Talk:LeBlanc/@comment-173.51.131.177-20110610020315/@comment-3165723-20110629070046

i don't think LB's CC is given enough credit. with a little bit of easy to learn timing, she can have their ap carry silenced for 5 seconds, not a short amount of time, and, on top of that, that AP carry is now out probably half their health and maybe running away. If she needs it, she also is able to slow and snare two targets at a time and one target for i'm estimating 6+ seconds (counting the slow and the snare for the duration) while at the same time silencing them and putting out great damage. the mistake i think neon is making is assuming that LB is an ap carry. She isn't, she's an assassin, moreso than kassadin is. If a LB is roaming around and a squishy is out by themselves, they're dead unless they can somehow outrun her. kassadin is also able to do this pretty well, but once he jumps in with his combo, his E is put on recharge which may take quite a few seconds (not counting his CD) which leaves him to hit with melee (which may be better now that his W is changed) and spam Q and R (which depletes mana quickly). Assassins, e.g. Kassadin and LB, are mainly concerned with taking out the squishy champs, something i'm willing to say LB does far better if she's focusing on a single target. A lot of people seem to think that in order for an AP champ to be good, they need to have significant AoE damage. Now maybe LB doesnt have powerful AoE spells, but she can spread out her damage if she needs to, which spreads out her CC as well. And even if she couldn't, AoE damage is great, i won't debate that, but it's not the end-all of spellcasting. Sometimes being able to make it FAR, FAR easier to burst down a carry at the start of a team fight, or even before one really takes off, is very useful in its own way. AoE makes it easier to take down teams or a couple champs if your team isn't focused on a single one, but if your team is focused on taking down a yi or sona asap, which they should be, having a LB put out thousands of points of damage on a single target in about 10 seconds is incredible.

a few points made my neon that i'd like to speak against, AoE damage and AoE CC wins team fights. True, but so does single target nuking against a carry or support. LB's AoE CC isn't exactly lacking, either, with the right combo. Force Pulse/Riftwalk > Distortion. Maybe for damage, but distortion is awesome for escaping, and remember that little problem with Riftwalk where you have to decide whether to use it to blink in and walk out or walk in and blink out? that problem doesn't exist with LB, and if the target is at range it can be used to get a free poke during laning, and during team fights it allows her to blow out her combos and get back before she gets hit or CCed (which is made far easier with a Banshee's veil to absorb a stun or snare). Neon also mentions that an AoE slow with high damage is better than a single target, delayed root, but he failed to mention that her Single target root can be applied to two targets with her ult and is on a low CD as well and doesn't need to be charged, on top of setting off her Q and mimic-Q with EITHER part of the damage. I'm not saying Kassadin or LB is better than the other, just pointing out that their roles are different and that it's really not fair to compare both of them and say either is better because of things exclusive to their champions. I'd like to see a good Kass on my team as much as i would like to see a good LB.

TL;DR LB is better for single target nuking and her CC shouldn't be underestimated, though her AoE damage is pretty lacking. Kassadin does have an AoE slow and blink on a lower CD (though it uses much more mana) but does not silence for as long and has no snare. AoE damage is great but AoE damage is usually medium-damage and harder to land correctly (needs good positioning) while Single target nukes are more damaging and often have better CC related to them. LB and Kass are both great champs, though LB is far more underestimated and rarely seen which makes her a pain to counter.

Longest TL;DR ever.