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As a starting Leona (support) player, I've been trying to decide whether to start off with Amulet Coin or Relic Shield. (I know that a lot of pro players take Doran's Shield but I'm not up to that standard yet, so that's not what I'm looking for, at least right now.)

Apparently Relic Shield is more gold efficient as support gold income items go, but since I spend a lot of my time in the bush to be prepared to ambush, I'm not sure if Relic Shield could be well-implemented on Leona or if I'm just playing incorrectly.

And in the end, it's also a question about added health or extra mana regen, and about the final upgrades to the items (I like the cooldown reduction on Talisman).

So my question is, should I be taking Amulet Coin or Relic Shield, and why? Do playstyles determine which I should pick?

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    As seen by the answers so far, this really just depends on your playstyle(and I would add opponent in lane). If you want more durability go dorans shield or relic shield, if you want passive gold and a later game item start go coin :) – Brian Feb 21 '14 at 18:57
  • For starters go with ancient coin. After that, if you want to try a new playstyle, go doran's shield and be a bit more aggresive, and see if it suits you or if the results are positive. But don't play it once, at least play both 3 or 4 times consecutive, there are many posibilities as every adc works different. – Fabián Feb 25 '14 at 4:07
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I've been maining Leona as support for quite a while now and I usually pair with a lane partner with strong kill potential. I prefer Ancient Coin between the two for the following reasons:

  • It allows you to have a consistent gold income just by being near a minion death (usually inside a brush), while Relic Shield requires you to last hit a minion thus exposing your location. I usually prioritize destroying enemy wards to deny them vision and wait for an opportunity to catch the enemy ADC off-guard while inside the brush.

  • It builds into a Talisman of Ascension which is extremely useful on ambush, team clash, chase or escape. I would normally build Locket of Iron Solari to shield the entire team instead of Face of the Mountain which only shields a single target.

EDIT 1:

Just tried Doran's Shield last night and I think it's a good starting item as well. Doran's Shield just gives you enough tankiness to sustain enemy damage pre 6, that allowed us to play aggressive, managed to pull off good fights and won the lane all the way. I recommend using this on a miser build (GP10 quints and masteries) to make up for your late Ancient Coin or Relic Shield.

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First of all, you should not get too set in your ways with either Ancient Coin or Relic shield. Substantial changes to both build paths have been implemented on the Public Beta Environment, indicating that large changes to the items are likely in the near future.

At the current time, either item is viable. Relic Shield will generally give you and your team more gold. However, the item that it eventually builds into (Face of the Mountain) is generally not considered that useful. Also, you do have to take some care to maximize your gold gains as you want to be last hitting the appropriate minions with your charges (since some give much more gold than others).

On the other hand, Ancient Coin will usually give you less gold. It is easier to use since you don't have to last hit anything. But, the MAJOR benefit is that the final item it builds into (Talisman of Ascension) is considered extremely useful in the endgame for the team speed boost.

For this reason, I see most high level players preferring Ancient Coin over Relic Shield.

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You should try considering the Doran's shield start. It makes you much more resiliant to poke and makes diving them much safer.

As far as gold items. Ancient coin is normally the recommended because of the active it builds into although relic shield is useful too. Either can work just as well.

Also, note that you would still pair a gold items along with the doran's shield.

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  • This, use a shield to start. – Blindy Feb 21 '14 at 19:28
  • @Blindy disagree that it should be taken all the time by everyone.. it depends on the matchup and player and opponent.. Passive players or lanes that push hard get little benefit from a dorans shield – Brian Feb 21 '14 at 19:48
  • If you are playing leona and playing passive, you are either playing her wrong or you are behind. Lanes who push hard get lots of benefit from dorans. – dphil Feb 21 '14 at 20:09
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    A dorans shield is only better if you're expecting harass while you're harassing, so essentially useless compared to a coin when you're pushed up to their turret. And playing against certain lane matches make an agressive leo risky :) As i said in the question comment it all depends on the game/playstyle for what item to take – Brian Feb 21 '14 at 20:52
  • Well Brian it's up to you what you pick, I'm just saying that if you don't go for a shield vs a support with a shield, you're far more likely to lose the lane, and lose hard. Leona's biggest weakness is her pre-3 game where smart laners will poke her down so she's too low to all in (or completely lose bush control). The shield helps mitigate this a lot. – Blindy Feb 21 '14 at 21:07

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