Lucian is part of the old guard of champions released all the way back in 2003. Despite not being the strongest in the current meta he is still being played by a good fraction of players. To make the most out of Lucian, we will definitely want to go with the strongest build. For this reason, I have synthesized all the best items from EU and Korean challengers in one build.
Lucian Items
Essence Reaver
Lucian’s passive gives him a double basic attack after using each auto-attack, therefore, he is heavily incentivized to use abilities often. A high level of abilities depletes mana really quickly and can leave Lucian almost useless in the lane.
Thankfully, Essence Reaver is great for sustaining mana in the lane, as it gives mana after landing auto-attacks on enemies. It’s also aligned with other stats that Lucian needs, such as critical strike and damage.
Navori Flickerblade
Lucian is a champion that does not require a lot of attack speed, or any for that matter because the double-attack passive makes him generate enough damage per second. That is why we will be focusing on the damage/crit/penetration combination of the items.
In respect to Lucian’s needs, the Navori Flickerblade is one of the best items. It heavily reduces Lucian’s cooldowns, which allows him to cast more spells, which in turn allows him to proc more double basic attacks as well.
Infinity Edge
After getting all the Lucian-centric enhancements from previous items, it’s a good time to pick up an Infinity Edge. It’s one of the best straight-damage items for critical users. After obtaining it, you will notice a sharp increase in your damage, which will make winning fights much easier.
Blood Thirster
Blood Thirster is another great item for Lucian. If you followed the outlined build it will put you at 75% critical damage. This increase is pretty significant especially if we consider the critical damage increase granted by Infinity Edge. Additionally, the shielding that Blood Thirster provides at full HP is pretty great for lane sustain and trading.
Lord Dominik’s Regards (LDR)
LDR is a pretty significant item, especially when playing against armor-heavy opposition. It grants 45% armor penetration. It will also put you at 100% critical strike chance which makes the damage spike even greater.
Boots
The most common boots choice for Lucian is the Ionian boots of Lucidity. These align really well with our goal to increase ability haste.
Lucian Runes
- Press the Attack
- Presence of Mind
- Legend: Bloodline
- Coup de Grace
- Magical Footwear
- Cookie Delivery
Lucian Build Tips
As outlined before, we just want to focus on getting as much damage as possible, therefore we will not be building any attack-speed items. To make use of the damage, we will want to poke enemies with our Q and follow it up with a double-basic attack given by our passive. We will want to do the same with W and E when possible.
Final Thoughts
Lucian does not hold the strongest place in the meta currently, however, he still has a very interesting kit that makes playing him justifiable for a huge percentage of the AD carry population. To make him optimal, having a great build along with appropriate gameplay is essential. That’s why we should go with a heavy damage, crit, and penetration build. This will allow for maximum DPS, and will facilitate space for winning games!