Pros high Stun/Slow capabilities Great versatility Amazing for Skill shots Fantastic ult, Q&E match perfectly, W brilliant

SPACE

Cons VERY low mana for the cost Low defence Difficult to build to all her strengths Not the easiest character to master

Utility - this in general is a must on any support, as it fills out any holes in your teamplay and allows you yourself to deal with more variety.

• Summoner's Insight ; this is a significant part to Lulu's mastery build that most would find incomprehensible-however, I would rate it as a fourth tier mastery in this case. Because of it's adaption to using both Promote and Clarity, it allows Lulu to gain even more of her much needed mana back in lane, whilst also giving her an extra push on the turrets. Clarity is a must have, and Promote is very important, as it means that you can focus on teamfights with the knowledge that the lane will have granted you the advantage, and also allows you to hang back in safety whilst your siege minion does the pushing for you when you are in the lane (especially important at the start).
• Improved Recall - this is generally an important item for any support; you want to get back to base and back quickly so you can still help your partner, and you don't want to be killed in the forerun of getting items. Therefore any way of decreasing that time is good.
• Expanded Mind - this is a mediocre mastery at best, but nevertheless it is quite handy near the start of the game, in giving you a benefit of a slightly longer duration, which will be very important against pushers.
• Scout - this is an important mastery to get for support, as it means that if you decide to buy a ward (often the case with Lulu, as she relies heavily on her surroundings), then it will give you not only an earlier warning, but also increase the possibility that your team can isolate the enemy before a gank.
• Swiftness - this can be a great development changer in the game, as it will allow you (even without boots) to escape, removing a kill from the opposition, or to arrive in time to save another lane. It is quite important to remember this when deliberating between Swiftness or Meditation , which is also plausible because Lulu is mana reliant in most of the cases.
• Runic Affinity - this is useful, as it allows for variation into Dominion if you choose to do so, (which is fun as Lulu but I don't recommend it), and also means that you can make good use of Baron Nashor and COTAG, which are both tailored almost exactly to Lulu. remember to take it, as it can significantly enable extra prowess when your team has the upper hand.
• Greed - here is one of the most important masteries for this build, as it increases the chance that you will get her full build greatly, due to receiving the majority of the gold early game. Never forget this mastery, especially not with this particular build.
• Awareness - a mastery for experience can only ever be a good choice for Lulu; you will want to make sure that you can be the first to your ultimate before the laners on the other team beat you, and to maximize the potential for kills early with Glitterlance. Getting this mastery will put you well on your way to achieving that.
• Sage - for the same reason as above except for one difference; when you have this mastery, be sure to focus on the offense and be tactical with how you gank (make sure it is successful and that you leave your lane for the shortest time possible) to optimize Sage .
• Strength of Spirit - This here is a mastery that will take time to show it's use in a match, but considering with this build Lulu gets a large mana depot, it is very worth it, because (as with any support) you will need a lot of sustain in lane, and higher health regeneration is bound to help achieve that.
• Intelligence - a vital part of the build. Lulu has a medium level of cooldown time for a support on all her abilities, and you will want to make them as short as possible, so that you can get kills off the turret where normally there would be none. More than any other champion, Lulu is found to be like playing a character for a tactical RTS, as her style is fluid yet you must plan carefully in order to conserve. Therefore, you MUST make sure you take at least 1 point in this mastery.
• Mastermind - you would think at this point that it is obvious to take this mastery, considering how far down the utility tree we have gone. However, they is still an important reason why we should get it; the cooldowns on Clarity and Promote are, relative to all the others, gargantuan. Therefore, considering her role as a support, and how much mana she uses, it is vital to get this mastery, in order to be prepared for ganks and to seize the lane whenever it is possible.

Offense - normally when you play a support, you would put 9 into defense so that they're not too squishy; however, Lulu get's enough Armour anyway, and she wants to have as much power as is possible so that she can adapt to any lane changes if it is necessary to.

• Mental Force - this is primarily a build up mastery that is more important to Lulu than the other first tier ones. However, the extra ability power does have it's uses, particularly for rounding out her numbers at the end game, and also allows for a stronger early game.
• Sorcery - this will inevitably take you far on your way towards the 40% CDR cap, which is important for Lulu as she needs to be able to continually damage and slow her enemies.This combined with Intelligence automatically grants you 6% CDR at the start, which makes fighting easier and laning more intense.
• Arcane Knowledge - this is an element of the build that takes Lulu into the level of play which encompasses not only the support role, but also that of a ranged fighter; she can contribute to a fight in the lane with a lot more ease using this mastery, as she will not need to use her abilities as much to get her damage in. Take this last as a definite!

These runes are laid out so that it is possible to make the most out of Lulu's signature auto attack, which allows for duo attack damage and magic damage, whilst also achieving her full build.

• this is purposefully implemented into the guide so that Lulu can get her full build a lot faster. It means that she can safely go back to base to buy an item without worrying that the enemy are getting too much farm. It is more necessary to get these than Armour or attack seals, because the little she gains from them will really only benefit her autoattack or sustain, which is not on this guide. However, there are other utility runes out there that may be more beneficial; the experience runes are a substantial example of this, but only if you are winning, mid lane.
• is used in the guide to give Lulu her desired Critical strike chance: with it, she can do heavy chunks of damage to both tanks of MR and Armour using her autoattack, whilst focusing upon her own large amount of AP needed. This is because she is unique, in that she can damage with both AD and MD in just her autoattack, and can increase that greatly by just adding critical strikes in.
• this increases Lulu's ability power by a small amount towards the start, seeming insignificant, but can raise her power by about 20AP towards the end, which is very successful for stimulating the cooperation process that achieves a win: with this extra power, it is often possible to save an ally, and to kill 1, maybe two enemies on the hunt. This is why these glyphs, although not vital, can be a must-have if there is no better solution; one clear thing that they do achieve though is getting her power in laning earlier on, and perhaps can have the upper hand consistently if laning mid.
• with thought, this is very plausible for the build: whilst it mean Lulu lacks the punch that she could get from other more damaging runes, it does mean that she can become optimum so much faster than the enemy-her speed in getting items here is what makes her formidable, as the very idea behind them is to compliment her abilities. However, if the opposition has a large amount of DPS, then it is possible to alternate this Quint into Spell Vamp or Ability Power over time Quints; the former allowing for more sustain, the latter granting an even higher boost to Lulu's support and damage.

- this is integral to Lulu, especially when you play her AP. Lulu is heavily mana reliant in this form, and so will need as much mana as she can take when laning. when using Clarity, make sure that you only use it when both you and your partner are low on mana. Use it for the purpose of surviving/adding to ganks, or when you need enough mana to destroy a turret and still escape from the opposing players. Always take Clarity as Lulu.
- Here is a controversial summoner spell; many people will say that it is the worst, and that you should always take Flash. I disagree, not because Flash is bad but because Promote is so much more useful when playing for champions like Lulu (so generally support champs). It gives you the benefit of looking after a lane without actually being in it, or allows you to take at least two towers whilst in the lane. You can do all of this whilst gaining a large increase in gold that allows you to become more powerful yourself, so you can help out elsewhere; therefore it effectively increases your team size by one, because it allows five of you to be in a teamfight whilst still taking one lane. If you don't like using Promote, then Clarevoyance is another incredibly viable option.

These are balanced abilities; Lulu will need all of them available at the same time for her to be effective. As such, it is important that you do not max one first, and instead allocate points into the abilities that are the lowest on levels. This will mean that when you come to a teamfight you can alternate between large amounts of damage, CC and support for allies, without one being too little, too late. This is why there is the alternating pattern between the 3 main abilities, with the only break being the moment when you grab another point in your ult. You can move a little from this if you need to (for example, if they are taking more Armour you might want to take an extra point in Glitterlance, or if the are an AP team focusing through their mages, you may want to take more in Help, Pix!; if AD Carries, then Whimsy, etc. The pattern is clear to see below;

This build was centered around the idea of an AP/Support Lulu that was versatile enough to play mid lane solo, empower teamfights or play the traditional role of bot/top to support a partner. Therefore, it is important to bear in mind that whilst most of the items are centered around AP, There will be some unusual aspects that will grant her either MR, Mana regeneration, or AD, in order to give her more variety against different champions, to help her sustain or to get a lot more power to her array of attacks.

• - this is obvious at first, because you will want some speed in order to escape tricky situations near the very early game, as you will have low health and Armour and it is often a matter of speed that will cost the opposition the game-if you can get away fast enough for enemy hammers to waste their time, then you will have helped your team achieve an advantage of time and CS. Not only this, but it already gives you CDR, which is quite useful for the first 10 minutes of the game in that it allows you to take a greater stand against your opponents, for a longer duration, and it is still useful later on in the match with your ult (though it still is effective for Glitterlance and Whimsy)However, you will want to sell this before your last item, so that you can get Athene's, which will pretty much solve your mana problems-the drop in speed can be accounted for by the fact that you still have 15% CDR from it.
• - vital if you are playing support Lulu, which is an element of this build; if you are looking for a larger source of power, you probably shouldn't be looking here. This allows Lulu to slow her target for her allies to get the kill, which is especially important when chasing. it will also allow her to fend of attempts at mid with more grace, as she can threaten using her severe amounts of slow (95% on Glitterlance, 35% on Help, Pix!), though it is important to remember that this effect only occurs on DAMAGING abilities, so DON'T try and increase the slow from Whimsy. It's important to remember to get this 2nd, as you will be a conditioned solo fighter for most of the match without it, costing you the game; basically, it is necessary to remember that however you want to play her, Lulu was designed as a support, and her role is suited to it, so do not think that as this has a medium amount of AP it is an item that should be bought as a bonus.
• - an item that automatically grants you the status of 'the most popular guy on the team', due to the fact that everyone will start to drift towards you, making sure that if any enemies come, they can utilise your aura. It is important not to forget this, and to help your allies by making sure you are within their reach, especially mages like Ezreal or Xerath. It will boost your AP up greatly at this point, 3 items in and already recieving 160 AP. This is the stage where you can start to play the most offensive, apart from the endgame; make sure to stick near partners though. The spell vamp is also a major factor to this part of the build, as it will mean that whilst you are deterring opponents from hitting you with slows and disables, you are gaining a vast amount of your health back- the beauty of this is that Lulu is ranged, and so to play this way you must keep them within reach (as with your own players), yet at at distance that is enough to reserve your own health; again, having your allies close is a helpful way to achieve this.
• - for the support players, who really don't want anything but to help their allies, then perhaps this isn't the best item to go with. But seeing as it is an AP build, there really is no alternative, except for perhaps Zhoyna's Hourglass. It is something magnificent when an opponent tries to feed upon you because you are squishy, and then you wreck their health back into the jungle, because of a massive 390 AP at this stage! Remember though, it is important, if you are following this build, not to get sidetracked into large amounts of AP; it won't help your team, and you will quickly find that it becomes fragile against Carries late game. This is a great item to pick up now though, so don't forget it.
• - the diversity point of the build. To maximise effectiveness against tanks, you will want to be able to not only have more AD, but also benefit from the large pool of AP whilst you are still on cooldowns. This means that the tanks you are playing against will have to vary their build into having both magic resist against you, and Armour against you; this results in making their build less effective for the champs they should be facing. It is important to get Lich Bane, but remember that you will still be fairly squishy at this point, so you do not yet want to take 1v1s or to face carries alone. Stay cautious, but be ready to slow your opponent for the critical moment when you can surprise them, both in being and in power.
• - finally, the moment where you can shine:) take a moment to find an isolated enemy on a large amount of health, and then face him alone in the jungle. See what happens. Your Magic Resist and Health Regen will make it implausible to him/her that they can win. Whilst they make push some damage onto you, the previous items will mean that they shall take severe damage,(make sure to still hit them with your autoattack) but because you are support and they have probably conserved their ult, they will continue to fight. Then when they try to escape, your slows will surprise them. Ie: won fight. Your health regen will make you ready for the next challenge shortly. However, you should still be aware of you mana. The brilliance of having FoN is that your opponents will not realise that you have sudenly gained a page amount of resistance very shortly. This amounts to about 50% reduced damage from abilities, so it is wise not to forget it.
• - about the first mention in the build of the circumvention- Lulu's mana cost is extreme, and only becomes slightly less significant towards the end. However, if you have already got to this point, then there is a high chance you will be able to get AUG as your last item. It will mean that in team fights your mana will decrease a lot more slowly, and will stay at around midpoint of your bar.Then after the temporary battle has been won, it never takes long to rejuvenate your mana to full. This is where her mana becomes a non-existent problem-it becomes an hourglass of power;constantly refilling. And if there is ever any problem, there is always Clarity to solve it.

Alternatives:

• Instead of Rylai's Crystal Scepter, there Arles a few items that you could get, depending on your situation. However, the second item in this build must ALWAYS have an effect that can help other members of your team, hence why Rylai's is in the build; it's slow effect can assist other members of your team, especially for gangs or chasing. These other items are: Abyssal Mask or Glacial Heart. the former will allow you to pick up easy kills early game, as your opponents will have not built enough MR yet (not advised against Galio) and it also gives you some tankiness against those heavy mages. The latter also gives you higher sustain early on, and means that you can assist other lanes better by simply standing in the bush near an enemy, allowing your team to pick up the kills (only advised against AD champs-mages not so much). It is not advised to bring Rod of Ages or Void Staff here; although they make Lulu incredibly formidable early on, it does not help your team in any way, and your team will notice this. Make sure that if you do swap RCS, that you have a good reason for it, and that you have found found something suitable to swap it with.
• there is the possibility of changing Will of the Ancients in this build, but only to two items; these are the 2 other major "books" in the game. The choices are- Morello's Evil Tome, or Mejai's Soulstealer. These items are the only possible substitutes for this build, because you need to either have strong Sustain and some AP here, or loads of AP. Take Mejai's if you are literally the ONLY source of damage on your team, or if your team-mates are doing well enough on their own; take Morello's against champs with high Health Regeneration, Lifesteal and Spellvamp, as the damage to their signatures will be critical, as will the amount of AP and Cooldown you can take from this: and you will need a lot more frequency in attacks against tanks like Dr.Mundo. All 3 books are good choices, but it is most likely you will only need to to use WotA. However, don't take Mejai's if you are taking Glacial Heart, as the CDR will be wasted, and you will have no form of assistance for your team.
• Rabadon's Deathcap can be changed for one item only; Zhonya's Hourglass, and only if you are taking Mejai's; even then, it is not necessary, but it is recommended because you'll need to have some way of defending yourself, whilst still retaining a high amount of AP. The only other reason you should change to this is if you find you are beig the focus of ganks too much.
• the last possible change you could make here is to change FoN into Randuin's Omen, which will enable you to fare better against AD champs and will all you to activate a stun when the need is dire. However, you should not take this if you have already taken Glacial heart earlier, unless you also took Abyssal Mask, in which case you will be able to defend against both AP and AD, but be careful in the after-battle lull.

Overall, this guide should give you a clear indication of how to play Lulu AP, with elements of Support and a Team-Chaser mixed in. It allows for both Magic Resist and Armour, and gives high CC combined with high power. Lulu is an incredibly useful champ to the team, so play her right, and you should win the game.

Unless you have Evelynne.

Also: I understand that it looks arid without the colour, but I'm going to edit that in at a later date.