LUX BUILD GUIDE: Utility Carry Lux [S4 Updates in Progress!]

Introduction

 This guide is meant to be a general list of options, with many ways to build her items and methods of playing. There is no one "correct" way to play a champion. You should use your brain and build items according to your opponents, play differently based on how they respond to your antics, etc. Following a cookie cutter build is a good way to get crushed by people who know how to counter what you're currently doing.
The way I play her is as a utility carry. I use my abilities to kill enemies and assist teammates in killing enemies. is not . You are not going to singlehandedly wipe out the enemy team...unless you're obscenely fed. In which case, good job. Instead, she can output good damage WHILE offering slows/snares/shields, aka utility. If you outright kill someone, great. If not, they're missing a good chunk of health and are crowd controlled. Your shield-protected top lane can now kill everyone and steal all the glor- er, your team can win.
To elaborate, the "utility carry" designation means that I play to support my team over killing people. If given a choice between saving a teammate and killing an enemy, I'll almost always save a teammate. You don't need something like Aegis or Twin Shadows to be a utility carry. The utility is in Lux's kit and playstyle.
With that said, she's not perfect. There are tradeoffs you make when you choose Lux over other people.

Pros

+ Excellent harasser
+ Utility in all of her abilities
+ Ultimate is on a low cooldown
+ Long ranged
+ Respectable damage
+ Best laugh in the game

Cons

- All of her abilities are skillshots, they can miss and you'll be useless.
- Probably not someone you want to play if you normally have a high ping
- Mana costs unforgiving until you get an item to help with mana
- Cooldowns relatively long
- Very squishy mage with no innate escape
- Junglers REALLY like ganking lanes with Lux in them.
- Won't 100-0 most targets unless fed
- Ultimate name tampered with, she still has nightmares about it

???

* Her movement quotes may inspire ridiculous amounts of positivity, team work, and good will.
* Teaches you about double rainbows.

Runes

 Hybrid Penetration marks penetrate a chunk of magic resist, allowing you to consistently do more damage. You also get armor penetration to make auto attack harass hurt more. Though Magic Penetration marks allow you to do more magic damage, you SHOULD be making good use of auto attack harassment early, which does physical. At the very least, you should be auto attacking to apply your passive. As such, I take hybrid pen over magic pen. I'd only really take magic pen if I can't afford hybrid pen in the first place.
Flat Armor seals are pretty much standard on just about everyone; they give enough armor to protect against basic threats such as minions(these seriously matter), their jungler and their mid laner on occasion, and turrets. Armor is an overall very useful stat and there isn't much else you can put here.
Flat & Scaling Magic Resist glyphs increase your magic resist to lower magic damage taken. I use three scaling and six flat glyphs, as I found that this works best for me. Six is a good buffer for the early game, and as the game goes on I gain additional MR for later on in the game. Feel free to take only one or the other, or mix them however you like.
Flat AP quints make your abilities do more damage. Pretty efficient and give you a relatively large amount of AP for the early game. As early game is when you do a lot of your harassment, boosting this potential damage is very significant, as every point of damage counts.

Masteries

Primary page

I take a 21/0/9 Mastery set on Lux, taking all of the Ability Power boosts available in the Offense tree, as well as some cooldown reduction and general damage increases. I take Double Edged-Sword since Lux is able to dish out damage without taking it, and every little bit counts. Dangerous Game is a nice safety net, like if there's a 2v2 in mid and both mid laners are low. Kill the other guy first, and maybe you can get away scot-free. In the utility tree I take mana regen and summoner spell cooldown reduction, since having Flash up more often is extremely vital on a squishy, relatively immobile mage. Feel free to switch 3 points in Meditation for Fleet of Foot, as both are quite good masteries.

Variant 

Pretty much the same as the last page, but you give up Dangerous Game and a point in CDR for Butcher and Feast. Lets you last hit a bit more easily and you get a bit more sustain. Which you use is honestly up to you and your playstyle. As always, feel free to switch Meditation for Fleet of Foot.

Some Attack Speed

The same as the primary page, but you take attack speed instead of cooldown reduction. I find that a bit more attack speed early on helps with last hitting quite a bit. You can also make a variant of the Variant page with attack speed instead of CDR.

Summoner Spells

 

Flash & Ignite

 Flash: To secure kills. To go over walls. To escape. To chase. To get in range for a clutch Final Spark. Use this both offensively and defensively. Use it to punish the other team's positioning errors, or as a Get out of Fail Free card. Since you have no innate mobility and you're pretty squishy, taking Flash is a must. Ignite, on the other hand, is used to mitigate healing received by enemy champions, be it from lifesteal, some abilities like or simply health potions. It also does a true damage-over-time effect, which makes it handy for securing kills on fleeing opponents. Overall it gives you increased kill potential in lane, and also throughout the rest of the game.

Flash & Barrier 

However, maybe you don't want increased kill potential. Maybe you're laning against a Zed or LeBlanc or some other assassin(s) and don't really WANT to become mush on the floor. In this case, you probably aren't going to get any kills, so why get something geared for kills? You're still going to take Flash, but maybe that's not enough. In this case, take Barrier. The shield from Barrier, though brief, can block quite a bit of damage and save your life. Using it to block an enemy's burst damage, or any damage at all, can turn the tide of a teamfight simply by keeping you alive a little longer. This is also a nice safety net for newer Lux players who have trouble positioning.

Flash & Teleport 

Think you lack kill potential, but the enemy also lacks kill potential on you? In that case, you might simply want to push your lane and roam elsewhere for kills and objectives. Teleport allows you to quickly roam the map and gank unwary foes. It's also particularly satisfying to Teleport and ult someone immediately afterwards. This doesn't have any direct combat application, since it's not going to save you (usually) and it won't directly kill the other guy, so be wary that your 1v1 ability isn't as high as it could be.

Flash & Cleanse

 Similar to taking Flash and Barrier, but instead of damage your issue is with CC. Laning against a Veigar and his can be quite risky, but being able to remove the stun and run away from him helps immensely. Also applies to certain junglers like Fiddlesticks and Sejuani. Generally, if you don't like the amount of crowd control on the other team, take Cleanse and you have to worry a tiny bit less. Be sure to actually use it.

Item Builds!

Unit Carry Lux

Lux is a relatively strong laner, who excels at whittling someone down to either force them out of lane, or kill them. Starting with a Doran's Ring will amplify your ability to both dish out and take harassment. You can also do it more frequently thanks to the additional mana restoration from this item. You should also purchase two health potions, since the enemy should definitely be harassing you back and you want to have some health sustain to account for that. The trinket you should start with is the Warding Totem, since you honestly won't have time to clear enemy wards with (you'll be too vulnerable anyway) and is just not useful early game. The ward might not last all that long, but any bit of gank prevention will help.

Sometimes, this might not be the ideal starting build for what you're laning against. Check the tabs on the left, and look at the build that fits you best.

The final build doesn't change all that much, but build progression will vary depending on what you start with. See each build's respective tab on the left for build progressions.

 Additional Ward Start

On the other hand, maybe the enemy jungler is an early ganker like . Since he's just a little bit extremely terrifying, you want to take measures to prevent him from murdering you. So, you should ward. Though you do get a free ward from your trinket, it doesn't last all that long and it only covers one side. Trinket ward one side brush and Stealth Ward the other, and you should have two common gank paths covered. You aren't 100% safe, but you're a lot safer than if you had no wards. Aside from that, you take a Faerie Charm that will soon become a , and quite a lot of sustain in the form of 6 total potions of both types. If the enemy jungler insists on ganking you despite the wards, just farm from a million miles away and use mana potions to sustain it. Not ideal but much better than dying horribly. Feel free to mix the types of potions you buy based on your play style. I like three of each, but others might want four mana potions while others still might want four health potions.

 Boots Start

 On the other hand, maybe you need to move quickly. Maybe you're laning against an Annie and you desperately need to be able to outrun her so as to avoid being stunned. In that case, you can start with boots. Though they don't offer direct offensive capability, being able to get into range to hit people, and quickly get out of the range of their retaliation is another valid method of laning. The additional movement speed can also help with outrunning any pesky junglers that want to gank you. You start with some potions since sustain is good and allows you to trade more, and you never know what can go wrong that can require you to regain some health. The mana potion(s) is just an option. You might want four health pots, two of both types or anything in between. The choice is yours.

Situational Items

Morellonomicon

 Situation: A lot of healing effects that need to be dealt with.
Morellonomicon provides a good amount of AP, as well as mana regen and it comes with a grievous wounds passive, for reducing the healing of those pesky AD Carries and their lifesteal, or certain other champions with profound healing effects like . It also gives a whopping 20% CDR, allowing you to easily reach the CDR cap when combined with an Athene's Unholy Grail or blue buff.

Liandry's Torment 

Situations: Enemy team is stacking a lot of health. You find yourself doing a lot of poke damage. Your team has the constant cc to make the burn damage even more profound. You want more magic penetration, some health, and a cool mask.
Liandry's Torment is an item designed to shred high health targets, while also making you slightly more durable and boosting your ability power. It also gives 15 magic penetration, which isn't some ridiculous number, but every little bit helps. Primarily for poke, this will greatly augment your poking ability and also your ability to damage high health targets.

Lich Bane 

Situations: You need more movement speed to kite effectively. You want more damage and a bit more mana. You need to destroy structures. You don't really need any of the above items.

For die-hard Lux players that really want to auto people in the face. Just like with your passive, you do not need to always get into auto attack range and use this. Getting into auto attack range has become more and more suicidal, but you should definitely safely use the passive on the ability on any enemy champion you can. Applying this is when another good portion of it comes in handy: It gives extra movespeed, to allow you to get in and get out quicker. It also gives a nice amount of AP, of course.

...I also get this against annoying people that actually dodge my skillshots to the point where I'm mad and want a targetted "ability". I'm human too.

And best of all, this works on structures! Need to backdoor or otherwise tear through turrets with ease? Buy this.

Guardian Angel

 Situation: Despite all of your precautions, you still get focused and blown up in fights.
So, it's lategame and you already have a Zhonya's Hourglass. Not even that is enough to save you.
If this is the case, just buy more defense! Guardian Angel provides plenty of armor and magic resistance, and if the raw stats fail you, you can revive once every few minutes. A last resort of sorts, since you won't actually have all that much health when you revive since you are an awfully squishy champion with a low health pool, but every bit of damage and shielding you can do counts.

Banshee's Veil 

Situation: There is one key ability you need to negate in order to do your job effectively.
In addition to providing a bit of health and mana(never bad things) it gives magic resist and a one-shot spell shield every now and then. I don't buy this often, but if there's a 800 AP running around spearing everyone, this should come in handy. Also useful against burst mages, as you can block an integral part of their burst, and take reduced damage from the rest. 

Mejai's Soulstealer 

Situation: You're snowballing.

Mejai's is a situational item that's meant for snowballing. I typically get it if I'm like 5/0 by 10 minutes or something obviously ahead, and can fit it into my build. If I'm confident in my ability to keep it stacked without dying, I might risk this purchase.
Don't buy this if...

• You're dying a lot

• You don't actually get kills/assists constantly

• Everyone focuses you(aka you die a lot)

• You get instagibbed(aka you die a lot)

• Everyone on the other team absolutely hates your face and will stop at nothing to...

Well, you get it.

tl;dr If you are getting constant kills/assists and not dying, go for it!

Note that this also stacks with assists; if you're 2/0/12 or whatever and the assists keep rolling in, it's perfectly fine to go for this. Be an all-powerful assist king/queen, I guess.

This item will also draw some negative attention, since someone on the other team is bound to notice the Lux running around stealing souls, and they may call for focus on you to deplete your stacks. As long as you can keep Mejai's at or above 8 stacks, it's quite gold efficient and worth the buy.

Mercury's Treads 

Situation: oh em gee CC.

These are my go-to choice against pesky or players. Sometimes against a good too. Reduce their obnoxiously long crowd controls, while reducing their damage and in the case of Veigar, dodge his . Otherwise I get them when the enemy team has tons of (preferably long ranged, like ) CC I really can't be bothered dealing with. If you think taking Cleanse won't be enough, buy these during the mid game.

Boots of Mobility 

Situation: Want to run around murdering people.
For tons of roaming capability. Sometimes I run movespeed quintessences and buy these, and zip around the map showing people the light. AKA killing them. You sacrifice magic penetration for these, however, so be sure to try to actually get something off of your additional movespeed, like ganks and objectives, or else you may as well be wasting them.

Skill Order