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LeBlanc Design vs. Lore

Steel Lady·6/3/2019, 7:06:54 PM·12 votes·7,264 views

(Hey my dudes, I haven't been on the boards in quite a while and I just started coming back, so if any Rioters' already made a response to this question[s], please do drop a link for me to check it out)

With the newest LeBlanc story out, I've just sort of started to think about the large disconnect between how LeBlanc is presented in-game and in the lore. In the lore we see LeBlanc as this ancient, deceitful mastermind who has been toiling with the history of Noxus for centuries, but in-game she's sort of portrayed as this racy trickster/magician (and I mean rabbit out of a hat kind of magician). It just sort of feels like such a waste having LeBlanc be so well written, not just in her lore, but across a multitude of champions' lores, only to have her be portrayed as this risque party magician dressed in stripper-wear with a big staff.

She's been mentioned in countless Noxian stories and champion bios in between lines, It just feels pretty disappointing reading about her on the universe and seeing who she actually is in-game, like wait- this is it? This is the Pale Woman? She honestly looks like she could use a bathrobe.

Don't get me wrong, I can see clearly where they were trying to go with her design, but I just feel like the writers didn't adhere to that master-trickster/magician character archetype when they wrote her lore and the stories mentioning her. They've sort of written her as this ancient, archaic being acting as the puppeteer to Noxus' puppet, but she really doesn't look the part in terms of her design in-game.

I honestly feel like they should either revise the lore or give her a visual update that adheres to the LeBlanc that's being portrayed in said lore.

Any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear what you guys think.

25 Comments

Bootleg Gay6/3/2019, 7:14:32 PM5 votes

It's an older champion that had lore written out a long time ago, when she had nothing to do with all this government stuff. It's just a matter of an older champion getting new stories but nothing else, which is really good for story driven characters, but as you can see, is really messing with LeBlanc. A part of me really wishes she could get a VGU, and this is only 1 of the many reasons why.

AbiwonKenabi6/3/2019, 7:46:44 PM4 votes

I hope they retain the fact that LeBlanc as a character has been played by many people through history. I thought that was really fitting to her tricky attitude: even though she's perfectly mortal, she's tricked nearly everybody into believing that she is the same person who overthrew Mordekaiser. You can imagine that somebody like that could outplay someone as powerful as Mordekaiser, and its just a really cool idea. They alluded to it in her bio, so hopefully they plan on that remaining. We'll see.

But visually...yeah, she's all over the place. I think if they made her less "sexy Vegas" and more "actual illusion mage" that would do a lot of work. Leave the show boat-y Vegas stuff to her skins, base LB shouldn't be showing so much skin, and her head crest shouldn't be so show-y. I think her sexy appearance plays a role in her manipulative nature--a pretty grill is going to be more convincing than some old hag, especially to men in power--but its a little much currently.

The cape can stay, the head thing can stay, just toned down a bit, but otherwise I'd like to see her redesigned a bit to be taken more seriously. As far as her kit is concerned, I think her W and her passive fit her tricky nature quite well. If I had to pick a few word to describe LeBlanc's theme overall, I would call her "illusion mage with a master plan". So in-game, she can have more trickster-y abilities, but that's not always how she solves problem in-lore. Sometimes she just manipulates people and doesn't fight.

Pale Mask6/3/2019, 7:53:31 PM3 votes

I simply think that she's a total disconnect between archetype and execution, and needs a VGU as soon as possible.

Camille Ferrøs6/3/2019, 8:23:59 PM2 votes

Almost all of the old champions have a disconnect with their lore counterparts, even some newer ones. Only if Riot cared about character design and accuracy.

Pigeon Blood6/3/2019, 8:06:26 PM2 votes

LeBlanc doesn't need a lore revision. Her main problem is not her lore, it's her gameplay. A simple visual update won't fix the problem. She needs a complete rework to make sure the Deceiver and Master Manipulator thematic is properly represented in her kit.

CoolKnightST6/3/2019, 7:55:56 PM1 votes

I think riot learned their lesson the first time they reworked her. Their was a good reason they reverted the first one.

The Ecdysiast6/3/2019, 10:29:25 PM1 votes

ThAt'S ThE DeCePtION.

Why would she not hide the fact she can 100-0 you in half a second?