picking lux right now

The Bard Dog·Feb 5, 2015·32 votes·3,527 views

is basically signing a contract saying you're ready for having an abysmally bad mana starved early, and maybe making up for it late if you're allowed to farm, or playing against bads that let you kill them.

lux needs some damn compensation buffs considering she's got horrible, inefficient wave clear(her e costs so much mana and has a pretty low base damage), bad trade potential considering mid is now almost all mobility, and to top it off has garbage mana costs coupled with extremely bad mana regen choices that force her to buy two mana items costing her valuable damage late game in which she fell off pretty hard even before this vendetta against mages started

the only thing that's in a good place for lux right now is her w, which is still crazy good if placed well. but that's it. everything else she does, xerath does better, safer, and has a mana regenerating passive to boot.

tl;dr lux has been indirectly nerfed into near trash tier.

57 Comments

DarkwindFeb 5, 201510 votes

Just not accurate in my opinion. You can't spam mindlessly, sure. You can't afford to permapush with 1 mana item, sure. But you can use your skills as much as you need to in pretty much all lanes in order to trade and survive early. Come mid, blue buff exists and item 3070 will mostly deal with your mana issues. You are signing a contract saying you're willing to sacrifice cdr, though- your only real cdr options are item 3041 (lol not happening most games) or item 3158 , which are... meh.

I mean, I'd love for her E to cost less mana, but she could quickly skyrocket to OP if it were inexpensive to throw out Es.

jv21blU7oDFeb 6, 20151 votes

You don't have to sacrifice any CDR if you go item 3070 route. I've been building , item 3174 , item 3158 , item 3041 as my core items and yeah you start of slow but if you have good positioning and transitioning between lanes you can easily pick up Mejai's stacks and farm away with all your CDR to get further AP stuff.

DarkwindFeb 6, 20152 votes

{quoted}

You don't have to sacrifice any CDR if you go route. I've been building , , , as my core items and yeah you start of slow but if you have good positioning and transitioning between lanes you can easily pick up Mejai's stacks and farm away with all your CDR to get further AP stuff.

Not a fan of that build, at all. REALLY dependent on staying safe forever and magically not getting dove, then getting mejai stacks. Without lots of stacks, you won't have any damage, and you won'thave any damage even then for a long time. I much prefer getting tear and going right into zhonya- way earlier power spike, much, much harder to dive.

jv21blU7oDFeb 6, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Not a fan of that build, at all. REALLY dependent on staying safe forever and magically not getting dove, then getting mejai stacks. Without lots of stacks, you won't have any damage, and you won'thave any damage even then for a long time. I much prefer getting tear and going right into zhonya- way earlier power spike, much, much harder to dive.

It's really not that hard to just farm safely with a waveclear mage as Lux. It of course depends on lineups and stuff but I've been having decent success with the build since you absolutely want to be able to spam away spells as much as possible and never going oom which my build succeeds with.

http://matchhistory.eune.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/EUN1/1093966531/200636561?tab=overview

I've been experimenting with Ghost too for the extra mobility and it's been pretty successful as well.

DarkwindFeb 6, 20151 votes

{quoted}

It's really not that hard to just farm safely with a waveclear mage as Lux. It of course depends on lineups and stuff but I've been having decent success with the build since you absolutely want to be able to spam away spells as much as possible and never going oom which my build succeeds with.

http://matchhistory.eune.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/EUN1/1093966531/200636561?tab=overview

I've been experimenting with Ghost too for the extra mobility and it's been pretty successful as well.

I mean, you can just wave clear all day, sure. But you can't actually fight anyone. So if your laner roams, you can't follow. If the enemy jungler shows up and youre not under tower, pretty easy to die. When early dragon fights come, you really can't participate.

I mean, in silver it's probably okay to be really defensive and just wave clear. But you can't afford to lose pressure the way you do with that build in higher level games.

jv21blU7oDFeb 6, 20151 votes

I don't really "fight" people as Lux, I serve as a backline utility mage so I am fairly supportive in my role. Your point about not having enough pressure is the most valid one but this build has been working for me so far so I'm gonna stick to it for now as I am still in the learning process of this champion.

And I dunno why you bring up silver tier games all of a sudden when I am playing on high plat/low diamond mmr which isn't that remarkable but definitely on a higher level.

DarkwindFeb 7, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I don't really "fight" people as Lux, I serve as a backline utility mage so I am fairly supportive in my role. Your point about not having enough pressure is the most valid one but this build has been working for me so far so I'm gonna stick to it for now as I am still in the learning process of this champion.

And I dunno why you bring up silver tier games all of a sudden when I am playing on high plat/low diamond mmr which isn't that remarkable but definitely on a higher level.

Confused- is this not your account? http://euw.op.gg/summoner/userName=nemu

Anyway,it doesn't matter what role you're playing in teamfights, I'm not talking about teamfights. What I'm saying is, if you run across a person while roaming from mid to wherever, you can't deal with them. They can just kill you. So as a result, if your enemy mid roams, you can't follow them. If they just wait in a bush for you, they can insta kill you and theres not much you can do about it.

I mean, build what you like, but I'm very much not a fan of that build.

iainB85Feb 6, 20155 votes

{quoted}

Just not accurate in my opinion. You can't spam mindlessly, sure. You can't afford to permapush with 1 mana item, sure. But you can use your skills as much as you need to in pretty much all lanes in order to trade and survive early. Come mid, blue buff exists and will mostly deal with your mana issues. You are signing a contract saying you're willing to sacrifice cdr, though- your only real cdr options are (lol not happening most games) or , which are... meh.

I mean, I'd love for her E to cost less mana, but she could quickly skyrocket to OP if it were inexpensive to throw out Es.

Have you ever played Lux? With her high cool downs she can charge item 3070 about as fast as molasses, dude.

You also contradict yourself saying "Don't spam your spells only use them when you need to - but also get item 3070 to solve mana issues!"

Let me know how that works out for you.

DarkwindFeb 6, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Have you ever played Lux? With her high cool downs she can charge about as fast as molasses, dude.

You also contradict yourself saying "Don't spam your spells only use them when you need to - but also get to solve mana issues!"

Let me know how that works out for you.

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1715076622/50523218?tab=overview

RuGuFeb 6, 20151 votes

{quoted}

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1715076622/50523218?tab=overview

Yeah, I agree that tear is the correct item to build on Lux (most of the time).

I just find it said that you went 7-2-24 and did 25k damage while Xerath was 3-12-10; had a a whole less item than you, and did 20k damage.

A win is a win, and I love playing lux, but IMO she just doesn't offer enough compared to other champions.

RuGuFeb 6, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Just not accurate in my opinion. You can't spam mindlessly, sure. You can't afford to permapush with 1 mana item, sure. But you can use your skills as much as you need to in pretty much all lanes in order to trade and survive early. Come mid, blue buff exists and will mostly deal with your mana issues. You are signing a contract saying you're willing to sacrifice cdr, though- your only real cdr options are (lol not happening most games) or , which are... meh.

I mean, I'd love for her E to cost less mana, but she could quickly skyrocket to OP if it were inexpensive to throw out Es.

item 3041 isn't exactly bad on Lux, she typically plays pretty safe so you shouldn't be losing the stacks very often if at all.

DarkwindFeb 7, 20151 votes

{quoted}

isn't exactly bad on Lux, she typically plays pretty safe so you shouldn't be losing the stacks very often if at all.

yeah, i wasnt saying mejai is meh- i build it every time if my team is ahead or if i feel ill be safe in teamfights. I was saying lucidity boots are meh, and that most of the time you won't get 20 stacks for a long period of time (therefore as a cdr option, it's... well not really a cdr option.)

Aevo 55Feb 6, 20157 votes

Lux is fine... what is everybody complaining about?

Ashes AriseFeb 6, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Aevo 55,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=2J0z0yrV,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2015-02-06T00:17:45.162+0000)

Lux is fine... what is everybody complaining about?

she is fine. The meta is not tho

SalidfingersFeb 6, 20151 votes

Azir is coming into play more and more. Lux counters azir.

and we will see less and less akali players Lux will be safer in mid

Ryu the firstFeb 6, 20152 votes

Lol ya, I picked Azir, enemy picked Lux, got fed, but Azir is too strong in teamfights so we won. Lux's teamfights aren't that great tbh

SalidfingersFeb 6, 20151 votes

I agree in team fights azir is a better duelist, but lux should be able to 100-0 someone. then give shields to team mates while waiting for CD's.

We will see mages come back soon since akali was nerfed and zed is harder to learn for most newbies.

You will see champions like zyra mid and then you will see kassadin back in lane. Most mages have long CD's and if they miss there abilities kassadin eats them.

Then after a premature nerf to mages we will see Kha's back in mid preparing for another nerf to his Q

Kitten of EvilFeb 6, 20155 votes

"having an abysmally bad mana starved early"

and mid. and late.

SleepyLionCubFeb 6, 20154 votes

I used to play lux mid a lot last season, and i keep trying to use her again this season, but its just not working out. Im basically dropping her now because of the indirect nerfs she has to deal with.

She cant instakill minion waves with her E

She runs out of mana super fast

No mobility, in a game getting more cc, and more mobility

She is just outclassed now, and it kinda sucks because i used to really love her.

Silents429Feb 6, 20154 votes

What are you talking about? Lux is my mid main, I haven't had mana issues unless I stupidly spam my abilities.

By the time my E is level 3 I am insta clearing waves.

And I only ever need 1 mana regen item, and I am usually in no hurry for it.

She still snowballs like mad, has a powerful ult every 36 seconds, and is just strong in the right hands. Yes she has no mobility, but that's one of her few drawbacks.

The Bard DogFeb 6, 20156 votes

{quoted}

What are you talking about? Lux is my mid main, I haven't had mana issues unless I stupidly spam my abilities.

By the time my E is level 3 I am insta clearing waves.

And I only ever need 1 mana regen item, and I am usually in no hurry for it.

She still snowballs like mad, has a powerful ult every 36 seconds, and is just strong in the right hands. Yes she has no mobility, but that's one of her few drawbacks.

lux has severe problems with anyone who is even a little bit better at harassing. she can't go in to aa because she'll pay for it, and she can't farm with e at early levels because its so mana intensive.

what is Zed Yasuo Akali Ahri Leblanc Velkoz Morgana Karma Lissandra

Silents429Feb 6, 20152 votes

Naming a small pool of champions that can sometimes beat her doesn't mean she is weak. Using the word "severe" is an over exaggeration.

Ahri, Vel, Morgana, Karma, Le Blanc, Liss are skill shot reliant laning against them boils down to who can dodge and land abilities better. Zed is royally fucked if Lux lands her Q and combos him. Akali and Yasuo are really easy when you max your E.

Lux is not underpowered.

Farm under turret, one your first back you should be able to get a mana regen item without a problem.

The TrentFeb 6, 20152 votes

sure sure that's all true Silents429 but mana items suck at the moment and any good zed will not get hit by a lux q. Maybe ur bronze but that's why u don't poke with ur shadow until 6 so u have a escape from things like lux q. Good akali players would just get mr for lux and probably just roam a lot. A good yasuo player will wait for her to e then dash out and poke her with a q or he could shield plus lux is a poke mage early and yasuos other shield helps him with that. Ahri, vel, morg, karma, Le blanc, liss and more have a higher skill cap so can out play her easily.

Silents429Feb 6, 20153 votes

Mana items don't suck, they need minor tweaks to set themselves apart but they are in general fine.
Any good player in this game at all won't get hit by any skillshot from anyone. That is horribly bad logic, Zed has to go directly towards targets to start his combo, Lux literally just has to get her Q off (which wouldn't be hard) and Zed is stuck to take her full combo. Zed being able to poke is irrelevant to this discussion.
Their is no item for akali that is good and gives her MR. They rush not MR. Only a moron would rush MR on Akali and not any damage. Roaming is also irrelevant to this discussion.
You mean when he dashes in a single line towards her she won't just Q and AA ? Yasuo is screwed in most cases against Lux too.
Skillcap has nothing to do with any of this? Just because the skillcap is higher doesn't mean they can outplay a simpler champion, They all rely on skillshots. And I pointed out the lane becomes who can dodge and land skill shots in order to win. Ahri isn't going to automatically win because she has a few extra mechanics.

The TrentFeb 6, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Mana items don't suck, they need minor tweaks to set themselves apart but they are in general fine.

Any good player in this game at all won't get hit by any skillshot from anyone. That is horribly bad logic, Zed has to go directly towards targets to start his combo, Lux literally just has to get her Q off (which wouldn't be hard) and Zed is stuck to take her full combo. Zed being able to poke is irrelevant to this discussion.

Their is no item for akali that is good and gives her MR. They rush not MR. Only a moron would rush MR on Akali and not any damage. Roaming is also irrelevant to this discussion.

You mean when he dashes in a single line towards her she won't just Q and AA ? Yasuo is screwed in most cases against Lux too.

Skillcap has nothing to do with any of this? Just because the skillcap is higher doesn't mean they can outplay a simpler champion, They all rely on skillshots. And I pointed out the lane becomes who can dodge and land skill shots in order to win. Ahri isn't going to automatically win because she has a few extra mechanics.

all I can say is ur stupid.

Edit: plus u downvoted my comment that was rude and stupid

Silents429Feb 6, 20152 votes

Yes I did. And I am sure no one is surprised as to why.

But I am glad you resort to insulting me instead of actually responding to where I carefully took your reply apart showing you how wrong you were.

The TrentFeb 6, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Yes I did. And I am sure no one is surprised as to why.

But I am glad you resort to insulting me instead of actually responding to where I carefully took your reply apart showing you how wrong you were.

No I just don't want to waste my time talking about the game rather than playing it. I don't like you.

Silents429Feb 6, 20153 votes

You flatter me, I love you too Trenton.

Magma Lux MidFeb 6, 20151 votes

Lux can shield and auto attack and come out winning early game. But that's not what she's about. What you want to do is land an e, then hit them once and back off to drop minion aggro. Do this, and you'll make Zed and Akali start farming with abilities and being afraid to go up to any minions.

The WhamboozlerFeb 6, 20154 votes

I love me some Lux, and I have to say... she feels pretty weak right now. She's ALWAYS been slow and squishy. That's expected of a champ with such long range. But the nerf to Athene's Unholy Grail hurt her, as it was core on her. The utter worthlessness of mana regen items in general kicked her hard in the shins, as she's always had punishing mana costs and with the current options for mana regen items ti's become that much more brutal of a flaw.

It feels like her only real asset to her team is her shield. Her scaling is so-so at best.... her base damages are all right, but require her to proc her passive to really matter, and getting that close to a lot of mids at Lux ends poorly. Her rival long-range mages don't need to get that close. Xerath can stay across the room all day and poke you, restoring his mana off minions, and Ziggs spams bombs like you won't believe with his passive mostly used for pushing towers, not securing kills. Lux has to slip into auto-attack you for her burst to really be... bursty. Not only is this risky, it's hard. She's immobile and slow, and her playstyle puts her VERY far away from her enemy. If she's close enough to AA you, she's probably mispositioned.

I'm not saying my girl needs a huge buff. A fix to mana regen items would be enough... or maybe a small QoL buff or small reduction in mana costs. Maybe keep her as is but grant vision to her team of all targets her passive is affecting.... giving her more utility. Right now she's just kinda a sub-par pick. If you want a long-range poke mage... pick Xerath. If you want a long-range CC ability to pick people out in fights... pick Morgana or Ahri. If you want to drop a huge shield over your whole party, pick Karma. At least Karma can't miss her shield! Lux needs a little boost in something, but something small. Just my opinion.

Regina GeorgeFeb 6, 20152 votes

I think her passive is beyond horrible. Why would you put an AA passive on a long range mage? it DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. Inb4 Riot will say "we want our champions to have risk, that's why she needs to autoattack", yeah, keep telling yourself that until it convinces you Riot.

ONUGALAFeb 6, 20151 votes

Yep i think her passive is a big issue and becomes useless in teamfights cause its way to risky since you are a squishy target and most of the times you wont be able to finish the squishy targets with your passive after your combo. Thats why (like i said in another post) i think its better if her passive would trigger out of all her dmg spells, in the lane it wouldnt change anything and in the teamfights she is more usefull and dont risk to get caught while she wants to AA.

Sir YamazukiFeb 6, 20153 votes

"I can't play this champion, must be because they suck". Her popularity is fairly decent given the number of champions you can choose, and if she was as bad as some people are trying to say she is her win rate would be rather low and no one even even bother picking her either. She has the ability to 100-0 champions from a very safe range, which is exactly why her move speed was lowered before. She brings good utility/has an amazing shield and zone potential and a lot of damage.

Any further buffs will push her over the edge again, where she'll just be nerfed to be worse than she was before receiving them.

YennFeb 6, 20153 votes

Lux is pretty bad and needs to be fixed.

Her mana cost, particularly on E, is atrocious. Her passive is worthless once mid game hits, because she can't get into range safely. She's completely and utterly invalidated by any high mobility champion. She can't one shot the caster minions unless she's fed or late game; once your team comes to your lane, they'll just steal all of your CS and completely shut you down.

She's the only mid champion I can go 6-0 on and end up a glorified support.

BakedLotionFeb 6, 20152 votes

Shes still good, just a tad weaker because of all the mage MP5 nerfs, and mobility I'm still gonna spam her in ranked. At like a 78% win rate with her :P

Adolf GhostlerFeb 6, 20152 votes

30 second ultimate.

CindikleFeb 6, 20151 votes

What if her passive got an extra passive

After casting a spell, procing Illumination will restore 5% max mana.

This will restore 16.7 mana at level 1 and 59.2 at level 18. if you do not build any mana items.

It allows her mana costs to stay high to punish those who play too safe with her spells. While rewarding some aggressive plays with AA's. If it is too strong it can be halved vs minions.

Magma Lux MidFeb 6, 20151 votes

That is a little strong. You can easily make it start at 1 or 2 and increase slightly as she gains levels (thinking +2-4 every 6 levels). Combining this with feast and Doran's ring, and you could probably sustain as easily as Xerath.

CindikleFeb 6, 20151 votes

Not too sure on that. Xerath doesn't have to cast a spell to activate it. And if it has reduced effects vs minions that should lower it's power when combined with feats and ring. Xerath's is also much stronger and scales much higher. About 3.5x more at max level. 7x more if he AA's a champion. About 2x/4x at level 1.

She also wont benefit from using her W unless she lands a Q/E, procs passive, then W's to proc again off another target. Which wouldn't be worth the refund.

Bascially the reward is smaller and the risk is greater vs Xerath's.

Magma Lux MidFeb 7, 20151 votes

You also have to realize the difference this would have. Xerath's is only procced on unit every 12 seconds (unless it's affected by CDR). With what you're suggestion, Lux could (potentially) proc it on 7-8 targets on a shorter cooldown, plus an additional 2 with her q.

I am actually unfamiliar with playing Xerath, so I didn't know how much it actually scaled. But after looking at it on lolwiki, I would be totally fine with her passive restoring 2x level mana per proc.

CindikleFeb 7, 20151 votes

Ah, you're misunderstanding the wording. I stated "After casting a spell". Meaning When she casts her E. It'll give her a buff for however Illumination lasts that will restore the mana if she procs it. Only one buff. Even though her E may hit 7 targets. She'll only get the mana for one.

If she casts W though she can proc another one from her E cast. But the cost of W wont justify the return unless she's spent way too much on mana items.

Xerath's passive is not effected by CDR. At level 1 it is about double the return I suggested when hitting minions. 4x when hitting a champion. And it not only increases by level, but adds to that increase as he levels. Ends up being around 380 mana returned at max level if I remember correctly, when he AA's a champion. Lux would need 7600 mana to match that with my suggestion. On top of his being far stronger, he doesn't need spells to use it. He can be playing passive(for whatever reason he'd want to do that) and still get to use it.

This change would reward Lux for not playing passive without Riot having to rebalance her mana costs.

I personally never though Chalice/Athene's regen was OP. What was OP was that players would play far too passive with it. This change could return her regen levels to S4's Mana Font without letting her do it passively.

FoggyPawsFeb 6, 20151 votes

I start item 1004 item 2003 item 2004 and I take summoner 13 I literally have never had mana problems early.

I build an early item 3028 and item 3114 , build them into item 3174 , item 3165 , and build penetration to make up for the lack of raw AP, with item 3020 and item 3136 , then I go for raw AP.

TAOxEaglexFeb 6, 20151 votes

I've been seeing a TON of Lux mids in my games and it makes me want to vomit. I have relegated her to auto-dodge territory along with Singed players.

She's basically Morgana in terms of utility and kit...if Morgana was nerfed into useless trash.

-Worse snare -Worse shield -Less efficient wave clear -Less HP, armor, mana, mana regen -Less useful ult

Anyone who picks Lux mid is basically saying, "I don't understand the current meta and I'm oblivious to common sense."

NagirahFeb 6, 20154 votes

Because you are not allowed to pick champs you love and must stick to meta... Sorry I'll rather play her than some freaking Zed.

TAOxEaglexFeb 6, 20151 votes

...says the guy who doesn't have a single ranked game under his belt and plays mostly ARAMs scattered with a few normals.

It should be assumed that any discussion of gameplay and balance, including this one, applies to ranked games. Obviously, these issues are irrelevant to other modes since other modes are simply "anything goes" with no driving motivation in them other than casual fun.

NagirahFeb 6, 20152 votes

Wow, you really got the need to check my match history? Seriously, what does that have to do with anything?

But technically if someone wants to play Urgot for example, they're allowed to. This isn't like LCS where there's only like 20 champions to choose from, that's boring as hell. The reason I play ARAMS so much, is because I don't have to deal with those freaking meta picks and Lee Sins every match... Nearly any champion can be viable if you just play them well. I must never wander into ranked because of this. "If you go mid, you must pick Zed or Rito will ban you, muh muh."

TAOxEaglexFeb 6, 20152 votes

This discussion is about competitive balance. You're allowed to play whatever you want. That's fine.

But don't "QQ I want to play champs I love I don't care about how good they are I just want to have fun" in a discussion about COMPETITIVE balance. There's a ton of "screw the meta I want to be different" players in this thread who are completely missing the point of the OP.

This thread is for the discussion of why Lux is imbalanced and cannot be competitively viable due to mana costs/stats/kit. (See "Gameplay and balance" forum name).

NagirahFeb 6, 20151 votes

She may have mana issues, but she's not unviable imo. I get what this thread is about but don't go around saying that you vomit over Lux mids, they lack common sense and you always dodge rankeds because of them. That's just retarded and it might cause me to steer away a bit away from this thread's meaning, because that attitude you got just pisses me off. She's not trash tier by any means and shouldn't be banned from rankeds.

Magma Lux MidFeb 7, 20152 votes

Snare is not "worse," each have their strengths. Morgana snares one target for up to 3 seconds. Lux can snare up to two targets, one for 2 seconds and the other for 1 seconds. 2 seconds is usually enough to pick someone off. Morgana's can be body-blocked by the tank, but keeps them in place longer.
Shields are completely different. Morgana can shield one target for up to 350 + .7 AP MAGIC damage. This will not save you from that Caitlyn that's got her ult on you. What it will do is save you from Thresh hook, flay, and possibly even his box. Lux can shield up to 5 people for up to 360 + .7 AP (minimum 180 + .35 AP) damage. This has saved me so many times from Zed ults.
Wave clear is worse early game, but by mid game (provided Lux isn't too far behind) Lux can clear just as well or better.
Mana regen is the same, actually. Also: Lux has more range, in auto attacks and most of her spells.
Ults have different uses. I have stolen several dragons with Lux ult, as well as picking off fleeing targets, revenge kills, getting assists from half a lane away, and clearing waves to save towers. Morg ult can slow and stun targets, but can be negated by getting out of range or by killing her. It also puts her at risk as she has to get close to use it.

And Lux can actually be a really strong lane bully, to the point that I have easily beaten Zed, Fizz, Katarina, Talon, and usually go even with Akali when I see so many threads complaining about all those champions.

DJ Hatsune MikuFeb 7, 20151 votes

Meanwhile i plan on using almost Lux exclusively on my smurf and one of my main picks for s5. The regen nerf obviously means my catalyst rush build is extra good now! (Half-kidding here). But for the most part she's the same as always, immobile utility mage with lovely burst and cc with a godlike w.