Sorry this isn't the prettiest of guides, I even had to use voice software to write it, will thank you for reading my guide :). I've played Lux for a long time and she is by far my favorite champion to play. I want other people to experience how much fun she is and her potential so I made this guide.



Lux is a very powerful champion. She excels at support and spell damage. She's very tricky to play right, and unless she's played right you will find she is underwhelming compared to other characters. Lux is not a carry. The reason for this is that her spell damage wall it might be decent, it just isn't enough to carry a team. You should never kill steal especially with your laser, even if you have mejais just try to get the assist. This guide is about how I feel Lux should actually played,while it might not be set in stone, there are some things that I feel Lux should not do. for instance, Lux should not be going mid. Not only are you such a powerful side lane champion, but if your team is built remotely well then there will be at least one other champion that needs made much more than you.

Pros:
Lux has decent spell damage
Lux has decent support
Lux has powerful crowd control
Lux has powerful zone control
Lux's ultimate is powerful and on a short cooldown
Lux's spells have long-range

Cons:
besides her ultimate her spells have long cool downs
no escape spell
squishy
not enough damage to be carry
all skill shots (this isn't necessarily a con, but it definitely isn't a pro)
has a bad joke
mediocre skins

For my marks I chose flat magic penetration. These are standard for any caster that plans on dealing a decent amount of spell damage.
For my seals I chose mana regen per level because Lux likes to spam lots of spells and when that mana start kicking in past level 6 we plan on casting a lot so why not use the per level.
For my glyphs I found cooldown reduction to be substantially useful because Lux has relatively long cool downs and I like shortening them.
For my quintessence's I pick flat health because Lux is very squishy and we need that survivability.

I obviously went with a 9/0/21 standard caster build. The only notable masteries are that I picked reduce death time, and I chose gold/5 over neutral creep buff duration. I always choose gold on a support because were supposed to let others get the gold, and therefore we will have less gold so this mastery helps a lot. I also chose reduced death time because it's advantageous while an insignificant amount of regeneration is not.

Tear of the Goddess:
This item is absolutely ridiculous on Lux. We plan on casting many spells and this completely solves our mana problems. We get this item before a catalyst on very few characters, however, Lux is one of those because her spells allow her survivability along with strong harassment, not to mention you give your lane mate survivability as well through support. Another advantage to rushing a Tear of the Goddess is the fact that we get to start with a Meki Pendant which will keep us in lane much longer.
Catalyst the Protector:
This is probably one of the best items in the game. Getting it early is essential as you want to benefit from its passive as much as you can. This will keep you in lane for a very long time and it upgrades into two of the best items, Rod of Ages and Banshees Veil.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity:
Since our core item build is so important, there isn't much room for cooldown reduction items. This is why we can spare our boots upgrade to go to the cause. There are a few other options, however, I find these boots to be the best on Lux.


Rod of Ages:
This is such a great item to get early. It gives everything you need in terms of survivability and just being more powerful in general. The flat bonuses it gives are very powerful and allow us to dominate other champions. Just make sure you get this item as early as you can, if you're having a bad game get this before upgrading your boots.
Archangel Staff:
This item is perfect for Lux. Not only are we constantly casting spells but we need the mana to do so. Between this and Rod of Ages all of our mana problems are solved. The bonus ability power we get from it is somewhat ridiculous considering how much mana we will have toward the end of the game.
Mejai's Soul Stealer:
This is the only flat ability power item we will consider buying. The reason for this is that because of how Lux plays we will be getting a high number of kills and assists, even though we will not be stealing any. This is due to the fact that we are a catalyst for our team getting kills, and were perfect for finishing off an enemy that would normally get away. It's so cost-effective for Lux that there are many times where we get it anyway.

Zhonya's Hourglass:
This is a very powerful item for any squishy caster. Basically it allows you 3 seconds where you cannot be focused down. Also on a side note, it's very good at dodging very powerful nuke spells, ones which otherwise would never miss (for example Karthas's space lasers, or Caitlin's snipe) it also gives you some good survivability from the armor and a large amount of AP which never hurts.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter:
This gives all of your spells extra crowd control. Abilities like Lucent Singularity which would normally only slow before you set it off, now slows after. Most significantly is your laser. Now it becomes the perfect initiation for your team. The added survivability is a great bonus, not to mention comes with a little AP.
Lich Bane:
This is a great item for Lux. It gives everything you could ever need and a passive that stacks with yours. Even though we aren't stacking ability power, it doesn't mean this passive isn't very powerful. It's great for getting around magic resistance as it is calculated as physical damage. It helps us get in a little extra damage and really isn't a bad item overall. The move speed and magic resistance are both great for survivability. We even get some extra mana. I would take this item over Rabadon's Deathcap any day the week.
Frozen Heart:
This is an extremely powerful item I almost forgot to mention. It's perfect for Lux as it gives an extremely good slow aura that can turn around team fights. It also gives a large amount of armor for survivability and mana. Since it gives 20% cooldown reduction, make sure you replace your Ionian Boots of Lucidity with most likely Mercury Treads or even Sorcerers Shoes.
Banshees Veil:
This is a perfect item to counter the heavy ability power mage enriched team. The passive is perfect for forcing your enemies to not cast their spells on you, also the magic resistance it gives you is ridiculous. Don't forget about the mana bonus which never hurts a Lux. This is a situational item, however it should not be overlooked.

I will now go over a few items that other Lux's tend to run. I will talk about why I do not usually choose them, or in some cases what the conditions would be to run them.
Mercury's Treads:
These are very powerful boots. They allow Lux to be much harder to focus. Do not get them if you plan on getting a Zhonya's hourglass, this is because you will not be hit by the crowd control effects anyway. This is a very viable choice for Lux.
Sorcerers Shoes:
This is a great item, however, I feel they are unnecessary as our main goal is not to deal as much damage as possible on our spells. We could get these if we were to get a frozen heart, which is a very viable item on Lux.
Rabadon's Deathcap:
This is a very powerful AP item. I love it and get it on every AP carry ever. Playing Lux our main goal is to not stack ability power. The only reason that we even get a mejais is the fact that our play style allows us to get easy stacks on mejais. This makes the item so cost-efficient for us that we get it anyway. The only time I would pick up a Rabadon's Deathcap on Lux is when I have fully stacked my mejais and their team has zero magic resistance. The only time this would happen is if you're playing against a nooby team and AP Lux crushes noobs. This guide was built to show a competitive Lux.
Morello's Evil Tome:
This is another decent item. I would run on Lux before I would run deathcap, however, this is why I don't feel this item fits this build. The stats you get off this item aren't worth it. 20% cooldown reduction seems great, however we are going to get max cooldown reduction without this item. Getting it a little bit earlier isn't worth it because we really need our other items. The 12/5 mana regen is subpar and wouldn't be enough on its own. Archangel's staff completely solves our mana problem. Anything past our Archangel's staff is a waste in my opinion. Lastly this leaves the 75 ability power we get from this item. This leaves the item cost ineffective and straight ability power is not what we're looking for anyway. This item is better left for characters with straight heals. I do feel it's not one of the worst choices for Lux, however, I wouldn't plan on getting it.


Here is an explanation of how we use these items in conjunction with each other:

I feel tear of the goddess and catalyst are the most important items on any caster. Most of the time I would start with the catalyst, however, I find that if the caster can survive just off his/her spells then a tear of the goddess is more beneficial to get first. Starting with the meki is also more advantageous than starting with the mana Crystal because it allows us to stay in lane longer while casting more spells. I also chose Ionian boots of lucidity because we want to sneak in as much cooldown reduction as we can. Since we are support casting more spells is more important than some extra damage. After we've upgraded to a rod of ages and archangels the build is much more flexible. Depending on how well were doing, we sometimes get a mejais at this point because Lux finishes off so many kills and gets a ton of assists giving us a lot of extra ability power which helps. At this point we are very flexible. I find the best three items at this point are Rylai's crystal scepter, Lich bane, and Zhonya's hourglass. It all depends on your team and there's, however you should probably be choosing from these three. Don't hesitate to get an early elixir of brilliance, if you get it around when the team fights start happening getting as close to max cooldown reduction will be very beneficial because the 24 second laser can initiate and hit a second time in most late game team fights. Not to mention Rylai's will slow their team. Getting blue buff also helps us with our cooldowns.

Light Binding:
Lux releases a sphere of light that immobilizes and deals 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to up to two enemy units for 2 seconds, dealing 50% effect and damage to the 2nd unit struck.

This is Lux's primary crowd control. The fact that it can snare two champions is just icing on the cake. It's a very good set up for your team to snag a kill. Something to note is that It's one of the longest range snares in the game. In dire situations don't be afraid to throw it through a single minion.
Lucent Singularity:
Fires an anomaly of twisted light to an area, which slows nearby enemies by 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36%. Zone lasts 5 seconds. Lux can detonate it to deal 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to enemies in the area of effect.

This is our main harassment skill, and all-around utility spell. It's very easy to hit with, area of effect, slows before you set it off, and even reveals the area it's in for instance brush. Something to note is that the cooldown doesn't start until we set off the area, therefore if it's lying around doing nothing you might as well set off earlier so it can come off cooldown faster.
Prismatic Barrier:
Lux throws her wand to a target location and back, bending the light around herself and any friendly Champions it touches, protecting them from 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+35% of ability power) damage for 3 seconds.

I personally love this skill. Many people underestimate it, however I can't count how many times its saved mine or an allies life. it's also a very good counter against harassment. At level 1 this skill even eats up an entire ignite! Later game it shines in team fights and practically cancels their area of effect spells. Keep on saving lives!

Finales Funkeln:
After gathering energy, Lux fires a beam of light that deals 300 / 400 / 500 (+75% of ability power) damage to all targets in the area. It ignites and refreshes Lux's Illumination debuff if it hits enemies already afflicted.

This is the actual reason most people play Lux. Everybody loves to throw around their laser beam! It's great for so many things, finishing off a kill where they otherwise would've gotten away, stealing Dragon Baron or even a blue buff, farming late game, and great team fight harassment. Don't forget to throw up a clairvoyance before you shoot when you'd normally be casting your magic missile on the darkness.

These are our combos as Lux:
This is our simple early game harassment combo, don't put yourself in too much danger trying to get off your passive. However, the slow from the field will make it easier to get off and you can set off the field while your attack projectile is in the air.
This is our full damage combo. It can deal a pretty high amount of damage and after you snare them it's pretty much guaranteed.


Skill Leveling:


We start off with our snare, light binding for several reasons. First of all, it's the most beneficial to our lane mate then our little circle. Our circle is also best used for harassing at level 2+. Also, as I will explain later we use clairvoyance to scout the brush in the beginning of the game as the minions pass. If we snare them both, depending on our lane mate they will lose a lot of health or we could even get first blood.

We then want to harass at level 3 with Lucent singularity. It's very powerful and hard for them to escape. If you can get off the trigger of your passive as well to increase the harassment. at level 4 we get one level in our shield because it allows us and our ally to stay in lane much longer. Without this spell we wouldn't start with a tear of the goddess. We then proceed to max out Lucent singularity, as we want it to be as powerful early game as it can. Obviously putting a point in our laser whatever we can along the way. At level 8 we put another point in our shield because it's very good for survivability.

Using our spells effectively is extremely important for playing Lux. We should be shielding a large amount of the damage ourselves or our allies would be taking. Do not spam the snare. It's cooldown is relatively long and there are times when we really need it, Lucent singularity is good enough for harassment.

Lucent singularity can scout brush, however this is more of a last resort because we have clairvoyance. Also good ]laser usage is critical. Until level 3 we aren't going to spam this. We would be passing up to many kills that way. However at level 3 with a large amount of cooldown reduction it's great for initiating things while we will still be able to shoot it shortly again. Also not a bad farming tool.

I picked flash because it's one of the best skills in the game. It allows you to escape in most situations where you would have no hope. You can even get kills with it occasionally. It's really powerful.
I also picked clairvoyance. I feel that every team should always have at least one member with this summoner spell. The same goes for fortify. However, this spell is way too useful for Lux to pass up. There are so many things that you can do with it. Not only is it the best counter to brush in the game, but it also is very good against fog of war. Whatever an ally is chasing an enemy champion who runs into brush you should immediately clairvoyance the area. This allows your ally to not only target them, but be able to instantly react to juking and even prevent a gank. You should constantly be checking brush with this skill. You can save your team from ganks, or ambush unsuspecting champions. It's great for also checking Baron Dragon and even the buffs. This spell can also save you lots of mana for not forcing you to check brush with Lucent singularity. It also lets you leave that up for farming or harassing. Something unique to Lux with this skill is that if a shaping gets away with low health you can scout where he/she is and then snipe them with your laser. I get this ability on every support character because of how useful it is and game breaking it can be.

Don't forget in the beginning of the game you and your lane mate should not enter the brush. Instead you wait until your minions pass the first brush and then you immediately clairvoyance. if enemy champions are waiting in the brush your minions will immediately rush to attack them and then you can snare them. This is a great early game tactic and sets you up for a strong early laning phase.

Other Commonly Considered Options:
Lux loves mana, however I used to run this spell and found I was spending this mana to use my Lucent singularity on the brush for scouting. This was swiftly replaced with clairvoyance. It's only good early game anyway, and the only time I'd actually run it is when I have a lane mate who desperately needs mana.
Ghost is a very good spell. You could run on practically every champion, however, I find flash to be so much better for escaping. Ghost might have some extra utility, unfortunately there are too many times that it can't actually save us.

Besides these you might be able to get away with using teleport or even ignite, however, these just aren't as good as flash or clairvoyance and neither are ghost or clarity.

Lux is a great champion that when played correctly can devastate the enemy team. You need to learn how to use all of her spells effectively (including summoner spells). Once this is achieved you will be a force to reckon with and will be owning noobs all day. Thank you for reading my guide, please comment and rate.