[11.1] Basic Lux Support Guide

OVERVIEW

Lux is a burst/artillery mage hybrid with strong poke potential in the early game, and strong AP scalings to burst targets in the late game. As a Support, Lux brings to the table exceptional harass and kill potential in lane, alongside very effective hard CC and a surprisingly powerful team shield.

Overview: Pros/Cons

PROS

+ Good AOE Damage Capable of Injuring Whole Teams
+ Strong 2-Second 2-Man Root
+ Very Good Shield Capable of Shielding a Whole Team
+ Lots of Range on all her Abilities
+ Super Long Range Ult, able to spread a lot of damage or finish off targets
+ Noob Friendly & Fun to Play

Lux is fun and easy. Her kit has a bit of everything and also allows her to build in a flexible manner. Compared to most supports, you will likely have a fairly volatile/aggressive lane and, when ahead, you are definitely effective. Your good range also enables you to live in situations others might not be able to and you can support allies in a fight from a safe distance away. Overall, she's usually a champion you can afford to play very safe with and still be strong.

CONS

- Very Squishy, dying to practically everything
- Very Immobile, with no dashes
- Everything's a Skillshot that is (Somewhat) Easily Dodged
- You Will be Flamed for playing Poorly
- Becomes worse vs. better players able to react to you better

Lux is a pretty typical mage in the sense that she's immobile and dies quickly. Missing her root will leave her nearly defenseless against most assassins. Her entire kit being a skillshot also means you must aim everything which, sadly, becomes harder and harder the better the players. Lux kinda smacks people in gold/plat and below but, in higher ranks, her weaknesses become very obvious. It's also difficult to justify Lux over some champions. Building full damage on a champion like or can usually see more consistency than .

Overview: Summoners

	Flash: Nearly all champions need Flash as it is the most flexible summoner spell in the game. Lux especially needs this since she has no unique form of mobility.
	Exhaust: A safer pick that scales well into the game. Ideal against burst or a particularly fed opponent, alongside having a slow to help setup kills.
	Ignite: A summoner spell best used for lanes you believe you are going to win as it allows you to finish off opponents after an all-in.
	Barrier: The Greedy pick; usually worse than Exhaust in most situations but can be helpful if you need to live. In general, however, you don't want to be in situations where you need to use Barrier regardless.

RUNES

There are many options for what Lux can bring for runes. After a bunch of testing with , , , , , and (all of which can be used), here's what I consider the best for Lux.

Runes: Poke

SORCERY

We take the tree because it gives the best options for Lux to poke the enemy as much as possible during the laning phase.
is a great rune for additional damage. Hitting enemies with your or usually guarantees comet to hit since it roots/slows the enemy respectively. The amount of damage provides throughout the game is pretty great, and is vastly superior to the amount of damage will do, especially considering how Summon Aery's shield scaling is also not particularly impressive, though it is still an option. Overall, a good rune that compounds Lux's potent poking capabilities and long range.

Depending on how often you like to rapid-fire your abilities, you may end up with mana problems in lane. effectively alleviates that, providing you permanent mana and, once fully stacked, mana regen. Considering the fact you are trying to poke the enemy almost constantly, Manaflow Band is pretty much necessary to prevent you from running out of mana.

is ideal for essentially free CDR and, on occasion, free AP if you overcap it. For most scenarios, it is the most flexible rune you can bring. is pretty good too since Lux is either at full HP, or dead. Usually when you are trying to position for your ult, you'll be at full health anyway, and you are very good at shooting at people from far away. That being said, I always bring since movement speed is necessary for positioning and Lux has plenty of movement speed boosting items she can buy, yet people hate celerity so I don't advertise it.

Usually I take over anyday since, in almost every game, the amount of damage Gathering Storm will be providing is vastly superior. That being said, is much better early during the laning phase as we attempt to make the enemy laners' lives as difficult as possible so, for an early poke-focused Lux composition, is superior.

is, in general, the best choice for most situations since it gives you 300 free gold in the form of with +10 Movement Speed over normal boots, very useful. It admittedly pairs badly with early game roaming boots like but, in general, Lux wants all the additional money and movement she can get.
is also great in lane as it serves as extra potions that also increase your mana. They make it much safer for you to trade early and get strong poke off without taking so much damage, you'd be in danger of death.

We need as much AP as possible, so adaptive force shards are ideal though a CDR shard isn't a terrible choice if you can't reach 40% for some reason. Armor is also ideal due to its relevance against ADCs though, against heavy AP poke, MR is better.

Runes: Burst

DOMINATION

We take the tree because it gives the best options for Lux to dish out the most damage as fast as possible. The burst this tree provides is ideal for Lux's role as a burst artillery mage.
Now I used to bring but, after some more testing, I strongly believe is a better choice. First of all, Electrocute is stronger early, and is independent on how well you do in lane. This means doing poorly in lane doesn't immediately screw over its damage potential later. Second of all, it allows you to take short trades in lane without coming out with a health disadvantage whereas requires a certain health threshold before activating, alongside having a very long cooldown. And finally, the damage does is still perfectly sufficient to eliminate squishies late game with your full combo.

triggers extra true damage on attacks after you CC a target which is perfect for Lux's full combo including . The damage it adds is easily >1000 over the course of a game. is okay for laning, but becomes pretty useless after laning phase. The healing it provides is pretty pathetic overall and does not benefit Lux since she's already so squishy.

is just an amazing rune, especially for a support. Vision is crucial and it gives the SAME AP as while extending the duration of your wards. is a fine choice if the enemy wards predictably or if you decide to build like on Lux for some reason.... but otherwise it's too difficult to stack in your standard solo-queue game.

Most runes here are ok, but is the best. In order to reach fights, escape enemies chasing you, roam, place wards deep into the enemy jungle, and position for your ultimate, is easily the best. You won't be able to do anything if you don't have the movement speed to get anywhere. is ok, but unnecessary since you are a still a support and you don't want to be in the line of fire, making it unlikely the healing will actually save you more than once every ten games. isn't great because it stacks multiplicatively and Lux's cooldown on her ult is already too short meaning you get little extra cooldown reduction. You also shouldn't just ult off cooldown.

alleviates a large amount of 's mana problems as she will typically find herself oom, even at later stages of the game. Overall, the best rune for Lux in the Precision tree.
adds just a bit of extra damage for your 100-0 combo and works well for who is very good at getting people low.

We need as much AP as possible, so adaptive force shards are ideal though a CDR shard isn't a terrible choice if you can't reach 40% for some reason. Armor is also ideal due to its relevance against ADCs though, against heavy AP poke, MR is better.

Runes: Survivability

RESOLVE

We take the tree because there are many runes that both enchance Lux's survivability and aid in the strength of her shields.
Lux is extremely squishy. That being said, the raw stats provides you are pretty great and trigger off any immobilizing CC, a.k.a. your root. It makes it 20x more likely for you to survive while running away and 30x safer for you to trade with the opponent and to proc after rooting the enemy. After dying to assassins, burst, and engagers over and over again as Lux, I can confidently say that is an amazing rune for Support Lux. It's also the most popular Lux rune among professional players. Guardian is also a totally okay choice, though usually it is a lot more niche.

A close call between and . Font of Life provides healing to teammates while attacking any target you CC which is especially useful in lane with your ADC. The healing is admittedly not that great but it can make a difference. makes you even tankier while shielded and also improves your trades, allowing you to procc and at the same time while also taking minimal damage. They're both alright.

Another close call between and . Conditioning is strong because we build items such as , , and potentially , but it really only matters for later in the game and against sustained damage. is an excellent anti-burst option that is super relevant in lane while being less useful later on. It's usually the best choice for most scenarios.

is the easy choice here. It boost the power of your shields and heals which is important as a support. One of the main reasons we even take . is honestly a pretty good rune, but still worse than .

is simply amazing due to giving you a functional stopwatch. Stopwatch's uses are ridiculous, whether it be surviving an all-in, tower diving or being tower-dove, countering an assassin's ult, living an ignite, too many to count. It also builds into a eventually, making it even more powerful.
is also great in lane as it serves as extra potions that also increase your mana. They make it much safer for you to trade early and get strong poke off without taking so much damage, you'd be in danger of death.

We need as much AP as possible, so adaptive force shards are ideal though a CDR shard isn't a terrible choice if you can't reach 40% for some reason. Armor is also ideal due to its relevance against ADCs though, against heavy AP poke, MR is better.

ABILITIES

PASSIVE
ABILITY

Illumination (Passive): Lux's abilities mark whoever she hits with for six seconds. When she AAs or uses on marked targets, she does bonus magic damage. This enables actual combos for Lux since you are encouraged to weave AAs between your abilities.

Your ult procs this passive for additional damage as well, so typically you want to mark the target before ulting. Your lategame combo is Q->E->ULT all in quick succession. You don't wanna approach to AA late game because 1. You lose out on the root duration to guarantee you landing your ult and 2. Approaching later in the game will lead to your death.
You can view the importance of using Illumination here.

Q

Light Binding (Q): Lux throws out a sphere of light, rooting the first two enemies hit in a line. This means it can root two minions, a minion and an enemy champion, or two enemy champions depending on what two enemies it collides with first.

A very powerful ability as it can lock down two targets for you and your teammates to kill. In 90% of cases, you will grab it at level 1 as it is very good for invades. It's also the easiest spell to trigger your passive with since they literally cannot move after being hit.DON'T THROW IT OUT RANDOMLY AS YOU WILL NO LONGER HAVE ANY PRESSURE. In general, save it until you think you can land it, even if it is halfway through the fight.

W

Prismatic Barrier (W): Lux throws out her wand like a boomerang, shielding herself and teammates it passes through on the way out. Once it reaches its max range, it rebounds back to Lux, reshielding and stacking with any shields on teammates it passes through on the way in.

Your underrated ability. The power of this shield is genuinely incredible since it can shield everyone on your team. Use it while trading, while being attacked. Because it's a boomerang, you must position yourself to land both of them if you are aiming for allies. It is high priority for upgrades if you are building support, and low priority if you are building damage. It scales off AP so building damage will still make it strong. If you can't reach the enemy, throw your shield to your ally instead. It'll help him in the fight and give you an assist or to stack Dark Seal.

E

Lucent Singularity (E): Lux sends out a circle of light with a large range, slowing anyone within. The circle automatically detonates after five seconds or after Lux recasts the ability, doing damage to anyone within. It also grants vision.

It's uses are:

When using it in your full combo do NOT detonate it immediately but instead AA then detonate to trigger twice after . The enemy will priortize getting out of the circle rather than trading with you and the slow from the circle allows you to land an AA even if runs out. You can also detonate the shield while your auto attack is in flight and it will still trigger your meaning you can throw out your , auto attack, and then detonate/recast.
While using it to escape, it is usually better to throw it directly at your feet rather than inbetween you and the enemy as it discourages champions with dashes.

R

Final Spark (R): After a 1 second cast time, Lux fires a giant laser with massive range in a direction, dealing damage and triggering .

A beautiful ability with a short cooldown. Perfect for finishing off or adding a lot of damage from far away. However, the priority is killing fleeing enemies > random damage. Random damage does not guarantee a kill. Killing a fleeing enemy does, assuming you don't miss. That being said if the enemies line up in a way in which you can hit a bunch of them at the same time or the additional damage will help a teammate win a duel, then obviously you should use it.
It's particularly useful when attempting to steal objectives. Remember to use it early as there is a 1-second cast time.

Abilities: Combos

Legend

- Basic Attack
- Her Passive (Illumination)
- Basic Attack Proccs Illumination
- Her Q (Light Binding)
- Her W (Prismatic Barrier)
- THROW Her E (Lucent Singularity)
- DETONATE Her E (Lucent Singularity)
- Her R (Final Spark)
- Final Spark Proccs Illumination

Your standard all-in combo is either Q->THROW E->AA->DETONATE E->AA without ult, and Q->THROW E->AA->DETONATE E->ULT->AA with your ult.

Standard Burst Combo Without Ult

-> -> -> ->

Standard Burst Combo With Ult

-> -> -> -> ->

Standard Burst Combo Without Illumination

-> -> /

ITEMIZATION

As a support, you typically have less money than the other players meaning you must min/max to ensure your effectiveness. You must also buy items that have excellent value and/or are fairly cheap. You can't go around buying the most expensive items since you're too poor. What about [insert item name]? You have six slots. If they don't give AP, CDR, Utility, or MS, don't buy it. Items like would be great on Lux, but they're hella expensive.

Itemization: Support

Athene's Grail

Ardent Censer

Redemption

gives you the ability to heal allies with your shield based off the damage you do and, luckily, Lux is very good at doing damage. The item is extremely cost efficient, the healing is very strong, it produces additional AP, provides Magic Resistance, CDR, and is cheap. An amazing item.
is also great since it gives AP, CDR, Movement Speed, and its passive triggers for every person you shield, meaning it can procc to a whole team.
is amazing since it can easily turn a teamfight or even a 1v1 from far away. The healing scales extra from Heal and Shield power which, luckily, we have quite a bit of.

Itemization: Damage

Athene's Grail

Luden's Echo

Oblivion Orb

Even in a Full AP build, is still an amazing item due to being cheap while providing essentially 50 AP, CDR, and a very good heal considering the damage you deal. At the end of the day, you are still the support and Lux has no way of healing teammates otherwise.
is usually a core item on most mages due to the burst the passive provides, while also giving 20% CDR, a lot of AP, and a lot of mana. An alternative choice is which is essentially the same item while having slightly less AP, being slightly cheaper, and having a different passive/active component.
The quickest summary ever on is that it's cheap while providing you flat magic penetration. When combined with , enemies who have built no MR will have effectively 0 magic resist, allowing your spells to essentially do true damage. You can also just as easily finish your orb into for the Grievious Wounds, or you can sit on it until you finish it as a last item.

CONCLUSION

Conclusion: Lux is a Burst/Artillery mage hybrid with good support options and a lot of damage. She is also a champion that is hated by many. If you consistently whiff your abilities, you will be flamed. Keep that in mind.

For the most part, Lux is a really straight-forward champion. All of her abilities are skill-shots that do obvious things. Her only "complexity" in her abilities is how to combo them with your passive . Because of this, she gets worse the better opponents you face.

Here's a lux video from my channel if you wanna watch...:

Lux is easy. Playing Lux well is hard(er).

tl;dr: don't die

If you want, you can check out my youtube channel here.

Thanks to This Guide by jhoijhoi for some code. Otherwise this guide would look ugly as hell.

[11.1] Basic Lux Support Guide

[11.1] Basic Lux Support Guide

Recommended Items

Runes: Arcane Comet (Poke)

Spells:

Exhaust

Flash

Flash

Ignite

Barrier

Flash

Items

Ability Order E>Q>W (Damage)

Illumination (PASSIVE)

Light Binding (Q)

Prismatic Barrier (W)

Lucent Singularity (E)

Final Spark (R)

Illumination (PASSIVE)

Light Binding (Q)

Prismatic Barrier (W)

Lucent Singularity (E)

Final Spark (R)

Threats & Synergies

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Lux

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Veigar