NCG League of Legends Review: Diana, Scorn of the Moon

 

Talk about a cool introduction to the League!  Diana, Scorn of the Moon, has perhaps the best login music to League of Legends I have heard in a while.  Don’t believe me?  Enable that login music again and check it out.  They didn’t just stop there: Diana is a welcome addition to many five-man groups.  She performs as an absolute monster at ganking and has amazing skills in the jungle. However, Diana is perhaps not as horribly overpowered as Zyra, who recently found herself on the nerf end of a hotfix after she was too good at, well, everything.  How does Diana do it?  And if you’re on the opposite side of her, how can you stop her?

Diana is a melee champion that stacks AP, making both her abilities and autoattack an intimidating experience.  Her passive, Moonsilver Blade, provides an AOE magic attack every third hit, and is most often prepared for planning a gank.  The magic damage also stacks with AP, providing a significant boost of damage on that first melee hit.  In order to get there, Diana has two tools: Crescent Strike and Lunar Rush.  Crescent Strike, her bread and butter ranged damage, leaves a temporary debuff called Moonlight on all enemies that are hit by the curved strike.  Moonlight causes Diana’s ultimate, Lunar Rush, to not have a cooldown, both giving magic damage and closing the gap between Diana and her enemy.  As soon as the gap is closed, Pale Cascade is used.  Pale Cascade summons three orbs around Diana that explode when they collide with the enemy. (Sadly, you can’t throw them like in Mario Kart!)  As an added bonus, Pale Cascade also provides a shield that refreshes when all three orbs are used.  If the enemy attempts to escape, Diana may use Lunar Rush again or may decide to use Moonfall, which draws enemies to her in an area and reduces their movement speed for a couple of seconds.

Whenever Diana is in a combat, she is in it to win it: she comes with no escape tools on her own.  Additionally, she does not benefit from stacking health at all and will almost always be the squishiest of her team should you survive her first combo on you.  Diana is also not particularly powerful in team combat – Other than her AOE on melee and her pull with Moonfall, she only attacks one unit at a time.  Additionally, her Pale Cascade splits its total damage if multiple people hit her orbs, which makes it relevant only for its shield.

By the time you see her, she’s typically already decided that there will be a combat.  Say you spot her and you feel a good chance to make the combat go your way.  How do you do it?  A few actions will help:

1. Position well. Diana’s Crescent Strike is a skillshot that has a unique aiming mechanic.  Remember that it moves counterclockwise from her to hit her target (from her right hand) and position yourself accordingly.
2. Avoid getting in melee with her.  Once you’re in melee, you’re not getting out of it.  Even as a melee champion, unless you’re made of the tankiest stuff on earth, she will use her combo to tear your health apart in 1v1, while enjoying her wonderful shield from Pale Cascade.  Often she will use Lunar Rush to initiate the fight.  If she’s used this and burnt her cooldown (you did not have the Moonlight debuff on you), Flash is often the right decision to save your hide.  Keep in mind that if she hasn’t used her cooldown, Flash will not save you; she will simply Lunar Rush again to get back into range and use Moonfall to keep you there. Stuns can be helpful if you think you can get a safe escape, but movement speed decreases are all but meaningless.
3. Burst her before she bursts you.  Get two opposing carries together and this usually becomes the scenario, and she’s exactly the same way, but a jungler.  There’s something innately satisfying about countering a gank with a kill, and a Diana that’s decided to go all out can often become overaggressive and lose as as a result.  Keep in mind that she has multiple ways to get into your face, but only Flash to get out of it – and be aware that she can avoid some CC if she’s continuing to attack you.

I believe that as the game progresses we’ll see Diana take a strong place in regular use in the jungle and still retain balance to the game. NCG would love to hear more about strategies you use on either side of the fence, playing with or against Diana.  Be sure to leave them in the comments below!