My name is ImSmiL1n on Lol and i have been playing lucian since only late season 4 but have played lucian the most out of any other champ. I dont play ranked that often as my internet isnt too reliable but have played lucian before in ranked. I personally find him better as a top laner as i really dislike duo laning and was inspired to make this build. I have around 350 games on him and want to help you play him top as it can really break the minds of the other teajm. I hope you enjoy the guide. Also you may find this reliable as im only B3 this current season but please try this build anyways as i feel i have played alot of lucian and am good at him.

pls rate and friend me

Summoner name - ImSmiL1n (OCE)

If you havent heard already, theres what some people call a "korean build" for lucian going arounnd at the moment. The base of it is to get youmuus and then new black clever giving u a very early 35% cdr and lots of armor pen. I preferably actually dont mind this build and the new black clever looks really good so expect some changes to this build very soon

update. after playing the korean build alot over the last week toplane. I preferably think it is better to still go essence second as the crit is more useful. the extra health i feel doesnt make a difference. The major difference i find is the crit and without it early it doesnt help the build much at all

Although if the team you are versing have not many tanks and alot of burst champs. taking it third may be a good idea although u will already have almost full cdr it may work. Its really down to the preference and i encourage people to try it out for themselves
- ImSmiL1n

Pros
- Very easy farm
- Easy to push lane
- Very good mid and late game
- Meta atm
- counters many meta top laners
- can 1v2 well

Cons
- very squishy
- can be countered super hard
- very hard to live when getting ganked

Why i take heal over other things

I find that heal is much better than items such as teleport or barrier which are two other somewhat good on lucian top as heal is much better in the late game as well as it is actual life and not just a shield such as barrier which is much more effective against ignites and poisons. Taking teleport is very risky as because you arent a tanky toplaner it is much more risky to tp bot lane and make ganks and you can be squishy but taking it can be very game changing. Although you should be getting many kills in lane and shouldnt eb necessary.

Do i even need to explain why i take flash cause its kinda obvious... Its flash? It saves live, no reason to take anything else

Youmuus - I really like to rush youmuus against tanky top laners as it has everything you want early game. Damage, cdr, armor pen and an awesome game changing active. Very good early. I personally think there is no other item which surpasses it as a first item. Unless you are versing a ryse or full ap alistar, going maw of malmortius is a much better choice as you wont survive with there burst

Lord dominicks - Dominicks second is super good against tanks as they dont see the incoming 52 armor pen and additional 20 armor pen. you win most lanes against tanks if you rush these items. This build is super safe and i would only recommend going this build if you are versing a very tanky tank. (sion, tahm, malphite etc) as the non tank build still counters some tanks with youmuus as second item. I still get this as it is cheap and will ruin your opponents laning phase. You can also try going black clever for more sustain but it really comes down to preference and practice. i personally sitll prefer dominicks

Essence reaver - This item is very good on lucian at the moment as riot literally reworked the item to be good on lucian (i dont know why?) The crit is very important as you will have 70% at the end of the game but with the amount of armour pen early i dont think cirt is needed until end of laning phase. it only stuffs up my csing even more. The passive allowing crits to refund mana is what makes me get this item before infinity edge as it is stupid easy to get multi kills going this route.

Berserkers grieves/swftness boots - This is very close to chose between the two for me as i love both items and if im behind il probably take swifties early to get back to lane fast and if im ahead just by a bit il go berserkers to hopefully steamroll my lane harder. Latelate game, being around 50 minutes if it is a tight game i will refund boots for other guardian angel or tri force

infinity edge - this item gives more crit which is useful as well as giving more damage for criting. This is just a good item every adc should use as it basically gives more power. This should bring you to other 40 percent or 50 percent crit. Cant remember. This is just a useful item which doesnt need much explaining

dependable - Last item can be many things.
i personally like rapid fire for additional crit and range but if you complete the build very early rush guardian angel so you never die and win.

esssence reaver - very good for sustain and nice crit and cdr early wins lane

youmuus - everyone has some damage and this item is super good for active and secures many kills in lane

Swiftness boots - it wont take as long to skill squishies and these boots help if they are running away. bonus attack speed isn't necessary as after 2 items you will be bursting with less than 5 abilities

infinity edge - very good item and you wlll be critting for days, doesnt need much explaining just really big damage boost

Merc Schim - if you arent versing ap dont get and get bloodthirter but i do really like merc anyways as the active is very usefull and additional life steal is usefull

last item is dependable on time of game. super late game get something with more sustain like bloodthirster or better guardian angel

just to mention i have been keeping track of these champions in a log for a while. That being who is good against lucain and who lucian counters, these arent just coming from my head but the hours spent playing lucian top lane and straight from a word doc with the most common champs i play top lane :D

these items are super good for last but is based mainly on the other team. Need more sustain
take steraks gage or guardian angel. If they are full of bursters take GA and if you are ahead and need to end as they dont have many burst get GA. Rapid first is for when you ahve shielders on your team so you can still poke your enemies who are very tanky

Q - your piercing light is the most important ability to rush as it is low mana cost, high damage and great for poking and farming.

E - relentless pursuit is great to get as the second ability in lane as if you are chasing an enemy down and u land piercing light on them it cools down your e by 2 seconds which works well as your q cooldown will be very low as you maxed it first. This will prock your passive totaling 6 autos and 3 abilities in about 3 seconds and will burst the enemy very fast

W - use it to prock passive no reason to max

I take fervor as it basically trades more damage more than any other keystone with lucian and is going down the ferocity tree which you cant get additional armor pen percentage which is much better than regular armor pen as it scales better in lane and through out the entire game. Many of the other masteries are normal for sustaining in lane for an adc which is basically what lucian is doing but in top lane 1 on 1

I take AD Quints as once again you want the most damage possible when you begin the game as it is the best advantage you can have.

I cant stress enough having armor penetration in your runes as it effectively makes any attack damage after that more effective and this is VERY important when there is a 50 50 chance you will be versing a tank in top.

Armor runes are just to survive more and the reason for not having any magic resist is that there is a very low chance you will be versing a magic based champion in toplane. As they dont start with much ability power at all it is useless as you will be burting them before they can charge up a spell if you get this build right.

CDR runes are super important as you dont get any from masteries with the masteries chosen. You will wanting to get very close to 40% cdr in this build (i cant remember but i think you get 35 full build ??) so you want it early as it is i find a huge advantage.

I finally end with 3 Attack speed runes which are basically to help you with minion farming as it can be very slow at the beginning of the game

Thanks for reading my first build :)

It would make my day if you would rate my guide as well as give feedback if you want to as it is much appreciated. you can also ask questions in comments if you want and il be happy to answer them for you

cya on the rift
- ImSmiL1n