[Season 5] Lux, the Lady of Luminosity

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 18 2015 19:26 GMT

Lux, the Lady of Luminosity

So you had the bright decision to learn a little bit more about Lux? From build orders to matchups, tips and tricks to champion lore, this is your one stop shop for learning about the most cheerful and upbeat champion in League of Legends.

A little about me: I've been playing Lux since season 2, and since then I've logged over 1000 ranked games on her. Currently I'm Diamond 5, with a 63% ranked winrate as the Lady of Luminosity. While I don't pretend to be an amazing player at League of Legends, I like to think I know Lux fairly well.

As to the guide, it's been made with a lot of input from Diamond 1 players, as well as a lot of math and optimization to back up and prove the build orders and runes/masteries and such listed. Everything in the guide has been played by me, and tested thoroughly in ranked games.

I hope you find it a useful read, and thanks for checking it out! Lets get started.

***Note*** I have recently moved to Asia, and haven't had the time to update the guide since about mid season. While the latter sections on playstyle and matchups are still useful, please use this post for updated build orders since the AP item changes. ***End Note***

Why pick Lux?

I think that Lux is the best mid laner to learn if you aren't a mid lane player but need to pick up a mid lane champion for ranked play, or if you're just learning how to play and want to pick up a mid lane champion. Lux is an excellent, well rounded champion for newer players for the following reasons.

1 - She fits into any team composition. She can be used to poke, protect your carry, assassinate high value targets, and is excellent at sieges and objective control.

2 - She can be picked into any mid lane matchup. She has zero hard counters and can be very difficult to kill in lane, even when behind. You can first pick her blindly, and even then she can illuminate the enemy as support when that jerk 5th pick decides to play [image loading]

Yasuo.

3 - She is fairly simple and straightforward to play. While professional players tend to go for [image loading]

Ziggs, [image loading]

Xerath or [image loading]

Orianna to fill this particular niche in team comps right now, Lux is much easier to pick up and learn than any of these champions. As such, she is ideal for newer players wanting to learn a safe, reliable mid lane champion.

Building Lux

Our little light mage can be played in two ways, either as a solo laner or as a duo lane support. The build orders for these options are very different, but either way I've got you covered.

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Runes | Masteries | Openers | Itemization

Tactical decision, Summoner. This is the way Lux is typically played, lighting the way in the mid lane. Lux offers her team safe, reliable pushing and damage, with a lot of ability to assist her jungler or other lanes while rarely being in much danger herself.

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There are three basic mastery pages for solo Lux, and they are all very similar.

24/0/6 is your most offensive page, and is used in lanes where you can harass safely, like against [image loading]

Mordekaiser.
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21/0/9 is used for defense in long range, skillshot centric matchups, like vs. [image loading]

Xerath.
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21/9/0 is for defense against point and click damage champions, such as [image loading]

Leblanc.
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I've got three different build paths for you to choose from here. Each is fairly straightforward, letting you focus on the battle instead of your item choices.

Anti AP (Athenes) Build Order

This is a standard setup, and should be used in the majority of your games. It can be used with any rune/mastery page.

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Anti AD (Morello) Build Order

This should only be used when laning against AD champions, and should be used with the Anti AD rune page listed earlier in the guide. You can use any mastery page with this build order.

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Late Game (Seraphs) Build Order

This is specifically designed for matchups in which both you and the enemy mid have little to no kill potential, and are just going to farm for the first 20 minutes of the game. You should always use the CDR/level rune page and a Utility mastery page with this build order.
It's important to only use this build in the right games, because going for it in the wrong game can lose you the game before your 25 minute item timing when you have Morello+Seraph. I use this build against Morgana and Master Yi, and in a few other matchups if I have a jungler who I think will not be ganking and I don't have 1v1 kill potential.

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Other Itemization

These items are rare, but can be very useful in the right circumstances.

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Section Top Guide Top

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Runes | Masteries | Openers | Itemization

So you want to banish the shadows from the support position. Unfortunately, I don't think Support Lux is very good. This section of the guide is not meant to suggest that Lux is some secret OP support, but more guidelines on how to play her as support if you find yourself in that situation. While I've been able to light 'em up as support Lux from time to time, in general I'd suggest you play Morgana or Zyra instead for a stronger support character with a similar skillset.

However, if you first picked a solo lane Lux and have to do some rearranging because your fifth pick just has to play mid, stay positive. We can do this.

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Support Lux can run a large variety of mastery setups. This is what I think is best, but it's not as clear cut as it is in a solo lane.

16/0/14 is your most offensive and best late game page, and can be used against very passive lanes like a [image loading]

Soraka lane.
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9/7/14 is your standard page for most matchups. It's very early game focused, with a mix of offense and defense.
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0/16/14 is for surviving dangerous lanes, such as vs. [image loading]

Blitzcrank. The last couple points in Defense are fairly preferential here.
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Your build path as Support is going to start off the same every game.

However, after the laning phase you have a lot of options, and need to make a decision to branch out into either damage or utility. Your late game item build may differ dramatically from game to game.

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This section is super short, and is mostly just for completionists sake. Lux is really good in ARAM, though.

Demacia!

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Lux is just ridiculously good on ARAM because her long range poke is first class and that's what you want on ARAM. It's not very complicated.

Don't be afraid to use your Heal summoner early here, just to help your team sustain.

Runes: [image loading]

Magic Pen

Armor

Magic Resist [image loading]

Ability Power
Masteries: 21/2/7 + Show Spoiler +

Spells: Heal + Barrier
Skill Order: start EQW, max R>E>Q>W
Starting Items: Chalice + Faerie Charm + 5 Potions
Item Build: Athenes > Morello > Void > Zhonya/Deathcap

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Lux isn't the greatest Crystal Scar champion, but she's not terrible. She is good defensively since she can stop point captures at range, but tends to struggle a little offensively.

Runes: [image loading]

Hybrid Pen [image loading]

Armor

Magic Resist [image loading]

Ability Power
Masteries: 21/6/3 + Show Spoiler +

Spells: Heal + Flash
Skill Order: start EQW, max R>E>Q>W
Starting Items: Chalice + Boots + 1 Potion
Item Build: Athenes > Morello > Wooglets Witchcap > Void > Moonflair Spellblade

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I honestly only play TT if I'm goofing around with friends, so I can't really be much help here, these are just my best guesses of what to do.

If you find success with TT Lux that's great though, more power to ya.

Runes: Same as Summoners Rift
Masteries: Same as Summoners Rift
Spells: Same as Summoners Rift
Skill Order: Same as Summoners Rift
Starting Items: Dorans Ring + Flask + 2 Potions
Item Build: Athenes > Morello > Wooglets Witchcap > Void > Some game appropriate 6th item.

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Playing Lux

If you're just an ordinary mage and not quite a light mage yet, here I've written a beginners guide for lower league players, that a veteran player reading the guide might skip over entirely.

Following is a matchups section, with details of which build order I take in each, and what to watch out for. Much like the beginners guide, the matchups section is written specifically for newer players. A Diamond League player probably doesn't need to read it at all.

The final section is for technical tips and tricks, hoping to teach a more advanced player some things they may not already know.

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Playing Solo Lux | Playing Support Lux | Playing With Lux | Playing Against Lux

Welcome to the Rift, summoner. Here we're going to go through the basics of how to lead our Demacian princess to victory. Lux has no hard counters as a solo laner and scales into late game very well as support, so even in hard matchups she can beat her opponent with superior tactics. You'll love it when your plan comes together.

Playing Lux

Laning
Lux isn't a top tier lane bully like [image loading]

Syndra, but she's perfectly capable of bullying many champions. Lux has above average AD for a typical AP mid, so don't be afraid to go very aggressive at level 1. Use your E aggressively to trade with your opponent, while saving Q and W to react to jungle pressure or an enemy dive.

But remember that you don't win lane as Lux by going for big flashy plays, you win by slowly whittling down your opponent, using your range to keep hitting them with E while they're unable to respond. Once their HP is low enough that your ult will kill them, you can move forward and start zoning them off their creeps or fishing for a kill.

If you're behind, it's easy to farm safely as Lux against almost any champion. Put an E on the ground in the middle of the enemy minions and then walk back to your tower, waiting the full 5 seconds before detonating the singularity. Follow up immediately with a second E and you'll be able to get 4-6 creeps every wave without your opponent ever being in range to hurt you.

If behind, another good trick is to use your ult to clear a creep wave right before backing. This will shove the wave a little and help keep your tower healthy while you base.

Roaming

You want to keep an eye on the map as Lux, because you may have opportunities to use your long range ult to assist a fight in the jungle without going very far. Typically you want to wait till your teammate uses a CC ability before hitting R. Lux's ganks are not that amazing, but her ability to countergank or to follow up on another players gank is very strong, so for a newer player I'd suggest just keeping an eye out and assisting your team rather than trying to make flashy plays.

When your opposing mid roams, you have two options. Either follow them, or hard push down the mid tower. If you decide to push, use your ult to take out an enemy creep wave. Final Spark has a very low cooldown and clearing the wave in this way will let your minions do a lot of damage to the enemy tower, robbing them of some CS and exp as well.

Teamfights

In the mid game you want to hold off on your spells and try to assassinate a squishy target. Be careful with using too much mana to poke in a siege if you don't have blue buff because before the late game you can run yourself out of mana before the fight starts. Once you use your initial combo you want to stay safe and peel for your ADC. Save your next string of spells to keep somebody from dying rather than finding a target to kill.

The late game as Lux plays similarly to the mid game, but now the enemy team probably has enough defense that you won't be able to one shot anyone but the ADC with your combo, and you have enough regen to use your spells over and over. You want to transition more towards poking than assassination in sieges. Just get your spells to soften as many people as possible rather than trying to assassinate one target.

Playing Support Lux

In lane your main goal is going to be to get as much gold as possible from Spellthief, by hitting repeated E's from safe distances on enemy champions, while saving Q and W for emergencies. You won't win an extended trade so you want to stay safe and focus on harassing at max range. With the right lane partner your snare can open up a big damage combo for your Marksman.

Once you hit level 6 you can start being more aggressive. With a high ability damage ADC like [image loading]

Graves or [image loading]

Jinx a snare at level 6 can mean an instant kill.

After laning, you end up playing support Lux very similar to mid Lux. You're just warding instead of farming. Remember you can use your E to safely check bushes while you ward.

Playing With Lux

It's okay to be patient. Lux thrives in extended siege scenarios both as the attacker and as the defender, so waiting out a siege is typically to your teams advantage. Eventually she will snare a prime target and then you can go in. If you're the jungler, realize that Lux needs blue more than most APs. She's a little vulnerable to ganks, but she assists ganks and counterganks much better than most champions.

As the lane partner of a Support Lux, be aware the Lux does not want to be starting fights, she wants to be following up on fights started by you or the enemy lane. She is however very good at following up on an engagement, so take the initiative in the lane and let Lux follow through, rather than playing passive and waiting for a lucky snare.

Playing Against Lux

This is fairly simple, dodge snares. I know that's pretty crappy advice but it's true, if you dodge every single snare you shouldn't have a bad time. When laning against her avoid standing inside your minions, or moving between your tower and wall, as these are areas where she can harass you easily. Be aware that her skills have long cooldowns and if she misses something you have a window to trade safely with her. Also be aware that Lux is exceptionally good at baiting people under her tower, and can be difficult to dive.

When against a support Lux, don't be afraid to go all in, especially after she misses a snare. Lux can defend well against an all in 1v1, but she's typically quite bad against all ins in a 2v2 situation. Support Lux is worst early in the game and best later, so punish her weak early game.

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Solo Lane Matchups | Support Matchups | Team Compositions

If you're having trouble with a particular matchup please let me know. I've played Lux mid against literally every champion in the game, and I've also played her on occasion top, in bot lane 1v2's, and as support in both 2v2's and 2v1's. And if you're having some problem that hasn't come up before, I'll look into it. Hopefully I can help you out.

You can also reply to the thread with links to replays of your Lux games, if you want me to give you a more in depth analysis of your play. I enjoy nitpicking things, so don't be shy about it.

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I've split the matchups into categories, with spoilers below them giving the setup I think you should run and a brief description for each individual matchup. Within each category the matchups are split into Easier, Average and Harder difficulties.

Harder doesn't mean I think Lux loses the matchup, more that something about that champion is more difficult or more complicated than others within that group. I'm pretty confident in the idea that Lux is too safe to "counter" in a traditional sense. She never thinks about losing.

This section is real long, so use the links above to get where you're going.

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Mordekaiser
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vs. AD Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Standard or MR/level runes optional. Seraphs build also optional.
This is one of the easiest matchups you've got. Morde has no engage, no range, no burst, and his sustain is not as good as your harass. Try to hit him before he gets to damage minions or between waves, so he can't block things with his shield.
I use the vs. AD rune page here because I want more mana to bully him with, and he's not going to be able to damage me very well at all.

Malphite
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Standard Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Malphite has some surprising burst post 6, but not enough to 100-0 you. His Q is slow and easy to shield though, so poke him down and shield his poke to keep your HP high and it's an easy lane.
Remember to auto him regularly to keep his passive shield down.
If he builds tank instead of AP, you can just shove waves on him all day and deny him CS. It's hard for him to farm under tower and if he builds an MR item first his sunfire timing will be too late to help.
Malphites ult has a really long cooldown at low ranks (130s), so after he uses it you can play super aggro for a bit, but the flipside is this guys ult gank assist is amazing, so watch for the enemy jungler.

Sion
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vs. AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Morellos Build
Back when AP Sion was a thing this was kind of a tricky matchup, but now it's not. Just use E on him a lot. The movespeed from Heal can make dodging his ult easy, and without it he can't really engage.

Ryze
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vs. AP Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Another matchup where you press E a lot until the other player calls Lux an unfair champion. Ryze can do some decent damage if he gets on you even early on and he has good gank assist though, so hold your Q for defense and just push him out of lane with E.
Junglers love ganking Ryze and love ganking for him, so you'll likely have a lot of company in this lane.
Lux can beat Ryze top, although it's more difficult than it is in mid since he has more room to leverage his higher movespeed in top lane. It's okay to lane swap if a top Ryze is countering your top laner.

Anivia
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Standard Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Seraphs Build optional
Killing Anivia can be tricky with her egg, but pushing her out of lane is usually not. Play around her passive, do not try to dive her 1v1 while it's up, you don't have the sustained damage to pull it off.
Do your best to ward and steal blue buff here. Stealing blue hurts her much more than it hurts most champions.

Vladimir
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Standard Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Ignite Optional
Another annoying matchup, you can harass Vlad all game long, but you'll have difficulty killing him since he can dodge your combo with pool. But that's okay, it's not hard to push his lane in early and keep him down on farm.
Going for a Chalice > Morello > Athenes build order can be very strong in this matchup. You can also get Ignite, but I don't really like it, because he's hard to kill 1v1 even with Ignite since he'll dodge your ult, and you shouldn't be behind enough in this lane to need Ignite to kill him in a 2v1.

Kha'zix
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vs. AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
There's two kinds of Khazix players. The first kind will try to jump on you a lot and get kills, and they tend to be pretty easy to read. The second kind will evolve W first, shove waves with it, and then try to roam. They're a little bit harder, and the emphasis becomes more about counterpushing than trying to kill him.
Don't fight Kha without a minion around, and remember that he does have a good level 2 dive, but if he does it and you're prepared it'll cost him big.

Karthus
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vs. AP Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
This guy will turn into an unstoppable monster if you let him farm, but the good news is you don't have to let him. Really easy matchup for Lux, just bully him with E all game and keep allies alive with shields in fights.
The one thing to watch for is his level 1 is actually really strong, so don't get caught off guard there.

Fiddlesticks
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Standard Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Ignite, Athenes Build
A rare Ignite matchup, Fiddlesticks is more annoying than difficult. You'll probably have trouble killing Fiddle 1v1, but with Ignite and a jungler it'll be real easy.
Going for a Chalice > Morello > Athenes build order can be very strong in this matchup, although it's not exceptionally necessary if you take Ignite.
He'll try to get out of vision to use his ult on you, and will often pair that with his jungler, so you want to facecheck things less than usual in this matchup.

Lissandra
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Kind of like AP Malphite, Liss can get on you and she has burst damage, but she doesn't have enough of it to 100-0 you, so if you're not standing around at half health while her ult is up you're fine. Like most of these matchups, just use E on her a lot to win the lane.

She's tougher than Malphite though, because her self-ult makes her hard to kill, and her harass is better, but still much shorter range than yours. Her ult gank assist is also arguably better with a lower cooldown, she's hard to gank, and she can dodge snares with her E. All in all I'd call this lane harder than most in this group, but still one that Lux should win if played properly.

Azir
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vs. AP Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Very positioning based, you can bully Azir, but if you stand in the wrong spots he can bully you. Try to stay away from your minions so he can't place soldiers that can hit you and them at the same time.

I placed Azir in the harder category because I'm not too familiar with the matchup yet and he plays differently than other champions, but this might be a misrepresentation of something that's easier with practice.

Section Top Matchups Top Guide Top

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Veigar
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Standard Runes, 24/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Post 6 Veigar actually can kill you with a well timed combo, but he will normally have to flash to do it, and if he's not using flash to engage on you he probably can't do much, and you can just E him out of the lane.
If you're having trouble Merc Treads help a ton here, but if your positioning is good you shouldn't need them.
Buy Sorc Shoes earlier than usual in this matchup. The movespeed helps stop his engage, pen is strong on Lux, and his damage goes up the more AP you have.

Malzahar
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Malzahars ult combo can 100-0 you, but you pretty much need to walk in his face like a moron in order for him to set it up. He also pushes waves really hard, so you may need to use E to counterpush when you're not poking him with it.
Eventually you want a QSS in this matchup, but with good positioning you shouldn't need to buy it until late in the game. If you're having trouble, buying it earlier shuts him down at the cost of your own damage.
Try to kill his Voidlings when it's easy to do so, it's free money.

Swain
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Standard Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Ignite, Athenes Build
This guys engage tools are terrible and his pre 6 is also real bad, but his post 6 damage is very high if you let him get in your face. Stay at range and poke him out of lane.
Ignite is important in this matchup for setting up jungle ganks, because Swain will heal more the more champions there are in his face.
Going for a Chalice > Morello > Athenes build order can be very strong in this matchup.
Ward and steal blue buff in this matchup. Stealing Swains blue will kill his sustain and make pushing him out of lane a lot easier.

Gangplank
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Teleport optional
Mid Gangplank players are weird. Sometimes they will rush Tiamat and shove real hard, other times they will rush Sheen and Q you as much as possible. Sometimes they will max oranges and do no damage to you but be unkillable. Often they will try a level 1 or level 2 all in. You have to try to make a read on how your opponent is going to play the lane, and react accordingly.
If he rushes Sheen and maxes Q, or if he maxes oranges, don't try to fight him, just shield his Q's and shove the lane as hard as you can. If he doesn't have a Tiamat he can't farm well and you can win the lane just by pushing him to tower.
If he rushes Tiamat you can bully him out of lane with E.
If you snare him, make sure his cleanse is down before ulting.
Teleport can be useful in this matchup, because he has global pressure and will eventually go split push. But at the same time, GP players often try to dive you real hard early in the game, and having Barrier will help a lot for that.

Zilean
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Zilean is annoying because he's hard to kill 1v1, he can keep you from killing his carries, and his damage is very high and cannot be dodged. However, your E harass seriously outranges him, his damage is easy to shield, and your late game damage is much higher than his.
Don't kill people that have gold hourglasses around them, and don't walk up to friends while there's a bomb on your head, otherwise there's not much special about this matchup.

Cassiopeia
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
The Cass matchup plays a lot like the Ryze matchup, only she's much scarier early in the game. You can't afford to miss a snare here, she will turn on you and has both high burst damage and high sustained damage all game long.

But if you stay at range and only snare defensively, you can abuse your range advantage and push her out of lane pretty well. I'd call this matchup a difficult one because mistakes will cost you here, but if played correctly I think Lux should win the lane.

Section Top Matchups Top Guide Top

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Gragas
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Barrier Optional
You don't really see mid lane Gragas anymore, and it's not the beast that it used to be. Grags all in combo is still pretty rough, especially with a jungler helping him, but his harass is not that great anymore. You have to dodge skillshots here, but this is not a very hard matchup.

Zyra
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Zyra does an absurd amount of damage early game, and most mid Zyras will abuse this by opening Dorans into Haunting Guise. However, she's also absurdly squishy, and you do have a range advantage here.

You can poke her down, but if you get behind don't be afraid to use your range to safe farm and wait for your jungler to help, she's easy to kill with jungle support.
Try to kill plants when it's easy to do so, it's free money.

Nidalee
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
You play against Nidalee the same way whether she's AP or AD, just dodge spears. It's difficult to give good advice here because that's what it comes down to, you have to be dodging skillshots.
If she's AD it's okay to build Armguard after Chalice.
Don't chase her around. She likes to bait and outrun people.

Viktor
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Viktor can do some good damage, but a lot of it is tied into skillshots that you outrange. He also has a pretty good level 6 combo if you let him hit you with it. In general this is one of the easier skillshot matchups, but sidestepping lasers can still be very important.

Vel'Koz
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Good old Velcro does way more damage than you at all points in the game, and his mastery of geometry can make dodging his skills take some practice, but he's also a lot squishier and easier to kill than you are. Much like the rest of this group, at the end of the day whoever dodges the most skillshots will win.

Ziggs
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Ziggs used to be a tougher matchup, but season 4 nerfs to him have put Lux in the dominant position in this lane, at least early on. You also need to dodge lots of bouncing bombs though, which is a lot easier if you stay away from your minions.
Go in for trades right after he uses his passive on a minion. It's got a pretty short cooldown so you don't want to wait too long.
Don't go back to base at low health in obvious positions, he might drop a Super Mega Inferno Bomb on your head.

Brand
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Kind of like an Ahri with more damage and less mobility, if Brand stuns you you can eat a huge burst combo, but without that stun he's not good for much. I tend to have mixed success against Brand, and I imagine a lot of that is because he's so uncommon that when I do play him I'm not used to dodging his skills.
Remember that he can't stun you without hitting you with something else first, and his ult does the most damage when you're standing next to another champion.

Corki
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
AP Corki can really test your skillshot dodging ability, but standing behind minions helps a lot. It's hard to win trades against this guy after 6, but you can outpush him all game, so shoving minion waves can be a good strategy here.
If he's AD it's real similar, just his rockets will do less damage and his autos will do more damage.

Orianna
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Fighting Orianna is tricky and complicated, because she wins both short trades (spells only) and long trades (lots of autos), but will lose a medium length trade where you back off after only one or two autos.

This used to be one of the hardest matchups for Lux, but in season 4 Lux's early game was buffed and Oriannas was nerfed, and now it's not so bad anymore. It does take some getting used to though, because being aggressive here requires a different tempo than other matchups.

Xerath
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
I kind of hate Xerath, because he combines really good poke with a mana regen passive that lets him continue that poke longer than you can. You're much stronger than him at levels 1 and 2, but his combo at 3 can be rough.

At the end of the day, and like most of these matchups, whoever dodges the most skillshots will win.
Much like Ziggs, don't go back to base at low health in obvious places against this guy.

Ahri
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Standard Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Heal optional.
Ahri can be a tough one. Her ult lets her engage on and tower dive you at any time, has a low cooldown, and also makes her hard to kill and hard to gank. She gets free in lane sustain, pushes waves just as well as you, does true damage, and roams really well. It's not hard to see why she's played in pro games so much.

You outrange her and you can harass her with E, but you've always got to be aware of where she could be rather than where she is, since her ult will let her close distances on you very quickly.
I take Barrier here just in case I eat a charm, but Heal also works.
She's got a strong level 3 combo to watch out for, but staying behind minions in lane makes it hard for her to use.

Section Top Matchups Top Guide Top

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Kennen
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
You don't really see Kennen any more, because his damage just isn't that great. His only real way of attacking you is by flash ulting, and if you flash back every time he flashes forward you should never die here, and can bully him all game. It's pretty easy.
Be a little careful while you have two marks on you, because it means he's one spell away from a stun.

Kog'Maw (AD)
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MR Per Level, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
AD Kogmaw mid is basically begging to be ganked all the time, and your jungler should help you turn this guy into a plushy paste. While AP Kogmaw can have some surprising damage at long range, AD Kogmaw is a massive pushover without support from his team, so bully away.
It's okay to buy Armguard after Chalice against this guy.

Ezreal
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Ezreals ability to win duels and trades against you is huge, but he can't push waves hardly at all and his gank assist is poor. So don't try to fight him, just shove minion waves in, take his towers, and fight with your team.
It's okay to build Armguard after Chalice against this guy if you're behind, even if he's AP. Mystic Shot is still physical damage.

Caitlyn
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Morellos Build
Early levels against Caitlyn can be rough, but after 6 it's a lot easier. Like most Marksman matchups, shoving waves works here, although Caitlyn is better at dealing with it than most.
Remember that her ult charge time is longer than yours, so if you're quick you can get her with it before she finishes.

Quinn
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Morellos Build
Something of a cross between a Marksman and an Assassin, Quinn is low range and easy to harass, but has great mobility and a good burst combo. Be sure to call out when she might be roaming as Valor as her roam is scary, but 1v1 against her is typically not very hard.
Her blind will make your passive not proc, just a heads up.

Teemo
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Standard Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
AD Teemo is just a really crappy marksman. AP Teemo can do a lot of damage, but has difficulty getting on you. Only hit him with spells, never move in to auto, and keep your eye on where shrooms are as best you can. If you make it out of laning fine you'll have an easy rest of the game.
His blind will make your passive not proc, much like Quinn.

Varus
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Morellos Build
Both AD and AP Varus are real similar, it's just a question of which of his abilities do teh damagez. Dodge his skills, hit him with your own, shove waves and you'll do fine.

Tristana (AD)
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
Much like other marksmen, AD Tristana can't shove waves as well as you, can be harassed down by your spells, but wins shorter range AA trades. Early in the game she's got some burst if she jumps in on you, especially at 6, but after 6 her burst goes away if she's playing AD.
I say to take Athenes in this matchup because she's often AP in mid, but if she's AD, you can forego the Chalice entirely and just build Morellos instead.

Jayce
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Morellos Build
Barrier optional
This guy plays kind of like a marksman matchup, and kind of like a skillshot matchup. Dodging shock blasts is very important, but not getting into long, short range trades is too. One of the harder mid marksman matchups, and one of the only ones you're likely to see more than once in a blue moon. Try to stand behind minions here to stop his damage.
Jayce has a timing right after he buys Tear where you'll be a lot stronger than him and can win fights, so try to bully him in this window.
Stealing blue can help here, although it's not as big a deal as it is against Anivia or Swain.

Sivir
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Heal, Morellos Build
Mid Sivir can be a pain because you have to stand far away from minions to dodge her Ricochet damage, she shoves well, her gank assist is pretty good, and her spellshield can easily block your combo. This is the hardest Marksman matchup, but it doesn't really play differently than the rest, her kit is just really good against yours.
Try to bait her shield by tossing E's and not detonating them as a means of running her out of mana.
LoL Wiki says your passive autos will eat her spellshield. It is wrong.

Section Top Matchups Top Guide Top

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Lee Sin
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
I don't really see mid Lee anymore, and he's been nerfed so many times that this lane is just not difficult anymore. But he does have multiple ways to dodge spells and engage, great gank assist, and high single target damage, so you've got to watch for him to try to do those crazy plays and get you.

In general, if you don't make bad positioning errors, you shouldn't have a problem here.

Talon
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
Exhaust Optional.
Lots of people think Talon is some scary Lux counter but he's really not, especially after his silence was removed. You have to play a little careful, but harass him like you would any melee, and be ready to snare him as soon as he jumps in on you.
If you're ahead after 6 you'll need to get an Oracles Lens or pink wards in order to keep threatening him.

Pantheon
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
Pantheon can be real scary early game, since he can block your passive and put out consistent damage, and can roam to other lanes with his ult. After a while he stops being so scary though, and his range is limited, so he's not quite as harsh as people think.
Later in the game Pantheon forces your team to group together, so don't push side lanes as much as you might against a different champion.

Leblanc
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Your harassment is about equal to Leblancs early game. Do your best to go toe to toe with her pre 6, but post 6 you have to pretty much give her the lane. In general your usefulness will outscale hers as you go into late game, so safe farming here is perfectly fine. Leblanc actually does have the range to get in on you though, so you must be quick at shielding her damage in this lane or you will have a bad time.
If she roams it's often better to use an ult to shove mid real hard than follow, because getting caught by her in the jungle is normally kind of bad.
If you throw a snare at her as she's dashing in to you it will snare her inside your team and really screw her day up, but it can be pretty hard to do.
When she pops a Mirror Image after you combo her, the real Leblanc will have your passive on it and the clone will not, so you should always know which one to go after.

Karma
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Karmas pre 6 is abusive and can be really hard to deal with, but after 6 she tends to fall off in damage. She's a lot like a reverse Leblanc, you can't deal with her before 6, but you can go toe to toe with her afterwards.

Annie
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Early game against Annie isn't so bad, although she's a bit tougher than most short range champions, since her autoattack range is quite long.

But once she hits 6, if she's able to flash ult you you will probably die, and after you die Tibbers will kill half your tower and she'll laugh at you because she's a smaller girl than you are. You have to really really play around of Annie's ult, is what I'm saying.

Tristana (AP)
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
AP Tristana has a huge power curve. She's real scary right up until 6, and then if she isn't snowballing and getting crazy items, it starts to peter out. Just don't get killed in this matchup, and you'll outscale her pretty well.
This guide was made at the same time as the Tristana rework, and I honestly don't know if AP Tristana is even still a thing. This ranking is based on how she used to be before the rework.

Lulu
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Heal optional. Seraphs build also optional.
This little Yordle couples reliable and strong harass with the fact that you're probably not going to kill her 1v1 without her making terrible mistakes. All in all it's a pretty difficult lane, but you do outrange her, so it's not hard to farm safely, it can just be very hard to ever go aggressive against her.
I used to list this as one of the hardest matchups in this category, but nerfs to her as well as to Athenes have made this matchup easier than it used to be.

Kayle
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Exhaust Optional. Seraphs build also optional.
Kayle is very similar to Lulu, but while Lulu's utility gets better over time, Kayles damage gets better over time. You can trade with her while her E is down, but while it's up you have to stay away.
If you're having trouble with this matchup, my best advice would be to play a couple Kayle games in normals, and get the hang of the timings around the E cooldown.
A good 40% of her damage is physical, so don't use HP per level Seals here even if the jungler is AP.

Syndra
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Syndra is the ultimate lane bully. She's got tons of damage, good range (although not quite as good as yours), scales pretty well, and it only gets harder after 6. This is one of the more difficult lanes for Lux, and it usually consists of you being beaten back to your tower and doing your best to not die until later in the game.

With barrier and shield though you can usually survive her burst, but you'll need barrier and you'll be too low to do anything but base afterwords.

Section Top Matchups Top Guide Top

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Cho'Gath
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Anti AD Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Teleport, Athenes Build
You can bully Cho real hard pre 6, but after he has a few levels, his sustain will make him too hard to burn down. Pre 6 focus on harassing and killing him, but post 6 just shove waves and roam. This is one of the easiest Teleport matchups, all things considered. Cho does have a lot of burst, but it's short range and often requires a flash to get on you.
I take Anti AD Runes in this matchup for more mana to bully him with, and because post 6 a lot of his burst is true damage anyway.

Galio
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Standard Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Teleport, Athenes Build
Very similar to Cho, Galio runs himself out of mana early, but eventually becomes a lane shoving machine that you can't really kill. He's also more flash reliant than Cho is, so just counterpush and use your teleport to gank, it's fairly simple.

Heimerdinger
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Standard Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Teleport, Athenes Build
Seraphs build optional
Heimerdinger lanes usually consist of him pushing real hard and you pushing real hard, and not much else. Killing his turrets is a good idea and it's free gold, and you can use Teleport to gank, but mostly you want to be in lane counterpushing him.
Heimer is really hard to gank, because even if he dies his turrets will likely get a kill afterwards. Unless your jungler knows what he's doing, don't call for ganks in this matchup.
Every once in a while you'll see a Heimer top as a counterpick, and Lux top beats it, probably better than she beats him in mid. If I see a Heimer top after picking Lux I will always offer to take teleport and laneswap.

Master Yi
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Seraphs Runes, 24/0/6 Masteries, Teleport, Seraphs Build
This lane is dumb. You can't kill Master Yi, and unless you go aggressive on him he can't kill you. Stay away from your minions so Alpha Strike won't hurt you, counterpush, and gank with teleport.
If your jungler wants to go aggro on him you can take Ignite, but I prefer Teleport in this matchup. Ignite really won't help you kill him 1v1, it only helps in a 2v1 situation. If you do take Ignite, pre 6 you can use it on him right when he starts his first Meditate in lane to stop the heal, that usually screws up his early game pretty well.

Twisted Fate
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Teleport, Athenes Build
Heal optional
I hate playing against Twisted Fate. He shoves waves real hard, has good gank assist, and his ult lets him roam all over the map, forcing you to take Teleport just to follow him and hope for the best. If you don't feel confident teleporting after him, take Heal instead.

You can harass him in lane by trading right after he uses a colored card on minions, and he's somewhat gankable, but in general no matchup plays quite like this one and it's quite frustrating for Lux to deal with.
Later on in the game your teamfight is better than his, which is great, but he can kill you 1v1 all game long, so be careful about being out on your own.

Morgana
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Seraphs Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Teleport, Seraphs Build
Heal optional.
I'm gonna call Morgana the hardest lane in the game for Lux, and the closest thing to a counter that she has. You can't kill Morgana 1v1 ever, she can kill you 1v1 post 6, she shoves harder than you all game long, is hard to roam against because you can't get caught by her in the jungle, hard to gank, has good gank assist, and she can also prevent you from killing her teammates.
Your strongest point in the game against her are levels 1-3, so try to get a little bit of a lead inside this window. Post 6, if she snares you she will kill you.
In this matchup I take 21/0/9 for movespeed to dodge snares, Teleport to roam with, and I use a Seraphs build since my whole goal is to just not fight her ever and try to win in teamfights later on. If you're not confident taking Teleport against her you can take Heal instead, but I've found Teleport works better.

Section Top Matchups Top Guide Top

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Fiora
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
Fiora is very much the stereotypical pre 6 kill lane. She's gonna try to dive you at 2, and probably again at 3, and if you run Q>W>E and harass her at 1 you'll probably just kill her and then win the lane after that. If she can't kill you at her level 6 timing she falls off real hard and there's not much she can do.
Her ult has a really long cooldown and is a lot of her damage, so you can be more aggressive after she uses it. If you two both trade ults, you can use yours again as soon as it comes up and it'll still be up again by the time she gets hers back.
Remember that while she's ulting she's untargetable, but she will follow you wherever you move. If you can flash back to your tower and survive the burst with shields, you can snare her inside tower range and the result is usually kind of hilarious.
If you have a hard time here, Ninja Tabi reduces a lot of her damage and makes the lane much easier.

Xin Zhao
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
Xin Zhao is almost exactly like Fiora, except that if you stop his timing windows and shut him down he can transition into tank items instead of damage. But it plays almost exactly the same, just take Q>W>E and stop his all in at 2.
Again, if you have a hard time here Ninja Tabi shuts him down hard.

Wukong
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
Wukong is similar to Xin Zhao and Fiora, but he tends to be a little bit stronger and a little harder to deal with in lane, has good gank assist, and can transition to tank items if he's far behind. Do your best to bully him and watch for level 2, 3 and 6 timings.
If you have a passive mark on him and he uses W, the clone will not have your passive on it and it's really obvious, so watch for this.

Riven
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
Another lane where she's going to try to jump on you at 2, 3 and 6, but the rest of the lane you're going to bully her. It's often easier to just shove waves against Riven than it is to try to kill her in lane though, because she's good at dodging skillshots and her shield will eat a lot of damage for free, testing the limits of your mana regen. In general in this matchup I just play safe, counterpush, and wait for my jungler to try and kill her.

Jarvan IV
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
Jarvan used to be one of the hardest lanes for Lux, but nerfs and buffs and season changes have made it easier than it used to be. What makes him more difficult than the rest is that he can flag toss while snared, and his gank assist with ult is tremendously good, often forcing a flash no matter what.

But his only real all in timings are 2 and 6, so you can bully him at 1 and then again at 3-5, and if you shut him down his late game is quite poor.

Fizz
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
There are two kinds of Fizz players. The first will play this lane like a pre 6 kill lane and will dive you at level 2 or 3. They're easier to play against, because if you take Barrier and wait until after he's used Trickster to snare you will win that all in and kill him, and then you can buy Chalice faster and snowball an advantage.
The other and increasingly more common way Fizzes play against Lux is to start Flask, play like a wuss early game and farm best they can, but then go in on you after 6. This is harder to deal with because while you can win a 1v1 with him at 3, you often can't at 6. In this situation you can go E>Q>W and harass him as best you can early, but then after 6 stay away, much like against an Akali or a Kassadin.
You can often tell which way a Fizz player will play by looking at his runes and masteries on lolnexus.com during the loading screen.
When he does go in on you, cast Barrier as early as you can. A lot of Fizz's damage is based off of how much HP you're missing, so if his early burst is eating shields instead of HP his autos afterwards will do less damage.

Section Top Matchups Top Guide Top

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Akali
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MR Per Level Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Likely the weakest of any of these champions pre 6, as well as one of the strongest post 6, Akalis power spike is huge. You should play hyper aggressive early on and do your best to get a kill here, but after 6 stay far, far away and just passive farm.
Oracles and Pink Wards are necessary in this matchup, and lots of times if you don't have one in your inventory your jungler just won't bother helping you.

Diana
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MR Per Level Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
Diana plays a lot like Akali, except that her pre 6 is stronger and her post 6 isn't as bad. It's the same sort of matchup though, you can beat her up early and post 6 you have to stay away.

Katarina
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Standard Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
If Diana is stronger than Akali pre 6 and weaker post 6, Katarina is stronger than Diana pre 6 and weaker post 6. She can dodge your spells with Shunpo, but after she does so she can't engage on you for a while so you can move in and auto after that. Your shield plus Barrier if necessary will stop her burst and if she doesn't get resets from a kill she can't do much after that (unlike Akali and Diana), so watch for her all ins and when she does them just shield and walk away.
I take Standard Runes instead of MR Per Level here because she can actually engage on you and do damage pre 6, although it's usually not very scary without her jungler there.
Katarinas roam is very strong though, so keep an eye on her and warn side lanes when she's coming.

Yasuo
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Exhaust, Morellos Build
Yasuo used to be a difficult matchup, but he's been nerfed so many times that it's not so bad anymore. But he's still kinda tricky, because he can dodge and block spells, but the trick is to hold Q back until after he's already on you, to snare him inside your minions. You're a lot stronger than him pre 6 and can beat him 1v1 pretty hard. Even after 6, if you're ahead and have an Armguard and Exhaust you can still win a 1v1 fight.
This is the only matchup where I will max Block and Unyielding in defensive masteries, since Yasuo's kit makes Enchanted Armor weak due to his skills counting as autoattacks and his free pen.
Post 6 his all ins will often be paired with a jungle gank, especially if it's a jungler with a knockup, so watch for that.
Your ult ignores Wind Wall, and this is a useful thing to remember. But at the same time, never throw a shield towards him, because he can block that particle as well.

Zed
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Anti AD Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Morellos Build
Zed also used to be difficult, but taking Exhaust makes him a pushover. With Exhaust and an Armguard/Zhonya if he goes in on you 1v1 you can usually just straight up win the fight and kill him, and he's easy to bully pre 6. Much like Katarina, if he uses a shadow to dodge a spell he can't engage on you for a few seconds and you can go auto him freely.
What's more difficult about this matchup is it's easy for Zed to safe farm and he never runs out of mana, so it's often harder to deny him CS than against other people in this category.

Kog'Maw (AP)
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MR Per Level Runes, 21/0/9 Masteries, Heal, Athenes Build
I honestly think AP Kog'Maw is a little tricky for Lux without jungle pressure. If you have jungle ganks you can pop him real easy and get ahead early, but if you can't, he's ranged so you can't bully him as well as you can everybody else in this group, and after 6 he farms just as well as you and scales into a very scary late game champion. My best advice in this matchup is to play aggro early and call for ganks.

Kassadin
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MR Per Level Runes, 21/9/0 Masteries, Barrier, Athenes Build
This is a more difficult lane than the rest post 6, because even when you're farming with E at max range, Kassadin still has the range to jump in and do damage to you when you don't want to fight him. Be quick on those shields, but other than that it doesn't play much differently than the rest of these lanes. Try to get ahead pre 6, and post 6 shove waves, farm, and try not to fight 1v1.
Junglers love ganking for Kassadin, even more than they love ganking Kassadin. Be prepared for the enemy or possibly both junglers to set up a tent in this matchup.

Section Top Matchups Top Guide Top

Section Top Guide Top

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Lux tends to like poke comps and sieging comps the most, since she's at her best when she's allowed to harass at range, siege, defend sieges, and disengage freely. Champions like [image loading]

Jayce, [image loading]

Maokai, [image loading]

Janna, [image loading]

Karma, [image loading]

Sivir and [image loading]

Trundle are really good at keeping the enemy team from closing distance, often while helping her poke.

4 and 1 Split Push comps also pair with her strengths, since she can assist them with her ult without actually going to their lane, and is good at holding towers against a larger enemy team. So champions like [image loading]

Shen,

Tryndamere or [image loading]

Gangplank can be quite good with her.

What she really wants in an enemy team is a lot of squishy champions, so that she has a lot of potential snare targets. A team full of tanks can be hard for her to handle later in the game.

What she doesn't want to play against is a composition that has a lot of free engage, especially if it's tanky on top of that or has ways to dodge snares. Things like top lane [image loading]

Olaf or [image loading]

Maokai can be difficult to deal with, as can combos like [image loading]

Yasuo + [image loading]

Vi (or really Jarvan/Vi plus any diving Assassin). Champions like [image loading]

Kayle, [image loading]

Morgana, [image loading]

Lulu and [image loading]

Zilean can also give Lux a rough time from any lane, because they can easily stop her burst from killing allies later in the game.

Section Top Guide Top

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Here are a few more advanced, technical tricks you can use to improve your play. Lux isn't a very mechanically complicated champion like Riven or Lee Sin, but she does have a couple bright decisions in her repertoire.

[image loading]

Light Binding

You can Q and flash right after to make your flash+Q's a bit faster. Easy to do with some practice.
Remember that you can Q a champion through a single minion. Use this to surprise people in lane!

Prismatic Barrier

You can flash into the shield particle to get the second shield instantly.
Your shield won't hit allies in Zhonyas, but will hit you during your own Zhonya. Cast W, then use Zhonya just as the first shield breaks, and you'll get the second shield as you leave stasis.

Lucent Singularity

Remember that the max range on E is actually outside of the targeting circle (see picture below)
In the early lane, level E after casting it but before detonating it (E > Ctrl+E > E). This gives that spellcast the mana cost of the lower rank and the damage of the higher rank. With practice, this trick will save you 30 mana in the initial lane every game.
If placed correctly, your E can see in two bushes at once, or over both sides of a jungle wall. (see pictures below)

Final Spark

Your standard burst combo is Q > E > R > E.
Your highest damage, 3 passive combo is Q > R > auto > E > E > auto. This only works if the enemy is in close range and has no escapes.
Remember, you can use your ults cast time to ignore short stuns, and can use summoners during the cast time.

Common E Placements
+ Show Spoiler [Max E Range] +

+ Show Spoiler [River] +

+ Show Spoiler [Top Lane] +

+ Show Spoiler [Mid Lane] +

+ Show Spoiler [Bot Lane] +

+ Show Spoiler [Jungle] +

Common Ult Spots
+ Show Spoiler [Blue Buff] +

+ Show Spoiler [Red Buff] +

+ Show Spoiler [Dragon/Baron] +

Section Top Guide Top

Extras

Below is a collection of things that are not necessarily part of the guide, but still Lux related. We have things like champion lore and patch notes, as well as videos of professional players using my favorite champion.

Finally, I've written a pretty lengthy FAQ, answering questions from our previous Lux guides, along with lots of boring math about why the stuff in the guide is optimized the way it is. If you have a question about something, do check the FAQ first, if you don't then in the name of Demacia I will punish you T_T.

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Documentation | Artwork | Video

+ Show Spoiler +

Riot Website Lux page

Lore
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Born to the prestigious Crownguards, the paragon family of Demacian service, Luxanna was destined for greatness. She grew up as the family's only daughter, and she immediately took to the advanced education and lavish parties required of families as high profile as the Crownguards. As Lux matured, it became clear that she was extraordinarily gifted. She could play tricks that made people believe they had seen things that did not actually exist. She could also hide in plain sight. Somehow, she was able to reverse engineer arcane magical spells after seeing them cast only once. She was hailed as a prodigy, drawing the affections of the Demacian government, military, and citizens alike.

As one of the youngest women to be tested by the College of Magic, she was discovered to possess a unique command over the powers of light. The young Lux viewed this as a great gift, something for her to embrace and use in the name of good. Realizing her unique skills, the Demacian military recruited and trained her in covert operations. She quickly became renowned for her daring achievements; the most dangerous of which found her deep in the chambers of the Noxian High Command. She extracted valuable inside information about the Noxus-Ionian conflict, earning her great favor with Demacians and Ionians alike. However, reconnaissance and surveillance was not for her. A light of her people, Lux's true calling was the League of Legends, where she could follow in her brother's footsteps and unleash her gifts as an inspiration for all of Demacia.

''Her guiding light makes enemies wary, but they should worry most when the light fades.''
- Garen, The Might of Demacia

Base Stats and Skill Info
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Base Stats
Health: 478 – 1821
Health regen: 5.4 – 14.8
Mana: 334 – 1184
Mana regen: 6.0 – 19.6
Range: 550
Attack damage: 54 – 110
Attack speed: 0.625 (+0% – 23.1%)
Armor: 18.7 – 86.7
Magic resist: 30
Mov. speed: 330

[image loading]

Passive: Illumination:
Lux's damaging spells charge any enemies with energy for 6 seconds. Lux's autoattacks or Final Spark will ignite the energy, dealing 10 + (8 x level) + 20% AP magic damage to the target.

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Q: Light Binding:
Lux releases a sphere of light in a line, striking up to two enemy units along its path. It deals magic damage to the first enemy it touches and half that damage to a second enemy behind it. Additionally, the first enemy struck is rooted for 2 seconds, and the second enemy is rooted for 1 second.

Range: 1175
Cooldown: 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11
Cost: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 Mana
Magic Damage: 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+ 70% AP)
Second Target Magic Damage: 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 (+ 35% AP)

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W: Prismatic Barrier:
Lux shields herself for up to 3 seconds and throws out her wand in a line, applying the same shield to allied champions in its path. Her wand then returns to her, again shielding allied champions in its path and Lux herself upon return. When reapplied, the shield does not stack, but is refreshed.

Range: 1075
Cooldown: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10
Cost: 60 Mana
Shield Strength: 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 / 180 (+ 35% AP)
Maximum Possible Shield: 160 / 210 / 260 / 310 / 360 (+ 70% AP)

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E: Lucent Singularity:
Lux sends an anomaly of twisted light to a target area, slowing enemies within 300 range and granting sight of a slightly larger area for up to 5 seconds. At the end of the duration or if Lucent Singularity is activated again, the zone will detonate and deal magic damage to enemies in the area.

Range: 1100
Cooldown: 10
Cost: 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130 Mana
Magic Damage: 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+ 60% AP)
Slow: 20% / 24% / 28% / 32% / 36%
Diameter of Damage AoE: 600
Diameter of Sight AoE: 600

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R: Final Spark / Finales Funkeln
After gathering energy for half a second, Lux fires a broad and long-range beam of light in a line that deals magic damage to all enemies in the area. Any enemies that are already marked by Illumination have it ignited for additional magic damage, then re-applied.

Range: 3000
Cooldown: 80 / 60 / 40
Cost: 100 Mana
Magic Damage: 300 / 400 / 500 (+ 75% AP)
Magic Damage with Illumination on target (level 6,11,16): 370 / 520 / 670 (+ 75% AP)

Champion Patch Notes
+ Show Spoiler +

Season 4
+ Show Spoiler +

v.4.20 - 2014-11-20

Base stats updated for Season 5.

v.4.12 - 2014-07-29

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Illumination

DAMAGE 10 + (10 x level) ⇒ 10 + (8 x level) (+ 0.2 ability power)

v.4.1 - 2014-01-16

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Final Spark

Now goes on cooldown when it finishes casting, instead of when it begins casting
If Lux dies while casting Final Spark, it will no longer go on cooldown

Season 3
+ Show Spoiler +

v.3.7 - 2013-05-15

Final Spark has a new targeting particle.

v3.5 - 2013-03-01

Base movement speed reduced to 330 from 340.

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Final Spark

Cooldown increased to 80/65/50 seconds from 80/60/40.

Season 2
+ Show Spoiler +

v1.0.0.151 - 2012-11-12

Final Spark visual effects no longer appear at the wrong angle if aimed beyond the edge of the map

v1.0.0.142 - 2012-07-06

Base Mana Regen per 5 seconds increased to 6.6 from 5.6

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Light Binding

Mana cost reduced to 50/60/70/80/90 from 60/75/90/105/120

Final Spark

Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 100/150/200
Cast range now displays on the mini-map

v1.0.0.138 - 2012-04-17

Fixed a bug where Lucent Singularity's cooldown was 11 seconds instead of 10

v1.0.0.135 - 2012-02-29

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Lucent Singularity

Now additionally grants vision while in flight to its destination
Now starts its cooldown when cast rather than when detonated
Cooldown increased to 10 seconds from 9
Now displays a buff showing how long Lucent Singularity will last until it automatically detonates

Final Spark

Now grants vision of the affected area during the spell and vision of enemy champions hit for a short duration afterwards
Lux can no longer use Flash while casting Final Spark

v1.0.0.131 - 2011-12-13

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Prismatic Barrier

Shield strength increased to 80/105/130/155/180 from 60/85/110/135/160
Missile speed increased to 1400 from 1200

Lucent Singularity

Cooldown reduced to 9 seconds from 11

Season 1
+ Show Spoiler +

v1.0.0.123 - 2011-08-09

Updated Lux's autoattack to feel more responsive and increased its missile speed

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Light Binding

Cooldown reduced to 15/14/13/12/11 seconds from 16/15/14/13/12 seconds

v1.0.0.113 - 2011-03-15

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Prismatic Barrier

Shield increased to 60/85/110/135/160 from 50/75/100/125/150

Final Spark

Ability power ratio reduced to .75 from .85

v1.0.0.109 - 2011-01-17

Fixed a bug that caused Lux to have 0 base mana regen

v1.0.0.105 - 2010-11-15

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Prismatic Barrier

Missile width Increased 22%
Mana cost reduced to 60 from 75
Fixed a bug where Prismatic Barrier was granting less ability power ratio than stated
Ability power ratio increased to .35 from .3

Lucent Singularity

Slow increased to 20/24/28/32/36 from 14/18/22/26/30
Detonation radius increased to 350 from 300

Final Spark

now ignites the Illumination debuff if the target is afflicted by it and refreshes the Illumination debuff duration

v1.0.0.104 - 2010-11-02

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Final Spark

ability power ratio increased to .85 from .75

V1.0.0.103 - 2010-10-19

Released

Known Bugs
+ Show Spoiler +

Bug #1

Sometimes a player will be able to flash while snared by Light Binding. This isn't a Lux exclusive bug, it happens with many abilities. (Potentially fixed in 5.1, will get back on this)

Bug #2

While Lux's ult cannot be cancelled during its cast, if Lux is physically moved during the cast time (by say, a Lee Sin kick), the Final Spark AOE will also be moved accordingly. However, the particle for the laser will not move, and will cause situations where it looks like the laser hit, but did no damage, or situations where someone outside the laser particle takes damage.

This is contrary to other charge-time ultimates that can't be interrupted (such as Ezreal, Draven and Jinx ults) where moving the champion during the cast time does not alter the trajectory of the missile.

Bug #3

If Lux is killed just as she's finishing the cast of her ultimate, it's possible for the laser particle to appear, but do no damage and not go on cooldown.

Bug #4

When trying to cast Lucent Singularity over a wall, Lux will sometimes try to walk over the wall instead of casting the spell, even though the cast point is clearly in range. This happens a lot when using it to scout over the dragon/baron walls. Casting the spell at just under max range will typically prevent this bug.

+ Show Spoiler +

Riot Art
Classic Splash (Old): + Show Spoiler +

Classic Splash: + Show Spoiler +

Classic Splash (CN): + Show Spoiler +

Spellthief Splash: + Show Spoiler +

Spellthief Splash (CN): + Show Spoiler +

Sorceres Splash (Old): + Show Spoiler +

Sorceress Splash: + Show Spoiler +

Commando Splash: + Show Spoiler +

Imperial Splash: + Show Spoiler +

Steel Legion Splash: + Show Spoiler +

Lux x Ezreal 4eva: + Show Spoiler +

Other Art
This is also known as the Lux skins that would be better than Riots skins section. Images link to original source wherever I could find them.
Void Lux: + Show Spoiler +

Sheryl Nome Popstar Lux: + Show Spoiler +

SNSD Popstar Lux: + Show Spoiler +

Pool Party Lux: + Show Spoiler +

Cheerleader Lux: + Show Spoiler +

Skins
520 RP - Sorceress Lux: + Show Spoiler +

520 RP - Commando Lux: (has sunglasses!) + Show Spoiler +

750 RP - Spellthief Lux: + Show Spoiler +

975 RP - Imperial Lux: + Show Spoiler +

975 RP - Steel Legion Lux: + Show Spoiler +

+ Show Spoiler +

Champion Spotlight
Fairly outdated, kinda funny: + Show Spoiler +

Current Season Pro Player Videos
Frozen on mid Lux (vs. Azir), OGN: + Show Spoiler +

Pawn on mid Lux (vs. Leblanc), CN LPL: + Show Spoiler +

Faker on mid Lux (vs. Zed), KR Solo Queue: + Show Spoiler +

PowerOfEvil on mid Lux (vs. Syndra), IEM San Jose: + Show Spoiler +

Old Seasons Pro Player Videos
Hotshot GG on mid Lux (vs. Yasuo), season 4 NA LCS Summer Split: + Show Spoiler +

Frozen on mid Lux (vs. Ziggs), season 4 Champions Summer: + Show Spoiler +

Goldenglue on mid Lux (vs. Lulu), season 4 NA LCS Spring Split: + Show Spoiler +

Froggen on mid Lux (vs. Katarina), season 3 Dreamhack: + Show Spoiler +

Froggon on mid Lux (vs. Karthus), season 2 IPL 5: + Show Spoiler +

Rapidstar on mid Lux (vs. Ryze), season 2 OGN: + Show Spoiler +

Madlife on support Lux (w. Ezreal vs. Lulu Cait), season 2 KR solo queue: + Show Spoiler +

Humor
Lux, now with music: + Show Spoiler +

A Montage: + Show Spoiler +

Christmas Lux: + Show Spoiler +

An alternative Lux build: + Show Spoiler +

Lux, and why we hate her: + Show Spoiler +

What does the Lux say: + Show Spoiler +

And lastly, the best LoL video of all time: + Show Spoiler +

Section Top Guide Top

+ Show Spoiler +

Runes | Masteries | Spells | Itemization | Other

Runes

Why take Hybrid Pen runes over Magic Pen runes?
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Lux spends a lot of time autoattacking and bullying early in the game, and hybrid pen is more cost efficient, giving her more power to do so. When building Seraphs I take magic pen instead, as in those games I will not be focused on bullying and am waiting for a late game power spike.

This is more of a preference choice than anything else. Nobody is going to fault you if you want to run magic pen.

Which defensive Seals are best?
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Flat armor is best early game, HP/level is best late game. If you don't believe this, check out this math.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

Here are EHP values for each of these runes against AP and AD damage, given normal item builds and pen, for levels 1 and 18. We're counting your shield and barrier into these calculations.

EHP vs AP, level 1
Flat Armor: 1672
Flat HP: 1771
Armor/lvl: 1672
HP per lvl: 1688

EHP vs AD, level 1
Flat Armor: 1561
Flat HP: 1524
Armor/lvl: 1457
HP per lvl: 1452

EHP vs AP, level 18
Flat Armor: 3949
Flat HP: 4039
Armor/lvl: 3949
HP per lvl: 4219

EHP vs AD, level 18
Flat Armor: 6173
Flat HP: 6123
Armor/lvl: 6524
HP per lvl: 6397

So here are the results.

For flats:
At level 1 HP is 6% better vs. AP. Armor is 3% better vs. AD.
At level 18 HP is 2% better vs. AP. Armor is 1% better vs. AD.

For scaling:
At level 1 HP is 1% better vs. AP. Armor is 0.5% better vs. AD.
At level 18 HP is 6.5% better vs. AP. Armor is 2% better vs. AD.

Here's what I get from this.

Flat HP vs. Armor the differences stay the same early and late game, with HP being twice as much better vs. AP as Armor is better vs. AD.

However, two things about this. Firstly, Armor scales with your HP regen, while HP does not. Secondly, almost all champions do more physical damage than magic damage early game (there are a few exceptions like Karthus, Ryze, Azir, Cassiopeia and Singed). Minions and towers also do physical damage.

As such, I prefer flat Armor over flat HP, in general.

For the scaling runes, the differences change from early to late game. Early game HP is twice as much better vs. AP as Armor is better vs. AD, just like the flat runes. However, late game HP is over 3x as much better vs. AP as Armor is better vs. AD.

Since I typically will only take scaling Seals against a heavy magic damage team (AP mid + AP jungle), I prefer HP/level seals over Armor/level seals.

Why doesn't the guide mention AP/level Runes at all?
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I thought about this one a lot, and basically at the end of the day I decided that I didn't want to suggest that you needed 6 rune pages.

In most AP lanes, taking MR runes vs. AP/level runes is going to be preferential, and there's not much of a difference between them. I could do a bunch of math to suggest that MR is a stronger laning stat than AP on Lux early game, but it'd be kind of academic because if you're not getting hit AP is obviously stronger.

In AD lanes, you need the mana regen runes with the suggested build, because you're opening 2x Doran + Armguard which is not enough regen by itself. The mana regen runes help to buffer that since your Morello is delayed.

When you're building Seraphs you're taking CDR/level runes.

The remaining matchups are like, vs. Mordekaiser and Cho'Gath, and in general mana regen runes are just as effective, or more effective, than AP there, since you have to poke them a lot to get them out of lane. So I decided we could use the Anti AD rune page we already had there, and get away with only having 5 rune pages.

But if you want to use AP/level runes, or if you want to have 6+ rune pages just for mid lane APs, it's not a bad idea at all.

Masteries

Why take Expose Weakness?
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In Season 5, Expose Weakness no longer increases your own damage, which makes it a bit less obvious of a pick for Lux. However, I think most people have come around to the idea that this is just a really strong teamfight mastery and there's very little reason to not take it. You're going to be teamfighting on Lux, you're not going to be off split pushing by yourself.

Further, you have a lot of AoE damage, and your passive counts as a spell hit and reapplies the debuff, so you're better than most champions at keeping this debuff on the enemy team for long periods of time.

What's Better? Sorcery vs. Archmage vs. Spell/Blade Weaving
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The important thing to remember here is that CDR is not useful on Lux early in the game before she gets her regen items. While it's useful late in the game, it's not much better than Archmage, and in two out of three of your builds you'll be capped for CDR without any points in Sorcery at all.

The other important thing to remember is that the Weaving masteries are quite strong on Lux early game, because her passive counts as an additional spell hit for them, meaning a passive auto gives her one stack of each. This lets her stack both weavings much faster than most champions when trading, and keep the bonuses active for a longer period of time.

Given that, here is my recommendation for how to choose these masteries:

#1 - If you're going for a Seraphs build order, you'll only get 35% CDR through runes and items, and will be focusing on late game anyway. Sorcery is the right choice here.

#2 - If you're not going for Seraphs, you need to make a decision. Do you want early game power in this lane? If so, go for Blade/Spell weaving. If you want late game power, go for Archmage.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

Assuming a Seraphs build order, Lux's overall spell DPS will be about 6 higher with Sorcery. Her burst damage will be about 60 higher with Archmage. This means that Sorcery will be better in fights lasting more than 10 seconds, which will be the majority of late game fights. With this build you won't care about early or mid game pressure at all (if you cared you wouldn't use this build), so Sorcery is best here.

If you assume one of the other build orders and a damage item for your last item, Lux will either A - build DFG because you care more about burst damage in this game, so Archmage is better, or B - build Morello because you care more about sustained damage, putting her at 40% CDR and making Sorcery points not do anything, so Archmage is still better.

As for Archmage vs. Spell/Blade Weaving, I want to look at the damage from a level 2 Q auto E auto combo. Archmage will give you about 1.3 more AP at level 2, adding 2.34 damage to this combo.

The weaving masteries on the other hand, will add 4.12 damage to this combo, as well as continuing to add 1.73 damage to any subsequent autoattacks in the trade. This is significantly better than Archmage in the early game.

However, since you don't get to autoattack much in late game fights as Lux, Archmage is significantly better than the Weavings later in the game.

Why take Feast?
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The most important stats for Lux early in the game are regen, as she fights in lane by whittling down her opponent over time rather than going for big all in plays. The regen on Feast is more than worth 2 mastery points to her.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

We're going to assume that both Recovery and Meditation are good masteries (they are), and that you're getting diamond level CS (10 CS/minute), and that Butcher is totally useless (it's not), meaning Feast basically costs 2 points for what you get.

Given these assumptions, Feast gives you about 2.5 HP5 and 0.83 MP5, or 1.25 HP5 and 0.415 MP5 per mastery point spent.

This means that Feast is about 160% as efficient as the other regen masteries, both of which are worth taking. Therefor, Feast is very worth taking.

Why no Block/Unyielding?
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Since Lux will typically build a resistance item on her first back (Chalice or Armguard) Enchanted Armor is more valuable to her than Unyielding and Block.

I will however switch to Unyielding+Block against Yasuo, whose Q counts as an autoattack and who has tons of innate armor pen.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

First off, lets assume we're going against an AD champion, whose autoattacks will be a problem to deal with in lane. Most ADs start the game doing around 70 damage with their autos.

Recovery will heal 1.27 effective HP per 5 seconds.

This 70 damage auto against level 1 Lux will do 54.7 after factoring armor with one point of Enchanted Armor. The same 70 damage auto will do 54.0 damage after factoring armor with one point of Block.

So, at level 1, Block stops 0.7 damage more than Enchanted Armor per autoattack. Enchanted Armor helps against skill and minion damage too however, so we can guess that it's more like about 0.5 damage better, unless you're against a champion whose skills count as autoattacks (like Yasuo).

Block is only better than Recovery if you take more than two autoattacks every 5 seconds. This doesn't happen often in the early lane.

So, if we were only looking at level 1, the order of importance would go Recovery > Block > Enchanted Armor.

However, the key thing here is how each one of these scales. Both Recovery and Enchanted Armor scale better the more resistances you have. In our 3 builds we either A - buy a Chalice first back, B - buy a Cloth Armor first back, or C - only care about late game with a Tear build and want late game masteries anyway.

Block actually scales negatively with level, because it is stopping a smaller percentage of the enemies damage the more AD they have. While the difference between Block and Enchanted Armor might be 0.5 at level 1, by level 6 it might be as low as 0.1. After level 6 Enchanted Armor is likely stronger.

As such, I value the skills in this order on Lux: Recovery > Enchanted Armor > Block.

The exception case is vs. Yasuo, whose Q's count as autoattacks, and whose ult gives him free armor pen. Vs. Yasuo I think Recovery > Block > Enchanted Armor is correct.

Why no Summoners Insight?
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Summoner CD reduction is much more valuable on champions who use their summoners to initiate plays, such as an Annie or a Galio. Lux typically uses her summoners as a defensive reaction to her opponent, meaning they pick the timing in which your spells get used. As such, it is hard for Lux to obtain an advantage out of having a shorter cooldown window on summoners, and I find more movespeed or regen more valuable on her.

Why no Runic Affinity?
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This is a big preference choice for me. By the numbers, Runic Affinity is very strong. However, I personally don't like masteries whose power is conditional. If you're being given blue buffs, Runic Affinity is strong. If you're not, it's useless. While I might switch to this mastery in ranked 5's, in solo queue I don't take it because I can't guarantee I'll be getting regular buffs.

Spells

Why no second point in E at level 3?
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Because Lux's mana cost on E goes up significantly on level up, the damage per mana point spent of her rank 2 E is not much higher than rank 1. Getting W at level 3 does not significantly reduce your damage, but does make you much more resistant to ganks, all ins, and protects you if you make a mistake.

If I know the enemy jungler has died already when I hit 3 I may take the second point in E, because I know at that point I can do so safely, but in a "standard" game I never will.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

Counting her passive damage, level 1 Lux E at 3 does 124.4 damage for 70 mana, or 1.77 damage per mana. Level 2 Lux E at 3 does 169.9 damage for 85 mana, or 1.99 damage per mana. This is not a significant increase.

Lux's shield however gives 3.0 shielding per mana at full effectiveness. Counted together, her level 1 W+E has a mana efficiency of 2.39. So basically, as long as you see yourself using the shield when you trade, it's more efficient to have E+Q+W at 3 than E+Q+E at 3.

The case for E+Q+E is if you don't need to use the shield. So if you're already ahead and beating the other guy at level 3, and know the enemy jungler won't gank (maybe he's already shown top or maybe he got invaded and killed by your jungler), E+Q+E can be a good choice.

Why take E over Q at 1?
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Q first is strong for invades, because it lets you get CC on one target. If you take Q for an invade and you get something for it, it's typically worth it.

However, between levels 1 and 2, you regen enough mana in lane to cast two spells, and if those two spells are Q's you're likely not gonna do any damage with them. With E first you can potentially do 150 or so damage to the enemy champion at level 1, nearly for free.

So I only skill Q first if I'm invading, and even then I won't do it until the moment I'm going to use it, because if I don't get a kill or assist with it I'm putting myself behind in lane.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

There's about 35 seconds between when laning "starts" and when you hit level 2. In that time you'll regen 63 mana, plus up to 41 from Feast and Dring Passive, plus 18 with utility masteries. So probably usually about 100, and max 122.

E at 1 costs 70 mana, so between level 1 and level 2 you can (and should) cast it twice. I will typically wait until right when I hit 2 for the third cast, because this will make my passive do more damage.

If you start Q you can use two Q's at level 1 the same way, but it's a lot harder to hit people with Q at level 1 than it is with E.

Itemization

What's a better opener, Flask or Dring?
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This is a pretty common question and unfortunately the answer is "it's complicated." It really depends on how much CS you're getting. Math (lots of it below) seems to say that Dring becomes better if you're getting 5 or more CS per minute.

In general I prefer Dring in 1v1 lanes, and prefer Flask in the rare 1v2 lane.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

So basically, the difference between Flask and Dring is that Flask gives you more defensive stats, while Dring gives you more damage stats. We're going to try to equalize this as best we can, and then we're going to try to figure out how good your CS needs to be for Dring to be better in initial laning. We won't worry about mathing things out after your first back at level 6, because at that point you could have both items if you wanted and it doesn't really serve a purpose.

We're also going to say that, if the results are equal, Dring is better. There's three reasons for this. #1, Dring is better until you can use your flask charges, so it's better at level 1. #2, Dring gives more stats in an all in situation, and #3, Dring has better cost efficiency, since you spend 35g less on consumables.

First we have to figure out how much mana you have. Flask gives 360 more HP, counting masteries. This is worth roughly two full shields. Flask also gives 280 more mana, so Dring Lux starts 400 mana down.

When calculating max mana, I'm going to assume you save enough mana for Q, W and R in case a fight starts in the lane.

So now what we're left with is your harassment with E over time. Dring gives 12.5 more damage per spell hit and more regen, while Flask gives you 408 more mana to cast spells with.

You have 532 base mana at level 6. It takes 9 minion waves to reach level 6, which takes about 5 minutes. In that time your base regen gives you 407 mana. Drings base regen gives 162 mana.

Utility masteries give another 182 to Dring Lux, and 210 to Flask Lux.

So, Flask Lux has a total of 1009 or 1219 available mana. Dring Lux has 771 or 953, plus some amount relating to Dring passive.

E costs an average of 85 mana between levels 1, 2 and 3, and does an average of 123 damage with passive, +12.5 with Dring. Dring also adds 27.75 to the damage of the spells we're holding in reserve.

So, here is the total amount of damage Lux can do with each item:

Flask + defense masteries: 1460
Flask + utility masteries: 1764

Dring + defense masteries: 1257
Dring + utility masteries: 1547

Given all this (we're getting somewhere, promise) we can come up with how much CS you need to get in the lane for Dring to be better than Flask.

With defense masteries: 26 CS (130 mana, equalling 207 damage)
With utility masteries: 27 CS (135 mana, equalling 215 damage)

This happens over 5 minutes, so you need to be getting about 5.2-5.4 CS/minute for Dring to equal Flask.

So, ultimately, if you're in a low enough league that you're getting less than 5 CS per minute, Flask is likely better. At 5, it's probably about equal (which by our rules means Dring is better) and over 5, Dring is better.

Flask is also probably better in a 1v2 lane, where it will be difficult to beat 5 CS per minute, and where you'll likely take Teleport to let you recharge your Flask.

Deathcap vs. Void Staff vs. Zhonya vs. Morello, which to buy first?
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Deathcap does less damage to champions than Void Staff, but allows you to kill caster minions with just your E. As such, buy Deathcap first if you feel you need to prioritize farming, and Void Staff first if you feel you need to prioritize teamfight damage.

Void Staff first is also the right choice if you are so far ahead or so far behind that Deathcap will not change whether or not you kill caster minions with E. In general, if I can't finish Deathcap by around 25 minutes, I get Void first. This scenario is increasingly common in season 5, since the gold costs of all of Lux's early itemization has been increased from season 4.

Zhonya first is more defensive, but is a good pick up vs. AD Assassins like Zed and Fiora, where it completely prevents their ults and makes it almost impossible for them to kill you in a teamfight. You can also get it first against AP Assassins such as Fizz or Katarina if they are far ahead enough to warrant it. If you get Zhonya first, you should always get Void second and Deathcap third, because getting Zhonya first will ruin your Deathcap farm timing anyway.

Morello in general does less damage than either Void Staff or Deathcap, but can make it much easier to farm and defend towers when you're behind and need to cast E a lot to stay at long range and defend. As such, I wouldn't call an early Morello the most optimal or efficient option in a standard game, but if you're behind and need it to stall the game out, it can be a good purchase. Much like with Zhonya, if you get an early Morello you should always get Void before Deathcap.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

To prove how universal it is that Void Staff outdamages Deathcap, I'm going to use some pretty silly numbers. Lets say you have 1 AP, and the enemy target only has 42 MR (level 1 MR + MR runes), and you already have Sorc Shoes (20 flat pen). Lux's highest ratio spell (her ult) is a 75% AP ratio, but lets say it only does 1 base damage.

With Deathcap, this 1 damage + 1 AP 75% ratio spell on a 30 MR target does 1.65 damage. With Void Staff, it does 1.75 damage.

So if your opponent is not buying any MR at all, and your AP is equal to the base damage of your spells (this is not the case in the early to mid game) Void staff still outdamages Deathcap using your highest AP ratio spell. If we were to do realistic calculations of mid game damage, Void Staff would kick Deathcaps ass so hard it would not be a contest at all.

For example, a rank 5 Lux E with 2x Doran, Morello and Deathcap (6300g) does 332 damage. 2x Doran, Morello, Void and Blasting Wand (6155g) does about 355 damage. That's over 5% more damage with Void Staff against somebody with zero MR items. If they're buying MR, Void just gets even better.

The only reason you buy Deathcap second on Lux is because minions have 0 MR, so Deathcap is better for farming. If you don't feel like you need help farming in a particular game, get Void Staff first.

Which offensive item to take for 6th item?
+ Show Spoiler +

If you're far enough ahead that you can buy a Mejais early and stack it, Mejais is the best 6th item for Lux.

The second best 6th item is Seraphs, utilizing the listed Seraph build with CDR/level runes. If you are not taking CDR/level runes, Seraph is not a good option.

Third place is either Morellonomicon or Athenes, depending on if you want 80 AP or 60 AP and 25 MR.

Banner of Command is also acceptable if you want a sort of hybrid damage+defense item, but it's not as strong offensively as any of the above.

Liandry's Torment and Lich Bane are bad as a 6th item, don't buy them. If you want proof of that, look at the math below.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

Here are some charts of how these items compare to each other in terms of raw numbers. These numbers assume 3 points in Archmage and 2 in Sorcery. I also threw in Rylais and Twin Shadows, just for fun.

Some notes on these numbers:
The Seraphs numbers here assume you also took CDR/level runes. If you don't take those runes, the Seraphs DPS numbers are between Liandry and Rylais (meaning you shouldn't buy it). I counted the Seraphs shield at about 75% mana.

For Liandry's, I'm counting the Mpen and burn damage to be equal to about 100 AP, which is arguable but I think that's fairly generous. I added Liandry and Rylai's HP values to burst shielding.

I counted the DFG active as 300 damage, which I think is about the minimum. DFG isn't an available item anymore, but I'm keeping the math here because well, I did all the math I don't want to take it down QQ.

For Lich Bane, I counted 1 spellblade proc per spell rotation, which is not the most efficient, but is typical in normal Lux play.

AOE Sustained Impact (per second)
#1: Mejais - 316 damage, 162 shielding, 478 total
#2: Seraphs - 310 damage, 159 shielding, 469 total
#3: Morello - 295 damage, 152 shielding, 446 total
#4: Athenes - 288 damage, 148 shielding, 435 total
#5: DFG - 274 damage, 141 shielding, 415 total
#6: Twin Sh - 262 damage, 135 shielding, 397 total
#7: Banner - 256 damage, 132 shielding, 388 total
#8: Liandry - 246 damage, 114 shielding, 360 total
#9: Rylais - 234 damage, 120 shielding, 354 total
#10: L Bane - 227 damage, 117 shielding, 344 total

Single Target Sustained Impact (per second)
#1: Mejais - 561 damage, 162 shielding, 723 total
#2: Seraphs - 550 damage, 163 shielding, 713 total
#3: Morello - 527 damage, 152 shielding, 679 total
#4: Athenes - 517 damage, 148 shielding, 665 total
#5: DFG - 503 damage, 141 shielding, 644 total
#6: L. Bane - 503 damage, 117 shielding, 620 total
#7: Twin Sh - 482 damage, 135 shielding, 617 total
#8: Banner - 474 damage, 132 shielding, 606 total
#9: Liandry - 462 damage, 124 shielding, 586 total
#10: Rylai - 445 damage, 136 shielding, 581 total

Single Target Burst
#1: DFG - 4095 damage, 954 shielding, 5049 total
#2: L. Bane - 4051 damage, 913 shielding, 4964 total
#3: Mejais - 3928 damage, 1015 shielding, 4943 total
#4: Liandry - 3813 damage, 1183 shielding, 4996 total
#5: Seraphs - 3720 damage, 1435 shielding, 5155 total
#6: Rylais - 3625 damage, 1334 shielding, 4959 total
#7: Morello - 3552 damage, 913 shielding, 4465 total
#7: Twin Sh - 3552 damage, 913 shielding, 4465 total
#8: Athenes - 3477 damage, 893 shielding, 4370 total
#8: Banner - 3477 damage, 893 shielding, 4370 total

AOE Burst
#1: Mejais - 3051 damage, 1055 shielding, 4106 total
#2: Liandry - 2957 damage, 883 shielding, 3840 total
#3: Seraphs - 2881 damage, 958 shielding, 3839 total
#4: DFG - 2869 damage, 954 shielding, 3823 total
#5: Rylais - 2802 damage, 934 shielding, 3736 total
#6: Morello - 2744 damage, 913 shielding, 3657 total
#6: L. Bane - 2744 damage, 913 shielding, 3657 total
#6: Twin Sh - 2744 damage, 913 shielding, 3657 total
#7: Athenes - 2682 damage, 893 shielding, 2682 total
#7: Banner - 2682 damage, 893 shielding, 2682 total

So, basically, here's what we get from that. I'm going to rank all of these items.

First place: Mejais is the best (durrrr).

Second place: Seraphs Embrace (with CDR/level runes) (also kinda durrrr).

Third place: I'll call it a tie between Morellos, Athenes and DFG.
- Athene/Morello are better at sustained damage.
- DFG is better at burst damage.
- Athene/Morello overtake DFG in damage after about 18 seconds.
- Athene is about 2.5% less damage than Morello, but gives 25 MR.

Unfortunately DFG isn't available anymore, so the choice is between Morello or Athenes.

Fourth place: Liandry
- Liandry's sustained values are terrible, and its shielding values are terrible. While its burst is reasonable, it's not good enough to make it a better choice than Morello/Athenes, since they will outdamage it by the second spell rotation.

I know we have some Liandry fans in the old Lux thread, so let me point out that Liandry has gotten worse in season 5, since CDR is harder to come by. Since we used to have 32.5% CDR before buying a sixth item, DFG used to only give 7.5% CDR, and Morello/Athenes weren't options at all. Now you can get 17.5% CDR from Morello, which makes it so much better at sustained damage than Liandry that Liandry's extra burst is irrelevant.

There is one time Liandry is good though, and it's weird. If you go the Seraphs build and take CDR/level runes, but then for some reason don't buy a Tear (maybe you got real far behind early game or something), Liandry is suddenly the best 6th item for damage, because CDR/level runes work really well with it. However, at the same time it's not a good idea to go for this build intentionally, because if you do take CDR/level runes, Seraphs is better than Liandry.

Fifth place: Twin Shadows / Lich Bane
- You should only buy these super late game as a boots replacement, not as a 6th item.
- A little bit of math on replacing boots with these. If you can make use of Twin Shadows CDR, its single target DPS is only about 7.5% lower than Lich Bane, and its AOE DPS is about 7.5% higher, while giving 1% more movespeed, an active, and better shields. If you can't use the CDR, Lich Bane is pretty obviously better unless you really need the Twin Shadows active.

Sixth place: Banner of Command.
- It's a fine buy if you want a hybrid damage+defense item, especially if nobody on the team has a Locket. But as a damage item it's not good.

Which defensive item to take for 6th item?
+ Show Spoiler +

If you need Armor, Frozen Heart is best.

If you need MR, either Locket or Banshee is acceptable. I tend to prefer Locket, and only buy Banshee if I feel the individual game necessitates the spellshield.

If you need both Armor and MR, get either Randuins or Locket/Banshee, depending on which resistance you want more of. All three of these options give you better defense to both AP and AD than Guardian Angel does.

Only buy Guardian Angel if the enemy assassin is so far ahead that there is no other way to stop them from killing you.

+ Show Spoiler [math] +

Here are the end game effective HP values for different defensive items for Lux, counting her shield and barrier, for different items, both before and after standard amounts of penetration. We're assuming 21/9 masteries for all of this.

EHP vs. AD, before Arpen
#1: Randuin - 11967
#2: Frozen H. - 11316
#3: Ohmwrecker - 10567
#4: Iceborne - 10067
#5: Warmogs - 10005
#6: GA - 9636 (revive 1728)
#7: Locket - 9553
#8: Banshee - 9109
#9: Banner - 8618

EHP vs. AD, after Arpen
#1: Randuin - 8757
#2: Frozen H. - 8159
#3: Ohmwrecker - 7821
#4: Warmogs - 7678
#5: Iceborne - 7406
#6: Locket - 7331
#7: GA - 7132 (revive 1279)
#8: Banshee - 6990
#9: Banner - 6663

EHP vs. AP, before Mpen
#1: Banshee - 7339
#2: Locket - 7092
#3: Banner - 6339
#4: GA - 6243 (revive 1119)
#5: Warmogs - 5738
#6: Randuin - 5297
#7: Ohmwrecker - 5003
#8: Iceborne - 4625
#9: Frozen H. - 4563

EHP vs. AP, after Mpen
#1: Banshee - 4957
#2: Locket - 4829
#3: Banner - 4356
#4: GA - 4227 (revive 758)
#5: Warmogs - 4024
#6: Randuin - 3715
#7: Ohmwrecker - 3509
#8: Iceborne - 3230
#9: Frozen H. - 3200

So, basically, here's what we get from that. I'm going to rank all of these items.

Ohmwrecker, Iceborne and Warmogs are always an inferior pick to some other item, and you shouldn't get them.

Banner of Command is good if you want hybrid damage+defense against AP, but as a defensive item is worse than the competition.

vs. AP, Locket and Banshee are very similar. Locket gives CDR and team stats, while Banshee gives the spell shield. I'd probably lean towards Locket in most situations.

vs. AD, Randuin and Frozen Heart are similar. Frozen Heart also gives offense through a ton of CDR and mana, while Randuin also gives pretty decent defense against AP. I kind of like Frozen Heart the best, in most games. 20% CDR is worth a slight defense reduction.

Guardian Angel I don't like on Lux. You don't really get to do anything after you revive because all your spells have long cooldowns and cast times, and you'll usually be the last person on the team to die. You'll just die again. Plus, its stats are worse than other items, even if you want it against a mixed damage team. Just buy Randuin or Locket against mixed damage.

The exception is that GA can be useful if you're so behind that there's no other way to prevent death, but that rarely happens on Lux.

When to upgrade boots / buy Homeguard on Lux?
+ Show Spoiler +

I tend to upgrade boots / buy Homeguard on Lux a lot earlier than I do on other champions. Part of this is preference, but in general boots are stronger on her than they are relative to other champions. Spell pen is usually a higher damage stat on her than AP is (see the Deathcap vs. Void Staff math above), and while her cooldowns are too high to make Liandry cost efficient, Sorc Shoes are very efficient. If I think the movespeed will help me dodge skillshots in a particular matchup, I'll get Sorc Shoes very early.

As for Homeguard, Lux is one of the best champions in the game at defending towers, and can easily defend towers 1v2 or even 1v3 if played well (1v4 is usually too hard they will dive you). But unlike the king of tower defence Ziggs, Lux tends to have to be close to the tower in order to defend it. So I'll buy Homeguard if I think the movespeed boost will let me rush to a tower that is about to be sieged and keep it alive with a long range ult, and in general this means I buy Homeguard earlier on her than I do on other champions.

Other

Your spoiler tags are all off center. What's up with that?
+ Show Spoiler +

There's no way to center a spoiler tag but left align the text inside it on TL (if you know of a way, please tell me.) I've done the best I can with indent tags, but on some resolutions it looks pretty silly.

Which Lux skin is best?
+ Show Spoiler +

They all suck.

Sorceress and Spellthief have good splashes but the in game models need texture updates badly.

Commando is ugly, but has sunglasses so you can use it if Leona is on the enemy team and you're that kinda person.

Imperial has weird pants.

Steel Legion is ugly, and I disagree that its spells are more difficult to see.

It's sad, because there's lots of great potential Lux skins that don't exist (Pls Rita, Popstar Lux skin, pls.)

Such and such matchup isn't listed, why not?
+ Show Spoiler +

I only put up matchups that I thought people might actually see in games, and there are some on the list already that shouldn't be there. (mid Sion lol)

If you want advice about some crazy weird abnormal matchup I can write about it in the thread, but I don't really want to make the matchup section even more cluttered unless something suddenly becomes really popular and played often.

Have you ever played Lux as an ADC or Jungle?
+ Show Spoiler +

Yes.

During Team Liquid Off Topic Game Nights.

While drunk.

Don't do it if you're not trolling.

Double Rainbow?! What does it mean?
+ Show Spoiler +

Well, a double rainbow is a phenomenon of optics that displays a spectrum of light due to the sun shining on droplets of moisture in the atmosphere.

Does that explain it?

Section Top Guide Top

Credits
Big thanks to:
NeoIllusions, Soniv, Atrioc, GhandiEagle, Alaric and Chiharu for helping me edit the guide
Sufficiency and Eiii for statistical data
Dae, loSleb, Scip and Navi for giving me build and matchup input from a competitive ELO perspective
WaveofShadow and Lord Tolkien for buying me Lux skins
wo1fwood for his BBCode guide
Shurelya and Riot for making such a cool champion and a great game.

+ Show Spoiler [tl'dr version] +

Here's the less detailed TL;DR version for people who don't want to read a 50 page guide. I'd suggest reading the guide though.

Vs. AP (Athenes Build):
+ Show Spoiler +

Runes: [image loading]

Hybrid Pen [image loading]

Armor

Magic Resist [image loading]

Ability Power
Runes Note: Use [image loading]

CDR/Level instead when playing aggressive.
Masteries: Any mastery page within reason
Summoners: Barrier/Heal and Flash
Opening Items: Dring +2 Pots
Spells: E>Q>W, max R>E>Q>W, start Q for invades.
Itemization: 2x Dring > Athenes > Ludens Echo > Void/Dcap/Zhonya > If needed, sell Ludens for a defensive item.

Buy Mejais if fed early.

If behind, buy Morello second.

If using MR Runes, sell Ludens for Morello at 6 items.

Defense item should be Locket, Banshee, Frozen Heart or Randuins.

Vs. AD (Morellos Build):
+ Show Spoiler +

Runes: [image loading]

Hybrid Pen [image loading]

Armor

Mana Regen Per Level [image loading]

Ability Power
Masteries: 21/9/0
Summoners: Barrier/Heal and Flash
Opening Items: Dring +2 Pots
Spells: E>Q>W, max R>E>Q>W, start Q for invades.
Itemization: 2x Dring > Armguard > Morello > Zhonya > Void > Dcap > Some 6th Item

Buy Mejais if fed early.

Defense item should be Locket, Banshee or Frozen Heart.

Support Lux: (Don't do this, it's bad. But if you really have to, do it this way.)
+ Show Spoiler +

Runes: [image loading]

Hybrid Pen [image loading]

Armor

Magic Resist [image loading]

Ability Power
Masteries: 9/7/14
Summoners: Exhaust and Flash
Opening Items: Spellthief +4 Pots
Spells: Q>E>W, max R>W>Q>E
Itemization: Frostfang > Sightstone > Forbidden Idol > Mobi Boots > Oracles > Frost Queens Claim > Other items

+ Show Spoiler [changelog] +

1/18/2015: Posted. Added TL;DR section.

1/28/2015: Updated for 5.2. Moved Matchups to its own section.

2/11/2015: Updated for 5.3. (not much changed)

5/3/2015: Half Heartedly updated for Ludens Echo and 5.8. Hopefully a more serious update to come later.

GhandiEAGLE

United States20754 Posts

January 18 2015 19:33 GMT

Best part is watching Ketara's health slowly deplete in that first set of pictures.

JonGalt

Pootie too good!4331 Posts

January 18 2015 19:33 GMT

Looks absolutely fantastic Ketara!! Great work!

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 18 2015 22:13 GMT

I added a TL'DR version at the bottom.

Now I actually get to play League again instead of just writing about it, hooray.

Anakko

France1934 Posts

January 19 2015 01:59 GMT

Awesome guide Ketara! In-depth and looks great, what's not to love :D

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 25 2015 05:06 GMT

So, I'm looking at Lux builds on probuilds, and this double Morello or Athene+Morello start looks like it's pretty popular.

I kind of want to examine the particulars of this vs. going Morello/Athene+Void Staff.

We'll look at about level 11, and look at both burst and sustained damage, assume you've got 2 dorans and sorc shoes, and assume your target has MR runes but no MR itemization yet.

So here's the details:
+ Show Spoiler +

2x Morello
220.79 AP
40% CDR
Target MR 13.98

Morello + Void
210.79 AP
22.5% CDR
Target MR 0.162

Damage combo: 898+2.25 AP

So based on that, here's some values:

Damage (burst)
M+M: 1223
M+V: 1370

Damage (sustained per second)
M+M: 102.49
M+V: 88.72
(note: Autoattack DPS is 51.875)

Shielding (burst)
M+M: 314.553
M+V: 307.553

Shielding (sustained per second)
M+M: 37.44
M+V: 28.34

The results are kind of herpderp obvious, Void Staff is better at burst damage, Morello is better at sustained damage. But here's some things about this, I think.

#1 - We're assuming people haven't bought any MR. If they're starting to buy MR, Void is going to perform even better than this.

#2 - Morello's build path is way better.

#3 - Morello also makes farming and sieging much easier.

#4 - It takes about 11 seconds for 2x Morello to outdamage Morello+Void, which at this level means Morello starts to outperform on the third spell rotation. This is a critical thing for me because I think a lot of level 11 fights are over by the third spell rotation.

I think, based on this, I like the idea of Void second if you're ahead, because it gives you more burst to one shot and threaten people, and if you're ahead the enemy team is more likely to buy MR. But I like the idea of Morello second if you're behind, because that lets you defend towers, farm easier, means you don't need blue buff so if it's being stolen or your jungler is taking it it's fine, etc.

I don't know about everybody else, but in my games Deathcap second is becoming basically impossible in season 5. You can't get it by the necessary timing to one shot caster minions anymore, since Athenes is more expensive, you're getting 2 drings, and Dragon no longer gives gold.

I kind of wonder about 3 item timings now, if Morello+Morello+Void+Blasting Wand would outperform Morello+Void+Deathcap. Maybe some other day I'll do math for that.

Ethelis

United States2396 Posts

January 25 2015 17:57 GMT

I believe i saw in the Scip Jungle Thread that Expose Weakness doesn't work on yourself anymore? Might wanna take a look at that. Other than that the guide looks good to me at first look.

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 25 2015 18:20 GMT

Yeah I'm gonna do some edits with the next patch.

I have to remove DFG from the guide in the next patch so I'm just making a list of things to do all at once, easier that way.

remedium

United States939 Posts

January 26 2015 04:03 GMT

2x Morellos was used in part because of how cheap it was prior to 5.1. Patch 5.1 increased Morellonomicon from 2100 to 2300, which makes it slightly less appealing.

According to this it's still stupidly gold efficient (134.4% lol) though.

The wiki points to a scenario required for Void to be gold efficient here ("The percentage magic penetration stat must have at least a value of 772g for Void Staff to be gold efficient.")

As it relates to Lux, I definitely think M+M can be more useful than M+V when behind, because 2 of the three biggest problems facing Lux when behind (CDR and mana regen) are solved with the second Morellos, which helps her work towards solving the third problem, which is damage. If she is behind, she likely isn't bursting priority targets, and so increasing the number of cycles is very helpful. M+M also helps with her wave clear, which is critical for a team when behind.

Is there an easy equation or something that can tell someone on the fly whether M+M or M+V will be more efficient in a given situation?

Obviously, intuition can assist most players in determining what works, but I like to think TL isn't satisfied with intuition.

(should we start a new thread for the M+M vs M+V conversation?)

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 26 2015 15:33 GMT

#10

I think you mostly just have to use intuition.

Here are a few considerations.

#1 - If the enemy champ has an MR item, Void is gonna be stronger. Here's the same numbers again if the enemy champion has the Enchanted Armor mastery (pretty common) and a Null Magic Mantle.
+ Show Spoiler +

Burst
M+M: 985
M+V: 1196

Sustained
M+M: 83
M+V: 77

So, it goes from taking 11 seconds for M+M to outdamage to 35. Kind of a big difference.

#2 - If enemy champs have zero bonus MR from anything, Morello is gonna be stronger. This is not going to happen very often, because melee champs get MR with levels, MR runes are common, and getting an early Chalice/Hexdrinker/Merc Treads is also fairly common. But you might be able to lolnexus the enemy team before the game and figure out that M+M is the best bet for a small percentage of games.

MurphyJayGaming

United States19 Posts

January 26 2015 16:58 GMT

#11

Is Lux a even more safe pick than Xerath in the mid lane?

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 26 2015 17:15 GMT

#12

Ehh, they're similar, but I'd say so yes.

Their ranges are basically identical.

They both have a linear skillshot 2ish second CC that doesn't go through minions, although Lux's can hit two people and Xer's can only hit one.

They both have a circular AOE slow. Lux's lasts longer, but Xer's is a stronger slow when you hit people with the center of it.

But then Lux has the shield, so IMO that puts her ahead in terms of safety.

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 27 2015 04:54 GMT

#13

Here's some 3 item timing math for the earlier Morello discussion:
+ Show Spoiler +

Looking at level 16 here.

Morello+Morello+Void+Blasting Wand
339.45 AP

Morello+Deathcap+Void
441.28 AP

Burst Damage
M+M+V: 1901.76
M+D+V: 2130.88

Sustained Damage
M+M+V: 174.48
M+D+V: 153.3

So it's actually really really similar to before. Morello+Morello+Void outdamages Morello+Void+Deathcap after about 11 seconds. I think by this point in the game though a lot of fights do last longer than 11 seconds.

So, basically, here's your flow chart for Lux items in an ideal vs. AP game, especially starting patch 5.2.

First item - Athenes (or Chalice+Morello)

Second item - Mejais if super fed, Void if ahead, Morello if behind

Third item - Deathcap for burst, Morello for sustained, Zhonya for defense

Another funny note, if you're going Athenes+Morello, the most efficient way to do it is to do Chalice > Morello > Athenes.

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 28 2015 06:12 GMT

#14

Such triple post.

Here's a Faker Lux mid game from 5.0 I just found, vs. Zed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpAmbutbaF0

He does a build that's fairly similar to the build I'd suggest for that matchup, although he delays his regen/CDR longer than I would and takes Heal instead of Exhaust. He's also taking AP/level glyphs.

Every time I see Lux in an LCS game recently I always get all sad because the NA pros always seem to underperform on her and make her look bad, but Faker does real well in this game. He beats Zed in lane despite getting ganked over and over and over, and has quite a lot of teamfight impact without getting killed much.

The build is a lot better than LCS builds I've seen, although I can see a couple times where delaying mana regen hurts him. At about 13 mins in the video he needs to back because he's OOM but can't do it, and ends up being in a fight without any mana to cast basically anything. Then later on his second death would have been avoided if he'd had a Forbidden Idol instead of the Chalice.

Also he buys Deathcap before Void Staff, which is always wrong in that build path and should never be done ever.

But, in general, this is a real good game, and a good video for learning how to lane/teamfight as her. I enjoyed watching it.

General_Winter

United States719 Posts

January 28 2015 16:28 GMT

#15

Question on lux. Would Liandry's Torment be any good on lux if you are hitting a lot of pokes (E while laneing or siegeing ) rather than just bursting people down?

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 28 2015 16:29 GMT

#16

No.

This is already answered in the FAQ section. Some other damage item is always better than Liandry.

The only case where Liandry is a good buy is if you take CDR runes because you expect to build Seraphs, and then for some reason never buy Seraphs. Lets say I decide I want to go a CDR runes Seraph build against Syndra (a bad idea, sorry PowerOfEvil you're a dumbdumb), then get killed at level 3, can't buy Tear so I get faerie charms, then get killed again at level 6. I might build Chalice instead of Tear here and then buy Liandry for a 6th item instead of Seraphs.

But this is already making the best of a bad situation that you put yourself in in the first place. A different build order would have been better in general.

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 28 2015 18:59 GMT

#17

Okay, the guide has been updated for 5.2.

Deathfire Grasp has been removed (sadface), there were some notations added to the build paths talking about our double Morello discussion. I also changed some stuff in the FAQ around, notably the 6th Offensive Item question, Expose Weakness section and added a bit on when to upgrade boots and buy Homeguard.

I also moved Matchups to its own section rather than hiding it in the Beginners Play Guide, because there was a request on Reddit to make that section easier to get to.

General_Winter

United States719 Posts

January 28 2015 22:18 GMT

#18

Opps, I think I was unclear. The FAQ mentions it as a 6th item, I was thinking more early / mid game (after sorc shoes and grail / morelol but before anything else).

Some math shows its going to do meaningfully more damage (17%-25%) on pokes compared to void-staff at the same point in time.

But I suppose maybe the argument is that you are eventually going to buy void-staff and all the other stuff and if you bought torment third it eventually becomes your sixth item late game and at that point you are weaker than if you had picked something else...

Ketara

United States15065 Posts

January 28 2015 22:54 GMT

#19

If a game is going to end at 20 minutes, getting an early Haunting Guise is actually pretty good. It's got real good stats on it.

The problem is that buying it makes the rest of her build order real awkward.

For starters, if we're gonna get an early Haunting Guise, we're assuming Liandry is gonna be our 6th item, so we're getting CDR/level runes in order to compensate for that. That's fine, but it weakens our early game. It makes up for the lost MR in the mid game because you get some HP though.

You still have to get Athene/Morello first for mana regen/CDR. So we'd be at minimum talking about Haunting Guise for a second item. In a mid game situation where you'd be at Doran+Morello+Guise with CDR/level runes, that's actually quite strong.

But now you can't sensibly go Deathcap for your next item, because you've screwed up the Deathcap farm timing. Liandry and Deathcap just don't synergize well together in general either.

You can't sensibly go Mejais, because there's nothing to replace it with. In a 6 item build Void and Deathcap will outdamage a 20 stack Mejais, if you replace Liandry with it why did we go Liandry in the first place, and you can't replace Athenes with it because you require the regen. You also don't get any CDR from Mejais if you fully stack it.

You can't go Morellos as your next item because you're already CDR capped.

You can't even really go Void Staff, because you're now sitting on 40 magic pen, which means you're likely reducing peoples MR from 0 to 0 with Void. If they're super tanky you can do this I guess.

Basically the thing to get for your third item is Zhonya, but Zhonya isn't really what we'd call an offensive item. I'd rather have Morello+Deathcap+Void or Morello+Morello+Void than Morello+Liandry+Zhonya.

You also can't buy tank items for the same reasons, you have nothing to replace them with but the Liandry that you may as well not have purchased. Your CDR runes also make your best defensive choices, Locket and Frozen Heart, inefficient.

So yeah, if you're downing inhibitors at 15 mins, buy a Haunting Guise. But that's just winning an already won game harder. It's not actually good.

General_Winter

United States719 Posts

January 28 2015 22:59 GMT

#20

That makes sense. Thanks for the detail

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[Season 5] Lux, the Lady of Luminosity

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