Luxing: how to Lux? Be the Lady of Luminosity!

In my views, Lux is one of standard mages in League. The typical characteristics of her abilities (most noticeable is long-range casting of the abilities) result in the typical playstyles, Luxing, somewhat similar to those of ADCs: positioning and safety to be able to deal damage in a steady rate, focusing on full damage and effectiveness of damage dealt to be able to take down the opponents in a very short moment (within a single combo).

In my view, she is a true mage, a true APC, the exemplar of this role and champion type in a "standard meta"[1]. Typically, Lux' damage is not to deal in a continuous and consecutive way like that of ADCs via basic attacks, but in a  jerky way via spells cast, so that the average damage on a fair period of time would be equal to that of a true ADC.

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The bends of a lady

+) Two CC abilities: Q-LightBinding and E-LucentSingularity (when it has not detonated)

+) 4 damaging abilities, including the passive-Illumination

+) One multiple-target shielding ability

In lane phase, Lux can use all the 4 damaging abilities to farm: E-LucentSingularity as the main ability of farming, basic attacks in combination with the passive-Illumination for last-hitting, and Q-LightBinding if necessary. The passive-Illumination vastly improves Lux' last-hit power since Lux' basic attacks will active it on affected targets, dealing significant bonus damage. The ult R-FinalSpark can also be used to clear minion waves sometimes.

In team fights, Lux often uses the combo of Q/E/R as the main way to take down and get kills, and the shields as the main way to protect team mates to help team get advantage. The ult R-FinalSpark can also be used as a sniping ability, a kind of crowd control (CC, to prevent opponents from escaping)[2]. Remember that R-FinalSpark will active the passive-Illumination on affected targets then add a new passive-Illumination right after damaging the targets.

The pros and cons, solutions and key factors

The most noticeable advantage of Lux is long range casting abilities, very long, so that she can stand from fairly long distance to damage and take down opponents. In compensation, Lux' disadvantage is the weakness of escape and defense capability.

While Lux has no escape ability, the bind and slow from Q-LightBinding and E-LucentSingularity are very good to prevent enemy champions from catching Lux. The shield(s) W-PrismaticBarrier also provides an important source of sustainability. When these abilities are used in the right way, they can fix Lux' weaknesses on escape ability and sustainability.

The shield(s) of  W-PrismaticBarrier is kinda special in comparison with other shielding abilities: it moves back and forth and shields all the allies it catches, up to twice shields per champion per cast. This may be one of the most distinctive beauties of the Lady of Luminosity, and how to use it may play a critical role on Luxing, especially in team fight: how to have your team shielded as much as possible. In the most effective use, you can shield all the five champions (including yourself) twice per cast, which would be able to cancel two AoE ults like those of Amumu and Miss Fortune combined. Three key factors to succeed on playing Lux, in my view, are:

(1) Success in landing Q-LightBinding
(2) Effectiveness in shielding W-PrismaticBarrier
(3) Usage of Q-LightBinding and the slow of E-LucentSingularity as escaping abilities

While effectiveness in shielding W-PrismaticBarrier would need very much of precision and prediction on the movement of team mates, landing Q-LightBinding would need very much of precision and prediction on the movement of the opponents, and this would ensure the success of the combo Q/E/R since the binding would give the affected opponent(s) no chance to dodge.

Core items: AP-mage and AD-assassin opponents

While heavy AP items like Rabadon'sDeathcap, VoidStaff, Zhonya'sHourglass,... are very important, Lux uses very much of mana. And in my view, how to control the mana pool is one of the key factors on Luxing, on the success of playing Lux.

+) To lane against AP champions: usually, Athene's Unholy Grail is one of the best items for Lux. This item serves as both the utility and defensive item, and provides all of what Lux needs to lane against an AP opponent: mana regeneration, CDR, AP, and MR.

In my views Rabadon and Athene are the core items for Lux to lane against AP champions, and should be completed first.

The order in which the items are completed should be varied and very different for different playstyles and different games, depending on how the particular games would be going on, with priority on the core items (green circle) and less priority for the red circle.

Sorcerer'sShoes and VoidStaff are necessary since they provide important amount of Magic Penetration to fight against tanky opponents; we can also build IonianBootsOfLucidity instead of Sorcerer'sShoes for more utilities. Luden'sEcho and LichBane provide a huge amount of bonus damage; specifically, the LichBane may be used in combination with Lux' passive-Illumination for much more damage via basic attacks each time Lux' spells damage a target.

+) For laning against AD champions (like Zed, Yasuo,...): Athene is not a good idea, we should pursue Zhonya'sHourglass for the best; for more mana while pursuing Zhonya, a second Doran'sRing or additional potion may be necessary in lane phase.

To lane against AD assassins, Zhonya should be one of the core and the first items for AP champions like Lux.

The Morellonomicon provides much more damage but may require us to use mana in a very effective way, since it may not provide enough mana for Lux, especially when we use mana to clear minion waves; in case we need more mana, Athene instead of Morellonomicon is always the best choice.

The items on red circle (Liandry'sTorment and Rylai'sCrystalScepter) may be replaced by Luden'sEcho and LichBane, but Liandry'sTorment and Rylai'sCrystalScepterand provide more health for defensive capability, especially effective when the AD opponent is so excellent. As I have observed, the bonus damage from these two items seems no less than that of Luden'Echo and LichBane. In case we need VoidStaff for more effective damage against tanks, we can leave one of these items in compensation: Morellonomicon, for example, will cost us mana regeneration.

Anyways, laning against mobile AD assassins like Zed or Yasuo is always disadvantageous for Lux, in my opinion. This kind of champions is often very aggressive, and the games would be always harsh, intense, and full of pressure for Lux' players. In case we are forced to face them, aggressive is not a good idea, we should play safe to keep the opponent from getting fed as well as from roaming to gank other lanes and pursue late phases plans.

My playstyle of Luxing

In general, my own playstyle on playing Lux puts important impact on mana control, safety, space keeping, positioning, dealing damage in a steady rate (in terms of a fair period of time), precision and prediction in timing and casting spells. I always max E-LucentSingularity first, then Q-LightBinding for the second (mainly for more damage), and W-PrismaticBarrier lastly.

In lane phase, I focus on getting as highest and most quickly damage as possible to get ahead of the opponent, by ensuring the mana control and safety. If I get ahead of the opponent, I always focus on heavy AP items like Rabadon and Luden'sEcho and roaming to help other lanes toward the victory. Whenever I feel the opponent is quite strong and hard for me to get ahead, I will build utility and defensive items like Athene'sUnholyGrail or Zhonya and the focus is shifted to later phases plans. Particularly:

+) In case of laning against an AD-assassin, I always rush Zhonya as the first item, and an additional potion or a second Doran'sRing may be bought to have enough mana and more sustainability in lane phase.

+) In case of an AP-mage opponent, I often rush Rabadon as the first item as quickly as possible. The same theme for Luden'sEcho and LichBane. AtheneGrail is built whenever I feel lack of mana or need some utility and defensive capability; this key item is often built within lane phase. Sometimes (often when the opponent is so strong) I build AtheneGrail right after NeedlesslyLargeRod, before completing the first item, Rabadon. This all depends on how the game would going on and how good the opponent is.

My general favorite styles on playing League are often some mixed kind of scaling, asleep-making, play-not-to-lose[3], and anti-psychology[4] playstyles. And my particular playstyle on Luxing is not an exception, as I observe myself.

This is my favorite Rune Page for Lux to lane against both AP and AD-assassin champions. In case the opponent is so excellent, I may build Athene (against AP opponents) or Zhonya (against AD-assassins) as one of the very first items for better defense.

My favorite Mastery Page for Lux. DoubleEdgedSword entry (green circle) is always not a choice of mine for Lux, especially when laning against assassins, mainly due to her lack of escaping abilities, also because the Feast entry provides more sustainability for Lux in lane phase.

Lux supports?

While Lux is often not one of prior choices for support role, mainly because there are many better support champions: tanky supporters (Nautilus, Leona,...), Morgana, Janna, etc.; there are chances for Lux to enter this role as a bold choice, when team has tanky Galio or Swain or Morgana mid for example.

+) In case of Lux support, it should be best (the most mana-effective) to use Q-LightBinding (in combination with the passive-Illumination) as the main way to bind and harass the other ADC and supporter. So, it should be best to max Q-LightBinding first, then W-PrismaticBarrier second as the main way of protection by shielding, and E-LucentSingularity for the last as a way to slow the opponents.

+) If we max E-LucentSingularity first, we may not have enough mana to use. If we max W-PrismaticBarrier lastly, we may not have enough shielding power to protect our team mates (including ADC) as a support. It's definitely not a good idea to play support the way we play Lux mid.

Finally, just like a mid mage Lux, the key factors to succeed on playing Lux support are (1) success on landing Q-LightBinding and (2) effectiveness on shielding W-PrismaticBarrier, in my view. This shield(s) moves back and forth, and so very difficult for us to shield the way we want, especially when there is only one single target ally who always moves in a jerky way (ADC in this case, to dodge enemy skillshots for example).

This post was completed; there would be just minor adjustments if any on this post
Last update: February 21, 2016

The Silencekeeper

References

[1] One of the "standard meta(s)", in my view, would be: ADC, APC, supporter, 2 tanks/fighters.
[2] In my view, long range sniping abilities like Lux' R-FinalSpark or Caitlyn's R-AceInTheHole can also be seen as a kind of crowd control ("semi-CC" for more exactly): to prevent opponents from escaping by sniping to take them down (not by binding or slowing them or the like).
[3] This is discussed in the post: Nautling: how to Nautilus? Be the Titan of the Depths (section "Play styles").
[4] This is discussed in the post: Aatrox jungle with Stalker's Blade - [sated] Devourer (section "Anti-psychology playstyle").