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Lux Build Guide by Bronze 5 Jinx

AP Carry Lux The Light Prestidigitator

AP Carry Lux The Light Prestidigitator

Updated on July 30, 2014
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Bronze 5 Jinx Build Guide By Bronze 5 Jinx 19,871 Views 22 Comments
19,871 Views 22 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Bronze 5 Jinx Lux Build Guide By Bronze 5 Jinx Updated on July 30, 2014
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Intro


Hi, I am Krishn and I have made a guide on how to master Lux. I will answer questions such as how to be OP with her? How to counter her counters? And most importantly, how to play her to win games.

Thank you for choosing my guide

I have split this guide into four parts:

Part I: Basics And Build
Part II: Items
Part III: Skills
Part IV: Play
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My Lux Stats



My Season 4 Lux Statistics


To instill confidence in you that I understand Lux, I have included my Season 4 Statistics:



For my Season 3 Statistics, please click the spoiler:


S3 Lux Stats
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Pros And Cons

Advantages
Pros

+ Ridiculously fun;
+ Few counters+OP Early, mid AND late since 4.13 buff;
+ OP Passive;
+ Potential to turn a losing game into a win from fog of war abilities

Being a very long range poking champion with a shield makes her a very safe pick.

Disadvantages
Cons

+ Countered by gap closers;
+ Entirely skillshot reliant;
+ Countered by Gap Closers (but not always);

Small disadvantages like mana and cdr can be solved by a single item. I personally recommend Morellonomicon. It's a small problem, do not blow it out of proportion. CDR is very nice on her, but you DO NOT NEED 40% cdr in the lane. 1 item is enough, or you fail to produce enough damage.

Ultimately her advantages far overcome her disadvantages.

Reflecting On Her Advantages And Disadvantages


*His counters all of your abilities with the exception of final flash and he is very mobile. This makes him more of a counter for Lux.

When Should You Pick Lux?

In solo queue, pick Lux as a counterpick (she counters AOE champions!). Avoid picking her against gap closers, as her snare cannot stop them closing the gap (if they use a blink before or during your snare, they will close the distance).

Also avoid picking her against early health stackers like a Mundo top. She struggles a lot in nuking them.

In ranked 5v5, pick her in seige/poke/protect the adc comps. The initial two are because she has the longest range (second to ). The latter because she is essentially a killer support. Her huge shields and double snares help the ADC alot.

Use this vid to learn more (watch till 7:24)
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Summoners, Runes and Masteries

Summoners

is core to Lux. She has low initial mobility hence needs it to survive early ganks. Her long range limits needing to use it always. Sometimes you do not have vision of the jungler (which is why you should ward frequently), so this spell can save you. Always for a kill you can definitely take. Try to save it otherwise for teamfights, but use it to save you (or you give and lose gold by 'feeding' and not being able to farm)

For countering assassins, take or to counter their bursts. should be used against Talon/assassins whose burst you cannot counter by alone. Otherwise use exclusively.

If you feel like you can definitely beat your opponent, take for the kill or to provide map pressure.

Runes

I prefer Magic Penetration Marks to maximise the damage of her passive. I like scaling AP glyphs so her damage peaks at level 6. Further I like AP Quintessences so her early laning phase is not too bad.

I change seals depends on my opponent. Flat armor seals against AD mids or Scaling Health seals against AP mids. If I am unsure who I am facing, I use 4 Armor seals and the rest scaling health seals.

Masteries

I choose the masteries that Faker uses (see above). I specifically like his mastery page of 21-0-9 as for some he has not fully maxed out some masteries so that he can put 1 point in other masteries. This is to get most of the benefits of having both masteries.

Lux has low AP damage generally, so she always relies on 21-0-9. She requires 9 utility masteries so that her blue buff lasts longer.
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Items



Here is a quick vid about starter items made by a Season 2 World Championship winning Mid Laner. Read the subtitles VERY carefully. Watch up till 4:00:



Starter Items


The BEST start is 2 Health Potions and Doran's Ring. If you want to rush boots, get 3 Health potions and 2 Faerie charms for boots and an earlier chalice/totem. Only get a second Doran's Ring if you are behind/really need the sustain.

Start 2 Health Potions and Doran's Ring vs AD. The catch is that you should get a second Doran's Ring for sustain and then get a Seeker's Armguard for survivability (ADs hurt APs quite a bit). Then proceed into Morellonomicon and Sorcerer's Shoes.

Core Items

Tear, Morellonomicon, Sorcerer's Shoes, Rabadon's Deathcap and Voidstaff are her core. I recommend Zhonya's Hourglass before Voidstaff if they are not stacking MR early for its active, armor and AP.

Why Tear And Morellonomicon and not Athenes Unholy Grail? :

Athenes used to give a nice MR bonus, but now it is nerfed (patch 4.13) and useless when built. Nevertheless Lux's range is immense and you should always abuse this by keeping your distance. Lux is all about burst, so always opt for Morellonomicon.

Always remember to keep your distance and ward. Skipping either can get you killed. Being close for too long lets you get jumped on, not warding lets you get ganked with ease.

Why Zhonya's Hourglass And Not Liandry's Torment? :

Liandry's should ONLY be built against HEAVY health stacking champions like Mundo (usually seen top lane). Even then, I do not recommend getting it. I recommend buying haunting guise at most when you are ahead (and preferably selling that for voidstaff end game).

Zhonyas gives you a very overpowered passive. It allows you to ignore your opponents burst if you use it when they attack. I usually get this before Voidstaff since Voidstaff is a late game item (buy it early if your opponent rushes more than 40 MR).

Other Core Items:

Mejai's Soulstealer is great for snowballing out of control. Also if you won your lane but others haven't, you can use this item to get even stronger and help carry your laners (feed them kills!). Tip: You can gain assists with ease simply by throwing your shield to a single team mate.

Twin Shadows is not very good early on Lux despite its good stats. You would want your core first. Buying this item is situational since it does not heavily increase your skillshot landing ability. Rabadon's Deathcape, Morellonomicon etc. are very core to Lux and should not be delayed with a mediocre item. It however unstealths champions, useful if you are versing Talon.

Quicksilver Sash should be rushed when versing or which can kill you with their ultimates.

Lich Bane is not really good on Lux since she is a very long ranged champion (so cannot utilise its passive well enough). However, if you are fed and ahead, it could help you with getting objectives and single way close combat in the jungle.

Your Last Item!

Your last item is up to you. You can pick anything, but, I do not recommend Guardian Angel unless if you are certain you will respawn with enough mana to be useful. Like most mids, Lux is very mana reliant.

I recommend buying either another CDR item to make you less Blue Buff Reliant, Banshee's Veil to avoid being initiated upon or a Deathfire Grasp for a mixture of AP and CDR.

Boot Enchantments

There are only 2 Enchanments you should be choosing from.

1. Homeguards: Turns your Sorc Boots more similar to boots of mobility. Helps you get into lane faster or defend your base better.

2. Alacrity: The added movement speed counters one of Lux's weaknesses. Also extremely good for dodging skillshots.

I Alacrity for 50% of matches and Homeguards for 50% of matches. They are very situational.

Distortion enchantment sounds appealing if you have teleport and flash, but I feel it is lack luster compared to the previous 2 for Lux. I do not recommend, unless if you use ghost and flash on Lux for their enhancements.
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Lux's Spells



I know what you are thinking. Lux spells, I know what they are, I should skip this trash. Well I added some extra info incase you already know what they are. Unless if you are an expert at them, read this bit :D

However if you just want a brief overview of her spells, please watch this up till 2:21:




Illumination

When Lux uses a damaging spell, her target starts to glow. If Lux auto attacks them, this light explodes, dealing magical damage.

This damage increases depending on Lux's level and magic penetration can make it deal more damage. AP contrarily does not increase its damage.

It may be the reason why Lux's E does less damage than other AP mid main damage spells in general. Thus it is crucial that you proc it at every opportunity.

Her also procs .


Light Binding

This spell hard snares the target. It does not stun them, so they can still attack. It also penetrates the first target and snares the second target directly behind.

This spell can help you flee, such as snaring ganking junglers, it can also can enemy teleports if you use it on them. Try to avoid using it to farm minions when you are at risk of an initiation or gank. A good opponent will engage after you use it.

Your snare is a very powerful crowd control spell that can turn the tide of fights in mid lane.

It also leaves on target damaged.


Prismatic Barrier

This is Lux's shield. She throws her wand like a boomerang (travelling away and back to Lux) in a straight line. Whoever the wand penetrates gets a shield. This therefore shields Lux twice.

This spell is extremely useful for Lux when she has blue buff. You can keep spamming that shield when the opponent tries to harass you with their spells. It is also nice to throw it if you want to proc your passive/ entering unwarded areas/ saving team mates/ giving more temporary health if you are ignited.

Players often say this spell is over-hyped. It is not, you just need to remember to use it frequently. It literally provides a lot of health for yourself and your team mates and helps you win trades in mid lane. You will probably hit 2 team mates with it at most in the majority of team fights. That is enough as it does return back, which gives added shields.

Furthermore when running away, try to throw it in the direction you are running away in. That was you can get the returning wand, thus returning shield refresh sooner.

Likewise in laning phase, you can throw it behind you (backwards) so that the shield refresh takes longer to be applied. This makes your shield last longer.


Lucent Singularity

This is Lux's harassing spell. You should spam it whenever you are sure it will hit your opponent. Upon doing so, try to activate your passive.

Usually you should try to throw it under and behind your opponent as opponents tend to retreat when they see it on the ground. If you get really good at it, you can throw an auto attack mid air before bursting it so that when your auto attack collides, it procs your passive immediately.


Beware, it is a double edged sword. When you use it to harass, there is a strong chance that you will push your wave by hitting minions at the same time. Try to avoid this.

It also provides vision of the whole area the projectile goes over and lands. Use this to check brushes and even steal objectives in the fog of war.

Final Spark

This spell is what opponents dread of when they verse you. Your ultimate is a long ranged sniping lazer. It is not a global but it comes close to one in practicality.

You can use this to safely snipe fleeing targets, damage the side lane opponents in a gank, steal objectives, nuke an opponent, clear waves etc.

Your ultimate itself activates your , so after using or , you do not need to auto attack to proc your passive, your ultimate can also burst it.

You can also use it to snipe enemy blue buffs/dragons/barons or safely check that these camps are still present as it provides vision.

Here is a nice trick you can use to guarantee a hit with . Watch until 4:53:


Tricks you can do with her spells:

You can throw your , activate , then throw and activate against in a very short time period. If you use this during laning phase, you are sure to take huge chunks of Hp away from the opponent. With practice you can do this rapidly and they may not even notice you activating your passive so quickly.


When stealing dragon away from the jungler, throw your throw your , wait for the objective to get sufficiently low then your and then activate your to steal it. By doing this, you maximise your damage. Your leaves on the objective. Your activates the passive and your (which you should spam click to activate immediately after your ) helps secure the objective steal attempt by maximising your burst damage.


Reflecting On Her Kit
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The Order To Use Lux Spells

The Poke Combo

Harass Combo

Use this one to help harass whenever you have the opportunity: + (DON'T detonate!)> >detonate >

Execution Combo

Use this one to execute: + (DON'T detonate!)> >detonate >

For your first combo, try really hard to proc your rapidly. With practice you will be extremely proficient at it, and you will secure several kills, especially when they ; your fast timed auto attack could follow them and kill them. Furthermore try to learn the damage of for your 2nd combo. Remember that you do not do a huge amount of damage with it.

A whole video crammed with this combo, be sure to watch auto attacks carefully


Jungle Chase Combo

Sometimes when chasing an opponent, it may be best to use your before your :

This vid explains it very clearly. Watch till 4:20:


More Example Of This Combo


Here is an example of a perfect made by a veteran Lux player:

Note, you do not have to make the sound effects to land it.
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Important Warding Tips



How To Use The Best Way For Your Lane

I use skinned because they are naturally better wards.

Also before I explain, always take the mastery as it makes your early vision bigger (bigger range vision from trinket ).


The Unnecessarily Over-Comprehensive Key!

The Draven :

Red-I place wards here because: 1. It shows the most vision on the side; 2. It reveals jungler entry early enough so you can react, unlike the side brush; 3. It tells you when the jungler leaves the side brush, or if he is still waiting in it; 4. It is unlikely the junger will use / and remove it.
Cyan-Ah I lied, this isn't a ward, this is the vision shown by the turrets.
Yellow-I use this ward if I am versing a roaming champion like . I place it the moment I lose vision of them or before I base so I know if they roam bot lane. If you look at the cyan bit, you will know that the turret does not show that area where she roams. You can dodge her wards by roaming from that using the black pathway on her side of the map. Because her turret does not show that area.
Purple-I usually ward here if I am versing a match up that I usually own (like or victor) and overextending will not make me risk anything. I use this to steal wraiths from the enemy jungler or better yet, KILL the enemy jungler.
It is a great ward if your enemy jungler is because you can tell if she is near your mid lane just by using a simple .
Orange-This area is feed. That's right, bot lane is also known as feed (don't believe me? Ask any mid laner main). So try to help this area feed less by using the black pathway.

The !

I usually buy this if I get first blood and I stick it in a side brush. I do not bother using the brush near dragon because really everyone knows about that spot and remove the ward. Putting this brush is a side brush could potentially last between 10 mins to the entire game. For something that's 25 gold more than a , I think that's very cost efficient.

Further it tells your jungler they can always come to gank.

On the topic of removing vision, after you have a couple of , I recommend buying 1* whenever you can. It will help improve your survivability in mid lane immensely. Afterwards, buy a and/or to remove enemy vision (when you spot then placing a steal ward so your jungler can gank.

Where To Place When You Take Out Their Mid Tower?

I think this guide explains it best. Please turn on subtitles and watch until 19:51:
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Controlling Minions

We already discussed how you want to almost huge your turret and keep the minions to your side of the map to make assassins awkwardly over-extend to cs.

Exceptions to this are when your opponent have low life. You want to bully them for considering about staying in lane. To do that you must try to stand in front of the minions or at least to the side of the minions. You want to put fear into their minds about the risk of dying whilst trying to cs. Of course, try to stealh ward at least 1 side brush so you do not get ganked.

You may also over-extend and go hyper aggressive if you notice that the jungler is ganking another lane/ you have vision of him. Otherwise you risk dying to ganks if you do not have vision.
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Farming Minions

I can give you advice about farming minions but I cannot make you a King Of Last Hit. That can only from from playing a lot of games. It comes quicker if you play custom games against bots without runes, without items and without killing the bots/pushing the waves quickly.

Usually you want to get the minions low and throw your to kill them all. You can do the reverse and throw your lucent singualarity and efficiently bursting on each of them to last hit, provided you have enough AP to do this.

Another trick I like to do, is when a wave comes in a straight line, I throw my . I then wait for the minions behind it to move around the snared minions, like a sandwich. I then at that moment cast my on that circular sandwich and burst it. By doing that, I damage the whole wave and can easily proc on the remaining ones.

Unfortunately this person in the video is not a LOL Professional, but he uses a technique Professional Korean Lol Players use (custom games):
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Farming Tips: Clearing The Wave Well

You can use to damage a wave, and your to get rid of the tanky melee minions that are hard to clear. You should do this to push and quickly return to base/when there is no teamfight happening soon/ when the opponent will be hit by your ultimate whilst clearing your wave.

Watch till 10:28:
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Farming Tips: Dirty Farming

Dirty farming is a method to gain a lot of extra gold. You simply farm the jungle camps after pushing your what. It is what TPA Toyz did against Rapidstar in Season 2 World Championships and I can confidently say that dirty farming is the biggest reason for why he won his lane. You should ALWAYS do it whenever you can. Preferably with blue buff.

With Wraiths, use your on the large blue wraith then your .

Your second will kill the large blue wraith.

Watch till 11:40:

Also watch this till 8:38 with subtitles on:
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The Importance Of Pushing The Wave

Say you killed/forced your opponent to base. You must push the wave and return to your base.

Reasons for this include:

-So the turret removes their wave of minions, giving you a gold and exp advantage;
-So they do not come into lane with a and kill you;
-So they cannot freeze an improperly pushed wave, forcing you to over-extend/not farm due to jungler presence.

Trust me, pushing your wave is a GOOD thing to do before basing :)
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When To Roam

Typically you should push your lane very hard and then roam. Lux is more of a counter-ganker than a ganker. Nonetheless she can roam to bot lane and secure 1-2 kills with ease. Inspite of her not being a high mobility ganker (due to her very easily dying on the way to bot lane), you can co-ordinate with your bot lane. Your bot lane can removed and place vision in nearby brushes. Hopefully your support will help cc your opponent and you can do your execution poke combo to secure some kills.

If you have taken your turret, you can stay at bot to take their turret and later secure dragon.

"When to roam? Also is mobilty boots good on mid laners in soloq like fizz katarina and leblanc

rapidst4r78:
Roaming 1) You need to carefully observe your allies. if you go to the lane where your ally is pushing the lane, you only have a little possibility to succeed 2) Check your enemy's wards and move where you cannot be seen 3) Check you and your enemy's positions and make sure you roam when your enemy does not recognize your roam. For instance, after you clear all the minions to reduce your enemy's vision.
Mobility boots-- it depends on the situation. If you want to sacrifice your lane and focus on roaming, mobility boots are the good choice"

Source:

http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/22oee4/former_cj_entus_frost_mid_laner_rapidstars_ama/

----

This is what Faker said after being asked a question about roaming:

Q. You’re quite different from the rest of us. In the game against MVP Blue when you played Ahri, you’re GPM was 490 and you had over 400 CS. How do you balance roaming and taking CS?

A. Once you push lane, you have to watch the minion line to determine whether or not you can roam. If you can’t roam, then just take the jungle camps. If you can, then try roaming.
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Match Ups

Versus Assassins in general-

and counters most assassins. Try to let the wave push near your turret to put assassins in an awkward position to farm (forcing them to overextend to farm). Makes them prone to jungler ganks. This way you can even inversely zone them out by just making them fear about farming too close to your turret. If they arrogantly do not stop over-extending, explain to your jungler that there are very easy kills to be taken in mid.

A nice trick I like to do when an assassin tower dives me is to walk erratically around the turret, buying time for turret hits. I then them under the turret making them take several tower hits. This trick usually works if you have / . You can also use if your is on cooldown.

I have inserted this video about zoning so that you get the gist of what zones are. Skip this video if you know about it already. This vid was made by the designer of Lux-Shurelya.
Anivia


Annie


Diana


Malzahar Mid/ Warwick Jungle


Evelynn


Zed


Veigar/Lux/Ahri


Shyvana/Olaf


Kassadin


Kayle/Vel'koz


Karthus/Ryze/Heimerdinger


Katarina


Nidalee


Orianna


Yasuo


Ziggs
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Laning Phase Blind Spots

Laning Phase Blind Spots

Ally-Side-Brush Blind Spot

This main blind spot may be used first. It helps you get some easy harass onto your opponent. It is preferable to use it when they have not pushed. If this works, the second blind spot (enemy-side-brush blind spot) has a 90% chance of working as they have no there.

The other blind spot you will often use frequently is this one. Watch till 27:00:





A similar video to that blind spot, watch till 12:44:




Enemy-Side-Brush Blind Spot

This is the another main blind spot you should abuse. You can use it to get some easy poke off. Use this when you push the wave. Watch until 16:30 as Froggen explains it a bit:





Here's the same one being repeated, watch till 9:30:





Additional Blind Spots that you may choose to abuse
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What To Do After Mastering Lux?

When you master Lux, you should be better at spacing. If you still struggle, I suggest you play melee assassins such as or .

Further if you struggle at map awareness, mastering can help with that. Likewise if you struggle at hitting your abilities in the right order, mastering helps with that.

Players say that and have similar gameplay styles. In experience I have only found that true for . Nonetheless those 2 are not really meta champions. is really a pick against hard cc championsand is not hot for the meta right now.

I suggest learning another skillshot heavy champion like as the jump from Lux is not that big. You also start to appreciate good farming ability and good AP scaling. Both champion ultimates are equally as devastating in teamfights.

Try to remember your positioning that you learned from Lux as it will put you at an advantage over most lane match ups when you learn new champions. I suggest learning 2 AP champions at a time and mastering them before moving on. Only you can decide if you have fully mastered a champion when you feel comfortable with them. If you can, have a very large variety in your pool incase one type (poke/aoe/gap closer) gets nerfed for 1 season.
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Final Comments

I think the number 1 quality of any mid laner is confidence.

LoadRagnar:
"Hello Rapidstar, What do you think about EU LCS Scene? Who's the best EU team atm, in your opinion? What're your opinion in EU Midlaners? Do you think, Froggen, Alex Ich, xPeke or Bjersen can face Faker?
In Korea, who is the best team atm? Any new and good team rising? How you see the evolution of the other regions? Do you think, Korea'll be one step ahead in the next years?
Thanks for the AMA.

rapidst4r:
I find EU LCS so interesting because they have a lot of interesting matches and creative strategies. There are so much to learn from. My favorite team is Gambit because I am a personal fan of theirs lol. All of the laners you named are top midlaners who can all face Faker but the important thing is HOW THEY FEEL TOWARD FAKER. True. Faker is a top-notch player who perform brilliantly in matches but others are equally as good as he is. If one feels he can never win Faker, he never stands a chance of winning. The most important quality of a midlaner is being CONFIDENT."

http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/22oee4/former_cj_entus_frost_mid_laner_rapidstars_ama/
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To Do List

I technically have rushed this guide because I want people to read this guide as soon as possible. Due to this I have a To-Do list which I aim to fulfill very quickly. I cannot say it is limited because League Of Legends is very dynamic, thus this guide is dynamic, thus future edits will be dynamic (wow feels like Inception!) and that's not the point, my guide is like an art piece, it is never complete. I hope to fulfill these soon.

4. Add some of my own Lux pictures as chapter headers to make the guide nicer;

5. Make some parts of the guide easier to read and overall nicer;

6. Add a section of using Lux in Aram

7. Add videos of myself destroying noobs heavily, my match history and my pictures of my raw Lux statistics.

8. Make the starter item's section cleaner and the morellos+tear and athenes sections neater.

9. After finishing the core aspects of the guide, make it a lot more succinct and fun to read.

1. Finish Part IV by adding a Warding Section, finishing the Match Ups section and improving current sections and make it look as pretty as Part I, II, III;

2. Figure out how to make my Adv/Disadv chapter look kinky like other guides;

3. Insert some nice joke pictures to brighten up the guide;

24/6/2014-Re-wrote Part 1. 1/2 complete. Also extended roaming advice section
1/7/2014-Re-wrote Jungle-Mid Synergy. Re-wrote Summoner Spells. Re-wrote When to use Flash. Made Runes and Masteries shorter.
2/7/2014-Re-wrote the Runes section

26/7/2014-Rewrote Introduction and Items, making it less messy.
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