Hi! I'm Cafall and I'm a Platinum-ranked Lucian main.

Hopefully this guide will give the newbie and the more adept some tricks and tips on how to play the Purifier.

Lucian is my favourite champion in the game and by far the one I feel most adept with - at a 130k Level 7 Mastery and about 70% winrate in Season 7.

As with most Marksmen, we go down the Precision precision tree as our main tree. Press the Attack is the best for Lucian, the bonus damage and damage buff on the third auto-attack is extremely easy to get off thanks to Lightslinger Lucian's passive double-hit. All you need to do to win trades is walk up, auto-attack then Piercing Light into Lightslinger and you get a huge burst of damage.

If conditions are right, you can then easily capitalise on the % bonus damage vulnerability with your Ardent Blaze movement speed and Relentless Pursuit.

Saying all of that, Fleet Footwork is also quite good, an energized heal plus particularly the extra movement speed is always nice on a mobile champion like Lucian.

As for other runes, they are much up to personal choice. Legend: Alacrity is swapped out for Legend: Tenacity in certain team comps, as Lucian as a caster doesn't lose as much from losing the Attack Speed where the Tenacity is more needed - for example against a Ashe/Leona botlane with a Sejuani jungle I'd recommend running the tenacity.


We go into Sorcery second;
Absolute Focus is great, it's free bonus damage for being high health - which you will be as you're rushing a lifesteal item first.
Gathering Storm offsets some of Lucian's late-game weakness by giving you a set, massive bonus to your Attack Damage the longer the game goes on.

Transcendence is also a nice option as it gives you free 10% CDR - which is useful as Lucian slings spells a lot but the CDR items come a bit later in the laning phase.

If you want to be even more of a lane bully and are confident of winning early and snowball you may want to go into the Domination tree second;
Sudden Impact is great on Lucian, with all the dashing around you do it's almost having permanent 8 Lethality for free.
Ravenous Hunter is also great on a spam-caster like Lucian, allowing you to possibly get away with delaying or even forgoing Lifesteal.

Core Items

Coloured words denote why we want the specific items.

Elade of the Ruined King - Attack Damage, Attack Speed and Lifesteal Blade of the Ruined King has been Lucian's rush item for so long they're practically synonymous. It grants you a little bit of everything, but the big synergy is between Blade of the Ruined King's passive %health damage on hit and Lucian's passive Lightslinger which lets Lucian pull off 3 extremely quick procs of that passive, while lifestealing through return damage you'll be taking thanks to your short range. Remember to use the active, it's a powerful chase/escape ability and in particular makes it much easier to land The Culling on targets trying to get away.

The Black Cleaver - Attack Damage, Cooldown Reduction and Armor Penetration Black Cleaver is another defining portion of what makes Lucian, Lucian. He's really the only marksman that makes great use of it and once again, due to his passive. He can quickly stack up on the armor penetration through quick Lightslinger procs, effectively a multiplier on his total damage output. The Attack Damage and Cooldown are also superb parts of the build, while the large chunk of health lets him play a little more on the danger line, thanks to increased capacity to receive damage.

Essence Reaver - Attack Damage, Critical Strike and Mana I've played Lucian since his release and then, since Essence Reaver's inception I've always thought it a perfect marriage for him. Lucian does not have the most taxing mana costs in the game, but he does spam his abilities to make use of enhanced auto attacks, which can make him run out quickly. Theis item will grant you exceptional mana sustain as well as 20% CDR to boot. In addition, along with a lifesteal item like Blade of the Ruined King being core on him as well, lets you stay out in the battle much longer, keeping topped up on health and mana, never having to return except to buy, and allowing you to keep pressure up around objectives in a way I don't think is possible in other builds.

Rapid Firecannon - Attack Speed, Critical Strike, Defense Critical Strike power as well as some extra range on your short range Marksman is always great. Bonus Energized burst damage is also superb on a burst caster AD like Lucian. Saying that, much of this is only because 2 of the other 3 Zeal items are quite bad on Lucian, Runaan's Hurricane is really only for champions that have additional effects on their autoattacks and Statikk Shiv is a good item but I feel unnecessary with Lucian's impressive waveclear leaving only Phantom Dancer as a viable alternative.

Other items and options

Firstly, while Lord Dominik's Regards is the item listed in the Full Build above, this should be a game-by-game decision based on if enemies threat tends to come from having flat health, or more oppressive healing. The presence of Vladimir, Warwick, Dr. Mundo, Swain or Soraka should heavily lean you into Mortal Reminder instead.

Now it's long been a staple of Lucian mid-lane, but Black Cleaver is also great on ADC Lucian now thanks to Transcendence means the overcapped cooldown reduction isn't wasted and is instead granted to you as lovely bonus attack damage.

Put it this way, the usual Essence Reaver Phantom Dancer Black Cleaver Infinity Edge build now gets you to about 400 Attack Damage!

Infinity Edge is the archetypical crit ADC item, it's always a good choice, if painfully expensive. Bloodthirster is a safer option, giving a whopping 20% lifesteal and a nice shield on top, if you're struggling to keep safe from certain enemy champions it is by far the better choice.

Guardian Angel is the anti-assassin item of choice, but it also lets you be far more reckless as well if you can depend on your team. Go in, grab that kill and then be placed safely in stasis while your team can hopefully defend your rebirth to fight again.

Trinity Force Well, when Lucian was released this was my go-to item but now I don't feel it's all that useful. The Sheen and Phage passives are really nice on Lucian, but when Black Cleaver exists - which gives you the same Phage passive and CDR, as well as a lot of health and armor shred - I find it difficult to justify buying this more expensive item. It's not bad by any means, just inefficient.

This is a game-by-game decision also for me. The Zerks are a nice added boost of Attack Speed in a game where you're ahead and want to take down towers and objectives like Baron faster.
Ninja Tabi doesn't hugely hinder Lucian's damage output due to his Lightslinger playstyle can and will save you time and time over due to their damage reduction.
Ionian Boots will get you to that sweet 40% CDR.

It depends what you're comfortable with, I use all three with relatively similar occurance.

R

As most champions, Lucian prioritises maxing out The Culling when he can. It does more damage, at a lower cooldown as it's leveled and particular for Lucian, it's a superb source of waveclear especially for mid-late sieges and defending.

Q

We start off most games with Q - Piercing Light. It is Lucian's most damaging and most spammable ability, important both for doing damage itself and getting off more Lightslinger procs. As it's a targeted ability, but deals damage in a line, you can Q a minion to strike an enemy champion behind them, giving you extra "range" on your ability as you don't need to be in cast range to hit them.

E

Perhaps one of Lucian's most defining abilities, Relentless Pursuit gains it's name from the fact it's cooldown is greatly reduced by Lightslinger procs, especially on enemy Champions, this makes Lucian an excellent chaser and kiter, able to keep enemies at arm's length while whittling them down only to dash away again when they get close.

W

The most utility-based of Lucian's abilities, many people see Ardent Blaze as merely another way to get off a Lightslinger attack, but its movement speed buff is not to be shunned and it can indeed be worth stopping to attack a marked enemy, even if it's not your intended target, in order to gain that speed to either chase or escape.

Skill Combos

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My usual trade combo in lane. It's fairly cheap in mana cost (~90 mana, depending on levels) and makes the most of all of Lucian's abilities, particularly Lightslinger. You dash in, all the better to negate Lucian's short range, double tap, then deal another burst of damage through Q-double AA. This will handily chunk down the enemy marksman's health while leaving very little room for outplay. It's also great for the proc of Press the Attack. Done correctly, you'll get the burst damage and the 12% bonus damage before the 2nd Lightslinger shot, dealing a ton of damage that people do not expect, you'll win a trade vs. any champion that isn't called Jhin in this way.

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The chasing combo, you utilize Ardent Blaze's large range to mark an enemy, auto attack them, then you can use your increased movement speed to keep up with the enemy, weaving Relentless Pursuit and Piercing Light with autoattacks to pummel the enemy. Even if they have an escape or Flash, then The Culling comes in as a great finisher at an impressive range.

Low Threat

Lucian is really, really good against these champs. His great early game, burst damage, powerful all-in potential, and ability to dodge skillshots just counters these champions fairly hard. While most of them will outscale Lucian in the late game, you should with a competent support be able to at least be vastly ahead in creep score, if not kill them over and over. Remember Lucian is also quite good at diving thanks to Relentless Pursuit's cooldown refresh on passive hits.

Medium Threat

The likes of Miss Fortune and Corki also have pretty impressive damage early on that can be quite diffult for you to avoid, a bouncing Q from Double-Up or taking in a full Gatling Gun can put you in a difficult situation. Lucian though has the tools to work around these if you're clever and you can come out ahead. Xayah in particular can burst very hard with her feathers but if you stay out of them using your own mobility you will crush her. Ashe takes a lot of your own mobility away with her Frost Shot however you will win an all-in anytime you can dodge Enchanted Crystal Arrow or her Ranger's Focus is down.

High Threat

Two difficult matchups for differing reasons. Draven. Oh lord if Draven gets a kill on you early you may as well afk as he will destroy you. He outdamages you without skillshots and his E Stand Aside will interrupt your Relentless Pursuit. His ultimate Whirling Death outranges yours... as it's global and he gets bonus gold from kills. Stay safe and outfarm him if possible, while you don't outscale him per se, you are capable of staying much safer in teamfights and hopefully your team can catch him out with his lower mobility while you stay out of danger and deal damage from relative safety. Jhin, much like Draven, outtrades you early and without the right support (i.e. Alistar or Leona he is very difficult to all-in with his root and bonus movement speed from the 4th shot. While later on in the game - approximately after you have Essence Reaver and Phantom Dancer you can jump on him and kill him, his extreme range will make it difficult for you to do so if he's smart.