Some Lucian Buff Ideas (with explanations)

Hi everyone,

I've noticed recently how weak Lucian is right now, and I feel that his weaknesses need to be addressed, especially with the upcoming release of Kai'Sa and the strength of other ADCs right now. After seeing how Kog'Maw's win rate took a huge dive this patch and seeing that Riot is going to immediately address it with a buff in 8.4, I really think the same can be done for Lucian. He has a dismal win rate in all lanes, and has lost his identity as a low-range, lane-dominant ADC. I think that these changes can help Lucian return to a decent spot, while also staying in the bot lane.

**Passive - Lightslinger (unchanged): **

After using one of his abilities, Lucian's next auto attack within 3 seconds will strike twice. The second shot deals 50 / 55 / 60% of Lucian's AD based on level (increases at (1 / 7 / 13), but fully applies on-hit effects. Minions and monsters take full damage from the second shot. The second shot can critically strike for 75% bonus damage against champions and monsters.

Q - Piercing Light (old):

Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 Mana Range: 500 Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 seconds Active: Shoots a bolt of piercing light through an enemy unit, damaging enemies in a line for physical damage. Piercing Light's cast time decreases slightly as Lucian gains levels. Physical Damage: 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220 (+ 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100% bonus AD) Cast Time: 0.4 - 0.25 seconds (at levels 1-18)

Q - Piercing Light (New):

Cost: 50/55/60/70/85 Mana Range: 500 Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 seconds Active: Shoots a bolt of piercing light through an enemy unit, damaging enemies in a line for physical damage. Piercing Light's cast time decreases slightly as Lucian gains levels. Physical Damage: 90 / 120 / 150 / 185 / 220 (+ 55 / 65 / 75 / 85 / 95% bonus AD) (+0.6% damage per 1% Critical Chance) Cast Time: 0.4 - 0.25 seconds (at levels 1-18) Buff Explanations: I think that a particularly weak part of Lucian’s kit right now is his most important ability: his Q. I feel that Lucian players aren’t being rewarded enough for being able to successfully trade through minions in lane (Q bouncing), and what damage does go through is negligible. Furthermore, this doesn’t reflect Lucian’s identity as a low-range, lane-dominant ADC. To address this, I have increased the flat damage of his Q at earlier ranks, rewarding players that trade through minions and play an aggressive style in lane. I also slightly reduced the mana cost of the ability, as mana issues become an issue through consistent trading. While this will benefit Lucian in solo lanes as well, the second part of his Q will ensure he remains in the botlane. With critical strike chance scaling on his Q, Lucian players will be forced to build traditional bot-lane carry items, or miss out on damage on his Q. While mid laners will build crit at latter stages of the game, a traditional Essence Reaver, Zeal, and Infinity Edge build will be the most effective and efficient way to build Lucian, keeping him out of solo lanes.

W - Ardent Blaze (Old):

Cost: 50 Mana Range: 900 Cooldown: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 seconds Active: Fires a shot that explodes upon enemy contact or reaching the end of its path. The explosion deals magic damage and marks enemies for 6 seconds. When Lucian or his allies damage a marked target, Lucian gains Movement Speed for 1 second. Magic Damage: 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+90% Bonus AP) Bonus Movement Speed: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80%

W - Ardent Blaze (New):

Cost: 25 Mana Range: 900 Cooldown: 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 seconds Active: Fires a shot that explodes upon enemy contact or reaching the end of its path. The explosion deals magic damage and marks enemies for 6 seconds. When Lucian damages a marked target, Lucian is granted movement speed and slow resistance for 1 seconds. Magic Damage: 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+90% Bonus AP) Bonus Movement Speed: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80% Bonus Slow Resistance: 25% Buff Explanations: I think we can all agree that Lucian’s W needs some love. OK, maybe A LOT of love. Apart from a passive reset, Lucian’s W has no real purpose. It’s animation is clunky and throws off combos, the bonus movespeed is useful but not that great, and it doesn’t deal damage. Well, these changes above will give Lucian players incentive to use their W, while also making it less punishing to use. The reduced mana costs helps out Lucian in the laning phase, and the slow resist allows Lucian to kite enemies easier. Basic changes, but ones that will help out Lucian nonetheless.

E - Relentless Pursuit (unchanged):

Cost: 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 / 0 Mana Range: 425 Cooldown: 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 seconds Active: Lucian Dashes a short distance. Relentless Pursuit’s cooldown is reduced by 1 second (2 against enemy champions) for each lightslinger shot landed. This ability is in a decent spot, so we’ll leave it for now.

R - The Culling (Old):

Cost: 100 Mana Range: 1200 Cooldown: 110 / 100 / 90 Active: Lucian moves freely while firing rapidly in a single direction for 3 seconds. His shots collide with the first enemy they nit and each does physical damage. The Culling does 400% damage to minions. Lucian may use E - Relentless Pursuit during the culling. Reactivate The Culling to cancel early. Physical Damage Per Shot: 20 / 35 / 50 (+20% total AD) (+10% Bonus AP) Shots Fired: 20 / 25 / 30

R - The Culling (New):

Cost: 100 Mana Range: 1200 Cooldown: 110 / 100 / 90 Active: Lucian moves freely while firing rapidly in a single direction for 3 seconds. His shots collide with the first enemy they hit and each does physical damage. The Culling does 400% damage to minions. Lucian may use E - Relentless Pursuit during the culling. Reactivate The Culling to cancel early. Physical Damage Per Shot: 20 / 35 / 50 (+30% total AD) (+0.1% damage per 1% Critical Chance) Shots Fired: 20 / 25 / 30 Buff Explanation: When using critical strike builds, Lucians ultimate is often underpowered in fights, and is relegated to waveclear duty. Buffing his ultimate in the same fashion as his Q will ensure the changes are most effective with a traditional AD carry build, while a slight increase in AD scaling will ensure each shot hurts.

Please let me know what you think of these buffs. Would they be too strong, too weak, or put Lucian back into a good spot? Thanks!

P.S. Thanks to r/LucianMains, Noburu7, and SparkStorm for some of these great ideas.