How do I beat Leona Riot?

Oaklen·Feb 23, 2014·3 votes·1,731 views

I've been playing for a while now and I've yet to find any true way to win lane vrs this champions since S4. If the enemy picks Leona, I'm force to pick Thresh if he isn't banned. But even then she is better in lane, and stronger in late game. Not by much, but her ability to ignore minions to CC makes her so much stronger then Thresh.

I've tried other supports but they just seem to have the kit to deal with her. Lulu is amazing, but late game Leona is just in the front lines, never running out of mana, super tanky and a ult that is never off Cooldown. And don't dare to bring a true support into bot lane.

If you pick Sona, Janna, Zyra she just stays at the back of her caster minions and zones you hard. I just want to hear how others are dealing with her. Cause I'm tired of fighting her with bans and Thresh only. I've tried Morgana, which it kinda works but only if your far better then the Leona, also you'll go omm faster and die in fights in a instant. And when late game rolls around you can't offer the same amount of power. Riot please help.

13 Comments

RiotIronStylusFeb 23, 20149 votes

Short answer, the moon.

Sir ArmaMalumFeb 23, 20142 votes

For every setting sun the moon rises, but for every setting moon a sun rises. So wouldn't that then mean to beat the moon you need the sun? Thematic counter-play paradox! O_O

Luner HunterFeb 23, 20141 votes

so we can get a short nonsensical reply to someone crying that Leona is OP cuz other supports are underpowered in under 7 hours but we cant get a reply on how Riot will be fixing supports in over 4 months... awesome >.>

ShadowNinetailsMar 7, 20141 votes

Actually if you extrapolate it a bit further, it makes a lot of sense. "The moon" obviously refers to Diana whose play pattern is quite a bit like Leo's but with one twist. Leo hard engages to CC, peel, and generally keep people busy while her team does stuff. Diana hard engages to kill. Period. There's not much Leona can do about it either, as she has no options to reposition enemies, only to hold them in place where they are (which in a lot of champs cases, it's not going to make them sad to be in close ( Galio Amumu Olaf "Oh thank you, Mr. 'Crank. How ever shall I return the favor?") .

To counter Leona, you have two options: 1. Peel her off of your carry before the enemy carry kills them ( Alistar Janna Nami ). 2. Kill the enemy carry before they kill your carry because Leona herself does pretty much no damage ( Annie Lux ).

Luner HunterMar 7, 20141 votes

except for the fact that Annie and Lux are AP midlaners and should never be "supporting" and an alistar headbut is easly countered by leona's E same thing for janna and nami :/

ShadowNinetailsMar 9, 20141 votes

Annie is actually one of the god-tier supports right now (along with Leo and Thresh) at every level from Bronze V to Korean Challenger. LoLKing actually classifies her as a support and most of her balance changes since Pre-season have been aimed at trimming back her overpowering presence in the support role. Not sure what rock you've been under for the past few months to not know that. Lux takes advantage of some of the same concepts as Annie, but is a much more situational pick.

As far as Zenith Blade countering Headbutt/Howling Gale/Aqua Prison, I'd say that's only if you were unlucky/foolish enough to try to CC her during her Zenith cast. Leona excels at one thing and one thing only: hard-engaging a single target. Ali, Nami, and Janna excel at pushing enemies away from a priority ally while shielding/healing them. There is no way a Leona would have an easy time against a Janna of equal (or even slightly lesser) skill. There's just a fundamental difference in their kits that gives champs like Janna and Ali an advantage.

Sky of SmilesFeb 23, 20147 votes

Leona by herself isn't a problem especially vs sustain. If her ADC doesn't have a gap closer like Ezreal Graves Caitlyn Corki Lucian Tristana Vayne , her engage is limited to when she is about 400 units from from ADC because she wins immediate trades hard if her ally can proc her passive. Champions such as Alistar Lulu Nami Thresh Taric Janna work against her because they are capable of stopping follow ups as well as having some form of winning sustained trades. Sustain alone offered by Soraka Sona Nidalee are not enough if they cannot stop follow ups. Although with Soraka and Sona, whether or not they're able to Support vs a Leona is more dependent upon whether or not their ADC has some means to reposition themselves including summoner 4 .

Understand though that Champion kits and playstyles alone aren't always sufficient to win certain match ups. Having a general understanding of cool downs helps TREMENDOUSLY because it'll let you know when to ping to trade and when to ping to back off before an ability comes back off of cool down. For the case of Leona, its when her Zenith Blade is on CD. As a Leona main, enemy Supports who know how to bait out my Zenith Blade and stop the dash animation, are the hardest to lane against because that shows the respective player is skilled as opposed to the usually "Pick X Champion because its OP."

Knowing how to play ADC can also help because it lets you be in sync with your duo partner. However, I should warn you, not all ADCs know how to ADC especially for the case of players who play champions because they like them and it just happens that their champion is an ADC. Regardless, reading basics such as this doesn't hurt: http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/1iqzip/69_tips_to_become_a_better_a_better_adc/

Other than that, I'd say go 21/9/0 masteries on Janna Lulu Nami Sona so that your pokes on her or her ADC hits hard early game right from level 1 and keep it up as safely as you can. And, overall, its not always your fault if your ADC dies.

OaklenFeb 23, 20141 votes

I hate that I'm force to go such raw offense to out trade her with Janna Lulu Nami Sona

And while I do believe Alistar Lulu Nami Thresh Taric Janna may be able to deal with her in lane, I feel like all of them don't stand equal ground with her late game. Except Thresh

I'm not trying to QQ, but walking into lanes vrs Leona right now feels like walking into top lane against Renekton Riven Shyvana DrMundo as Urgot

ZalkreaiFeb 25, 20141 votes

I find that Nami Lulu Morgana are perhaps the best counters to leo, the trick is timing your abilities to counter zenith blade. Nami's Q for instance, keeps their adc safely off of yours (landing it is the tricky part) followed up with a heal tossed towards the enemy leo or your adc to counter the damages she did. Lulu's W is essentially the same thing as the Nami Q without the benefit of the heal, and a well timed Morgana E completely cancels the pull or the stun (depending on your reaction time) and then leo is stuck right in your adc's range or has to wait out the CD on zenith blade. It is very possible to outplay a leo, it just requires a bit of skill. Also late game on Nami Lulu Morgana can majorly peel for your team during a leo ult.

Luner HunterFeb 23, 20142 votes

you can read more about your real issue here leona is just fine you just need to stay away from her E's and Q's and riot needs to get a tractor and pull the supports out of the shit hole they put them into

OaklenFeb 23, 20142 votes

If only the sun goddess was so easily defeated. Also side note, IronStylus the only reason I'm trying this new site is because you. You are one of the best Rioters.