Let’s Play: Bruiser/Tank Diana

You’d be surprised just how much damage Diana can do, even when building Bruiser and Tank items… 

So I have been messing around in SoloQ with a new Diana build I have been experimenting with recently and I thought I would share it with you guys! We all know the traditional Diana build of Hextech Protobelt into Zhonya’s Hourglass; when it’s combined with Sorcerer’s Shoes, it’s capable of dishing out some serious burst damage onto squishy targets with low magic resist.

While it is a great build by itself, it does run into some problems. First off, it lacks any sort of consistent DPS. Now you may be forgiven into thinking that Diana does not need any DPS when she has a lot of burst; while this is true, her burst is largely gated by how many targets you hit with your ultimate. If the enemy team isn’t stupid enough to clump up together against a Diana, you will not be maximizing your burst potential here.

The build that I cooked up relies on a Conqueror setup with Nashor’s Tooth rush. Nashor’s Tooth, in my opinion, is more important any single Mythic item you can build on Diana. The item’s passive is basically an extension of Diana’s own passive, making it a multiplicative effect that ramps up DPS very quickly. This is also the reason why you can get away with building a Tank Mythic as a second item – Nashor’s Tooth provides a great amount of sustainable damage for only 3000 gold, not to mention to decent waveclear without reliance on mana.

All three Tank Mythics are viable: Sunfire Aegis for high CC comps, Frostfire Gauntlet to counter mobility and Turbo Chemtank when your team lacks any sort of good engage.  After that, keep stacking AP items. My personal favorite is Cosmic Drive; it benefits off of sustained fights (as opposed to Rabadon’s, which prefers raw burst instead) and is a great augment to the bruiser style of this build.

Standard Build: Nashor’s + Sorc Shoes/Merc Treads + Tank Mythic + Cosmic Drive + Zhonya

Standard Rune Setup: Conq + PoM + Alarcity/Tenacity + Last Stand. Absolute Focus + Gathering Storm/Waterwalking OR Conditioning + Overgrowth/ShieldBash