Hi, this guide is aimed at discussing Lux strategies beyond what other popular Lux guides have already outlined. The scope of other guides in terms of builds and counterbuilds far outstrip mine in depth and flexibility so my goal is to explore arguments for certain items and strategies, and to test the limits of their gameplay value, rather then make general claims about things. "only get mejais if ur snowballing" "build armor to counter ad" etc.

The reason there are so many Lux (and only Lux) mains is because of the type of gameplay Lux offers. The learning curve of her mechanics grows exponentially the higher your elo, as people pay attention to the obvious and simple plays which Lux is capable of, and are much more adept at dodging skill shots.

Playing Lux makes you want to learn other roles, macro game strategies and such because she is extremely reliant on her team for optimal play. Blue is a crucial mid to late game resource for Lux, primarily because is often the deciding factor in the outcome of skirmishes and teamfights for important objectives.

The focus on "plays" is less on finger twitching mechanics and on much more subtle strategic decisions that are often unnoticable. Diving, chasing and magical 1 v 3 triple kills in the jungle are not Lux's strength, but rather boring, simple objective-based gameplay such as zoning and poking down enemies while your allies take an easy tower.

Mejais on Lux is core on this build with very few exceptions. Lux builds stacks on her Mejais while avoiding all but the most riskless deaths through positioning, and map awareness. As a bottom line, In any reasonable team comp, in synergy with tanks, bruisers, and a decent front line, Lux can always build and keep the meagre 7-8 stacks on Mejais that makes it cost effective.

The problem with knowing when to buy mejais with Lux is that her real strength lies in situations that occur after the laning phase, and the reality is that Lux faces many unfavorable matchups in which it is unlikely for her to expect an early kill. It is very common that you will more or less lose lane to popular ap counters (kassadin, zed, fizz) but quickly snowballing off other lanes, teamfights and skirmishes over objectives. The gambit of mejais on lux simply requires that you do not feed your lane - your mejais gives you snowballing potential due to spam sheilds, opportunistic snipes, and your ridiculous range with e and q, while your opponent hopes for easy kills on a champion that they supposedly "counter" with little other viability. (read - useless unless snowballs)

The mentality that Mejais is a situational item should be held only for other champions, who do not have an extreme ranged glass cannon playstyle. I encourage Mejais as a 'situational' item for when you are behind, as playing strategically and supporting from the back line will give you the stacks you need to compensate for the gold/ap disadvantage, while building your other items slowly. Mejais offers a player a moderate risk, high reward chance to get back in a game where an opponent is snowballing, and should be taken if a player is confident in their ability to play Lux.

Lux's utility as a 'siege' champion, allows her to pick up stacks while being highly effective in these mid/late game scenarios. It is in scenarios such as these where Lux has a chance to stack assists and snowball regardless of the score, and her KDA from laning phase.

In general, The viability of Mejais is based on your level of comfort with positioning and skillshot mechanics. It's my theory that you should be able to reach a level where you manage to stack 20 in the majority of your games, and the exceptions still prove to be worth (over 8 stacks) and further exceptions still to be the result of extremely bad luck and unwinnable games. With Mejas (or any other lux build), every ffs is a punch in the gut as your teamates have already lost a game before yours ever has a chance to shine.

a) Flash,
Find a way to practice your Flash-Q combos, practice flashing and combing over walls, escaping over walls with Q-Flash, flashing beside minions for a Q, and working on that tricky prediction from new angles. Doubtlessly your first hundred or so efforts will cumulate in hilariously embarrassing fails, but persevere!

b) Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is a high skill cap summoner, in that one needs to spend alot of time with it in order to understand and execute all of it's situational uses, in synergy with strategic ward placement.

In order to play clairvoyance effectively for counterjungling map control, you have to train a godly awareness of jungle mobs and the enemy jungler. Use CV to predict jungler movement, to negate ganks (for yourself and top lane) and generally to avoid face-checking dangerous un warded areas.

When sniping with cv, Wait until opportune moments when enemies are porting, think they're safe, or are turning an obvious corner or passageway. CV their *** and lazer them immediately. train this until the time between CV and your Lazer is next to nothing.

When you see your teamates chasing, cv bushes that enemies approach so that your allies can easily land their skillshots for a finishing kill and avoid any embarrassing ganks.

c) Teleport ganks, lane dominance, tower defence,

Do not take ignite or barrier as unless situationally warranted, (read, desperate and hopeless ex. u have tunnel vision and complete lack of any ability to utilize map control,) This goes back to the play potential of Lux - Lux often loses plays because of a loss of line of sight. (complete map coverage of wards is impossible and nobody wards in weird places just to make plays for lux) Ignite may secure you that one easy kill at the start against a bad player, but generally, I wouldn't optimize your strategy solely for the purpose of playing against noobs. Barrier is somewhat more viable in making early plays, but doesn't really add that much survivability to lux mid to late game while CV does that, provides assertive map control, and helps secure kills.

Learn every last jungler's playstyle and jungle timings, know who starts red and who starts blue, read all the popular guides that junglers follow for routes and plan accordingly. Develop a relationship early on with your jungler so that they are on your side, in order to ensure communication and effective counter jungling.


Try this,

1.) 0:00 - 1:55 - Make sure your jungler gets a good leash, this is more important then the 2-3 cs u may miss as a poor leash can cripple a jungler and lower his morale. Do not CV until the 0:55 - 1:00 mark, when CV, pick the camp that the opponent jungler usually starts (lee red, nocturne blue etc.) to predict jungling movements and to prepare for a possible invade.

2.) Around the 6:30 min mark, push your lane with your first lazer and make your way back to make your first buy (ideal) you should be csing around 1300 - 1500g if you are not losing your lane. Drop a ward at the opponents blue and your lazer should be up by the time the opponent jungler attempts to do blue. between this and the next blue, you should have enough time to push your lane and gank top or bot if neccesary. OR use your cv to try and predict the enemy jungler's movement after a succesful/failed blue steal and attempt to kill him at red with your jungler's help.

3.) At around 12:00 mins in attempt to do the same. Ward both blue and red buffs and you should be able to steal one of them.


Make up your own timed objective guides, try to control as many buffs and deny as much as you can to the enemy jungler. You can make life hell for the enemy jungler with very little effort, especially if you are coordinated with your jungler and he/she plays an aggressive style of jungle. If you see them fight in the jungle, do not hesitate, CV to make sure the enemy mid/top/bot is not coming to join them, fire your r at the busy duo as soon as you are in range and hope the added damage is enough to turn the tides.

With 4% cdr from masteries, 20% from a completed athenes, this build is reliant on several sources for the optimal 40% cdr cap. Blue Buff and Blue Elixirs are the main sources of cdr, blue is a situational resource depending on your jungler and the state of your game, and Elixir is a refresh everytime you need it after you have completed your main damage item whenever you can afford it (Deathcap)

In pub solo queue, always communicate with your jungler beforehand "Can i have blue at 7:00 please?" and thank them afterword.

(Mejas has cdr but it is irrelevant to our build decisions)

Pros
+ Always fun and challenging to play
+ Potential to absolutely faceroll squishy teams.

Cons
- Possible questioning from your teamates about CV and your use of Mejas. A player who is vocal about either of these and attempts to try and micromanage your play in game should be automatically muted, if their opinions are not reserved and polite. It is a universal truism that people are offended by mejais in a losing game, and anyone who played before S2 and the CV nerf is going to **** on CV in lieu of any rational argument you make.
- Time investment - to play Lux at a high level requires control of objectives and deep knowledge of the jungler role, reliable use of skillshots, and constant adaptation to different opponent's juking styles.