SKT1 Faker LeBlanc

Lee Faker Sang-hyeok

Mid Laner for SK Telecom T1

Intro

Faker really needs no introduction, he has been a dominate mid laner back in Korea and proved himself as most likely the best player at the season 3 World Championships. Faker is an incredibly flashy player, he will always look to outplay his mid lane opponent. The scary part is that he will most likely succeed. He is also very adaptable and has a deep champion pool, from assassins to hardcore farmers he can play them all. One of his claim to fame champions was his LeBlanc. He brought it out in the OGN spring championship against MVP Blue (Now Samsung Galaxy Blue) and went 10-0-1 within 18mins forcing MVP to surrender at 20mins. During the season 3 World Championships he was destroying the NA solo Q ladder with his Riven (guide coming soon) and LeBlanc. Lets dive into the desk and analyze what he did that made every high elo player quake in their seats.

Cheat Sheet

The Desk

Mid laners will love this part, do not leash for your Jungler when you play LeBlanc. You need to get ahead of your opponent otherwise LeBlanc won't be able to perform to her full potential. She is an incredible snowballing champion and when she gets ahead it is very hard to stop her, you have to do everything you can to gain an advantage. It would be an understatement to say that Faker's play on LeBlanc is aggressive. He looks to harass as much as possible with his Q at level 1, usually landing about 2-3 Q's before level 2. At level 2 he will combo his Q with his W and looks for a kill, you actually get massive damage off your W and Q at level 2. If you land your W on the enemy champion you have the ability to go for a kill, you will need to auto attack and pop your ignite on him to get the kill. Even if you don't get the kill you should be able to push out the opposing player. This is your chance to get ahead, concentrating on farming and pushing the wave so your opponent misses as much farm and experience as possible. Try and not use your spells when farming as you need the mana for kills early. When your opponent comes back to lane immediately burst him with your full combo, pressure him constantly. This will most likely draw the attention of the Jungler so you want to buy wards to anticipate the Junglers movement. Where you place your wards is very important, I see many players in solo queue ward in location which aren't optimal. 

You want to ward where the green circles are. 
One ward should go towards the enemy wraith camp, while the other covers the banana bush. Most solo queue players will ward the side bushes this isn't optimal as it won't give you enough time to react. In addition the wraith ward allows you to keep eyes on your mid laner as well if he decides to roam. Once your set up with wards you should be close to hitting 6. Around level 4 you want to harass heavily, at level 5 you need to stop attacking and focus on Csing. This is because you want to have enough mana at level 6 to fully combo your opponent. Once you hit 6 go all out keep comboing the opponent. Force him to back as much as you can and don't let up keep on pressuring him. You also don't really want to roam until you get your Death Fire Grasp. Once you get your DFG you should be in full control of the game and should be able to 1v1 anyone. When you get later into the game and teamfights break out, you want to assassinate one of their carries. After your full combo you should back out and play in the back lines where your ADC is. LeBlanc is very mobile so you want to keep moving in and out of fights. After you get your deathcap you want to also buy a blue pot for the CDR and AP, keep buying it after this point as it reduces your ultimate's cool down significantly. There are also 2 combos which you should master, the first one is the standard combo. Using your W to get in range of the enemy, use your DFG, Q, R, E and then press W again to teleport back to the pad. It doesn't matter if your E doesn't root the opponent this combo is simply for the damage. The next combo looks to kill enemy champions that are far away or playing safe. Using W again to get in range then DFG, use R into the champion your trying to kill, Q, E and then W out. You have to be able to do these combo's fast otherwise you will get cc'ed and die very fast. Using one of these combos will allow you to kill either of the carries instantly.

Applying to Solo Queue

In solo queue LeBlanc can be a very deadly champion, if allowed she can destroy a game on her own. You want to keep looking for kills in your own lane first, only start roaming if your ahead and think you have kill potential. Another thing that people don't focus on when playing LeBlanc is farm. It is hard I agree, but Faker is able to maintain the 150 minion at 20 mins, I have seen many LeBlanc's get ahead with kills but fail to cs, this doesn't allow your lead to increase fully. You also have to be able to pull of both the combo's I mentioned above and they have to be done quick. You don't want to get cc'ed half way through the combo and be forced to escape. LeBlanc is a very creative champion however there are many different combo you can do for different situations. For example if your get chased you can use your W and then use your R for another W. You can even teleport to either of the pads and try and juke your opponents (watch SivHD on LeBlanc). However say your getting chased but you see your team is about to come to your aide. You might want to use your E and then R for another E to slow down the enemy's and bait them for your team. Thus adapting to different situations is key and you must be able to judge the situation for yourself. The key is to not hesitate and make a decision whether it be right or wrong you can decide later, but make one. Even if  you get it wrong you can reflect on it for next time and improve your play. Hesitating will cost you a whole lot more as you won't learn from it. If you are unsucessful in one of your combos, try and get out do not wait to see if you can do something else. Faker won't even wait to see his E land on the enemy he will throw it out and W back immediately. This is because LeBlanc is an assassin she has a lot of damage in a couple seconds but can't do much after until her cooldowns come back.

Final Thoughts

LeBlanc is a solo queue hero, she can destroy the enemy team just by herself if played well and to her full potential. The key things to remember are:

1.  Be aggressive your playing an assassin, look for kills all the time and push people out of lane. 
2. Learnt he combo and make sure you can do it smoothly and quickly, you have to avoid getting cc'ed.
3. Focus on cs'ing as well, it is hard to cs on LeBlanc but you have to practice it as it allows you to snowball even harder.

Faker OGN Spring 2013