I'm not a pro. I don't play ranked often. I'm aware of high elo levels of play and I try to employ them as best I can. This isn't a guide on how to play Lux in every possible elo. It is, however, a guide for how to play Lux in various situations, which are much more important than anything else.

Lux is a mage/support hybrid who is full of versatility. Her charm is in her powerful CC and high burst damage, as well as her heavy AoE and the fact that she can be played as both a support with CC and a straight up mage.

To those of you looking at her and thinking: "She's so skillshot based! She must be difficult!" I'd respond to that first impression with the idea that she isn't difficult, but simply different. You can't simply pick her up and master everything about her within a few games. Sometimes I feel like I'm still mastering her even to this day.

Her skillshot based kit may put you off playing her, but to those of you who want a powerful supportive mage with high damage, amazing CC, and a high reward for playing her properly, I absolutely recommend you pick her up and enjoy everything she has to offer.

My rune set as above gives a nice boost to your early game damage, gives a nice amount of flat magic penetration for that troublesome magic resist early game. You may wonder where the per level runes are, but I find them pointless for a simple reason.

Much of Lux's early game damage is rather weak. It's certainly not useless by any means, but her AP ratios on her offensive skills are decent, with a 0.7 AP ratio on Light Binding, a 0.6 AP ratio on and a 0.75 AP ratio on Finales Funkeln Finales Funkeln. However, her early game bases are quite weak, hence the flat increase in power.

The mana regen is because early game, even the best Lux can blow through her mana surprisingly quickly, leaving you going back to your base before you'd like to. This massive flat mana regen will prevent early game starvation, and mana should never be a problem if you take a break for ten seconds when your mana gets below 25%.

Please DON'T look at these runes and think "I need to get to level 20 to unlock these.. These are expensive. I shouldn't play her until I have all these runes." This is absolutely not the case. They're nice to have, certainly, and make the laning phase a breeze, but they aren't necessary. You can supplement the mana regen with a Tear of the Goddess at lower levels/pre rune. I certainly did, and it made up for the fact that I bought her at Summoner Level 10. Call it noobish if you want, but for a newer Lux, it's a nice little crutch while you work up the EXP and IP you need to start ideally.

The masteries listed above are designed to utilize Lux's strengths and, again, increase her AP while also decreasing her rather high cooldowns and giving her a little extra mana regen on the side.

Unlike most, I would say that Lux's masteries are versatile. If you feel you don't need the extra damage; if her cooldowns aren't giving you trouble; if your mana regen is good enough with runes, feel free to switch around my masteries with what works for you.

Again, newcomers, you don't necessarily need these masteries to start playing her. For the most part, masteries give an early game advantage in my experience; an advantage that is later replaced or amplified by items. Very rarely do masteries mean a game changing advantage.

The summoner spells I use, Flash and Teleport, tend to be the ones that work the most for me, but for the sake of completion, I'll go over all of them.



Flash is a short distance blink that casts instantly, and can be used both offensively as a gap closer, or defensively as an escape mechanism. It's remarkably versatile and will both save your life and secure you a kill several times over the course of your average game. Using it to blink over walls is a valid strategy you'd do well to master.



Teleport is my second Summoner Spell. It allows me to get from base to lane quicker in a crisis, and also allows me quick transportation to other lanes for tower defence or to pick up a kill or two. It's invaluable for me to be able to go from place to place quickly, and can save a lane during a clutch situation by transporting your CC and an extra load of damage to that lane.



Although I don't carry it personally, Ghost can be a valuable spell for running down an enemy or escaping. The reason I don't carry it is because Exhaust and other slowing, snaring or stunning skills negate its use, and if you're caught out of position like that, chances are Ghost won't save you like Flash can.



A nice spell for slowing an enemy and suppressing their damage output, but most definitely a summoner spell best employed by a carry or someone with consistent, sustained damage. Using Exhaust in a one on one situation will be unlikely to make much of a difference. If you're in range to cast Exhaust, you're in range to fire all of your other skills. And with your high cooldowns, Exhaust is likely to have worn off by the time you're ready for another cycle of spells. Much better on your assassin or AD carry.



A useful tool for removing CC and getting you on the move, but is unlikely to be as useful as Flash in that regard. In a fight against someone CC heavy, Lux is much better staying away from them in the first place, taking advantage of superior range and her own CC to do so. Prevention is better than cure.


A nice spell for getting that last tick of damage necessary to kill an enemy. It's one of those spells I'd actually consider taking in the right situation, such as if we had one or two people with Teleport and I knew I wasn't going mid. It also hard counters healers, so that's good too.



Surge nicely supplements your burst and enhances it nicely...every 187 seconds with max Summoner Spell cooldown. To be simplistic about it, its reward isn't worth the Summoner Spell slot.



I used this as a crutch in the laning phase after weaning myself off a Tear. It works nicely when you're halfway towards completing your rune page if you're trouble staying topped up, but it just isn't worth it at later levels, especially when late game rolls around.



A situational spell at best, I don't find it very useful because of its rather high cooldown and the fact it can only be used on a siege minion. Better taken on a traditional support or a tank.



I wouldn't shut its use down, but it's better on a more traditional support. It can help you aim your laser here and there, and if you want to sacrifice your Teleport slot for it, then go for it. But for the love of God, don't just use it for that. Use it to scout for ganks and baron/dragon as well.



A nice early game spell for baiting and sustain, I suppose, but near useless late game. A waste of a summoner spell slot.



You aren't jungling, mister. You can gank just fine without needing to spend the entire laning phase in the jungle, wasting your amazing harass and CC for a third of the game. If I see a Lux with Smite, I hope to God Warwick has killed her and stolen her skin, or I'm not buying it.



No.

These are a basic rundown of the abilities. More detail on how to use them will come later, as well as my reasoning on why I max the skills as I do.



Lux's passive and a core aspect of her laning phase. Each of Lux's offensive abilities charge her enemy with light for 6 seconds, displayed by glowing light at the centre of their model. basic attacks landed while they're charged with this light will deal 10 damage, plus 10 per level.



Light Binding is Lux's primary form of CC, a line skillshot with decent range that snares the first two enemy units hit, minions include for two seconds, while dealing magic damage. The second unit snared will take half damage. I take Light Binding at level 1 and max it second.



Prismatic Barrier is Lux's only traditional support ability, an AoE shield that travels in a boomerang fashion similar to Sivir's Boomerang Blade, shielding allied champions including Lux on its way out and as it returns to Lux. I take Prismatic Barrier at level 4, and max it last.



Lucent Singularity is the primary damage skill the way I max Lux's skills. It sends out a sphere of light that lingers in the area for a short time, granting vision in a radius slightly higher than its area of effect. Enemies that walk into the area are slowed, and the light can be detonated to deal damage to all targets within the area. I take Lucent Singularity at Level 2, and max it right away.

Finales Funkeln

The ability that attracted most Lux players to her from the beginning, myself included. Finales Funkeln releases a thin beam of light at a long range (about the distance from one turret to another), damaging all targets caught in its range. It's notable for its low cooldown and the fact that aside from death and Skarner's Impale, once the very short channel time has commenced, this ultimate cannot be interrupted or stopped. It also ignites an existing Illumination debuff, dealing additional damage.

You may be wondering; "Why am I levelling up Lucent Singularity before Light Binding? Lucent Singularity has lower damage, a lower ratio, and higher costs!"

To put it simply, Light Binding is harder to land. Its hitbox is rather small, and it can be interrupted by minions. In the laning phase, where minions have such an impact, you'll either have to reposition yourself awkwardly and constantly to land your Light Binding, and you'll also have to deal with having Lucent Singularity remaining weak for half the game.

If you don't level up Light Binding, you'll still have a two second snare, a drastically effective moment of CC. If you don't level up Lucent Singularity, you'll have a tool only truly useful for a small slow and as a method to illuminate your foes. Puts it all into perspective, doesn't it?

Assuming you have the runes recommended in this build, start with a Doran's Ring. When you can, get a second one. This is for the early game ability power, making up for your comparatively low bases by taking advantage of your decent ratios.

If you don't have the recommended runes, I suggest you get a Meki Pendant and two health potions, building them into a Tear of the Goddess or a Chalice of Harmony, depending on how bad you find your mana issues are. You'll be missing out on a little AP, but assuming you got a Tear, you can always get an later.

When first going back, I suggest getting Boots of Speed to speed you up a bit, allowing you to position yourself and land combos a little faster. Get a and next.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity are next. They give you increased cooldown reduction, and your cooldowns act as weaknesses in your early and mid game power, so this along with your masteries will reduce them a little bit.

Finish your and build it into a ASAP. This gives you survivability, mana and a nice chunk of AP. I used to rush a Rabadon's after my Ionian Boots of Lucidity, but after a friend become much more effective than me by building an RoA first, I decided to follow suit and my gameplay went up in quality. The mid game survivability, mana, and the amazing passive from Catalyst upon level up is priceless.

Now we get to the raw damage, and we build a as soon as we can. This is when you'll notice your damage begin to spike noticeably. Your full burst combo will demolish squishies and force most carries out of a fight, either by blue pilling or death.

And now we go into the murky waters of situational items. Wear scuba gear and make sure it's working.

A Void Staff is a fantastic item if your enemy is stacking magic resist, while also giving you a healthy amount of AP for a reasonable cost. If an enemy Banshee's Veil is giving you trouble or an enemy's Merc Treads are negating your magic damage.

Zhonya's Hourglass, the other half of Rabadon's Deathcap that once made up Zhonya's Ring. I often find myself getting a Zhonya's against predominately AD teams that aren't giving me so much trouble that I need a Thornmail. The boost in Armor and AP, as well as the temporary untargetability as an active is nice to have. Also a viable option against Karthus and the like.

Kage's Lucky Pick Not really an offensive item but I might as well put it here since it gives you a little Ability Power. This makes for a nice item if an enemy is stopping you from farming, preventing your kills, or doing anything else that's starving you of gold. But do make the decision whether or not to buy it early on. The gold per five doesn't mean a lot if you don't grab it within the first fifteen (preferably ten) minutes of the game.

Again, since this seems more offensive than not, I'll put it in here. Nice against bursty AP champions such as LeBlanc and Kassadin, as well as AP carries such as Annie, Swain, Fiddlesticks and Malzahar. It gives you a nice boost in AP and magic resist, and as a bonus, also reduces the magic resist of nearby enemies, something AP carries, other aggressive supports, and AP assassins will love you for. However, because Void Staff is cheaper and more effective at it, I don't suggest getting this purely for the aura. Think of it as an MR and AP boost, with the aura as a nice bonus.

With a nice slow added to your abilities as well as additional health, this is nice to toughen you up a bit as well as keeping enemies just escaping you within your grasp. It's a bit much on top of the RoA, and do make sure to get it AFTER the core build, unless you're struggling that much.



Banshee's Veil is another great item against troublesome AP burst mages like LeBlanc and Kassadin. As champions who rely on bursting you down with multiple abilities, blocking one of those abilities with the Banshee's Veil Shield can really mess with them. On top of the HP, MP ad magic resist, this is a good pick to keep yourself healthy.

A good Tenacity Item, while also giving you a little AP. If you're finding CC is messing with you a little (or a lot), buy this item. It'll really ease your worries.

Thornmail acts as a deterrent for AD carries who use basic auto attacks and abilities that apply on hit effects. It's the next step up from Zhonya's Hourglass if Tryndamere and his kind are giving you a lot of trouble. On top of your Rod of Ages, a Thornmail doesn't make you an attractive target to the AD carries in a fight, potentially allowing you to get off your full burst on the team before retreating.

If you have the luxury of a premade or the rarity of a team that actually listens, there are several good laning partners for Lux that supplement her style of play.



If you manage to get a laning partner with non repositioning CC, you can have a very easy time in the laning phase. Riven, Morgana, Xin and Swain are all characters with very good early game damage to supplement your own, and also have nice CC that you can chain together with your own.

The reason that someone else with CC is a good plan with Lux is that you want to push that early game power that you have. You'll notice that the four champions I mentioned above can scale amazingly well with a few kills under their belt. Get a few kills for yourself, a few for them, and you'll have a very happy carry and a nice income for yourself to boot.
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Yes, now and then you'll find yourself forced to lane with the tank. However, don't despair. If this is the case, the tank should be struggling to feed you. Again. the three mentioned above are riddled with CC that doesn't move the enemy, but rather keeps them in place for your skillshots and burst, making it much easier to land.

If you do lane with the tank, get as many kills as possible and remember to wait for Leona's Sunlight passive to be applied to an enemy if you lane with her. Illuminating an enemy, letting Leona attack, and then igniting both your passive and her own can lead to a superb damage output early game.
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AD carries will love your CC and damage output. Try to hold back and let them get the last hits, taking only every few kills or so.

If you're with a melee carry or hypercarry like Trynd, Jax, or Akali, let them have every kill you can and support them until that stage where they can handle themselves. Basically, to melee and hyper carries, you're a babysitter and a walking CC machine. Charming, isn't it?
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So now that we have the good combinations out of the way, we'll move onto the one kind of laning partner that just does not click with Lux. The dubious honour goes to champions with abilities that reposition their enemy.



Champions with movement modifiers simply don't work well with Lux, for the simple reason that she is skillshot based. Those who rely on moving their enemies around with their abilities don't gel with Lux because she relies on positioning and on an enemy staying in a set area to remain effective.

It isn't Lux's fault, and it isn't their fault. It's simply the way things are. It's better to send this kind of champion with someone who isn't skillshot reliant, that's all.

It's better to take the duo lane as Lux, supporting your allies with CC and making the laning phase that much easier.

Buy your starting items and go into lane. Feel free to fire Light Binding into the bushes. If it vanishes before travelling the full distance, it's hit two targets. The reason you should take Light Binding at level 1 is for the escape potential and the ability to chase down an enemy. Nowadays, level 1 ganks tend to be common, so taking Light Binding can reduce the effectiveness of an enemy gank, as well as secure the success of your own.

Assuming everything begins as normal, simply farm until level 3, when Lucent Singularity reaches level 2 and you can finally start doing some damage.

Try to lead the enemy with your skills. Pick out the weaker champion and focus on them. Your priority should be AP carry-AD carry-assassin-fighter-bruiser-tank from high priority to low priority.

Try to be predictive. If an enemy has encountered Lux before they're unlikely to stay still. Firing from the brush can make it so that they don't know where Light Binding will be coming from. If you can snare them, immediately throw down Lucent Singularity and launch a basic attack to ignite your passive, before detonating Lucent Singularity and auto attacking again. This can easily take 40% of a carry's life, 30% of a fighter's life, and 20% of a tank's life at early levels.

After launching this combo, retreat to wait for your cooldowns, and repeat until the enemy recalls or dies.

After reaching level 5, you can start harassing with Lucent Singularity alone if you can land it. Try to conserve your mana while doing so. You want enough to get your full burst combo off at level 6.

Try to go back before level 6 to get your second Doran's Ring and possibly your Boots of Speed, then teleport back to lane if it's in trouble, or run back if not.

Upon reaching level 6, turn your aggressiveness up a notch. This is when you have the ability to kill a champion easily. Launch a Light Binding, throw down your E, ignite your passive, detonate your E. If they have less than 300 HP, launch your ultimate at them. The 300 base damage of your ultimate with the ignited passive should finish them off. Don't rush firing your ultimate. You have time to take aim because of the range, so don't waste your shot. If you're having trouble getting things low enough, simply use your burst combo to force an enemy out of lane.
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Lux works as a capable mid against most AD carries and AP carries. Due to their weaker early games and your good early game harassment with Lucent Singularity.

Obey the same instructions as above. Play aggressively from level 3 onwards and start going in for the kill from 5 or 6 onwards if you're doing well.

Try to buy a few Sight Ward Sight Wards, or Vision Wards if there are stealth using champions on the enemy team. This can alert you to a gank in advance if you put them in the mid river brushes.

If you're having a problem, either because of a bad game, or the strong early game of an enemy LeBlanc, Kassadin or Caitlyn, either ask for a switch out, or if you want to tough it up/are forced to tough it out, buy an early game Null Magic Mantle Null Magic Mantle or Cloth Armor, and/or play more defensively. These champions fall off badly late game if they aren't fed, and most have trouble farming. They tend to push far out and play very aggressively to take advantage of their good early game. Asking for a gank or simply denying them kills is a very good way to punish them.
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Ganking with Lux is a simple affair. It's easier for you if you're in mid, but it applies to the other lanes too.

Hide in the bushes and try to manoeuvre around the minions to land Light Binding. If an enemy is staying on the move, try to be predictive. Guess where they might go next. If you don't land it, chances are they'll know you're there and will either retreat or move in on you.

Assuming you succeed, your allies should initiate immediately. Toss down Lucent Singularity and detonate it, and if the enemy is playing aggressively, throw a Prismatic Barrier out to shield your allies. Every little helps.

If you think your allies will get the kill, then let them have it, and don't be afraid to fire your ult to assist if you're having trouble. Even at this stage it's on a low cooldown-anywhere from 70-36 seconds depending on our build, runes and masteries. If they Flash, Ghost, or use another escape mechanic, try to root them down again or, if they're low, simply ult them if you haven't already. Regardless, if you land your Light Binding, an enemy will either be returning to base or dead, guaranteed. (Unless they're just that fed, in which case sucks to be you.)

If they retreat, simply come out into the lane and start pushing it back a little to give your opponents an advantage. Just as you would in your own lane, try to land your combo and harass, and go back to your own lane if someone from the enemy team starts pushing it.

If you miss and they move in on you, throw a Lucent Singularity down AT your current location for the slow and go around to your turret. If they try to scissor you, don't be afraid to Flash. If in a really bad situation with3+ enemies, try to juke by going into a bush and then immediately leaving when an enemy pursues. This tends to disorient and throw an enemy off guard.
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At this stage, you should have already discerned who is the biggest problem on your enemy team. During a teamfight, Lux's job is to apply CC to and burst down the dangerous, squishier targets. Try to lock down the AD or AP carry with heavy damage and/or CC and either kill them or force them out of the fight.

At this early stage, your ultimate can be two things. It can either amplify the strength of your teammates or you can use it to pick off low health enemies who have escaped the range of your other teammates.

It's up to you to decide whether your team can take advantage of this heavy burst. If so, toss Lucent Singularity into the fray, detonate it, and fire your ultimate at once. Try to hit three or more enemies. At this early stage, anywhere from 25% to 75% of a full HP enemy can be blasted away if you have a decent amount of AP.

If you don't think they can take advantage of your burst, back to plan A. Lock down and kill their squishy AD carry or AP carry, focussing on the assassin, the fighter, the support, the bruiser and the tank from there, in that order. Fire your ultimate to pick off fleeing enemies.

This is the stage I see many Lux players begin to deliberately KS. I can't stress enough what a bad idea that is. Lux is an early game and mid game carry. Her burst is AoE focussed, meaning she SHOULD capitalise on that burst with the whole team around. She falls off later in the game.

The only time your ult should be used for a kill is when you're securing a kill that someone else can't get. Please keep that in mind.

Lux's power late game falls off a little bit. While she has high ratios and a high base on her ultimate, she's always better in a teamfight, and this is when she truly degenerates into a support. Escort your carry around and keep them safe with your CC while they deal damage.

At this stage, your laser should be off cooldown every 24-30 seconds, meaning that regardless of team competence, you should throw down Lucent Singularity, detonate it, and fire your laser into the illuminated team every teamfight, because it will be off cooldown by the time the teamfight is over or shortly afterwards.

Again, lock down the most dangerous targets. Always keep your distance where possible. At this stage, you should never be igniting your passive via auto attacks because that's just too close for Lux to be to an enemy at this stage.

While retreating from a teamfight or chasing, your priority is snaring or slowing an enemy for an ally to get the kill. Only if they're behind a turret and nobody can tower dive should you use your ult for the kill.

Don't try to proc your passive with basic attacks after the twenty minute mark. It leaves you too open to retaliation unless you have protection.

Be predictive with your abilities. Guess where an enemy will go before firing Light Binding or Finales Funkeln.

Launch Prismatic Barrier at the start and end of a teamfight to soak up Ignites and get easy assists.

Pick off low HP, distant targets with your ultimate early game.

Try to catch three or more enemies in your ult every teamfight, to take advantage of its AoE nature. Just because the cooldown is low doesn't mean you need to use it carelessly!

Keep an eye out for enemies that are troublesome and allies that are having trouble. Try to attack said enemy and protect said ally.

If you're having trouble discerning an enemy you need to watch out for, try wiping out a weak link before a teamfight starts, leaving the enemy a champion down.

Use Teleport to get from lane to lane and protect it. Prioritise which lane needs the most help, and try not to neglect your own lane, even if you've pushed a tower or two.

I hope to see an influx of Lux players due to this guide. Please leave a review of my guide and what I can do to improve it. Don't feel confined by this guide. Do what works best with you as I do what works best with me.