Lulu Build Guide by John Yossarian

Disclaimer: Work in Progress

I am noticing that, as of late, mobafire is getting flooded with Lulu guides, and while it is my dream to provide the community with the comprehensive Lulu guide I also want people to experience what I do have as soon as possible. Therefore I will be making this guide public so people can see the builds and continuing to fill out the guide as I have time.

Thanks ahead of time for any support I get and if anybody could leave a comment explaining how to insert a screenshot (to prove what I claim is no hoax) I would greatly appreciate it.

Intimidating Intro

Hi everybody!

Alright, enough of this bs. With the pleasantries out of the way I can get down to business. This is a guide. A guide for Lulu. That's right Lulu.

Now you might ask who is Lulu? Some kind of ******* teletubby? NO. **** that ****. Lulu is a champion of the LEAGUE. Lulu is your worst nightmare. She is a twisted little miscreant who enjoys turning all the children into cupcakes and destroying lives. She also enjoys a lovely acid trip and a healthy frolic now and again. These two seemingly disparate aspects combine into one bad **********er.

Basically Lulu and Lulu players are part THIS

part THIS

AND ALL THIS


Lulu is diverse. She uses ALL the colors and can be built in any conceivable fashion. I know this because I have tried. Sure she was conceived as a support, but Gragas was conceived as a tank, just look at his recommended items and you certainly do not have to build him tank to be successful. Similarly you do not have to build Lulu support. You can and it works well, no denying it, but to only do so would be to nerf your enjoyment and fail to showcase the awesome flexibility of the character.

Now when I first got Lulu it was because of the squirrel thing. Who doesn't want to turn enemies into small woodland critters (or pastries depending on your skin)? No one that's who. So, having ponied up the big bucks I determined I was going to get all that I could from this investment by Frosting it up and taking the road less traveled.

I tried the support aspect and I found it to be quite excellent, but I thirsted for more. My first instinct was to play her pure AP caster, after that I tried Tanky AS solotop, not wanting to stop I went pure AD carry and then not wanting to leave any stone unturned I tried Lulu in the jungle, I am sure Phreak was so proud.

In any case I believe Lulu can fill any role in the current meta, and fill it well, provided A.) you don't suck and B.) you aren't afraid of being called a troll. You AREN'T a troll but you cannot expect your team to know this, especially in solo queue.

So without further ado let's get down to the nitty gritty and have a nice look at the pretty possibilities you'll have when playing Lulu.

Tasting Purple as AP Lulu

The first style of luluplay(TM) I will be examining is AP Lulu. Below I will cover the basics such as my reasoning behind runes, skill order, item build, etc. while also providing some lovely pros and cons and some basic strategy to taking our favorite Fae Sorceress mid and skipping up the win ladder.

Pros and Cons

PROS

• Deceptively High Burst
• At this point many people do not appreciate just how much burst she has and will not respect your damage to the point that they often will let you get in range to do it, eventually they learn this is a poor idea
• Whimsy
• Is a giant kite
• High levels of late game utility

CONS

• You may take some early razzing from your team but probably not too much
• Only has two damaging skills so you've got to work around those cooldowns
• Obviously not as much burst as dedicated burst mages a la Veigar and LeBlanc

Summoner Spells: Which Ones and Why?

Recommended:

• This Summoner Spell is sexy. Really though. Use it to run. Use it to chase. Use it to get arrested. I don't care. Just use it.
• "We didn't start the fire, It was alwa-" STFU BILLY JOEL!
  YES WE DID AND IT WAS GOOD. Ignite is awesome. Looks like your burst didn't finish 'em eh? Ignite! Problem solved. Fiddlesticks be drainin' you? Apply same solution, etc. etc.
  

Things that are OK:

• Ghost is never really bad. On some champs it is better than Flash I just don't think this is the case on Lulu because of Whimsy. Nothing wrong with taking it tho'.
• Teleport isn't too shabby but you should only take it midlane if you feel like your are going to be righteously beat down and forced out of lane a lot. Otherwise just leave it for solo top.
• This really isn't bad at all. The AS boost gives you more passive damage and the AP boost gives you more burst. Just prefer Ignite personally.

Unnecessary:

• Exhaust: Better on AD carries, etc. (also you have 3 slows already)
• Heal: Again better on AD carries (or Supports) for baiting/sustain and survival, you already survive pretty good.
• Smite: This spell is for jungling. We'll talk later.
• Cleanse: Not a terrible spell, but not particularly useful to you either.
• Clairvoyance: Most useful when supporting. That is all.

Ummmmm, don't take these mmm-kay?

• Revive: Are you super cool? Yes. Are you Karthus? No. Stay away.
• Promote: Is very silly.
• Clarity: How about you learn to manage yer mana der bud?

Notes on Abilities: Skill Order and Strategy

Pix, Faerie Companion
Your passive doesn't play too much of a role here but the damage it adds does make it easier to last hit which is a nice plus.

Glitterlance
This plays a major role in what you are able to accomplish as an AP carry. It is one of your damaging abilities and its 80% slow is a big part of why you can kite all day long. I feel that you should take this at level one for early ranged harass and the slow. While it does more damage by a hair (than Help, Pix! and has good AOE I tend not to max this first. Lulu has a very flexible skilling order; there isn't anything wrong with maxing Glitterlance first but in lane I tend to max Help, Pix! a little before Glitterlance because of the more reliable harass. But like I say Glitterlance is still half (or sometimes more in teamfights) of your damage and lets you kite all day so it is an awesome skill. Also it is pretty.

Whimsy
Now this skill is just sex on the dance floor (or SOTDF as I like to abbreviate). It is, in my opinion, the single most compelling argument for the pubstompery that is AP Lulu. There is the squirrel and that is awesome, but what really let's Lulu shine in mid is the AP steroid and speed boost it provides. At level one it gives you a free Amplifying Tome on an 18 second cool down. This gives you a BIG advantage in almost every matchup. Think about it. You are mid so you are likely facing another AP caster. An AP caster is likely to start their build one of three ways:

• Most commonly you will face Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potion (this is what is recommendable for you in most scenarios). Assuming you both have these starting items you will win almost every trade because you will have an extra 20 AP without any items. This gives you an almost excessive early game edge and because of the speed boost you are also more mobile than your enemy and will skip and frolic all about and generally drive them mad the whole time.
• If not Boots-3-Pots (or B3P) you are likely facing someone with a Doran's Ring. This isn't a big deal either. Whimsy at level one still provides more AP than a Ring and with the speed boost you will be nigh uncatchable, able to come and go as you please, you are basically a tiny, female, Mundo.
• The last starting item combo you are at all likely to see is the Amplifying Tome and 1 Health Potion deal. This is, like Doran's Ring, cake for you. Amplifying tome means that while Whimsy is active your AP will be equal to theirs meanwhile you still get the all-important MS buff on top of the good mobility from your boots and the added sustain from your three pots.

The bonuses come out a little more in your favor if you take an extra level in Whimsy early. When attempting to flee this+ Glitterlance (and if necessary Wild Growth) usually ensures escape. Meanwhile the fun of turning people into squirrels rarely diminishes.
NOTE: I usually like to have Whimsy bound to G as a self-cast spell, that way you leave W open for casting on allies and your runaway ability is right next to the normal runaway abilities like Flash or Ghost.
Help, Pix!
This is a really useful spell imo. On a single target its damage is basically the same as Glitterlance and for this reason I like to rank it up earlier in lane phase. It provides really reliable harass as you can Whimsy over to your enemy, tag them with Help, Pix! waltz away to a safe distance and hit them with Glitterlance from afar. Late game once you have stacked enough AP this can be a single target execute on low health enemies and when you combo it with Glitterlance (imagining full AP to be around 815 for the sake of argument) you have the potential for over 1500 damage without breaking a sweat. Help, Pix! is also a big part of Lulu's team utility. With a good amount of AP stacked the shield is nothing to be scoffed at for saving low health allies.
NOTE: As with Whimsy I like to bind Help, Pix! as a self-cast spell on a separate key from its normal E. In this case I use S which is right along the same line as Whimsy's G. This is for when I want the shield.

Wild Growth
This is yet another reason why playing Lulu is a ball. Making people big. It's cool. No other way of describing it. However it also is very useful strategically. It can be used to save low health allies as well as yourself, and when positioned right it can acts as devastating CC with a knock up, knock back, and a slow. It isn't too central to Lulu's AP caster skills but the ability to save lives and reorganize teamfights cannot be overrated.
NOTE: As with Whimsy and Help, Pix! I bind Wild Growth to a different key for self-casting, in this case T.

Runes

Marks: Greater Marks of Insight
These are the standard marks for AP casters, gives you that nice MPen, nothing much to discuss here.

Seals: Greater Seals of Vitality
Greater Seal of Vitality These are becoming more and more popular with certain top players, and who am I to say they are wrong. I like them for the the added survivability. Other fine choices include Greater Seal of Replenishment or Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power.

Glyphs: Greater Glyphs of Force
These just make your burst higher and scale the best into late game, 'nuff said.

Quints: Greater Quintessences of Potency
These are useful early game for a solid AP edge beyond what you get from Whimsy.

Masteries

21/0/9
These are just the standard AP Caster masteries. The Offense tree is where it is at. We all know it. If you are really boss at conserving mana you can put 3 more points into Swiftness like so:

But the difference is negligible either way.

Item Build: The Process

From the Gun


Where to go from there

• Do you have 1600 gold?
  If yes then, and proceed to faceroll.
  If no then, as necessary as well as and don't forgetSight Ward

• After that
  
  And finish grabbing and for your eventual and as you have the gold. Continue to getSight Wardand

• As it becomes necessary
  and
  After replace with

• Finish by
  GOING RAINBOW!
  

Item Build: The Reasoning and Alternatives

Start B3P
This is what you'll want to start with more often than not. The mobility is a must when avoiding pesky skill shot champs (ie Brand, Xerath, etc.) and darting in and out of the range of say, Annie. If you do take some damage the pots help you remain in the mix longer so you don't miss out on farm or XP.

Alternatives

• This is okay to get if you expect to face someone with limited harass or you aren't used to the mana management portion of the game. The extra health isn't too bad either, but you'll probably be getting a couple of these eventually anyway so I personally feel B3P is the way to go.

Deathcap
This is pretty damn essential. Without it your burst is won't amount to a hill of beans late game. (see fig.4)
WOTA
This is an excellent read (geddit 'cause it's a book? Tee Hee). It provides you and any caster allies you might have with decent sustain and gives you a healthy chunk of AP to boot.

Alternatives

• This doodad here can also be a solid choice for this item slot. You lose the spell vamp but get added health and mana in the bargain. I personally go Will of the Ancients because of the team utility it adds, but RoA isn't a bad choice, especially if you don't feel like sharing.
• DFG is an excellent item on Lulu. It gives CDR which is an excellent stat as well as another source of burst damage to take out targets with high health. Getting DFG is a great idea and you can sub it in at this slot or in place of Void Staff if they aren't wising up to you and building MR. You will see this icon more, but the explanation will only appear here.
• Gives health, moar slow, and AP. Not terrible but not the best use of gold either.

Lich Bane
Lulu and Lich Bane go together like cinnamon, toast, and crunch. It is, in other words, a very tasty combo. She likes the AP, she adores the MS, the mana is a lovely treat, and the MR is nice too. She makes use of every stat like a boss, but the proc is what is really exciting here as it adds another portion of burstyness. Everything Lich Bane does, Lulu appreciates. This item is core.

Zhonya's Hourglass
This item gives you 100 AP and as if that isn't enough it throws in 50 Armor and a kick-*** active to sweeten the deal. It is terrific.

Alternatives

• Even though Zhonya's Hourglass is awesome there are those unfortunate times when you are getting shredded by enemy mages, or else you can't handle getting CCed. This item is for those times. The spell shield is annoying for the enemy to deal with, the extra health and mana are plenty useful and it gives you a good helping of MR.
• You are VERY afraid of dying and everything is hurting you.

Void Staff
This exists to solve any problems you have with pesky MR stackers. If the enemy team is vexing you with tankyness get this and forget about it.

Alternatives

• 
• This is good for when they don't have too much MR or whenever you are feeling the heat from enemy casters and still want some more AP. Solid item overall with good team utility.

Tier 2 Boots
These are a necessity early on they help you make sure all of your damage is going through so your harass remains effective however....
These are what you'll want if you get Void Staff. Flat MPen is calculated before percentage MPen so against high MR targets (which are what you buy Void Staff to combat) you won't get the most out of you Void Staff if you still have Sorcerer's Shoes. So you ought to move on to Mercury's Treads for the tenacity and MR.

Final Notes on Gameplay

Here I will quickly go over how you ought to handle the average game as Lulu, the AP Mid and then I will finally move on to the next build.

Early Game/Lane Phase
Lulu is a pretty good laner imo. Her passive is quite good at helping you last hit so you ought to have a slight edge on your opponent there, however you don't have the best wave clearing potential until later on so you will likely be a little bit pushed against people who do, as well as those with +harass. Just focus on getting as many creeps as you can. While you are trying to do that you also want to keep some harass of your own up but don't just blow abilities for the hell of it. Your general harass ought to be Whimsy followed by Help, Pix! and Glitterlance. Whimsy's speed boost should allow you to get in and out without taking too much in return and the AP boost ought to ensure you do some real damage. If you can't handle your opponent's harass try to stay out of range and last hit until they use their abilities to farm and then counter-harass while they are waiting on cooldowns. Also Whimsy can be used as a silence in a pinch, you mostly want to save it for yourself but don't forget you can cast it on your opponents too. During this part of the game you will want to make sure you are warded defensively and pay attention to control of important objectives like Dragon. These are just basics and not specific to Lulu, but you don't want to forget about them either.
NOTE: Lulu works best with a jungler that isn't too blue reliant. She can manage without the buff but is far more lethal with it and should be given it whenever possible.

Mid Game/Lane Phase to Roam Phase
How you proceed in mid game will depend on how you did in lane phase. If you did your job and picked up a couple of kills and maybe your mid tower you'll have a nice item build and can roam around to where trouble spots are, picking off low health foes at your leisure and keep it up until your team groups up to push on some final objectives. Towards the end of this phase you will want to stay the bulk of your team as your enemies are likely in a similar mode as you. You will likely be able to ward more offensively and maybe catch them unawares in their jungle. Just keep up Whimsy, Help, Pix!, Glitterlance. Save your friends with Wild Growth if necessary or just use it for CC. Your fast combo should enable you to execute most low health targets.

If your team struggled early game and the enemy has kill and turret advantages and you are underfarmed and the rest you'll have a tough go of it. You may be reduced to turtling and acting as more of a support to whoever's doing best on your team until you can build your damage up, as long as you maintain map awareness you've still got a shot.

Late Game/Objective Taking
If the game reaches this point congratulations you have already had a GG and nothing can take that away from you not even defeat, but you won't lose because you are Lulu and Lulu is a winner. Stick with your team. That is what you do. Coordinate and knock down towers. Ward everywhere, especially Baron , and know that I am proud of you.

And now for Something Completely Different: AD Carry Lulu

I will now examine AD Lulu. I will buck convention and show you that not only can Lulu AP mid, but you can take her bot with another support AND not suck! Below I will cover the basics such as my reasoning behind runes, skill order, item build, etc. while also providing some lovely pros and cons and some basic strategy to converting Lulu into a fearsome machine gun.

Pros and Cons

PROS

• Pix, Faerie Companion
• Looks like a machine gun
• Pretty Decent AA range
• Is an even gianter kite
• Whimsy
• Whimsy
• Whimsy
• And especially Whimsy

CONS

• No AD scaling on any abilities

Summoner Spells

Recommended

• Flash, as per usual, is quite good.
• This spell is pretty clutch on AD carries. While it is on your target they really can't trade with you due to their reduced damage output and it gives you another slow on top of the three you already have. It helps you get kills or escape.
• Sometimes you'll want this instead of Exhaust, sometimes you'll just feel more comfortable with it, especially in a lane without Soraka, Taric, or Sona but it isn't ever a poor choice. If your opponents aren't paying attention to it you can bait them into impaling themselves on a turret trying to get you at low health and it has plenty of team utility, even into late game. The choice between Heal and Exhaust is largely based on personal preference and the situation you expect to face.

These aren't bad either

• See explanation from AP section. It hasn't changed.
• Cleanse is an excellent choice on AD carries in general. It allows you to get out of some tight spots that would otherwise result in your death, but it really isn't my favorite. It adds little in the way of team utility which, on the whole, is one of Lulu's strong suits. Take it if you want though.
• It may be unconventional, but Surge works just fine on AD Carry Lulu. The AS boost is nice for your main source of damage and the AP boost helps you do a bit of damage with your abilities too. It isn't bad imo, there are just things that are better and like Cleanse it adds little in the way of team utility.
• Ignite has some merit to it, I have a friend who takes it on Graves a lot. It can help you finish people off early, but you really shouldn't be overly aggressive, you don't have the early burst Graves does; so while I won't condemn it I won't advocate it either.

Unnecessary

• Teleport: Kind of loses it's effectiveness in a duo lane, let somebody else grab it.
• Smite: Not yet.
• Clairvoyance: See above (comment for Smite).

How about no?

• Revive: ...
• Promote: Yeah!! Pushing to get ganked is fun, but it is even more fun when you get denied farm!
• Clarity: No? (nods) No.

Notes on Abilities: Skill Order and Strategy

Pix, Faerie Companion
Your passive isn't quite what makes AD carry Lulu viable but it does help. No it doesn't scale on anything except for level but that is okay. The extra damage on every AA is still nice. It helps you last hit and it helps you hang with your opponents who naturally scale a little bit better than you. Don't dis it. (As and added bonus this is what makes you look like a machine gun)

Glitterlance
When playing Lulu as an AD carry you'll want Glitterlance mainly for it's impressive slow. Damage it does isn't too exciting, but the 80% slow is real nice in this role. You can chase with it and escape with it. The CC is really nice when compared to a lot of AD carries that don't have any like Corki. I like to max this second in order to increase slow duration, but what I max first is....

WHIMSY!
Whimsy is what make AD carry Lulu a playable thing. Just like when you play her AP, Whimsy is what allows you to win a large number of trades with enemy carries. However THIS time instead of casting it on yourself you transmogulate your opponent. Call it what you want, a blinding silence that slows, a silencing slow that blinds, whatever. Either way the polymorph is godly. Your enemy can't exchange blows when they are a squirrel so you get free harass and your AA damage will add up. This is THE skill for AD Lulu. Max it first.

Help, Pix!
While this skill is key for AP Lulu it is more of a nice utility thing for AD Lulu the damage isn't too much and neither is the shield but they can help you get a kill or stay alive. I have found the best part of this skill to be the vision it gives on the enemy you've tagged. Very useful as it prevents getting juked in the brush and other nice things.

Wild Growth
This is useful for give you the extra health to survive encounters and when positioned right some nasty CC. You will probably want to self-cast most times.
NOTE: The self-cast keys of G, T, and S for Whimsy, Wild Growth and Help, Pix! are recommended for all builds.

Runes

Marks: Greater Marks of Strength
These marks are really nice on an AD carry. They increase your early game AA damage and allow for easier last hitting, another option is a set of Greater Mark of Desolation.

Seals: Greater Seals of Reslience
These give you a nice little uptick to your early game armor. They are generally the best seals to get on any character looking to to damage with AD, whether going top, bot, or jungle.

Glyphs: Greater Glyphs of Warding
The most bang for your buck you'll get from glyphs, the early game MR is not to be despised.

Quints: Greater Quintessences of Strength
Same logic as with the marks. Also viable: Greater Quintessence of Health, Greater Quintessence of Desolation, etc.

Masteries

Second Tab, top of the page, standard AD carry masteries.

Item Build: The Process

From the Gun

• If laning with a healer(ie Soraka)/Facing non-aggressive lane (ie Tristana)
  
• In all other situations
  

Where to go from there

• Following either start
  If you've got mad moneyz get and and if for some reason you've never gone back and have like 4500 gold add
  If you're playing a more normal game just get another or 2 along with and THEN start working on your .

At your leisure
Get

Big Ticket Items and Beyond

• First Stop
  You are going to want to build your into before too long.
  And then get one of your big boy swords, either or
• Moving to the close
  You ought to pick up a for an eventual
  And the fixings for your other big boy sword. If you already have then get or vice versa.

For when they begin to quake in fear from your massive crits and build armor


When all of your item slots are full

Item Build: Reasoning and Alternatives

Coming whenever I damn well feel like it

EDIT: Coming whenever I get out from under this mountain of projects I am presently buried under.