[2.5a] Lucian Guide - They won't rise again
They won't rise again
Pros
- One of the most mobile ADCs in the game
- High skill ceiling
- Can solo lane well
- One of the best kiting ADCs regardless of build path
- Very good early game
Cons
- You can only really build damage, aka you die easily
- Very vulnerable in lane if dash is on cooldown
- Hard to master/implement combos
- Very reliant on abilities for damage
Lucian Build
Best Build Guide for Lucian
Item Build Description
Additional information on the items
Starting items
There really isn't much to explain on this, regardless of your build or matchup, you should ALWAYS start Long Sword .
The Always good build
For starters, "Why is this always good?" This build, in comparison to any other options provided, is good regardless of what you are fighting and no matter your match up as well. Navori Quickblades are a fantastic item for Lucian both for it's cooldown reduction and allowing you to get multiple abilities off in a fight whereas other builds only allow you to really get multiple Relentless Pursuit /dashes in a fight. Solari Chargeblade also allows you to get 100% critical strike chance with only 3 critical strike items at the cost of needing to constantly use abilities. Paired with Navori Quickblades for the constant ability resets and Trio'd with Infinity Edge for an extra kick in damage, you turn into a hard to kill yet turbo DPSing monster. Topped off with Serylda's Grudge to turn your Piercing Light , Ardent Blaze , and The Culling into nasty slows that make your damage inescapable. A Guardian Angel as the cherry on top in preparation for the game ending fights. As a note, you can replace Guardian Angel with a Blade of the Ruined King anytime GA is on cooldown.
The I hate Solari Chargeblade build
To be entirely honest, this could also be called the "I want Essence Reaver !" build too, but that doesn't quite roll off the tongue as well. Essence Reaver is a great item for Lucian, don't get it twisted, however in the long run, Navori Quickblades at the time this guide is being written simply is more useful for Lucian and is also cheaper. This allows him/you to hit important item power spikes faster, playing further into Lucian's lane-bully style. If you really like Sheen procs/Spell blade styles, this is the build for you.
Build tips depending on comps
These are useful tips for considering what changes to your builds on the fly if you are fighting against comps centered around different styles of champions.
Fighting champs that heal/ Sona or Soraka ? - Replace Serylda's Grudge with Mortal Reminder for healing reduction
Fighting against assassins/ Zed haunts your nightmares? - Upgrade your boots to a [stasis enchant] after your first item if you're worried about them or whenever you have 800 gold lying around AND go either Mercury's Treads if they are an AP assassin or Plated Steelcaps if they are an AD one.
Fighting against hard Crowd Control? - Upgrade your boots to a Quicksilver Enchant after your first item if you're worried about them or whenever you have 800 gold lying around AND go Mercury's Treads to shave off some time being rooted or stunned.
Fighting a lot of AP-based champions? - Go Mercury's Treads for your boots and replace Serlyda's with a Wit's End . That extra Magic Resist from both of those will buy you that extra health you need to survive and/or kill them before they kill you.
Not worried about anyone in particular/are a beast at using mobility tools? - Upgrade your boots to a hot Protobelt Enchant for that extra dash and extra chances to style on fools.
Lucian Runes
Best Runes for Lucian
If you are confident in your laning abilities and simply want more damage throughout the game, Conqueror is your go to. If you believe you're going to have a rough laning phase or are a little bit more new to Lucian, Fleet Footwork is always a safe choice.
Secondary runes
Red
Brutal - Almost always useful and the best rune for being a lane bully. Champion is great, sure, but it's too risky for my liking and free stats from Brutal is free stats.
Hunter Vampirism - If you think you'll have an easy lane or are confident in your solo lane skills, this can be a great rune to take as 7% lifesteal can be a life-saver at all points of the game. Can be a little difficult to get the full value in some games.
Gathering Storm - Great for scaling but absolutely useless during lane phase, which hinders our ability to take advantage of our good early game.
Green
Bone Plating - Wonderful choice against assassins or champs that are very reliant on blowing all their abilities on you at once. There's a good chance this rune could save your life against bursty champions later in the game.
Second Wind - If they're a poke-focused champion, this rune is your best friend. Can single handily get you through lane if you know what you're doing.
Hunter Titan - Similar to Hunter Vampirism, great to take if you are confident in your lane. 100 extra health and 20% tenacity can be the difference between life or death in certain scenarios, but it can be slightly difficult to reach the full power of this rune.
Blue
Mastermind - Can work wonders if you know how to effectively use this rune, but can only be useful if you actually can go for towers and dragons/barons/rift heralds.
Hunter Genius - Ability haste is great on Lucian, but this rune has the same limits as Vampirism and Titan in the sense that it can be hard to get the full value quickly if you're not familiar with concepts such as rotations.
Sweet Tooth - It's more healing for your only health-restoring option in lane without Fleet Footwork , it's almost a minion wave worth of gold, and can allow yourself to pick up 60 gold anytime you see a free Honeydew plant. What is there not to like?
If you want a little more utility in your main rune and want more kiting/mobility at the cost of either more damage with Conqueror or sustain with Fleet Footwork , try out Phase Rush for a little more style in your gameplay.
Skill Order
How to distribute skill points
Summoner Spells
When to take which summoners
Combos
Learn how to maximize the champions potential
The lane bully special
This combo is useful in lane no matter what. If you can't sneak in the first auto attack, you can opt to hit a minion with Piercing Light and then try to auto attack the enemy champion to get off your double shot passive.
The "Why you are played mid" special
One of the reasons Lucian is played mid with success is that with Relentless Pursuit , you can both damage and dodge effectively, which allows you to dodge skill shots easily and kick the christ out of your opponent. This combo can really hurt at level 2 when paired with Piercing Light and can cheese early kills if you hit level 2 before they do.
The optimal damage combo
This combo is optimal both for maximizing damage and maximizing the cooldown reduction on your Relentless Pursuit . This combo is one of the best for teamfights if someone on yours gets a good engage.
The "Please get away from me" combo
As an ADC, sometimes people are gonna try to run you down. If you have the items AND the confidence however, this combo is your best bet for both maximizing the chance that you live through Ardent Blaze 's movement speed and doing enough damage while still running away.
All together now
You can hit your buttons, you know about the resets, you are confident in your movement, and you know how to use Protobelt Enchant . This puts it all together to show off your moves in your upcoming montage. With Navori Quickblades , you can repeat every part after The Culling besides Protobelt Enchant until you either die, run out of mana, or win the game. You can also simply use your dash anytime it is off cooldown instead of following a straight pattern shown here.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT LUCIAN'S PASSIVE, Lightslinger
If you have recently used an ability and Lightslinger is ready to go, if your first auto attack hits an enemy champion, the second shot will ALWAYS hit them again, regardless of the distance. This means that even if they flash away or even if YOU flash away, if you get off the auto attack, the second shot will still hit. This is important to know for securing kills in lane and in late game in tense situations.
One last important thing about all of Lucian's abilities
Every single ability counts as an "auto attack reset," which is a fancy way of saying that the time it takes to do another auto attack is reset to 0 anytime that you use an ability. The easy way to think of it is every time you do 1 auto attack, use one ability, then auto attack again, and repeat until the fight is over. Since every time you use Lightslinger , the cooldown on Relentless Pursuit is reduced, so use your dash as often as possible.
Lucian Matchups & Counters
Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters
The poor Ice queen just doesn't do much damage until it's too late and you've killed her in lane 3 times. So long as you play around her Enchanted Crystal Arrow past level 5, you really shouldn't have problems against her. That being said, you can still have a rough time when she is paired with supports that are good at preventing you from exerting your lane-bully status.
Lane phase
The most important thing about your laning phase in general in dragon lane is assessing the kind of lane you're going into. For example, if you have a Soraka on your team and the enemy dragon lane consists of Draven and Leona , you are playing into a bully/kill lane. Their whole thing will be for you to make a mistake so Leona can root, stun, and watch you get axed to death by Draven . So your goal will be to take trades you can and let Soraka attempt to poke them out with her abilities and heal any small hits and trades Draven gets off.
Another example is if you're fighting say Ezreal and Lux and your support is Lulu . Neither of these champions in the early game can afford to take super extended fights, but their poke game is very strong, whereas Lulu can both poke back and provide you shields while also having either CC or attack speed/movement speed with Whimsy , so it's all about taking fights when you can and playing around not just their cooldowns, but yours and Lulu 's as well.
Laning/general tips
- Use Piercing Light 's long range to poke out your lane opponent whenever you can. Throw the Lightslinger at them as well if you can swing it.
- Relentless Pursuit is best saved to avoid the enemy's skill shots so you can then retaliate with more damage, but it can be used for nasty quick trades if you believe you can get away with it.
- Get a ward in the brush closer to their tower in lane to alleviate some pressure that comes from not knowing their exact positioning. This can be priceless against supports like Leona , Thresh , and Blitzcrank .
- If you are ever trying to clear/shove a wave as fast as possible, try to aim your Piercing Light to hit as many minions at once as possible. If the wave hasn't met your minions yet, all 4 of them will be perfectly lined up to hit them all at once.
- Remember that The Culling also counts as an ability for Lightslinger , so you can potentially cancel the ult early for another double shot if they flash, dodge, or position around it. You would be surprised how often that can be a life saver in certain situations.
- Use your wards in general, please.
- Ardent Blaze reveals enemies hit, so you can use this to check brushes/fog of war for bad guys.
- Your Piercing Light has a longer and wider hitbox than you think, try it out often in lane to learn how cheesy this ability can be.
Outside of lane/Late game
As you are the ADC, you never want to be the first one to go in for a big fight. That is the rest of your team's job, your job is to follow up and survive to be able to do as much damage as possible. Keep in mind whether or not you can see people that are important to be aware of, such as enemy assassins, enemy engage champions, or anyone that can practically kill you if they catch you. Relentless Pursuit will mainly be used to either kite people out or to avoid skill shots that could get you killed if they hit you, you always have your boots enchantment and your summoner spells as a backup should anything go wrong. Be careful on taking fights when said spells or enchantments are on cooldown, as things such as most assassin ults will come back before your [stasis enchant] does. Remember to watch for minion waves stacking to keep your towers, especially your base ones, from getting destroyed by 5 cannons.