From good pick to lowest win rate

Throughout Season 6, Lucian has always been a solid pick in the AD Carry role. At some points, he was even considered overpowered, receiving a nerf on his Q “Piercing Light,” lowering its ratio and range and a nerf to his W “Ardent Blaze” lowering its range. But recently he has seen a giant drop in win-rate since the beginning of the preseason. This is due to several reasons that I will go over, but first I would like to discuss this champion in-depth and show why Lucian needs some help since these season’s changes.

What happened to Lucian?

- The changes to Armor Penetration items

First, Lucian’s core build throughout season six was Youmuu’s Ghostblade and Black Cleaver.

Once the preseason began, and assassins were reworked, there were major changes to Armor Penetration items, and the rework of flat Armor Penetration into Lethality. This directly hit Youmuu’s Ghostblade, an essential item on Lucian. The nerfs removed the Attack Speed buff upon activation, which was one of the main reasons Lucian purchased that item in the first place as it gave a fantastic spike of damage when activated and made it easy to trade and easily go for kills in lane.

- The Mastery Changes

Second, the best mastery to take on Lucian has always been Fervor of Battle.

When the preseason changes went through, a major change was made to the Keystone Mastery "Fervor of Battle". Rather than giving on-hit physical damage per stack of "Fervor of Battle", it gives AD per stack. This is a nerf to Lucian, since Lucian could apply this on-hit damage very easily with his passive. Not only did they change the type of damage that comes out of this passive, they left it underpowered in general. This hurt Lucian’s damage greatly, and has restricted how much damage he can do in lane.

- The Nerfs

Q - Piercing Light

BEAM RANGE: 1100 ⇒ 900
RATIO: 0.6/0.75/0.9/1.05/1.2 bonus attack damage ⇒ 0.6/0.7/0.8/0.9/1.0 bonus Attack Damage

W - Ardent Blaze

RANGE: 1000 ⇒ 900

- Source

These nerfs were given to Lucian on Patch 6.11. These nerfs were given to Lucian after the rise of the “Youmuus/Black Cleaver Build,” and, since this build is no longer viable, I believe that these changes should be either reverted or looked at again. Lucian has one of the most satisfying kits in the Attack Damage Carry role, and it is a shame to see him doing so poorly.

The Win Rate

Proof of Lucian’s issues going on right now can be shown by his win rate in his current state. Right now, his win rate sits at 44.8%. This is substantially lower than most other Attack Damage Carries that are around right now, including Kalista, a champion that was deemed to problematic to remain in the meta. This win rate is so low that it alone can show that this character needs help in some form. Now Riot does know about this issue and are looking for a solution, so I would like to discuss a couple options that can be taken.

source: http://champion.gg

Solutions to the Problem

- Revert the nerfs that Lucian had received

The simple solution is simply fixing the nerfs he had received, which I believe were misdirected in the first place. The issue with Lucian was his ability to abuse the meta armor penetration items at the time. Riot nerfed Lucian’s abilities rather than dealing with the overpowered items immediately. So, a possible answer to the problem would be to simply return Lucian to the point he was before the nerfs.

- Buff Fervor of Battle

Another possible answer to the problem could be to return Fervor of Battle to the state it was in before the changes went through. Lucian uses Fervor of Battle very efficiently due to his passive, applying two stacks each time he uses it. This passive allows Lucian to do a large amount of damage just by abusing said passive. However, the recent changes to fervor have put it at a much less powerful state, and one of the options to fix Lucian would be to buff Fervor of Battle. This however could be volatile since many other Attack Damage Carries use this mastery as well, and could put them into an unbalanced position.

- Revert Youmuu’s Ghostblade change

Bringing the Attack Speed active back on Youmuu’s Ghostblade would be a huge buff, allowing him to spike as soon as this item was purchased. Lucian synergizes very well with this item, allowing him to easily win trades and go for kills on an item that is substantially cheaper than most other items you can purchase at that point in the game. However, this item has been abused on too many champions throughout season 6, and Riot was looking to make it not always the most optimal choice.

Riot’s Solution

This is the change coming to Lucian on the now released patch 7.1.

Passive - Lightslinger

DAMAGE: 30/40/50/60% total attack damage (at levels 1/6/11/16) ⇒ 40/50/60% total Attack Damage (at levels 1/7/13)

Q - Piercing Light

BASE DAMAGE: 80/110/140/170/200 ⇒ 80/115/150/185/220

- Source

This is Riots response to the issues I have discussed in this article, and I believe it is a good start to get Lucian back to the spot he belongs. It gives more passive damage for the early game and increases how much damage his passive does in early levels, and how much damage his Q does later into the game. These were two notable flaws with Lucian right now and I think this was a good way to go about fixing him.

This is what Riot had to say about this Patch

"Like Draven, Lucian has historically had a strong mid-game, out-dueling and out-skirmishing more traditional marksmen. However, the Fervor changes and the armor penetration rework have left him feeling pretty underwhelming. We’re raising Lucian’s power earlier in the game so he can hit his mid-game stride (and actually do something with it)."

It seems like Riot is going about helping Lucian the right way, and I am eager to see how he does on the upcoming patch.

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