Lux, the Lady of Luminosity
Introduction
So, our old Lux guide is pretty old. And I needed to do something for a 1000th TL post, so this is what I decided to do. I hope it's well received.
I don't pretend to be a good player, I'm only at Silver II right now (although with Requizen's help it is going up!), but I've been playing Lux mid almost exclusively for probably my last 300 games, and I feel like I've gotten the hang of her. I would love comments from people who think the guide is crap, it will probably help make the guide better.
This guide is focused exclusively on Lux as a mid laner. I don't really do support with her, although I'd like to give it a serious try some day as I imagine the new season 3 support items make her a much better support than she was in season 2. Zyra feels straight up better than her to me though, in terms of support.
If anybody wants to flame me or something, here's a link to my profile. http://www.lolking.net/summoner/na/29163504#profile
Lux pros / cons
Pros:
- Safe early lane phase, capable of CSing from far away easily if she gets behind.
- Very good long range poke at all stages of the game.
- Snare can set up favorable teamfights.
- High burst damage.
- Ult punishes risky play by allowing you to snipe players who would otherwise be safe.
- Good at roaming, can ult to assist fights in other lanes without moving very far.
- Excellent objective control, one of the best champions for stealing enemy buffs/dragon if not the best.
Cons:
- All 4 abilities are skillshots.
- Very limited by mana early game, Athenes is a mandatory item.
- Sub-optimal wraith clear in season 3 jungle.
- Low sustained damage.
- Reliant on blue buff and fairly bad at killing it by herself.
- No real escapes. If a bruiser gets into the back line on top of her there is not much she can do.
Masteries
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AP Carry masteries are pretty straightforward, there are two main builds I like to run.
Standard: http://www.finalesfunkeln.com/s3/#MaK7zMSUvdPZq7n
Alternate: http://www.finalesfunkeln.com/s3/#MaK7zMSUvUasvEd
The alternate build gives you a little bit more defense, if you're fighting an enemy mid you have lots of trouble with. I will typically run it vs Leblanc, Fizz, Talon or Zed, or if I'm scared of the ganking combination between the mid and jungler. Switch the MR or Armor mastery depending on the enemy mid. I take the Defensive mastery upgrade because if I'm going to use that mastery page I'm also definitely going to run Barrier.
Any time I'm going up against a melee champion, I switch 2 points in Mental Force to Brute Force in the offense tree (example). Lux has a high base AD and doesn't really need the extra damage to last hit, but against a melee champion I find I harass with autoattacks a lot at levels 1-3, and the extra 3 AD gives her much better early harassment in this situation.
And obviously if you're going to take Ignite, drop a point in CDR for the Ignite upgrade. I don't like Ignite on Lux, but I'll get to that in the summoner spells section.
Runes
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I have a bunch of slightly different rune pages that I run as Lux, based on what mid I'm going up against. I would highly suggest trying different options vs. different champions till you find what's right for you.
Standard:
Flat Magic Penetration
HP per level
AP per level
Flat AP
This page has a good mix of offense and defense. Pretty normal stuff.
MR setup 1:
Flat Magic Penetration
HP per level
Flat MR
Flat AP
This page trades some offense for some MR. I use it against champs with a lot of early burst damage, for example Fizz, Katarina, Leblanc, Brand, Syndra, etc.
MR setup 2:
Flat Magic Penetration
HP per level
MR per level
Flat AP
I use this page specifically against Akali and Diana. These two have a lot of burst damage, but can't set up their combos before level 6, so per level MR is more effective against them (it's better than the flat MR from level 9 and very similar 6-8). Also probably usable against Kassadin if you're having problems with Kass.
Regen setup:
Flat Magic Penetration
Flat Magic Regeneration
AP per level
Flat AP
I do not like regen seals on Lux, because while she has mana issues early game, once she gets an Athenes her regen issues pretty much disappear. However, I do run this setup against a mid who wants to try to sustain me out of lane, such as Chogath or maybe Soraka (lol Soraka mid). You're not in much danger of Cho killing you, but you have to keep your minions pushed because he will never leave the lane and any time you go back he's gonna take bites out of your tower.
Armor setup:
Flat Magic Penetration
Flat Armor
AP per level
Flat AP
Self explanatory, use this against an AD mid like Talon or Lee Sin or Khazix.
Standard:
Flat Magic Penetration
HP per level
AP per level
Flat AP
This page has a good mix of offense and defense. Pretty normal stuff.
MR setup 1:
Flat Magic Penetration
HP per level
Flat MR
Flat AP
This page trades some offense for some MR. I use it against champs with a lot of early burst damage, for example Fizz, Katarina, Leblanc, Brand, Syndra, etc.
MR setup 2:
Flat Magic Penetration
HP per level
MR per level
Flat AP
I use this page specifically against Akali and Diana. These two have a lot of burst damage, but can't set up their combos before level 6, so per level MR is more effective against them (it's better than the flat MR from level 9 and very similar 6-8). Also probably usable against Kassadin if you're having problems with Kass.
Regen setup:
Flat Magic Penetration
Flat Magic Regeneration
AP per level
Flat AP
I do not like regen seals on Lux, because while she has mana issues early game, once she gets an Athenes her regen issues pretty much disappear. However, I do run this setup against a mid who wants to try to sustain me out of lane, such as Chogath or maybe Soraka (lol Soraka mid). You're not in much danger of Cho killing you, but you have to keep your minions pushed because he will never leave the lane and any time you go back he's gonna take bites out of your tower.
Armor setup:
Flat Magic Penetration
Flat Armor
AP per level
Flat AP
Self explanatory, use this against an AD mid like Talon or Lee Sin or Khazix.
Summoners
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Flash:
Mandatory for obvious reasons, it's Lux's only guaranteed escape mechanism. The only thing really in discussion is what to use for a second summoner.
Barrier:
My new go-to favorite. Barrier blocks more damage than Ignite causes, is instant, and can be used while you're CC'd. It is amazing not only as a lifesaver, but also works really well for baiting kills. Remember that it only lasts 2 seconds so the precise timing of when you use it is important.
Teleport:
Teleport is much better on Lux than you might think. The main problem with teleport on other champions is that in order to make teleporting to gank (or stop a gank) successful, the ward or minion you are teleporting to needs to be positioned pretty perfectly. Lux doesn't have this problem, with her ranges she only needs to be in the relative area of the battle to influence it with her spells. Her fast minion clear also lets her defend towers with it very successfully. While I like Barrier more now as a standard option, Teleport is probably worthwhile if you think the enemy team is going to focus on early ganks and/or split pushing (ex: Shaco jungler, TF mid) and you'll need to have more lane presence top and bot.
When taking Teleport I usually use the first teleport just to back and tele to lane and get a free mana bar at level 4 or so, which helps a lot with Lux's early game mana issues.
Remember that you can cancel Teleport during the cast time by hitting the button again, and it only goes on a 2/3rds cooldown.
Ignite:
I think a lot of people will disagree with me in this regard, because I do not like Ignite on Lux. I think after level 6 most of your kills will be coming from outside Ignites range, and if you are close enough to the enemy champion that Ignite is giving you the kill, you're doing it wrong. In a pre-6 trade situation Barrier beats Ignite. However, I do like to take Ignite vs. Master Yi or Sion mid, because it's very hard to kill them without the heal debuff.
I don't think any other summoners are worth getting on Lux, although Heal and Exhaust are probably acceptible in place of Barrier. But I think Barrier is better.
Stats/Skills
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I'm not going to go very in depth into what Lux's skills do, because it's not like you can't figure that out, but if you really want to you can look at her numbers in the spoilers.
The level order on her skills is very straightforward.
E -> Q -> E -> W, then R>E>Q>W
In a couple situations I will change the early skill level order:
If we're planning on invading or if a level 1 teamfight starts, grab Q at level 1. The snare can ensure a kill. However, it's weaker for lane harassment than E at level one, so don't get it unless you're sure you can make it work. I used to insist on always getting E because I thought getting a level 1 kill from a Q was just too hard, and then I watched Froggen play Lux and decided I was an idiot.
Against Fizz or Talon I like to take W at level 3 instead of 4, because they have their full combo and will try to kill you at level 3, and you often need W to not die in that situation.
Base stats:+ Show Spoiler +
Health345 (+79)
Health regen. 4.5 (+0.55)
Mana 250 (+50)
Mana regen. 6.0 (+0.6)
Range 550
Attack damage 50 (+3.3)
Attack speed 0.625 (+1.36%)
Armor 8 (+4)
Magic res. 30
Mov. speed 340
Illumination:+ Show Spoiler +
Lux's damaging spells charge any enemies with energy for 6 seconds. Lux's autoattacks or Final Spark will ignite the energy, dealing 10 + (10 x level) magic damage to the target.
Makes your autos do more damage if you hit somebody within 6 seconds of landing a spell. The ideal max-damage combo with Lux is to snare them, drop a singularity under them, laser them, autoattack, detonate the aoe, and then autoattack again. This gives you maximum burst damage and also guarantees that you laser while the target is still snared.
Light Binding:+ Show Spoiler +
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)
A self explanatory snare. Very good, but like most skillshot snares takes some practice to get good with.
Prismatic Barrier:+ Show Spoiler +
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)
Your defensive shield. This shield is very strong but takes good timing to use correctly. It shields everyone it touches twice, once going out and once on the return (including you), so you want to time this so the first shield will be used up by the time the second one hits you. If you run towards the shield the second shield will land sooner, while if you run away from it it will lengthen the shield timing, both of which are important at the right times.
Shielding somebody with this will grant you assists even if they don't take any damage while shielded, so remember to use this to get an assist when you are otherwise too late to the party.
Lucent Singularity:+ Show Spoiler +
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
Good AoE, provides vision. Hitting the button again detonates the AoE. This will see into bushes quite a ways even if it just barely clips them. A couple cute notes I've seen with this skill:
1 - If you die while the AoE is on the ground, it will remain the full five seconds and then detonate. You cannot detonate it while CC'd.
2 - If you throw this on the ground, gain a level while it's on the ground, level E and then detonate it, it detonates as the higher level spell.
3 - The cooldown starts from when you cast it, not from when you detonate it. With 40% CDR if you let it stay on the ground the full 5 seconds you can cast it again almost immediately after it detonates. This trick makes it a lot easier to kill blue buff by yourself.
Final Spark / Finales Funkeln (better name)+ Show Spoiler +
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)
Self explanatory laser beam. This has a really low cooldown late game (24 seconds with max CDR), so don't be afraid in late game teamfights to use it just to poke people. If you get a snare, laser them. Make sure your initiator knows the difference between a poke laser and a start fighting now laser, I have lost games when my poke laser made my team initiate into a losing battle.
The level order on her skills is very straightforward.
E -> Q -> E -> W, then R>E>Q>W
In a couple situations I will change the early skill level order:
If we're planning on invading or if a level 1 teamfight starts, grab Q at level 1. The snare can ensure a kill. However, it's weaker for lane harassment than E at level one, so don't get it unless you're sure you can make it work. I used to insist on always getting E because I thought getting a level 1 kill from a Q was just too hard, and then I watched Froggen play Lux and decided I was an idiot.
Against Fizz or Talon I like to take W at level 3 instead of 4, because they have their full combo and will try to kill you at level 3, and you often need W to not die in that situation.
Base stats:+ Show Spoiler +
Health345 (+79)
Health regen. 4.5 (+0.55)
Mana 250 (+50)
Mana regen. 6.0 (+0.6)
Range 550
Attack damage 50 (+3.3)
Attack speed 0.625 (+1.36%)
Armor 8 (+4)
Magic res. 30
Mov. speed 340
Illumination:+ Show Spoiler +
Lux's damaging spells charge any enemies with energy for 6 seconds. Lux's autoattacks or Final Spark will ignite the energy, dealing 10 + (10 x level) magic damage to the target.
Makes your autos do more damage if you hit somebody within 6 seconds of landing a spell. The ideal max-damage combo with Lux is to snare them, drop a singularity under them, laser them, autoattack, detonate the aoe, and then autoattack again. This gives you maximum burst damage and also guarantees that you laser while the target is still snared.
Light Binding:+ Show Spoiler +
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)
A self explanatory snare. Very good, but like most skillshot snares takes some practice to get good with.
Prismatic Barrier:+ Show Spoiler +
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)
Your defensive shield. This shield is very strong but takes good timing to use correctly. It shields everyone it touches twice, once going out and once on the return (including you), so you want to time this so the first shield will be used up by the time the second one hits you. If you run towards the shield the second shield will land sooner, while if you run away from it it will lengthen the shield timing, both of which are important at the right times.
Shielding somebody with this will grant you assists even if they don't take any damage while shielded, so remember to use this to get an assist when you are otherwise too late to the party.
Lucent Singularity:+ Show Spoiler +
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
Good AoE, provides vision. Hitting the button again detonates the AoE. This will see into bushes quite a ways even if it just barely clips them. A couple cute notes I've seen with this skill:
1 - If you die while the AoE is on the ground, it will remain the full five seconds and then detonate. You cannot detonate it while CC'd.
2 - If you throw this on the ground, gain a level while it's on the ground, level E and then detonate it, it detonates as the higher level spell.
3 - The cooldown starts from when you cast it, not from when you detonate it. With 40% CDR if you let it stay on the ground the full 5 seconds you can cast it again almost immediately after it detonates. This trick makes it a lot easier to kill blue buff by yourself.
Final Spark / Finales Funkeln (better name)+ Show Spoiler +
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)
Self explanatory laser beam. This has a really low cooldown late game (24 seconds with max CDR), so don't be afraid in late game teamfights to use it just to poke people. If you get a snare, laser them. Make sure your initiator knows the difference between a poke laser and a start fighting now laser, I have lost games when my poke laser made my team initiate into a losing battle.
Items
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Lux's itemization is pretty straightforward, and aside from the opener hasn't changed much in season 3. I've been playing around with her in normals since the preseason patch trying to find the best opener, and I've decided with her range and her reliance on early game mana I do not like boots openings.
Opening:
Crystalline Flask
2 health potions
1 mana potion
The logic here is simple. All these potions let you harass a lot more at low levels.
Against an easier early lane matchup (say Kassadin) you can go for 1 health pot and 2 mana pots, or 1 health pot and a ward. But the idea is you want to start with a flask + some assortment of pots.
Early game core:
Crystalline Flask
Boots
Chalice
Fiendish Codex
Buy 1-2 wards every back
The first rule of playing mid is you want to buy 1 or 2 wards every time you go back to base. Even though Lux is fairly safe and can reasonably lane okay without wards, a lot of the time your wards in mid will warn other lanes early for potential ganks, since the enemy mid and jungler will travel through them when roaming.
You want to get the Chalice first, for regen and to help you trade in lane when necessary. The Fiendish Codex is just a general cost effective buy for early AP/CDR. Boots are self explanatory, though if I only have enough gold for 1 item when I back I prefer to get the boots last.
If you are fighting against an AD mid, you want to get Seekers Armguard immediately after Chalice, and possibly the Cloth Armors before the Chalice.
Mid game core:
Crystalline Flask
Homeguard Sorcerors Shoes
Deathcap
Athenes Unholy Grail
Buy 1-2 wards every back
The most cost effective way to get these items is Chalice -> Fiendish Codex -> Deathcap -> Finish Athenes. Get your boots whenever you start roaming and ganking.
Homeguard is by far the best boot enchantment for Lux, and you should never be getting anything else. It assists your mobility and roaming potential more than any other upgrade, just by saving you so much time getting back to lane after a recall.
Late game core:
Homeguard Sorcerors Shoes
Deathcap
Athenes Unholy Grail
Void Staff
Fiendish Codex
Seekers Armguard
After you have a hat and a grail, your options are more based on situation. Do you need armor to stay alive in teamfights? Get Seekers Armguard first. Is the enemy building MR? Get Void Staff first. Is the enemy not building any MR at all and you don't need armor? Get Fiendish Codex and then Void Staff.
A note: Why Athenes and not Tear into Seraphs Embrace?
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A note: Mejais Soulstealer?
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If the game is going very poorly and you have to have more defense to not lose in the mid game, you can grab an early chain vest or negatron cloak, and upgrade it to Zhonyas / Abyssal Scepter when appropriate. You don't want an Abyssal Scepter, but there are games where you just have to get the MR to keep from dying, and the scepter is the only appropriate upgrade.
Final Build:
Zhonyas Hourglass
Deathfire Grasp
Homeguard Sorcerors Shoes
Deathcap
Athenes Unholy Grail
Void Staff
Finally, finish your DFG and Zhonyas in whatever order you feel appropriate for the game. Neither of these actives is completely ideal on Lux, but they aren't bad. You're mostly finishing these items for the big jump in AP they're giving.
Remember that blue elixirs are really good. I will typically grab them late game when I'm at 6 items and don't have enough gold to upgrade another item, or when either team has baron buff, since you know a fight will happen during the elixir period when somebody has baron.
Alternate items for specific matchups:
Quicksilver Sash vs. Malzahar or an especially ganky Warwick. I get QSS before Deathcap vs. Malzahar, try to have it by level 7 at the latest. Once you have QSS he pretty much cannot kill you.
Vs. Akali remember to grab a pink ward so you can drop it in her bubble when you're trying to kill her.
Morellonomicon isn't that great, but remember that it might be a requirement if the enemy team has a fed Tryndamere or something who cannot be killed because he's got too much lifesteal and nobody is igniting him. I've only ever built this once or twice but in the correct situation it is a gamechanger.
Lich Bane or Liandry's are acceptable alternates to DFG for a 5th item, but I tend to prefer the DFG these days, because it gives the most AP, and because the Fiendish Codex in the build path makes building it smoother than Liandry/Lich Bane.
Opening:
Crystalline Flask
2 health potions
1 mana potion
The logic here is simple. All these potions let you harass a lot more at low levels.
Against an easier early lane matchup (say Kassadin) you can go for 1 health pot and 2 mana pots, or 1 health pot and a ward. But the idea is you want to start with a flask + some assortment of pots.
Early game core:
Crystalline Flask
Boots
Chalice
Fiendish Codex
Buy 1-2 wards every back
The first rule of playing mid is you want to buy 1 or 2 wards every time you go back to base. Even though Lux is fairly safe and can reasonably lane okay without wards, a lot of the time your wards in mid will warn other lanes early for potential ganks, since the enemy mid and jungler will travel through them when roaming.
You want to get the Chalice first, for regen and to help you trade in lane when necessary. The Fiendish Codex is just a general cost effective buy for early AP/CDR. Boots are self explanatory, though if I only have enough gold for 1 item when I back I prefer to get the boots last.
If you are fighting against an AD mid, you want to get Seekers Armguard immediately after Chalice, and possibly the Cloth Armors before the Chalice.
Mid game core:
Crystalline Flask
Homeguard Sorcerors Shoes
Deathcap
Athenes Unholy Grail
Buy 1-2 wards every back
The most cost effective way to get these items is Chalice -> Fiendish Codex -> Deathcap -> Finish Athenes. Get your boots whenever you start roaming and ganking.
Homeguard is by far the best boot enchantment for Lux, and you should never be getting anything else. It assists your mobility and roaming potential more than any other upgrade, just by saving you so much time getting back to lane after a recall.
Late game core:
Homeguard Sorcerors Shoes
Deathcap
Athenes Unholy Grail
Void Staff
Fiendish Codex
Seekers Armguard
After you have a hat and a grail, your options are more based on situation. Do you need armor to stay alive in teamfights? Get Seekers Armguard first. Is the enemy building MR? Get Void Staff first. Is the enemy not building any MR at all and you don't need armor? Get Fiendish Codex and then Void Staff.
A note: Why Athenes and not Tear into Seraphs Embrace?
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Basically, Lux's cooldowns are too long to stack Tear quickly, and she needs the CDR too much. If you're going to get a Seraphs Embrace you are going to have to get a DFG for CDR, which is going to be at least your third or maybe fourth major item. Lux isn't a fan of the range on the DFG active, and further, Lux's shields (W and barrier) make her want resistances more than more shields. Finally, just a Tear isn't really giving you enough mana while just a chalice is adequate.
A note: Mejais Soulstealer?
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I do not like Mejais, because I do not like to play risky. But it is more viable on Lux than other champions, because it's just so easy to not die on Lux with her range. If you're confident and have an early game advantage, it's not as risky of a play as it is on other APs.
If the game is going very poorly and you have to have more defense to not lose in the mid game, you can grab an early chain vest or negatron cloak, and upgrade it to Zhonyas / Abyssal Scepter when appropriate. You don't want an Abyssal Scepter, but there are games where you just have to get the MR to keep from dying, and the scepter is the only appropriate upgrade.
Final Build:
Zhonyas Hourglass
Deathfire Grasp
Homeguard Sorcerors Shoes
Deathcap
Athenes Unholy Grail
Void Staff
Finally, finish your DFG and Zhonyas in whatever order you feel appropriate for the game. Neither of these actives is completely ideal on Lux, but they aren't bad. You're mostly finishing these items for the big jump in AP they're giving.
Remember that blue elixirs are really good. I will typically grab them late game when I'm at 6 items and don't have enough gold to upgrade another item, or when either team has baron buff, since you know a fight will happen during the elixir period when somebody has baron.
Alternate items for specific matchups:
Quicksilver Sash vs. Malzahar or an especially ganky Warwick. I get QSS before Deathcap vs. Malzahar, try to have it by level 7 at the latest. Once you have QSS he pretty much cannot kill you.
Vs. Akali remember to grab a pink ward so you can drop it in her bubble when you're trying to kill her.
Morellonomicon isn't that great, but remember that it might be a requirement if the enemy team has a fed Tryndamere or something who cannot be killed because he's got too much lifesteal and nobody is igniting him. I've only ever built this once or twice but in the correct situation it is a gamechanger.
Lich Bane or Liandry's are acceptable alternates to DFG for a 5th item, but I tend to prefer the DFG these days, because it gives the most AP, and because the Fiendish Codex in the build path makes building it smoother than Liandry/Lich Bane.
Playstyle in a normal matchup
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Early game:
It's important to have the mindset that in a normal matchup, Lux is an early game bully. She has a high base damage and her passive means after you clip them with a singularity you're guaranteed to win an autoattack trade afterwards. Try to get a feel for the way the enemy mid likes to dodge your skillshots. Most players will tend to dodge in one direction over the other most of the time, and doing some early harassment gets you a feel for where you want to plant your AoE's to compensate for them dodging when you're setting up mid game kills.
Your goal pre-6 is not to kill the enemy mid (although if you can then great!), your goal is more to force them out of lane and get a CS lead. You're probably not going to be getting kills till you're level 6 against a similarly skilled player.
Another important point to remember is that you are most vulnerable at level 3. At level 3 you don't have your shield yet, and you've probably won your lane at levels 1-2 so your minions are pushed up possibly all the way to the enemy tower, and right at about this time the enemy jungler is getting ready for his first gank. You need to be more map aware than usual at level 3. If I die pre-6 it's typically to a gank when I'm level 3.
Mid game:
After level 6 you want to start playing a bit more passive, focus your E on helping you farm, and save Q and R for fights if one happens to occur. Lux is a good roamer and I like to play her as one, assist top and bot with your ult as much as you can. Ask your support or jungler to ward the enemy blue buff, as long as it's warded you're very good at stealing it or at least forcing the enemy jungler to smite it to deny the steal, which puts blue on their jungler instead of their mid.
I like to leave the opposing mid tower up as long as possible, so that I have more time to roam and farm. It's hard for Lux to farm if your team is all grouped up in mid and you have to have either blue buff or your Grail when long teamfights start, so extending the lane phase is important to maximize Lux's effectiveness.
Late game:
Use E and Q to harass the enemy team. Lux is best when nobody is initiating and you are allowed to poke the enemy team.
If you get a good snare don't be afraid to laser even if it's only going to hit one person, the combo will likely get them down to half health and then when a fight does start the team can focus them and they'll go down fast.
In teamfights, try to stay as far back as possible. Your shield is best if it's hitting your whole team, and your defensive capabilities are all based on being far away from your opponents. Your illumination passive falls off late game as it doesn't scale with AP, so being in autoattack range in late game teamfights is not really so important. Use your snare to protect your AD Carry after the fight starts, not to get kills.
You should always be the last person on the team to die if things go south simply because you should be behind everyone. If you're getting picked off early, you're not doing it right.
CSing as Lux:
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I kind of want to make a video for this, but sadly I don't know how. CSing as Lux is not the most intuitive thing in the world, but she's good at it once you get the hang of it.
From level 5 (rank 3 singularity), your E plus an autoattack will kill caster minions. Typically the way you farm is to let the minion waves hit each other, then E only the caster minions, and auto them all down before illumination wears off. You can auto 4-5 things before the illumination debuff wears off. You don't want to E the whole wave because if you do, your minions will kill enemy melee minions while you're AAing the caster minions. You can use your ult to kill an entire wave before you recall, and it will be up again around the time you're back in lane.
If you're farming well and getting items fast enough, you'll get to a point in the mid game where your E one shots the caster minions. Then you can use it on the whole wave and auto down the melee minions. If you're not farming fast enough you'll get stuck in this aggravating position all game long where your E just barely doesn't kill things. It's pretty annoying.
There's a trick I learned from watching Froggen for mid game farming when your E doesn't quite one shot yet. Watch your minion waves and get an idea of where the enemy minion wave is in the fog of war, and drop an E on the ground just before they come in your vision range. Q the first two melee minions inside your singularity and the others will all clump up around it, letting you hit all 6 of them with the aoe. With enough CDR you can then drop a second E shortly
after and kill all 6. This doesn't work very well if you don't have the CDR from blue buff.
Killing your blue buff is a lot easier if you let an E stay the whole five seconds so that you get a second E up right away. Don't be afraid to ult your blue buff to kill it faster if something dangerous is happening and you need to speed it up.
Before the new jungle changes, killing wraiths as Lux was very easy, but now it's pretty difficult, the positioning change of the big wraith screws her up a lot. The best way I've found is to drop an E on them, move over there, let the E go the whole 5 seconds and detonate, auto the big wraith and then E them again. This is much slower than it used to be and if somebody wants to post a more satisfying way to kill them I'm all ears.
Abnormal Matchups
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Vs. Fizz/Leblanc/Talon
These guys rely on early game kills and are very good at bursting you down, but are much weaker than you if they don't have a kill lead when big teamfights start. While you can go toe to toe with them at levels 1 and 2, starting from level 3 just play extremely safe. Farm from range and do not let them kill you.
Vs. Evelynn
The important thing with Eve is just to be very vocal about communicating where she is. Keep as good an eye on her as you can and warn your other lanes any time you can't see her, because she's all about the ganks. If she's never in mid you can take your tower down early and then go full roam to stop her from ganking.
Vs. Akali/Diana
These two are very weak pre-6 and very strong post-6. Be extremely aggressive before they hit 6 and try to hit 6 before they do. After 6, treat them like Fizz/Leblanc and just stay the hell away from them and farm.
Vs. Katarina
The important thing to remember vs. Kat is that when she jumps on you she's typically fairly all in. Playing aggressive vs. her is good because if she Shunpos to dodge a skillshot then she can't dive on you for a little bit. If she does dive shield, snare, and walk away. (Remember that Shunpo drops her behind your model when aiming a snare) Don't flash until you see her use her ult. A lot of people say they have problems as Lux vs. Kat but I never do, and I think playing aggressive straight from level 1 is the key. What Kat wants is to dodge your skillshots while hitting you with bouncing blades until your health or mana is low enough that she can dive in for a kill. If you're harassing her and she's lower health than you are then she can't dive because she's all-in at that point and isn't guaranteed to survive.
Vs. Kassadin
Kassadin isn't very hard, but the important trick is to be far enough away that if he wants to blink onto you he has to kind of walk towards you a ways to do it. This will telegraph his attacks in advance, and you want to W pre-emptively. If you're already shielded when he blinks in his burst isn't going to do as much as your counter-burst. Don't try to snare him until after he blinks or he will jump over it.
Vs. Ahri
Be scared of Ahri at like the level 6-9 range and stay behind minions so she can't snare you. Ahri's combo at level 6 is devastating, but to kill you she really needs that snare. She's weak both early and late game, her power spike is right when she gets her ult.
Vs. Kennen
I typically have a lot of trouble against a good Kennen. If you're at range he has to use an aggressive Flash to initiate with his ult, but if he does it's a fairly guaranteed kill. I haven't played against a Kennen since season 3 started, but I imagine Barrier will help against him a lot. I used to run Cleanse vs. Kennen so that if he flash-ulted on top of me I could cleanse the stun and flash away. I suppose the important point here is to be aware of if he has flash and his ult up, and play safe if you think he's going to all-in you.
Vs. Teemo
Teemo's blind makes your autoattacks not proc your illumination passive, so don't try autoattack trades with Teemo. Just focus on clipping him with E and outfarming him. I have a lot of trouble fighting a good Teemo, but when I figure it out I'll let you know.
When to pick / not pick Lux:
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Enemy Mids that Lux is especially strong laning against:
- Karthus
- Anivia
- Malzahar
- Ryze
Note that Lux can play safe enough that I wouldn't say any champions really hard counter her, except possibly the ones that focus on abusing any enemy mid early game (Fizz, Leblanc, Talon). Her range is just so long that she's just as safe a choice as anybody against anybody, really.
Champs that synergize well with Lux:
- Jayce
- Caitlyn
- Soraka
- Maokai
- Ezreal
Maokai and Jayce can poke but are also great at defending you when the enemy team tries to initiate. Soraka loves long drawn out poke wars because she can keep your team healed and at full mana fairly indefinitely.
Ezreal and Lux can do laser combos on a snared target that is typically a guaranteed kill, CLG EU always runs Ezreal and Lux together when they can.
Non-Mid Champs that are good vs. Lux:
- Olaf
- Irelia
- Nocturne
- Soraka
Nocturne is probably the best jungler for ganking Lux, if he ults onto you and your flash is down, it's a fairly guaranteed kill because he will spellshield your snare.
Soraka is good at countering your poke with her great heals and MR aura, but she's only a soft counter and not as big a deal as Olaf/Irelia/Nocturne.