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tigerkirby215 · 4 years ago

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5e LeBlanc, the Deceiver build (League of Legends)

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

Fuck the Rose fuck the Rose fuck the Rose fuck the Rose fuck the Rose fuck the Rose fuck the Rose fuck the Rose fuck the Rose fuck the Rose...

My Rell main side is screaming “Fuck the Rose” on repeat but someone on r/WhatWouldYouBuild made a thread about LeBlanc and I’m actually pretty proud of the response I gave them. It was a fun build to theorycraft and I want to share my work, even if I have no real interest in LeBlanc as a champion. Though granted while I was writing this build LeBlanc was revealed in Legends of Runeterra, which is interesting in its own right.

But maybe I’m lying to you? Maybe I’m actually a Mastery 7 LeBlanc one-trick who’s going to min-max the shit out of this build? I mean probably not, as I have stated several times that I main both Kayn and Yuumi. But I might be?

GOALS

It's all smoke and mirrors - One midlaner is already one too many. Two midlaners? Now that’s just crazy talk!

Classic misdirection - How can you hit an enemy when you don’t even know where they are? If you’re everywhere at once you can be sure that no one will stop you.

Watch closely - If you pull back the curtain you can make all sorts of magic tricks. Sometimes you can even do them twice!

RACE

Want some innate magic to spy on people and be everywhere at once? Well a good man named Van Richten may have exactly what you need from the land of Ravenloft. There’s plenty of spooky UA going around and the Hexblood can do more than just parlor tricks! As a Hexblood you get a +2 to an ability score of your choice (increase your Charisma to manipulate people) and +1 to another ability score (Dexterity will help you dodge skill shots while wearing fine clothes.) You can also choose your size (you’re a Medium “human” duh) and learn a language of your choice. (Pick your fancy.)

As a Hexblood you get Darkvision of 60 feet and Fey Resilience so the charmer can’t be charmed. You also get both Hex and Disguise Self added to your spell list, and can cast each one of these spells once for free thanks to Hex Magic.

But of course what we’re really here for it the ability to give people a Magic Token to spy on them. As an action you can create a Magic Token (it says you have to take your teeth out but personally I’d reflavor it as giving them a black rose.) If another creature is holding the token you can use an action to send a telepathic message to the creature, as long as you’re on the same plane of existence and are within 10 miles of it. The message can contain up to twenty-five words. (So it’s basically Sending.)

In addition, while you are within 10 miles of the token, you can use an action to enter a trance for 1 minute, during which you can see and hear from the token as if you were located where it is. While you are using your senses at the token’s location, you are blinded and deafened in regard to your own surroundings. Afterward, the token is harmlessly destroyed. You can only make one token per long rest. It’s not clear if the old token disappears when you make a new one so discuss that with your DM.

IF HEXBLOOD ISN’T AN OPTION: A Changeling would also work well for LeBlanc, and give you more trickery and utility with the ability to Disguise Self at will. If all else fails a Variant Human with either the Eldritch Adept (take Mask of Many Faces as your Eldritch Invocation) or Fey Touched feat also works.

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - To lie and deceive you need a face that anyone could trust. Perhaps many faces?

14; WISDOM - To know how to manipulate people you need to understand them first. Wouldn’t want anyone lying to you, now.

13; DEXTERITY - Your outfit isn’t exactly heavy armor. (But if you want you can wear Medium armor!)

12; INTELLIGENCE - You’re technically ancient. Knowing how to control a nation in secret takes some tactics.

10; CONSTITUTION - You’re a squishy mid-lane mage.

8; STRENGTH - You’re a squishy mid-lane mage.

Feel free to swap Wisdom and Constitution if you want more health but worse roleplay.

BACKGROUND

Always remember that no power is built without someone pulling the strings. The Courtier background from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide gives you proficiency in Persuasion but since we can get Insight from elsehwere take Deception proficiency instead. You also get proficiency with two languages to deceive anyone you please.

Your background feature Court Functionary makes it easy for your way to weave yourself into the system. The background flat out says “You know who the movers and shakers are, whom to go to for the favors you seek, and what the current intrigues of interest in the group are.” Which is pretty much perfect for LeBlanc.

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - FIGHTER 1

Here’s a shocker eh? Put simply Constitution saving throws are nice. So is proficiency in Insight (told you we’d be getting it elsewhere) and Acrobatics.

Fighters of course get a Fighting Style but believe it or not LeBlanc isn’t going to be swinging a sword around much, so grab Defense to be just a little sturdier. While your early levels may be weak you do at least have Second Wind for a bit of lane sustain.

LEVEL 2 - BARD 1

Time for the real meat and potatoes; masters of Charisma it’s time for Bard! Bards get proficiency in a skill of their choice at level 1 and you know what would probably be useful for a mage? Arcana proficiency.

You also get proficiency with a musical instrument to cast your spells: pick your fancy and see if your DM will let you use a staff instead.

You can also help those who are important to you with Bardic Inspiration, letting you give your allies a d6 to add to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. Manipulate important people from the shadows.

But of course the main appeal of the Bard class is access to Spellcasting. For your cantrips Friends is good to make friends you don’t mind losing, and Vicious Mockery will let you whisper dark secrets to weaken your foes. For leveled spells Detect Magic will help you know if there’s any secrets others are keeping from you, Dissonant Whispers will let your enemies know that you know their deepest fears, Sleep will help you get away, and Illusionary Script is a fun non-combat spell I get to recommend since LeBlanc isn’t all about fighting.

LEVEL 3 - BARD 2

Second level Bards get Jack of All Trades, letting them do a little bit of everything. They also get Song of Rest to pretend to help during a Short Rest, giving allies an extra d6 to heal with.

You can also learn another spell from the Bard list like Identify to know what you’re getting into.

LEVEL 4 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get to choose their Bardic College, and there are whispers in Noxus about an organization that’s trying to overthrow the nation from the shadows. That organization forming their very own College of Whispers! As a Whispers Bard you can instill Words of Terror into someone. If you speak to a humanoid alone for at least 1 minute, you can force them to make a Wisdom saving throw at the end of the conversation. If they fail they’re frightened of you or another creature of your choice for 1 hour, unless it is attacked or damaged, or until it witnesses its allies being attacked or damaged. If the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to frighten it, and you can only use this feature once per short or long rest.

You can also instead form your Bardic Inspiration into Psychic Blades. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack you can spend a Bardic Inspiration die to deal 2d6 extra Psychic Damage. I’d recommend carrying a Rapier around to spike anyone who gets close to you with Psychic Damage.

You also get Expertise in two of your skills, and naturally we’ll become masters of Persuasion and Deception. And to top it of you can learn a second level spell like Mirror Image, which was added to the Bard spell list thanks to Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything!

LEVEL 5 - BARD 4

4th level Bards get the first Ability Score Improvement of the build: Fey Touched will let you increase your Charisma by 1 and also gives you the Misty Step spell and a first level spell from the Enchantment or Divination school. Command will let you further force your foes to do as you please. You can cast each of these spells once for free per Long Rest, and they’re added to your spell list to cast with spell slots!

Speaking of spells you can one more leveled spell, and one more cantrip! Message will let you stick to team chat (and will also let you whisper to those who aren’t your teammates), and Suggestion will let you manipulate foes in the middle of battle!

LEVEL 6 - BARD 5

5th level Bards see their Bardic Inspiration increase to a d8, which also increases your Psychic Blades to 3d6. That’s good because Font of Inspiration makes your Bardic Inspiration come back on a Short Rest, instead of a Long Rest!

You can also learn a third level spell but unfortunately we’re still chained to second level, taking Hold Person for LeBlanc’s like Ethereal Chains.

(Artwork made for Legends of Runeterra by Riot Games.)

LEVEL 7 - FIGHTER 2

Back to Fighterman to get the abilities we actually want: Action Surge will let you Mimic a spell and cast twice in a round. Be sure to talk to your DM if they will allow Action Surge to allow two leveled spells to be cast in a turn with Action Surge.

LEVEL 8 - FIGHTER 3

Third level Fighters get to choose their Martial Archetype and man wouldn’t it be cool if there was a Fighter that could create illusions of themselves and teleport to them? The Echo Knight from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount enables a lot of weird builds, doesn’t it? Regardless there’s a bunch of bullet points to know about your illusions:

Your illusion has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll.

On your turn, you can command the illusion to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your illusion is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.

As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with your illusion at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.

When you take the Attack action on your turn, any attack you make with that action can originate from your space or the illusion’s space. You make this choice for each attack.

When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your illusion moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the illusion’s space.

Tl;dr you can swap places with your illusion, and you can use it to bonk but not to cast spells. You can also Unleash Incarnation for an extra attack from your illusion’s position a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier, but if you can’t tell we won’t be using that much.

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 1

What if I told you there was a secret organization forcing me to put Warlock levels in all my builds? It would be a lie, but I fooled you for a moment didn’t I? Regardless Warlocks are unique because they get to choose their patron at level 1, and man wouldn’t it be weird if the being of manipulation and darkness was influenced by a god? The Celestial patron gets two Bonus Cantrips at level 1: Sacred Flame and Light, just in case you need to pretend that you’re the good guy.

You also get a pool of Healing Light die equal to 1 plus your Warlock Level. You can use a Bonus Action to expend a number of those die equal to your Charisma modifier (which FYI basically means that you can use all the die however you please) on a creature you can see within 60 feet. (FYI: you can see yourself.) Each die is a d6, and the creature gets to heal for whatever you roll on said d6s.

But what we’re really here for is Pact Magic. You learn two cantrips from the Bard list: Booming Blade will let you put a little more thunder into your weapon if you choose to try to make use of Psychic Blades, and Eldritch Blast is Eldritch Blast which will let you blast while you eldritch.

The main reason for the Celestial Patron is Guiding Bolt, which will serve as Sigil of Malice. You can also grab Charm Person to make friends that you want to keep.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations and Agonizing Blast will let you agonize your blasts to be extra agonizing. I mean seriously you should’ve expected this. Beyond that Eldritch Mind will help you keep up your rouse in the heat of battle, but feel free to pick any other invocation that you fancy.

You do learn another spell and I mean... Comprehend Languages might be helpful to manipulate Shurimans?

(Artwork by Choe HeonHwa. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 11 - BARD 6

Hey how about we get that ability to be whoever we want? When a humanoid dies within 30 feet of a Whispers Bard they can use Mantle of Whispers to capture their shadow and use it as a disguise. You can use your action to assume the disguise, which lasts for 1 hour. While you’re disguised, you know all information that the humanoid would freely share with a casual acquaintance. You also have a +5 to Deception checks while in the disguise. You can only capture one disguise per short rest, and all your disguises disappear after a long rest.

You can also learn another third level spell like Enemies Abound, instilling paranoia in a target so they can’t tell friend from foe. And when you think everyone’s an enemy, who do you fight?

Oh and you get Countercharm to help those around you against the fear of the Black Rose. Can’t have your puppets distracted.

LEVEL 12 - BARD 7

7th level Bards can learn 4th level spells like Dimension Door to be everywhere and nowhere at once.

LEVEL 13 - BARD 8

8th level Bards get another Ability Score Improvement and yeah we already got a half feat, but how about another one? The Actor feat will help you fool anyone who doubts you.

You can also learn another 4th level spell like Confusion, to leave a whole room guessing as to where you’re hiding.

(Artwork by Sangsoo Jeong. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 14 - BARD 9

9th level Bards see their Song of Rest increase to a d8 so they can keep young and beautiful. You can also now learn 5th level spells like Mislead for a double that acts while you’re nowhere to be seen.

LEVEL 15 - BARD 10

10th level Bards see their Bardic Inspiration increase to a d10, which also increases the damage of Psychic Blades to 5d6. They also get Expertise in two skills like Arcana and Insight, to know all about people and the magic they might posses.

But of course the main appeal of the Bard class is their Magical Secrets... shame there honestly aren’t that many I particularly want. Hold Monster will be a good way to chain up any monster champion that Riot might be planning to release, and Destructive Wave can cause quite the distortion in the area you’re at before you teleport away.

You can also learn another cantrip like Prestidigitation, for the more simple magics you’ve been lacking until now.

LEVEL 16 - BARD 11

11th level Bards can learn 6th level spells like Programmed Illusion for a clone that walks like you walk, talks like you talk, and may or may not disintegrate into chalk.

LEVEL 17 - BARD 12

12th level Bards get another Ability Score Improvement. Time to max out that Charisma and truly get into people’s heads. Telepathic lets you increase your Charisma by 1 and also speak telepathically, so you can keep in team chat at all times. But most importantly you learn the Detect Thoughts spell, and can cast it once without a spell slot.

You don’t get any Bard spells but feel free to replace Message with something like Mage Hand, seeing as you basically have Message permanently on.

(Artwork by Sperasoft Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - BARD 13

13th level Bards can keep the greatest illusion up: the one that Song of Rest being a d10 somehow makes the ability more useful.

You can at least learn 7th level spells, and to keep the Grand General off your tail Symbol is the perfect trap. The spell has a bunch of deadly effects that you can set up so I recommend reading the full spell over to see what it does.

LEVEL 19 - BARD 14

14th level Whispers Bards know all your secrets. As an action, you whisper a phrase of Shadow Lore that only one creature of your choice within 30 feet of you can hear. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw, though it automatically succeeds if it doesn’t share a language with you or if it can’t hear you. On a successful saving throw, your whisper sounds like unintelligible mumbling and has no effect.

On a failed saving throw however the target is “charmed” by you for the next 8 hours or until you or your allies perform an aggressive action against it. It interprets the whispers as a description of its most mortifying secret; while you gain no knowledge of this secret, the target is convinced you know it. The “charmed” creature obeys your commands for fear that you will reveal its secret. It won’t risk its life for you or fight for you, unless it was already inclined to do so. They will grant you favors and gifts as if you were a close friend.

When the effect ends, the creature has no understanding of why it held you in such fear. You can only use this feature once per Long Rest.

You also get two more Magical Secrets, but honestly I want spells from the Bard list more. So take Etherealness and Forcecage for tricks to keep anyone at bay and enter anywhere you please. But of course feel free to take spells you personally enjoy, as I don’t control you. Yet~

LEVEL 20 - BARD 15

15th level Bards see their Bardic Inspiration increase to their max of a d12, which also means that your Psychic Blades feature increases to 8d6.

You can also learn an 8th level spell, and there’s a lot of great 8th level spells on the Bard list. But Antipathy / Sympathy (thanks Tasha’s!) is a great way to get who you want where you want them. Pick a creature type: if you make them apathetic, they will feel an intense desire to leave if they get close. Alternatively if they’re sympathetic they’ll want to come stay. This effect lasts 10 days, so it can be a great way to get all the right people in the right place

FINAL BUILD

PROS

For my next trick I'll make their life bar disappear - Even if a good majority of your spells are based off tricks and deception you’re still extremely deadly to face. You have nearly full caster levels which means many deadly tricks to cut through entire armies.

For a moment I thought I'd broken a sweat - So it turns out that a few levels in Fighter go a long way. Medium Armor is more than enough to keep yourself safe, and in combination with the Defense fighting style and a shield you’re actually surprisingly tough to hit. Add in all the mobility provided by both your magic and your echoes and you can be out of sight before they even have a chance to attack you.

Would I lie? - You are a master of getting people to do what you want. +17 to Persuasion and Deception, tons of spells to make lying easier, and of course your Whispers Bard and Hexblood features to turn anyone into a new set of eyes and ears

CONS

Lying is, like, ninety five percent of what I do - A few too many feats means you’ve got pretty much nothing in any stat other than Charisma. A pretty face and Jack of All Trades only gets you so far, and it would probably be good if you could actually back up some of the things that you’re saying.

Patience, summoner - Speaking of stats: dumping Constitution is never good, and while it’s not necessarily “dumped” it’s still rather low. You’ll likely have around 100 health by level 20 which isn’t much for Power Word Kill. Just saying a Zhonya's Hourglass (or preferably an Amulet of Health) would definitely be a good pickup.

Right where I want them - Whispers Bard has some great abilities but the level 3 ability expects you to hit people with a weapon, which you really aren’t good at. I could suggest alternatives like getting the Shillelagh cantrip (either as a Bard Magical Secret or from the Warlock class by taking an extra Warlock level and the Pact of the Tome) but truthfully I’d much rather play LeBlanc as either a Eloquence or Lore Bard. Hell possibly even a Glamour Bard if you swing that way. Whispers Bards are great at the political side of things but if you want a more combative midlaner a different Bard might be better.

But the one pulling the strings should ideally never be in the fight to begin with. Leave your enemies either guessing or dead. Manipulate a nation and prepare them all for the horrors that would destroy them if they knew the truth. At least two of which you caused in some way: look, nobody’s perfect.

(Artwork by Francis Tneh and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

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