dodge the Q. Ezpz.

Watch her auto attacks. Back off when she gets her passive up. Dodge the Q and she can't do crap.

Lifesteal and magic resist. Against her, stop rushing your Duskblade of Draktharr and shit. Get a hexdrinker and go for a death's dance. Lifesteal will help a lot.

You're not gonna outdamage her in her initial burst. What you need to do is essentially kite around her Q to fight her.

Ben SwoIoAug 3, 20171 votes

I know I should be getting hex, but I have this stupid habit of straight rushing Ghost / dusk blade. I didn't think about the Death's Dance though, thanks for the tip!

Pierce The VealAug 3, 20171 votes

{quoted}

I know I should be getting hex, but I have this stupid habit of straight rushing Ghost / dusk blade. I didn't think about the Death's Dance though, thanks for the tip!

Yeah. No problem :D

OriyokiAug 3, 20172 votes

???

KàyleAug 3, 20172 votes

Kayle item 3006 item 1057 item 3101 -> item 3115 item 3124 item 3091

AirKingNeoAug 3, 20171 votes

Do you even need the MR if you beat the shit of her because she's Diana?

Colgate GatorAug 3, 20172 votes

The Sun isn't on earth...hrm...

SpookyNeedleAug 3, 20171 votes

Fiora

Ben SwoIoAug 3, 20171 votes

Seriously? I used to use Fiora a lot when I played top lane. I wouldn't mind getting back into her, if this is legit.

SpookyNeedleAug 3, 20171 votes

It is legit

Ben SwoIoAug 3, 20171 votes

You twisted my arm. I'll give this a shot (in draft first, of course :D )

dont trust girlsAug 3, 20171 votes

Your presix as talon is far superior to hers, you can all in at level 2 and 3 pretty reliably.

Project omenAug 3, 20171 votes

Swain never lost to a Diana with these 2. Swain's level 6 is stronger than Diana's and Vladimir has poke with sustain. Diana's level 6 is stronger than Vlad's but when he gets some items going he beats her in all stages of the game. Both of them can bait out her shield and zone her off creeps while it's on cooldown.

Kingdom CornAug 3, 20171 votes

You need to abuse her weakness. Diana has 1 clear weakness to me. She is REALLLLYYYY good at jumping on you but is super bad at getting away from you. Only thing she has to escape is her w and that is it. So pick a champion that will do fine if diana jumps on you. Maybe if you pick oriana and once diana jumps on you then you ball yourself then r w q that will be enough for you to do some damage to make her turn away form you. Also diana pre 6 has no way of engaging on you so try to abuse her during that time and that is not even mentioning her ridiculous mana costs.

Meep ManAug 3, 20171 votes

The ability to disengage and peel her off of yourself is critical, so having a silence, stun, or knockback of some kind is incredibly useful. If you can dodge her Q it can also make her much less useful since then she only gets 1 R instead of 2. It's a crescent shaped skill shot, so simply moving opposite of the curve will usually serve you well.

Príncess DianaAug 3, 20171 votes

The thing is with Diana, her pre-lvl 6 is kinda weak, so you have multiple ways of doing this.

On Talon, you can do the lvl 2 cheese, but that can be iffy because her shield might give her just enough health to survive.

Cassiopeia, Ahri, and Swain are good counters for her, and are annoying for different reasons.

Cass can bully you pre-6, and her W stops you from ulting, plus a good ultimate + kiting can fuck a Diana up if she isn't careful.

Ahri has better sustain than Diana, and can just poke the shit out of her with her Q, and landing a charm on Diana while she's trying to burst you gives you a window to kill her yourself, or escape.

Finally, Swain honestly isn't as bad for me thanks to the buffs, but he can still mess her up because of his ultimate and sustained damage. His healing gives him enough time that unless you're ahead, it's hard for you to burst him down, and his Q/E/R have good sustained dmg.

Ivern and IreliaAug 3, 20171 votes

Irelia

DaNinadAug 3, 20171 votes

Ekko, surprisingly brand( I haven't lost to a diana as brand)

Weasel KenseiAug 3, 20171 votes

Real mages can beat her. Remember she isnt as much of an assassin as she is a fighter/mage hybrid.

I find that Brand, Lux, Ziggs and some other mages can can take her on in lane. Brand and Lux can poke and CC her, and Ziggs can disengage easier than them.

You should be facing against Diana less like shes an assassin and more like shes a fighter, think of her more like Tryndamere or Kayle than an AP assassin, and then remember that fighters often beat assassins in all-ins.

If you bait out her W, thats you window of opportunity if you want to trade. If she has it off cooldown you will almost certainly lose that trade unless youre ahead of her.

You sound like most of your problems stem from not knowing how she works. Her dash has a range of just a bit less than her Q skillshot. The dash range is 825, the Q is 900.

Remember also that shes part mage, and so getting hit by her Q sets up her burst chain kinda like getting hit by a Lux Q. You could also consider playing a fighter into her.

Her capacity to inflict burst damage, followed by sustained damage all while getting right on top of you quickly make her a scary opponent. The trick is largely avoiding her Q skillshots. If you can avoid that, you can avoid her Q, R, W, aa, E, aa, R, aa combo. Also watch out for powerspike items like item 3027 or item 3115 as they can give her serious shifts in durability or damage. If she has both and a Deathcap magic resist will be the only answer if shes ahead.

If youre really worried about it, I would read up on her on a wiki and watch a video.

EDIT: Also there have been some really good post in this topic with some really good advice. Good luck.

Ben SwoIoAug 3, 20171 votes

I just started getting into Ziggs and Lux too as back up AP champs. I didn't think they would be good picks because of their immobility, but then again I don't know Diana match ups very well. This is very helpful, thank you.

Weasel KenseiAug 3, 20171 votes

No problem, the reason why Lux can work is because Dianas only mobility is a dash to her opponet, and Lux can use her E against her a long way away, and if she is out of position she doesnt have any mobility to dodge a Lux Q either, then you can combo as normal (Q, E, R). Her range is much better than Dianas Q. With bother her Q and E.

Same thing with Ziggs in that he can use his skillshots from further away than Diana can, his W will let him knock himself toward his turret (or wherever), and briefly stun Diana if she somehow manages to Q him. Due to her R putting her behind her target, you may knock her to your turret as well, and depending on your health she could still kill you, but depending on her health she may be under your turret... Ziggs is deceptively mobile because of the versatility of his W.

Its true theyre immobile, but so is Diana if she cant get close enough for her R. With the long ranges of those two, you can often decide how close you want to be. Before level 6 Diana can do virtually nothing to Lux and Ziggs, and post 6 she has to land a Q to pull anything off anything that risk killing you. Its also worth saying that with some mana sustain you can farm at range with Lux and Ziggs so if shes trying to zone you with her Q, you can still potentially farm for a bit till you have to back for mana.

I hope that helped clarify a bit more why they have advantages against her. Obviously an up-close brawl will go in her favor, but champs like Brand, Lux, and Ziggs can hold their own vs assassins and other fighters by staying out of range, and the same principle fits for Diana.

As for any other tough match ups you may have, remember that sometimes its just best to avoid letting them kill you. Even if they get more farm than you, staying alive and defending your tower is sometimes the best you can hope for.

Good luck again.

SpoofghoulAug 3, 20171 votes

Try building

item 3111 item 3156 item 3194