Diana's Guide
Build 1:
Normal Build
Build 2:
Fighter Mid
Build 3:
Glass Cannon
Recommended Summoner Spells
Enemy Champions
Green = Easy Yellow = Medium Red = Hard
This match up could go either way. Early game Ahri will try and harass you as much as possible while you try to farm. The best thing to do is try and mix your farming with your couter harass; try and hit her with your Q while last hitting minions. When you and Ahri hit level 6, things get a bit more challenging with Ahri's main mobility spell becomes available. You shoud try and harass her as much as possible and try to burst her before she has the chance to flee.
This match up will be favorable or a nightmare, depending on how trades go. Since Akali uses Energy and not Mana, she is free to harass you as much as she wants. Make sure when she Q's you, that she is out of range so she cannot auto attack you to proc the second phase of the spell. Upgrading your Ward Trinket at level 9 to the Pink Ward Trinket is essential to prevent her from hiding in her W.
Anivia is a bit tricky to go against, but she can be beat. Patience is key for this match up. Before level 6, you should try and farm while you can and avoid Anivia's Q's when they come at you. If you do this, you are in the clear to do good. When you hit level 6 is your best chance to burt her down. Harass her with your Q as much as possible and go in with your combo. Make sure you don't dive under tower when you burst her down, because she will turn into Eggnivia and all your harassing is a waste.
This lane match up will have Annie crying to her mommy or you being mauled by tibbers. Early lane phase, Annie will harass you as you try and farm with her low cool down spells and that broken passive of hers. You can either ask for assistance from your jungle, since she has no real ways to escape a gank. When you reach level 6 and you have her below 50% health, and her just used her stun on a minion, that is when you go in and combo her, getting the kill.
He is quite annoying if you are not in the right position. Make sure you harass him early while avoiding his soldiers. His early game is weaker than Diana's. When you both hit level 6, things get hard and you will most likely be unable to burst him down with your combo. With his ult, he will just knock you away or towards his tower. If you try to get back into melee range, make sure you don't touch his ult because it will send you flying back again.
This guy can be very annoying before level 6. If you try and be aggressive on him, he can just do his combo, bursting a huge chunk of your health and he is untouched. The best way to counter this is for him to wait for his E and Q to be on cool down and poke him with your Q. If you are able to avoid his Q when his passive is affecting you, then you can go in and combo him and extinguish him.
Cass is very annoying to go against during the early lane phase. Make sure you always dodge her Q and W to prevent you from being poisoned and keep her from spamming her E on you. When you get to level 6, you can harass her with your Q until she is below 50% of her health. When she misses her Q, that is when you should go in with your combo. To prevent Cass from turning you into stone with her ult, you should ult her twice, positioning yourself behind her to avoid her ult.
You don't see many Cho'gath's mid, but there are a few that will play him mid and you should smile with this fortune if you are Diana. You can easily harass him and out burst him fairly easily. This will force Cho to play passive and use his abilities to farm instead of harassing you. Avoid his Q's, don't get caught out by ganks and you are good to snowball and carry your game.
Ekko is fairly easy to go against early game. The main thing to counter Ekko is to avoid his Q and make sure he doesn't hit you the third time when his passive is applied to you. Your burst early game over powers his, so use that for your advantage and hurt him as much as possible before level 6. Even at level 6, Ekko is still managable to go against, you just have to be aware of where his ult will have him be. In my opinion, I think Diana is one of Ekko's greatest counters in lane.
Ez is very annoying to lane against. With his spells having a low cool down, he can easily harass you as you try and farm. Try and use your Q to farm, since auto attacking minions will just leave you open for easy harass by Ez. The best way you can help yout team and not feed Ez is to roam to other lanes if you manage to push your lane out enough or get jungle support with good CC to lock him down for you to damage him.
Facing Heimer alone is no easy task, maybe for Nunu since he can eat turrets, but this is a guide for Diana, not Nunu. He is going to be hard to harass since he will always have turrets up and hide behind them. An aggressive Heimer will try and burst you if he lands his stun. Avoid his stun, harass him with your Q, since he is rather squishy it will do a good amount if you land it. Wait for your Jungler to help out before you try and engage him or else he will melt you if you go in alone.
Even though Fizz is probably the most annoying champions to go against, this match up is still salvageable. You just need to be playing at the top of your game to win. Always save your W when he tries to be aggressive to minimize the damage and hurt him slightly in the process. The best chance you have is to wait for his abilities to be on cool down and poke him as much as you can with your Q. Grabbing Barrier instead of Ignite to help minimize his damage is also worth while.
Karma is a straight up bully in lane phase. If she gets close to Diana, which is easy for Karma with her W, Karma will try and snare you with her E and then chunk you down with her R,Q combo. If you do damage to her, she will do her R,E combo to snare you and get some health back. Best way is to stay in the back, get help from the Jungler or roam to other lanes to pick up kills.
This is a very easy match up. Karthus is naturally squishy, so harass him as much as you can and force him to tower hug and use his abilities to farm. When you reach level 6 and if he isn't hiding behind his tower, you should use your combo and go all in on him, since he cannot compete with your burst or have a chance to escape. Only thing you have to worry about is the enemy Jungler from ganking your lane.
Probably one of the easiest lane match ups you can go against. Even though Kat doesn't use Mana or Energy to use abilities, early on, it won't do much damage to you so you can farm up while she throws her blades to try to farm. Always save your E for Kat when she hits level 6, it will stop Kat's ult right away. Also you should always know where she is and prevent her from ganking other lanes to try and catch up.
Kassadin can be a fairly easy match up to go against; you just have to play smart and not be over zealous. Early on, Diana will win trades. Kass will try his best to harass you with his Q, just use your W to minimize that damage. When you get to level 6, things get a bit tricky because if you try and go in on him, he will just ult away. Be patient and try to farm up so you can kill him even if he tries to ult away.
Lissandra is tough to harass in this match up early on, so play it safe. It is very hard to pin her down because of her CC and her E to get away if you try and go in on her. The best chance to win is not to try and focus on killing her, because at level 6, that is very hard to do, you should harass her enough to force her out of the lane, or push the lane enough for you to gank your teammate's lanes and pick up kills there. When you are fed, then you can take her on with almost no problem.
This witch can easily snowball early if you give her the chance. If you manage to survive the early lane phase and have yet to feed her, all hope is not lost. You can harass her with your Q, which will do a good amount of damage, since she is squishy. By using your W, it will negate some of the damage that LeBlanc will try to inflict with her combo. Also it is key to avoid her snare at all time so she doesn't get a free trade off on you. Basically wait for her to engage, then counter it with your own combo.
Lux can be tricky to fight in this match up. She can easily harass you with her Q and E. If you try and harass her back, she can use her W to negate a good amount of damage you would inflict. If she manages to land her Q, be prepared to feel some pain as she will burst you with her combo. Wait until her spells are on cool down before you engage, that is when Lux is vulnerable and will take a good amount of damage.
Malzahar is another one of those champions that sit in the back and let their spells do all the work for them. Before level 6, you will do more damage then he can to you. Take advantage and harass him with your Q and get away from your minions if his E is about to spread to you. When he hits level 6, that is when he is dangerous and you should not 1v1 him with his ult available. With his ult, he can easily 100-0 you with his combo.
This juggernaut of pain is very strong against Diana and would not reccomend picking Diana in this match up. He can easily harass you with his E and Q if you get close to him. Because of his passive, it is hard to damage him 1v1. The only way you can snowball over Morde is to have the Jungler come and gank frequently, since Morde has no escapes. If your Jungler can get you fed, Morde will fall off late game. Early and mid game is when he is the most annoying.
This is more or less is going to end up as a farming lane. Morgana's early game is rather weak and will rely on harassing you with her Q. If you can avoid that, then you are in the clear to farm with little harassment from her. You can't really do much against her either when she gets her W and will shield herself from all magic damage. Engage when her shield and snare are on cool down and she will fall. Engage when you think you can burst her down before her ult stops you in your tracks.
Orianna is a bit tricky to fight against. The real key to fight her is having the right position. Make sure you are not near or standing on her Orb while farming, or else she will hurt you. If you position yourself right, you can harass her with your Q and can see her trying to move the Orb towards you, giving yourself some time to dodge it. Engaging alone is a bit difficult, since she can CC you down before you can kill her.
Swain is one of those champs that if you get locked down, you are gonna get hurt. Swain can easily harass you and prevent you from hurting him with his W and Q. Even at level 6, it is very tough to hurt him when he can just ult and recover all his health from his spell vamp. If you do try to engage, make sure he missed his W and you have Ignite ready to try and minimize the spell vamp. Having Jungle aid you is crucial to win this match up to help lock Swain down for you to get a kill or assist.
Syndra at first may seem a bit tricky, but really Diana has the upper hand. Syndra will try and harass you when you farm by using her spells. If you are able to dodge her spells, then you should have a fairly easy time farming up in lane. When both of you hit level 6, be cautious that Syndra doesn't have two balls on the field to get max damage from her ult. Try and engage her when there are no balls on the field and use your combo to reduce her damage.
This match up can go either way, depending on who wins trades. Always save your W for when Talon goes aggressive and try to hurt you with his combo. Absolutely do NOT let him out trade you, make him pay for using his E to engage on you and attack him back until your W's shield is depleted. You should rush a Zhonya's to get that armor to reduce his early damage. If you still have trouble against him, try using Barrier instead of Ignite to give yourself some extra bulk.
This match up is very favorable for Diana. Twisted Fate is relitively squishy and with your combo can easily get kills on him. If he tries to harass you with his Q, that can easily be dodged if you keep your distance from him. When he is selecting the card he wants to use, just stay out of his attack range and wait for him to use it before going back in. It is crucial to know where TF is at all times and try and counter gank when he begins to roam to your teammate's lanes.
This match up can be favorable for an easy snowball lane. Veigar will more than likely use his Q soley to farm minions. He will occationally use it to harass you, so keep your distance and poke back with your Q. When you get to level 6, you will need to be patient for him to miss his baby cage (E) before you go in on him. He is squishy, but he can do a LOT of damage with his ult. Buy some early Magic Resist Items to minimize Veigar's burst slightly and come out on top.
Viktor is tricky to play against. Either you or him will snowball in the end, you want to be the one to snowball obviously. You can minimize his damage output by using your W and harass him by throwing out a Q here and there. Be sure to dodge his Death Ray (E) and wait for him to waste his Gravity Field (W) before you initiate. If you do go in, make sure you have tagged him with your Q and be sure his spells are on cool down or else he can lock you down and shut you down.
Vlad is no pushover in this lane match up and you have to be on your guard. With his high sustain with his spell vamp, especially when he gets Spirit Visage. You should be patient and wait for him to use his W before you go all in on him. When he materializes, that is when you should go all in (if he isn't under a tower) and use Ignite to reduce the amount of spell vamp he will recieve.
Early on, Xerath can be tough since he is hanging far in the back using his spells to harass you as best as he can. All of his spells can easily be dodged and you just have to be on edge and be ready to avoid his spells. The key one you have to focus on dodging his his E, which is his stun. If you are able to dodge this one, then you can engage on him with your combo and deal a big chunk of damage.
This match up can be a bit tricky, but you have to be patient and wait for the right time to strike. The best time to engage with your combo is when his Windwall (W) is down. When it is down, and he just used his knock up (3rd Q) is when you should initiate. First you dodge the knock up then tag him with your Q and go in to out trade him, even killing him if you are geared. First item is Zhonya's Hourglass to give you that extra armor to survive him in lane.
Diana can do slightly better than most champs when facing a Zed in lane. To win this match up, you have to avoid his harass the best you can and counter harass him with your Q. It is essential to rush Zhonya's as fast as possible to make Zed's ult almost useless, if timed right. If you have trouble against Zeds with Diana, try using Barrier instead of Ignite to give you some extra bulk and reduce Zed's ult if Zhonya's is on cool down.
Ziggs is not the easiest match ups to go against. Positioning is key since he will be throwing his Q whenever he feels like to harass you to speed up his passive, which gives him a stronger auto attack. If you are standing near your minions, then you will probably be caught in the explosion of his Q. If you try and go in on him, he will use his Satchel Charge (W) to get away. Be patient, wait for his W to be on cool down before you engage with your combo and play safe.
Zyra can be annoying, but most of the time she is easy to go against, since she is very squishy. You can easily burst her down with your combo. Before level 6, Zyra will have the upper hand in harassing you with her plants. The thing you have to be the most careful for is her snare. If you can avoid that, then you will be able to burst her down before she can use her ult to save her.
Skill Order
Q
W
E
R
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