Leona Starting Items

is what a lot of people would suggest for early all ins.

For the other two, I think it depends on your play style, and what you want to do late game. I think I'd like coin more just for CDR and more consistent gold gain. The active is nice and you can use skills a little more often early on with the mana regen.

Both can help her out different and both require you to build something to make up for what the other has.

relic shield allows me to be a bit more tanky and aggressive while earning my ADC extra gold which will allow both me and my ADC to be more effective both eirly game and late game because with that extra 5 or 10 gold a minion (every 30 seconds) + a 2% of my hp heal he will be able to farm more and get that BF sword eirlyer :)

Doran's Shield is a typical start if you're shooting for early lane domination, but as stated below, they're planning on nerfing it (how hard will determine whether this is still a viable start. In relation to relic shield, currently the advantage it gives until first b is worth the roughly 100 gold you'd miss out on from relic. But let's assume the worst, that they're nerfing it into the ground and that it won't be viable anymore.

Between Relic Shield and Ancient Coin, whichever you start is very situational to how you're playing Leona in relation to your team comp. If you are the (or one of the dedicated tanks), I'd recommend Relic Shield. This means that you're building a LOT of beef, making Face of the Mountain an ideal pickup for the active (I'd recommend Warmogs or Randuins to compliment). In early laning, Leona isn't so mana hungry that she necessarily needs the mana regen from Ancient Coin unless you're spam happy.

If there is another "dedicated tank" like Mundo or Zac, then you have a little wiggle room. From here, you can still start either one, but now it's dependent on how you want to play. If you're going for a passive farm lane, Ancient Coin is the way to go. You'll get much more gold from your ADC farming (take the bonus from the utility mastery tree as well) than you would from Relic shield. Talisman, later on, will also help strengthen your engages and allow for you to significantly help with disengages. Also, it's not like you can't still build Beefy Hut Jr even with a passive start.

If you're like me, and pick Leona with every intention of going man-mode from lvl 1, Relic Shield is probably better. Bonus hp, slightly higher hp regen which is what Leo really needs and you help the passive or no-early-game ADCs farm. Also, if you're forcing engages often, you might not been in lane long enough to make use of an Ancient Coin like you normally would (ie. Having to b from soaking up dmg while your ADC stays to farm). Late-game, You put Face of the Mountain ON YOURSELF WHEN YOU E IN TO VICTORY. You'll end up tankier than with ancient coin as well.

This is just how I see it.

While I like the stats that Relic Shield offers, it always makes me cry when there's a hot situation and I don't have the active from regardless of who I'm supporting as. I'd say go with the Relic if you're new-ish to Leo and not entirely sure of your engage limits, but Coin is like : If you can make it work, there's absolutely no reason to not use it.