Is Lux even safe anymore in the current assassin meta?

darkdill·Apr 5, 2015·5 votes·2,068 views

Seems like all of Lux's supposed safety really has no meaning against all the Zeds, Katarinas, and other assassins that are rampant in the meta right now. She can't stay at long range because they'll just close on her too fast, and can't harass infinitely (or even for long periods) because her E's mana cost is too high.

That and her shield has that little delay before she gets it, requiring her to wait to the end of the cast animation. An assassin will have gutted her by then. Too aggravating.

17 Comments

Leti the YetiApr 5, 20156 votes

**#**130mana costs

no she aint safe, maybe if they gut the mana cost for that she might suddenly will be :O

KING OF MASKSApr 5, 20155 votes

If you ask me Lux is pretty much defunct right now. I love her to death, but I can't remember the last time I really had fun playing her.

Luckily, rito was kind enough to compensate by releasing Lux v2.0, more commonly known as Vel'Koz. Thanks rito!

darkdillApr 5, 20155 votes

With the added bonus of being an eyeball with tentacles. Oh, the hentai opportunities...

Rico NastyApr 5, 20153 votes

tbh no she's not. her mana costs are so damn high for how little she does, she has an escape but it's not reliable, she's SO squishy oh my god, and mages aren't really in the best spot rn.

darkdillApr 5, 20151 votes

Yeah, her escape is especially bad against blink assassins who can just dodge it.

Leti the YetiApr 5, 20151 votes

I ran in circles around lux once and dodged errything before deciding to kill her :l well.. it was in urf

MattAkhavanApr 5, 20152 votes

she is safe because she can farm from well out of zed or any assassins range plus flash.

darkdillApr 5, 20151 votes

Not as effectively as Xerath, Ziggs, or other mages. Her E's damage is the lowest of the long-range mages, and she rapidly mana burns if she tries to farm only with her E (which doesn't last-hit well in any case).

She might farm safely at long range with E, but she'll go poor.

MattAkhavanApr 5, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Not as effectively as Xerath, Ziggs, or other mages. Her E's damage is the lowest of the long-range mages, and she rapidly mana burns if she tries to farm only with her E (which doesn't last-hit well in any case).

She might farm safely at long range with E, but she'll go poor.

Try positioning your E to where it will hit either all6 minons or the 3 range minions. Let the e run all the way down until it pops on its own. this makes it so you can shoot another e out quicker to clean up the rest of the cs. The first 4 levels you shouldn't have any problems being near your melees or your ranged creeps to cs, by that time you have some mana regen after you back. this is why people rush CDR on lux. From here you should be able to kill minions with a few e's and once your 6 you can just ult and e waves and never take any damage.

and both xerath and ziggs run out of mana faster than lux, with the exception that xerath restores mana for autoing.

UPfreelyApr 5, 20151 votes

about as safe as veigar :|

Fried NoobApr 5, 20151 votes

Of course she is safe. Just spam laugh and as they go insane they will be hit easily by your expensive, slow skillshots and won't think to sidestep your ult.

KougaApr 5, 20151 votes

Tough question. She is 100% skill shot reliant, so it largely depends on how good both you and the enemy are. If you can predict your enemy movement - if you recognize when a Zed is going to Shadow-blink towards you or if you can just predict their movement patterns - then you will be much more reliable in landing your snare which is her primary means of safety.

Lux does trade early game safety for her late game, though. Like any glass mage, she needs her team to protect her, but the payoff is her insane late game scaling, range and AoE damage. A good frontline with a farmed up Lux can decimate teams, but if you don't have anyone peeling for you, then you'll be too busy trying to get away from the enemy to kill them. I would only recommend picking Lux if you have strong protection (Leona, Thresh) or really strong initiation (Malphite)

Lux, in my opinion, does do better when she engages rather than when she reacts. Try to land a Q rather than harass with E. Even without mobility, E is harder to harass with. While you will miss some Qs, if you land one, you can get a lot of damage off with Q>Passive>E>Passive

As for her shield, remember that it starts off giving her a shield, so you get the protection immediately. Then it refreshes when it returns. So the best way to use it is to cast it in the direction you are running. Cast it ahead of you, not behind you.

darkdillApr 5, 20151 votes

There's a big problem with trying to throw your Q constantly at a Zed: if you miss, he'll dive you while it's on cooldown.

KougaApr 5, 20151 votes

Miss less.

I mean that sounds stupid, but think about it - what are your options? You can either sit back and wait for Zed to kill you, or you can do something about it. Generally speaking action will trump reaction, meaning the person who engages has the benefit of initiation - they can freely start the fight, but you will have to see it, acknowledge it, and react to it, which will always take some amount of time. So they start off with the high ground.

The counter to this, though, is telegraphing; if you move in such a way that you tip your enemy off (for example by suddenly becoming aggressive before your jungler ganks) you can give your opponent the edge by allowing them to react to your engage before you actually do it.

Anyway the point is, you can either farm under your tower, or you can engage. Doesn't mean it'll always work, but beats the alternative.

Vicarious117Apr 5, 20151 votes

Well she's not supposed to be safe, she's a long range mage with insane amounts of damage potential from an incredibly long distance. If she was also a safe mage with a multitude of escapes or just one stupidly good escape that could get her away from even the likes of a Zed then she'd be the most broken thing in this game to date.

You can harass every single assassin out of lane early game if you're using your passive correctly, giving you the early advantage, and as long as you're not an idiot you will know that once they hit 6 you just have to be careful and to land all your skill shots and aa's if they try to dive you. And ofc don't forget to walk a bit into river so you can ult one of the other lanes for kills and assists, cause you can do that!

Not too mention the potential to level an entire team in a teamfight, not something an assassin can do.

Is she unsafe? Is she squishy? Is she harder to play then a faceroll assassin? Yes, yes, and yes, but again that's to compensate for her ridiculous damage output at such an extreme distance. That's called a trade off, welcome to balance.

KerzoohApr 5, 20151 votes

With the removal of DFG, lux is less likely to get bursted by AP champs. She is naturally going to get countered by some assasins and it does suck that majority of player favour assasin mids, but she is still safe.

Brand, is somewhat as immobile as lux, yet he has one of the higher winrates in diamond.

67chromeApr 5, 20151 votes

Is Lux even safe anymore in the current assassin meta?

Lux is pretty solid against assassins, at least for a mage.

I'd go with vs. other mages as more her issue.

Lux's root is really nasty vs. high-mobility champions, as you'll often silence key defensive and offensive skills. Lux's shield is also pretty handy in an all-or-nothing ham fest. Her root and shield against other mages? Not so much. Most mages rely on CC rather than mobility for survival, many have stuff that disables abilities, so if they get the drop on you you ain't shielding. With no reliance on mobility, you also aren't silencing key abilities on another mage with Lux.

If mages that do similar things to Lux like Xerath and Ziggs were notably weaker than Lux, Lux would likely be a top-tier mage.