diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ba73ad2..6f42369 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,11 +10,13 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
  - Replace OpenStruct with regular class in `Zxcvbn::Match` for 2x performance improvement ([#61])
  - Implement Trie data structure for dictionary matching with 1.4x additional performance improvement ([#62])
  - Replace range operators with `String#slice` for string slicing operations ([#63])
+ - Optimise L33t matcher with early bailout and improved deduplication ([#64])
 
 [Unreleased]: https://github.com/envato/zxcvbn-ruby/compare/v1.2.4...HEAD
 [#61]: https://github.com/envato/zxcvbn-ruby/pull/61
 [#62]: https://github.com/envato/zxcvbn-ruby/pull/62
 [#63]: https://github.com/envato/zxcvbn-ruby/pull/63
+[#64]: https://github.com/envato/zxcvbn-ruby/pull/64
 
 ## [1.2.4] - 2025-12-07
 
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 5f8c060..2abfca1 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ source 'https://rubygems.org'
 gemspec
 
 group :development do
+  gem 'benchmark'
   gem 'guard'
   gem 'guard-bundler', require: false
   gem 'guard-rspec', require: false
diff --git a/lib/zxcvbn/matchers/l33t.rb b/lib/zxcvbn/matchers/l33t.rb
index fbe104b..41db43e 100644
--- a/lib/zxcvbn/matchers/l33t.rb
+++ b/lib/zxcvbn/matchers/l33t.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
+require 'set'
+
 module Zxcvbn
   module Matchers
     class L33t
@@ -25,26 +27,17 @@ def initialize(dictionary_matchers)
       def matches(password)
         matches = []
         lowercased_password = password.downcase
-        combinations_to_try = l33t_subs(relevent_l33t_subtable(lowercased_password))
+        relevent_subtable = relevent_l33t_subtable(lowercased_password)
+
+        # Early bailout: if no l33t characters present, return empty matches
+        return matches if relevent_subtable.empty?
+
+        combinations_to_try = l33t_subs(relevent_subtable)
         combinations_to_try.each do |substitution|
           @dictionary_matchers.each do |matcher|
             subbed_password = translate(lowercased_password, substitution)
             matcher.matches(subbed_password).each do |match|
-              length = match.j - match.i + 1
-              token = password.slice(match.i, length)
-              next if token.downcase == match.matched_word.downcase
-
-              match_substitutions = {}
-              substitution.each do |s, letter|
-                match_substitutions[s] = letter if token.include?(s)
-              end
-              match.l33t = true
-              match.token = token
-              match.sub = match_substitutions
-              match.sub_display = match_substitutions.map do |k, v|
-                "#{k} -> #{v}"
-              end.join(', ')
-              matches << match
+              process_match(match, password, substitution, matches)
             end
           end
         end
@@ -52,9 +45,11 @@ def matches(password)
       end
 
       def translate(password, sub)
-        password.split('').map do |chr|
-          sub[chr] || chr
-        end.join
+        result = String.new
+        password.each_char do |chr|
+          result << (sub[chr] || chr)
+        end
+        result
       end
 
       def relevent_l33t_subtable(password)
@@ -81,6 +76,26 @@ def l33t_subs(table)
         new_subs
       end
 
+      private
+
+      def process_match(match, password, substitution, matches)
+        length = match.j - match.i + 1
+        token = password.slice(match.i, length)
+        return if token.downcase == match.matched_word.downcase
+
+        match_substitutions = {}
+        substitution.each do |s, letter|
+          match_substitutions[s] = letter if token.include?(s)
+        end
+        match.l33t = true
+        match.token = token
+        match.sub = match_substitutions
+        match.sub_display = match_substitutions.map do |k, v|
+          "#{k} -> #{v}"
+        end.join(', ')
+        matches << match
+      end
+
       def find_substitutions(subs, table, keys)
         return subs if keys.empty?
 
@@ -114,14 +129,12 @@ def find_substitutions(subs, table, keys)
 
       def dedup(subs)
         deduped = []
-        members = []
+        seen = Set.new
         subs.each do |sub|
-          assoc = sub.dup
-
-          assoc.sort!
-          label = assoc.map { |k, v| "#{k},#{v}" }.join('-')
-          unless members.include?(label)
-            members << label
+          # Sort and convert to hash for consistent comparison
+          sorted_sub = sub.sort.to_h
+          unless seen.include?(sorted_sub)
+            seen.add(sorted_sub)
             deduped << sub
           end
         end
diff --git a/spec/matchers/l33t_spec.rb b/spec/matchers/l33t_spec.rb
index 21b06db..dbc1fb9 100644
--- a/spec/matchers/l33t_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/matchers/l33t_spec.rb
@@ -73,5 +73,107 @@
         ]
       )
     end
+
+    it 'marks all matches as l33t' do
+      expect(matches.map(&:l33t).uniq).to eq([true])
+    end
+
+    it 'sets the sub_display field' do
+      expect(matches.first.sub_display).to eq('@ -> a')
+    end
+
+    context 'with no l33t characters' do
+      it 'returns empty array for password without l33t chars' do
+        expect(matcher.matches('password')).to be_empty
+      end
+
+      it 'returns empty array for simple words' do
+        expect(matcher.matches('hello')).to be_empty
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'with multiple l33t substitutions' do
+      it 'handles multiple substitution types' do
+        matches = matcher.matches('p@ssw0rd')
+        expect(matches).not_to be_empty
+        expect(matches.any? { |m| m.sub.keys.include?('@') }).to be true
+        expect(matches.any? { |m| m.sub.keys.include?('0') }).to be true
+      end
+
+      it 'creates correct sub_display for multiple substitutions' do
+        matches = matcher.matches('h3ll0')
+        multi_sub_match = matches.find { |m| m.sub.length > 1 }
+        expect(multi_sub_match.sub_display).to include('->')
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'with same character representing different letters' do
+      it 'handles ambiguous l33t characters' do
+        # '1' can represent both 'i' and 'l'
+        matches = matcher.matches('test1ng')
+        expect(matches).not_to be_empty
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'with uppercase l33t speak' do
+      it 'finds matches in mixed case passwords' do
+        matches = matcher.matches('P@ssW0RD')
+        expect(matches).not_to be_empty
+      end
+
+      it 'preserves original case in token' do
+        matches = matcher.matches('P@SS')
+        uppercase_match = matches.find { |m| m.token == 'P@S' }
+        expect(uppercase_match).not_to be_nil
+        expect(uppercase_match.token).to eq('P@S')
+        expect(uppercase_match.matched_word).to eq('pas')
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'with edge cases' do
+      it 'handles empty password' do
+        expect(matcher.matches('')).to be_empty
+      end
+
+      it 'handles password with only l33t characters' do
+        matches = matcher.matches('@$')
+        expect(matches).to be_an(Array)
+      end
+
+      it 'handles repeated l33t characters' do
+        matches = matcher.matches('@@@@')
+        expect(matches).to be_an(Array)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe '#translate' do
+    it 'substitutes l33t characters with their letter equivalents' do
+      substitution = { '@' => 'a', '0' => 'o' }
+      expect(matcher.translate('p@ssw0rd', substitution)).to eq('password')
+    end
+
+    it 'leaves non-substituted characters unchanged' do
+      substitution = { '@' => 'a' }
+      expect(matcher.translate('p@ssword', substitution)).to eq('password')
+    end
+
+    it 'handles empty password' do
+      expect(matcher.translate('', { '@' => 'a' })).to eq('')
+    end
+
+    it 'handles empty substitution table' do
+      expect(matcher.translate('password', {})).to eq('password')
+    end
+
+    it 'handles multiple occurrences of same character' do
+      substitution = { '@' => 'a' }
+      expect(matcher.translate('@@@@', substitution)).to eq('aaaa')
+    end
+
+    it 'only substitutes specified characters' do
+      substitution = { '3' => 'e' }
+      expect(matcher.translate('l33t', substitution)).to eq('leet')
+    end
   end
 end