Ever since the assassin rework, LeBlanc has received a series of pretty harsh nerfs. While I knew the nerfs were warranted, I for one was not looking forward to them. Initially, I was very worried that LeBlanc would become unplayable. But my fears have been put to rest as LeBlanc is still meta, and pulling almost permabans in the majority of high elo and LCS games.

Post-nerf LeBlanc plays much differently than her pre-nerf counterpart. Although she was originally designed as an assassin, Riot has taken her out of the assassin group and now lists her as a burst mage on their champion info page. She has a completely different build path and playstyle now. Let's explore some of the changes.

Runes and Masteries

Standard Aggressive LeBlanc Runes

Pictured above is what I refer to as the "FIGHT ME I'M CRAZY" rune page. This page is to maximize damage and to abuse matchups where you're highly favored. The CDR is incredibly important so that your skills are always up for both clearing waves and skirmishing. The raw AP is obviously for blowing squishies up. Alternately, if you want to show your lane matchup some respect (I highly recommend this), replace the CDR and scaling AP glyphs with magic resist glyphs when in an AP matchup. When in a matchup against an AD caster, switch your scaling health seals to armor seals. I tend to never change my quints or marks. I like the magic penetration marks because your lane opponent generally will have no MR early, meaning you're dealing close to true damage to them.

Standard LeBlanc Masteries

This is the most common mastery set up for LeBlanc that I've found. Thunderlord's is the keystone of choice for the burst damage and trades in lane phase. Other than that, the only real flexibility here is whether or not you want to take Double Edged Sword or Battle Trance. A lot of people will say that Double Edged Sword is the ideal choice because LeBlanc is such a big laning bully. However, if you have a tough matchup, and you think you're going to get poked out or out traded, Battle Trance is a decent option. A lot of high elo veterans recommend not taking Double Edged Sword because the damage is irrelavant since with this version of LeBlanc, the goal is to push out and roam, or split push.

Summoner Skills

The only summoner spells LeBlanc will need

Flash is a must have summoner on LeBlanc for obvious reasons. There is however a decent variety of secondary summoners to take. My personal favorite for the new breed of LeBlanc is Teleport. As new LeBlanc, your primary goal is to be a slippery, evasive, split pushing nuisance at all times across the map. The more attention you draw to yourself, the more objectives your team should hopefully be able to take. Teleport helps you get to pushed waves faster, allows you to join in fights when your team is on the other side of the rift, and gives you early item advantage in lane to push enemies in. I personally think Flash and Teleport is the best combination on Hextech LeBlanc.

Take Ignite if your lane opponent is a soft matchup or if you want to try and go for an early all-in. LeBlanc still has an amazing level 2 or level 3 all-in potential, but Ignite is necessary to pull it off. I take Ignite when I'm feeling extra spicy.

Some players still take Exhaust in assassin matchups to prevent getting 100-0'd or in matchups when they want to be able to hit all their chains. I personally think it's an unnecessary spell to take because with this LeBlanc play style, we're rushing Hextech Gunblade which has a 2 second 40% slow active with a 40 second cooldown. Teleport and Ignite allow you play much more aggressively. Also, I just dislike defensive summoner spells in general. Let your opponent know from the moment you're in load screen that you're coming for their head and their Nexus.

Skill Order

New LeBlanc skill order

This is the new order in which you prioritize skills with LeBlanc. Instead of maxing Distortion first, your skill order should be R > Q > W > E. The reason for this is because of the nerf in her W damage, but the increase in damage to minions with her Q. LeBlanc's wave clear was initially nerfed, but then given back to her in later patches. This, in combination with a Hextech Gunblade, gives LeBlanc insane amount of sustain for a mage and allows her to stay in lane for longer periods of time, push her opponent in faster, and split push with amazing efficiency.

Itemization

All you need to know about the new LeBlanc build is...

Hextech Gunblade on LeBlanc is so incredibly strong. Everything about the item is synergistic with LeBlanc's kit. The passive heal on Hextech Gunblade works wonderfully with LeBlanc W-Q combo on waves. When you hit a wave with Distortion, and then Q the wave once your passive has spread, each Q bounce heals you for a decent amount. The sustain is amazing for laning, and great for small skirmishes followed up by split pushing. On top of that the active damage and slow are great on LeBlanc as well. The 40% slow on active makes it incredibly easy to hit your chain CC combo.

W-Hextech-E-Q. My favorite part is the boop to finish.

The next item you rush aside from boots, is a tossup between Lich Bane and the new Banshee's Veil. If you're doing a lot of team fighting and skirmishing, go for the Banshee's Veil. The passive shield is a life saver when you're going deep in team fights and prevents you from getting blown up immediately. The added MR and CDR are nice touches as well. If, however, you're getting the chance to split push, absolutely get a Lich Bane. Lich Bane isn't an item you normally think to get on LeBlanc. But on new LeBlanc it's pretty great. It gives you great siege potential on towers when you're split pushing, movement speed, CDR, and mana. The mana and CDR are especially important since we're skipping Morellonomicon.

After your core items of Hextech Gunblade, Lich Bane, Banshee's Veil and boots, the remainder of your items is pretty flexible. The most common items I end up building are Void Staff, Zhonya's Hourglass, and Rabadon's Deathcap. A lot of people like to skip Rabadon's Deathcap all together, but I'd like to point out that, when building Lich Bane and Hextech Gunblade, that both of those items have AP ratio triggers. Rabadon's Deathcap amplifies these triggers greatly.

A full build path would look something like this:

Typical LB Full Build

New Play Pattern

As LeBlanc, when you're fed, you can still assassinate people, but that's no longer her primary goal. She is now just as effective doing massive amounts of damage hitting chain combos on the front line, and waiting for the right opportunity to Distortion in to damage the back line carries. Now with the new LeBlanc, split pushing is your primary goal. With her wave clear being so strong, LeBlanc wants to sit in a side lane and cause as much a headache for the enemy team as possible by threatening turret damage. She clears waves fast, can duel very well, and, if put in a scenario where she's 1 v 2 or 1 v 3, she's incredibly slippery and can distract the enemy team for long enough for your teammates to accomplish something elsewhere on the map. Also, with Lich Bane, she does a surprising amount of damage to structures. She also has the added bonus of being able to make it appear like she's with the team when she's not via her ultimate clone. Since we're only going over how to play Hextech LeBlanc, if you want more information on LeBlanc fundamentals such as how to work her kit, her combos, and laning, check out my other guide on LeBlanc basics here.

LeBlanc will always hold a special place in my heart as one of the greatest assassins of all time. She's vastly different than the LeBlanc I initially learned. I am however, very glad to see her still being played, even if I have to play her differently now. And, to be completely honest, I think her play pattern is less oppressive to ADCs and squishies everywhere, while still being incredibly satisfying. The high skill cap is still there, the outplay potential is still there, and the carry potential is still there. Take some time to learn the new Hextech LeBlanc, and soon you'll be splitting and taking towers as LeBlanc!

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