Lux Build Guide by lemonpepsiking

Introduction

-Dr. Evil
Lux is an AP nuke that can decimate the enemy team before a fight even begins. With her massive range and low cooldowns, she can be a very helpful addition to any team. Once you understand her, you'll be shoop da whoopin everywhere.

Side note:

This is my first guide for Mobafire, any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Please enjoy.

Pros / Cons

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Pros +Awesome Range +High Damage +Lots of CC +Protective Capabilities +Low Cooldown on Finales Funkeln +Fantastic Damage with Illumination

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Cons -Squishy -No escape spells (without Flash) -Quite mana dependant -As with most AP carries, once her cooldowns are blown, shes practically useless[/column]

Runes

• Greater Quintessence of Health: These quints greatly aid in Lux's early game which will set you up for the later part.
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Good all around Marks to have on any AP carry really
• greater seal of Replenishment: Lux is incredibly mana dependent, so having these really help with the early game when you lack the extra Mana regen.
• Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: These Glyphs somewhat "finish off" what was provided with items. Makes the 24 second cooldown Finales Funkeln possible.

Alternatively, you could go for Greater Quintessence of Ability Power if you would like some greater early damage, but I prefer having the bonus health.

Masteries

In my opinion, these masteries provide Lux with a very strong beginning survivability, with a smaller, but still significant impact on later game. They also provide Lux with some decent beginning game damage since the runes that we are currently using won't give too much starting AP.

Abilities

Passive:
Illumination is, in my opinion, is what makes Lux so versatile. It allows for damage on hit effects such as Red Buff, say from a foolish jungler, or Sheen, Lich Bane to be very effective on Lux. What it does is, after you damage an enemy using one of her abilities, it leaves an Illumination debuff on the enemy that can be detonated by her auto attack for a certain amount of damage based on her level. Great for harassment, and nothing is better than watching an enemy run because they have the debuff on them.

Light Binding is a skill shot that hits up to 2 enemy units, therefore allows a bit of leeway when the target is behind a group of minions. It is great for keeping an enemy still in order to more accurately land Lucent Singularity or FINALES FUNKELN.

Lux sends out an orb of light that, when reaches its maximum distance, comes back to Lux wherever she is. It is great for during teamfights, as it can shield more than one ally and will give a fresh shield on the way out and back in. During laning phase, I find this ability most useful for enemies such as Cassiopeia or Brand that deal a large bit of DoT damage. Cannot count how many times this has saved me from being killed by Ignite, making it the perfect ability to have in mid lane.

Lux sends out a circle of light that slows all enemies inside and deals damage when Lux chooses to detonate it. The great thing about this ability is that you can choose when to detonate is, allowing for maximum slow, or lane control. This ability is also quite good for farming, I choose to max this ability first due to its ease in aiming and multiple uses.

FINALES FUNKELNYup, this is where Lux puts the whoop in shoop da whoop. Lux fires a skill shot with massive range that deals damage to all enemies. This ability will also trigger the activation of any on enemies that it hits, dealing extra damage, afterward, leaving another debuff. This ability is also quite useful with since the shot would be much easier on a non moving target. The decent damage+long range allows for Lux to secure many kills that would otherwise be unattainable.

Skill Sequence

I put a point into this immediately in order to gain the bind that will greatly help in all of the other skill shots Lux has. However, since the skill is blockable by minions it makes for a very situational ability that if you can learn to hold until the right time, won't be needed when its on cooldown.

I grab a point in this at level 2 and max it first because this is going to be your best friend when you want to harass and get lane control. Maxing this first gives it some great early damage, even when your low on AP.

I used to consider this skill to be worthless on Lux since the beginning value for the shield is so low. However, maxing it second gives it great value, especially during team fights where your team is bound to take some AoE damage.

FINALES FUNKELNAs with all ultimates, you will want to put a point into this whenever you can. Getting that cooldown lower will make the enemy qq wondering if your hacking to get such a low cooldown.

Items

For your benefit and mine, I won't be discussing all the items listed in the build order since that would be definitely too long, so here are the main items along with some items that I would definitely understand getting instead.

Recommended

These are pretty standard for AP carries as they make all of your spells do more damage. Try to get these somewhat early as with Lux, usually the best defense is not being hit at all.

Deathfire Grasp is debatable. I enjoy it because since Lux is such a squishy character, a lot of people get too close to try to ensure a kill. Just bind them with Light Binding, and they are an easy target to use the active on for a fantastic nuke. The extra mana regen and cooldown reduction are also fantastic as you can use your abilities more often, without draining your mana pool.

Once again, for this items mana regen and cooldown reduction this makes for an excellent item on Lux. The extra 80 ability power aren't bad as well.

UPDATE:

Deathfire Grasp and Morello's Evil Tome have been getting quite the criticism in the comments, and I cannot disagree with it. These items, along with the current runes and masteries tend to get Lux over the 40% cooldown reduction barrier. The reason that I usually use these is that I don't usually get to have blue buff since I often have a greedy jungler. If you know that your jungler is going to give your blue buff often, or that you can steal the other quite easily, feel free to change these out with Zhonya's Hourglass or ARCH ANGEL'S STAFF for some nice AP or survivability. Thanks to all in the comments for directing me to clear this up.

Rabadon's Deathcap is what puts the kick in all of your abilities. With the extra AP that this item provides along with your other items, the 30% bonus should get you around 300-400 AP.

Getting RYLAI'S CRYSTAL for it's slow is debatable. I usually get this item just to increase Lux survivability and dissuade enemies from focusing her immediately, must admit, you don't really want to focus someone with more bars of health than you have.

Lich Bane syncs with Illumination so well that I consider it a must for late game Lux when you should have around 700 AP. This items passive combined with Illumination make for a good 900+ damage auto attack.

Although Sheen is apart of Lich Bane I often build this early, as it provides a decent amount of early mana and AP. The biggest reason though, is that although you do build AP, this items passive really adds a kick to early Illumination hits. In the build guide I didn't get this early, but its really situational depending upon your opponent in mid, such as if they have long enough cooldown you feel safe to use your auto attack quite often on them.

Acceptable Replacements

I used to get these a lot, but I found that my damage just wasn't where I wanted it to be. They aren't bad boots, but I just prefer Sorcerer's Shoes.

Will of the Ancients is fantastic. With the 20% spellvamp, it provides great lane sustainability. I occasionally get this item if it looks like the biggest damage from my team is going to AP, since the spell vamp and additional AP will greatly aid your team during teamfights.

With 100 AP and 75 armor, Zhonya's Hourglass is a decent replacement for Rylai's Crystal Scepter. It's also fantastic if your team doesn't really know how to protect its carries and you often find yourself being focused right off the bat.

If you often find that you completely dominate in your lane, then Mejai's Soulstealer may not be too bad to get. However, in most cases, once people see that you are building this, you are now incredibly popular to the enemy team! It's a good item if your sure to pubstomp the enemy team.

Can't deny, it is a good mid game item to have. It will provide you with some nice HP and AP. However, in my opinion this item somewhat loses importance late game.

If you plan on using this item, I would definitely get Rod of Ages and perhaps Banshee's Veil along with it, to maximize the amount of AP you get from your mana. I usually don't get this because I want as much early damage as possible, and with this, it takes a little time to charge your Tear of the Goddess.

Summoner Spells

Recommended

This is an all around good SS to have. Provides a great escape tool and allows room for you to be sneaky and surprise your opponent in mid. Since Lux doesn't have any escape tools, in this case I'm not considering Light Binding or Lucent Singularity to be an escape tool, although they can be used to gain distance until safety.

Cannot count how many times this has secured me a kill in mid lane. I almost want to say that it is a must have for Lux going mid lane, but we all know that there are multiple ways to dominate.

Alternatives

Not a bad SS if you want a little more assurance that your laser will hit a low hp enemy, however after awhile you learn where to assume your enemy is going to be.

This SS will probably be useful for you if your trying out any mana dependent AP champ. I used to be so wasteful with mana, but having this SS doesn't really teach you how to conserve it. Use this if you have to, but after awhile you'll learn how to slow down your mana consumption.

I had to put this in here because I often see, or participate in a Lux support on bottom lane. Won't go into the details in this guide, but it is possible. I prefer to take Heal because often I can't anticipate the AD carry's suicidal tendencies and have no other way of saving him/her.

Laning Phase

This is by far the most important phase of the game for Lux. Doing well here ensures that not only Lux will be strong, but your enemy will be weaker than usual and it will be an easy lane to push until team fighting phase. Farming is quite simple, Lux's attack animation is quite fast, allowing for easy last hitting. Lucent Singularity also provides an excellent way to lower the minions, then finish them off with Illumination. When you kill your lane opponent, or just need to go back, grab a couple of wards and pots. When warding, you will want to prioritize certain areas until the team fighting phase begins.

Mid Lane Opponents

Ahri isn't too much of a challenge when laning as Lux. As long as you don't allow yourself to be open to her Charm, as Lux it is much more useful to be able to dodge abilities rather than tank them. Against Ahri all you have to do is keep up your harass until you see an opening for the kill.

Going against Akali is quite easy with Lux as long as you know how to abuse your range. Until Akali gets to level 6, it should be quite easy to harass her, as she will mainly only be able to use Mark of the Assassin to harass back. It is crucial to take advantage of this time, since once she gets her Shadow Dance she can usually gain an advantage. One suggestion if she is level 6 and you don't have the advantage, is once you leaps to you, use Light Binding and try to gain more distance, preferably towards your turret, harassing with Illumination and Lucent Singularity.

Anivia is another champion that you shouldn't have too much problem with as Lux. As long as you aren't too predictable in your movements Anivia should have problems landing her Flash Frost and therefore her damage would be significantly reduced. One thing with fighting against Anivia is that you mustn't forget her passive: Rebirth. I've seen countless Lux land a difficult FINALES FUNKELN only to see an "intimidating" egg being protected by it's turret.

Keeping your distance is key to fighting against Annie. Using Lucent Singularity to harass safely will allow you to gain an intimidation factor when getting close to land Light Binding followed by FINALES FUNKELN to finish. Your worst fear when fighting Annie is seeing that "mist" around her. That means that her passive: PYROMANIA] is active and her next offensive spell will stun you. Getting stunned as [[LUX is your greatest fear, as your extreme squishiness will ultimately be your downfall, not to mention Summon: Tibbers.

Brand is one of those champs that make you grateful for your Prismatic Barrier. Say he hits you with any of his abilities and his passive: Blaze gets on you. Simply throw out Prismatic Barrier and you cut down his harassment drastically. Not to mention that Brand's Sear and Pillar of Flame are both skill shots, meaning that if you can anticipate it, you can avoid the damage all together.

Cassiopeia is another champ that makes you really glad for your Prismatic Barrier. If she hits you with Noxious Blast you can throw Prismatic Barrier, start moving back with the aid of Light Binding or Lucent Singularity so she cant hit you with Twin Fang. A great part about Lux is that while casting FINALES FUNKELN I have noticed that the spell isn't cancelled if you get hit by Petrifying Gaze, which makes for some assurance if you know that you can't finish her off without her using it. Note: you have to already be channeling FINALES FUNKELN before she uses Petrifying Gaze otherwise you will be stunned as usual giving no damage.

Though not a common opponent in mid lane, Ezreal can provide a few challenges to Lux. Mainly you should treat him as any other opponent, harrasing with Lucent Singularity while trying to dodge Mystic Shot as much as you can. If he Arcane Shift up to you, try to hit him with Light Binding to keep him on your side of the lane, where possibly your minions could be, dealing tons of damage. When using FINALES FUNKELN, Ezreal is not your friend. Using Arcane Shift makes for a decent way to dodge FINALES FUNKELN, so try to force him to use Arcane Shift before you use FINALES FUNKELN.

Fiddlesticks is rare to go against in mid lane, but if you do find yourself against him, be happy that you are Lux. Abuse your range advantage when fighting Fiddlesticks. If he does manage to get Drain on you, then use Prismatic Barrier while running away or Ignite in order to make his regeneration more manageable.
There is no greater feeling then seeing a Fiddlesticks prime Crowstorm and getting your Light Binding on him before he teleports. Watching him sit there and waste that ultimate ensures that the enemy Fiddlesticks will surely be frustrated.

Fizz is one of those pesky melee champs that have found their way into a mainly ranged lane. The best advice I can give for you when fighting Fizz as Lux is to be patient. Being melee, Fizz has to find a way to get up to you, most of the time using Urchin Strike to safely hit you and running away with PLAYFUL/TRICKSTER. After he does this, you must take advantage of his temporary vulnerability to your range. Landing Lucent Singularity will make it easier to hit Light Binding, ensure that you will deal much damage. Another difficult aspect of Fizz is that his PLAYFUL/TRICKSTER ability makes him able to dodge FINALES FUNKELN. A helpful tip when fighting Fizz is to use Prismatic Barrier after he hits you with an auto attack, blocking some of the damage of Seastone Trident.

Laning against Galio can mean that your in for a pretty low amount of lane kills. I recommend that you try to get him as early as you can since, he will undoubtedly be getting a decent amount of magic resistance as soon as he can. Your best defense here is your Boots of Speed in order to dodge his METEOR STRIKE. During a team fight, if you are not caught in his Idol of Durand, use Prismatic Barrier to try and save your team from the damage that will soon follow.

Gragas was one of my favorite champs, and a good one can be difficult to lane against. My best advice is to keep harass him to keep him from gaining too much back from Happy Hour. Once you get to be able to anticipate where he will use Barrel Roll, you can avoid most of his damage. Positioning is key when fight against Gragas as you must always be aware of when he could use Explosive Cask to really get your out of position.

Heimerdinger is a pushing machine that can really do some damage if your not careful. In order to successfully lane against him, you must take advantage of Lux's range. If you try to get into an "argument" at too close of a range before you've made your "point", a quick CH-1 Concussion Grenade followed by Hextech Micro-Rockets will be his main "points" and you can't do much but agree. Fortunately, he is squishy early on and therefore you can beat him if you play smart.

Karma I don't usually see in mid lane, for which there is a reason. She does tend to deal a decent amount of damage and her Soul Shield dissuades you from dealing damage while also doing some damage as well.

Karthus is one of those champs that Lux shouldn't really have a problem with. Your greatest strength when fighting Karthus is your ability to dodge his Lay Waste. A tip for when fighting Karthus is when you decide you wish to go in with Light Binding and detonate Illumination is to throw out Prismatic Barrier because you are likely to take some damage. You must also be wary of his Wall of Pain, if he gets you with it throw out Prismatic Barrier and try to stop him from following you with Light Binding otherwise you may take quite a bit of damage. In summary, abuse your range with Lucent Singularity and FINALES FUNKELN and never forget to shout out to your team when Karthus is level 6 due to his Requiem.

If you are going against Kassadin in mid lane, you have my sympathy. The best advice I can give to you is to really take advantage of your range on him before he is level 6, and therefore his Riftwalk. However, once he does get to level 6, be prepared for his Riftwalk, Null Sphere, and Force Pulse combo. The best advice I can give you, is to learn how to anticipate his moves and try to land a Light Binding where you think he will be so you can get him to stand still long enough for the silence from Null Sphere to wear off and you can get some nice damage from Lucent Singularity and FINALES FUNKELN.

Katarina often doesn't pose too many problems with me as Lux in middle lane. As with all melee mids, abuse your range in order to dissuade her from jumping in with Shunpo and risking death just to harass back. One thing I see with a lot of mids that go against Katarina is that they try to run from Bouncing Blades after it starts heading towards them, sometimes even using Flash. If the blade is heading towards you, there is no escape, so instead of running, harass back with Lucent Singularity and Illumination. If she follows up with Shunpo, punish her with Light Binding so she knows not to go near you.

Kennen is about an average difficulty mid lane opponent for Lux. You must always try to dodge Thundering Shuriken, and when you see him use Lightning Rush and starts heading towards you, use Light Binding but KEEP MOVING in order to get a chance to dodge his Thundering Shuriken. Sometimes I find myself with 2 Mark of the Storm marks on me. In those situations I tend to just play it safe closer to my turret than usual in order to avoid the stun and the free damage it will give to Kennen.

NOT a fun champion to go against in mid if she knows what she is doing. Difficult to gank, and some massive damage once she gets to level 6 and learns Mimic. If she does hit you with Sigil of Silence followed by Mimic you have my sympathy. That combo will definitely make you cry as with Lux's squishiness it usually amounts to about more than half your health. My best advice when fighting LeBlanc is to harass her quite a bit before level 6, and once she gets to that point, play it safe until team fighting stage. If you find yourself on the wrong side of a turret dive, your best hope is to try and land Light Binding before she silences you so you give her something else to worry about.

Have to love mirrors. Going against Lux as Lux is rather fun in my opinion. Play head games with each other while you try to dodge your enemy's harass while trying to give your own. Your best advantage during moments like these, is being more agile than the other Lux. This makes it easier to land Light Binding followed by Lucent Singularity. Be happy though, because your squishinesss is also your friend because the other Lux will also be quite squishy.

Going against Malzahar makes you happy to have Prismatic Barrier. If he lands Malefic Visions on you, either directly or from a minion (which you should try to avoid), throw out Prismatic Barrier to avoid most, if not all the damage. Your biggest fear should be his Null Zone/ Nether Grasp combo. Most likely, he will also have a jungler there to gank you once he begin this, just hope that you will have time to Flash away before you are dead. Other than that, harass with your Lucent Singularity and Illumination to gain lane control.

Prepare to be pushed my friend. Mordekaiser is a difficult person to lane against, as his abilities make it so easy to push with so little danger of harassment from his opponent. Luckily, this is also an advantage with you. Mordekaiser must push in order to gain his shield, his greatest advantage. This makes him quite vulnerable to a gank from your jungler. A tip for when he uses Children of the Grave on you, throw out Prismatic Barrier to save yourself.

Kinda a fun lane to have. I always enjoy the challenge of going against someone that is quite similar to Lux in her first abillities. Your greatest advantage is that your Light Binding has 2 binds instead of Morgana's Dark Binding only having 1. Best advice I can give it so keep up your harassment until she puts up her Black Shield, in which case stop using abilities on her and wait for it to go out. When using FINALES FUNKELN to finish her off Morgana you must always remember if she can use Black Shield to save herself, putting Ignite on her will just increase your chances of landing the killing blow.

Be happy you got your boots first when you go against NIDALEE]. Your best defense here is to dodge [[JAVELIN TOSS] while harassing with [[LUCENT SINGULARITY. If you happen to get hit with Bushwhack throw out Prismatic Barrier to save your health. If she starts jumping at you in Aspect Of The Cougar use Light Binding in order to keep her at bay. If you harass right, you will have her using Primal Surge quite often and burning through mana, which with the build that I'm using shouldn't be a problem that you would have with or without blue buff.

Keep your eye on the ball when going against Orianna. With Orianna, positioning is key, which makes your Boots of Speed a good thing to have. If you see Orianna getting close to you, that's a good indication that she is about to use Command: Attack followed by Command: Dissonance. If you can avoid her damage, harass her as with other people and use FINALES FUNKELN for the kill.

Going against mana hungry Ryze is all about taking advantage of your early burst and range. Often, I see Ryze early on spamming his abilities in order to charge Tear of the Goddess. This creates an opening for Lux to land some harassment. Also try to use the fantastic range of Lucent Singularity in order to get some safe harassment on him.

Boots are your best friend when going against Swain in mid lane. Your best strategy is to dodge Nevermove and then go in and dominate. If he lands Torment on you, use Prismatic Barrier to avoid some damage. If you feel that it is time to try to kill Swain, be sure to have Ignite up in order to cut down the heal that Ravenous Flock would give to him, and therefore make him easier to handle.

Teemo knows your pain when it comes to being squishy, but you can't allow your sympathy to keep you from harassing him like crazy. Use Lucent Singularity on him in order to harass. You may find detonating Illumination on Teemo difficult due to his Blinding Dart so often times I just don't even detonate it and just go with the damage on Lucent Singularity alone. If Teemo manages to go stealth using CAMOFLAGE and you see where he is, throw down a Lucent Singularity to dissuade him from doing it again. Once you both reach level 6, he may start putting down Noxious Trap in your lane. If he manages to get you with one, throw out Prismatic Barrier and save yourself some health.

Twisted Fate makes you happy to have gotten Boots of Speed. If he uses Wild Cards you will be able to dodge them most of the time. Otherwise, harass as you normally would, but be wary of his Pick A Card stun, if you see the yellow card over him, move back.

Veigar is one of those champs that makes being an AP mid somewhat difficult. If you can, harass him enough to not let him get too much AP from Baleful Strike. One of the most annoying aspects of Veigar is his Event Horizon. If you can anticipate that he will place it, try not to get yourself stunned by being on the outside, or even on the inside is definitely better situation than being stunned. Once he gets to level 6, you really need to be cautious of Event Horizon. If he gets you with it, you can expect Deathfire Grasp + Dark Matter + Baleful Strike + Primordial Burst which can leave you dead, or wishing you were. The best advice I can give when fighting Veigar as Lux is to wait until his Event Horizon is on cooldown and then strike.

Mobility is your friend yet again when fighting against Viktor. Death Ray can be easily dodged, and it is pretty easy to avoid Gravity Field. If he hits you with Power Transfer, then return the damage in kind with a good Lucent Singularity + Illumination. If he hits you with ( Augment: Death Death Ray) or Chaos Storm then use Prismatic Barrier to try to avoid some of the damage.

Vladimir is a difficult champion to lane against in mid. With his constant regeneration from Transfusion and eventually Will of the Ancients, he makes for harassing difficult. Start your damage early on and try to keep the advantage. If you begin to fight him in an either you will die or he will die situation, use Ignite and hope for the best. If he gets Hemoplague on you, then try to time Prismatic Barrier correctly to save yourself from some of the damage. When using FINALES FUNKELN to finish him off, always care for his Sanguine Pool, it will save him from all of your damage. Also note that if you have him in Light Binding, he can still use Sanguine Pool.

When fighting Xerath its all about timing. Wait for him to use Arcanopulse and try to dodge, which shouldn't be too difficult if you have Boots of Speed or Sorcerer's Shoes. Once he's used that, try to harass him as much as you can. In order to use Locus of Power, he has to root himself. That is the perfect opportunity to use Lucent Singularity and then Illumination. Always care for Mage Chains and Arcane Barrage as it is an easy way to stun you, and then deal TONS of damage.

All of ZIGG's abilities are skill shots, which means you can dodge them. However, when it comes to his Hexplosive Minefield sometimes that is difficult. If you find yourself in the middle of Hexplosive Minefield, use Prismatic Barrier. The same goes for Mega Inferno Bomb, if you see it coming get out or shield up. In the case of his passive: Short Fuse, if he tries to approach you, use Light Binding+ Illumination+ Lucent Singularity+ Illumination to make him think twice about doing that again.

]You'll be getting more and more thankful for Prismatic Barrier as you play Lux especially when it comes to Zilean. If he gets Time Bomb on you, try to time it to Prismatic Barrier and you won't take the full blast. Try to stay out of the range of his Time Bomb as with Rewind he can do 2 Time Bombs in very quick succession. If you manage to "kill" him and he uses CHRONOSHIFT, use Lucent Singularity in the direction of his turret in order to slow him as much as possible before you deal the damage.

If you have any suggestions on specific champs I should add to this list please let me know. If you also have any disagreements or editions you would like to tell me, I would be happy to know. I read every comment and always consider the suggestions. Thank you.

Teamfights

During team fights, it is your duty to not only do a decent amount of AoE damage, but also to shield your allies with Prismatic Barrier. Lux's wet dream, and any player that learns how to use her, it to find a team fight where all the enemies are grouped up. Throw out a Light Binding followed by using then immediately detonating Lucent Singularity and then shoop da whoopin with FINALES FUNKELN for "tons of damage'. All while this is happening throw out a well aimed Prismatic Barrier and you will shield around 1000-1200 damage for its duration counting your entire team.

Summary

In summary, Lux is an amazing AP nuke that can keep your enemies where they are, and punish them for being out of position. With FINALES FUNKELN, she can secure kills, or just eliminate half of the enemy team's hp in a single blow. Just remember that after you dominate the enemy team you laugh in their faces with the best/worst laugh in the game. Please Upvote if you enjoyed the guide, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a compilation video I made over about 4 matches with Lux showing some moments I thought were pretty nice.

Must give credit to jhoijhoi for his incredibly helpful guide of making a guide. Here is a link for his guide, this wouldn't have been possible without it. Your text to link here...