LoL: Riot Can't Balance LeBlanc
LeBlanc is The Deceiver and while it is definitely always tricky to kill her in the game it is even more tricky for Riot Games to balance her.
LeBlanc has always been tricky to balance. Is she a mage or an assassin? Is she a high skill champion or actually incredibly easy? Do I build AP or AD? Well, while the last question might seem a bit confusing if you just started playing LeBlanc or LoL in Season 14 it is actually a question that Riot had to deal with in Season 13.
The problem with LeBlanc is that she is usually an AP champion. An AP Assassin to be exact, now this is where the issues come from. AP Assassins basically buy the same items as normal mages, but they kill you faster, which is a balancing nightmare.
It doesn't help that LeBlanc is one of the hardest champions to play if you want to master her, which was unfortunately happening by a specific player. That specific player was SKT T1 Faker who found his favorite champion in LeBlanc.
He was so incredibly good at the champion that it warranted some nerfs. But these nerfs made her practically unplayable in any sort of ranked environment. That didn't stop the LeBlanc mains though, so they suffered with a bad champion for quite a while.
AD LeBlanc?
That is until the North American Streamer Bobquin discovered AD LeBlanc. Riot probably still hates him for this.
The build was Stattiks Shiv, Trinity Force and Hullbreaker. Remember that this was in Season 13 and all of these items were actually incredibly strong. Together with the Fleet Footwork rune LB took over any lane instantly. Stattiks gave her insane wave control which she never had with AP builds and with the mobility of two dashes no enemy stood a chance.
Even if you weren't doing too good because LB is still mechanically demanding, you can just push in a side lane with Hullbreaker and try to get a win that way.
It didn't take long for Riot to nerf Stattiks and LeBlanc, and she became incredibly useless again. Overtime they have tried giving LB a few more adjustments but It's safe to say that she will not be in the meta for quite a while. It genuinely feels like a mistake whenever she is in a good spot.
What do you think? Did you like AD LeBlanc?
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