Leona Is the Latest Legends of Runeterra Champion!

Another day and another exciting reveal! As expected, those enamored by Legends of Runeterra will now have yet another champion to build their decks around: Leona! As expected, she fully encapsulates the Daybreak keyword and is the one card that ties it all up. And she does so quite nicely, one might add!

This mighty Solari warrior is quite an interesting addition to the ever-growing list of champions. She is a four mana unit with 3 | 5 and a Daybreak passive that’ll automatically stun the strongest unit on your opponent’s side of the board. As with all Solari cards, her passive will proc when she’s the first card you play in a round. That said, if you have a Rahvun, Daylight’s Spear on the field you’ll have a permanent Daybreak set-up. That’s the goal, at least. To level up Leona, you have to active Daybreak at least four times during a duel. Given how that’s the main driving force behind this archetype, that shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. Once upgraded, Leona will have 4 | 6 but her passive will now proc whenever you play a different Daybreak card.

This means that, with a leveled up Leona on the board and a slew of Solari cards in your hand, you’ll be able to effectively neutralize much of what can be found on your opponents side of the field. Granted, she’s a level four unit but at least you can level her up even while she’s in your deck. Some are arguing that this is too slow for the current meta, but the potential is there and we’ll have to first see it in action to be able to judge.

Solari Support

Riot also announced four additional cards that’ll round out the archetype.

• Leona’s Morning Light is a five mana Slow spell that’ll give your units +2 | +2 during the round. It’ll also shuffle a copy of Leona into your deck and will proc all Daybreak effects on the field if played first.
• Zenith Blade is a three mana Slow spell that grants a unit +1 | +2 and Overwhelm. If you activate Zenith Blade first and therefore proc its Daybreak passive, you’ll draw an additional copy of the card.
• Sunburst is a six mana Slow spell that deals 6 damage to a unit. If you activate it first, its Daybreak passive will Silence the unit first before dealing the aforementioned damage.
• Guiding Touch is a two mana Burst spell that can either heal a unit or your Nexus for 2. After this effect resolves, you also get to draw a card.

Closing Remarks

These Solari cards are quite powerful, but it seems as though they’re stronger than the sum of their parts. If you can get enough of them on the field (and in relatively quick fashion), you stand a good chance of overwhelming your opponent through sheer force.

With a Solari deck, you’ll often be rewarded for aggressive plays — if you’re the kind of player who’s risk-averse then you’d best look elsewhere! There’s still a lot that we don’t know about the Solari archetype and the impact Leona will have in Legends of Runeterra and its underlying meta. Still, there’s a lot of potential, and players will surely unearth exciting combinations and ways in which they can maximize the Daybreak mechanic.

Needless to say, these are exciting times if you’re a fan of Legends of Runeterra!

There are still a couple of days left before the Call of Mountain expansion hits live servers (August 26th), which means this isn’t the last reveal of the week! Stay tuned for more coverage!