Leblanc: An in-depth proposal to balancing the queen of deception

Leblanc. Mystical, magical, surreal, and powerful. That's the first thing that comes into mind when I'm playing the queen of deception. And frankly, both the game and Riot's mentality the game have changed greatly over the course of League of Legend's history. But one thing hasn't changed. Each champion was born into existence to serve a great purpose in the land of Runeterra. Each with his/her own unique identity and skillset. And for Leblanc, the most important part of her identity is deception.

 That is why she needs a kit update. Simply removing her silence or changing the way her ultimate deals damage isn't enough. She needs something drastic, something like Master Yi's update, which will propel her forward in time to the present meta. I propose a change in the way her ultimate works entirely. Instead of dealing damage, it should mirror her ability's other aspects. Sigil of Silence, before it was changed to Sigil of Malice, should silence for a longer duration. Distortion should dash faster. Ethereal Chains should slow more and snare longer. And above all, her ultimate should allow her to use any of her abilities, as long as at least one point is invested, each on its own individual cooldown.Additionally, Leblanc's early game damage would be toned down to compensate for her extreme mobility and unfair crowd-control in the mid lane, scaling to levels slightly below (to compensate for her ability to mimic all her spells) what they are currently in the late game.Her ability to mimic all of her spells would eliminate the devastating effects a little bit of magic resist and spell shields can produce on her ability to deal damage an assassinate her target(s) in the late game.

Passive: Mirror Image 'Her current passive is perfect... except it's not. Counterplay against her passive is reasonable, but it really kills the mood when Leblanc fails to split before she dies because she was hit during her stealth. A more reliable passive with some degree of player control is therefore preferred, but Leblanc players have to be smarter about when to make their move.' -Static cooldown>increased to>180 seconds -When Leblanc's HP drops below 30% or when Leblanc casts distortion below 40% health, Leblanc stealths herself and becomes untargetable (appearing and losing stealth and untargetable status only if Leblanc deals damage to a champion during the stealth) for 0.5 seconds, and then reappears with a clone. -Icon displays when Leblanc is between 40% and 30% health.

Q- Sigil of Silence 'The purpose of sigil of silence, as originally intended, was to deal extreme damage if you could successfully proc the mark, and punish with silence as an added side effect. However, the way the way the old sigil of silence worked was too much. Many mid laners could barely keep up with Leblanc's mobility and insane crowd-control. The result? An uninteresting lane where Leblanc was the clear victor 95% of the time, with little counterplay potential on her opponent's part. My proposed change will allow Leblancs that skillfully close the distance on their targets to quickly assassinate their targets while still allowing counterplay from opponents in lane. The result is a happy mage assassin who can defeat her opponents slowly from afar, but also swiftly destroy her opponents up close and personal when necessary.'

-Cooldown: 4.5 seconds -40/55/75/100/130 +0.4 ap initial proc -60/85/115/150/190 +0.8 ap after proc -2000 missile speed >changed to> 1300 missile speed, 200% missile and cast speed if within 325 range upon cast. -Mark remains for 2.5 seconds. -Silence on after proc>1 second -When cast on minions, after procs without second spell.

W- Distortion 'Leblanc's bread and butter ability that allows her to deceive the best of the best. As with Sigil of Silence, early game base damage is decreased and scales up, giving Leblanc players real, distinct advantages of leveling either Q, W, or E first. The speed difference also gives more skilled and savvy players more time to react to the more damaging distortion over the mimicked distortion.' -Dash speed > 60% of current -60/100/160/240/340 + 1.0 ap -Return pad>3 seconds after arriving at location/being interrupted

E-Ethereal chains 'The problem with ethereal chains was that it lacked counterplay if Leblanc could silence her target with Sigil of Silence before landing the chain, which also slowed heavily and snared. These changes will allow Leblanc to continue doing what she currently does, but requires the player to have a little more awareness. This will also get rid of the unsatisfying feeling of landing your chain by its tip only to have an opponent escape because of the cast time. Lastly, the choice of when to snare allows for more control in the hands of the skilled player.' -Range 950>decreased to>900 -Leash range 1000>decreased to 975 -Cast speed>increased>150% -Slow>decreased to>10% -Leblanc can now activate the chain again after 1.5 seconds or hold the chain up to 2.5 seconds before it automatically snares.

Mimic 'Instead of mimicking the last spell used, Leblanc can mimic any spell she has already invested points into. These spells deal no damage, but have increased effects and individual cooldowns. (Ex. Pressing R at level 6 will toggle between normal and ultimate skillset, like Nidalee/Elise/Jayce).' -Cooldown: 60/45/30 seconds (for each individual spell) -Casting a mimicked spell restores 5% of missing mana if Leblanc's corresponding spell is on cooldown. -Q: Silence procs for 200/250/300%of original. -W: Dash speed 200/250/300% of original. -E: Slow 200/250/300% of original and snare increased by .25/.5/.75 seconds. -Each time these spells hit an opponent, they will activate the second proc of Sigil of Silence as they normally would.

In conclusion, Leblanc would do very well as a balanced, deceptive mage assassin if her ultimate's focus was not to deal damage. Instead, shifting most of the damage focus towards her regular Sigil of Silence would present both opponents and Leblancs alike ample play making opportunities. Of course, this is just my proposal, and I don't want it to stop here. If you're a Leblanc lover out there, feel free to comment and make your own suggestions heard. I'd love to hear what other Leblanc players think of a rework for the champion.