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Your comprehensive Leblanc resource for all lanes.
By baekstra | Updated on December 5, 2016






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Choose Champion Build:
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LeBlanc Midlane
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Toplane Leblanc
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LeBlanc Support
Spells:

Flash

Ignite
Items
Ability Order
Notice of discontinuation and a very short mini-guide
I am sad to announce that i will no longer be able to keep this guide updated. Starting almost a month ago, i have only been playing League rarely, and LeBlanc even less so. Between that and the fact that Preseason 7 has turned more things and mechanics on their head for LeBlanc and League than ever before, I am no longer able to provide a thorough understanding of LeBlanc and explaining why one should build and play a specific way.
If any other MOBAFIRE author wishes to use parts of this guide to create a new and improved one for the future, feel free to contact me.
That being said, here are my thoughts on the new LeBlanc after a few games on her:
LeBlanc now seems able to dance around more in a fight while having an impact, but on the other hand she is also now forced to do so through the new passive, which delays a major part of her burst.
Thus, i feel like LeBlanc needs a bit more tankiness and CDR than before to survive and maximise her potential in fights.
Additionally, her new and massively improved waveclear means that she can roam better than ever before, meaning

An item build for Leblanc now might thus look like the following:







Her AP/Damage ratio has fallen dramatically in the early game due to


I go by the Summoner Name "Baekstra" on EUW, and have been playing League of Legends for four years.
Back when I started playing LoL in season 2, I quickly found LB to be my main champion due to her fun playstyle, mobility and damage. During that season I learned the game and managed to get a silver ranking before the season ended.
During season 3 I evolved as a ranked player, and mastered LeBlanc in-depth. She was by far my most played champion during season 3 and 4, and I climbed to the top of Diamond mainly because of her.
In my opinion, Leblanc is a strong champion who excels at catching the enemy off-guard and make seemingly impossible plays due to her massive mobility and damage. Her playstyle is definitely high risk-high reward.
In this guide, I will share my experiences as LeBlanc with you, dear reader.
I will first go through her setup and general playstyle, and then go into specific matchups and when to pick her.
I will not go into most general concepts such as smartcasting, ward placement, baron traps, ect. There are plenty of guides out there explaining that already, links to those things will be included in the bottom of this guide.
Before this guide takes off for real, I have two things to say:
By extension, it is also crucial to master smartcasting if you wish to become good with LB, and your Ping should be low.
2. The contents of this guide applies both to toplane, midlane and support LeBlanc, as all lanes are viable for her. The deception of your enemies start already here.
Rules of deception
Pros
+ Blows things up. + Massive mobility & utility. + Uses mobility for defense. + Enemy ADC fed? Make him disappear. + Good AA animation. + Can do magic tricks. + Win games @20 by making the enemy team flame and/or AFK if you stomp mid and roam to stomp side lanes as well. Even happens in diamond. |
Cons
- Is squishy as hell. - CC or chain CC = dead. - Lacks some AoE or sustained damage for teamfights before super-late game. - Enemy tanky bruiser fed? Good luck taking that one down. - If you fail in lane, you will fall harder than most other champions in the game. - You failed and got stomped in lane with LeBlanc? You may lose game @ 20 because your team flames and surrenders, since you "Lost lane with an Early game Champ." Even happens in diamond. |

12/18/0 Tons of damage

In midlane, defensive masteries are neither taken nor recommended, since the early defensive tree in season 6 is weak for non-tanks, and the damage options in the other trees are way too good to pass.
If you play toplane Leblanc, you have the option of going for 18/0/12 instead for burning down tanks and splitpushing - refer to the cheat sheet for toplane Leblanc for this.
Boom Boom Baby LeBlanc

Choice of runes
Marks:
9

TL;DR: No alternatives to Magic Pen. It is simply too strong.
Nostalgia alert: R.I.P. Hybrid Pen runes patch 4.20. You were much loved.
Seals:

Seals are made to be defensive, and although some extra damage from AP or scaling AP seals might be tempting, it is simply not gold efficient enough compared to the extra HP you can get. Best choice of seals if you fight AP or hybrid enemies. Also, the scaling Health will make you more tanky against burst damage lategame than any other seals, including flat or scaling armor.
Alternatives:

Armor runes can be good against heavy AD teams and AD lanes, which you might face if you play LB top or into the likes of


Usually, scaling armor seals only make you more durable against burst damage when compared to scaling health when the enemy team has more than ~80% Physical damage, so they should only be taken for the added sustain in lane, NOT because you wish to be less squishy lategame.
Glyphs:

Probably the most controversial choice in my rune page, Penetration glyphs actually outclass scaling AP at ALL stages of the game except for waveclearing. More math incoming at the end of this chapter.
Alternatives:
Not really anyone, you usually lose out on too much damage if you don't take penetration glyphs. On the other hand, maybe that's just my agressive playstyle talking.



If you don't have Magic Pen Glyphs, get them ASAP. Period.
Quintessences:


As I stated earlier, the choice of quints is all about early/late tradeoff. Magic penetration generally beats Ability Power if you want to deal damage, and the same goes for the Quints, but with one exception. Flat AP Quints gives you more damage levels 1-7 and about the same damage levels 8-9 compared to Magic Pen Quints.
Magic penetration "scales" with both your AP and level (ability base damage), so it will end up adding ~75 damage to your combo late game, while you lose out on 8 damage with your average level 2 combo and 6.5 damage with your average level 3 combo. Also, your level 6 all in will deal about 16 damage less if you opt for Magic pen quints instead of AP quints. The reason you lose so much damage level 6 is because of the low base damage and ridiculous AP scaling on your ult, which makes AP even better early on.
Since you probably combo the enemy a lot early on, all of this damage adds up in lane, and the prospect of landing a killing blow where you might otherwise fail leads me to recommend Flat AP quints because of the importance of early game.
If you instead prefer going for late game dominance, you can opt for Magic Pen Quints because of the ridiculously strong scaling they have later on in the game, which gets really noticeable starting at level 11.
PS:
Since early kill pressure in lanes got reduced in the 4.20 patch that buffed everyone's health, Magic Pen Quints are looking more tempting than ever for a more "late" focus. Go with whatever you please, just remember the breakpoint is around level 8.
More detailed explanation in the lovely math section at the end of this chapter.
I personally use the following rune page for LeBlanc:
Boom Boom baby LB: (Yes, check it up on op.gg. That's the page name.)
9x

9x

9x

2x

1x

Math spoiler section below




So without further ado, let's get to the items and why the heck I say they're the best purchases available. I show the items in order of purchase, and there is a TL;DR at the end if you can't be bothered to read it all:
Starting items, and natural 1st backs:
Doran's ring provides great stat efficiency and a massive amount of mana for the money. The 50% mana regen increase combined with the mana restore on kill makes this little ring give you around 6 mp5 early, thus outclassing the 100 bonus mana from



Alternative start:


If you feel manly and much better than your opponent, the combination of The Dark Seal with Refillable Potion gives you an insane amount of gold efficiency along with the potential of a fast snowball. Bear in mind, however, that you will VERY quickly run out of mana in lane, and you will quickly be outsustained and forced back with a weak buy if you do not manage to kill your opponent early. After your first back it is a good idea to buy a


Alternative against massive AD toplane:



You have the option to go for cloth armor + refillable potion against heavy AD lanes. Sometimes you can choose quite freely between Doran’s ring and cloth armor (Against the likes of







Remember that Pink Wards are extremely useful when placed strategically, and those 75g can potentially save your life. Even better, it might also net you a kill you wouldn’t have spotted otherwise. An in-depth explanation of this can be found in the next section, "Vision, Wards, Warding & their jungler".
After your basic starting items, you should be going for


A comparison of the two items can be found in the maths spoiler in the end of this section.
Option 1: utility/roaming optimized![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() If you are against a naturally tanky enemy in toplane, you should still go for ![]() ![]() | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Option 2: Damage/Survival/Trade optimized![]() This item gives comparable AP to ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Because it reduces the MR of minions as well, it will quickly make your W oneshot minions so you can safely waveclear early in tough lanes. You will benefit from the aura in most lanes where you use Q-W combos and the like. Just keep in mind that in cases where you stay at range or do very quick Q-R assassinations of high-value targets and then pop out of range, your damage will actually be slightly lower than with Morellonomicon. You should not just pick this item for the damage output though, seeing as the 10-17 % damage increase alone is not better than the utility of the ![]() Instead, this item is extremely useful in lanes where you simply can’t be guaranteed to survive the burst of your opponent – as is the case with ![]() ![]() ![]() |
If you chose to buy Abyssal Scepter first, you now have the choice of going directly for



If you instead chose to buy




Also, because the AP from Rabadon's scales with your other AP purchases, the damage from this particular item scales better than magic penetration when combined with 1-2 other major AP purchase.


If you choose to go for boots first, you should immediately go for Rabadon’s Deathcap after to get that sweet, sweet AP.
At this point, your build is now likely to look like






Or






After purchasing a very healthy amount of AP (not so healthy for your opponents), you obviously need a ton of magic penetration to scale with it. Void staff gives you a great amount of %-based magic penetration, perfect for scaling coming into the early late game.
At this point, the first 58 MR of your opponents will effectively be reduced to zero, and who doesn’t like true damage?
Bear in mind that if you started your build with

By now, your greatest goal is to maximise your Magic Penetration to boost your damage significantly, since Penetration is even more effective the closer the enemy MR gets to 0. Haunting guise is a super cheap and cost efficient item for this that also grants you some more survivability. This in conjunction with the rest of your setup will make the first 82 enemy MR give 0 effective protection against your spells, and being able to keep dealing true damage at this late stage of the game is a huge deal.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE:
Since you cannot penetrate MR past 0, you won't get the full advantage of

The possibility of over-penetrating is a real thing, and it is bad. Just as it would be in real life. Imagine that? Yeah, that's a nasty picture. Over-penetrating in LoL is just like that. Real bad. Try to avoid it, yeah?
Your build is now likely looking like






OR






RIP Deathfire Grasp 5.2, 2009-2015
You were loved by many. You were hated by your targets. You will be missed by everyone. Or not. Once I would have purchased you at this point of the game. Now I can't anymore.
Aw, who am I kidding with this speech? I never really liked this item much anyways. I know it was popular and many people used it early on LB, but Riot definitely made the right call to remove it for the sake of game balance.

Your last item (or next-to-last if they have so low MR that



This item allows for some better survivability to carry prolonged late teamfights and strong damage. It comes at a high cost, but money shouldn't matter much at this point of the game.
A notable use for the aggressive use Zhonya in the late game is to engage on the enemy team by jumping in with


IF the enemy team should survive and choose to stay around for your Zhonya to wear off, you might still be able to blink instantly back to the original

Also, don't bother trying to get off Q or E during this combo. This move is about the big picture and landing some big AoE dommages on 2 or more priority targets, not some measly single target assassination. Also, time is of the essence during this move and you want to get into that Zhonya ASAP before you get CC'd and die.
If such a move doesn't win instantly or at least allow your team to initiate a winning fight, then you should just go blame your team.
That's a joke. Never blame anyone, even if they might be to blame. Blame never helps.
That being said, it is an extremely risky move. EXTREMELY. If you get CC'd during mid-flight

Buying a second


If you are unsure what to buy and not certain to be getting




The Spellblade passive will add roughly 400 extra magic damage to your autoattack, making your combo much more lethal compared to what 20 extra AP or 160 extra damage from a Luden’s proc can provide. The only drawback to this is that you need an extra 0.1 seconds during your combo to get an autoattack off, which might not be possible if you dive the carries in a teamfight.
I would recommend buying this Item in most situations, especially if you are feeling bold and wish to be a massive threat and/or you are likely to have the Blue Buff at key moments during late game since it grants you the overall most amount of power, although at a slightly greater risk.
After buying this item, you are able to actively seek opportunities to splitpush enemy towers against any enemy team comp, except maybe against




Also, remember to upgrade your boots with the Enchantment – Alacrity OR Enchantment – Distortion for maximum movement speed while splitting or more frequent

Being a much more situational pick than either of the three other items,


This will almost always be when you need to pick off a single, extremely high priority target that is being protected by supports and a huge, beefy CC frontline, as would be the case against a team like





The advantage of Luden’s is that you do not need to weave an autoattack into your W-Q-R-W combo to get the extra damage proc. This will save you a slight amount of time that might make the difference between life and death, both for you and Kog’maw. In addition, you will be able to do the combo from a little bit further away, since your

Now you have your full build, it is time for the last item on the list. Also, whenever you get the gold for it after reaching full build, upgrade


This little fella tops off your damage with 50 AP and 25 True Damage, it adds 145 damage just to that simple W-R burst mentioned just above. It is really useful for nuking... stuff. It is always a good idea to get this lovely thing before anticipated teamfights, and it's only priced at 500! That's a bargain, if it can even give you the slightest extra chance to win a teamfight. The mana regen granted by this is also roughly equivalent to that of a blue buff, so it is great for managing mana during longer late game skirmishes. I usually start getting it at key moments after my 3rd or 4th item.
Final lategame build
Alternative build paths, mostly for toplane




After that you can opt into a


Against AD lanes I would recommend if you just get an early



The most notable opponents where you would need some early armor are:
Items I don't get
I would not recommend any other items than the build I've listed above. However, I do understand the need to explain why I left out some items.




Mejai's!
This item deserves a heading for itself because it is so much fun. I would NEVER recommend it in high ranked games, not even if you're 10/0/10 or 20/0/0 or whatever. It is too risky to get, because you will become so much weaker IF you are caught (you still explode easily if you get CC'd).
However, it is the single most fun item to get in normals or ranked games below your real skill level because it makes you snowball harder than a


Feel free to upgrade

TL;DR



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Riot has managed to give

The item is good for poking since the damage proc will be triggered on the first spell hit - making it very strong for long range and 1 spell champions, like

On the other hand, Luden's is the least effective as



The movement speed is good for making otherwise low mobility champions good at kiting. Even though our dear deceiver likes the extra MS it provides, it is simply too cost inefficient to get. Also,


To look at it damage-wise, Luden's gives 100 AP and a passive proc for 3k gold, while going for strong AP items will yield 150 AP for 3k gold (AP valued at 20g each).
Since Leblanc has a total AP scaling of 360%, these extra AP will equals 180 damage - and if we consider the Rabadon effect, this extra damage will be increased by 35% to 243.
To reach the same numbers with the proc, you would need to have 1430 AP on the side - quite unlikely. Additionally, the proc is not always available - the AP is.

Yes. That's what i'm saying, except in very rare cases as 6th item because you cannot make use of the alternatives.
You should use your trinket wards defensively and close to lane, or save them for deep warding primarily in the enemy jungle when you are roaming. The defensive wards will obviously be to protect you from jungler ganks, while the deep warding can also potentially protect you by giving info on the enemy jungler movements, but more importantly, they have a chance of setting up easy kills in the enemy jungle, and you got the mobility and damage to do it.
You would be surprised how many games the opposing jungler will be at 30 % health while doing their gromp, and that could be 300g in your pockets!
Being able to buy a pink ward with potentially unlimited lifespan for only 75 gold is a bargain, and clever use of pinks can grant you great zone control of the map. Pinks should be used in one of the following ways:
The most normal use of pink wards is to place them in bushes relatively close to your lane so you can move out and defend them in case someone tries to take it down. In those places, they will give you info if your lane is about to be ganked, and deny the vision of your opponent at the same time.
Another use is to go to deep, sneaky places in the enemy jungle and place the pink ward in a bush that is unlikely to be checked by the opposing jungler, as you can also see them do in LCS. This can give you vital information on when to roam and when to play safe.
Funny gameplay video time
This game is from my Diamond 2 to Diamond 1 promo in season 3.
I think I said all there is to say on my voice-over on this vid. I baited Lee nicely just as described, but it's also a good example that you shouldn't get too reckless with LB, and you will get punished by any decent opponent if you fail. Also, it sucks to miss

We ended up losing the game because that kill made




Late game vision
By now, the choice of warding trinket between




The alternative
The only real other option on LeBlanc is to replace either flash or ignite with

TP will mostly be useful in toplane matchups because of the longer distance to lane and the more sustain-trade oriented focus in the lane as opposed to the flashier instant-kill plays in midlane where the 200 damage from

Just keep in mind that you have to sacrifice some of your insane damage to get this.

If a level 1 fight/ambush/FB opportunity breaks out and you are part of it, you should always go for




If you are in a strong matchup,

After that, let's get the usual level 2-5 skill sequence clear on LB:




This skill sequence is usually best on LB. I would never recommend Chains lv 1 even if you're invading jungle, because it is delayed CC that they can flash out of, and the mobility and damage from distortion is still very strong for invades. The early 2nd rank in



You will sometimes want to get

After level 5, maxing priorities are




Now, let's taker a closer look at the skills of the Deceiver:
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![]() Important: The clone will start running a set distance towards where you are facing when your passive triggers, so you can use this to your advantage if you are prepared by making your clone run back to turret and run another way to safety yourself. The LeBlanc who runs directly back to turret is usually the most believable in the eyes of your opponent. Some enemies with AoE damage do not give a f*ck, though. As in the video where I failed against Xerath, he just nukes me AND my clone with his massive AoE damage. While laughing in his chair, I bet. Cheeky wanka. ![]() A thing to remember with your passive is that you are invisible for a short time, so if you can manage to flash over a wall during that time, it will look like you simply vanished to the enemy team. Also, if you're getting caught by the enemy team and your ![]() ![]() |
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![]() I'll name some here:
- Coming back to lane 1 second faster after going back by using it when you leave the fountain. Your mana will regenerate by the time you hit lane.
- Freezing an oncoming minion wave by aggroing the minions and the Distorting over the minions. Then run as far as you can away from your turret before reactivating the return part of the skill. Especially useful in toplane, where freezing lane is most useful. - Juking enemies by jumping walls and return back when they flash/jump after you. Use in conjunction with ![]() - Escape ganks with W or W-R, it creates a massive gap between you and your enemies. - Catch low HP enemies who *think* they are safe with W-possibly ![]() - Make your enemies batsh*t confused in general. |
![]() |
![]() - If possible, landing Chains on your enemy in lane before using any other skills gives you a huge advantage. You got the ball (his balls, metaphorically), and can decide if you wish to burst/harras/disengage if ganked, etc. By hitting the chain, you are in range to walk up to your opponent and smack a Q-R-W in his face, leaving him dead, rooted and crying on the inside. If you are about to get ganked, you could just walk up on the enemy and do a Q-W on him, use the return part on W and then save R(W) to escape their jungler, thus dominating your lane AND stalling their jungler. - E-(1 sec wait)-R-Q can be used against fleeing enemies you want to lock down for your team to kill, or enemy mobile melee champions who are chasing you to keep them continuously rooted while you work your magic at their life bar. (I'm looking at you, ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() - Remember that it is not possible to use a dash when Rooted, so a procced E-R combo can prevent gap closers and escapes like ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Lastly, learn to hit those damn chains consistently. LeBlanc is nothing if she cannot land those.
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In this chapter I will show some video examples LeBlanc's generic skill combos and when they're most useful. The return part of

The W-Q-R mana inefficient lane harass combo
This combo is super safe to do and deals a good amount of damage. However, you spend quite a bit of mana for nothing when you use


You might ask why I don't include

This is because your Chains are mana intensive early, deals little damage, and are probably hard to land. Feel free to use your chains if you are confident that you will land them and got a clear shot, but otherwise they will often miss and waste valuable mana.
This is explained deeper in the following spoiler.

The Q-(R)-W-E quick lane/gank kill combo
The Q-E-R-Q-W lockdown kill combo
The E-Q-(R)-W initiative combo
The W-R-W Brushie Brushie
When deciding to shut down the enemy laner, you pretty much force the opposing jungler to come to your lane. Otherwise, you can keep raping your lane opponent under turret until you finally destroy the turret, and with it, his morale, CS and level.
If you succeed in this, congratulations! The game is now 5v4 for a long time, and you should be able to win.
However, more often than not, I now end up roaming a lot during the game. The Meta has shifted to a much faster game pace, and you will need to help your team make an impact early in the game in order to push your lead.
It is prudent to gank botlane rather early if the enemy botlane are super aggressive/getting fed or if your mid is impossible to kill. (Although you should not have picked LB into that

It is important to note that shoving lane with W in order to roam with LB is a very strong tactic and you should do so as much as possible without losing significant farm on it.
In both midlane and toplane, you want to use your Autoattacks as much as possible to harass your opponent early on. The lower level you are, the more your AA counts. Keep in mind that whenever you autoattack an enemy champion, you will draw nearby minion aggro. This makes it extremely dangerous to perform extended AA trades with your opponent, so keep trades to one or two autos at a time and then back off to reset minion targeting.
Careful mana management is important especially in the early laning phase. You will want to harass your opponent and shove lane as much as possible with the mana you use, and should mostly aim for hitting full minion waves with W. In strong matchups, you can target your lane opponent with all abilities and go for the kill pressure instead.
Remember, farming is important for every champion, and LeBlanc is no exception. Her AA has an excellent animation for faming, and you need that gold to kill your enemies late on. Unless you are ridiculously fed on kills, of course. Playing 12/0/3 LeBlanc is so much fun.
Some other general tips for laning are to monitor the mana levels of your opponent to see how much they can do in a fight. For example, an enemy

Another important thing is to know the Summoner Spells of your opponent, Tab is your friend. If the enemy


Lastly, it can also be important to monitor the cooldowns of your opponent. Enemy




If you do not know the cooldowns of your opponent, look the enemy champion up on
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/
during the loading screen. You might as well use the waiting time to become better at the game.



So, you're interested as to how

Let us take a closer look at the balance of power between LeBlanc toplane and generic bruiser opponents:
LeBlanc
+High mobility. +High damage. +Decent single-target CC. -Weak at pushing. -Squishy as f*ck. -The safety of turret can be so far away. |
Enemy Generic Bruiser
+Somewhat tanky naturally. +Usually has 1 gap closer or some other mobility. + ![]() +May have CC. +May have shield/sustain. +Can usually push easily. -May push inadvertently. -Needs to get in melee range. -Easy to gank if in melee range. -Immobile, and usually can't stick on to a target with escapes. |
These lists can be summarized in the following sentences: If LeBlanc can stay at a range and destroy her opponents, she wins. If the enemy bruiser can get on top of LB and she doesn't escape, they win. In short, abuse your range to harass and win lane, starting at level 1.
Get as many free autoattacks in as you can, and use your

After that, the lane is generally about whittling down the lifebar of your enemy and then going all in for the kill at the right time. It is CRUCIAL that you can kill your enemy instantly or in 1 extra AA if you go all in, because they can pop you from 100-0 in a few seconds if you stay on top of them.
When going all in, it is extremely important to be aware of your enemy's shielding opportunities.
Are you fighting a

On the same note,

Try to get your opponent down to ~30% hp if they got Hexdrinker or Maw, and then pop a lone

And of course, if the enemy got a shielding




You will roam much less from toplane than you will from midlane, and the transition from laning to roaming/teamfighting will be much clearer than when playing mid.
In midlane, you must find a balance between smacking their face continually, and counter-pushing the lane enough that you don’t find yourself stuck under turret with no chance to farm.
Use your Autoattack ->


Other than that, it is important that you play aggressively, while being mindful of the enemy jungler explained in the previous sections. The jungler is especially likely to gank when it is time for that lethal lv 3 gank. The level 3 gank may also happen within a few seconds after you have the opportunity to all in your opponent at level 2, so be aware of the map, and get the heck back to your turret after you try to get FB level 2.
Try to keep their jungler around your lane, help out on dragon calls, and gank if you see an opportunity without losing too many minions in mid.
If your botlane is getting crushed by an enemy

Do not fear the fed ADC, regard him as a trophy.
Remember, League of Legends is a team game, and communication is the key to success.
Ping or write if you are going to make plays, and an "OMW" ping into botlane makes a huge difference when compared to just walking down there, because your teammates are suddenly aware of the play about to happen and should be able to react on it. I say should, because they don't always react. The lower rank you are, the less likely it is.
Lack of communication is the #1 problem people face in lower ranks, and I believe most silver players could rise noticeably in the tiers if they (and the teams they get) would communicate clearly and consistently.
Slightly unrelated comparison: Communicating well >>> Warding well
Also, your attitude and the morale of the team is an extremely important factor in deciding the outcome of a game. Try to stay positive in team chat, and if people flame, it is often more effective to mute them rather than trying to convince them not to be negative. Don't play ranked while in a bad mood. Take a break if you get in a bad mood after losing a game or a few games in a row.
A link to an article about teamwork and its importance in LoL is included in the end of this guide, as well as a guide on emotions and their importance.
So, let's get to those lovely teamfights, shall we?
Pre-20 Teamfights


This usually happens if both teams contest the dragon, or the roaming game starts early for some reason.
If your opponents are really stupid enough to start team-fights at this point, it works only to your advantage. At this point:
A. You don't care whom to kill. Their tanks are not truly tanks yet and their carries are not that fed to really carry yet.
B. Turrets are still a huge damage-factor. You may be well assured that there is not going to be a lot of tower diving. And this gives you so much more safety. If you failed to kill someone, just run to safety, no one will follow you.
And if they do tower-dive you, you have a really nice kit to fight under turrets. Remember, you have a double dash and snare in your arsenal to duel them.
C. You will be able to hold and waveclear a 2v1 lane with

Meanwhile your team will probably wreck their bot and top.
30'ish minute teamfights
Here, you have to be more careful with picking your target.
Usually, the best idea would be to kill the carry or an off-tank that deals a lot of damage to your team or a support that literally sustains his team (

Instead you must use your spells to grant your team some control of the battle while dealing some damage. An example would be to lock down their approaching off-tank with your Q-E to deal significant damage while allowing your team to pummel him.
It is risky to jump in with



Post 40 minute teamfights
So, now is the time where LB requires the most skill to stay effective, but your damage will also be absolutely disgusting by now. If the game has gone on for this long, your lane opponent in early game will probably be back in the game even if you were dominating early game.
I have already gone through some of the late game teamfight tactics in the items section after Zhonya's, but here it goes again:
In the perfect world, you still want to kill the enemy ADC or APC quickly right before or in the beginning of the fight.
However, you must value your life dearly now. You are a huge damage factor, and your team is crippled without you. So, if you can't go in and get someone safely (that is, they got strong CC and are prepared for you, etc.), you must stay back a bit and unload your damage on easier-to-reach targets whom are harder to burst (eg. their initiators). You can usually take down one enemy frontliner with a full combo including

This is turn, will make it safer when you go for the enemy backline. Remember, your combo is on a short 6 second CD now except for your ult, which ticks back in after 14.4 seconds. This means you will be able to root and damage the enemy squishies pretty fast and hard after your initial takedown.
Obviously, you also have the more risky option to linger on the edge of the battle until an opportune moment shows itself. Then, as said earlier, if you can land a 3-5 man


Another approach to the late game as

Split pushing during late game may very well be one of the most efficient strategies to employ as LeBlanc, assuming you have a team composition capable of disengaging any potential 4v5. Although it might seem awkward at first, it's actually very effective if you put a little thought in it.
Below, I will explain why I think so, how to properly split push as




•When do you split push?
It's a very important question. Even in lategame, LeBlanc's prime role is assassination/massive damage and creation of threat for opponents. If they can see you on the map, they are not scared of you killing them. Generally, that is bad. However, there are cases where they wouldn't be all that scared anyways. Prime example: a tower push. While LeBlanc is decent at picking off enemies during tower sieges or baron dances, she really excels at splitpushing. Therefore if you can't see the opening to pick anyone off, you should splitpush the closest lane.
•What if they get engaged on and lose a 4v5 a fight?
Ideally, that should not be happening. Every team should have some sort of disengage and you absolutely have to make sure that they can disengage if you leave them 4v5.
If the fight starts, evaluate the situation and either go there and pick a couple of people off (your mobility and damage at that point is great, so you can be there relatively quickly) or just continue pushing and take the objectives/their whole base. ;)
•Now the good part, why is LeBlanc so damn good at split pushing?
If your team is any good at sieging, the enemies will eventually have to send someone to defend against your push. But wait... Who the hell would go 1v1 vs. a LeBlanc with

This is the crucial point. They simply cannot send a single person to defend against your split push. Even if it's a tank, you are able to take him down in 2 rotations.
If they send 2 people, then they will surely lose the siege, because now it's 4v3 and eventually your team will take down the tower.
Also, you can't really kill the

•Why would I even push as LeBlanc? She has no DPS.
Remember

By the time you have it, you will have at least 500 AP, which will do some heavy DPS to towers and inhibitors.
Your damage to turret also scales off your AP passively, so turrets actually fall very fast against you.
In fact, you Autoattacks will each deal around 400 damage to the turret late-game, and 800 whenever they are empowered by the


With a spammable




•Additionally, since you will be leaving lanes a lot when setting up or rotating during splitpushing, it will threaten your opponents because a fed LeBlanc that's constantly missing creates a lot of tension.
If you want to ensure this effect, make sure to ward up and clear the jungle of enemy vision, unless you can rely on someone else to clear the enemy wards, as also mentioned in the warding section.
•If you are carrying a summoner



Alternatively, if two lanes are pushing hard, you can draw your opponents' attention towards one of them and then TP to the other one and free-push it.
If, by chance, you have a Shen on your team, you can also double split push. Abuse both


Most, if not all other LeBlanc guides out there use a great deal of time in pointing out that LeBlanc is a COUNTERPICK, not a blind pick or regular AP carry.
While it is true that LeBlanc can't be an AP carry in the traditional AoE teamfight nuking sense, she is still a strong pick against many team comps and she can easily manage being the only source of AP damage on the team.
Contrary to many other guides, I believe that LeBlanc is a strong PICK who doesn't rely on countering specific champions in order to excel, and I often blind pick LeBlanc into an empty enemy mid and/or top. If the enemy should happen to pick a strong counter to LeBlanc (looking at you,

That being said,








A team bringing multiple shields and support abilities with only 1 or 2 hypercarries can also screw you over, because they can suddenly become deceptively tanky on command. A




In order to blind pick LeBlanc, you should preferably be very skilled both at mid and top, and know the matchup against whatever enemy you happen to be against. After the introduction of Dynamic Queue, you must communicate very clearly with your team if you intend to flex pick Leblanc, and make sure your other solo laner is ok with lane swapping, depending on the matchups.
If you are new to LB or still don't feel like you master her well, it is safer to avoid blind picking her and keep using her as a counterpick against lanes you know are easy or matches your current skill level.
After having said all that, it is still important to look at your Team Composition. In short, every team needs someone who can deal damage (minimum of 1 AP and AD, unless it’s a hypercarry with true damage). Other than that teams almost always need someone who can initiate, someone who can tank and someone who can help the others excel at their roles (support). Initiators can be swapped out if you have a good siege composition or assassins if you are likely to get good picks against the enemy team. Leblanc brings damage and assassination to the team, but she can't initiate, tank, or help her teammates much except with her

Thus, it would be unwise to pick Leblanc into a team which already has loads of damage, but lacks CC and tanks. If that is the case, you are probably better off with someone who can initiate well (Kennen with ult, Orianna with ult, Galio with ult), or take some hits (Ryze, Diana, Mordekaiser).
There are, of course, exceptions to this standard setup, as a super-mobile poke team (example LeBlanc, Nidalee, Lee Sin, Caitlyn, Janna) can win against low-mobility, all-in teams (Amumu, Darius, Draven, Leona, Anivia), as it is possible to outmaneuver, split push and pick off the enemies one by one if played well. That, however, is a completely different topic, and for the most time, you will be better off with a balanced team. ;)
A reference is included in the end of this guide to another article which explains team compositions more in-depth.
LeBlanc is pretty weak early in the botlane if the enemy support is able to poke hard, sustain hard or engage reliably, since she only brings single-target damage and CC, with the damage being kinda lacking early. A support such as


However, as the game progresses, support LeBlanc gets really strong, mostly marked by the purchase of

Try to prioritize harassing the enemy ADC whenever it is safe, but you should definitely put some damage and perhaps even burst down on the enemy support if (s)he is exposed and/or squishy.
Feeding off the enemy


In the early levels (1-4), your damage is low and the enemy duo can ususally outdamage you if the trade lasts more than half a second. At this stage, it is important to play safe and only poke when you can do so with little retaliation. At the same time, you have to show your presence in lane so your ADC doesn’t feel all alone.
You should try to push with your ADC for level 2, since an early level 2 is decently effective on you. You will have a lot of damage if you reach level 2 first, but no hard CC to lock them down for the kill.
Even though you are weak early in lane, you have a great selling point since you can safely pick off the enemy ADC at 35% HP at a massive range with






After level 6, you have some decent burst and should focus on bursting the enemies together with your ADC if ahead/able to, otherwise you should mainly focus on keeping your ult on cooldown (use it often) while staying healthy/juke if the enemy tries to tower dive. If you can manage to survive the lane until you get your

After you purchase HG, you should build towards

As late game approaches, you will have a choice (also depending on how fed you are):
If you are not that strong/your team is strong, you can do an all in kamikaze and sacrifice yourself to assassinate the enemy ADC. 4v4 with ADC against support usually results in a victory to your team (unless it’s a fed

If you are pretty fed/your ADC is far behind/you care a lot about your KDA, your playstyle will resemble that of mid/top LeBlanc a lot: you will start to play as an APC (or second APC), should care for your life, nuke easy-to-reach targets and try to carry your team. You can also choose to have your other APC go aggressively on the enemy while you use your burst you peel for your own ADC.
Support skill sequence
As LeBlanc support, you should still start off with



12/18/0 Support Masteries
For support masteries, you should go standard 12/18/0 masteries for tons of damage. Grab




Support Runes

Runes are the same as for top/mid Leblanc, except you should choose between


Support Items
In botlane, you will usually want to start with


Afterwards, you should definitely go for




By now, it is time for you to become truly useful. You are truly useful if you can kill the enemy ADC fast. The enemy ADC won’t build MR before the 25 minute mark. (if he does, he will lose trades with your ADC unless he's far ahead. You didn't feed, did you?). Since you don’t need



That evil book is just as good for Leblanc support as it is for her midlane, and you are able to utilise all of the stats for both lane fighting and roaming into the bottom side jungle for skirmishes.
Afterwards you should get

Maths section about your burst damage against the enemy ADC when you have boots and Morellonomicon will follow at the end of this chapter.
Get Morellonomicon and boots, kill enemy ADC, get your ADC fed on farm or assists, profit, win game. Then you can do it again, until you can afford

After getting DCap, you should pretty much follow the standard build for LeBlanc, except you should get a


Thus, the final build order should be something along the lines of this:
In case vision is lacking for your team, you can get




Examples of good carries:![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Some examples of bad pairings are:![]() ![]() ![]() |
The enemy choice of ADC doesn’t matter too much for LeBlanc. Of course, some AD Carries will be stronger in lane than others, such as

The only thing to keep in mind is





Favorable
Note, that the common trait across those 4 champions is that they are slow and tanky, and that they can't engage on you like they need to in order to be useful.








Skill matchup












Unfavorable Matchups






The big three
The exception to this is


I will rate each opponent on a difficulty scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is easiest and 5 is certain defeat if your opponent is halfway decent. Personally I would fight any enemy who is rated 4 or lower. Remember, just because an enemy is rated low, they can still become a threat later in the game if you don't dunk them early. Conversely, an enemy rated 4 can easily be rendered useless for 40 minutes if you manage to get ahead and leave a little dump on them in lane. Also, if you're still not confident with LB, it might be a wise choice to only go for enemies rated 3 or possibly even lower.
If the difficulty of an enemy is given in a parenthesis (example, difficulty: (3/5)), it means that I rarely play that matchup and I am not quite sure if it is correct. It is still a qualified guess/distinct memory of the matchup, however.
Matchups










































































The big five
Doran's shield is a big problem for you in lane, since it negates TONS of damage from your autoattacks and provides strong hp/5 and hp at a low cost.
Any toplaner who is tanky and can benefit from





Matchups












































































Yes, this chapter does indeed prove that I am way too much into numbers <.<
LeBlanc has the most massive burst in the game, and late game she is capable of instagibbing most everyone, except big tanks. The question is, of course, how much damage is this?

How to become a better player, looking inwards: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2170022
Funny team compositions, read for laughs. (They can still be viable even though they're gimmicks. A

Luck plays a huge role in SoloQ, but luck evens out. Here's a mathematical approach to climbing the ladder, definitely a good read: http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=859779
How emotions play a huge role in League of Legends, also covers some teamwork aspects. THIS IS A MUST READ, as it is a really important aspect in order to excel at this game. Also, it has cats. Lots of cats: http://nhanfiction.com/2012/04/04/emotions-the-driving-force-behind-player-performance-2/
I have one comment to the above article, however. While the article recommends playing while in a neutral or happy state of mind, I would warn against playing ranked games while being too happy. This is because the brain doesn't weigh risks and analyze situations properly if you are happy, and thus may end up taking reckless decisions.
An example: You are getting slightly ahead in lane and thinks "oh, I can 100-0 my opponent easily". You forget the fact that they have barrier, and only end up getting him down to 350 Health. You have blown all of your skills and taken a turret hit meanwhile, and now their jungler comes into your lane, because you sent a party invitation in all chat a minute earlier since you wanted to draw him away from your other lanes. He takes part in the party by killing you and then uses that advantage to snowball the enemy botlane as well, and you end up losing the game since your enemy in mid also got an extra

Of course the misjudgments can vary and be both smaller and greater than this example, but the general concept is that you can't make the best decisions if you're too happy, since you might become a bit reckless because of it.
Therefore, I recommend a neutral or "only" somewhat happy state of mind if you wish to play ranked games to the best of your ability.
That being said, it can be tons of fun to play normal games with your friends if you are all happy and start doing awesome (and awesomely bad) moves. Even feeding can be fun if your whole team is having a laugh at it together and do it while making SICK plays.
I highly recommend having such games with your friends every once in a while. It's hilarious.
And a thanks to JhoiJhoi for the lovely guide on making a guide, it gave me the tools to start making my guide.
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