Updated for Vendetta

Leona

Radiant Dawn

Calm

OrderBeginner

Leona turns stuns into lasting buffs, then uses the safer fights to draw with Affectionate Poro and grow Mournful Witness. The deck wins when those surviving units keep earning points.

Should you play Leona?

Pick Leona if you enjoy keeping units through combat and turning well-timed stuns into a stronger board. Think twice if you want immediate pressure without leaving resources for the fight.

Best for: Midrange players who plan both the damage prevented by a stun and the extra Might needed to actually clear the defender.
Think twice if: You prefer to spend every resource on development, or dislike deciding when a saved unit is worth giving up a point.

Key Cards

Kennen gives you a paid stun when played or when he attacks, and gains two Might while a stunned enemy shares his location. Radiant Dawn turns the actual stun into a friendly buff. Affectionate Poro makes the same exchange pay in cards if it finishes the combat without having taken damage that turn. These are the decisions that matter: which enemy must stop dealing damage, which friendly unit needs the buff, and whether the resulting attack can actually clear the battlefield.

Kennen, Keeper of Balance
Key card · Order

Leona’s Field Guide

Leona gets paid for taking the enemy's combat damage out of a fight. Each time you stun one or more enemy units, Radiant Dawn buffs a friendly unit that does not already have a buff. That extra Might stays after the turn, giving the next attack or defense a better starting point. The stun itself lasts for the turn, but it does not reduce the enemy's Might or remove it from the battlefield. You still need enough damage to kill the defender. A board of small units and several stuns can survive a lot of combat without ever taking a point if you ignore that part. Develop the bodies first, then use the stun that lets those bodies accomplish something.

How Leona wins

Keep your units through exchanges that would normally trade them away, and make that surviving board harder to break. Determined stuns an enemy when she attacks, while Kennen and Nami offer stuns attached to development. Buffs can stay on your units or become a resource: Call to Glory spends one to waive its Energy cost, and Monastery can spend one for a card after a conquest. That creates a real choice between a stronger future board and a better current turn. Once you have control, Nami's Hold readies and buffs the next unit after you play it, allowing a fresh threat to join the attack once that trigger resolves. Keep taking the points that this advantage opens instead of using every stun to preserve a unit that no longer matters.

Key interactions

Spend the buff where it changes the result

Radiant Dawn · Call to Glory · Monastery of Hirana

A new stun can supply a lasting buff, but a unit that already has one does not get another. Call to Glory can spend a buff as an additional cost and give a unit +3 Might for the turn without paying its three-Energy base cost. If you spend the target's own buff, it loses one Might before gaining three, so the net increase is two. You can spend another friendly unit's buff instead. Monastery competes for that same resource when its conquest offers a draw. Take the card when the next answer matters more than the extra Might or a later Glory payment.

Give the small units a reason to survive

Affectionate Poro · Mournful Witness · Back Off

Poro draws when a combat it participated in ends if it has not been dealt damage that turn. Witness becomes empowered after a combat it participated in and gains two Might while empowered. Stuns can let both survive and earn those payoffs, but an empty-field conquest is not a combat. Healing damage does not erase Poro's damage history either. Against a five-Might defender, an unmodified Poro and Witness start with five total Might; stunning the enemy and buffing Poro raises their total to six while stopping its combat damage. That is a fight that can develop the board and take the field, not merely preserve the attackers.

Choose between the stun now and the ready later

Nami, Headstrong · Kennen, Keeper of Balance · Vi, Peacekeeper

Nami costs three Energy, with an optional Calm Power payment to stun an enemy when played. After she Holds, the next unit you play that turn is readied and buffed. That can put Determined or Vi straight to work. Kennen instead asks for two Energy each time you use his play or attack stun; a previously hidden Kennen still needs that payment. Vi can be played as a Reaction at a battlefield where you have units, including one you are attacking. When she first gains the attacker designation in that combat, her stun triggers too. She enters exhausted, but that does not stop her contributing combat damage. Keep the five Energy and one Order Power available if you want that reinforcement.

Strengths

Stuns preserve a board while the Legend makes that board stronger for future turns, reducing how often you need to replace a traded attacker.
Poro, Discipline, Meditation, and battlefield draws can sustain the hand while you fight instead of requiring a separate turn devoted to drawing.
Hidden cards and Vi's Ambush allow you to keep some development or protection out of sight until the battlefield needs it.

Weaknesses

A stunned enemy still requires its full Might in damage to die. Winning the damage exchange is not the same as taking the battlefield.
An already-stunned unit cannot be stunned again for another Legend buff, and an already-buffed friendly unit cannot collect another ordinary buff.
Preserving units with Hourglass or a retreat to base can still concede control. The point matters more than keeping every card alive.

Shadow's Pick

Leona tournament list by 公爵

360th place · S4 Wuhan Regional Open, 2026-08-30

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Deck total $114.62

Legend (1)

1x$0.27 ea.

Runes (12)

6x$0.10 ea.
6x$0.11 ea.

Battlefields (3)

1x$0.09 ea.
1x$0.15 ea.
1x$0.17 ea.

Spells (19)

3x$0.19 ea.
Energy
3
3x$3.42 ea.
Power
1
Energy
1
3x$2.24 ea.
Energy
2
3x$0.16 ea.
Energy
3
3x$0.16 ea.
Energy
2
1x$0.13 ea.
Energy
2
1x$7.65 ea.
Power
2
Energy
3
2x$0.31 ea.
Energy
2

Gear (3)

3x$12.86 ea.
Energy
2

Units (18)

1xChosen$0.38 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
4
2x$0.36 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
3x$4.21 ea.
Might
5
Power
1
Energy
5
2x$4.09 ea.
Might
0
Energy
2
3x$0.11 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
3x$0.23 ea.
Might
2
Energy
3
3x$0.11 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2
1x$3.34 ea.
Might
7
Power
1
Energy
8

Sideboard (10)

2x$4.21 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
2x$1.00 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
5
2x$3.46 ea.
Might
8
Power
2
Energy
8
1x$2.29 ea.
Might
5
Energy
5
3x$0.32 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
4

Shadow's take

This is my Leona pick because the three Affectionate Poros and three Mournful Witnesses make the stun plan worth more than a favorable trade. Poro can replace the card you spent on the fight, while a surviving Witness becomes a four-Might unit for future turns. Kennen gives the deck another body that can supply the stun rather than leaving you with only spells in hand. I like Nami as the way to keep developing once that board starts holding: her next-unit ready can turn a fresh Leona or Vi into the next attacker. The three Hourglasses and two Emperor's Divides help preserve those units, but I would be selective about using them. Sending the whole board back to base can hand the opponent the point you were supposed to protect. Rift Herald gives the deck a larger late-game threat and more cards when it moves to a battlefield. If it actually dies, its replacement unit still needs its Power payment, and an Hourglass that prevents the death also prevents that payoff. Decide which outcome you need before the fight starts.

The Game Plan

Early gameStart with a body that can make use of the next stun. Crab replaces itself immediately, Witness is cheap to develop, and Poro gives you a reason to arrange a combat it can survive without damage. Keep enough Energy for the follow-up: a Kennen played normally costs five Energy if you also want his two-Energy stun, while Nami needs a separate Calm Power payment for hers. Determined is already available from the Champion Zone. I would send back Rift Herald and redundant protection when the rest of the hand cannot establish an early unit. Meditation can draw two by exhausting a ready friendly unit, but do not spend the only attacker you needed to reach a battlefield that turn. An exhausted unit can still defend once it is there.
MidgamePlan the complete fight before choosing the stun. Count how much damage your units deal after the Legend's buff, then decide whether Discipline or Call to Glory is needed to finish the defender. If the enemy is already stunned, use your next stun on another target rather than expecting another buff from the same one. Protect Poro from all damage that turn if you are counting on its draw; healing afterward is not enough. A Nami Hold can ready and buff the next unit you play, so choose that unit before spending a cheap Crab merely to draw. Use Zenith Blade when moving a useful threat into the stunned enemy's battlefield changes the attack. It costs three Energy and two Power from Calm or Order, and it moves without readying the unit.
Late gamePreserve the battlefield that generates the next useful Hold, then work out how to take the remaining point. Amateur Recital can move an enemy defender at another battlefield to base after your Hold, opening a route for the attack. Rift Herald finds a unit from the top three when it moves to a battlefield, and its Deathknell can play a unit from hand to base without its Energy cost. Keep the required Power available. Hourglass instead replaces a death by healing, exhausting, and recalling the unit, so it will not trigger Herald's Deathknell. Emperor's Divide moves your chosen units from one battlefield back to base without readying them. Both can protect cards while losing territory. Use them when the preserved unit has a useful next turn, not automatically when the opponent is about to take the winning point.

Battlefields

Blind

Sunken Temple · Vi, Peacekeeper · Call to Glory

Temple rewards a conquest with at least one unit at five or more Might, provided you pay one Energy to draw. Vi already meets that threshold; a buffed Determined or a temporary Might increase can also get there. I would choose it when the hand can fund the draw after the fight rather than spending every resource just to survive. A temporary pump must still be active when the conquest happens, and the opponent can use the same reward.

Going First

Amateur Recital · Nami, Headstrong

Recital is attractive when you can take the first field and protect the Hold. Its Hold effect can move a unit at any battlefield to base, not only one here. Moving an enemy defender away from the other field can open your next attack, while Nami's Hold can ready the next unit you develop. That requires actually keeping control until the Hold; do not select it as though its movement happens on conquest.

Going Second

Monastery of Hirana · Radiant Dawn · Call to Glory

Monastery can turn a buff earned during the retake into a card after you conquer. Spend a buff from the unit least likely to need it, and compare that draw with keeping a free Glory payment available. If the coming defense depends on the extra Might, retaining the buff may be better. The battlefield is useful because it gives you the choice, not because every conquest should automatically spend a buff.

Sideboard

Remove the Gear that stuns cannot solve

Salvage · Thwonk!

The two Salvages answer existing Gear and draw a card. Consider trimming Thwonk or another low-impact stun when a persistent Gear is what makes the opponent's exchanges favorable. Salvage costs two Energy and one Order Power and is an Action, not a Reaction to a pending spell. Keep the rune needed for it instead of spending all your Order Power on the next unit.

Make the protected attack large enough

Whiteflame Protector · Ambessa, Respected and Feared · Rift Herald

Two Whiteflames and Ambessa give you larger threats when stuns keep units alive but do not provide enough damage to clear the field. Whiteflame costs eight Energy and two Calm Power, then gives a unit +8 Might for the turn. Ambessa requires a further one Energy and two Order Power to become empowered before her Assault and attack kill are available. I would start by adjusting the expensive-threat slots, including Herald, rather than removing every cheap unit. Nami's next-unit ready after a Hold can make this investment matter immediately.

Disrupt the answer before committing

Ashe, Focused · Akali, Silent · Back Off

Ashe can banish a chosen card from the opponent's revealed hand until they Hold. Your plan to deny their Hold helps keep that answer away, but it is not permanently removed. Akali cannot be chosen by enemy spells or abilities outside combat and gains two Might when moving to a battlefield; during combat she is a legal target again. Consider them over excess stuns when the opponent's targeted answers, rather than combat damage, are the main problem. Keep enough protection for the fight where Akali's restriction no longer applies.