Lux Build Guide by anEgrahm

Introduction

Hey everyone.

Lux is definitely one amazing champ to play. All her skills are quite interesting to play around with, particularly Finales Funkeln.

In this brief but informative guide I will explain to you how I play Lux. I play her with Ignite, which might is a standard choice for an AP caster - despite Lux's long range, I find it significantly helps your early and mid game.

Runes

Marks

I take Greater Mark of Magic Penetration simply because the extra magic penetration helps all game. Together with your Sorcerer's Shoes, you'll pretty much cut anybody down to zero magic resistance for those who haven't built any and don't have any runes/masteries to defend against your attacks. For any offensive AP caster, there is not much else you can take.

Seals

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration is what I tend to use as it gives me mana regen which aids Lux's needs during mid and late game. Some alternatives include Greater Seal of Replenishment, Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration, Greater Seal of Health, Greater Seal of Regeneration or Greater Seal of Vitality, but the defensive resistances are nice for me.

Glyphs

I like my Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power, particularly for late game AP, if you have not farmed well or are behind. Of course, you can also take Greater Glyph of Ability Power for that extra ability power at the beginning. Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction and Greater Glyph of Celerity] both give cooldowns, which are also nice on [[Lux.

Quintessences

I have my early game AP in the form of Quintessence of Ability Power, though as I do not take boots first (which is an alternative build), Quintessence of Movement Speed works as well, taking you up to 330 at level 1 without boots, and > 400 after Sorcerer's Shoes. However, along with Doran's Ring, you begin the game with over thirty AP, which is not the best, but not too bad either.

Skills

Illumination

Similar to Leona's Sunlight, the next autoattack given by yourself procs bonus damage based on your level. Although this falls off a bit late game, it is extremely potent early and mid game and should be used to your advantage. As it cannot be stacked, try to use it between your spells one at a time so you can make the most of your damage.

Light Binding

To some extent, this skill is similar to Ahri's Charm. Landing it causes you to pull off a lot of damage, while missing it takes a big chunk of your potential out. Combine it with your E and your ultimate to deal the most damage in a single burst, and always, always take advantage of the root.

Prismatic Barrier

This is an extremely, extremely underrated shield. It can shield your whole team, twice through. However, one of the most helpful uses for this shield is to defend against Ignite. With enough mana, it can save you over and over again. Despite this, it shields quite a bit of damage in all circumstances (assuming your teammates are willing to co-operate).

Lucent Singularity

Your bread and butter of harassing and nuking is in this spell. It slows by a percentage, making landing it and popping it even easier. While it deals damage, it can also be used for escapes and for zoning. Your passive, particularly during the laning phase, should always be used in conjunction with this ability.

Finales Funkeln

Clairvoyance combined with this spell makes it all too fun. With a range of 3000, it has many purposes - initiating, harassing, finishing off, and most fun of all, stealing buffs, Dragon and Baron. Keeping Golem and Lizard buffs in addition to the two global gold givers warded can secure matches for your team, combined with well-timed lasers.

Although it is recommended that Clairvoyance is used as often as possible, as soon as you hit level six, use it a tad more conservatively and make sure that it is up for any engagements. If one champion is sneaking away, some good prediction and timing can pick off any escapers.

Items

Starting Items

Doran's Ring

The mana renegeration along with the bonus health is quite nice, particularly for the early game. I tend to pick up two of these at the start, but you can get a third or not get any if you like.

Boots of Speed

Along with Health Potion, boots are useful against characters with high harass. However, for the most part, you should be out of range (unless you are last hitting).

Core Offensive

Sorcerer's Shoes

I turn my Boots of Speed into these rather than into Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Although I do not use cooldown reduction of any sort (apart from masteries), personally, I find that Lux does not need it. With Lucent Singularity down to a cooldown of nine seconds, and her ultimate already quite low, I find waiting for abilities to come back up just fine.

Rabadon's Deathcap

Lux is one of those characters which can rush this 100% offensive item. Picking up a Needlessly Large Rod quickly is good for that extra AP, but sometimes, if you're not farming as well or just not getting enough gold, a Blasting Wand or simply picking up Sorcerer's Shoes can suffice.

Void Staff

Again, I try to play Lux as a character who simply tosses in spells to deal tons of damage. You shouldn't really be getting into the depths of teamfights, and escaping shouldn't be too difficult. Thus, I build another 100% offensive item, Void Staff, to pick up extra magic penetration for any who have began building Magic Resist.

Lich Bane

Lich Bane will increase your damage output dramatically. However, it is quite an expensive item, and as Lux is a particularly long range caster, you have to get closer than expected to proc your passive and Lich Bane. I usually get it quite late as it is not necessary for mid game dominance but still increases your damage output by quite a bit.

Offensive/Defensive Items

Abyssal Scepter

This is yet another item which reduces magic resist, allowing you to deal a lot of damage. Despite the fact that you will still be extremely squishy at this stage of the game, you will also be dealing a lot of damage.

Zhonya's Hourglass

You should consider purchasing Zhonya's hourglass if they have high physical damage and not so much magic damage. The active will be less useful as you will be staying back from fights.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

This item is good if you need extra health - however, I do not prefer it as Lux's long cooldowns put her at an all or nothing stage, with the slow then becoming mostly useless apart from in team fights. A Rod of Ages is usually a better alternative.

Defensive Items

Rod of Ages and Banshee's Veil

These are your two defensive items of the game. They can be interchanged as you like, with one being taken over the other on the variable on whether you are getting focused or not. An important thing to notice is that Rod of Ages grants more mana - without blue buff, Lux runs out of mana mid-late game quite easily.

Counters and Countered

Counters...

Lux counters a number of short ranged casters, and other casters which are stationary targets

Annie - has quite a short range and is easily outclassed early and late game with well-aimed skillshots

Xerath - is stationary with his Locus of Power and can easily be snared or targeted with Lux's abilities

Malzahar - not so long range, and Malefic Visions can easily be shielded to take significantly reduced damage

Countered by...

Anivia - While snared, she can still unleash her combo which is not simple to dodge while landing your own burst. Her Flash Frost has fairly long range as] well.

Vladimir - His infamous 'troll pool' is a pain.

Talon - His silence and jump do a significant amount of burst without you being able to use your shield's output.

Early Game

Lux has quite a bit of damage output at levels two and three when you use Light Binding with Lucent Singularity and proc both of your passive debuffs. Although you can lead with your E and then hope that you snare them, it usually does not take that much time to autoattack twice and you can normally maximize your damage each time you land a snare.

As with any character, last hitting is extremely important. If you are playing a champion with high sustain, be prepared to sit there and farm for six minutes - you should only become aggressive as soon as you get your ultimate, or if they aren't doing too well.

Use the range of Lucent Singularity to harass when they are under their turret - however, be aware of your position and don't overextend. As I mentioned earlier, unless your opposition is not doing that well, get a point in Prismatic Barrier as it is extremely useful at negating Ignite.

You should be relatively safe from ganks as you are a long range caster. However, if you are playing a good Karthus or Cassiopeia, Boots of Speed and Health Potion can be taken in place of Doran's Ring

Roaming and Mid Game

As usual, roaming is done best when your lane is pushed (preferably to their tower). Lux has high potential with ganking top and bottom lane, especially after level six - well aimed lasers can give you between 1-3 kills, based on how many people there are in the lane (and whether you are counter-ganking with the jungler at bot as well).

You can either open with your Lucent Singularity to do damage and debuff them with Illumination, or if possible, you can use Light Binding from the brush and follow up with E and your ultimate.

At approximately level 11, you should be able to one-combo (Q, E, R) squishy carries such as their AD, support and some AD carries. If possible, keep wards by their objectives such as Crest of the Ancient Golem and Blessing of the Lizard Elder as well as Dragon . Well timed Finales Funkeln shots and E's can easily steal them if their smite is down, or they have poor timing ;)

Remember to stay at the back during fights and definitely try not to get caught.

Late Game

Again, I cannot stress how important it is for you to stay at the back of fights. If you go in, you will often just melt due to being at no further advantage from being right in the fight.

If you have blue buff, it is important to continuously poke with your E, and ultimate if possible. As Finales Funkeln does significantly more damage with the Illumination debuff, you can halve the health of others or even kill squishy champions before the fight has even began.

As mentioned before, keeping wards by blue buff, red buff, Dragon and now Baron are all extremely important - if you are able to pull off a Baron steal, it can completely turn around the game, particularly with Lux's poke and ability to sustain fights when the Baron buff is acquired.

With Lich Bane, it is also possible to push towers quickly - always make sure that you have teammates with you if the area around you is not heavily warded.

Summary

I hope this easy to read guide has introduced and helped you to the functions of Lux. Thank you for reading, and please leave your feedback!