To begin, this is a CORE build I use for Lux. The items I build to replace my gold per 10's and my last slot vary in each game. I cannot give you a full build, because every game is different. However, I can give you a general idea of how and when to play and pick Lux.

I also want to add the my solo queue elo is nothing special. In fact it is fairly low, commonly in the 1200's. This is simply because I play roles on the team I am not extremely comfortable with, and fail.

My arranged team elo is far better and I am currently at 7 wins and 1 loss (1410). The difference is I don't have to fill a random role in arranged team. I can play what my teammates know I can play.

I wanted to give this insight into my ranked status to let you know that I am not a pro, but I am able to play what I know decently.

Lux may be one of my favorite champions to play, however she may not be yours. Therefore, below are a list of her pros and cons. Please use this to decide if she is a good fit for you.

Pros
+Excellent CC
+Strong Shield
+Ability To Check Bushes
+Can Easily Escape Sticky Situations
+Easy To Last Hit With
+Great Burst


Cons
-Low Starting HP
-All Skill Shots
-Can Quickly Run Out Of Mana
-CDs Can Become A Problem

• Illumination: Lux's damaging spells charge the target with energy for 6 seconds. Lux's next attack ignites the energy, dealing 20-190 (depending on Lux's level) magic damage to the target.
  
  This passive is underrated in my opinion. Combine Illumination with a Lich Bane and no one will want to mess with you!
  

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• Light Binding (Q): Fires a ball of light towards a target location, binding and damaging up to 2 enemy units. The first target takes 60/110/160/210/260 (+0.7) magic damage and is bound for 2 seconds. The second target receives 50% of the effect
  
  Light Binding is Lux 's combo starter. It is also the main reason Lux is so good. Having the ability to snare TWO enemies at once is fantastic. This ability can set up a kill, even if your enemy is hiding behind minions. Do not forget it snares TWO enemies!
  

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• Prismatic Barrier (W): Lux throws her wand to the target location and back, protecting herself and all allied champions it touches from 60/85/110/135/160 (+0.35) damage for seconds.
  
  Prismatic Barrier is the reason I say Lux can escape sticky situations. By casting this at the right time and place, you can shield yourself and allies twice. You might be asking yourself, how can I shield them twice? Well as the description states, the shield travels to target location and then returns. Any ally this passes through gains the shield, and if it passes through them again on the way back, the shield is renewed. This is the same with yourself, but you get two shields no matter where your toss this ability. DO NOT FORGET YOU CAN GET TWO FULL SHIELDS FROM ONE CAST!
  

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• Lucent Singularity (E): Creates a zone that slows enemy units by 20/24/28/32/36% (zone lasts 5 seconds). Can be detonated to damage enemies in the area for 60/105/150/195/240 (+0.6) magic damage.
  
  Lucent Singularity is the skill I max out first. This is because the increased damage combined with the increased slow make it the best ability to max first. This ability is your number two in your burst combo.
  

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• Finales Funkeln Finales Funkeln (R): After a short delay, Lux fires a stream of light in front of her, dealing 300/400/500 (+0.75) to all enemy units in the area. In addition, ignites the target for Illumination damage if under its effect, and refreshes the Illumination debuff.
  
  Finales Funkeln is Lux's ultimate, and for good reason. This ability has so many uses that it is insane. The most important use of finales funkeln is as the last skill used in Lux's combo. Other than that, it can be used to catch that low hp target trying to recall by tower, to stop the backdoor minion push quickly, setting up a kill for a teammate, or simply scaring the enemy away from your tower. This baby does it all!

Lux's burst combo is what makes her so damn good. I find it best to use it exactly how I state below, but it is not a must.

Combo
[1]Land a Light Binding
[x]Skip step 2 if enemy has any tenacity items!
[2]Follow up with a single auto attack
[x]Step 2 is the reason I max out Lucent Singularity first, the extra slow allows you to get the auto attack off with enough time to finish your combo!
[3]Once a Light Binding hits your target cast Lucent Singularity below them.
[x]Do not auto attack again after casting Lucent Singularity. They won't be marked and they will be able to try to dodge the rest of your combo.
[x]DO NOT DETONATE Lucent Singularity
[4]Cast finales funkeln
[5]Auto Attack
[6]Detonate Lucent Singularity


This is an extreme version of Lux's burst combo. It doesn't have to be used in this order, but this is how you get the most damage with least risk of missing. Remember Lux is 100% skill shots, so missing any one of her skills can happen!

Your runes can be whatever you are most comfortable with. Mine are a personal preference. Therefore I will not go into great detail of why I take these runes. Please try to remember this is a ranked build, so you should have an understanding of what you are comfortable using.

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: I take these quints, because I take two gold per 5 items at the start. This simply allows me to harass better early game. I do not use the ability power per level, because I like to have the early game harass.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Magic pen for the additional damage. They come in handy.
  
• greater seal of Replenishment: As stated in Lux's cons, her skills can drain her mana quickly. These runes help me stay in lane longer.
  
• Greater Glyph of Ability Power: This is the same as the quints.

I choose to use the standard 9/0/21 mage masteries. This is mainly for the extra 9% CD reduction. I highly recommend using a 9/0/21 variation, unless you use CD runes.

Teleport I bring teleport so that I can recall and return to lane much faster. This in turn allows me greater harass in lane. It is also a fantastic summoner to have if the enemy mid goes to gank top or bot. Simply tele to the lane and gank them instead!


FlashThe ultimate get out of jail free card. This one summoner has saved me from my own stupidity so many times! USE IT!



Clairvoyance can replace teleport if your team has no support running CV.


Ignite can replace teleport, highly advise against this. Odds are you can burst enough to kill anyone on the enemy team, minus tank mid to late game. No real need, just a cushion.

This is my skill sequence for 99% of my games. The main reason being for Lux's burst combo. However, by maxing her E Lucent Singularity first, it allows you to push your lane faster. Maxing Lucent Singularity first also helps when getting ganked, because the slow keeps them off you.

Maxing Q Light Binding second is purely for the additional damage. This means if you need to, and I mean REALLY need to, you can max W Prismatic Barrier before Light Binding.

Of course you add 1 point into R Finales Funkeln at 6, 11, and 16.

Lux should never be the first pick for your team! Watch for what ap carry the enemy team will have mid. Lux is countered by champions that have good evasion, so if they pick Kassadin or LeBlanc DON'T take Lux. Lux can also be countered by hard cc or silence, so Annie is also one to avoid playing as Lux against.

Remember that even if you are extremely skilled with Lux, someone can be equally as good with a counter champion, and therefore DON'T risk losing your lane just to play Lux.

Last hit, Last hit, and then last hit some more. The main thing to know is that spamming spells is going to leave you.......... out of mana = OOM. Too many people don't know what oom means! Another reason not to harass constantly is because you want your enemy to get confident, aggressive. This leaves them WIDE open to well placed harass.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ The best time for your first recall is when you have enough gold for philosopher's stone and Boots, 715 gold. If you know your jungler will give you second blue, try to recall before it spawns. Even if you don't have enough gold to get Boots recall for the philosopher's stone. Getting your gold per 10's quickly is very important. You want them to pay for themselves before you sell them! The worst thing to do is to recall with blue!

Once you have Boots and philosopher's stone you should be able to lane for quite a while. Remember that once you hit level 6, look for that perfect chance for your burst combo!

Recall when needed, and grab Heart of Gold and either finish Sorcerer's Shoes or if you have enough gold, grab a Needlessly Large Rod.

Keep farming, and begin to watch for pushed lanes that need help. Remember teleport can be used to return to your lane after a gank, or to gank sooner!

Mid game is where you really shine. Finish your Rabadon's Deathcap and work on your Lich Bane.

Keep Farming! Remember that on average 14 minions is equal to one kill.

Now is when team fights should start to become frequent. Your job is to stay at a safe range and nuke. If someone gets low, cast Prismatic Barrier it saves lives! Remember not to use Finales Funkeln till after you mark a few enemies with Illumination by casting Lucent Singularity. If you land a binding, follow up with your combo! Don't be afraid to steal a kill with Finales Funkeln if you think the enemy has any chance of getting away.

Grab blue when it is up, and if you kill more than 2 of the enemy team, get your team to that baron! Early baron lets you push much harder, and you get to have an exact respawn time for baron. Don't let your team farm jungle after baron, get them together and PUSH.

Late game is pretty much made up of stopping minion pushes and team fights. Stick with you team! Lux is not a backdoor champion, so don't try to. Place wards! You should place wards in early and mid game as well, but late game not having vision can cost you the game. Remember to check bushes with Lucent Singularity before placing a ward in it.

When pushing the enemy base, take 1 inhib and move to the nexus towers! Moving to other inhibs at late game gives extra time for enemy respawns! Take out those towers and the win is in reach!

Not much else to say on late game. It is all about teamwork really.

By this point you should have an understanding of how to play Lux and are wondering about my item choice, and why I don't give you a finished build. Let me explain that here.

philosopher's stone is great for the 18 health regen and 8 mana regen. It also gives you 5 gold per 10 seconds. A great item all in all, and only 800 gold. This item pays for itself after having it for about 27 minutes.

Heart of Gold is mainly for the additional hp. However, like the philosopher's stone it gives you 5 gold per 10 seconds. This item's extra hp has saved me from burst damage so many times. Always worth the purchase! This item pays for itself after having it for about 27 minutes.

Sorcerer's Shoes are great for the magic pen. They can be swapped for Mercury's Treads for the tenacity if the enemy team is CC heavy or Ionian Boots of Lucidity if your jungle isn't giving you blue. The Sorcerer's Shoes work best for me, so find what works best for you.

Rabadon's Deathcap is the #1 item for most ap carries. It gives 140 flat ap, and an additional 30% of all your ap. This means you get 182 ap excluding ap from your runes and masteries. Worth every penny.

Lich Bane is an awesome item alone, but when paired with Illumination, it is godly. The stats alone on it are impressive, 80 ap, 350 mana, 30 magic resist, and 7% movement speed. What makes it so great is it's passive. You deal 100% of your ap as physical damage, after casting a spell. The passive makes it worthy of being a core item.

Remember to always buy the Rabadon's Deathcap before you buy the Lich Bane or you won't get much out of the passive!


If needed I can add those items in, but I would like to allow you to figure out what works best for you and when!

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I know two games aren't much, but I did want to give a little insight into how well this build works for myself. Also try to realize that Lux is not always the best pick!

This guide is to help you become better at playing Lux. Do not read this and go play ranked right away. Play her in normal or co-op vs AI to get a feel for how she is played. Find what you are having trouble with and focus on improving that.

Having trouble last hitting? Play a custom game by yourself and learn the timing.

Having trouble landing Light Binding? Use Lucent Singularity before casting Light Binding for the slow.

Please feel free to ask any other questions.

This is my first build, so any tips on how to improve it would be great. Thanks for reading!