League of Legends' LeBlanc Is Getting a Mini-revert, Old Abilities Returning

Changes for LeBlanc are being tested on the PBE that revert some of the League of Legends [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

LeBlanc
(Photo: Riot Games)

Changes for LeBlanc are being tested on the PBE that revert some of the League of Legends champion's abilities back to their previous forms while finding a balance between the old and new version.

In a post on the League of Legends boards, Riot AzuBK, a game designer for the Live Gameplay team, talked about the assassin update that changed multiple assassins a while back and looked back on the changes that worked and those that could've been better.

"We made a slew of changes to LeBlanc's kit in the Assassin update in the name of slowing down her time to kill, allowing her to be more tricky at the expense of burst damage," Riot AzuBK said. "Looking back a year later, these changes ended up being a mixed bag. Some of the changes still make sense in retrospect, like removing E's slow to give opponents a real chance to break tether range. Others began with an honorable goal but suffered in execution. Her new passive mark, for instance, was meant to backload her damage but made one of the core values of her kit—order of spellcasts—much less important ('spell order doesn't matter, just wait for the mark')."

When working to revert some of LeBlanc's previous changes and build on other areas, Riot AzuBK said that the design team hoped to "restore as much of pre-rework LeBlanc as possible while taking another stab at the assassin update's goals of reducing frustration when playing against her." The changes won't wholly satisfy all players who may have preferred one LeBlanc over the other, Riot said, but there are a few changes that some players should look forward to such as the old Sigil of Malice returning.

"Passive mark is gone and the old Sigil of Malice is back," Riot AzuBK said. "We still believe that pre-rework LeBlanc's instant, ranged burst was too high, but making you stand around waiting for a mark isn't a reasonable ask for players. We're instead looking at more smoothly backloading her damage by emphasizing RQ and the second half of E/RE."

The old version of Mimic's cast paradigm is returning as well. This means that the two-button Mimic press is gone while also preventing LeBlanc's double dash escape unless it's the most recent ability used. The champ's clone changes are also being reverted with Riot bringing back Mirror Image with the ability triggering when LeBlanc is close to dying.

Some of LeBlanc's mechanics are also changing, sometimes in a way that's better for her enemies. Those that get hit by her chain will be able to escape easier with the chain being easier to break.

LeBlanc players (or opposers) interested in seeing more of the champ's changes can check out the post on the League boards to read up on the mini-revert while it ships to the PBE.

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