League of Legends: Diana - First Impressions

Diana, the Scorn of the Moon

Leona's inverse finally approaches, wielding the power of the moon, a slick suit of black armor,  and a large crescent blade. This lunar maiden brings an interesting blend of assassin and fighter to the League of Legends. Her strongest positions on Summoner's Rift seem to be in the jungle, or soloing in the top lane. 

I found Diana to be quite fun to play from the time I experimented with her on the Public Beta Environment. While I'm not a huge fan of fighter-type champions, I enjoyed her kit and liked some of the design choices made. Zyra was a little visually disappointing for me, as I felt she could've looked much more impressive than she did, but Diana's presentation is very well done.

Overall, I only had a few reservations from my experience, but I was happy to see her not be another AD-based fighter. Her kit felt refreshing and different from the other champions currently in the game, and her position as an AP Fighter can spark some interesting builds.

Abilities

Moonsilver Blade (Passive) - 

• A fun passive, mainly due to the visuals.
• I have to say... I was tempted to build Attack Speed specifically for the passive.
• It scales really well into the game, which keeps it feeling impactful when it happens.
• Have to say I wish her passive was Moonlight, and there was some more interactions with that.

Crescent Strike (Q) - 

• A crescent-shaped skillshot that hits everything it passes through, with a small AoE at the tip.
• Overall an interesting skillshot that feels significantly different than ones currently in the game.
• The particle effects are well done and the ability fits well thematically.
• Since nearly all other skillshots are a line, the new shape forces you to target differently, which can go against your natural instincts.
• Feels a little unintuitive, but you get used to it after enough casts.
• Helps that it is scalable, rather than a set distance. Allows for better farming, easier targeting, and saves it from being really frustrating.
• When trying to hit a small group of enemies with the AoE point, it often makes it so you don't hit a lot of the targets along the way since it always curves outward to the right. This can be irritating at times.
• Am very glad to see that it had a small AoE at the ending point of the crescent. Alleviates a lot of frustrating cases of having to hit targets with pin-point accuracy, especially because the middle of the crescent is the widest otherwise. The AoE at the point also feels very satisfying to use.

Pale Cascade (W) -

•  A shield with three revolving orbs that detonate upon impact and refresh the shield if all detonate.
• The particles clearly indicate what's happening except when you use the ability when standing near enemies because you don't really see the orbs and their detonation. It just looks like a large particle.
• Thematically it fits fairly well, as if they are moons orbiting her shield (a planet).
• Also since there is a natural draw between Leona and Diana, it parallels to Leona's Eclipse. Both are "shields" that are refreshed when detonated on enemies.
• Refreshing upon detonation encourages and rewards aggression, rather than using it defensively. Always a good way to go, especially for a more offensive champion.
• Feels weaker than most shields in the game, even though it isn't actually a weak ability. Likely due to the fairly longer cooldown when compared to Rumble, Skarner, and Riven, and that it is much stronger if both shields absorb full damage.
• Seems to have been balanced toward the optimal case, where both the first and second shield absorb full damage. This is often not the case since it can instantly trigger the second shield if you use it in the middle of multiple enemies. Achieving the optimal case feels a little difficult to accomplish, and could be done more often if there was a short delay before the orbs could explode. 
• Refresh of shield prevents that "clutch shield" feel since you are only guaranteed half of the potential value on demand.

Moonfall (E) - 

• A medium-sized, near-instant AoE pull that slows enemies after.
• I was very glad to see this didn't deal any damage and has a fairly long cooldown.
• The ability feels highly impactful, and is definitely a one-point wonder.
• While the visuals of the ability are great, I don't quite see how it fits her lunar theme aside from the shape of the particles.
• Similarly, it feels like it doesn't quite fit with her kit. It does synergize with Pale Cascade a bit, but the ability feels more like one that belongs on a tank, rather than an offensive champion, since it would pull all enemies to her.
• This encourages her to build more tanky in order to maximize the use of her Moonfall.
• Confuses her role for me a bit, since when I look at her kit I imagine she's supposed to be more of an assassin, or highly offensive fighter, rather than a tankier one.
• Afraid she'll suffer from the Irelia-syndrome, where Irelia was originally designed as an assassin, but ends up just building very tanky.
• Would have almost preferred to see some other sort of offensive ability that deals damage rather than an AoE CC ability, to push her more toward the offensive role.

Lunar Rush (R) - 

• A teleport attack with a cooldown refresh when hitting someone with Moonlight.
• Always a fun ability, mainly because of the gap closing it provides, rather than the damage it deals.
• Feels lackluster for an ultimate.
• Looks very quick and deadly. My favorite dash visual in the game to date.
• Thematically, it doesn't seem to fit, and is there more for gameplay's sake. I do enjoy the aggression it brings to the kit.

Moonlight (Q -> R) -

• Interaction feels rather tagged onto the kit since only one ability interacts with Moonlight.
• Was hoping to see a Moonlight passive to directly contrast with Leona.
• Would've been thematically interesting if Moonlight applied from all of Diana's abilities, then served a selfish purpose in contrary to Leona's team-based Sunlight.
• Unfortunately Lux's passive would've been the obvious selfish version of Sunlight that could've fit very well for Diana.
• Moonlight would've been more interesting if Pale Cascade and Moonfall had an interaction with it as well.

 

Art 

 

Concept -

• Her slender frame helps convey that she's not meant to be a main tank, but her armor keeps her looking like a fighter who is meant to be in the middle of the fray.
• Her color scheme is a nice contrast to Leona's and has a definite lunar feel to it.

Animation -

• Not a big fan of how her ponytail protrudes outward with the hairbands. It makes for some mildly odd looking silhouettes, like it's some protrusion of her head, rather than hair.
• Large arcing swings help create crescents to match her theme.
• Motions are swift to give her an agile and deadly feel. Still a good amount of weight behind the attacks to make her feel weighted, which reinforces her slight additional tankiness as a fighter.
• Her left-hand swing looks awkward when it switches back to her base pose since her weapon swaps hands.

Particles -

• Some of my favorite particles currently in the game. 
• Particles have a very magical feel that is reminiscent of the moon. Fits well thematically while still conveying the general concepts of the abilities, such as her shield.
• Subtle details in the particles help communicate what is happening, like the small flicker in her shield when it refreshes.
• The Moonlight particle is a little bit noisy for only interacting with her ultimate. The debuff appears to be much more threatening than it is because of it.
• Moonfall's particle flashes a little too brightly, making it difficult to see anything in the area, but it definitely helps it feel more impactful.
• Particles can get a bit too noisy when grouped together. It ends up being just a giant flash when multiple of her abilities are simultaneously occurring.
• Difficult to notice the detonations of the orbs for her Pale Cascade.

 

Miscellaneous

• Would've liked a more interesting reason for her to be participating in the League.
• Would've enjoyed a more direct relation to Leona, since there's an obvious contrast there.
• Her jokes...You either love them or hate them. I'm personally a bigger fan for actual jokes, rather than bad jokes.
• The laugh is disappointing. I was hoping for something a little more menacing, or at least more amused.
• Not a very clear build for her, which can be good or bad. Most champions lately have a more clear build path or role, but I almost feel as if she's better built tanky, rather than with an AP focus.

 

Conclusion

I find Diana a fun, but safe addition to the cast. Her kit isn't as unique as champions like Orianna or Lee Sin, but it does bring a different feel to the fighter role. Conceptually, she's interesting and aspirational, falling well into the League as an antithesis to Leona. The presentation quality of Diana is one of the highest to date from Riot. She is one of the most visually appealing champions, especially when it comes to the particles. Overall, I enjoyed my time playing around with her and will definitely be playing her again.

You can find Diana's official reveal here