Lux is a long-ranged artillery mage whose strengths lie in her ability to waveclear, poke, burst, and catch people. Despite seeing a lack of pro play, Lux is still a strong solo queue midlaner with great carry potential. In addition, Lux is relatively simple to pick up, making her a great champion for people looking to learn how to play in midlane. She is very rewarding for people who have mastered her playstyle, allowing you to snipe people from afar, catch enemies unaware, and come in clutch to save allies.

Ability Overview

Passive: Illumination - Lux’s damaging abilities mark the targets for 6 seconds. Her next basic attack ignites the mark, dealing bonus magic damage. This passive is Lux’s bread and butter in the early laning phase. It allows you to bully your lane opponent pretty badly, especially if they’re a melee champion. A couple procs of this and you’ll have them down below half health consistently.

Q: Light Binding - Lux’s fires a skillshot that snares the first two enemies hit for 2 seconds and damages them. Light Binding is a powerful skillshot. The double snare means that in the early game you can harass enemy champions behind minions if positioned properly. The double snare also gives you an advantage to potentially hit two champions when getting ganked or when roaming to another lane. In terms of midgame and lategame, Light Binding allows you to get good picks off, thanks to its range and snare length. Light Binding’s damage is also nothing to sniff at, as it boasts a 70% AP ratio, meaning that the later the game gets, the more dangerous you become. The double snare also gives you a good peeling tool, should you find yourself in a situation where peeling is the priority. You take Light Binding at level 2 normally and max it second. Only take it at level 1 if you’re invading and can catch someone, or you’re being invaded and need the snare to survive without blowing summoners. Keep in mind that starting with Light Binding in lane greatly reduces your harassing potential.

W: Prismatic Barrier - Lux shields herself and fires a wide skillshot that shields all ally champions. The skillshot then returns to Lux, shielding herself and any ally champion hit by the returning shot for double the original value. Prismatic Barrier is a defensive skillshot that allows for quick saves of either yourself or your allies. Early game Prismatic Barrier can save you from the last tick of ignite, or let you soak up enough damage to survive a gank. Late on during teamfights, a good Prismatic Barrier can shield your entire team for a decent amount, potentially saving allies and turning a fight. You can also time Prismatic Barrier to avoid delayed damage abilities like Ignite, Karthus ultimate, Zilean bombs, etc. You take Prismatic Barrier at level 3 and max it last.

E: Lucent Singularity - Lux fires an orb to a targeted location, where is stays for 5 seconds, creating a zone that slows all enemies within it. After 5 seconds the zone detonates, dealing damage to enemies within it. You can reactivate this early to detonate early. Lucent Singularity is Lux’s main ability. It’s your main tool for harassing in laning phase, and poking the enemy during the mid and lategame stages. Its size lets you clear waves with ease during laning phase, as you can hit every minion in lane with it. In addition, the nature of Lucent Singularity makes it a rather difficult skill for your opponent to dodge, and its ability to hit multiple people makes you a dangerous threat in enclosed teamfights. You take Lucent Singularity at level 1 and max it first.

R: Final Spark - Lux channels for one second, then fires a long-range laser, damaging anyone in the targeted area, and igniting and refreshing her passive. Enemy champions that die within 1.75 seconds of being hit by Final Spark refunds the cooldown by 30%/40%/50%. One of the longest range abilities in the game, Final Spark is a devastating ultimate. Its long range allows you to safely snipe enemies from afar, and it’s high damage means that you’re pretty much guaranteed a kill should you hit a low enemy with it. In addition, its low cooldown generates and good amount of kill pressure in lane. Often you’ll be able to snipe enemies as they fall back and try to recall to base. Because of the short cooldown, you can also use it to waveclear before heading back to base, as Final Spark will be up again before you know it. After laning phase, because Final Spark refunds its cooldown on kills and assists within 1.75 seconds, you’ll almost always have it up and ready to use for any situation. You take points in Final Spark whenever you can, at levels 6, 11, and 16.

Runes

Lux’s main rune page will always be sorcery. It’s just too good on her. In the sorcery tree you’ll run Arcane Comet, Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Gathering Storm.

Sorcery

Arcane Comet - When you damage a champion with an ability, you send a comet flying from your position to their position, damaging enemies in a small circle when it lands. If Arcane Comet is on cooldown, hitting enemy champions reduces the cooldown. Arcane Comet adds damage to her combo. Because of the missile speed, you’ll almost always hit an enemy champion with it before they buy boots. Even after they buy boots, you can still hit them with the comet and hitting your Light Binding means a guaranteed comet hit.

Manaflow Band - Manaflow Band permanently increases your maximum mana by 25, up to 250 bonus maximum mana. After you reach this cap, Manaflow Band restores 1% of your mana every 5 seconds. This rune is another excellent choice on Lux. It outclasses the other two runes, Nullifying Orb and Nimbus Cloak, on Lux. More mana is always great on Lux and the mana regen grants you extra power later on in the game, such as while sieging your enemies, teamfighting, and prepping for neutral objectives such as Baron.

Transcendence - Gain 10% cooldown reduction at level 10. Any cooldown reduction over the cooldown cap is turned into adaptive power (ability power in this case). Another fantastic rune for Lux, as Lux loves having cooldown reduction. With 30% cooldown reduction, which you’ll hit with one core item and Transcendence at level 10, you’ll become a virtual orbital bombardment machine, with Final Spark having a base cooldown of 56 seconds at Rank 1, 45.5 seconds at Rank 2, and 35 seconds at Rank 3. As for the other two runes, Celerity doesn’t give Lux that much. 1.5% bonus movement speed is negligible on her. Absolute Focus is decent, but the benefits from Transcendence completely outclass Absolute Focus.

Gathering Storm - Every 10 minutes, gain stacks of Gathering Storm, which grant you adaptive power (ability power in this case). The best choice of rune here. The longer the game goes, the stronger you get. At 20 minutes, it’s the equivalent to having an Amplifying Tome for free. At 30 minutes, it’s the equivalent of having a Needlessly Large Rod. Compared to the other two runes, Scorch gives you some early game dominance. A decent alternative if you want more power in the early game. Waterwalking is another decent alternative as well if you’re planning on roaming a lot.

For the secondary rune tree, any tree is a good choice. Some are better than others, but it comes down to mainly personal preference as to what to use. I would recommend going into the Precision tree and taking Presence of Mind and Coup de Grace, or Inspiration and taking Biscuit Delivery and Perfect Timing.

Precision - I personally go into the Precision tree on Lux. I just feel that Presence of Mind is too good to not take on her. And for the second rune, I usually go with Coup de Grace, though Legend: Tenacity is another good choice on Lux.

Triumph - After a 1 second delay, champion takedowns grant you 20 gold and restore 12% of your health. A good choice for Lux. The healing is a big factor and can be lifesaving.

Presence of Mind - Champion takedowns, after a delay of 1-second, restore 20% of your maximum mana and refund 10% of your ultimate’s maximum cooldown. This rune is nuts on Lux. It helps with any mana problems you may run into during a protracted siege or teamfight, and, more importantly, it makes it so that your ultimate is almost always up. While this much cooldown reduction may seem a bit redundant, it also makes you a huge threat.

Legend: Tenacity - Gain up to 30% tenacity each time you kill a champion, epic monster, large monster, or minion. This rune is good against teams with a lot of CC. As Lux is an immobile mage, the extra tenacity could help save your life.

Coup de Grace - Deal 7% increased damage to champions below 40% maximum health. Additionally, gain adaptive power (AP for Lux), when you takedown a champion. A good rune to take on Lux, it gives you that extra boost to take down low-health enemies.

Cut Down - Gain bonus damage against champions with with more maximum health that you, capping at 12% bonus damage against targets with 2000 more maximum health than you. A situational rune if the enemy team is running a lot of tanky members.

Last Stand - Gain bonus damage if you below 60% maximum health, capping at 11% bonus damage while below 30%. A situational rune for if you think that you’ll be running low on health a lot during the game.

Domination - Domination isn't that great on Lux compared to Precision and Inspiration. That being said, there are some decent choices. I recommend going with Eyeball Collection and Ultimate Hunter.

Cheap Shot - Basic attacks and abilities deal bonus true damage to movement-impaired enemy champions. The ability that impairs the target will not trigger this. It’s a good rune on Lux if you’re going into the Domination tree.

Taste of Blood - Heal when you damage an enemy champion. This is for when you think you’ll need that extra bit of sustain to survive and make it out of laning phase.

Zombie Ward - When you get an enemy ward takedown, place a Zombie Ward in its place, and your next attack deals bonus magic damage. If the brush already has an allied ward in it, gain a zombie ward in your inventory for 30 second. Another good option for Lux if you’re going into the domination tree and expect to be clearing a lot of wards. Be sure to get an Oracle Lens (red trinket) if you’re taking this Rune.

Eyeball Collection - Gain eyeballs from champion takedowns and ward takedowns. Gain attack damage or ability power for each eyeball, up to 20 ability power or 12 attack damage. Completing the collection also awards you with 10 bonus ability power or 6 bonus attack damage. This rune can be completed rather quickly, and grants a decent amount of ability power for Lux. If you want a little more ability power then take this rune.

Ingenious Hunter - Reduce the cooldown of active effect items. Gaining bounty hunter stacks through unique champion takedowns increases the cooldown. The only two active item effects you would get on Lux would be Zhonya’s Hourglass and maybe Twin Shadows. I can see this rune being useful against an all-AD team with lots of dive where you’re going to need Zhonya’s up a lot, but otherwise any of the other "hunter" runes are better.

Ultimate Hunter - Reduce the cooldown of your ultimate. Increases with bounty hunter stacks. For when you want even more cooldown reduction on your already low-cooldown reduction ultimate. May seem a bit redundant, but still probably a lot of fun and pretty powerful too. I would recommend taking this one if you’re going into the Domination tree.

Resolve - I only recommend going into the Resolve tree on Lux when you’re not confident in a matchup. The Resolve tree offers you defensive options allowing you to survive laning phase, though at the cost of some power. If you are going into Resolve, I would recommend taking Bone Plating, Conditioning, Second Wind, or Overgrown.

Bone Plating - After taking damage from an enemy champion, for the next 3 seconds the next 3 spells or attacks you receive from that same champion deal reduced damage. A good rune for when you think you’re going to be getting harassed a lot in lane, and it works well in conjunction with Second Wind.

Conditioning - After 10 minutes, gain 8 bonus armor and magic resistance and increase your total armor and magic resistance by 10%. A good defensive choice. The extra armor and magic resist will increase your survivability and works well with Zhonya’s Hourglass and Banshee’s Veil, which you’ll be building at least one of these in the game most of the time.

Second Wind - After taking damage from an enemy champion, gain health regeneration equal to your maximum health. A good rune in conjunction with Bone Plating. It’ll give you that extra little bit of sustain in lane too if you’re taking a lot of harass.

Chrysalis - Start the game with 50 bonus health. After 4 champion takedowns, covert the health into adaptive power (15 ability power for Lux). A decent defensive choice against an enemy who's going to all-in you early on (pre-6), or assassin's such as Fizz and Zed.

Overgrown - Every 8 minion or monster deaths near you increase your health by 0.2% of your maximum health. A decent rune on Lux that’s good if you’re expecting the game to last a long time, as it’s technically an infinite scaling rune, and the value of it will only increase the longer the game lasts.

Inspiration - This is the tree that most of the high elo players seem to go into when playing Lux and what I personally did as well until the changes in the precision tree. I recommend running Perfect Timing, and Cosmic Insight or Biscuit Delivery.

Magical Footwear - After 10 minutes (minus 30 seconds for each takedown), gain “Slightly Magical Boots” for free. These boots give all the same bonuses as the regular “Boots of Speed”, but with the added bonus of 10 extra bonus movement speed. However, taking this rune disables “Boots of Speed” for you, and doesn’t allow you to purchase tier 2 boots until it’s unlocked. A great rune on Lux, it let’s you save 300 gold and gives you a little extra movement speed, which helps as you’re a rather immobile champion. However, the lack of boots does have a chance to hurt you in the early game.

Perfect Timing - Gives you a “Stopwatch” that becomes active at 10 minutes into the game. However, it contributes only 250 gold to the items that it builds into, which are Zhonya's Hourglass, Gargoyle Stoneplate, and Guardian's Angel. In addition, it also reduces the cooldown of said items by 15%. A good choice against assassins like Zed or Talon, as it'll probably save you from a level 6 all-in, giving you a bit of leeway until you get your Zhonya's Hourglass.

Future’s Market - Allows you to go into debt up to a certain amount to buy items. The debt comes with interest though of 50 gold. A good rune, helpful for getting items that you’re missing a little bit of gold on. I personally don’t take this, but I recognize its strength.

Minion Dematerializer - Start the game with 6 “Minion Dematerializers”, which begin the game on a 240 second cooldown. When used, it executes the targeted enemy minion and grants you the gold and experience for the minion kill. In addition, you also gain increased damage against that minion type. This is a good rune for Lux. The increased damage means that you can actually one-shot caster minions with your E, Lucent Singularity. It also gives you greater shoving power in certain matchups, which can be crucial to taking a lead in lane.

Biscuit Delivery - Receive a “Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will” every 3 minutes until the 12th minute. The biscuit restores 15% percent of your missing health and mana and permanently grants you 40 mana. Selling the biscuit also grants you the mana and 60 gold. If you have a full inventory the biscuit will wait until you have a free space to appear. A good sustain option for Lux if you’re looking for sustain. You’ll also gain a total of 160 mana from the biscuits, which equal an extra cast or two of spells, which can make a difference.

Cosmic Insight - Gain 5% cooldown reduction and increase your cooldown reduction cap to 45%. Additionally, gain 5% cooldown reduction on summoner spells and item actives. A solid rune on Lux. The extra cooldown reduction on summoner spells is always nice, and the extra cooldown reduction on active items is good when you have a Zhonya’s Hourglass. That means this also has good synergy with Perfect Timing.

Summoner Spells (in order from Best to Worst) (Always take Flash) - I personally run either Flash and Teleport or Flash and Barrier. Heal and Cleanse are also good options as well, depending on the enemy team.

Flash - Flash is a must take on Lux (and almost everyone else). It’s just too good not to take. The ability to escape over walls, dodge a killing skillshot, flash after an enemy, etc. Flash has everything you want.

Teleport - Teleport gives you a global map presence. It also allows you quickly return to lane if you’ve been forced to recall, which would also give you an advantage against your laner and a chance to build a lead. I recommend taking this summoner spell, though it may not be as strong anymore, having its cooldown nerfed from 5 minutes to 6 minutes. The teleport channel also takes 4.5 seconds to complete.

Barrier - Barrier is a great defensive summoner. Its cooldown is shorter compared to heal. Barrier’s shield is also not affected by grievous wounds like Heal. Plus, it also combos nicely with Lux’s own Prismatic Barrier, which means you can put up a decently-sized shield to protect yourself. This is the summoner spell I take, and the summoner spell I recommend taking.

Exhaust - Exhaust is the anti-assassin summoner spell. It slows down the targeted enemy by 30% and reduces the damage they deal by 40% for 2.5 seconds. This summoner shuts down an assassin's attempts to all-in you, allowing you to survive and counterattack. A great summoner to take against Zed, Katarina, Fizz, Talon, etc.

Heal - Heal is another great defensive summoner. It gives you and an ally health and a burst of movement speed, allowing you to flee and survive or chase down a running enemy. This is also a summoner spell I would recommend taking, and it offers a wider variety of team assisting.

Cleanse - Cleanse is excellent for getting out of sticky situations. It removes all forms of crowd control except "supression" and "airborne". An excellent summoner spell when the enemy team has a lot of crowd control.

Ignite - The iconic offensive summoner spell. Its true damage allows you to secure kills, and the grievous wounds it applies reduces healing effects as well. However, its range is much smaller than the range of your abilities, so you'll be putting yourself in unnecessary danger if you take this.

Ghost - Ghost grants you bonus percentage movement speed (based on level) for 10 seconds, giving you some more safety in lane, allowing you to survive a repeated gank if your binding is down. It also gives you greater chasing power as well and better survivability in terms of being chased (as in if you Flash away, then the enemy can Flash after you, but if you Ghost away they’ll still have to find a way to keep up with your movement speed). All in all, a flexible offensive and defensive summoner.

Laning with Lux

Laning with Lux is relatively straightforward. Because of the nature of your Lucent Singularity, you can clear waves and harass most champions at the same time, giving you an edge. Your main harass combo once you hit level 2 and beyond is: Light Binding - Cast (but not reactivate) Lucent Singularity - Auto Attack - Reactivate Lucent Singularity - Auto Attack. This is your full rotation and should hit for a good amount of damage. Alternatively, you can conserve mana by just using your Lucent Singularity for a smaller amount of harass while saving mana for an all-in.Don’t be afraid to use your Final Spark to waveclear as well, as its short cooldown means that you’ll have it back up in no time. Just be careful of your lane opponent taking advantage of the cooldown. Another trick is that Final Spark can only be interrupted by death, so, if you time it right, you can use Final Spark while being hit with crowd control, effectively negating the crowd control.

Standard Build

Doran’s Ring - 2 health potions - Lost Chapter - Boots of Speed - Luden’s Echo - Sorcerer Shoes - Rabadon’s Deathcap - Morellonomicon - Banshee’s Veil - Void Staff

Some notes: Don't be afraid to switch it around a little bit. For example, if the enemy team is starting to build magic resistance, then buy a Void Staff earlier instead of a Morellonomicon. Against a heavy AD team, you won't need Banshee's Veil, but you'll probably need a Zhonya's Hourglass.

The "I'm very behind so I'm just trying to be useful"Build

Doran's Ring - 2 health potions - Lost Chapter - Boots of Speed - Hextech GLP-800 - Ionian Boots of Lucidity - Twin Shadows - Morellonomicon - Void Staff - Rabadon's Deathcap

This build is for when you get absolutely smashed in lane, and are forced to play on a low-income. Hextech GLP-800, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, and Twin Shadows are all cheap items that will give you some extra utility to help out the team. You have to realize that if you're forced to go this build, then You're not going to be putting out as much damage early on. So play safe and peel for the stronger members of your team. n

Common Matchups -Here I’ll cover some matchups in the midlane and what to do for them. I’ll assign a difficulty rating out of 5, with 1 being easy and 5 being the hardest. More specific builds will be included as well.

Twisted Fate (Rating 3) - Take Teleport as your second summoner and run Inspiration as your secondary rune, taking Cosmic Insight and Magical Footwear.

Twisted Fate (TF) is an equal matchup with Lux in terms of laning. He can push waves about as hard as you can and has a weaker early game than you do. However, TF’s strengths are in his map presence and pick potential post-level 6, as well as great tower pushing once TF gets his Lich Bane. In all of these, he outclasses Lux. To beat TF, you need to pressure him early game. Harass him with your Lucent Singularity and look for chances to hit your full combo on him to force him out of lane. Until TF gets his Rod of Ages, he is pretty squishy and can be bullied. Once TF’s level 6 though, he becomes a bit harder to manage. His ultimate gives him excellent ganking potential, allowing him to roam easily with the enemy jungler. To offset this pressure try to keep your lane shoved in. You can force him to lose minions and potentially take down the tower too. Another thing is to KEEP THE RIVER WARDED. Chances are if TF is trying to roam bot or top lane, then he’s going to go through the river to get in range for his ultimate. Also, remember to call when he’s MIA. As long as your team is alerted and they see him coming, they can lessen how damaging a TF gank will be to them. Keeping the river warded means that you can also follow TF when he roams. If you have vision of him then you can countergank by following him down. You can use Teleport to either rush back to lane and keep TF pushed in, making him choose between farming and getting gold or the risk of a gank and losing gold. Teleport can also be used to match TF’s ganks. However, Teleport takes 4.5 seconds to complete, while TF’s ultimate takes 1.5 seconds to complete. Keep this in mind if you’re going to match a gank. Depending on your location you might get to the ganked lane faster by walking than by teleporting.

After the game leaves laning phase, if you have teleport then you can match TF’s pushing. However, Lux’s strengths aren’t in split-pushing, they’re in team-fighting and catching people. If TF is split-pushing, group up with your team and shove them back if you can. Use your range to catch people with your binding and kill them. If possible, pressure neutral objectives too such as Baron and Dragon. These will force TF to come for a teamfight. His ultimate also telegraphs where he’ll be porting to, so you can play around that and look to ambush him when it completes if possible. In short: force him out of lane early if you can. Your full combo at level 6 should be able to kill him, or at the very least bring him down low enough to make him play super safe.

Build - The standard build should be good against Twisted Fate

Zed (Rating 5 or 1) - Take Exhaust or Barrier as your second summoner spell, and go into Inspiration, taking Perfect Timing and Future’s Market, or Precision, taking Presence of Mind and Coup de Grace.

Zed can either be an easy matchup if you’re skilled with Lux or a hellish matchup. Assassins generally counter Lux, but Zed is different from other assassins in that his kit and general playstyle is very telegraphed. In the early game during laning phase, it’s very easy to harass Zed. Whenever he goes for a last hit on a minion, make sure you punish him for it with either your Lucent Singularity and then proc your passive or with regular auto attacks. Once you guys are level 2, be careful of Zed’s shadow, as he can chunk you for a decent amount of health with his abilities. If you can avoid the shadow though, you can easily dominate him in lane if your Light Bindings and Lucent Singularities. You’re going to want to keep him at roughly half health or less if possible. That will greatly reduce his lane presence. Don’t underestimate his damage though. As long as you can avoid Zed’s poke with his shadows and abilities, then you should be fine. Once Zed is level 6, he might try to all-in. You can prevent this by keeping him low on health and put fear into his heart. If Zed does all-in you, he’ll always appear behind you after he uses his ultimate. You can use this to your advantage and hit him with a full combo, or even just bind him and walk away from Zed.

After laning phase, you’re still going to want to be a bit wary of Zed, as if he has enough gold he can solo-kill you. However, you’re much more useful in a teamfight. Stay as a team and look for picks on the enemy team. Zed’s probably going to try to splitpush or jump the carries (you and whoever the botlane carry is). If he tries to teamfight, as long as you’re aware of where he is you shouldn’t have a problem with him. Even if he does manage to get on you, if you have a Zhonya’s Hourglass then you have nothing to really fear from him. You can also burst Zed with your full combo if you catch him out too, as Zeds generally don’t build that many defensive items.

Build

Start with Doran’s ring and 2 health pots. If possible, go back when you have at least 1300 gold to get a Lost Chapter. If you don’t have the gold for Lost Chapter, get whatever pieces of it you can and finish it as soon as you can, buying boots too when you have 300 gold. After your Lost Chapter, you’re going to want to work on getting a Seeker’s Armguard and building that into a Zhonya’s Hourglass. After you finish your Zhonya’s then you can get Sorcerer’s Shoes and finish your Luden’s Echo. After that you’ll want to get either a Void Staff (If Zed is building magic resistance) or a Rabadon's Deathcap. Your next item will be whichever of Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff that you didn't build. Your last item should be either a Morellonomicon (for magic penetration and grevious wounds), Liandry's Torment (if the enemy team has some tanky members), or Spellbinder (for the raw stats and active effect).

Yasuo (Rating 5) - Take Exhaust or Barrier as your second summoner spell, and go into Inspiration, taking Perfect Timing and Future’s Market.

By all that is holy, this matchup can be absolutely terrible. The advantage between an equally skilled Lux and Yasuo player will always go to the Yasuo. Yasuo’s kit makes hitting any of Lux’s abilities an absolute nightmare. Avoid this matchup if you can. But if you’re forced to play this matchup…

Harass Yasuo if you can while he goes for last hits. His skillset is rather predictable. His dash will always go a set distance, so you can use that against him when try to harass him. However, this will be difficult because of its low cooldown, which means he can dash through multiple minions to get to you. Try staying away from your minions so that he doesn’t have easy access to you. Also, bait how his windwall if you can, as it can block everything except for your Final Spark. The cooldown for windwall will always be higher than your abilities though, so after Yasuo uses windwall, try to go in for another combo. You can also pop Yasuo’s shield passive with an auto attack, so try autoing Yasuo, then wait for the shield to wear off before continuing your assault. Once he hits level 6, you’ll have to play it safe as he can engage on you very easily.

After laning phase, don’t try to fight Yasuo one on one after he has his core items unless you can hit him with your full combo. He can definitely kill you. Stick with your team and force teamfights and picks where you can utilize your strengths. Avoid clumping though and getting multiple people knocked up if you can, as that’ll make Yasuo very happy and you’ll most likely lose the teamfight in that case.

Build

Start with Doran’s ring and 2 health pots. If possible, go back when you have at least 1300 gold to get a Lost Chapter. If you don’t have the gold for Lost Chapter, get whatever pieces of it you can and finish it as soon as you can, buying boots too when you have 300 gold. After your Lost Chapter, you’re going to want to work on getting a Seeker’s Armguard and building that into a Zhonya’s Hourglass. After you finish your Zhonya’s then you can get Sorcerer’s Shoes and finish your Luden’s Echo. After that you’ll want to get either a Void Staff (If Yasuo is building magic resistance) or a Rabadon's Deathcap. Your next item will be whichever of Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff that you didn't build. Your last item should be either a Morellonomicon (for magic penetration and grevious wounds), Liandry's Torment (if the enemy team has some tanky members), or Spellbinder (for the raw stats and active effect).

Ahri (Rating 4) - Take Heal or Barrier for defense or Teleport to have greater map presence. Take Cleanse if the enemy team is running a lot of crowd control. You’ll want to run Inspiration for your second tree, taking Cosmic Insight and Magical Footwear.

Another hellish matchup for Lux. Ahri’s mobility post-6 makes it difficult to hit skillshots on her, and if you miss your Light Binding, then you need to play it safe or else she’s going to engage on you and probably kill you as well. Early game Ahri doesn’t have as easy access to her mobility, so you can harass her out of lane with your combo. You do have to be careful though, as Ahri can still cast her basic spells while she’s been snared by Light Binding, which means that she can turn a winning trade into an even one or even get ahead from it. Keep in mind though that all of your abilities outrange Ahri’s skillshots, so you can put on some harass without using your full combo. You’ll be doing less damage, but you’ll also be safer as well. Once she has her ultimate, then her kill pressure on you goes up immensely. If you’re below half-health and you get hit with her charm, then you’re most likely dead. Don’t be afraid to burn your Final Spark to clear waves and recall if you think you’re in danger of dying. Ahri needs items to really pop off and if you can deny her kill gold then half the battle is already won.

After laning phase, make sure to keep the sides warded to prevent Ahri from getting a sneaky kill on your backline. At the same time though, still look for picks you can make on her, as Ahri’s build tends to be relatively squishy, which means you can burst her at the most, or take her out of the fight long enough to take advantages on the map.

Build

The standard build is good against Ahri, but get a Banshee's Veil as your second item.

As an alternative for your starting build, you can go for a Rod of Ages instead of Luden’s Echo. While not as burst heavy as Luden’s Echo, it is a much safer option, and will make it much easier for you to survive against Ahri. You can go this route if you’re forced to recall with only 1100 gold as opposed to 1300 and pick up a Catalyst of Aeons. Another option would be to buy a Blasting Wand and a Ruby Crystal instead of a Catalyst of Aeons. This path does give you more damage, but at the cost of mana and mana regeneration, so you’ll be forced to use your spells more conservatively until you get a Catalyst.

Zoe (Rating 2) - Take Barrier or Heal if you want to be defensive, or Teleport for more map presence. For your secondary tree go Precision, taking Presence of Mind and Coup de Grace.

Zoe is an obnoxious champion, yet a squishy champion as well and easy to burst out. While Zoe’s burst is greater than Lux’s, Zoe is still a predictable champ with highly telegraphed moves. Early game, you’re going to want to stand away from the minion waves, forcing her to choose between trying to harass you and clearing the wave. Her range is pretty short too, meaning that you can land some easy harass on her. Once she hits level 2, be careful to dodge her E, as it’ll put you to sleep and make you take bonus damage if she strikes you while asleep. Once she hits level 6, you have to be careful of her ultimate. It’ll let her port to a spot before bouncing back. The main thing you have to watch out for then is for Zoe going for the point-blank strike with her E, which is almost a guaranteed hit if she plays it right. However, the downside to Zoe’s ultimate is that she’ll always snap back to her original position, you can use that against her and land a full combo on her, which’ll force her back and probably kill her. The main thing to worry about Zoe is her W ability, which means that she can pick up summoner spells used and random active items from minions. The minions that’ll drop items for Zoe will be carrying a little balloon. If you can force her to miss killing the minion, then she won’t get the item drop. If she does get the minion kill, she still has to walk over to the item to pick it up. Try harassing Zoe as she goes to pick it up.

After laning phase, make sure to keep the sides warded. Zoe’s E can go through walls. If she catches someone with it, she can also pop over the wall and burst them out or even kill whoever gets caught. Stay together and keep up your wards to minimize Zoe’s impact. Also, keep in mind about whatever item or summoner spell she has up with her W, and play around that if you have to.

Build - The standard build is good against Zoe, but get a Banshee's Veil as your second item.

LeBlanc (Rating 3) - Take Heal or Barrier if you want to be defensive, or Teleport if you want to have map presence. Run Precision, taking Presence of Mind and Coup de Grace.

Leblanc is a mobile assassin that’s more similar to Zed than Ahri in terms of how to play against. Her abilities are rather telegraphed, making playing against Leblanc rather straightforward and easy once you get the hang of it. Be careful though if she starts to gain a lead on you.

LeBlanc can easily take over the game if you’re not careful. Early gave try to harass her out with Lucent Singularity. Your level 1 is much stronger than hers if you hit your skills, so don’t be afraid to go aggressive on her. Once you both hit level 2 is when things get a bit dangerous. If LeBlanc takes her W, then you can catch her with your Light Binding either as she’s jumping towards you or as she blinks back to her position marked. Once you get a feel for how the LeBlanc uses her W then you should have no issues with catching her with your combo. At level 3 though, be careful of LeBlanc’s full combo. She can do significant damage to you if you’re not careful. The key is dodging her E chains. If you can dodge that, then the rest is simple. Once she’s level 6, LeBlanc gains access to her ultimate, which allows her to duplicate the last skill used. Be careful or her at this stage, as she might try to hit you with her E chains and then a duplicated chain for an extra long snare. If you catch her with your Light Binding though, drop your full skill rotation on her and you should put a damper on any thoughts of aggression she had for a little bit.

After laning phase, LeBlanc’s main strength is being able to assassinate enemies in an instant if they’re caught out of position. To avoid this, stick together and keep your sides warded. It shouldn’t be too hard for you to react and stop LeBlanc from killing you or anyone else if you can see her coming. During teamfights you should try to keep an eye out for her in case she tries to use the chaos and sneak in a kill or two.

Build - The standard build should be good against LeBlanc, but get a Banshee's Veil as your second item if she's bullying you around.

An alternative to Luden’s Echo is to go Rod of Ages, depending on how well you’re doing in lane. Rod of Ages will give you that extra tankiness to survive LeBlanc’s burst, while still giving you enough damage to be a threat to her.

Orianna (Rating 3) - Take Teleport if you want a global presence. Otherwise Heal or Barrier. Run Precision as your secondary rune taking Presence of Mind and Coup de Grace.

Orianna is a midrange mage that brings a lot of damage if she’s ahead, or great utility if she’s behind. The key to beating Orianna is to keep an eye on where the ball is, as it’s the source of all her abilities. Early game you should try to harass Orianna with your Lucent Singularity, but you have to be careful and not try to extend the trade. Orianna will out-damage you in an extended trade thanks to her passive, which increase her auto attack damage, so if anything only trade using your Lucent Singularity and Light Bindings. Don’t get into auto attack range of her. Once you hit level 6, you can kill her with your full combo, so look for opportunities to bring her into the kill range, which is at about half health for her. Orianna’s ultimate also has a slight wind-up, so if you act quick enough then you can Flash out of the ultimate should you get caught. After the laning phase, you have to keep an eye on where the ball is. Orianna will try to attach it to the main engage on her team, try to bind whoever has the ball if they start to go in. Also, you have to avoid clumping up together with your team and watch out for choke points and jungle fights. Orianna loves those places as it’s easy for her to get an ultimate off on multiple people, and that can be devastating for your team. Orianna is pretty squishy though, and even moreso when she doesn’t have the ball on her, always look for a pick on her.

Build - The standard build should work fine against Orianna.

Uncommon Matchups - These matchups you won’t see as much, but I’ll still give you brief rundown of what to do.

Talon (Rating 1 or 5) - Take Exhaust, Barrier, or Heal and run Precision, taking Coup de Grace and Presence of Mind. Talon’s a melee champion in the similar vein as Zed, but with more mobility out of combat. You can abuse him early on by harassing him when he goes for last hits on minions. Post level 6, you absolutely have to keep the river warded and the entrance to both jungles warded. Talon’s mobility means that he can take an unconventional route when roaming, so keep up the wards and when he’s missing make sure your team knows he is. If you can shut him down early on, you’ll make Talon more useless than a wet paper towel.

Build - Standard build, but rush a Zhonya’s Hourglass first after you get your Lost Chapter. Get a Seeker's Armguard before Lost Chapter though if you're having problems in Lane.

Katarina (Rating 4) - Take Exhaust or Barrier and run Precision, taking Coup de Grace and Presence of Mind.

Katarina’s a melee assassin with mobility tied to her daggers. You can shove her in and harass her out of lane easily enough, but be careful if she tries to all-in you, as she can kill you rather quickly. Katarina’s Q is at a longer range than Lux’s auto attacks so if you harass her with your full combo then Katarina might try to turn it around on you. Katarina’s pretty squishy though, so once you’re level 6 you can all-in her and probably kill her. Be careful though because if your Light Binding is down then Katarina might try to all-in you. If you can keep her from snowballing then Katarina’s not going to be a threat later on in the game.

Build - Standard build

Fizz (Rating 5) - Take Barrier or Exhaust and run Inspiration, taking Perfect Timing and Cosmic Insight.

Fizz is an annoying matchup. His E makes it difficult to hit him with anything and he can engage at a distance onto you. Your best bet is to harass him early game, as that is when Fizz is at his weakest point. If you can beat him down enough then Fizz won’t be too much of a problem later on. If you get hit with Fizz’s ultimate, use your Prismatic Barrier right before it goes off to try and shield yourself from the damage. If you can hit Fizz with a Light Binding after he hits you with an ultimate, then he won’t be able to finish his combo on you and kill you. All in all, play this lane safe. Don’t take any unnecessary risks.

Build - Get a Banshee’s Veil as soon as possible. An Archangel’s Staff is a good choice instead of Luden’s Echo too. After those it's standard.

Ryze (Rating 3) - Take Teleport, Heal, or Barrier and run Inspiration, taking Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight.

Ryze can be an annoying matchup, but he’s also very abusable in lane. He needs to stand still in order to cast his spells, meaning that’s the perfect time for you to strike back. Ryze also needs some items before he can really get going, so if you can shut him down early, you can delay the power-spike he gets from items. Try avoiding standing by low-health minions, as he can bounce his spells off of them onto you. Once Ryze is level 6, keep the rivers warded and let your teammates know when he’s gone, as Ryze’s ultimate gives him some unique ganking paths.

Build - Standard build, but consider getting a Banshee’s Veil first or second item if he’s pushing you around a lot.

Veigar (Rating 1) - Take Teleport, Barrier, or Cleanse and run Precision, taking Legend: Tenacity and Presence of Mind.

Veigar is an easy matchup. All of your abilities outrange his, meaning you can harass him for free more or less during the early game. You can also shove Veigar in with ease, forcing him to make the decision of farming up his Q or waveclearing with his W. And Veigar is extremely squishy, meaning that once you hit level 6 your kill pressure on him skyrockets. A full combo from you should kill him, or at the very least force him to go back, thus missing out on stacking his Q even more. The only thing you have to worry about is getting hit with his E. Early on it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but once he gets some points in it then you have to worry a little more. Otherwise though, this matchup is incredibly easy for you.

Build - Standard build, but if you’re getting hit with Veigar’s E a bit much then consider going Banshee’s Veil second.

Karthus (Rating 1) - Take Teleport, Barrier, or Heal and run Precision, taking Presence of Mind and Legend: Tenacity.

Karthus is another easy matchup. You outrange him and can easily outtrade him. Once your level 6 you can kill him easily. Your Prismatic Barrier will also come in handy against Karthus’s ultimate, because if you time it right, you can absorb most if not all of the damage from the ultimate. All in all, you should have nothing to fear from this matchup.

Build - Standard build. If you want to tilt the Karthus, grab a Zhonya’s Hourglass and you can just Zhonya’s every time he uses his ultimate.

Annie (Rating 1) - Take Teleport or Barrier and run Precision, taking Presence of Mind and Legend Tenacity.

Annie is a relatively good matchup for Lux. You outrange her and can easily outtrade Annie, forcing her out of lane. If she tries to stun you, you can use Prismatic Barrier before the stun hits to negate some of the damage. Just be careful of when Annie is level 6, because her damage is pretty high, so you don’t want to get hit with a surprise ultimate and die. Unless she uses flash, it’ll be obvious when Annie is going to use her ultimate on you.

After laning phase, just ward up and watch your flanks for the surprise flash ultimate combo from Annie. It can be devastating if she catches you with it. Otherwise you have nothing to worry about.

Build - Standard build, with a Banshee’s Veil as your first or second item if you’re somehow getting pushed around by Annie.

Irelia (Rating 5) - Don’t play this matchup. Just don’t. You won’t have fun. Thank god she got nerfed and she’s almost always banned.

That covers most of the matchups you should be facing. I'll update this guide if I run into something that should be put in. Thanks for reading! Comments and criticisms are welcome.

Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in o