Welcome to my very first guide!

You see LeBlanc only seldom in the League of Legends and even less in Dominion.
I was skeptical at first, but since "domination" often comes to my mind playing her mid-lane on Summoners Rift I tried playing her on Dominion.
And then she blew me away. Finishing a Dominion game with 0 deaths? No problem. So I decided to share my insight.

Please feel free to comment and add annotations to every part of the guide! (But please be sure to read the whole guide and try it out before your vote+comment : )

LeBlanc can both take the bottom on Dominion, as well as join the skirmishes at the top.
I personally prefer going top. Here is why:

Going bottom:

• LeBlanc excels at 1on1
• Steady gold-income
  
• Low auto-attack damage
• Only one AoE spell until lvl6
• Killing minion waves takes lots of time/mana or uses the Ultimate until late in the game

She is easily able to kill her opponent, but might get pushed back hard until he dies. Pushing back then is fairly slow.

Going top:

• High low-level damage output
• Half-nukes squishy targets with start items
• Diverse CC (slow+snare, silence)
• Good for luring enemies (and then snaring them inside your team)
• High survivability (No, really)
  
• Gets focused whenever you allow the enemy to
• Prefers to have an initiating melee champion around

I pop Ghost and Distortion as soon as the gates are open to be one of the first to reach the top. Your team does not expect you to stand in a crowded brawl, and you should try to position yourself just inside of your ability-range.
Try to survive. Mindless battles and deaths are the main problems that occur when Summoners get exalted with battle, which happens quite often in Dominion. After the first battle is over and my team won, I use both of my potions and try to collect 1-2 health-relics and then start pushing top-lane or defend the Windmill, since the rest of your team often calls back and leaves the top unguarded.
Otherwise I try to clear out the remains of the enemy team and/or fall back to protect my teams mid-point.

For more detailed tips, scroll down to the "LeBlancs Skills", "Ethereal Chains and the Doppler effect" parts.

Some general gameplay notes

Watch the Minimap. Play thoughtfully. Try to predict the development and the outcome of battles. All of your abilities can be used for several different purposes and to achieve several different goals. Always try to guess which direction the battle will take and trust your intuition. (If you see something red popping out in the lower-right corner of you monitor, maybe you should switch from chasing to retreating/regrouping).

As LeBlanc, you can kill lots of enemies with a good combination of all your spells, but some high-life targets can't be fought off this way. Try to keep your distance, harassing them. Measure how many spells you will actually need to take your opponent down, while you lower his health-bar while he chases you to the location of his certain doom. (For example right in the arms of one of your allies)
When chased by several opponents, away seems like a good idea. When fleeing together with allies, consider using as well as -Ethereal Chains to slow your enemies and help your teammates (while still having a to get away after the -snare triggered.
Do not be too proud to admit that you are going to loose a battle if keeping up the fight and consider backing down over doing some (little?) damage before dying and feeding the enemy.
If four of your allied already died, this does not mean that you have to die too! Instead, make them have a hard time getting your points, instead of just donating them with an Ace.

On a even more general note: If you're not that bot-lane Champion, do not abandon the Windmill! You'll have a hard time getting it back. Trust me.
(And if you are bot-lane, be sure to inform your team, if suddenly all four of them seem to be fleeing from the top, lured by some Teemo in the woods or so...)

Her role in Dominion

LeBlanc is suited for most roles on Dominion-Gameplay.

Due to her slow base movement-speed her weakest role is the role of a Capturer (read Zemiazas nice Guide to get to know these roles.) Still, with a double-distortion as a back-up plan, she can still try to and get away quickly of disrupted.

The slow movement-speed is also cumbersome when trying to disrupt an enemy Champion that tries to capture one of your points, but once she gets into range she has all the tools needed to take him down or at least slow him down until help arrives to finish him off.

Due to her immense burst-damage she is an exceptional Taker, which means taking guarded enemy points by force. If teamed up with another taker, a pincer movement is a valid option to make sure you can kill of the enemy fast, while due to her high mobility she can bravely take the side closer to the enemy base.

The CC in addition to her burst-damage make her an exceptional Slayer in the mid-jungle of the crystal scar, too. Her skill-shot allows her to check bushes before entering them, and while in a bush she can silence and slow/snare her unaware target, which in most cases ensures a kill.

If played correctly, LeBlanc can also be a great Defender. Her ability to snare an enemy Champion inside the turret range can lead to unexpected amounts of additional damage, while she can melt away waves of minions with and . Try to preserve that spell when being sieged at a point. It is no waste to cast your AoE spell(s) on minions, even if enemy Champions are around, since minions can easily neutralize and capture points, while enemy Champions usually take quite some time and still can be scared away by your snare and nuke-spells. Keeping the point will benefit your team more than just one more Championkill!
Though I do not recommend starting bottom with LeBlanc, taking the bot-lane from an overstrained ally that can't cope with his enemy is always one of the best things you could do to benefit the team. By that time you may also already have enough Ability Power to push the lane fast, which LeBlanc cannot do at the very beginning of the game.

Due to the fast pace of Dominion, some sort of CDR is mandatory for LeBlanc.
Since I do not take any MP5 runes, some early ManaReg is really helpfull too.

Thus



is my first core item, after starting with:



focusing on durability and survivability. For some time this will be all the defensive stats we'll get.
If you are doing well, collecting enough gold before porting home for the first time (or dying) I recommend going straight for a



before starting your or even before getting your desperately needed



The early AP-boost from in addition to the fact that you by now already are lvl6 should allow you to nuke those annoying mushroom-laying Teemos as well as other Squishys.
Add the Magic Penetration of the to your runes and you should shred most MR to pieces in the early- to midgame.

Depending on when you feel dreaded to be nuked away yourself you should start your Rylais with the Giants Belt (If you're doing well, just take the AP-items first)



You might even want to do this before starting your



After you finished your core with , and here are some good items to follow:



Add the Void Staff for much more burst, or



for more durability while still enhancing your combat abilities.


Some other options, to be chosen by preference and enemy-team-composition (AP/AD-heavy) after your core:

Starting with all three spells, I max out Q
first for the biggest damage output, followed by E
for prolonged snare duration and even more damage output.

I max out W
last, but it can be beneficial to take additional points in Distortion earlier, since it lowers the cooldown of the ability and helps clearing minion-waves much faster.
This is especially useful if you are in charge of the bottom lane and get ganked frequently.

R of course, is your Trumpcard. Mimic copies and empoweres the last used ability.
It can be a double-flash, a 2,4second snare, or a huge nuke right in the face, and your opponent can never be sure which it will be. It also has a nicely low cooldown, so use it to its fullest.

Notice that only alters your position, but other commands such as an attack command or casting Sigil of Silence on a specific target remain active. Thus you can combine Sigil of Silence (command the cast first on a fairly remote target) with for an attack with insane range and a safe build-in retreat.

Also notice that while holding "Shift" you do not need to confirm your casting-commands, but the spell will instantaneously be triggered to the position of your cursor. (if in range, for an aimed spell)

Combining Sigil of Silence with pops the silence of the first spell, and snares the target afterwards, so that your target will be unable to flash-out for a long time, additionally being slowed by .

Please keep in mind that after using , followed by -Distortion, you can only teleport back to the -starting-position, not to the initial -starting-position.

When using as a source of damage, you should always Distort-back before using -Distortion, so as that you will have the option to leave the fight by Mimic-Distorting back.

As a closing note I would like to suggest you to forget about "Skill Sequences".
"Nuking" an enemy usually is fun, but winning a game is more fun. (For me at least)
Evaluate the situation you and your team are in and act accordingly.
One poor example: When defending a point against two opponents, maybe you could nuke one of them away using all your spells, but dying afterwards lacking a reliable source of retreat and giving away a free Capture-point. Or maybe you do not use for damage output, but to get away safely, thus killing none of the enemies, but forcing one to retreat and finally holding the point until help arrives.

It is important to be aware that always travel a fixed distance from the point where it was initially cast. Thus, walking in the same direction as your will result in visually shorter Chains, while moving away from the Chains results in visually longer chains. This effect might seem unimportant, but you still have to keep it in mind to use to its fullest.
While fleeing from a chasing enemy, you can use the Doppler effect to hit the enemy even if the actual range of your Cains would not suffice to do that, since he will "walk into" your prolonged Chains. Aim for the spot where your opponent will be in one second!

Be aware that while you are chasing an enemy, your will only hit if the target will still be in range of the spell one second after you started casting from the initial casting point.

You can also alter the path the chains will travel by walking vertically to their path, similar to Sivir's . The maximum alteration of the path of is due to its short duration only minimal though.

Another interesting fact about is, that the check whether you are still close enough to the chained target to keep the chain active (and finally triggering the snare) is only progressed every 0,35seconds or so. Because of that it is likely that when a chained opponent flashes away (resulting in a distance between you and your target that would normally break the chains) and you instantly flash or Distort in the same direction, the Chain will still sustain and finally snare your opponent. Pretty nifty, huh?

Whenever you hear your Passive trigger, be sure to let your thumb rest on the ALT-Key.
When below 40% health, LeBlanc get's stealthed for 0,5seconds and creates a Mirror Image of herself. This is all about Deception, not Damage (like Shaco's ).
You can use your ALT-Key to give basic commands to your Mirror Image, thus granting you some interesting choices that might get you out of even a huge pinch.

Here are some strategies, from basic to advanced. You should consider altering your strategy every time your passive triggers, so that the enemy cannot adapt to your playstyle.

Send it away!

Just give your Mirror Image one command to move somewhere kinda far away. Sending it to the opposite direction you actually are taking might split up your chasing enemies, sending it to your own direction is harder to see-through and they might aim for the wrong LeBlanc. This strategy sometimes helps, but surely not for long.

Send yourself away!

Run in a straight line! One quick command home, then start using your Mirror Image as if you intend to keep on playing with her for the rest of the game, adapting your path to the terrain and the enemys, even maybe attack a minion on your way, the things your true body normally would do. (At least the second shot to a minion will let the enemy know though, that you are the wrong LeBlanc, since the usually does not deal damage.

Do not move!

Press "S" as soon as your Passive triggers. If no command is given, your Mirror Image just stands where it was created. You adopt this behavior, stopping yourself, and from now on control your Mirror Image instead. This is risky, but is a HUGE advantage if the enemy falls for it (and pretty demotivating to the enemy too ; )

Move like two people!

Try to control you and your to the fullest. For example, start escaping together, find yourself a nice crossing and split up there. The possibilities are endless, anything could happen here. (Even your own team might fall for the trick)

Be creative!

Try to invent your own move, think about how you can improve and then do that ;)

Those three give sets give a huge boost to your early-game damage.

We still want to add some survivability. Since LeBlanc originally has little health, it is wise to prefer additional health over Armor or Magic Resistance. That's why I use:

Greater Seal of Vitality

I choose per-level runes over flat runes since "low-level" does not really concern Dominion at all.

Most usefull

LeBlancs slow movement-speed makes a good and reliable choice to cross half of the map in a reasonable amount of time. Someone chases you after you distorted away and pops Ghost? Pop Ghost yourself until your next ability from cooldown saves you from the pinch.
Need to rush to an ally? Just have a walk.



Always good to have the additional damage in any brawl and the additional ability power (and attack damage) on cooldown. Sigil of Silence is on cooldown but you need to deal some damage? Distort in, pop Ignite, Distort out.

Useful

Against all those Xin Zhaos out there and all the other carrys, that might keep up with you otherwise.



To push bot-lane faster. (Or any other lane)



Since you will probably survive for quite some time, you might run out of Mana once in a while.

Kinda useful

You already got 1-2 of those. But still sometimes useful when your Distortion is on cooldown.



Getting deceptively low on health and popping heal might result in several insults like "heal noob" but will still grant you a kill. Since the recall is only 4.5 seconds, going back to base earlier often is the better option.

Have fun trying out this guide and dominating your opponents!

Here are the stats that made me create this guide: A list full of wins with this awesome Champ. All random Dominion games. (Except for one classic game in between^^) As you can see I did not play for kills or points, I played thoughtfully and for the win of my team, and the games were fairly short due to our early win.



Feel free to add a comment with your stats too, after trying out this guide ;)

You can find me with my Summonername 'AlandilLenard' in EU-West.

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04.12.11 - created
27.12.11 - corrected some spelling mistakes