Leona is the queen of CC in League of Legends. She’s an exceptional tank support that controls the battlefield with her stuns, allowing her teammates to freely deal damage and defeat the enemy team.
Leona’s kit is designed in a way that forces you to play aggressively. She’s a champion that should always look for new kill opportunities. And because of that, she needs a carry partner that can follow up on her engage.
In other words, Leona’s best ADC partners are usually marksmen that can instantly start dealing damage when Leona stuns a target or have AoE ultimates that go well with Leona’s Solar Flare.
In theory, any champion that fits this description is potentially a good bot lane partner for Leona.
However, let’s go over my personal recommendations and see how much synergy Leona can have with different ADCs in LoL.
Ezreal
If you read my Ezreal guide, you’d see that he’s a marksman that needs to have a support with lots of crowd control. Well, Leona is always a good choice for him, regardless of the bot lane matchup.
First of all, Leona’s level 2 engage is one of the best ways to assert dominance and take control over the laning phase. She can root and stun the enemy ADC which gives Ezreal enough time to perform his W+Q combo and create an HP advantage right away.
Ezreal’s key strengths:
- Long range poke damage
- Generally a safe pick due to his E
- Scales very well into mid and late game
Doing this will allow you to play even more offensively, burn the enemy Flashes, and collect a few kills before level 6. And when you unlock your ultimates, the synergy becomes extremely difficult to stop.
For instance, if Leona lands her ultimate on the opposing players, Ezreal can quickly cast his Trueshot Barrage to guarantee its damage and quickly reposition with E so he can chase the enemies down even if they run away.
Since Leona boosts Ezreal’s performance, don’t be afraid to contest neutral objectives such as the Drake. And make sure to call your jungler on a gank because it’s just so easy to set up a kill with Leona, especially after level 6.
Caitlyn
Caitlyn is known as the lane bully, the marksman that controls the flow of the bot lane from level 1. She wins against most ADCs in the game due to her range and early game damage. And this really benefits Leona who also likes to play the game aggressively.
On level 2, Leona and Caitlyn can easily score a kill if they catch an enemy with Leona’s E+Q combo. While the target is snared and stunned, Caitlyn can place a trap underneath to prolong the CC but also to increase her damage.
This is such a powerful synergy that it’s likely to burn your enemy’s Flash. If not, it’s likely to give you First Blood. In any case, you should always push and try to get level 2 whenever you play these two champions together.
Caitlyn’s key strengths:
- Dominating during the laning phase
- High damage early on
- Can secure kills from a long range
Level 6 isn’t such a big deal for the duo because Caitlyn’s ult doesn’t have too much synergy with Leona’s Solar Flare. However, it can help them take down enemies who are out of attack range and are trying to run away.
I’d definitely say that you should always close out games on Caitlyn as soon as you can. When you get fed early on, try to push as much as you can to force the enemy to surrender. You won’t be as useful as someone like Vayne later on, so it’s best to take the victory and move on.
Read Also: The 7 Best Supports for Caitlyn
Kai’Sa
Even though Kai’Sa is a self-sufficient ADC, she also benefits a lot from having Leona by her side. This is partly because Leona is really good at peeling and partly because her ultimate allows Kai’Sa to use hers.
Early on, the gameplay with Kai’Sa is mostly about farming. She’s a calculative champion that doesn’t have too much damage at the first few levels and only looks for fights when victory is guaranteed.
Leona plays an important role in the overall safety of Kai’Sa before level 6. She should occasionally engage on the opposing duo and force them to play more cautiously to elevate some of the pressure from Kai’Sa and allow her to farm in peace.
Kai’Sa’s key strengths:
- High burst damage
- Scales incredibly well in the late game
- Can always follow up on Leona’s engage due to her R dash
After level 6, Leona and Kai’Sa can easily outplay the enemy bot laners simply because of how effective Leona’s crowd control is. They’re likely to take the enemy ADC before they even get out of a stun, not to mention that Kai’Sa can follow them with her own ultimate.
In late game teamfights, Leona should play close to Kai’Sa and peel as much as possible for her. Kai’Sa is a champion that can dish a lot of damage, so keeping her alive should be Leona’s number one priority, reserving her stuns for her attackers only.
Draven
Draven may not have tons of ability synergy with Leona, but he does bring the highest amount of raw damage in the bot lane, at least in the early game. And with him, Leona can get super fed even before level 6.
Draven’s a champion whose playstyle revolves around running into the enemy’s face and dishing out auto-attacks enhanced by Q. So when he has a Leona by his side to stun those enemies for him, Draven can simply obliterate them in no time.
The thing I really like about Draven is how snowballing he is. If you can manage to win the first 2v2 skirmish in the bot lane, he and Leona can keep on killing the enemy team, even under their turret.
Draven’s key strengths:
- Deadly damage from level 1
- Easy to play
- Can 1v5 the enemy team if fed
Draven’s Qs can sometimes take 20 or 30% of the enemy’s HP. This is really broken damage that opponents’ can’t do anything about since it comes from Draven’s right clicks. They’ll contest minions and die or they’ll stay away and lose precious CS and gold. Either way, it’s check mate.
If Leona engages while Draven is out of range, he can cast his ultimate to help her secure a kill. This may not be the greatest synergy but it does let Draven’s ult damage the targets twice. So, it’s worth a shot.
Read Also: The 7 Best Synergy Supports for Draven
Tristana
Tristana is an explosive ADC champion. She can literally one-shot the enemy ADC or support if Leona stuns them first, which is a major reason why they win so many games when they’re together.
First of all, level 2 is a big power spike for this duo. This is when Leona can snare and stun a target with her E+Q combo. And when that happens, Tristana can jump on top of the primary target with W, plant a bomb with E, and starting blasting them.
The combined damage that Tristana and Leona can do even on level 2 is honestly unbelievable. There isn’t a champion that can survive it and you’re very likely to get a First Blood when you do this.
Tristana’s key strengths:
- High burst damage
- Lots of mobility
- Scary damage in the mid and late game
Obviously, this combo should be repeated each time your abilities are off cooldown. Forcing the opposing players to take these fights is an auto-lose for them because of how strong your opening is.
On level 6, your kill power gets even higher thanks to Leona’s AoE stun as well as Tristna’s bonus damage thanks to her own ultimate. Setting up and winning teamfights becomes easy, so don’t be afraid to go in.
Miss Fortune
Every Miss Fortune main is super happy when they see Leona support on their team. This is because Leona allows them to take advantage of MF’s ultimate and deal bonkers damage all game long.
So, the best synergy you can do here is to cast land Leona’s Solar Flare on as many enemy champions as possible. Once they’re stunned, Miss Fortune can cast her R, Bullet Time, to immediately delete them from the fight.
Seriously, Miss Fortune’s ultimate has the power to single-handedly win a teamfight, even if she’s behind. The ability has enough damage for the entire enemy team. And the beauty here is that your opponents won’t be able to escape it because of Leona’s CC.
Obviously, Leona can keep key members of the enemy team longer in MF’s R if needed. Her E and Q can be equally deadly inside Bullet Time, so there’s that.
Miss Fortune’s key strengths:
- Decent poke damage during laning phase
- Wombo-combo with Leona’s R
- Flexible build path (AD, lethality, AP, depending on what’s needed)
Once Miss Fortune spends her ultimate and the fight continues, Leona should stay close to her to peel for her. MF can also deal broken damage with her Q and auto-attack, so protecting her is really important for Leona.
Read Also: 13 Supports with Amazing Synergy with Miss Fortune
Samira
Any high elo ADC or support player can tell you the same – Samira is the best ADC partner you can possibly play with Leona support in LoL. And the reasons are obvious.
First of all, Samira’s passive can be seriously abused thanks to Leona. Each snare and stun that she applies allows Samira to simply right-click the target, dash into an attack range and deal extra damage.
On top of this, Leona’s combined crowd control gives Samira freedom to charge in, quickly stack up her ultimate, and unleash a high amount of AoE damage while the enemies are all stunned. She can then chase her resets and slay all opponents one by one.
Samira’s key strengths:
- High amounts of AoE damage
- Good mobility and resets
- Durable champion due to Immortal Shieldbow and W
Samira is also an ideal pick for Leona because she’s always ready to fight, whenever Leona engages. Remember, Samira can also deal damage while in melee form as well as protect herself with her W.
With this duo, you should be absolutely aggressive and punish your opponents each time you have your abilities available. This aggression should also be transferred in the late game when your whole team is around you as well.
Read Also: 8 Best Synergy Supports for Samira
Conclusion
I’ve also tested Leona support with AP carry picks in the bot lane such as Ziggs and Karthus. This is also a good strategy, especially when the rest of your team is AD.
However, AP champions in the bot lane usually lack the mobility that ADCs have, so they can’t follow up on Leona’s engage instantly.
That said, stick with my recommendations and watch yourself dominate!
