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Lux Build Guide by

A Ray of Deadly Sunshine

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2 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author roastedmarshmallow

Lux Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (2) More Lux Guides

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Spells:

Ignite

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Ability Order

Lux Passive Ability

Lux

I've been a Lux fan ever since since I started leaguing, and I've been through quite a lot of matches with her. I do consider Lux as my main, and I'm happy to be writing this guide as a contribution to the less experienced Lux player's gameplay.

finales funkeln

Just as with any other guide, It's not and will never be perfect. Riot's patches and periodic addition of new champions, and the ingenuity of the League of Legends community continues to keep players on their toes, as the game is always changing.

Constructive feedback is always welcome, and considered. Much playtime and testing has gone into the workings of this guide, and nobody appreciates a flame for no reason other than just, "That's not how I play, so you obviously don't know what you're doing."

My playstyle with Lux is very aggressive, but this aggressiveness is seen at a distance. I would rather not get in the enemy's face, as I value being safe far more than getting a little extra damage in with my peashooter of an autoattack. If I'm close enough, they're close enough. I never want them to be close enough.

Logs

11/24/2012 ~11PM --- Published

Pros / Cons

PROS

good damage output whether carrying or supporting
good CC to save lives, including self
easily adapts to many situations
is an automatic raise of morale for your team :D

CONS

very squishy
long cooldowns
all abilities are skillshots
almost entirely based on positioning, timing, and prediction

Masteries

These masteries ^^^ are for playing AP Lux. Although they are viable for playing an aggressive Support Lux, for more sensible masteries on a passive Support Lux, refer to the cheatsheat at the top of the page.

Runes

Typical

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

Marks of Insight (M.Pen)
for damage to get through
Seals of Replenishment (Mana Regen)
because Lux is pretty mana hungry

Glyphs of Force (AP/lvl)
for more AP late game
Quints of Force (AP/lvl)
for more AP late game

Alternatives

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

Quints of Potency
if you like an extra AP boost early on. Sometimes falls off late game in my experience

Quints of Replenishment
I really doubt you are this aggressive, but it's possible

Marks of Might
for these to be viable, Lich Bane is a required item choice. If your up against Katarina or LeBlanc, don't do it.

Marks of Strength
would be a viable choice for the same reason above... but you don't get Lich Bane until later, so why sacrifice the scaling? Staying with magic penetration is better than going cheap.

My thoughts on Clarity (Opinionated)

OPTIONAL READING. My opinion is built upon my playstyle with Lux. I am extremely aggressive playing her AP, and those more passive players may disagree and are free to do so. I would just like to throw my thoughts out there about Clarity, to possibly be seen by those like me, or would be like me if shown the logic behind it.

I know, it says up there on the cheatsheet. That's because that's what most people like and what most people are used to, it works, and also what I won't get flamed for. is a wonderful spell. However, I don't think it synchronizes with Lux all that greatly. Let me explain why I take instead of .

Just thinking about it in the moment, makes plenty of sense. It adds to Lux's burst damage, it hurts a LOT. But try to think about it mathematically, and practically. has more pros and less cons on Lux than

Great damage
Damage over time
Diminishes heals
An in-your-face spell
Long cooldown
Can force you into playing more close ranged for the sake of a kill at the expense of a death
Doesn't do anything to compensate for Lux's weaknesses
Falls off late game

Allows frequent spellcasts
Allows leeway for positioning errors
Allows leeway for timing errors
Restores ally's mana too
Can trick a stupid enemy with it
Basically an extension of Lux's maximum mana
Forces you to play safer and take less death causing risks
You'll probably get flamed for it
If your positioning, timing, and prediction are great this game, you might not need it
No 10 AP boost while it's on cooldown

The way I look at clarity with Lux, it's like it's CDR. Think about it, Lux's spellcasts are extremely mana hungry. The time between spellcasts is not nearly enough time to keep your mana sustained. When you run out of mana with Lux, it's like every spell is on an extremely long cooldown, and when it's over you only get one spell to pick. If you take , you won't have to worry about it. You can play as aggressively as a well-played without having to worry too much about mana. As Lux levels, and her maximum mana increases, you can play even MORE aggressively without worry. Because you've got .

directly solves a weakness for Lux: that she is mana hungry, at the cost of having to play better and utilize spellcasts correctly.

gives us a little boost in damage, but doesn't solve any of Lux's major flaws.

Summoner Spells

VIABLE

Everybody takes this nowadays. It's great summoner spell and gets you out of trouble when you're in it pretty deep.

Great addition to Lux's burst. Deals a good amount of damage early on. Might fall off a little during late game.

Take it if you want to absolutely dominate the map. This works with wards too, so getting around the map unnoticed isn't too difficult.

Read the above statements for my full reasoning for this. In short, it synchronizes great with an aggressive Lux player.

Great spell all around. You can jump walls, fix positioning mistakes, get away quickly. No reason NOT to take it.

CONSIDERABLE

Good if your playing support. May win you an unlikely 1v1.

Gives you a little leeway on prediction for you ult. Although it does take away from other great choices unless you are playing support.

Skill Sequence

AP CARRY MID

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

SUPPORT

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Lux's Passive

Lux's passive is . If an enemy is hit by one of Lux's spellcasts, they are charged with light, which can be ignited only by Lux's autoattack or her Finales Funkeln.

Lux's damaging spells charge the target with energy for 6 seconds. Lux's next attack ignites the energy, dealing 10 + (10 x level) magic damage to the target.

At level 18, you'll be getting 190 Magic damage + your base attack damage. That's quite a lot if you consider how you can combo Lux's spellcasts with her autoattacks. This can become even more devastating with the addition of items like .

One thing about Lux's passive: The nature of this passive toys with your risk taking instincts, and how focused you are. You'll have to get pretty close to the enemy to make this useful, and the fact that none of Lux's CC is hard CC makes it all the more dangerous. This is the reason why champions like , , , , etc. are not good match ups at all for Lux. She can't get close to them, so It's hard to get this extra damage in. Being one of the carries, your goal is to have one of the highest damage outputs on your team. Try to utilize her passive as much as you can, but be able to adapt. If a particular game isn't the place for it, don't risk it. Priority number one: stay alive.

Lux's Spells

LIGHT BINDING (Q)

Lux releases a sphere of light that immobilizes and deals 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to up to two enemy units for 2 seconds, dealing 50% effect and damage to the 2nd unit struck.

Level to max: LAST

Although the ability power scaling is the largest on this ability (70%), this should always be maxed last. It's usefulness is in it's snare. For dealing damage, Lucent Singularity gets the job done much more efficiently.

When to use: INITIATE FIGHTS, SLOW DOWN ENEMY

Confidence in this skill in particular will make you feel a little safer, and if your team has no true initiators or doesn't know how to pick their fights, this will definitely come in handy. Remember, it hits two targets. You can ignore a single minion in the way and treat it like a clear shot.

PRISMATIC BARRIER (W)

Lux throws her wand to a target location and back, bending the light around herself and any friendly Champions it touches, protecting them from 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 / 180 (+35% of ability power) damage for 3 seconds.

Level to max: SECOND (FIRST WHEN NEEDED)

You probably won't need this early on, since most of the time you will be harrassing the enemy with Lucent Singularity from a safe distance. It's good to have if you're feeling vulnerable, since Lux isn't exactly all that hard to gank. If you're playing against a champion Lux doesn't do well against like LeBlanc, Ahri, or Akali I would max this first.

When to use: TEAM FIGHTS, WRONG POSITIONING

Late game, throw this on all your friends and it's like the enemy couldn't touch them for three seconds. That's a lot when times right. It resets when it comes back to you, so it's basically double what it says. What can be problematic is if their DPS can dish out the shield's worth before it gets back to you. But this will rarely happen as you have your snare and slow, so your teammate should already be running away by the time you shield him, while you slow first and then snare later. The reason I say that, is if your teammate associates your snare with the concept of initiation, he might go with his subconscious instinct: "get them!"Though it might take a little more skill, try to slow first if you're not sure about the guy you're saving.

LUCENT SINGULARITY (E)

Fires an anomaly of twisted light to an area, which slows nearby enemies by 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 %. Zone lasts 5 seconds. Lux can detonate it to deal 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to enemies in the area of effect. Reveals the area while in flight and while stopped. Displays a cooldown timer until the singularity automatically detonates.

Level to max: FIRST

This is Lux's fastest way of getting damage to the enemy safely. the cooldown is the shortest, besides her Prismatic Barrier. It's area of effect allows you to stay at a safe distance from the enemy when you use it. This spell should be used very often to harass the enemy whilst taking minimal or no damage.

When to use: HARASSMENT, FARMING, VISION, SAVING, SETTING UP

Lux's 'E' skill definitely has the most uses out of her abilities. It gives vision, so bushchecks aren't hard. It's just a matter of positioning and time. Mid-early game and after, it is a great farming tool, after getting Rabadon's Deathcap you will be able to one shot minions with this. Even though when given the chance, you will most likely initiate with Light Binding, the slow effect of this skill can be used to set that skillshot up for insurance, although it will require a higher level of timing for the combo, it does take some ease off of the positioning and prediction aspect.

Lux's Ultimate

THINGS YOU DO WITH LUX'S ULTIMATE

Finales Funkeln

After gathering energy for a half second, Lux fires a beam of light that deals 300 / 400 / 500 (+75% of ability power) damage to all targets in the area and reveals it. It ignites and refreshes Lux's Illumination debuff if it hits enemies already afflicted.

's ultimate, Finales Funkeln, is an extremely useful tool with a variety uses. Most often these strategic uses are under-utilized and people say, "NEVER EVER EVER USE IT UNTIL THEY'RE ALMOST DEAD." If you are a new Lux player, you will most likely listen. However, if you do not use it for reasons other than cleaning up a kill, this is totally disregarding some very nice uses of her ult.

Clean up kills. Not too hard, although an occasional miss or two will frustrate you. It's all timing, positioning, and prediction.
Damage. Makes sense, the cooldown isn't too long, even in early game. If you know you can't make the kill, you can at least do some damage.
Farm. Minions walk single file. Aim it down the line and shoot a quick Lucent Singularity.
Push. Lux isn't the greatest laning champion. If you need to leave for a while and want to keep mid occupied, Lux's ult is a great way to start a little push. The time it'll take for you to get to where you're going and be useful will be enough so you'll have it when you need it.
Steal. Lux's ult is great for stealing buffs and baron (and sometimes kills :P). Although it's not the easiest to execute correctly, it can be a tide turner when done right.
Scare. This one's at your own discretion. Do it or don't, you might need it again in a second or you could save a teammates life.

Early Game Items

There are three choices of starting items I would recommend for playing Lux.

The 1^st way to go (the way I use most often) is to start with:

to rush build into

Kage's Lucky Pick

(DON'T TAKE DORAN'S
FOR SUPPORT)

Why it works with AP build: at the start of the game means a little extra damage during levels 1-5. During this time you will be leveling . More damage is good, and Kage's Lucky Pick will continue to return during the late game. The extra gold will either go into Sight Ward's, or more AP somewhere. Also, even if your 3 kills behind your laning opponent in mid, at about 35min, you should be able to break even with them, even they have a on their team. Remember not to build this into , and to instead sell it to fit another endgame item in your inventory if needed.

Why it works with SUPPORT build: support means you're not getting any last hits on minions, this totally screws up your gold income. To make it worse, items that naturally build into more support-like items are kind of expensive to get to. Kage's Lucky Pick is a considerable amount cheaper. In my opinion, it's a great tradeoff for on Lux simply because 's active effect is kind of included in Lux's . You'll be over 900 gold (the cost of Emblem of Valor closer to getting or if your team truly needs them.

The 2^nd way is a way I personally don't use all that often, but is sometimes needed for the boost in sustain during the laning phase.

X 2

This is not to be considered when playing support Lux. You will need the benefit of gold per 5 seconds on Kage's Lucky Pick. Again, start this way if you predict you're going to need more sustain. Say they have a particularly annoying jungler. That's an example of when you would probably need this.

The 3^rd way is the typical support build. Start with wards and health potions. If you've played support before, you know what to do from there. This definitely falls off late game. I might start this way sometimes, but I find it to be less effective unless your AD carry doesn't know how to be a little more careful.

We will be needing shoes after this first phase of the game. 95% of the time, I will get these.

These are a must for an AP Lux. The Magic Penetration is so useful, you'll hate yourself if you accidently don't get these.

The other 5% of the time, because of the dire situation, I will need these.

The CDR from these shoes will be needed if frequent shielding is to be employed, the other team is full of gap-closers, or your Finales Funkeln absolutely needs to be spammed constantly.

Mid and Late Game Items (AP)

On to bigger and better things now. Playing AP Lux, your number one priority is damage output. The effects of her skills take care of anything else you need if you are playing in a way that won't get you killed.

MUST HAVE

The most efficient way to get that damage is to get .
It's unique passive adds 30% of your AP on top of your AP again. There's nothing bad about this item. It's definitely a must have for the AP Lux player.

VIABLE ITEMS

Gives a decent amount of AP and now your slows even after it hits.

Great active, helps you survive. Highly recommended late game.

High risk, high return. Only get it if you are doing amazing or are easily at least 1k gold ahead of the opponent (not a problem with Kage's Lucky Pick.

If you need more magic penetration, this is far better then on Lux because her spells have ridiculous range. Finales Funkeln has a range of 3000, for example.

This is an amazing item for Lux, although it does toy around with her riskiness a bit, because it requires getting into close quarters with an enemy. If you are close enough to auto attack them for your passive, they are close enough to auto attack you, or you're in range for a spellcast. Since Lux has no hard CC, not being careful because you want the extra damage this gives could be a bad move. Just be intensely focused if you get this.

Mid and Late Game Items (Support)

As always, these items are all situational, and your choices are by no means limited to a certain list of items. As support, you should take extra consideration into item choices and do what is best for the team.

It's slow effect is great especially with Lux's long ranged AoE spells, and the extra AP gives you a little more damage to help your buddies out with.

Awesome choice if the enemy isn't adapting to your main AP caster.

Since you're playing support, you'll be with your friends, so this is viable since you will be closer to the enemy in a big fight than you would be playing AP.

It's like a less powerful version of your shield that never misses. Personally, I don't get it often, but it's viable.

Get it if your team needs it and it will help.

This can be great as CDR if you need it. The CDR and the aura it gives is great if there's a or a on the other team.

Gives CDR, and can get you out of tough situations, or help someone chase down that lucky guy who almost got away.

I don't get it often unless someone seriously has mana problems. Better to go with if that's not the case.

Just some tips

Here are a couple things I might tell an inexperienced Lux player, so they can become better. Of course, this is based on how I play. So you don't have to listen if you'd rather not.

An effective Lux knows how not to be an easy target
An effective Lux knows how to use her ult to gain a strategic advantage over the opponent
An effective Lux is not caught off guard alone
An effective Lux laughs often!