Lulu Build Guide by EdisonKhoo

Introduction

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Hi guys, my name is EdisonKhoo and I play League of Legends on SEA(Garena) server. This is my AP Lulu guide and I hope you will like it. This guide does not only made by me,Out of Pancakes and My Boss also help me out on this guide, thank you the both of you. ^^

AP Lulu Mid has been popular nowdays, most pros pick her in competitive plays, especially Faker. I've starting to play AP Lulu due to Faker, he's been my favorite Mid Lane player since the I saw him at the Tournament. ^^

If you kinda disagree of my guide, feel free to leave a comment with better suggestions, I am opening these suggestions and change my guide to include them, you'll get the credit for it too.

If you like my guide, please give me an upvote or/and a +rep, direct me to your own guide so that I can help you and give you as much feedback as I can, I'll appreciate it ^^.

Pros/Cons

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Thanks to xDanielWang for making this ^^

Summoner Spells

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Flash is your escape card, it could help you escape ganks and dangers. The reason it is better than Ghost because Flash could "jump" over the wall and Ghost couldn't. Flash could also help you to engage fights or Flash to use Whimsy to help your team to run away.

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This spell helps you to secure a kill throughout the game, it also helps against some healing champs like Sona and Soraka etc.

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You might want to take Barrier if you are facing against a burst Mid Lane champion such as Veigar, LeBlanc etc, helping you to survive against their burst.

Runes

This Runes are pretty standard for AP Lulu. greater mark of hybrid penetration is to help you on farming more easily and mostly before Lulu got her Chalice of Harmony, she uses AA to harass at early game, Hybrid Pen Marks help you with your AA harass too. Greater Seal of Armor helps you to negate some Attack Damage from the enemies. Greater Glyph of Magic Resist provides you MR to negate the damage from AP Mid Laners and lastly Greater Quintessence of Ability Power provides you extra AP that increases the damages of your abilities.

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Alternatives for Greater Seal of Armor. You could take Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration if you are a beginner and you don't know how to conserve mana. Or else, I won't recommend taking this since after Lulu got her Chalice of Harmony, she won't have any mana problems already. As Greater Seal of Health, due to its buff, it is now better than Greater Seal of Armor, but if you are up against someone like Vayne, it is wise to take Greater Seal of Armor instead.

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If you really need early AP and the enemy have no AP, take Greater Glyph of Ability Power instead. You could also consider Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power if you need late game AP. As for Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction, you could take 6 or 7 of it and the other glyphs could be MR Glyphs, CD Glyphs is needed if you want to do your >> combo.

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Replacements for Greater Quintessence of Ability Power. If you afraid that you will be melt by the enemy and want to live longer, take Greater Quintessence of Health instead, extra health won't hurt. I wouldn't consider Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed though, since you have Whimsy and Glitterlance to escape ganks already. But you could take this if you don't really know how to use Whimsy correctly and/or aim Glitterlance properly, you could also take this Quint if you want to roam.

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Masteries

This are pretty standard masteries for AP Mid Laners. I take Spell Weaving because it synergies very well with Pix, Faerie Companion, just Auto Attacking will do a lot of damage. If you are really bad at farming with Lulu, you could take Butcher instead.




The Offense Tree is the same, but this mastery, I take the Utility Points and put it into Defense Tree.

Items

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These starting items are the most common for AP Mid in Season 4 and I start this 90% of my game, it gives you sustain in your lane and won't let you out of mana quickly. You should get this if you already know how to farm well and you are familiar with Lulu.

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This item gives an amazing amount of sustain through the game and allows you to trade more efficiently early game. Crystalline Flask could help you to stay in the lane more longer if you get poked down very hard and you don't want to miss out any CS. It's not worth to buy Crystalline Flask at Mid Game-Late Game.

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You'll need these items at Early Game, another Doran's Ring is also good for Lulu since she could be mana hungry at Early Game and Boots of Speed is needed as you need speed to roam and escape from some ganks, it should also be upgrade later on. After that, you should buy Chalice of Harmony, since it not only just provide mana for what Lulu needs, it also provides some MR to negate some AP damage from your AP Mid Lane Opponent, it should built into Athene's Unholy Grail later.

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Upgraded from your Chalice of Harmony that you just bought. This provides an extra 60 AP since it also builds from Fiendish Codex, the MR, Mana Regen, CDR and the Passive is just what Lulu needs. The passive is good as in teamfights, you'll likely wanna spam your Glitterlance as much as you can when you either killed or assist in killing on enemy. The Mana Regen is also allowing me to catch enemies or tower sieges without being fear Out of Mana.

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Sorcerer's Shoes is built on most mage as the Magic Penetration increases your AP Damage. You'll definately want to upgrade this as quick as possible after you get Athene's Unholy Grail or/and Lich Bane since you'll be needing it to either run away from getting caught or/and it is needed to dodge skill shots.

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Lich Bane is another important item for Lulu as you need to AutoAttack between casting your abilities as Lulu's abilities cooldown are kinda high(except her Glitterlance). Due to the recent change, this item now builds out of a new item called Aether Wisp instead of Blasting Wand.

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This is a common buy on AP's, this item and its Unique Passive gives you tons of AP since it's built out of Needlessly Large Rod. But I don't advice getting this early unless you are superior fed.

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This is one of the most important item when the enemies started to build MR, it could help you on penetrate through the enemy's MR. I usually buy this at Late Game as they will have more MR at that phase.

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This is a ridiculously good buy when the enemy is building health. Since it also synergies well with your Glitterlance and Wild Growth's slow, it also synergy very vell with Rylai's Crystal Scepter too as it also applies slow.

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You could get this item if you are the one who is carrying the team and you are the one who gets focused in the fight. If you want to buy this item, you should only get this as a 5th or 6th item.

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This is a good item that it stirs up confusion for 2.5 seconds and it also provide some armor, this could also helps you to keep invulnerable while waiting for your abilities to be up. I suggest you to rush Seeker's Armguard first when you are laning against AD, then build it into Zhonya's Hourglass later.

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You should get this Mercury's Treads instead of Sorcerer's Shoes when the enemies have an insane amount of CC, example: / / / / ...Wow, the enemies have a lot of CC, so at this rate I'll go for Mercury's Treads for the Tenacity.

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This could be a good buy if the enemy's AP casters are focusing you, this could block some CC abilities like Ahri's Charm etc. If the enemy have this item, I suggest you to Glitterlance him before the fight to let the effect of his/her Banshee's Veil to fall off.

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This could be a good purchase against some bursty mages such as LeBlanc, Veigar etc. You could also want to get this if you had an hard time against some gap closer enemies such as Kassadin, Diana etc.

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Morellonomicon is a good replacement for Athene's Unholy Grail, Athene's Unholy Grail provides MR but if you are facing against a team with all AD, you could get Morellonomicon instead. The Passive is also good if the enemy team have healers.

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This item is really good for Lulu too as she is also an "AA-Based" Mage. It is very good as if you are Auto Attacking often. But Athene's Unholy Grail is better as it gives MR and Mana Regen but Nashor's Tooth does not.

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Abilities

Abilities Sequence

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You should always put a point into Wild Growth at level 6, 11 and 16, the health it gives is insane, the Knock-up and slow could win you fights if you played properly.

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Glitterlance should be maxed first because it is your main damaging and harassing tool, the damage it deals is crazy. Glitterlance is also effective in pushing lanes, it also helps you to succeed a gank or escape from a gank if you used it well.

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Max Help, Pix! second, the cooldown still remains same at all levels but the shield and damage it provides is very good. This ability synergy very well with Glitterlance as Pix, Faerie Companion could be at anywhere to fire the Glitterlance, use this to harass with Glitterlance when laning.

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This should be maxed last as its actually a 1 point wonder, this ability is very good when you are dueling someone. This ability Polymorphs the enemy reducing their speed and its kinda like a "Silence" to them, making them can't attack and cast any ability. This could be a "Rocket Booster" at Late Game too as the speed scales with your AP.

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• You can do a trick like Help, Pix! on a minion and Glitterlance to the enemy champion.
• Remember to set your abilities to Smartcast, this way your abilities will be easier to hit and make the opponent less time to react.
• You could max Whimsy second if the enemy is owning you in lane and/or your team needs more utility than damage.
• Should always ult at the initiator and make sure he is at the middle of the enemies so that you could hit as much enemy as you can.
• You could take Help, Pix! at level 1 too, you could shield yourself from minions Aggro while Auto Attack harassing the enemy.
• Lulu's basic harassing combo is > > Auto Attack >
• If you have Morellonomicon and Pix is attached to you, Morellonomicon's Passive will still apply to the enemy if you are attacking.

Laning Phase and Teamfights

Early Game

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As the game starts, you'll probably want to help your jungler leash, one AA is already enough but you could also put Glitterlance to help your jungler clear faster. When laning, you should constantly harass your enemy with your AA and Glitterlance, but don't spam your abilities too much until you got Chalice of Harmony since Lulu's mana costs a bit too high for her mana pool.

As an AP Mid Lane Lulu, don't just sit there and farm. Instead, play aggressively: farm and harass. If you are afraid of the minions Aggro, use Help, Pix! on yourself while harassing the enemy. As Lulu, you could solo almost any champion when you reach level 6 and got your Wild Growth, so what you need to care are the pokes from the enemy and jungler ganks.

Note: Be careful of jungler ganks, ward up the side bushes. If the enemy jungler is Evelynn, buy a Vision Ward then.

Mid Game

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Here, you arrived at Mid Game. At this rate, you should roam to the other lanes and help them to snowball their lane. The odds at low elo games are wards are not frequently be used, especially Top Lane, mostly you could get a easy kill there. Remember, before you roam and gank, you need to ask your teammates that whether it is warded at their lane or not, or else your travel to that lane will just be a waste of time.

As a mobility mid laner, it is very easy to gank an enemy jungler and cheese him at the respawn of his first buff camp. This is especially easy if you're on the purple side, and the jungler started off at his red buff. 7:15. Memorize that time. Tell your jungler, and bot lane well in advance to be at the enemy jungler's buff at that time. It's fairly easy to cheese him, and you can often get a kill there, steal his buff, and get dragon from that endeavor. Heavy map control and awareness for that minute can decisively turn a game in your favor.

It is wise to gank a lane that have some Snowball/Late Game Champ like Vayne, Tristana, Master Yi etc. so they could demolish almost everyone in teamfights and helps you win the game.




Note: When you are ganking Bottom Lane and your Support are someone like Leona that could use her Zenith Blade to the enemy, remember to ult her to hit the enemy's ADC and/or Support.

Late Game

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You've to be really careful when you arrived at Late Game, enemies could be ambushing you if you went on warding alone and it could lead you to a lost teamfight when one of you died before a teamfight starts. So, if you want to ward objectives, it is wise to have 1 or 2 of your teammates accompany you as if you get caught, they could help to delay the enemies as you guys try to run. At Late Game, you need to stick with your teammates as there could be teamfights anytime, you wont want to be the only one to missed out or else you'll get flamed for not sticking.

Note: Remember to ward objectives and stick with your teammates.



Lulu's job in teamfights is to use Wild Growth on the initiator and make sure your ult could hit as many people as possible. Try to Whimsy the one that deals the most damage. Keep on spamming your Glitterlance and Help, Pix! on either the tanker/initiator or your carry that has been focused.

Match-ups

Here I will list out the match-ups for Lulu, I will only list out the champions that I've been play against before and most of this are personal preference, if you like to contribute here, feel free to pm me or leave a comment then you'll get the credit on helping.

Ahri Akali Annie Brand Diana

Kyou F best girl <3 :D lol..

Gragas Karma Karthus Katarina Lux

Kyou F best girl <3 :D lol..

Morgana Nidalee Veigar Zed Ziggs

Ahri - The 9 Tails Fox Assassin, Mage, Ranged Difficulty: Normal Explanation: This is a skill match-up, you should always try to harass her at level 1 as at that time she couldn't use her combo, dodge her Orb of Deception as you harass her. Try to dodge her abilities when you are dueling with her, especially her Charm, it'll be a hard time if you get hit by it. You have to be very careful when she reach 6, as she could Spirit Rush and then Charm you, be extra cautious when she is acting strange. TL;DR:Dodge her abilities, especially Charm. Harass her at level 1 before she could use her combo on you. Be careful when she reach level 6 as she have her Spirit Rush.

Akali - The Fist of Shadow Assassin, Melee, Stealth Difficulty: Easy Explanation: Akali is actually an easy match-up for Lulu though, you could harass her at Early Game and deny her farm. When the both of you reach level 6, she wont be dare to jump at you at the rate she isn't farm well. If she really Shadow Dance on you, just Wild Growth yourself(if you want to kill her) and everything will be fine. If you think you can't beat her, buy Abyssal Mask. TL;DR:Denied Akali's farm and keep on AA harassing her before she reach level 6, Wild Growth yourself when she Shadow Dance on you.

Annie - The Dark Child Mage, Ranged, Recommended Difficulty: Normal Explanation: Annie is a burst mage as she could easily burst any squishy mages at Mid Lane if their health are below 80%, but she is more of a Support now. If you ever met one Annie, your job is to deny her at Early Game as she wont have much burst before she reach level 6. Try to harass her and be careful when you see a white color thing swirling around Annie, that means her Pyromania is up. As you are not as squishy as other mages, you could win Annie one on one even though she unleash her full burst on you. Use Help, Pix! and Wild Growth on yourself then Whimsy her and continue spamming your Glitterlance. TL;DR:Harass her before she reach level 6 and be careful of her Pyromania. If you are dueling with her, Help, Pix! and Wild Growth yourself to prevent her from bursting you.

Brand - The Burning Vengeance Mage, Ranged Difficulty: Easy - Hard Explanation: He deals a lot of damage but he's very squishy and doesn't have any escape abilities, his harass abilities Pillar of Flame and Sear is easy to dodge with your Whimsy. While you are farming, be careful of his Pillar of Flame, but he will be out of mana very quickly if he keeps on spamming that ability. I would recommend to get a Zhonya's Hourglass at Early-Mid Game to counter his Pyroclasm, use Zhonya's Hourglass whenever he uses his Pyroclasm so that it wont hit you and bounce to other champion. Make sure you dodge his skillshots or else you'll get burst down from 100-0 in no time. TL;DR:Dodge his skillshots and buy a Zhonya's Hourglass at Early-Mid Game to counter his Pyroclasm.

Diana - The Scorn of the Moon Fighter, Mage, Melee Difficulty: Easy Explanation: Diana its almost like Akali, but she is also a bit tanky. Before she reach level 6, you have to harass her and give her an hard time to CS. Learn to dodge her Crescent Strike, it is very easy to dodge as it always come from the right side. Same like Akali, when Diana uses Lunar Rush on you just Wild Growth yourself. If you had an hard time against her, then you could consider Abyssal Mask. TL;DR:Harass and deny her farm before she reach level 6. Learn to dodge her Crescent Strike and Wild Growth yourself when she Lunar Rush on you.

Gragas - The Rabble Rouser Fighter, Melee Difficulty: Easy Explanation: Gragas is one of the easiest champion that Lulu could win against. In early levels, you have to keep on harassing him whenever he walk up to farm, remember to dodge his Barrel Roll while you are harassing him. Don't let him free farm or else he'll do crazy damage later on. If he stops and drink his beer, you could easily do the combo harass at him. Be careful when he have his Explosive Cask, there might be the enemy jungler nearby while he is doing so. TL;DR:Keep on Harassing him and denying his farm at early levels. Beware of his Explosive Cask, there might be his jungler nearby.

Karma - The Enlightened One Support, Ranged Difficulty: Easy Explanation: Karma's primary damage is her Inner Flame/ Soulflare, and it could be blocked by minions so she will had an hard time on poking you with it if you stay behind your minions. While she is farming, you could poke her with your Glitterlance as it could get passed minions. If she use her Focused Resolve on you, just Whimsy away to prevent from being rooted by her. TL;DR:Dodge her Inner Flame/ Soulflare and Whimsy away from her Focused Resolve. Harass her while farming.

Karthus - The Deathsinger Mage, Ranged Difficulty: Easy Explanation: Karthus is one of the easiest champion that Lulu could win against. His Lay Waste is very easy to dodge and probably he is going to use it to farm, so stay way from your minions. Keep poking him down with your Auto Attack and Glitterlance. Be careful of jungler ganks and don't go over aggresive, he could put a Wall of Pain behind you. You could buy a Zhonya's Hourglass early if you are afraid of Karthus's Requiem. You could also do this: While he is casting his Requiem, Whimsy him to cancel it. TL;DR:Dodge his Lay Waste, keep poking him with your Auto Attack and Glitterlance. You could Whimsy him when he uses Requiem to cancel it.

sinister steel

Katarina - The Sinister Blade Assassin, Melee, Recommended Difficulty: Normal Explanation: Most people like to choose Katarina due to her passive: Voracity, that what makes her get Pentakill. Her Early Game is very weak so harass her if you could. Before she reach level 6, her only harass is Bouncing Blades. But be really careful when she reach 4, she could bouncing + + sinister steel you, it really does deals a lot of damage so be extra careful. When both of you reach level 6, don't use your Whimsy first, only when she jump into you and use Death Lotus, then use it on her to cancel it. TL;DR:Harass her at Early Level. When she reach level 6, only use Whimsy on her if she uses Death Lotus.

Lux - The Lady of Luminosity Mage, Support, Ranged Difficulty: Easy - Normal Explanation: All of Lux's abilities are skillshots, so it'll be very easy if you dodge it all. Be careful of her Light Binding, it also passes through one minion so be extra careful. If she missed it, feel free to harass her. As for her Lucent Singularity, if she throw it at you, don't move back cause she'll probably be going to throw it at your back and make you panic, move either infront of the sideways. TL;DR:Dodge her abilities, feel free to harass her when she missed her Light Binding. Side dodge her Lucent Singularity.

Morgana - The Fallen Angel Mage, Support, Ranged Difficulty: Easy - Normal Explanation: Morgana's First Ability: Dark Binding, is almost as same as Lux's Light Binding, but it moves slower and could only hit one target, that means it'll be easy to dodge. Morgana has an "AFK Farming" Ability due to her Tormented Soil, you better don't step on it or else your life bar will slowly fade away. You could get an early Zhonya's Hourglass if you are scare of her Soul Shackles(Yes, it does deals a lot of damage), or you could quickly Whimsy away before she Shackled you. Try to bait out her Black Shield before the both of you start to duel, keep in mind Black Shield could block any spell, don't use all of your abilities(especially your Whimsy on her) while she has Black Shield on herself. TL;DR: Dodge her Dark Binding and don't step on her Tormented Soil. You could use Zhonya's Hourglass or use Whimsy to run away from her Soul Shackles to break it.

Nidalee - The Bestial Huntress Support, Pusher Difficulty: Easy Explanation: Nidalee is one of the easiest champion that Lulu could win against. You need to dodge her Javelin Toss as it's easy to dodge since there are a lot of minions willing to sacrifice themselves to take a spear in the face. Your Glitterlance could got pass minions but her Javelin Toss doesn't, so this is your main advantage. After she reach level 6, she will gain more abilities, but those are melee. Either Whimsy her or Whimsy yourself to get away while dealing damage to her, if she really get close to you, just Wild Growth and she'll never dare to come close to you again. TL;DR: Dodge her Javelin Toss, seriously dodge it. Use Whimsy on her or Whimsy yourself away from her if she Pounce on you.

Veigar - The Tiny Master of Evil Mage, Ranged Difficulty: Easy - Hard Explanation: This guy is rather dangerous sometimes, but he is extremely squishy. If you are facing against this Tiny Evil Yordle, Mercury's Treads and Abyssal Mask is a must buy or else he'll burst you down 100-0. Harass him at Early Levels as he couldn't get his full burst yet, don't let him free farm with his Baleful Strike, or else you'll have to prepare to die instantly later on. If you are inside his Event Horizon, don't run away through the walls. Instead, run around circles inside it and dodge his Dark Matter. TL;DR: Build Magic Resist. Harass him at Early Levels and don't let him free farm with his Baleful Strike.

Zed - The Master of Shadows Assassin, Melee Difficulty: Easy - Normal Explanation: Zed is a really popular AD Mid Lane. In reality, you counter Zed as it would be an impossible task for Zed to kill you if you have your Wild Growth. As in Laning, you should be Auto Attacking him everytime he comes up to farm and dodge his Razor Shurikens if you can. I suggest you to get some armor while laning against him, items such as Seeker's Armguard will be very useful at this kind of situation. When he turret dives you with Death Mark while you are low, don't panic, Wild Growth and Help, Pix! yourself and then Whimsy him and make him regret to turret dive you. TL;DR: Keep on Auto Attacking Harass him at Laning, buy some armor items such as Seeker's Armguard at early. When he dives you while you are low, Wild Growth and Help, Pix! yourself then use Whimsy on him.

Ziggs - The Hexplosives Expert Mage, Pusher, Ranged Difficulty: Easy Explanation: Ziggs is an easy one if you manage to dodge his Bouncing Bombs. Generally, you need to predict where will he shoot his Bouncing Bombs and then dodge it to let him waste his mana. You could keep walking around with random movements so he that he couldn't predict your next move. If you really can't dodge it, use Help, Pix! on yourself when you think its necessary to block the damage. TL;DR: Dodge his Bouncing Bombs and Mega Inferno Bomb, use Help, Pix! on yourself if you can't dodge it.

Videos

This Mid Lane Lulu is played by Bischu, of course there are more videos of him playing Mid Lane Lulu and other Champs, you could search others in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzxilFNKjokEncwZByr3olfoh6pAzZiCA

And this one is played by an LCS Team: SKT1 Faker.

Change Log

27/03/2014 - Guide Created ^^
28/03/2014 - Added Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction(Thanks to emoriam ^^)
28/03/2014 - Added Morellonomicon as Situational Item and remove the Abbreviations Chapter.
02/04/2014 - Removed Doran's Blade start and add in Crystalline Flask start.
06/04/2014 - Added Nashor's Tooth and fixed the bug on the Items and Runes Planner.

Summary

Well then, my AP Lulu guide ends here, hope you'll like it ^^

Special Thanks to:

-jhoijhoi's Making a Guide and Decoding Service

-xDanielWang for helping me out on my Pros/Cons and the Match-up's Table of Contents. His guide helps me a lot too. ^^

-Ubnoxius for helping me in making the banners and dividers in my guide ^^

-IPodPulse for helping me to make a signature for this guide ^^

-OutofPancakes and Meiyjhe for helping me on this guide ^^

-My friend ohsMAT/SmexyMAT ^^

-Emikadon for mentioning Spell Weaving and helped me on the Abbreviations and Abilities Sequence Chapter ^^

-Utopus and jamespongebob for reviewing my guide and help me on it ^^