Lux General Guide by Daktylus

Introduction

Hello MOBAfire and welcome to my Lux guide!

I'm Daktylus (DerFinger on EUW) and will show and explain to you my way of playing Lux. Hope you'll like and it may help you to improve your own playstyle.


I'm currently Gold.
Season 3 i went 31/17 (64.6% Winrate) with Lux.
Season 4 it was 38/25 (60.3% Winrate).
And in the young Season 5 i am 5/0 so far. (That's 100% by the way)

And so we go....

When to play Lux?

So, when do you actually want to play Lux? Taking a look at the matchups above we see that Lux has many good and many bad matchups. So in what particular situation is a Lux pick the right decision?

In the end there are 3 factors: YOU + YOUR TEAM + THE ENEMY TEAM


YOUR PLAYSTYLE

This cannot be stressed enough. Pick and play the champions YOU feel comfortable with. Only then you can show your true "skill".

So find out what kind of champions you like, and in which way you play them! You can play Lux in many different ways. I will show you how the most common way would work, but in the end you need to find out on your own!

THE ENEMY TEAM

So this would be the kind of team to pick Lux against. Notice that those champs are not very mobile. As Lux you have to hit those skillshots, and mobile champions can dodge those easily. Also Lux lacks mobility herself. So anything that is mobile can get dangerously near to you!


YOUR TEAM


And this would be a Team composition to pick Lux into. You got a strong engage,a beefy frontline and good peeling at your side, best situation to fire your devastating laser into the enemies!


BETTER NOT THE ENEMY TEAM


Well and this would be a team composition not to pick Lux against. A lot of mobility and assassination going on. No place to hit your ult for AoE damage and no target to burst down.

Pros / Cons

Lux's Tier in the meta

Alright, so Lux is a great champion who has a lot of burst, AoE damage, amazing range and scales very good into the late game. But is that everything?

How powerful is she effectively? How good does she fit into the current meta?

Is she good or bad in the meta?


To answer that question, let's take a look at what definitely IS the current meta.

Here are the 10 most picked/banned champions of EU LCS:

Alright. Those are the 10 most minded champions in the game currently. So their playstyle represents the meta playstyle.

In General:

The current meta is very versatile. Many champions can be played in many ways, and every phase of the game is important on its own. Whoever wins the early game can snowball that advantage into the mid game, get Dragons and snowball even harder. Teams who are good in the mid game can more easily win Dragon fights and get Dragons to snowball from the mid game. Late game teams can stall long enough to get to the late game. And Splitpush or Siege compositions still can take down turrets pretty fast, and in the end taking down turrets and inhibitors wins the game.

But anyway some champions just fit the best into the current state of the game, and become so called Tier 1 or even God Tier.

And the champions listed above are those champions.



So let's take a look at the currently strong mid-laners:


And now take a look at the matchup-area and see which champions are very strong against Lux. End of story.

Just for fun, let's take a look at the other much played mid-laners in the EU LCS:

Not getting any better. Xerath and Syndra are quite manageable as Lux, but still not preferred. And they are not played as much.

The conclusion is easy. So far, mobile assassins dominate the meta. And everything that is mobile and assassinates stuff is a counter to Lux. She is squishy, skillshot dependent and static.

Matchups she would like are not strong currently. A Twisted Fate or a Karthus would lose against anyone who is meta, not only Lux. But Lux also loses against the meta.


And to get back to the general 10 most banned/picked champions:

Mobility is the big trend. And Lux hates mobility. Rek'Sai can dodge her or even engage on her easily, so does Jarvan IV or Lee Sin, Graves also has his Quickdraw.


THE CONCLUSION:

To be fairly honest: Lux is a strong champion, but she does not perfectly fits into the current status of the game, the meta. Just because everything that is meta counters her.
But still, she is a strong champion and pick if used correctly. So i recommend to not blindly pick her into anything. Take a look at your team composition at the enemy's and pick her whenever you notice a match.

Otherwise you will be stomped!


IMPORTANT

Lissandra and Azir are not listed as minded mid-laners because they are played as top-laners in the LCS - and that has its reasons as well!


I will update this section whenever the meta changes somehow.


I wrote this with the Removal of Deathfire Grasp being just done. We will see how that will change the meta, and if the AP assassins will disappear, and farm heavy champions like Xerath, Ziggs or Orianna will rise back up.
Like i said, this will be updated then!

Masteries

Those are pretty standrad masteries for AP champions, so i think we don't need to talk about everything, so i 'll highlight what's worth mentioning.
3/4 I only take 3 points in here, so i can get Butcher and Feast . Forget the 1.25% cdr, but i really have to survive that laning phase!

over Hard decisions need to be made. Movement speed is great, especially on champions that the mobility, but then again, having more mana reg means that we maybe can snare some mobile lad.

Did i already mentioned that i have to survive laning?


Generally you cannot really make wrong masteries. Maybe some are optimized, but you have to try out what you like and what works best for you.

Decisions like Fleet of Foot or Meditation for example. Those are things that depend on YOUR playstyle!

Runes

+ They make the match here. Getting AP and some magic penetration in the runes is just the most efficient way. The bit magic penetration decreases the early high percentages, and then we get the AP for scalings. And + is just the better combo here.


With the nerfs to the Greater seals of armor those are the new defensive runes to take here. Just the most efficient in that category. Good thing is that health is a defensive stat for magic and physical damage.

You cannot take these. No one plays Talon and you dodged queue for Zed anyway. *irony off*


I love these. Especially on Lux. They boost the mid game damage way high. And to have some burst already in the mid game is awesome.

is also a possibility. I don't prefer them, if anyone can get near you you are dead anyway.

Summoner Spells

+

My preferred combination. Both defensive. Flash to compensate the lack of instant mobility, and Heal to survive some crazy assassination and for some more mobility!

Ignite is a good alternative for Heal, when you are in a good matchup against a close range champion. In general you outrange Ignite making it feel awkward to use your spells and then have to walk closer to the enemy to Ignite them. And because we are so squishy we like that we do not have to get close. So only take Ignite when you are comfortable in your matchup or you expect the enemy to be close to you anyway. Ryze for example.

Ghost is also a very nice alternative in my opinion. Brings more mobility and the ability to reposition yourself while waiting for cooldowns.

So if you feel like there is no burst that could need to be healed and want to run in, out at around the battlefield take Ghost


The other are just not worth it. Even Cleanse isn't. Just get a Quicksilver Sash. Teleport neither. We won't splitpush. Even with Lich Bane not.

Skill Sequence

>>>


Does this need any explanation? Lucent Singularityis easiest to hit, good for farming and good for AoE damage, so max it first. And then other ability that does damage.

Sorry, but this really should be no question.

Items

Doran's Ring suits us the best. Health to make us less squishy, we already are vulnerable enough. Ability Power for damage and mana reg for mana reg.

The overall stats of the item make it great. Really learn to use this item! If you are buying the Crystalline Flask on Lux because you keep running out of mana learn to manage your mana different. Having the Doran's Ring is really worth it.


The most common combination this Season, and for reasons. Morellonomicon is such a cost efficient item! And it gives everything we want on Lux! cdr, mana reg, and 80 freakin' AP. Just the prefect item for us. I actually used to pick this up in Season 4 already, and now they buffed it, so yes, we keep that. The Rabadon's Deathcap helps to get the highest AP possible now. We scale amazingly with AP, and if we get those 2 items fast we already can start to one-shot people.




MOAR DAMAGE Seriously, one-shot dem carries now.



Defensive stats are awesome on squishy champions, and the active is great as well, but only a nice side effect on Lux. 120 holy AP are true core for us.

Movement Speed and AP primarily, great combination for Lux. Even if you cannot make use of the passive effect. In case you can even make use of the passive effect, get it even harder.


So a second Morellonomicon does the same. Much AP, good dcr and more mana reg for less money. Actually the same AP value as many more expensive items.


You don't really want the slow, but Health is always good, especially later in the game, and then again it gives 100 AP. Second highest value in the game technically.


Little Clairvoyance. Check for enemies to snipe with Final Spark

Laning

Some wall of text now.


Your primary aims in Lane are Farm, Farm and some Farm. Seriously. Everyone says this, but just because it's so damn true. Farm is the safest and most consistent way to earn money. Kills are so random that it is not worth to try it. Getting kills will even make you lose creeps, and that could be the same amount of gold in the end. So keep farming and try to pressure the enemy so he loses farm. Only go in for some kills or fights when you don't lose much for it.

Farming is pretty easy with Lux dues to Lucent Singularity and Illumination. A neat and easy trick here is to activate {{Lucent Singularity]] when the auto-attack is already on flight.

In case you are trying to extend the laning phase you can also use Final Spark to farm.
Look at your own creep wave to time it then.

But really, keep on farming, the Carrying comes later!

Teamfights

The teamfights are the situations where Lux can shine, and actually has to to carry her team to victory!

It is not that easy to master those fights, because you have to time all your abilities right to have the maximum damage output, but the reward will be big damage.

But in the end teamfighting mechanics can be divided in two:

One-shot a Carry
First of all look at the keyboard. Find the keys Q, E and R. Now press them in the given order. Double kill.

But seriously. hit q, w and ult and a carry is dead late game. Really effective when you are sieging! Constantly push the wave in and spam your binding. When you hit one, place the Lucent Singularity beneath the enemy and ult him. Activate Lucent Singularity the moment your laser will hit. Boom. A Carry is dead. And in case you are really OP you hit 2 Carries with the snare and get a double kill. This is the easy and patient method of winning a game.


Maximum AoE damage

This one is a bit harder to do. Forget about the fact that your abilities can make a really nice burst. You do NOT have to throw your ability sequence in a teamfight. Just because it kills a carry it does not have to kill a whole team.

Be aware of the effect of all abilities and use them one by one. Order doesn't matter. Get the most damage out of every spell. Many people are lining up? Hit the ult. Some people on one spot, Lucent Singularity. Do not try to overkill a situation. If you can hit 4 enemies with the Lucent Singularity but only 1 of those with one Final Spark do not use Final Spark and wait for a better time.

That is why cdr is so important. You won't burst enemies all the time. You want to use your abilities for AoE purposes as well. Actually that seperates the good from the bad.

The timing, when to use what ability comes with experience and patience. When you know how far your Lucent Singularity will get and how much damage it will deal you will be able to decide when to use your abilities.

Summary

So, we better end here.
Hope you liked it and it maybe helped you.

Have fun!