So what have we lowly NA/EU peons been doing incorrectly? Apparently,
- We suck(ed) at using his passive correctly; and
- We didn't build Trinity Force (often enough).
Lucian's Passive
After using one of Lucian's abilities, his next auto attack within 6 seconds will strike twice. The second shot deals 50% of Lucian's AD, but fully applies on-hit effects. Minions and monsters take full damage from the second shot. The second shot can critically strike. If the target is killed before the second shot can go off, the second shot will automatically shoot at something else.This basically sums up both of the points above in one. Since Trinity Force synergizes so well with this passive, it basically makes him Corki v2.0 when it comes to trading hits in a burst exchange.
If you're having trouble using it correctly, just think of it as #RivenMechanics. Auto between every spell and you're off to a good start.
What Else?
Lucian also has a couple other things going for him, including his extraordinarily long range W for poke and waveclearing ability. Although you'll want to max Q first in lane, by the time teamfighting starts his W will be leveled up plenty to do a decent chunk of damage.
This means that he's ideal in a poke composition, and also has the ability to synergize well with burst damage supports like Leona as well.
Trinity Force vs Bloodthirster
In America, we prefer the items with large, obvious gains in damage, A.K.A. The Bloodthirster. While I can't say that this doesn't work, (because it definitely DOES work), Trinity Force has a much stronger synergy with his kit. If you're having some trouble with getting autos in between each of his skills, bloodthirster will be a stronger first item since you won't be maximizing the sheen procs from his spells.
That being said, getting both of them as your first two items is a safe bet, but I strongly advise AGAINST getting blade of the ruined king. It simply isn't that good an early item for him.
Why didn't we notice him before?
Ahh...the million dollar question. Are we just sheep following the Korean metagame? Of course there were pros playing Lucian in NA for the same amount of time as they've been playing him in Korea, but it was mostly for the fun factor, not that anybody actually thought he was stronger than other AD champions.
I'd say it's half because of the mechanical skill necessary to maximize the usage of his passive, and half because...JINX WAS BROKEN.
Simply put, Jinx was not only a flashier AD carry, but she was (kind of still is) overpowered. Who wants to dual-wield guns when you have dual-wield rockets?
Regardless, it seems like Lucian is here to stay!
I can be cool too...
Any Lucian players have anything to add? Still think he's a bad champion? Comment below!
Meh, I've been using him since he came out and totally obliterated people without much effort. The thing is many people considered Lucian subpar because they sticked with the old and stupid "rush BotRK meta" which was retardedly standard on every single ADC for some time, and ofc they didnt do shit with him with enough reason because BotRK is an item you build for 2 reasons only:
ReplyDelete1- If enemy team is full of tanky champions
2- You're Vayne, Varus or Tristana. Ruined King synergizes so well with these 3 because of their mechanics, but not so well with the rest of carries since it gives little to no AD and a passive that's only reliable against tanky comps like I said. With most ADCs you'll want to get raw AD, AS and Crit
To succeed with Lucian you must abuse passive if you want to have good results both in lane phase and mid to late game. He is also an extremely positioning reliant champion like Draven, so if you're not good at this, you will need to work on it
That being said, I still consider him a somewhat unreliable champion due to the poor early phase he has. Maybe it's just me, but I always have a hard time last hitting and trading in lane, and I feel like I don't do enough damage even with the core build. Maybe it's his animation, or the sounds, or the fact that outside Q, the rest of his skillset is pretty lackluster. I dunno, he's a really fun champion to play.
Thanks for the in-depth observations Greg, I'm not a Lucian main myself, so good to hear some in-sight from someone who plays him a lot.
ReplyDeleteI main ADC and I've played Lucian a lot, and he is amazingly strong. Really, the only adcs that can lane safely against him are Graves and maybe Draven. Draven has a nice trade with his Q (depending on situation) and Grave's passive alows him to withstand himself against Lucian's incredibly strong laning phase.
ReplyDeletePersonally, The Bloodthirster is a stronger choice because of how much Lucian benefits from AD in the early game. Trinity force is weak early because of Bloodthirster's ability to have increased amounts of AD which out-does phage and since sheen doesn't synergize that well with Lucian's autos (compared to Bloodthirster's AD).
While you do want to abuse Lucian's passive, it's over-whelmingly easy to run oom in the early game. Only abuse his passives when you know you can kill. The reason why Lucian is so good is because his escape removes all slows, his ult has incredible range and wave clear, his passive allows domination in the early game, and his all in capability (similar to that of corki's) is extremely devastating, ESPECIALLY if you have a support that has a stun.
You didn't mention the very important fact that he is about the only ADC that can withstand nasus wither no problem. (his dash removes the atk speed debuff as well)
ReplyDeletewhy not both triforce and bloodthirster?
ReplyDeleteLol that last part...my summoner name is Here2Stay XD
ReplyDeleteI think it's because of his skill cap. Passive can be a pro or a con, also his ult. If people think they can obliterate whole teams with his ult, think again. You need the full combo to get only about 2/3 of the other ADC's hp. But it's great for unexpected burst, chasing, running, etc.
ReplyDelete"no one uses his ult except for disengaging" really? in a teamfight a full load of my ult did >2000 dmg on their tank in 3 secs sooo yeah that's kinda a lot more than i would've done with autos
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent point as well!
ReplyDeleteHis early game is good if you abuse passive yes, but you can't perma cast skills because Lucian's mana pool is low and his abilities are way too costly meaning that after 2 or 3 Qs and then W or E you will get drained pretty fast, and what especially sucks big time about Lucian is his AA, he can't even decently last hit minions (especially for me that I'm not very used to pick Butcher in my Offense masteries).
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion, only use your skills when you have a clear shot, and do your fancy combos if your support is engaging, if not, just keep farming and rush your BT to help those AA deal more damage.
Do you also main Lucian? That would be epic.
ReplyDeleteI bought him the day he came out, and started to try him out in ranked, but then I gave up on him for a little bit for unknown reasons (maybe cause I liked Caitlyn more). But when I started to play him again a month or so later, people would always be like, "Lucian? Really? He sucks," or something of the sort. It's always funny when people underestimate you and don't realize how strong you can be if you can trade with them at level 3. Once you get all three skills, it's pretty much a win in your lane—unless their jungler camps you (but that doesn't seem to happen because he's UP, remember?).
ReplyDeleteBasically, he was never UP to me, and when I mained him in S3 (I still do in S4), I had roughly a 65% - 70% win rate with him.
For ease of use, Ezreal. Otherwise, whomever has the easiest time landing autos after abilities.
ReplyDeleteAny time I've played Lucian ADC, my duo partner would recommend I rush BT and Black Cleaver because his passive gives more AAs which make BC stack easily, thus making you do more damage. How do you guys feel about this?
ReplyDelete