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Come on, Riot. Help me make Jungle Leona a thing!

darkdill·5/18/2015, 11:33:47 PM·4 votes·621 views
League of Legends Match History

Above is my last match as a Jungle Leona. 19/2/36 at the end. Pretty sick?

#Pros

  • Amazing gank power
  • Awesome crowd control and lockups in late-game
  • Pretty good at counterganks
  • Not reliant on Blue Buffs
  • Solar Flare's cooldown is better than other jungle tanks' ultimates
  • Brings her great synergies to other lanes
  • Often underestimated Sunlight damage
  • Tough to kill

#Cons

  • Relies on Gromp starters
  • Bad clear speed without Cinderhulk
  • Weak against invades if no one helps her
  • Bad objective control
  • Bad ability to retreat
  • Like other tanks, has trouble catching up if she falls behind
  • Lower damage than Sejuani, Nautilus, etc.

#Synergy

Bard - Ask him to plant down some shrines for your first clear, and you can go Gromp > Blue > Red instead of Gromp > Wolves > Red. Magical Journey can help you get into bottom lane quickly without needing to use up Zenith Blade or Solar Flare. Tempered Fate can set you up for a great Solar Flare shot.

Ashe - Even if you aren't Ashe's support, your strengths still go together wonderfully. Between the CC the two of you put out on a target, nothing should escape you. You can also peel excellently for Ashe; just make sure you do so or she'll die quickly to assassins.

Lux - The two ladies of light work wonders together. Your CC will make it easy for Lux to land Light Binding, and then your victim will generally be helpless while the two of you burst it down. Lux can also increase your already-tough durability even further thanks to Prismatic Barrier.

#Counterpicks

Trundle - Your absolute bane. Trundle can turn all of your defense against you with Subjugate, beats you easily in 1v1 combat, and has more than enough toughness to take whatever punishment you can throw at him. Avoid him at all costs or you will get trolled. Ban him when you can to avoid a counterpick.

Shaco - Shaco's are very good at invading, especially during the first clear (where Leona is weakest). If you see your red camp has been taken, it's probable Shaco is still around. Evacuate the area if you don't want to give him first blood; you can't win an early fight against the clown. Later on, he's hard to countergank because of Deceive, Jack-in-the-box, and Hallucination.

DrMundo - You can't kill Mundo, simple as that. Burning Agony also makes your CC ineffective on him, meaning he'll go where he pleases regardless of your efforts to stop him. His Cleavers will also hurt like hell, even if you have decent magic resistance, so don't try dueling him.

#First Clear Route

Gromp > Wolves > Red > Look for ganks

Note that this startup is regardless of which side you're on. Leona can't make good use of a Krug buff for clearing, so you'll want the Gromp's Poison Armor instead.

#Items

Core/Essential Items
item 3717 item 3270 item 3190 item 3110

Situational Items
item 3056 item 3143 item 3512 item 3102 item 3075 item 3065 item 3800

I personally use Ohmwrecker a lot because it fills out the last 10% CDR I need and is frequently underestimated as a jungle-tank buy. It gives pretty decent durability stats, gives you great mobility near turrets (which Leona can definitely use), and disabling turrets will frequently catch your opponents off guard. I'll eschew Ohmwrecker and get Zz'Rot Portal instead if the enemy team is magic-heavy, though.

Who wants to try it out?

14 Comments

Skia Asteri5/19/2015, 3:32:06 PM3 votes

Do you really want Leona nerfed that badly?

50000000000000005/18/2015, 11:55:33 PM1 votes

Do you think it would be a nice buff to be able to use Zenith Blade on large monsters, or do you think it will be too op?

Nekro Gaming5/19/2015, 12:30:53 AM1 votes

I've honestly been really scared to try leona jungle. I never seem to do enough damage in the first couple levels, so I don't see me farming very well without my full jungle item.

Davy Crockett5/19/2015, 5:05:47 AM1 votes

I've done it before. Its legit. 50/50 chance of success :D

Jungle Lux God5/19/2015, 3:02:58 PM1 votes

I would definitely try this out if I actually knew how to play Leona. I personally like trying out weird junglers that actually kind of work, and Leona seems to be within reason for me to try out the next time she's free.

Why not take blue buff on your first clear? It would seem like the logical buff to take if you are starting on the Blue side, but your first clear takes the two lesser camps on blue side into taking Red buff. Likewise, starting Krugs also would seem like a logical start considering she has mad auto attack resets from her Q to apply the Krug passive, and you are already going for Red Buff as our first buff so you aren't really losing too much out of it in terms of clears.