Battle Lion Leona

First game I played with Battle Lion Leona was around 1 AM on a Wednesday, mid-season 14. Locked her in for a Diamond ranked game and my ADC immediately typed “that skin goes hard.” Honest reaction. The Anima Squad line had been hit or miss for me up to that point, but Leona’s version landed differently. Something about the mech-inspired lion armor just clicks with her kit fantasy. Tanky support in a power suit. Makes sense.

What actually changes on Battle Lion Leona

This is a 1350 RP Epic tier skin so you get the standard package: new model, new VFX, new recall animation. Voice lines stay default. No VO refresh. The armor redesign is the star here. Leona gets this full mechanical lion motif with gold and white plating, red accents running through the joints. Her shield transforms into something closer to a mech cockpit panel than a Solari relic. Looks massive in game.

The VFX overhaul is solid across the board. Her Q proc lights up with this orange-gold energy burst that reads super clean in lane. W shield activation gets a hexagonal barrier effect, kinda feels like she’s powering up a force field. Not gonna lie, the E zenith blade trail is where I noticed the biggest improvement over base. It leaves this streaking gold particle line that makes your engage reads way more satisfying. You know what surprised me? The R solar flare. The Anima Squad version drops with a lion emblem pattern on the ground instead of the standard sun. Been playing maybe 40 games with this skin in Diamond and it still catches my eye every teamfight.

Recall animation has Leona summoning a holographic lion companion. Quick salute, power pose, teleport. Standard Anima Squad energy. Nothing groundbreaking but it fits the theme. (Random aside: my duo partner thinks the recall lion looks like a Voltron reference and honestly I cant unsee it now.)

The Anima Squad connection and release details

Battle Lion Leona dropped July 31, 2024. Late into season 14. Pandart Studio handled the artwork, and they captured the military mech commander vibe perfectly. The Anima Squad skinline is Riot’s anime-meets-military aesthetic and Leona fits it naturally. She already has the “frontline commander” energy in her base kit, so putting her in power armor just amplifies what’s already there.

10 chromas total for this one. Tanzanite is my go-to, the deep purple contrast against the gold armor hits harder than you’d expect. Emerald shifts the whole palette into this military green that reads like actual combat gear. Pearl goes clean white and minimalist. Could be wrong here but I think Nightwire might be the sleeper pick, that pink and purple combo gives off a different energy entirely. Meteorite darkens everything into brown tones, feels more grounded. The rest fill out the usual spread but those are the ones I keep coming back to in champ select.

Shop has it. Permanent availability, 1350 RP. Standard Epic pricing for an above-average Leona skin.

How Battle Lion Leona stacks up

Leona has a deep skin catalog at this point. Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse exist. Project Leona exists. High Noon Leona exists. That’s serious competition. Real talk though, Battle Lion Leona holds its own in that lineup. The VFX clarity is better than some of her older releases and the model quality reflects season 14 standards.

Where it falls slightly behind is the lack of new voice lines. At 1350 RP thats expected, but when you compare it to the Eclipse skins which feel like complete reimaginings, Battle Lion reads more like a strong costume change. Still good. Just different tier of ambition.

Been running this as my main Leona skin since it dropped. In lane specifically, the Q auto-reset feels snappier visually. Might be placebo but the gold burst on the proc gives better feedback than base when you’re looking to peel or engage in bot lane. My Jinx duo noticed it too, said the stun indicator reads cleaner from her perspective. That matters in Diamond where your backline needs to react to your engage within milliseconds.

The honest take

Should you buy it? If you main Leona and you vibe with the Anima Squad aesthetic, 1350 RP feels fair for what you get. The chromas add real variety, especially Tanzanite and Nightwire. Skip this if you already own Solar Eclipse and dont play Leona enough to justify another skin in the rotation. But for Leona mains who want something fresh from season 14, this is a strong pick. Not the best Leona skin full stop, but comfortably top four. (Sidebar for support mains specifically: the W shield VFX is genuinely easier to track in chaotic teamfights around dragon pit, that alone sold me.)

Spammed this in Diamond for two months straight last summer and the skin just grew on me. Worth it. Pandart Studio put in the work here and it shows. First choice if you want Leona looking like she could solo pilot a Gundam into the Rift.