Leona guide: build, runes, matchups and mistakes to avoid

At a glance

Runes

Spells

Start

×2

Build

››+

Skills

W›E›Q

Leona in figures

Games as a support

35,56599.4% of its games

Win rate

52.1%

Pick rate

≈ 9.5%

Ban rate

≈ 13.2%

The figures come from 378,251 ranked solo games on EUW (patches 16.18 to 16.21, Riot’s official API, up to 24 October 2026): the same sample as Gankademy’s champion pages. “≈”: a figure the app gives as indicative.

Strengths and weaknesses

When Leona is strongest

The build that wins most

A build, here, is the order of the first three finished items. Out of the 3,513 Leona games as a support where they are known, the three most-played paths:

Build	Items	Played	Win rate
Bandlepipes	››	12%	≈ 63.6%
Anti-heal	››	9%	≈ 59.2%
Full tank	››	9%	≈ 58.7%

Locket of the Iron Solari opens all three most-played builds. The most common, Knight’s Vow then Bandlepipes, also wins most often (≈ 63.6%); ending with Thornmail instead, or taking it right after the locket, wins less (≈ 59.2% and ≈ 58.7%).

With build 1, the game most often starts with 2 × Health Potion + Stealth Ward, and the boots are Plated Steelcaps (68% of games).

Depending on the game

What build 1’s players buy next (5% of its games or more):

Item	Bought	Why
Thornmail	11%	vs healing (×1.18)
Protoplasm Harness	6%	defence

×: how many times as often it is bought against that need (191,000 games checked by Gankademy).

Skill order

Level by level, the most-played order as a support: 44% of the 268 games where Leona reaches level 18.

Q	1													14	15		17	18
W			3	4	5		7		9
E		2						8		10		12	13
R						6					11					16

Runes and summoner spells

The most-played rune pages of Leona as a support, by keystone and trees:

Page	Games	Win rate
AftershockResolve + Precision	20,461	53.1%
AftershockResolve + Inspiration	10,666	51.2%
Glacial AugmentInspiration + Resolve	2,278	46.8%
AftershockResolve + Domination	875	52.9%

Aftershock is Leona’s keystone in the vast majority of games. With Precision behind it, it is both the most-played and the best-winning page; with Inspiration, it wins almost two points less. Glacial Augment wins far less (46.8%).

Aftershock, Font of Life, Second Wind, Overgrowth, Triumph, Legend: Haste

Summoner spells: Flash + Ignite in 71% of games.

Matchups: the easiest and the hardest

Leona’s win rate against each opponent in the same role, against the usual 52.1%: the gap in points, from 200 games.

Easiest against

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Gap
Ashe	233	≈ 58.8%	+6.7
Yuumi	916	57.0%	+4.9
Karma	633	≈ 56.6%	+4.5
Pantheon	593	≈ 55.8%	+3.8

Hardest against

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Gap
Zilean	494	≈ 46.6%	−5.5
Senna	1,060	47.8%	−4.2
Janna	1,065	≈ 48.5%	−3.6
Soraka	909	≈ 49.1%	−3.0

Leona’s hardest lanes are the supports who undo her engage — Zilean, whose ultimate can bring back the ally she is about to kill, Janna, who pushes her away, Soraka, who heals the damage back — and Senna, who hits her from afar. Against them, don’t go in while their answer is ready: wait for it to be spent, or play for your jungler. Against Ashe, who has no dash to escape your blade, or Yuumi, the lane is yours.

Matchup sheet

The 12 most frequent opponents as a support. The difficulty is the app’s: the gap with the usual 52.1%, and whether it holds.

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Difficulty
Thresh	2,604	50.7%	Even
Nautilus	1,979	55.4%	Easy
Nami	1,724	51.6%	Even
Lux	1,693	52.5%	Even
Morgana	1,530	≈ 49.9%	Hard
Lulu	1,473	51.9%	Even
Seraphine	1,388	≈ 49.6%	Hard
Milio	1,243	51.5%	Even
Braum	1,218	50.3%	Even
Blitzcrank	1,118	51.2%	Even
Janna	1,065	≈ 48.5%	Hard
Senna	1,060	47.8%	Hard

Bans to consider

The opponents Leona beats least often as a support, among those met at least 300 times:

Opponent	Win rate	Games
Zilean	≈ 46.6%	494
Senna	47.8%	1,060
Janna	≈ 48.5%	1,065

What the specialists do

11 players of the sample play Leona in at least 40% of their games, and at least 30 times. Their 571 games as a support, against all its players:

	Specialists	All players
Win rate	≈ 55.0%	52.1%
Rune page	Same 59%	58%
Skills maxed	Same 71%	W›E›Q 74%

Same choices as all the players. Their win rate: 2.9 points higher.

The most frequent mistakes

Two habits measured on the 8,917 games with a timeline, then the champion’s own mistakes. These gaps go with losing without proving the cause.

• Dying before 15 minutes. 51% of games have three or more deaths before the 15th minute; they win only 44.8%, against 65.3% when Leona dies once or less (26% of games). Instead: once Leona has dashed in, she has no way back. Engage only when your marksman is close enough to follow, and back off when their jungler hasn’t shown for a while.
• Placing too few wards. Games where Leona places 8 wards or fewer before 15 minutes (27%) win 50.5%; those with 12 or more (31%), 55.2%. Instead: ward the river and the lane brush before you engage, with a control ward on their jungler’s path — dive only when you know nobody is waiting.
• Going for Glacial Augment. Glacial Augment · Inspiration + Resolve is taken in 2,278 Leona games and wins 46.8%, against 53.1% for Aftershock · Resolve + Precision. Instead: Aftershock with Precision.
• Engaging when your marksman can’t follow. Your blade takes you in with no way back: if your marksman is out of range or busy with a last hit, you fight their duo without them. Instead: engage when your marksman is close and ready.
• Casting the ultimate at a target free to move. Your ultimate lands after a short delay and only stuns in its centre: cast at a free target, it barely slows. Instead: drop it on a target your blade and shield already hold, or on a group, centred on their carry.

With Gankademy

These are the figures of Gankademy’s Leona page: the draft compares your options against your lane opponent and imports your rune page in one click. The draft · The coaches · What it reads.

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