Lucian has always been a popular champion in League of Legends, both in normal as well as in competitive play. His “hit-and-run” kit makes it rewarding to play when well-executed, and his mobility is a unique characteristic that other marksmen do not have.
Throughout the years, though, Lucian has lost a lot of value, especially in terms of total damage output, compared to the newly released champions. This brought Riot Games to make a substantial change to his kit in Patch 11.17 when a new portion of his passive called “Vigilance” was added to his kit. Vigilance grants additional bonus damage on Lucian’s next two auto attacks when he is buffed or healed by an allied champion. The buff immediately brought Lucian back into the meta, with enchanter supports as his preferred duo partners.
Since then, the gunslinger has been a stable presence across all elos, having particular success at the top of the ladder, with a 51.78 percent win rate in Master and above, according to U.GG.
That being said, mastering Lucian is not an easy feat. He requires great mechanics and a strong understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. If you’re looking to play him to climb the solo queue ladder, we have got you covered.
Here are the best builds for Lucian in League.
Runes
There are two main rune combinations for Lucian, each having their own pros and cons:
First Strike Lucian
Inspiration
First Strike: this keystone rune is easy to proc with Lucian and it’s crucial to get ahead in gold of your enemies to be stronger during the mid game. Compared to most other ADCs, Lucian doesn’t scale as well in the late stages of the game so First Strike’s extra gold makes up for it. If used correctly, you will be having a great economy from the 10-minute mark since you can utilize your burst damage to gain more gold. You might lack some damage in the early game, but it will guarantee better items as the game prolongs.
Magical Footwear: this is the standard rune that most ADCs run. The 300 gold saved can be used to rush the Mythic item sooner and the extra ten movement speed is a valuable stat for a mobile champion like Lucian.
Biscuit Delivery: the gunslinger tends to burn a lot of mana in the early game to make trades and push the wave. The biscuits help him quickly regenerate mana and they can also be used in clutch situations to gain some extra health that might save him from dying.
Cosmic Insight: there aren’t other runes that are nearly as effective as Cosmic Insight in this row of the Precision tree. Having the summoner spells’ cooldowns lowered is always great for marksmen, especially for Lucian who can also use it offensively to quickly chase down a target.
Precision
Presence of Mind: just like for Biscuit Delivery, this rune grants additional mana to Lucian since he doesn’t get any from his current build. The mana restored upon takedowns allows him to keep using his abilities and maintain his damage output constant in a skirmish or teamfight.
Legend: Bloodline: Lucian’s build doesn’t have lifesteal included, so Legend: Bloodline grants him some extra sustain that might become handy in the later stages of the game.
Press the Attack Lucian
Precision
Press the Attack: compared to First Strike, Press the Attack gives Lucian more skirmishing potential in the early game. The rune synergizes well with the ADC’s passive Lightslinger and it works best in extended trades.
Presence of Mind: see above.
Legend: Bloodline: see above.
Coup de Grace: the extra eight percent damage to targets below 40 percent health is helpful for Lucian to quickly burst down a target. Go for this against rune if there are a lot of squishy targets on the enemy team.
Inspiration
Magical Footwear: see above.
Cosmic Insight: see above.
Bonuses: +10 percent attack speed, +9 adaptive force, +6 armor
Items
The starting items for Lucian are fairly straightforward: Doran’s Blade is the most common start and it grants attack damage, health, and a little bit of sustain. In other words, you get everything you would need in one item.
If you’re looking to go for an aggressive start, you can also consider buying a Long Sword and Refillable Potion. This is a higher-risk, higher-reward strategy since it allows you to get your first core item earlier, but it gives you less trading ability in the first few minutes of the lane. Losing the extra health and the sustain makes you also more vulnerable so it’s crucial to not mess up during the laning phase.
On your first recall, look to get the Noonquiver since it greatly increases your trading ability, as well as the ability to push waves thanks to the item’s passive. Try to always recall once you have the gold, otherwise, your recalls will not be as efficient and it might delay your Mythic Item purchase.
There’s only one possible Mythic Item for Lucian and that’s Galeforce. The item’s passive can be used both offensively and defensively, further enhancing Lucian’s innate mobility.
The item can also be used in combo with his own dash on his E to quickly reposition twice within a matter of tenths of seconds. After buying Galeforce, close your tier two boots with Berserkers’ Greaves, and proceed to rush your second core item, The Collector.
While it’s not used a lot by other ADCs, it’s the best second item for Lucian as it matches with his own spike in the mid game we mentioned earlier. The lethality allows him to quickly pierce through the squishy targets and the execute passive is just the icing on the cake.
For your fourth and fifth items, you have two possible choices and the order of purchase will depend on the game state. If you’re well ahead and are snowballing hard, get the Infinity Edge to maximize your damage output since you will already have the 60 percent critical strike chance. If you’re struggling to walk into auto-attack range since enemies can take you down, buy Rapidfire Cannon since it costs 900 gold less and it allows you to poke from a safer position.
To round off the build, there are four possible items that can be bought, two damage-oriented choices and two defensive items. Lord Dominik’s Regard and Serylda’s Grudge amplify your total damage thanks to the armor penetration that both come with. LDR is better against tanks while Serylda is overall better if you need the passive’s slow to kite your opponents.
If you’re getting burst down and need some defensive stats, Guardian Angel is the go-to item thanks to its revive passive. Against a lot of magic damage, however, Maw of Malmortius will be more effective.
Below you can find a typical full Lucian build:
