Lux Rework to Enhance Identity

Let me just start off by saying that I do not play Lux, so my suggestions are only from a theory perspective. I think some of my suggestions could both strengthen Lux's identity while lowering some of the frustration of her inherent kit design. Thoughts and feedback welcome.

TL;DR at the bottom.

Lux has thus far been defined by Riot as a "burst mage (hybrid artillery)". Looking at Lux and how she is played, I won't disagree that that is a good definition thus far. However, I do think that the archetype of artillery burst mage has very unhealthy elements to it, namely when the champion has what I would like to call "lucky" pick potential. With this, I am referring to Lux's Q and the eventuality of it hitting someone of value. I have seen many times where a Lux lands a fairly lucky Q (even after missing several) and proceeds to simply delete the champion from a respectable distance. Contrast Morgana's kit with that of Lux's and notice that when Morgana lands a snare, she cannot safely 100-0 the picked champion from a safe distance. I find Morgana to be much healthier in terms of design. I would also like to point out the similarities between Lux and Xerath, whom I believe have fairly similar kits. When Xerath lands a stun, he takes time to ramp his Q and R and cannot 100-0 someone instantaneously, which I still believe to be a healthier design. This leaves Lux somewhere in the middle of these two as simply more bursty with comparable pick potential and range, something which I believe leaves her with a poor identity overall.

So what do I want to do with her? I would like to start by revisiting her announcement days back when she had an element of stealth in her kit. Now, I don't want people jumping to conclusions and thinking that I want her to grant team stealth; rather, I would like to look at Lux's lore for inspiration. It does not say in here that Lux was a laser shooting witch. Instead, Lux was a Demacian infiltrator who utilized her powers of invisibility to go behind enemy lines. "As Lux matured, it became clear that she was extraordinarily gifted. She could play tricks that made people believe they had seen things that did not actually exist. She could also hide in plain sight... Realizing her unique skills, the Demacian military recruited and trained her in covert operations." Overall, I want Lux to retain some of her burstiness and range, but not all of it. I would like to emphasize her auto-weaving potential and make her kit unique through the addition of stealth-pick potential (as unhealthy as THAT sounds). Bear with me and please make helpful suggestions if you can think of any.

Let's start with Lux's passive. . . . Illumination Lux's offensive abilities mark all affected enemies with light energy for 6 seconds. Her basic attacks consume the mark, dealing 20 - 190 (based on level) (+ 20% AP) magic damage. -->

Lux's offensive abilities mark all affected enemies with light energy for 4 seconds. Her basic attacks consume the mark, dealing 20 - 190 (based on level) (+ 20% AP) magic damage to nearby enemies and granting Lux's next basic attack 100% bonus attack speed. Final Spark also consumes the mark, but only deals additional damage to those marked and does not spread.

This change will set Lux up for being able to more quickly distribute her passive damage among multiple (or the same if she repeatedly marks them) targets. More importantly, this will be the focal point of Lux's transformation from artillery-range burst to artillery-range spells and closer-range burst/aoe. Next up, we will touch on Lux's Q. . . . Light Binding RANGE: 1175 --> 975 SPEED: 1200 -->1250 COST: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 MANA COOLDOWN: 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 ACTIVE: Lux releases a sphere of light in a line that deals magic damage to the first two enemies hit and roots them for 2 seconds. MAGIC DAMAGE: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+ 70% AP) --> 50 / 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 (+ 60% AP)

For this, I hit Lux's Q range pretty hard. In order for Lux to have stealth options, her ability to make picks from afar needs to go. This is something that could always be looked at again, but for now I would definitely suggest taking this ability down a notch.

On to the big W changes. Well, they're not actually that big. Just invisibility. . . . Prismatic Barrier RANGE: 1075 SPEED: 1400 COST: 60 MANA --> 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 -> 14

ACTIVE: Lux shields herself and throws out her wand in a line, shielding allied champions in its path for 3 seconds. Lux's wand then returns to her, stacking the shield to all allied champions it passes through and herself. -->

ACTIVE: Lux cloaks herself and throws out her wand in a line, shielding herself and allied champions in its path for 3 seconds. Lux's wand then returns to her, breaking her stealth after 1 second and stacking the shield to all allied champions it passes through and herself. 「 SHIELD STRENGTH: 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 (+ 20% AP) 」 「 TOTAL SHIELD STRENGTH: 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 / 220 (+ 40% AP) 」 Basic attacks against Illuminated champions reduce the cooldown of Prismatic Barrier by 1 second.

Okay, so this is probably a massive, OP change. However, let me point out a few things:

1. You can still see her wand, so you will always have a decent enough idea of where she is.
2. This grants her massive incentive to trigger her passive many times so that she can shield her team and avoid personal harm.
3. This adds an element of decision making, because like Ahri, throwing the wand in the opposite direction will grant her maximum stealth duration at the cost of potentially shielding more team mates.
4. The stealth wouldn't be amazingly long, thus making picks may not be tremendously easier for her. However, flash plays could be super cool.

On to another sizable change up on her E: epilepsy. . . . Lucent Singularity RANGE: 1100 / 350 SPEED: 1300 COST: 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130 MANA --> 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 MANA COOLDOWN: 10

ACTIVE: Lux sends an anomaly of twisted light to the target area, slowing nearby enemies and granting sight of the area around it for up to 5 seconds. SLOW: 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36% At the end of the duration or if Lucent Singularity is activated again, the singularity detonates, dealing magic damage to all enemies in the area. MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+ 60% AP) -->

At the end of the duration or if Lucent Singularity is activated again, the singularity detonates once, then again every second for 2 seconds, dealing magic damage to all enemies in the area up to 3 times. While detonating, the Singularity does not slow. MAGIC DAMAGE PER DETONATION: 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 (+ 20% AP) MAXIMUM MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+ 60% AP)

This change does a couple of things. First, it takes some of the bite out of Lux's ability to immediately detonate her E for easy damage. This should feel better for those who knew Lux before she could immediately detonate. However, this change could benefit Lux tremendously regarding her passive. With this change, Lux could potentially get 3 enhanced auto attacks in against the same target for the price of one spell. The timing on this spell could definitely be up for debate, but for all intents and purposes the spell should still function. Dropping the mana cost early seemed like a good idea considering the spell's overall loss of immediate damage, but landing a QE should still have the same feel.

Now for a slight tweak of the ult. . . .

Final Spark RANGE: 3340 COST: 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 80 / 65 / 50

ACTIVE: After gathering energy for 0.5 seconds, Lux fires a giant laser in a line that deals magic damage to all enemies hit and briefly reveals them and the surrounding area. MAGIC DAMAGE: 300 / 400 / 500 (+ 75% AP) --> 280 / 360 / 440 (+ 75% AP)

NEW: Hitbox indicators added to appropriately mark where the laser will hit. For clarity. That should just help round out Lux's ability to kill from too far away. With the range reduction on the Q however, the damage on this may not even need to change. Just the hitbox clarity.

TL;DR Passive- deals aoe and grants attack speed when proc'ed Q- shorter range W- stealths self while wand is in the air, refreshes with passive triggers E- pulses 3 times R- hit box indicators