The actual problem with LeBlanc...

... and why simple number tuning will not fix this.

Now, LeBlanc has been strong for quite a long time despite being a rather old champ (released in 2010. Yepp, THAT old). Considering that age it's no surprise she has a shitton of missing-counterplay issues like most other old champs. How she is different from them? Her core elements are mobility and killing people without counterplay. No matter what the meta, this will ALWAYS make her viable in some kind of way.

To make it even worse Riot's "quick fix" changes some time ago weren't helping either. The removal of silence was understanable, but all it did in LB's case was to make her even kit even more bland and boring. There is a MASSIVE difference of triggering a mark on an enemy for something interesting (an effect) to happen or if it's just damage.

On top of that her Q isn't really good design. If you mark someone for intersting stuff to happen? Ok, I'm cool with that. Point&Click Raw damage? Nah, not so much. The fact that her ult plays into that doesn't make it better. Not that her ult is any better tho... to me it just seems like lazy design. How can Heimerdinger or Karma (although I still consider the rework horrible) get that whole "empowered spell" theme done and LB doesn't? Because her ult doesn't add anything interesting to her abilities, apart from more damage.

But there is something that bothers me even more than the usual "outdated" problem: it's that her entire design is a giant thematic failure from the start.

For a better understanding I will post her lore now, so you might get what I mean. Luckily she has been spared from the Shurima and Shadow-Isles Butchering of lore...

Every city has its dark side, even one whose reputation is already of a questionable hue. Noxus - though its name is already invoked with a mixture of reverence and revulsion - is no exception to this simple truth. Deep within the winding dungeons that honeycomb the earth beneath its dark, meandering streets lies the real underbelly of this sprawling metropolis, a haven for all manner of malevolence. Amongst the cults, covens, and secret societies that call this labyrinth their home, LeBlanc, the Deceiver, presides over the Black Rose, a remnant from a lost, yet similarly unscrupulous time in Noxian history. Ruthless and seemingly ageless, LeBlanc and her ilk were a mainstay in Noxian political affairs during the era before the militarization of the Noxian government. In those days, this guild of powerful magicians met in secret to further their hidden agenda, and to hone a craft more subtle than that preferred by those currently in power. While their exact motives have always remained mysterious, it was widely believed that the Black Rose was the true power behind the throne while the aristocracy still reigned in Noxus. When raw martial prowess became the ultimate determination of whose will held sway in the Empire, the Black Rose seemed to vanish overnight. Many believed that perhaps their time had simply passed, and that its members had put aside their quests for social and political dominance. When LeBlanc reemerged at the gates of the Institute of War, however, it became clear that these masters of shadow and flame had simply been biding their time, waiting for a new global authority to emerge: the League of Legends.

 "The world is very different for those who cannot see beyond what is placed before their very eyes."
― LeBlanc, the Deceiver

(Just ignore the League of legends sentence in the end)

To make it even better she has yet another appearance in the Sion rework, let's also take a look at that: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/LeBlanc/Background (just click on the "expanded" button)

So. Now I ask you guys: How does this translate to "directly blowing up people"? Or "Murder them while telporting into their face"? But that's typical old Riot: Generic mage kit without any personality + small ittsy-bittsy gimmic (her passive) = call it a "deciever" or "illusionist". We understand that back then you didn't really know how to do that whole "champion design" thing - but at least fix the messes you made!

Nono, for LeBlanc's theme to work you need to incorprorate the high arts of psychological warfare and mindfuckery into her kit. She supposed to be about illusions, trickery - and somewhere in between all that smoke and mirrors is the real lethal strike, also disguised as some kind of illusion.

She's supposed to be an high skillcap utility assassin, and not some kind of braindead burst mage. If you play LeBlanc you want to feel smart, powerful - not "Hurr-Durr DAMAGE!".

I might not have a completly reworked kit at hand now (and that actually isn't my job), but I have some impulses to how she could be changed:

• Focus more on her Mirror Image. Make it an active skill and make the rest of the kit interact with it. How about the ability to swap place with the clone without the enemy instantly noticing? I want to actively use that "Oh nooo you got me... NOPE! FAKE!" - idea. How about multiple images? Would make an awesome ultimate-version of the spell: suddenly 20 LeBlancs randomly walking around the place for a few seconds.

• Illusions: how about making copys of your teammates to confuse your enemies? Is the jungler suddenly coming into lane fake or not? Another neat way to mess with your opponents. Oh, the number of minions in this wave suddenly doubled? Have fun last hitting the real ones.

• Illusions 2: Now this might be too complicated to be implemented, but the idea is worth a mention: disguising yourself as enemy champion. Or maybe just as a minion. Random idea, probably too hard to make it work...

• High damage - but it has to be tricky to set up. Not just some brain dead point&click blow-up. I want to lure my enemies into a trap and watch them despair as they realize their mistake...

• Vision denial. Not to be confused with steath or "stealth-giving", but think of mechanics like Somescreen, but a bit more... sublte. A champ build around trickery and mentally screwing the enemy over would make good use of such a mechanic.

Well that's just some random input from me.

/discuss