October 5, 2023
Diana was found and rescued by a group of Solari hunters, who raised her as a member of Tribes of the Last Sun, widely known as the Rakkor.
Like all of the Solari faith, she underwent rigorous physical and religious training, but Diana was curious and determined to understand why the Solari acted the way they did. So she dug through the libraries, gathering more and more questions, and no one to offer her some answers.
When Diana began to notice the tomes had all references to the moon missing, the teachers started to punish her, and her colleagues distanced themselves from her and her questioning. There was some light in these years of confused isolation: Leona. The most devout of Diana’s peers, they often found themselves in debates that lead to a strange friendship.
One night, Diana discovered a hidden alcove deep within the mountain. Filled with moonlight, there was imagery of sun soldiers armored in gold alongside silver warriors and the sun and the moon on the top of Targon’s greatest peak. Diana raced to share this with Leona: the sun and moon were friends, not enemies!
Leona did not react with joy.
What were the Solari hiding? There was only one place she could go for answers: the top of Mount Targon. The summit greeted her with a full moon, a ray of moonlight slammed into her, and she felt a presence taking hold of her, sharing snippets of the past, of another Rakkor faith: the Lunari. When the light dissipated, she found herself in silver armor, holding a crescent blade, hair, once dark, now gleaming silver. She turned to find she was not alone, Leona stood at her side, in shining golden armor and sword.
Leona thought only of returning to the Solari. Diana begged her not to, so they could start this new chapter together. But Leona refused, and their disagreement turned into a battle. Trying to avoid more destruction and confrontation, Diana fled down the mountain. But she felt more confident than ever that she had been right to question the Solari’s teachings. It was time to confront them.
Rage filled Diana when the high priests denounced her as a heretic and blasphemer. Amplified by the power of the Aspect within, she embraced it in a terrible burst of moonlight. She fled the temple, leaving a trail of death.
Now, driven by half-remembered visions and glimpses of ancient knowledge, Diana only knows one truth: that the Lunari and the Solari need not be foes and that there is a greater purpose for her. And even though that destiny remains unclear, Diana will seek it out.
Read Diana’s full story here.
CHAMPION OVERVIEW
Bearing the crescent moonblade, Diana fights as a warrior of the Lunari, a disappeared faith of the lands around Mount Targon. Dressed in shimmering silver armor and is a living embodiment of the moon’s power. Imbued with the essence of an Aspect from beyond Targon’s towering summit, Diana is no longer wholly human and struggles to divine her power and purpose in this world.
Diana is an amazing duelist and fight-initiator, mostly thanks to her ultimate: Moonfall [R]. She also has great camp clear abilities because of her passive, Moonsilver Blade, and sustain capabilities thanks to Pale Cascade [W].
ABILITIES
Moonsilver Blade (passive): Every third strike cleaves nearby enemies for additional magic damage. After casting a spell, Diana gains Attack Speed for her next three attacks.
As your basic attacks will give additional attack speed for a short period, it’s best to spread out the attacks in fights or when clearing the jungle.
Crescent Strike (Q): Unleashes a bolt of lunar energy in an arc dealing magic damage. Afflicts enemies struck with Moonlight, revealing them if they are not in stealth for 3 seconds.
Crescent Strike will give vision on an enemy if it hits, so it can be used to get over walls on unexpected enemies. It can also be used to close gaps on a minion, to make a ganking much easier.
Pale Cascade (W): Diana creates three orbiting spheres that detonate on contact with enemies to deal damage in an area. She also gains a temporary shield that absorbs damage. If her third sphere detonates, the shield gains additional strength.
Great tool for surviving while clearing the jungle.
Lunar Rush (E): Becomes the living embodiment of the vengeful moon, dashing to an enemy and dealing magic damage. Lunar Rush has no cooldown when used to dash to an enemy afflicted with Moonlight. All other enemies will have the Moonlight debuff removed regardless of whether they were the target of Lunar Rush.
Lunar Rush will reset if the enemy has been marked by Crescent Strike [Q].
Moonfall (R): Diana reveals and draws in all nearby enemies and slows them. If Diana pulls in one or more enemy champions, the moonlight crashes down onto her after a short delay, dealing magic damage in an area around her, increasing for each target beyond the first pulled.
In regards to Moonfall, it’s important to note that it will make more damage the more enemies it hits.
RUNES
Runes are enhancements that add new abilities or buffs to champions, allowing us to slightly modify our playstyle for one of them depending on the game, our lane, the enemy composition, and our team composition. There are five different paths of runes: Precision (Improved attacks and sustained damage), Domination (Burst damage and target access), Sorcery (Empowered abilities and resource manipulation), Resolve (Durability and crowd control), and Inspiration (Creative tools and rule-bending).
As always, I’m going to show you some popular rune combinations out there. Remember to experiment, mix, and max to see which setup is better for your playstyle.
PRECISION + INSPIRATION
This is the rune build I usually take as Diana jungle. You’re going to thank the extra attack speed of the precision tree and the summoner spell haste is a welcome trait as jungler.
PRECISION + RESOLVE
Lethal Tempo is an amazing choice as Diana, as you want to build up the attack speed and take all the advantage you can of the passive Moonsilver Blade.
Going down the Resolve tree adds some sustain and resistance to our belt.
ITEMS
Just like with runes, item build paths are flexible and depend a lot on the game and the situation. Let’s review some possible items for Diana.
Hextech Rocketbelt: This item’s dash ability is core for this Diana build, more focused on ganking and getting close to unexpected enemies. It shines the most when the enemy team has a lot of squishy champions.
Lichbane: Item that helps by increasing Diana’s burst capabilities. A good choice for the late game.
Rabadon’s Deathcap: This item is usually a must when playing as AP mages. The amount of AP you get from this item is huge. With this, your burst damage is pretty high.
Zhonya’s Hourglass: If you are running Rocketbelt and want to be as aggressive as it gets, you are going to need this. The stasis from this is long enough after casting your ult to get your ult to land without dying.
STRATEGY
Start upgrading Pale Cascade [W] and start Blue or Red Buff, depending on which line you want to gank first. As a beginner jungle, it’s best to just clean the side you’re starting on first, then move to the other one and fully clear it too, before making your first gank. If you don’t see any gank opportunity, just recall, refresh your items and start again. You’ll get the flow as you play.
One possible, but more complex route could be something like this: Start on blue → Kill Gromp → Go red (this should get you to level 3) → You could gank here if you see it fit / Go to Raptors → Kill the river crab of the side you’re currently pathing → Check for possible ganks / Kill Golems → Recall and start the route again
Diana starts teamfights using her ultimate Moonfall [R] and has excellent one-shot potential. Take into account the Lunar Rush [E] reset if used on an enemy affected by Crescent Strike [Q] passive.
CONCLUSION
I’ve always thought it’s important to know a champion in each role so you can complement the match better. Diana is my go-to jungler as I already knew a little about her by playing mid, and she has an easy gank strategy. She has sustain, burst, and beautiful skins, so I advise you to try her!