Counter Guide

How to Beat Leona

Matchup Guide · Evergreen · 3 Counter Picks

Leona's engage is one skill shot followed by four things you don't get a say in.

Zenith Blade [E] lands and the rest of it is automatic. She arrives, the shield stun goes off immediately, Eclipse [W] makes her hard to punish while it's up, and the ultimate arrives to hold you still for the part where you die. Everything after that first ability is somebody else's turn, and that's a fair thing to be frustrated about no matter what the solo queue tier list says. Luckily, the whole chain hangs on one 875 unit line, and 875 units isn't very far.

Matchup Snapshot Leona, the Radiant Dawn

Where You Meet HerBot Lane

Damage TypeMagic

Why She Is FrustratingOne ability landing decides the fight

MobilityA dash that needs a target to aim at

Biggest ThreatZenith Blade [E]

Hardest CounterMorgana

What a Counter Needs

Something that removes crowd control rather than shortening it
Range, because her engage is 875 units and her stun is a basic attack
Disengage that still works after she has already arrived

Patch 26.18 Matchup Data

Who Beats Leona on Patch 26.18

Best Picks Into Leona

Morgana5,671 games51.6%
Zilean1,210 games51.1%
Milio3,024 games50.7%

Picks Leona Beats

Pyke3,936 games43.5%
Yuumi3,203 games43.7%
Nautilus7,721 games44.7%
Bard1,752 games45.0%

Win rates are for the champion listed, playing support against Leona. They come from Nerfplz's own ranked solo queue games on Patch 26.18, Silver and above, 117,877 Leona games in all. Only matchups that show up in at least 1% of those games are listed.

Leona Overview

Strengths: What Makes Her Dangerous

Zenith Blade [E] travels 875 units in a line, immobilizes the last champion it strikes, and pulls her to them. It's the only thing in the kit that has to be aimed.
The follow-up to the dash needs no aiming at all. Her stun rides on a basic attack and it's back every five seconds.
Eclipse [W] gives her damage reduction, armor and magic resist, and prolongs itself if enemies are still nearby when it would end. Punishing her during it is mostly wishful thinking.
Solar Flare [R] is reliable even when it's aimed badly, because a bad one still slows you at 1200 units and a good one stuns.
A successful engage is worth more than the stun it came with. Everything she lands makes her whole team hit that target harder.

Weaknesses: Where You Get In

Her engage needs a target. Zenith Blade [E] doesn't close distance on its own, so a lane that never stands inside it is a lane she doesn't get to play.
Eclipse [W] ends. Once it does she's a melee champion with no escape, no sustain and no ranged threat standing in front of two people.
She has no poke at all. If your lane refuses to walk up she has no way to force anything before her ultimate.
Her stun is a basic attack. Blinds and disarms turn Shield of Daybreak [Q] off completely, which very few pieces of crowd control can claim.
All of her damage is magic. A single early magic resist item changes the trade math in bot lane more than it has any right to.

Countering Leona

Based on the strengths and weaknesses above, beating Leona comes down to champions who can accomplish at least one of the following:

Stand outside 875 units. Especially between levels two and five, when a single successful engage is the entire lane.
Hold your escape until after the blade. Flashing early gives her the distance she needed for free.
Count the Eclipse [W]. The window immediately after it drops is when she's a melee champion with nothing, and it happens in every fight.
Bring removal rather than reduction. Black Shield [E], a cleanse or Quicksilver Sash all beat the chain outright, where tenacity only shortens each link.

If you're already locked into the matchup without any of those tools, these strategies still work:

Playing a Bad Leona Matchup

Don't line up directly behind your support. Zenith Blade [E] immobilizes the last champion it strikes, so standing further along its path means it picks you rather than them. Stand off to the side instead.

Buy Mercury's Treads earlier than usual. The chain is several separate stuns in a row, so tenacity compounds across all of them.

Don't walk up for a cannon minion while her E is available. It's a trap that works on almost everyone.

Call out the ultimate cooldown. Solar Flare [R] is ninety seconds at rank one, and the window without it is when your lane gets to exist.

Best Leona Counters

The three answers here are blocking the chain, undoing the engage after it lands, and stunning her on the way in.

Morgana Blocks the Whole Chain

Black Shield [E] absorbs magic damage and disabling effects until it breaks, and every single piece of Leona's kit is magic damage and crowd control. One correctly timed shield deletes the stun, the immobilize and the ultimate together.

Dark Binding [Q] reaches 1250 units (375 more than the 875 Leona needs), so Morgana gets to threaten her from a distance she can't answer. Soul Siphon [Passive] sustains the poke back, and Soul Shackles [R] punishes a Leona who committed to a bot lane that didn't break.

Milio Undoes the Engage

Breath of Life [R] heals Milio and every allied champion near him, cleanses them of crowd control that isn't a knock up, and gives them 65% tenacity for 3 seconds. Leona's chain is a root from Zenith Blade [E] and two stuns, Shield of Daybreak [Q] and Solar Flare [R], so one cast after she lands takes back what she spent getting there (she has no knock up, so none of it is out of reach).

Before that, Ultra Mega Fire Kick [Q] knocks back and stuns the first enemy it hits from 1200 units (and refunds half its mana when it finds a champion), and Warm Hugs [E] puts a shield and some speed on the carry she was walking toward. He can't cast Breath of Life [R] while he's the one stunned. Stand where she'd have to go through your carry to reach you.

Zilean Stuns Her on the Way In

Time Bomb [Q] sticks to the first unit it lands near, and a second bomb on the same target detonates it early and stuns. Put one on Leona as she walks up, and Rewind [W] cuts the cooldown so the second is ready. Time Warp [E] slows her or speeds up the carry she's chasing, whichever the moment needs (it's the same button either way).

Chronoshift [R] is the insurance. If her chain still kills its target inside the 5 seconds, the carry revives with health back (after 3 seconds of being untouchable), and the all in she spent everything on comes up empty.

Itemizing Against Leona

Leona deals magic damage and applies more separate pieces of crowd control than almost any other support:

Mercury's Treads matter more here than in most matchups because the chain is several stuns in sequence and tenacity applies to each of them. Banshee's Veil grants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability (usually Zenith Blade [E]), and blocking that means none of the rest happens. Locket of the Iron Solari is the support's answer, since the shield lands on everyone caught in the engage rather than only on the person she picked. Zhonya's Hourglass covers the mid laner or the ability power carry who keeps getting chosen as the target of Solar Flare [R].