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Hey guys I'm Lebląnc, a NA Leblanc main with over 200 games as Leblanc in S7 and she'll continue to be my main through season 8. Now that season 8 has arrived and patch 8.9 is live, I've become familiar with just about every one of Leblanc's reverted matchups and her synergy with a few junglers as well, I'll update with more season 8 info as I discover it.

Pros + High Mobility + High Burst Damage + Reliable-ish CC + High Snowball Ability + High Skill Cap

Cons + Squishy especially at early levels + High Cooldown durations early + No easy CS / waveclear + Prone to getting camped + Falls behind easily

With Leblanc's 8.8 revert live now, we can talk more about how old-school leblanc use to work and the runes that made her effective, most are the same but I will note on the runes that changed:

• Keystones: Electrocute is ideal here. In Domination this is your only option. Same with reverted Leblanc.
  
• Primary1 (p1): Sudden Impact is best here, it gives Leblanc a burst of Magic Pen upon using Distortion. Same with reverted Leblanc.
  
• p2: Zombie Ward has been replaced by Eyeball Collection in most if not all of my builds. The reason for this is that Eyeball Collection makes more sense in a roaming meta where the emphasis is on wave shove -> roam as much as possible.
  
• p3: Ultimate Hunter is what I'm running now since the ultimate hat removal/change to domination. It makes more sense with Eyeball Collection / the roaming meta / Dark Seal stacking.
  

Then the secondary runes:

• Secondary Runes : There are a few options here so let me lay them out for you:
  • Domination:
    1. S1: Sudden Impact works well with Leblanc's Distortion
    2. S2: Ultimate Hunter as mentioned above works well with Eyeball Collection, Dark Seal and roaming.
  • Precision:
    1. S1: Presence of Mind, **can work with reverted Leblanc**, but isn't as good since the nerf.
    2. S2: Coup de Grace is the old Merciless x2 which means Leblanc hits even hard at low percentages, this is a real boost for her, and her kit. Same for reverted Leblanc.
  • Sorcery:
    1. S1: Ultimate Hat has been removed so I run Scorch here to give Leblanc more early game poke pressure.
    2. S2: Transcendence, Absolute Focus, are the viable options here primarily. I use primarily Transcendence, as it directly provide combat stats, and allows you to reach 30% cdr with just Luden's Tempest and Level 10 which is super neat. Same with reverted Leblanc.
       
       

Ignite Ignite was Leblanc's primary spell in S6, but from S6-S7 mid lane changed to more of a support role, and various Leblanc nerfs caused her to not due as much early damage. Due to these changes, it was not as advisable to take Ignite. However, after Leblanc's revert in 8.8 and the Ignite buffs, this spell by far outweighs Teleport.

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Flash Flash should always be taken with Leblanc for movement. It allows you to escape ganks, dive under/out of turret, gap close when W is on cd, or any other variety of things you can do with Flash. It should always be taken on Leblanc.

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Teleport (Option #1 ) Teleport should only be taken in a small minority of games (updated for season 8). This is because it takes away from Leblanc's assassin nature and restricts her in lane to playing much safer. Of Note: Unsealed Spellbook allows to switch from Ignite to Teleport but you lose too much damage from the domination tree, in my opinion, so it's not quite worth. Will revisit now that Unsealed Spellbook has changed.

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Mirror Image (Q) RANGE: N/A COST: N/A COOLDOWN: 60 sec

This is Leblanc's passive, it does 2 distinct things: Makes you invisible for 1 second Creates a duplicate Leblanc at your location which can be controlled via the ALT key. Mirror Image should be used like this: Learn where your 40% health mark is, and be ready when you drop below 40% as you need to act fast. As soon as you turn invisible, you have 3 options:

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Sigil of Malice (Q) RANGE: 700 COST: 50/60/70/80/90 mana COOLDOWN: 6 sec

This is Leblanc's Q, her main damage ability. Sigil of Malice is an interesting spell, it works like her old Shatter Orb but faster and deals less initial damage. So the thought is that Sigil of Malice is a setup ability, which can then be proc'd via Distortion, Ethereal Chains, or for max damage Mimic Sigil of Malice

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Distortion (W) RANGE: 600 COST: 70/80/90/100/110 mana COOLDOWN: 14/13/12/11/10 sec

This is Leblanc's W and her main mobility ability ;) Distortion especially after Leblanc's 8.8 revert has to be one of the most unfair, unbalanced skill shots in all of LoL. It allows Leblanc amazing movement across the Rift and makes her ganking potential downright terrifying. Use W to retreat if getting ganked, to roam and get kills, to ward, etc.

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Ethereal Chains (E) RANGE: 865 COST: 70 mana COOLDOWN: 14/13.5/12.5/11.75/11 sec

This is Leblanc's E, her hard Crowd Control. This is Leblanc's shining ability Ethereal Chains, it allows her to, after 1.5 seconds, Crowd Control or Immobilize an enemy champion. As with her W, this is a skill shot and can be easily missed, so practice and patience are best with this move to secure easy kills, ganks, etc. Reverted Leblanc's Ethereal Chains is the same, but shorter length so use the cast indicator for a bit until you get the shorter range down

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Mimic (Q) RANGE: Global COST: 0 mana COOLDOWN: 60 sec

This is Leblanc's R, her multifaceted ultimate. This reverted ultimate: Mimic has THREE forms: The ult can be used after Q Mimic Sigil of Malice The ult can be used after W Mimic Distortion The ult can be used after E Mimic Ethereal Chains Ideally, you want to use it after Q as Mimic Sigil of Malice does the most damage in a short amount of time. Can also use it after E as if you hit both Ethereal Chains and Mimic Ethereal Chains one after the other, the root is tough to get out of for ganks.

I got a good question regarding the difficulty surrounding LeBlanc's CS and last hitting and want to go ahead and address that here for anyone else wondering the same thing!

Advice for Creep Scoring with LeBlanc:

- Focus on first 6 minions (sets the tone for lane)
- ONLY last hit minions (don't sit there AA'ing minions whole health bars)
- If they catch on and start to try and poke you while CSing, focus on winning the poke trade, and let them push, then freeze the wave in an advantageous spot so the pressure is on them not to over-extend.
- Reverted Leblanc's Distortion + Mimic Distortion can clear a full wave mid-late game just be careful using both as you have no escape outside of Flash.


Advice for Last Hitting with LeBlanc:

- Watch Faker's Leblanc (bad advice, I know.)
He is the undisputed king of CS, but interestingly enough he still misses last hits using Leblanc, so it's clearly just difficult, but watching him will definitely help you get a feel for how tiny the window for last hitting with Leblanc is (hint: it's right around 1 or 2 caster minion auto's worth of damage, it's small)
- Practice, Practice, Practice.

I undersold this in my comments response because I know it's not what people like to hear but, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. My CS has gone up from ~100 at 30 minutes (3.3 a minute) to closer to 180 at 30 minutes (6 a minute), and I continue to push that closer to 200 at 30 minutes (~6.6 a minute). I strive for 8 CS a minute, as 8 is plat and that's what I want this season, 9 is diamond, 10 is master and 10+ is challenger.

It is worth noting that as of patch 8.8 Leblanc statistically contests for the position of WORST AVERAGE CS per midlane per game at 148.8 per game in plat+, so use that as your baseline CS # and try to exceed it every game.


Source:
http://champion.gg/statistics/?league=platplus#/roleSort=Middle&sortBy=general.minionsKilled&order=descend?sortBy=general.minionsKilled&order=ascend&roleSort=Middle

Roaming also plays an critical part in reverted LeBlanc's kit, and it is a tricky topic to nail down mainly because roaming in any match is subjective to that match and the champions in it. However in patch 8.13+ the need to roam is essential for map control and crab control so make it a priority every game.

Example: If you're against a team like Malphite, Maokai, Galio, Leona, and some ADC. You can be pretty sure that roaming is going to net you about nothing regardless of what lane you go to, as those champs can stop your roam easily, and you're better off staying in lane.

There are however a few criteria we can use to boost our chances that a roam will be successful:

1. Is the lane you're looking to roam to, pushed up?
2. Is the lane you're looking to roam to, at less than half health?
3. Is your jungle nearby the lane you're looking to roam to?
   if yes, you probably CAN roam to the lane, but should you? (answer question #4 to find out!)
   
4. Would you lose a full wave of CS (or more) because of the roam?
   If yes, you CAN roam, but probably SHOULD NOT, because 12 cs is worth a kill in League economics so it's probably better to stay and lane.
   If no, you CAN roam, and probably SHOULD, but I would still use your own discretion.

If you follow those criteria, there's a good chance you have an opportunity to roam effectively, and should take it.

It's worth noting Leblanc has some standard combos that most Leblanc's will utilize in lane, knowing when to use these as Leblanc (or avoid them as her opponent) is the difference between a good Leblanc and a mediocre Leblanc.

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Combo 1 - Poke Combo: Sigil of Malice a nearby opponent (to apply Sigil of Malice)> Distortion to proc the Sigil and then back to return pad as quickly as possible.

This combo is Leblanc's easiest and most used combo. Every Leblanc will use this combo and it's generally pretty safe. Mainly the times to avoid using this combo are when the opponent has means to either:

1. Hard CC you before you Distortion back to return pad
2. Outtrade your burst damage before you Distortion back to the return pad

This would mean people like:

1. Anivia, Galio, Cassiopeia, Lux, Ryze, Morgana, Malzahar
2. Kassadin, Anivia, Fizz, Cassiopeia,

DO NOT (lazily) use this combo. It can work if they slack on CC'ing or blowing you up, but if they're good they will make sure this trade is in their favor every time.

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Combo 2 - Chain / Incoming friendly gank Combo: Sigil of Malice a nearby opponent (to apply Sigil of Malice) > Ethereal Chains procs the Sigil damage > Mimic Ethereal Chains and they're rooted for a while plus a chunk of health is gone, usually an easy gank. If you don't have Mimic yet, I like doing Distortion > Ethereal Chains > Sigil of Malice and that way if they don't flash the Ethereal Chains you get the sigil proc on the second half of the chain which is the stronger half of Ethereal Chains. I'll explain below:

Now this combo is trickier than it looks. The main weirdness to this combo comes from the fact that the sigil proc can happen at different times so it can be advantageous to a gank or disadvantageous.

1. Advantageous option: Distortion > Ethereal Chains ( post 6: > Mimic Ethereal Chains) > Sigil of Malice -- this way the majority of the damage is done AS the chain roots and not before the root. This is advantageous because the damage from Ethereal Chains has been increased and you can catch unsuspecting players with it when they don't flash. With reverted Leblanc if you Distortion shoulder-to-shoulder with your opponent and land an Ethereal Chains, they can probably flash to a distance where the chain will break, an unfortunate side of effect of reverting Leblanc's Ethereal Chains
2. Disadvantageous option: Distortion > Sigil of Malice > Ethereal Chains immediately > wait > Ethereal Chains PROCS THE SIGIL when it roots > Shatter Orb for damage. This combo is pretty obviously flawed IMO, leaving the Sigil of Malice proc up to the Ethereal Chains means that they can flash out of the Sigil of Malice proc and the root, in addition to your Shatter Orb damage. This effectively makes the above combo much more escapable.

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Combo 3 - All-in Combo (pre-6): Sigil of Malice a nearby opponent > Distortion (to proc sigil) > Ethereal Chains roots them > Ignite

Combo 3 - All-in Combo (post-6): Sigil of Malice near opponent (to apply Sigil of Malice and get close) > Ethereal Chains as close as you can > Wait 1 second > Shatter Orb to proc Sigil of Malice > Mimic + Shatter Orb (highest damage move is Shatter Orb) > AA > Shatter Orb

Note: Post-6 you can use Mimic + Ethereal Chains instead of Mimic + Shatter Orb as well for an all-in. Mimic + Ethereal Chains re-roots, keeps locked in place, can't flash.

Luden's Tempest is Leblanc's core damage item in Season 8, this is mainly due to the fact that it grants a hefty 90 ability power, 20% CDR, and 600 mana, additionally the passive charges help with Q pressure.

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Morellonomicon even after its update is still very core to Leblanc, mainly due to the 80 Ability Power and 15 magic pen. Morellonomicon also has Cursed Strike (old Grevious Wounds), so people like Swain, Akali, Gangplank, and Cassiopeia it is extremely effective against. I personally run Morello in about 75% of my games on Leblanc, and while this may seem low, I find that Lich Bane offers comparative stats and better pushing power. I would highly advise you play around with going Luden's Tempest -> Lich Bane or Luden's Tempest -> Morellonomicon and see which fits your play style more aptly. My suggestion: If you're constantly poking, running OOM, and getting ganked go Luden's Tempest, but if you're in a lane where you control the tempo, the wave placement, and are more or less winning use Lich Bane and Morellonomicon as you can trigger the proc as often as it's up and it will allow you to do much more damage to turrets.

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Void Staff is Leblanc's most familiar item. If you're like me and starting playing her in (late) season 5, you'll notice this item is still part of her main kit. Void Staff offers unparalleled amounts of magic pen, which is Leblanc's secondary stat. It's a great power spike when you get to it, and allows your damage to penetrate a good amount of MR. My only warning about Void Staff is DO NOT rush this item (anymore), as it doesn't give the same utility stats as other items ( Hextech Gunblade, Lich Bane, Mejai's Soulstealer

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Lich Bane is super underrated on Leblanc. Idk why I don't see more Leblanc's build this but it is absolutely amazing on her. Often Morellonomicon overshadows this item because of the +10% CDR it offers over Lich Bane, however, you'd be mistaken if you never run this on Leblanc as the +250 mana is super useful and acts like a Dark Seal x2.5 and the 7% movement speed is noticeable in ganking and roaming. This doesn't even mention the fact that the Spellblade passive takes Leblanc from uselessly AA'ing a turret to effectively destroying a turret in 2-3 minion waves.

Abyssal Mask is a situational defensive item for Leblanc. There are better options though in most all cases. I don't run this item normally, but have used it a handful of times.

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Banshee's Veil is a great utility item on Leblanc. I build this item probably 1/5 of the games I play against primarily high burst champions like Veigar, Syndra, Ahri, Malzahar, Fizz, Taliyah, and Annie

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Liandry's Torment is a toss up IMHO. It doesn't give you the power spike that Void Staff does, but will often be a good compromise between damage and sustain.

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Zhonya's Hourglass is another situational defensive item on Leblanc. It works wonders against AD champs like Zed, Yasuo, and Talon; as well as some mages like Lissandra, Fizz, and Syndra.

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Leblanc has a few junglers which she gets along really well with, they're almost guaranteed ganks if they come mid and aren't brain dead here they are (in my humble opinion):

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Sejuani provides a lot of tank and CC for Leblanc to piggy-back on. If Leblanc can land an Ethereal Chains or if Sejuani can land Arctic Assault or Permafrost the gank is pretty much assured or Flash.

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Evelynn post re-work (7.20+) is a great asset with Leblanc on the team, they have similar playstyles and with Evelynn's new Allure as long as she hits that, or Leblanc lands an Ethereal Chains, should be an easy gank. I still have to do more experimenting with this synergy. The only thing that worries me is both Eve and LB have a hard time team fighting, so late game could be an issue.

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Jarvan IV is one of my favorite Season 7 Junglers to synergize with Leblanc. Cataclysm firstly, is an easy gank for Leblanc if used on your laning opponent, secondly, if used in a team fight on multiple people Leblanc can Distortion > Shatter Orb an ENTIRE TEAM, which is way too powerful. Additionally, Demacian Standard > Dragon Strike is also a great opportunity for Leblanc to use Ethereal Chains.

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Kayn is a nice addition to Junglers in League, and has brought a lot to the table as far as synergy with Leblanc. Mainly, since Kayn appears from terrain, Leblanc is able to create gank opportunities from anywhere and then have Kayn follow up, or vice versa. However, since Kayn has little to no hard CC, it's important to land an Ethereal Chains for him to burst down the target.

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Zac has fallen off a bit in the s7 meta, but he still is a good help for Leblanc. He has massive range, and a really great CC to make opportunities for Leblanc to follow up and get kills. Just wait for the Elastic Slingshot and corresponding knockback, then use your Ethereal Chains and blow 'em up before or after he uses Stretching Strikes.

Zed Zed's a good ban in Season 8 still, he's still getting banned ~41% of all games, and still has about a 11% pick rate. He does win lane post 3, and stomps you post 6 if you don't have zhonyas or gunblade to heal up.

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Yasuo Replacing Malzahar for 8.9 is the everpopular Yasuo who has an astounding 17.22% playrate right now. Yasuo is a pain ever since Conquerer came out and I don't see that changing.

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Katarina Replacing Annie in this seasons Ban Options is Katarina. In season 8 Kat is getting played in ~6% of all games and can be annoying for Leblanc.

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Zoe Zoe is seeing a decent amount of gameplay in higher elo right now, and she's annoying to deal with and has great roaming potential so she can be worth the ban right now.

Leblanc is absolutely still one of the most potent mages in Season 8 (post patch 8.8) of League of Legends. She now hovers around a 20% ban rate now since the revert because players know how little counterplay there is to her. Know that if you play Leblanc, you're asking for a lot of work. I know I daily work on getting her cs more and more consistent, because it's just so damn hard to last hit with her, and that's not even starting to talk about the difficulty of landing her Ethereal Chains and other skill shots. However, if you master her, know that any laner WILL fear you, and you can carry any game you play, given the right amount of farm and cs. Leblanc has snowball potential higher than almost any champ and if she gets fed will actually 2 shot enemy ADCS. Play her proudly, and fearfully.

Updated for Season 8 (path 8.13):

My ideal build:
(with the option of switching Mejai's Soulstealer and Void Staff depending on how fed I am early).

Since the revert her builds have mainly changes in these ways:

• She no longer runs Hextech Gunblade, really the only reason she did was for healing from her Shatter Orb bounce on minions.
• She no longer runs Teleport, Ignite just outclasses this spell for assassins.
• She rushes Luden's Tempest, and Morellonomicon.
• CS/Waveclear is harder early on.

I will respond to any Reader comments or questions here! But I know some starter questions:

1. Why is Leblanc a good mid choice in Season 8?
   Reverted Leblanc has awesome snowball potential, creating pressure in her lane and roaming to get ganks. She had fallen behind in Season 8 but with the revert in 8.8 she's back in the mainstream.
   
2. Who are Leblanc's main counters?
   Check the matchup section for an in-depth review, but they are:
   
   1. Anivia
      
   2. Malzahar
      
   3. Morgana
      
   4. Kassadin
      
   5. Malphite
      
3. Who is your favorite Leblanc?
   Faker is pretty clearly the best Leblanc outside NA, in NA LCS the only really promising Leblanc's are Perk's, I also like Shiphtur's.
   
4. Are you really the best Leblanc NA?
   Going to have to prove myself again Season 8 :)
   

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