Hello, I'm Ari, and welcome to my guide for one of my favorite champions, Lux. Let's start off with a few points about what Lux is and isn't.

Lux IS:

A high burst mage
An entirely skill-shot based champion
An AP caster that benefits greatly from CDR (Cooldown Reduction)
Very useful in team fights
A great zoner (makes it hard for the enemy to access certain areas)
Able to snipe people from long range

Lux IS NOT:

Meant to duel with an enemy champion
A tank
An initiator (in most situations)

To further note, this is NOT your typical Lux guide. This is for people who have experience playing Lux and want to try something new. That being said, I'll still break down all her abilities in case beginners want to try this also.

PROS:

High burst
Long range
Low cooldowns (even without CDR)
Good passive, especially early-mid game
Able to still do damage and fight when retreating
Can shield everyone on her team
Can snare two people at once
Extremely fun to play!
Can snipe kills!

CONS:

Requires GREAT positioning (I cannot emphasize this enough)
Easily killed (very susceptible to CC)
Has mana problems if you want to spam her abilities
Entirely skillshot-based (so you'll look like a moron if you miss a lot)
Sort of weak early game (compared to other mages)

My runes for Lux are pretty straightforward. I take Greater Quintessence of Ability Power and Greater Glyph of Ability Power for great early game damage, Greater Mark of Magic Penetration to shred your target's early game magic resist, and Greater Seal of Replenishment to make up for how mana-starved Lux can be.

ALTERNATIVE RUNES:

The only runes I could possibly see you replacing in this build are your glyphs, and that would be for the CDR glyphs. However, this build will put you at 39% CDR already, even without blue, so why waste potential damage output? Just my opinion.

I go standard 21/0/9, taking as many points as possible to maximize my AP. I usually don't take Ignite on Lux, but if you would like to, just switch the Summoner's Insight mastery for Summoner's Wrath .

ALTERNATIVE MASTERIES:

Some people like to go 21/9/0 when they build Lux, going into the defensive tree to make up for her squishiness. Personally, I believe the mana regeneration and the increased time on blue buff is too good to pass up, but again it's up to you.

The summoner spells I like to take on Lux are Flash and Clarity. Here's why:

Flash is standard on almost everyone now. It's great for Lux since she has no form of escape if she's subjected to crowd control. I wouldn't change this for anything.

Clarity I know, I know. You're going to tell me "OMG NOOB taking Clarity REPORT REPORT". NO. Sometimes, your jungler is an ******* and he doesn't give you blue buff. Sometimes, blue buff gets stolen by the enemy jungler. Sometimes, someone else on your team is an ******* and decides they need it more than you do. Sometimes, if your jungler doesn't get blue buff all the time they pout and purposely throw the game. Okay, I'm getting off topic here. But bottom line is, Clarity will allow you to harass your enemy while still being able to farm too. Because that's what you have to do; zone your enemy out.

ALTERNATIVE SPELLS:

Ignite A LOT of people take this spell. It's a perfectly cool spell, it just doesn't match my playing style. Find out what suits yours.
Heal Eek, some people take this on her, particularly if they're supporting. Bottom line is, if you're a good Lux you shouldn't be needing to use this because you won't be getting caught out of position. And even if you are caught, a good Light Binding should solve most of your problems. But take it if you must.
Clairvoyance THE support spell. It was nerfed pretty badly a while back. Personally I don't see the need for this spell. Lucent Singularity is as good a "terrain-revealing" spell as this one. Don't waste a summoner spell on it.
Teleport If you're mid and want to get back to lane quickly...but then again, with Clarity you should hardly ever go out of mana, nor should you be forced out of lane. Your choice.

All the other spells are big NOs, although my boyfriend tells me he got raped by a jungle Lux once.

Now that we've talked about how to build Lux pre-game, let's talk about how to actually play her. Here's her abilities broken down.

Illumination (Passive) Basically, whenever an enemy (minion or champion) gets hit with one of your DAMAGING spells (so, all except Prismatic Barrier), they'll be marked with light, and if you autoattack them, the mark will explode, dealing additional magic damage.

I can't tell you how many times this passive has scored me a kill. Always try and autoattack your target whenever you hit them with a spell.

Two things to note here. One, with this build, your passive will be able to help you Lucent Singularity and autoattack the ranged minions to finish them off when you're at level 5. Good stuff. Two, when you cast Finales Funkeln on a target with the Illumination debuff on them, it consumes the debuff and does the additional damage (if your ult hits, of course).

Light Binding (Q): Okay, so this spell is pretty hard to land during the laning phase. It's often blocked by creeps and then you look like an idiot. Always make sure you have a clear shot at your target, because those pesky minions do move, and you don't want a troll minion keeping you from getting a kill.

Prismatic Barrier (W): You can shield your entire team with this spell, and it can save a retreating ally's life. The only problem is that if your ally is trying to juke a pursuing enemy, it can be difficult to touch them with this as it is a skillshot.

Lucent Singularity (E): This is your main damage spell besides your ultimate. It has a great range and a medium-sized AOE. It also has a great slow to deny enemies trying to pursue you or a teammate. You will use this to farm while your ultimate is not on the lowest possible cooldown.

Finales Funkeln (R): This is a fantastic ultimate on a low cooldown even without CDR. My best advice would be to use this in conjunction with a landed Light Binding in order to hit them guaranteed. Sometimes you'll be about to hit a dying enemy with it and they'll flash out of the way (because there's a small delay before the damage actually hits), or you'll have a champion with a blink like Ahri or LeBlanc who can simply juke your ultimate with theirs (or even LeBlanc's regular Distortion). So always try and Q + R for maximum damage.

NOTE: There is a known bug with Lux's ultimate where sometimes it will go through an enemy and not do ANY damage. It's very frustrating and you'll probably run across it if you play her enough. Riot does know about this bug but has made no move to fix it thus far. I will update this guide if it's fixed.

Starting out with Boots and 3 Health Potions is standard fare now for any AP caster. Following the rune/mastery setup exactly you should start the game with 32 AP, which is great and means that a Doran's Ring isn't essential. I prefer the extra move speed over the mana regen and AP, but if you feel more comfortable starting with a ring then go ahead.

On your first trip back, it's a good idea to get Kage's Lucky Pick, and you should also hopefully have enough for Ionian Boots of Lucidity. I believe cooldown reduction is the most essential part of Lux's kit, and at level 16 with this build your ult will be on a 24 second cooldown. That's awesome!

On your next trip back, try and finish Morello's Evil Tome, and if you're doing really well, try and get the Blasting Wand you're going to build into Rabadon's Deathcap. Remember that Morello's has a new active where you can reduce the healing on a target enemy champ. This makes you even more dangerous to champs like Swain or Vladimir.

Late game items are pretty situational, but I find that Lich Bane is a fantastic item for her. Your passive will work with the passive on Lich Bane, so even though your passive AA damage will fall off late game, it won't seem like it with this item. It really helps maximize your damage output.

If the game has gone on this long and you're doing well, the enemy team is probably building magic resist, so a Void Staff wouldn't be out of place here. Archangel's Staff will solve any late-game mana problems (I usually don't have any), but really I just threw it in because the game never goes on long enough for a sixth item.

Y U NO ROD OF AGES?!?!

Rod of Ages has its place on many AP casters, such as Gragas or Anivia. However, it doesn't have its place in a Lux build. Lux always has been, and always will be, a burst caster. She needs to get as much AP as possible, and Rod just doesn't provide it. She's not meant to eat away at enemies in team fights. She's meant to blow her combo and then back up more and let the rest of the team finish off the stragglers. She doesn't need the extra HP because she should almost never be in a situation where she's in reach of an enemy. You're Lux. Attack from afar.

Not even Rylai's?

Not even. The slow is pretty measly for someone who has all multi-target abilities, as well as for someone who already has a great AOE slow in Lucent Singularity. Skip it for more burst.

What about Deathfire Grasp?

I've thought about this item a lot. It seems like it would be good, and on many champs, like LeBlanc and Veigar, it is. But for those champs, the range on this item is about the same as or even greater than their own abilities. This isn't the case with Lux. You'll have to get closer than usual to use it, and you open yourself up to a lot of backlash from your opponent, particularly if you miss an ability. Get it if you're really confident, but I would personally go for Morello's Evil Tome over this.

Athene's!

Athene's Unholy Grail is the Trinity Force for casters. It provides a plethora of stats, and the magic resist given was recently buffed. I think the passive for this item is great on people like Swain or Anivia, who are always mana-starved (especially with the blue buff nerf), but for Lux, it's too little of everything. And with Clarity at your side (and hopefully blue buff), mana shouldn't be a worry to you.

This is just a general section on how to lane with Lux. I will give specific tips against common opponents she may face in the next section.

As Lux, you should usually go mid. She can also go bot lane as a support, but I keep the same build. The only difference is I buy wards whenever I can, and make sure to keep my Kage's Lucky Pick for a while to get the most gold I can without taking too much CS from my AD carry.

Anyway, back to mid. You should take and max your Lucent Singularity first. The best way to hit this ability is to aim it behind them (keep in mind it has a small amount of travel time). What most enemies do (unless they're really pro) is run backwards when they see you move toward them. So effectively, they'll run right into your ability. Oh yes, also remember that once Lucent Singularity lands to press E again to detonate it. Otherwise it will detonate automatically after five seconds.

Continue doing this until your enemy is about at half health. At this point, they will probably be crying to their jungler asking them to come gank you. If you see your opponent starting to let you push the lane, or conversely, you see them moving toward you, BACK UP. Chances are you're about to get ganked.

If you DO run into the enemy jungler, try and bait them into tower range, particularly if you're low. Then throw a Light Binding and Finales Funkeln (and then proc Illumination) and let the tower do the rest of the work. BOOM, easy kill. If your lane opponent is dumb enough to do this, you can use the same technique.

Also remember that your E plus your passive will be able to finish off the ranged creeps once you're level 5. So try and focus on them at that point.

A final point is that, while nothing replaces a good Sight Ward on the side river bushes, if you're starting to get that uneasy feeling that someone is waiting to get you in the brush, you can cast Lucent Singularity and it will give you vision of that bush. You can cast your ultimate too, but why waste it?

Ahri Ohhhh Ahri is annoying. Before six, she's not quite so bad, because you can just stay behind your minions to negate her Charm, and you can easily juke her Orb of Deception if you're a reasonable distance away. However, when she gets Spirit Rush, she can easily use it once to get a clear path, Charm you, and blow her full combo. You'll drop like a sack of poop, even if you haven't gotten hit by a single thing all game. Trust me, it's happened. Do NOT get overconfident with her. Also do NOT cast Finales Funkeln except under one of two conditions. One, you managed to land a Light Binding, or two, Ahri has already used all three of her Spirit Rush charges.

Difficulty: 8/10

Akali I'd love to shove my fist up the Fist of Shadow's ********...before six however, this champ is easy mode. She's melee, and her damage is pretty weak. At six, though, Shadow Dance is formidable if you stay too close. It has a range of 800, so she can easily reach you. What most Akali's will do is throw Mark of the Assassin your way and then Shadow Dance to you to proc the extra damage. The burst is insane. So if you have a Mark of the Assassin on you and she's six or above, BACK UP. Also, they made a recent change to her where her E, Crescent Slash, will proc the damage from Mark of the Assassin. So even if you know she has no charges of Shadow Dance left, she can still get that damage from Crescent Slash or a melee attack. Overall, however, she's not terribly difficult if you know when to play cautiously.

Difficulty: 5/10

Anivia: One of the easiest champions you can face. Why? Because although her burst is crazy if you're chilled, she relies (before six) on being able to land Flash Frost, which is the second slowest projectile in the game (only Heimerdinger's grenade is slower). Flash Frost has a decent range, but it gets easier to avoid the farther away she is when she casts it. Which is fantastic news, because you have a very long range with all of your abilities! Now, after six, she'll try and push her lane with Glacial Storm. This is bad news, but just harass her whenever you can. Remember not to dive her if she has her passive, Rebirth, up, because it'll give her another life. But other than that, she's incredibly easy to face.

Difficulty: 2/10

Annie: Oh Annie, you're the original mage, aren't you? Good news here. Although Annie's burst at 6 is huge, your range greatly exceeds hers. Simply stay away whenever there's smoke circling her, because her next ability will stun you. Be wary of her hitting 6 with Pyromania ready, because she can easily Flash + Summon: Tibbers + Disintegrate + Incinerate you to a gray screen. But unlike another bursty mage, Ahri, she has no way to juke your ultimate, especially if Flash is down. Simply keep your eyes open and force Annie to choose whether she wants to farm or stun and harass you. Either way, she'll lose out sooner or later.

Difficulty: 4/10

Brand: Most Brand players you see will spam their Pillar of Flame obsessively to farm and hopefully hit you in the process. Learn the power of sidestepping, and you will greatly benefit. If you are ablaze, don't let Sear hit you, or you'll be stunned and Brand will make you miserable. In order to avoid being set ablaze, it is most important to not stand close to your minions when he casts Conflagration, or it will spread to you. Overall, though, Brand is a mediocre champion compared to you.

Difficulty: 4/10

Cassiopeia: Honestly, who wants to face her? She has a fantastic early game, and good damage all throughout. A good Cassiopeia will do the same thing you're supposed to do, and that's aim her skillshots ( Noxious Blast, technically Miasma) behind you so you'll walk into them. If you do, she can Twin Fang you up to six times (most Cass players can manage four), and most of your health will vanish. Her ultimate, Petrifying Gaze, is pretty petrifying because you'll be stunned if you're facing her, and basically, dead. So if you're low, run AWAY from her. That way, if she ults, you'll be slowed and not stunned and you'll have a better chance of survival. Definitely one of the harder mids to face. Fortunately, there are about three Cassiopeia players on the NA servers right now, myself included.

Difficulty: 8/10

Ezreal: AP Ezreal isn't bad, but it isn't great either. His farming abilities really suck, since he'll be prioritizing Essence Flux over Mystic Shot, and Essence Flux has no influence on minions. Arcane Shift and Trueshot Barrage both do decent damage, but simply run into the jungle if you're low so he can't snipe you. Do NOT recall at tower or run back in a straight line.

He can juke one of your abilities occasionally with a good Arcane Shift, but the cooldown is fairly high so he won't be doing it too often, even with the passive on Mystic Shot. What I like to do is make him waste it by aiming a Light Binding slightly off to his side so he thinks it's aimed at him when really it's aimed at a minion. Thus he blows his blink and eats a free Lucent Singularity for it.

As with all blink casters, make sure he's used his Arcane Shift before you cast Finales Funkeln, or make sure he's snared, whichever.

As a side note, since Pulsefire Ezreal came out the number of bad Ezreal players has multiplied by a thousand.

Difficulty: 3/10

Fiddlesticks: It's not often that I see a Lanesticks, but it's been known to happen and that's why he's included here. Although he has decent sustain with Bountiful Harvest, Reap does mediocre damage and won't even hit you if you stay far enough from your minions. However, if he goes MIA at six or above make sure to SCREAM this information to your teammates. Write it, ping it, whatever it takes so they understand their butt may get Crowstormed soon. Also ward the side bushes so he can't surprise ult you either.

Difficulty: 2/10

Fizz: How do I loathe Fizz? Let me count the ways. Very, very annoying, speaking that he possesses the most troll spell in all of League, Playful/Trickster. He can easily use it to take no damage from your abilities and then rape you sideways afterward. Always make sure he's used it BEFORE you go in for a kill, because the only saving grace is that the cooldown is fairly high. Don't underestimate his burst either, and he can easily turret dive you if you're low with Playful/Trickster and take no damage from the tower. Ask your jungler for ganks; that's the best advice I have for you.

Difficulty: 9/10

Galio: It's very rare that I see a Galio at all, let alone mid, but it happens. How do you kill a good Galio? In a word, you don't. In many cases, his Bulwark will save him, and he can easily do massive damage with Idol of Durand. Also, don't forget that his passive allows him to convert half of his magic resist into ability power, so items like Abyssal Mask allow him to double-dip. If I were you, I'd either ask for a lane switch, or pick an AD if you're in draft mode.

Difficulty: 8/10

Gragas: A good Gragas has phenomenal sustain, between Drunken Rage and his passive, Happy Hour. Drunken Rage will restore some mana and greatly reduce the amount of damage he takes for twenty seconds, which is almost the entire cooldown of the ability, and will proc his passive. All this at no cost to him. A good Gragas will always be using this. His passive has him heal 4% of his max HP every time he uses an ability. So he can get tanky AP items Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Rod of Ages, etc, and benefit greatly from them.

Also DO NOT, (do not) overextend once he's six. He can simply toss his Explosive Cask to push you into his turret and eat you alive. I've killed quite a few Lux players this way playing him.

Keep in mind he can slightly juke your ultimate with his dash, Body Slam, which is on a very low cooldown. If you're somehow in a position to kill him, wait for him to use it first.

Difficulty: 7/10

Heimerdinger: He's such a little ****, honestly. But he's pretty easily countered. See, his turrets can push a lane quickly and let him snowball, but his main damage will come from his rockets, which hit the closest three targets to him. They do NOT prioritize champions. Simply stay behind your minions to not get hit with this. Also, UPGRADE!!! will cause his turrets to slow you if you're near them, and most importantly, he can send five rockets your way instead of three. So don't stand there alone with him because then ALL FIVE will hit you. Just keep your distance.

Also, he has a grenade which is very, VERY slow and only affects targets at the end of its cast range. So it can pass through you and you won't take damage. How do you avoid this? Don't stand still. More often than not, walk forward. Spam /laugh. Kill him.

NOTE: Intelligence tells me that Heimerdinger players should expect some sort of rework with him soon to make him less of a ****py hero. I'll update this part if that happens.

Difficulty: 3/10

Karthus: Oh it's Karthus baby! Although his ultimate, Requiem, is incredibly annoying, the rest of his kit isn't so bad, at least not to you. You have more range than his Lay Waste does, and because it does more damage to single targets than multiple ones, he'll have to choose whether to harass you or farm (granted you stay clear of your creep wave). Don't get into a close-range 1 v 1 with him, because even if you managed to kill him, his passive, Death Defied will allow him to still cast spells at no cost for seven seconds after he dies. So he can channel his ult you up to 4 seconds into this or just spam Lay Waste until you die.

The best thing to do is kill him from afar, make him rage ult, wait three more seconds, and then laugh repeatedly over his corpse.

Difficulty: 4/10

Kassadin: THIS guy is anti-fun. Null Sphere does good damage and makes you unable to fight back. The only advantage you have is that he's melee, but if he's been poking at you for the whole game he can easily burst you down with Riftwalk, Null Sphere, and Force Pulse. Ask your jungler for ganks, try and get him low so he blows his Riftwalk trying to escape (he can only cast it every few seconds and it costs more and more each time), and then try and finish him off with Finales Funkeln if you can.

Difficulty: 7/10

Katarina: Kat is more dangerous than a melee caster should be, and that's because her Bouncing Blades and Shunpo have decent range to them. She can easily use Shunpo to jump away from your skillshots, so wait to see if she'll use it on a minion (or even you) before you try and harass. At six, don't let yourself get too low, or be prepared to eat Death Lotus. She is NOT an easy lane opponent in my opinion, but she IS very susceptible to crowd control. If your jungler has a stun or some other form of interrupt, try and bait her into channeling Death Lotus and then have them interrupt it so you can kill her (because chances are she'll have used Shunpo to jump on top of you, and thus won't be able to escape the two of you).

Difficulty: 7/10

Kennen: This midget is pretty annoying, speaking that he's an energy champ and thus will never run out if he's careful. Stay behind your minions to avoid taking damage from Thundering Shuriken. If you're smart, you shouldn't get stunned often. Just remember that every fourth autoattack will do extra damage and give you a Mark of the Storm, at which point he can Lightning Rush to you and Electrical Surge for an instant stun. Then he can activate Slicing Maelstrom and you will eat the entire thing. If you're not dead by this point a well-placed Shuriken will likely finish you off. Positioning is key here, and remember that the star-thing he holds when he autoattacks will glow slightly when his Mark of the Storm AA is ready.

In team fights, if he channels his ultimate try and snare him with Light Binding so he can't move and then hopefully your entire team won't be stunned.

Difficulty: 6/10

LeBlanc: Incredible burst at six. She has a fantastic early game and doesn't fall off as badly as some would lead you to believe, if she gets fed enough. A good LB will cast Sigil of Silence to mark you and then use Distortion to proc the mark for additional damage and silence you. At this point they'll blink out, rinse, and repeat. At six, if this trend has continued, she will Sigil of Silence, Mimic, Distortion, and then Ethereal Chains if you haven't died yet. Also, a LeBlanc with Deathfire Grasp is terrifying.

She can juke all of your abilities with Distortion and Mimic, but there are good things to be said here. Firstly, the range on your Lucent Singularity greatly exceeds the range of Sigil of Silence. Stay back and force LeBlanc to use the reverse combo, Distortion + Sigil of Silence, if she wants to harass you. You'll be spared the silence and the additional damage from the mark, at which point you can trade with her. Also, she is a TERRIBLE farmer, one of the worst in the game besides Poppy, so use that to your advantage and push your lane if she recalls. Don't feed her early kills and she'll be deadweight late game.

Difficulty: 7/10

Lux: How do you counter yourself? Well, for the most part, unless you're against a very noob Lux, your lane won't go anywhere. Mostly, it'll be a pissing contest to see who can dodge the most abilities. The better Lux should show themselves pretty quickly, but if you're pretty evenly matched, call upon your jungler for ganks, because as you know, you're very susceptible to crowd control.

Difficulty: Depends on the skill of the enemy Lux compared to your skill

Malzahar: I HATE him. HATE him. With a passion. He's the champ I love to kill. Malefic Visions does a TREMENDOUS amount of damage for a targeted ability. Bah. But enough QQing. Here's how you beat that sandy little ****ter. Firstly, this should be pretty obvious, but avoid Call of the Void. It silences you and also will do double damage if he aims it just right. Secondly, avoid Null Zone. If you see him lay it down on top of you, RUN, as fast as you can. This means he's about to blow a load on you with Malefic Visions, then Nether Grasp for the suppress, and probably Ignite, all while a percentage of your health is ticking away under your feet. Don't give him an easy kill. Conversely, a "pro" Malzahar can initiate his combo with Call of the Void for even more damage.

And then there's his passive, Summon Voidling. These midget robot things do more damage than you might think, and they will automatically be drawn to you if Malzahar is autoattacking you, or if you have Malefic Visions on you.

And now how to counter. Sort of how I recommend to counter Katarina, I would recommend baiting him into ulting you with your jungler VERY nearby. If they can interrupt his ult and you quickly shield yourself he'll most likely be down for the count. Blow ALL of your abilities on him, and sidestep Call of the Void if he casts it on you. Malzahar has no escape, so pin him when the tides turn in your favor.

Difficulty: 7/10

Morgana: There are many reasons why she's permabanned in ranked mode, and here they are. She gets ENORMOUS spell vamp from her passive, Soul Siphon, even though it was just nerfed recently. Couple it with a Will of the Ancients and she's practically unkillable. Tormented Shadow allows her to push a lane without even being next to the minion wave. Black Shield makes her immune to any form of crowd control until the shield breaks. Soul Shackles allows her to stun your entire team, and coupled with the active from Zhonya's Hourglass (which I swear was made just for her), you won't be able to kill her while her team destroys you.

That's the bad news. Here's the good news...oh wait.

Okay, you're going to have to stay behind your minions so she can't land Dark Binding. Try and harass her whenever you can. Fortunately, the cooldown on Black Shield was recently nerfed so she can no longer pop it every time you approach her. Ask your jungler to gank her, and try and juke her Black Shield out before the gank so they can CC her. That's the best you can hope for. Try not to let her free farm too much. Once she gets that Zhonya's Hourglass your team is probably toast.

Difficulty: 9/10

Nidalee Haven't faced a Midalee in forever, but I'll stick it in here. Anyway, she's very easy to counter. Until six, her only poke is her Javelin Toss, so just stay behind your minions to avoid it. At six, she can transform into a melee cougar, so just keep your distance. A small thing to note is that she can juke your ultimate/other abilities with Pounce while in Cougar form, so try to make her use it early if you're going in for a kill.

Difficulty: 2/10

Orianna I love me some Ori, but most Ori players suck. Ori is easily countered by you. Your range greatly exceeds hers. The most important thing you can do is keep your eyes open. Where is the ball? If you know this, she can't surprise wombo-combo you. They recently buffed her global cooldown so she can chain her abilities together more quickly, but they nerfed the ball speed (unneccesary, in my opinion). So if her ball is near the end of its leash range and you see it hurtling toward you, you'll have plenty of time to avoid it. A good Orianna will try and cast her ball so it winds up behind you (that way you'll at the very least get hit by Command: Dissonance), so don't back up when you see it coming. Just sidestep to avoid. Ori is very fragile and thus easily ganked. You should destroy her robot tits.

Difficulty: 3/10

Ryze: Ryze has good poke and even better burst. However, there's good news. You can avoid most of his abilities because your range is so much better. As with Karthus, don't get into a close fight with him, or he'll blow your socks off. Harass from a distance and he won't have an answer. I usually blow most Ryze players to pieces.

Difficulty: 3/10

Sion: You do not want to lane against this guy. Even though he's melee, AP Sion has 90% ratios on both Cryptic Gaze and Death's Caress. This 1-2 combo can easily knock off most of your HP, and his E allows him to get tanky by simply farming. His ultimate is not nearly as useful as it is on AD Sion, but more often than not it will still save him. Your range is better, but if you get hit by one stun you're more often than not down for the count. Ask for ganks or switch your lane.

Difficulty: 8/10

Swain: Well, I'm terrified of birds, so I cower every time I see a Swain on the other team. However, he can be defeated. Nevermove is laughably avoidable, and once again, your range greatly exceeds his. Decrepify and especially Torment do decent damage, but he has to get fairly close in order to cast it. Force him to stay in the back and lose experience and farm. Punish him if he tries to get any closer. At six, Ravenous Flock gives him good sustain, but once you finish Morello's, you should be even more of a threat to him.

Difficulty: 5/10

Teemo: AP Teemoooo. His Blinding Dart is obnoxious, as are his Noxious Traps, but if you keep your distance you can safely harass him. If you're trying to run away, don't run through brush or it's trap time and a free kill for Teemo. Ask your jungler or your tank to buy an Oracle's Elixir to spot his traps before you step on them. For the most part though, he's not a big deal.

Difficulty: 4/10

Twisted Fate: I have trouble with Twisted Fate, but for the most part, you shouldn't. It's more of a personal thing rather than a Lux thing. His Wild Cards are very easy to avoid, and run away when he has a gold card over his head, or it's stun-o-clock. Remember to scream your MIAs when Twisted Fate is out of sight, because once he hits six he is a very strong ganker. Never back at your tower if you're low. Remember also that if he gets Lich Bane his Pick A Cards really HURT because they apply on-hit effects.

Difficulty: 5/10

Veigar: Here's how you defeat him: don't let him hit six. Ever. No really. What Veigar has to do is farm and farm and farm. All Veigars look for low-health minions to Baleful Strike on, because each creep he kills to it increases his AP by 1. So you have to do the same thing. Look at your minions and see which ones are low, and then harass him when he moves toward them. Also, it seems pretty obvious, but don't touch the edges of Event Horizon, because he can unleash his full combo there. His ult goes off your AP as well as his own, so ask your team to try and focus him down in teamfights, or at least keep an eye on where he is and make sure he doesn't get too close to you. He's formidable, but beatable.

Difficulty: 6/10

Vladimir: Like Gragas, Vlad has incredible sustain. But unlike Gragas, his range is not comparable to yours. Zone him in a way where he's forced to use Transfusion and Tides of Blood on creeps and not you. Also, if you somehow manage to get hit by Hemoplague, remember that it is a delayed-damage ability, so cast your shield 2 seconds after getting hit to mitigate some of the damage. Sanguine Pool is a mini-Zhonyas that makes him untargetable for two seconds, so save the finishing blow for when he becomes human again.

Difficulty: 5/10

Xerath: Really, who plays him besides me? All that aside though, Xerath is actually pretty difficult. With Lux the advantage you have against most AP mids is that you outrange them, but with Xerath's Locus of Power, YOU are the outranged one. There are a few advantages though. While he's using Locus of Power, he's rooted, so you can freely harass him. Also, there's a delay on his Arcanopulse so, like your ult, you can see it before it actually does damage.

However, most of his burst comes from opening with Mage Chains. This is a targeted ability, so if he casts it on you, run. If not, and he manages to land another ability, you'll be stunned. And if he's six, that means he can make Arcane Barrage rain down on you and blow you up. A good Xerath will cast Arcanopulse WHILE Mage Chains is moving toward you, so you'll be immediately stunned when both of them hit. Don't let this happen. Treat every Arcanopulse like there's a Mage Chains about to hit just before it, and you should be fine.

Difficulty: 7/10

Ziggs: Very pesky caster, mainly because of his Bouncing Bombs. Do NOT stand near your minions, because this ability has a splash effect and you will still take FULL damage. If he misses the minions and the bomb bounces, it's easier to avoid but it still has a decent-sized AOE. Fortunately, most Ziggs players are pretty noob and will max Hexplosive Minefield over Satchel Charge. The minefield does less damage overall and has a delay on deploying, whereas Satchel Charge can be detonated immediately and is much harder to spot. His ult is difficult to avoid, but even if you only manage to get to the edge of the AOE you'll take 75% damage as opposed to full damage. I would try and harass him from afar, because that's what he's going to try and do.

Difficulty: 5/10

Zyra: This champ just came out and although I've played against her as Lux, I haven't gone mid against her. She smells OP but I'll update as soon as I get a game with her.

Based on the feedback I get for this guide I hope to put videos I've recorded in here as well as pretty pictures to demonstrate how to play Lux best. This is my first guide, so try and remember that when you leave me feedback! I may not know to add certain things yet.

I hope you've enjoyed my Lux guide. I spent a lot of time on it and hopefully it shows. Feel free to add me in game and spectate some of my Lux matches. I almost always finish positive, and usually I snowball if my team doesn't feed. I'd really like to know what you guys think!

Also, I'm working on increasing my ELO since I got trolled down low. But I've gone up 100 ELO in two days by maining Lux. Hopefully I'll be in gold range sometime!