Lux Build Guide by Rapidstar

Introduction

NOW UPDATED TO SEASON 3 Lux was recently played at the Riot Season 2 Playoffs, so I thought the community would like my insight into how I go about being effective with her. Lux is a strong champion with an even stronger ultimate, to be effective with Lux you must utilize her greatest asset: her range. Lux is not appropriate for every team composition, but she definitely has her place in the current meta despite her ease of being ganked in lane.

Runes

Using Magic Penetration on Mark due to her AP carry characteristics. Health per level on Seal because you don’t need to build health items and this more than compensates for them. Ability Power per level on Glyph because Ability Power per level creates a powerful synergy with Mastery and Deathcap at the late game stages. Flat Ability Power on Quintessence because Flat Ability Power is important for early laning.

Masteries

Items

Lux is a champion who is heavily Mana dependent. She is also one of the weaker laning champion so keep that in mind. I use the same items that I did in Season 3.

- Starting Items -

- Early Items -

Build Chalice of Harmony as your first item for magic resistance and Mana regeneration. If you are still having trouble coping even with the item, buy Doran's Ring and Sorcerer's Shoes for early-game stats. If you are capable of laning easily, build Athene's Unholy Grail as your first item. If you build Athene’s Unholy Grail, this will grant you a 39% cooldown reduction with Mastery + Blue buff + Grail’s. You will have much more freedom to use skills with these bonuses.

- Finished Items -

Build Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff for supporting damage, while choosing Zhonya's Hourglass, Banshee’s Veil or Rylai's Crystal Scepter depending on the enemy’s physical or magic damage as well as ally CC. Lux is a good champion for snowballing Mejai's Soulstealer although it is a typical ‘high risk, high return item’. If you are confident in your mechanics or can overwhelm the enemy by as much as 1K gold, this can be an excellent choice.

Why Mejai's? Lux is a champion who supports the team at the rear, the chances of her dying is quite low if played right. Therefore, snowballing items like Mejai's Soulstealer are very suitable but also comes with a high risk when it has not been stacked properly.

Also, you cannot get the snowballing effect with Mejai's Soulstealer in a game that features a scarcity of kills when the game has been going on for 20 to 30 minutes. If kills are being scored often from the beginning and the chances of dying is low, go with Mejai's Soulstealer to reap the benefits of snowballing, as it is best used during the FIRST HALF OF THE GAME.


Lich bane is a good item for Lux's passive but to use Lich bane, you have to move into a general attack range. If Lux dies during team fights, that will end up being a losing fight. It is essential that Lux survives in order to use as many skills as possible. You might die to the other team's tankers just to put in one more general attack, so unless you have really great control, I don't recommend using Lich bane.

Skill Sequence and Skill Notes

Illumination (Passive) Lux's damaging spells charge the target with energy for 6 seconds. Lux's next attack ignites the energy, dealing 10 + (10 x level) magic damage to the target. When you harass enemy, you need to land basic attacks to ignite the passive regardless of the skill you use. These initially trivial passive damages snowball gradually and can reach as much damage as a single potion is capable of healing during early-time, which can play a big role in winning the lane at the game’s mid stages.

Light Binding Lux releases a sphere of light that immobilizes and deals 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to up to two enemy units for 2 seconds, dealing 50% effect and damage to the 2nd unit struck. This skill is hard to hit during laning while the second unit in the vicinity is dealt 50% less damage and cc duration. With this in mind, don’t fire blindly but use it when you are presented with an opportune situation.

Prismatic Barrier Lux throws her wand to a target location and back, bending the light around herself and any friendly Champions it touches, protecting them from 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 / 180 (+35% of ability power) damage for 3 seconds. W is the best shield skill in League of Legends. The staff flies like a boomerang and gives an additional shield on its return flight. If you are hit by a durable skill such as Ignite, this is the best skill for blocking thanks to the second shield. The shield can be a major boon on your teammates during a pivotal team fight.

Lucent Singularity Fires an anomaly of twisted light to an area, which slows nearby enemies by 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 %. Zone lasts 5 seconds. Lux can detonate it to deal 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to enemies in the area of effect. Reveals the area while in flight and while stopped. Displays a cooldown timer until the singularity automatically detonates. Master E first because it’s an AoE (Area of Effect) as well as a penetration skill. It is also Lux’s main skill for managing and harassing the lanes. You can depend E at any time you deem ideal and the skill’s cooldown is also cut down when the sphere sparkles in the game. Activate your E with sufficient levels to as many minions as possible. Two successive skills are capable of dispatching minions with the exception of the siege minion. However, if you wait too long melee minions can get out of the sphere’s range.

finales funkeln

Finales Funkeln After gathering energy for a half second, Lux fires a beam of light that deals 300 / 400 / 500 (+75% of ability power) damage to all targets in the area and reveals it. It ignites and refreshes Lux's Illumination debuff if it hits enemies already afflicted. The R skill is the main reason why we play Lux. It has long range, short cooldown, and can be utilized effectively in a variety of situations. Don’t save it even if you just hit level 6. You can also try to steal the enemy Blue or Red buff, utilize it for long range support, focus on Mid farming, as well as a diversity of other uses.

In fights, you use Q to bind while measuring the distance, while using E and R for combos. Finally, W is used primarily to absorb the opponent’s skills.

While in face to face situations, use any of the skills Q, E, and R whenever you are able to hit the opponent and poke.

Don’t use the R skill on tankers but on champions with low magic resistance, and try not to use it as often as other skills.

Summoner Spells

Flash is an absolute necessity, and follow your personal choice to determine whether to take Ignite, Exhaust, Teleport or Ghost as a complementary spell.

Ranked Play

Early Game:

Don’t push lane and focus on hitting your skills. Push and harass with your passive and shield, keeping in mind that Lux is strong at early game laning. After level 6, you need to change your style depending on the enemy champion type. If you are facing risky champion such as Ahri and Annie, focus on lane cleaning with E. In the case that you are matched up against a champion with short skill range or weak suppression such as Ryze and Karthus, focus your E skill on champions and take advantage of your passive for harassing. Lux is pretty weak at ganks so you must place a lot of wards.

Mid Game:

Finales Funkeln

The timing for this stage will be after procuring Athene’s Unholy Grail. From this time on you will be empowered by a 39% cooldown reduction with Blue buff. Basically you want to push the mid lane while utilizing your ultimate when the enemy moves towards the Blue buff or takes jungle mobs and small team fights at Top and Bottom. Another solid option is to use the ultimate to clean waves after recalling. At this juncture, you won’t be able to kill melee and siege minions instantly so target your E on melee minions first. Once all melee minion enter E’s range of effect, detonate it and use your ultimate. For siege minions, you will also need basic attacks as well.

Late Game:

For team fights after laning, you will need to play Lux like a support at the rear. If Lux is cut off, this will basically amount to a team fight loss.

Use Q to block the enemy’s movement while focusing E to hit as many champions as possible. W should be targeted on as many of your allies as you can. When to activate the ultimate depends on the situation but use it prudently as you don’t want to enter a team fights without its availability.