Lux has become a top tier pick in the support role in the top flight of League of Legends and this has spilled over into solo queue. Lux has become a popular pick, steadily raising to almost a 13% pick rate (as of 10/07/19), but why is this the case? Well in this piece, I hope to identify the key drivers behind this latest flavor of pro play seeping into the realm of solo queue.

The Enchanter Meta

Over the most recent patches released by Riot, we have seen a transition away from the tank heavy support meta (excluding Braum and Nautilus), with picks suck as Yuumi becoming S tier and champions such as Janna seeing considerable buffs that made her a 53%+ win rate champion. This has resulted in an ‘Enchanter Heavy’ meta which focuses on champions who can heal and shield their team as much as possible.

Now when you say heal/shield, most of you would probably think of Janna, Soraka, Nami, and (most recently) Yuumi. Two of these are meta staples (however Nami is not far off becoming meta and maybe a Hidden OP right now), as their team shielding is widely known but what some professionals noticed was that Lux can not only shield the whole team with her W, Prismatic Barrier, but she can do it twice. This immense amount of shielding is one reason (of many) why pros picked up the Lady of Luminosity, which in turn has turned her into an S tier support today.

The Versatility of a Snare

Now, we have seen many snaring supports come and go (Zyra in Season 3 and not forgetting the never outside the fringe menace that is Morgana) and that is for good reason. Snares are very versatile in that they can start a fight by getting a pick, stop an engage by denying an engage champion’s entrance/engage route (bind a speeding Rammus), and even turn a fight around. TSM Smoothie demonstrated the latter exceptionally well in the Lux vs. Rakan matchup where Smoothie would bind the Rakan as he went in with his W, Grand Entrance, preventing him from following up or retreating back as he is snared meaning that is now a lone person standing beneath the titans that were the rest of Smoothie’s team.

So why is Lux the choice here? As I mentioned prior, there are other supports in LoL who have snares in their kits, some of which have even longer duration snares (Morgana’s is three seconds at max rank while Lux’s snare is only 2 at all ranks). Well, it comes in the fact it can not only have all the versatility of snare, it can do it twice. This can shut down dual engage combos, which is a collective ability that has so much power in a disengage style of play. The effect of a double snare has proven to be a useful tool in the hands of top-flight players and so Lux has seen a rise to a status at the forefront of the meta.

The Skill Point Flexibility of Light Binding

Many champions have powerful tools when it comes to CC. However, many of these tools need to have skill points put into the corresponding spells to reach their maximum potential. Examples of this include Fiddlestick’s Q, Terrify, which only becomes an immense 2.25 second fear at max rank, and the previously mentioned Morgana’s Q, Dark Binding, becomes a 3-second snare at max rank.

However, in the case of Lux’s primary CC, the snare on Light Binding is 2 seconds at every rank, meaning that the player piloting said champion does not have to spend skill points on Light Binding to get the primary benefit of the spell. This leaves a player the option of putting more points into Prismatic Barrier to lower its cooldown/strengthen the shield or put more points into Lucent Singularity to lower its cooldown/increase the slow and damage value. So in the case of Lux, we have a case of skill points not having to be expended to get a primary CC to its max value, meaning set skill points can be spent on upgrading other aspects of a champion’s kit. This versatility is one of many reasons that Lux is currently a support first pick.

The Damage Lux Brings

Now we all know that Lux, by nature, is a damage-oriented mage. Three of her abilities are damaging in their nature (her Q, E, and R). This is why that, up until recently, Lux has been played as a mid-laner nuking targets wherever she goes in the hands of players such as Froggen.

However, with the meta shifting a little in the mid lane away from assassins such as Akali to control mages such as Orianna (which means a very slight shift down in damage) it does mean that an increase in damage coming from an alternative role (such as support) can be appreciated.

Now it is to be noted that this is not a primary reason as to why the upper ranks of the League of Legends world have picked up the Demacian in the bottom lane support role, but it is still a benefit to the pick.

Conclusion

So why have I spent this time with you going over this new pick that has arisen during this season. Well as some of you out there are now thinking, ‘Yeah, I might pick up this new pick,’ but if you do, remember that the pick takes time to learn (so don’t jump into ranked with it straight away), the pick is squishy, and that you need to use the strengths mentioned prior to utilize the champion correctly (not just go onto the Summoners Rift thinking the pick is an auto-win). With that, I wish you the best in your solo queue adventures (journeying with the Lady of Luminosity or not) and so I leave you with the thoughts of GL, HF, and GG.

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