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Lulu deserves a new offensive E

Ghiefelstein··4 votes·590 views

Lulu's offensive E is a weird ability. It is a targeted nuke, which makes no sense on a support and is problematic for a mage. Therefore the ability can never be strong. I think Lulu would be much healthier with a new offensive E that fits her better. To start the discussion, I would like to throw out a few weird ideas. "Let's use ALL the colors!"

Teamfighting E: Pix follows target enemy unit for X seconds, increasing allied champions’ damage to the target by Y%. Lulu should be at her strongest when helping high damage allies, no matter which lane she started in. This lowers her damage in lane in favor of teamfight potential. I think it would be a great fit for her character.

Playmaking E: Pix shows target enemy the wonders of the Glade, reducing their sight radius to Z for [some duration]. Trades damage for playmaking potential. Lulu could use a creative ability to set up plays for her teammates, like ganks or baits. She even has the right quote already: "You see more with your eyes closed".

Running E: Pix marks target enemy. Allied champions gain increased movement speed when moving towards the target. Lulu is already a great pick if your team needs a speed boost with whimsy. Why not emphasize that unique strength? This makes her even better at supporting initiation and chasing fleeing enemies.

What do you think? Would Lulu be healthier with a reworked offensive E? What effects fit her character the best? How does this affect the balance between support and solo Lulu? I am looking forward to your reactions.

"The best path between two points is upside-down, between, then inside-out and round again." --- Lulu

4 Comments

GnomeDigest3 votes

Riot is basically in a no win situation when it comes to Lulu. She was released as a support right around the time Riot was telling us we would only a get 2 support champs released a year at most. This was when champs were still getting released at a high frequency.

So their initial vision was clearly that she was first and foremost a support. Barring some of the early solo lane stuff like ad lulu, Riot balanced her as a support and she was played mostly that way for a long time.

When she started being used mid lane a ton Riot stopped knowing what to do. They have yet to balance her properly to be both a solo laner and a support. And because they have killed so many supports abilities to take a solo lane much to the annoyance of their players it seems with lulu they finally decided to try to preserve both roles, but it has consistently been at the expense of support lulu. Given that she was released primarily as a support I find this approach completely unacceptable.

She was my favorite support and Riot has consistently nerfed her in favor of keeping solo lane lulu viable. I realize Riot will never please everyone but Lulu was released as a SUPPORT and that role should take presedence.

Taking the damage out of her E in favor of more utility could be a way to buff support lulu without making her toxic to play against in a solo lane. Regardless, it's total BS that support Lulu remains so weak because of her solo lane expeditions. Support players get the least champion variety and releases of any role so it's extra frustrating to deal with what has happened to Lulu.

However Riot doesn't seem to care at all so I can't say I expect this situation to get better anytime soon.

Crez Rezzington1 votes

Interesting post! Until DJ Sona is released Lulu is my favvvvvvv support.

I think it is quite powerful already. The fact that this is her second ability that can cast on Ally or Enemy is quite powerful. I also think it is important to ask, was lulu ever meant for top/mid? I would be interested in hearing if Riot's intentions with the dmg was more like Sona, where "meant to be offensive support, not carry". Keeping in mind when she was released and people were running the AD Lulu.

Now to the matter at hand, the dmg is scaled at +40% ap. A decent scaling considering Q is at +%50. What does it do currently?

On Enemy:

  1. Dmg to enemy
  2. Gives sight of Enemy
  3. Puts Pix on enemy as a point to newly position your Q, so effectively repositioning a slow

On Ally:

  1. Shield (note the ap scale is +60% !)
  2. Gives extra dmg from Pix allowing you to effectively double buff an ally on a single ability and move elsewhere
  3. Again, repositions your Q for slow.

For one ability to do all of that is quite powerful. Although I really like the idea of minimizing vision, I think this utility on a single move is more than enough.

In my opinion, the idea that it is a "nuke" ability, does not give justice to the effects. Sona's Q and passive is a "nuke" ability too?

Ghiefelstein1 votes

Thanks for the response! I would love to hear Riot's vision for Lulu as well, but they have been silent on the matter for a long time.

You are right that E already offers some interesting decisions on paper. However, I find myself almost always using E for the shield as Lulu support. The shield has better base values, better AP scaling and a longer duration. The only time I use offensive E is for the very situational reveal or if none of my teammates is under attack (in lane, chasing). In my opinion E could use more meaningful decision making.

Do you use offensive E often as Lulu support? Is the choice between offensive/defensive a meaningful one or something you never have to think about?

Crez Rezzington1 votes

In team fights, you're right, it's situational. Yes, in the beginning and middle of a team fight why wouldn't you shield your ADC for the atk buff and shield. Toward the end at clean up and poke, you should be using it offensively. It is a fairly short cool down, and if you have the mana pool/regen for it, you can use it pretty offensively in lane and poke/chase. A super important role for supports in team fights is keeping vision on all enemies, lulu can do this without having to stay ahead and ward.

If you took out the dmg/offense of E, I would be pretty upset. Even janna/taric have dmg on two ability that are used as utility as well.

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