In recent competitive play we've been seeing a lot of Lucian, but it seems like each player has a unique way of playing him. I decided I wanted to break down each item, and solve some of the debates on this issue, which really comes out ahead, BT or Trinity Force?

TSM's Wildturtle recently used a build where he went Bilgewater Cutlass as his first item, built a Trinity Force, then went back to finish his Blade of the Ruined King. Team Dignitas' Imaqtpie has been using a build with Brutalizer and Youmuu's Ghostblade.

Here I decided to analyze the damage output of Phage, Brutalizer, and Bilgewater Cutlass next to each other.

And damage done aside, the Lifesteal, the slow from the active, Bilgewater Cutlass is a clear winner if you need an item to give you early power.

Mid Game

Next up I decided to analyze these builds in the mid game. Sure a little bonus early game is nice, but is it worth delaying your main builds? So this next example compares various builds where the Lucian has roughly 4000 gold worth of items. At just 4000 gold, if you go Brutalizer or Cutlass, you won't have enough gold to complete your first major item yet, and this is the time your team will want to start grouping for fights and towers, so maximizing your potential is key.

Since choosing to space out your abilities for Trinity procs, or uploading all your damage upfront is a choice you'll make depending on the build, I calculated it over 7 seconds.

What am I looking at here?: The BF Sword builds(blue and yellow) jump way ahead in damage early. Meanwhile the Trinity Force build(green) needs to space its abilities apart to get the most out of the Sheen procs, but you will see as it reaches the end after 7 seconds in combat, the Trinity Force build passes up the BF sword builds in damage done. The Cutlass build(Orange) has not finished Trinity Force yet, and as you can see its damage is quite low.

Imaqtpie's Brutalizer/BT build (blue): This is the path Imaqtpie followed when buying a Brutalizer early, then started working on a Bloodthirster(but at 4000 gold it's incomplete). The Brutalizer synergizes well with the attack damage, even just the AD from a B.F. Sword allpws you to remain a threat despite the fact that you haven't finished your Bloodthirster yet. You can even see the point where this build peaks the damage charts as the CDR allows you to Q for the second time. Because Lucian is so reliant on his abilities, the Brutalizer does fit in nicely.

Bilgewater Cutlass/Trinity Force build (orange): This example follow's Wildturtle's build, where he purchased an early Cutlass and then started work on Trinity Force. The pieces here give a lot of non-damage stats that Lucian likes, but it leaves your DPS with something to be desired. The bonus movement speed and health on Phage make you much a better duelist, and smart management of Sheen procs is very rewarding, but you'll still be somewhat weak until you finish that Trinity Force, and you're still about 1000 gold away. I feel the problem is less with Cutlass, and more with the lacking combat stats of Phage and Sheen.

This build shines if you can manage to capitalize early game, grow your advantage and finish Trinity early.

Bloodthirster (yellow): Without needing to worry about managing your abilities to get the most out of Sheen procs, the Bloodthirster build is able to unload all of its damage upfront, giving it the most damage output in a 4 second window (and it's still quite the threat once your rotation is down). There is pretty much no downside to this build, giving sustain through lifesteal and solid burst.

Trinity Force (green): The combintion of Lucian's passive and the Sheen effect on Trinity Force allows for huge damage potential, and the highest DPS over a full fight. And with the rest of the non-damage stats on the item (health, movement speed) it's easy to see why it's so popular on Lucian.

Conclusions we can draw

• Trinity Force has the highest possible DPS over a longer fight with smart management of Sheen procs

• The Trinity Force componets are weak on their own

• High AD builds have great burst damage

• Both builds are fantastic

What about later in the game?

Regardless what your first two items are, the highest damage items for your third and fourth should be Last Whisper followed by Infinity Edge.

One more thing... what about Youmuu's Ghost Blade?

Imaqpie has been loving the Ghostblade build, and people have speculated that he likes it to activate during The Culling to get huge damage out of it. I decided the only way to know for certain is to do the math on it.

If you're looking at this, there's a good chance you're thinking "Wow, that doesn't look like much of a difference." and you'd probably be right, as it's about 10% more damage. Maybe Qtpie feels that extra bit on The Culling is worth it, maybe he likes the movement speed. As is his style, sometimes he chooses things for his own reasons, reasons we may never fully grasp.

Youmuu's Ghostblade is an item that doesn't give as much for its price as other items you could buy, which is why you rarely see it. It's only worth getting if you can make a strong use of the active, which I don't feel Lucian can.

Closing Words

At the end of the day it really comes down to preference. As seen in that graph, they all come out somewhat close to each other. Do you want to maximize your DPS potential, or do you want the sustain and easier burst from Bloodthirster? Do you want to delay your core build to get a snowball item, or go right to the big items? It's all about choices.

Thanks for reading guys, and I hope you enjoyed

-Fox