Lucian is a unique ADC that I fell in love with quickly, as he is a bursty duelist that mainly uses abilities. As of now Lucian is not in a good spot, he is not completely busted or gutted out of the meta. He is a threat to almost every matchup. He plays almost like a semi front line as he is not completely squishy. He is very mobile and high in damage. A very good solo queue ADC. He is very consistent throughout the game.

Pros:
-High In Burst
-Very Mobile
-Good Lane Phase

Cons:
-Low Range
-Bad Ultimate
-Lacks in consistent damage

Passive Lightslinger
Lightslinger is Lucian's bread and butter.
Whenever an ability is used, Lucian's next auto will fire 2 shots.
This affect will only last 3 seconds after casting an ability.
These shots can critically strike and do full damage to minions.
They will also trigger on-hit affects ex. Iceborn Gauntlet


Q Piercing Light
Lucian's strongest damaging ability.
after a short delay Lucian will fire a laser in a lane directed towards enemies chosen.
This ability has a decent range and can fire through minions.
If wanting to damage other champions far away from range Q through a minion and Piercing Light can clip the enemy.
In buffs now Lucian's Q's delay time will be shortened by level.
Early on his Q can be dodged by side stepping early or using a mobility move.
THIS ABILITY SCALES IN ATTACK DAMAGE

W Ardent Blaze
Arguably Lucian's worst ability in his kit.
Base damage is okay but what makes this ability bad is because of its AP scaling.
Lucian is an ADC and does build all attack damage so this ability in all stages of the game will do bad.
Though Ardent Blaze does have a decent passive.
If enemies or minions are hit with Ardent Blaze they are marked and if you or a teammate hits a marked enemy Lucian will gain a speed buff (like phage passive)
Other than the passive the only reason why the ability is here is to proc your passive.
THIS ABILITY SCALES IN ABILITY POWER


E Relentless Pursuit
Lucian's famous dash ability.
This ability is the reason why Lucian has such a high mobility rating.
When maxed this ability has no mana cost and has a decent cooldown.
Since Lucian is a castor he will be building a lot of CDR to use his abilities over and over again. Relentless Pursuit has a high CD but if Lightslinger hits a minion or enemy champion the cooldown will be lowered. 1 per shot for minions 2 per shot for enemy champions.
This ability will get you out of some situations or do a lot of damage with Lightslinger.
This ability can also be used as a gap closer to engage on other champions.
One good rule of thumb is to not get in the habit of dashing into an enemy champion as you have no other gap closer and you can possibly get collapsed on. Be careful.
When you are going for a 1v1 and trying to get another proc of lightslinger you want to dash on top of yourself but putting your cursor on top of your character and pressing E. Your character will dash in place and you will get to lightslinger faster. Doing this will make you do more damage faster, instead of using E as a gap closer.


R The Culling
This ability will fire a lot of shots in a line.
You can not use other abilities while firing and you can move.
You may not change direction of the culling either.
Though your E ability can be used during the culling to either match the side steps or get closer.
This ability isn't the greatest, though is a good way to kill enemies who are low.
For example you can use your full combo but it wasn't enough so you can quickly cull your enemies as an execute. Or use the cull to damage enemies who are chasing you as you kite or to damage enemies who are just too far away.
THIS ABILITY SCALES IN ATTACK DAMAGE AND ABILITY POWER

There are many combos to use based on situation.

The dueling 1v1 combo

E-AA-Q-AA-W-AA repeat if needed

The "YOU AREN'T GETTING AWAY COMBO"

E-W-R - used if enemies are low and running

The lane trade combos

Q-AA

AA-Q-AA

E-AA-Q-AA

Notice you always auto attack when you use ability to get the full damage, if you aren't you are wasting your passive and missing out on a lot of damage. Also remember to dash on top of yourself for more damage instantly instead of using it as a gap closer all the time.

In this meta Lucian is actually in a decent spot with the changed He is able to use essence flare really well being a caster.