Lets Talk about the Black Rose....LeBlanc

Afternoon Folks,

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of reading through some of the new lore up on the Universe site, and I read The Thorns of the Black Rose. LeBlanc is one of those champions that has captured my imagination for quite some time, and some of the subtle hints running in that story really had me thinking.

In game, LeBlanc is a bit of a bursty, facerolling, mage assassin...that can sort of confuse folks and deceive them a little. And lord knows, Riot really tried to give her some more trickiness when they did the big assassin rework (which was subsequently reverted). Personally, I have several very fond memories of using the Mirror of the Black Rose to guide unsuspecting squishies to their deaths....but I digress.

The mystique and intrigue presented in the lore is, frankly, not mirrored well in the gameplay of this champion. In part, because there are plenty of folks who love her just the way she is in terms of game play, but also because...well...it is hard to create a champion that properly deceives in this way. However, I believe I have a trio of suggestions for Riot to consider that might take LeBlanc to a whole new world of crazy, conniving gameplay.

The first goes to her** Sigil of Malice**. Her Q. This is an awesome tool for bursting people down, especially if you can pop the ability. But what if, we went back a bit and changed things up. I would like to propose that bursting the seal (and the Seal on her Mimic'd Q) will cause a short term blind, similar to Graves blind. This way, LeBlanc can disorient her opponents and potentially dodge skill shots or point and clicks. If the Mimic'd Q is popped, the blind is a little longer. To compensate for this awesome new CC, we might take out a little of the back loaded damage on popping the sigil.

Second, lets rework LeBlancs E a little. Instead of just firing out the** Ethereal Chain**, what if it acted like the old Mirror of the Black Rose? She creates a duplicate of herself that begins walking towards the nearest enemy. But, when it arrives, it instead fires just the Ethereal chain and then stands still, forcing the opponent to move outside of the range of the Ethereal Chain or be rooted. This would allow LeBlanc to have a more "global presence" but, make sure that the cast range isn't excessive until its been leveled up. The Mimic'd version of this E could have global cast range, making her potentially felt anywhere and everywhere...which is much more in keeping with her lore. This way, she can sort of set up ambushes and a bit of control in her own lane! And, later on, she can really make other players lives miserable.

Lastly, I would like to advocate for LeBlanc to have Mirror of the Black Rose given back to her. While this ability wasn't supremely impactful during the first rework, I believe that the adjustments I have suggested would actually be able to take Leblanc into a whole new world with the Mirror of the Black Rose. Suddenly, seeing Leblanc coming to your lane might mean three different things: it is just the Mirror clone; it is an Ethereal Chain Clone; or it is the Black Rose herself... Worse, maybe it is all three!

If you did get through all of this, thank you for reading and I would love more input. I feel like these adjustments might take LeBlanc to that next level and give her some much needed extra doses of deceit and trickery to turn her into the premier deceiver of the League of Legends.

Yours In Thorns,

Tarcathos