FOTM Report: Lucian Falling Out of Meta

Lucian Nerfs Or Meta Shift?
Some of you may have noticed I dropped Lucian out of God Tier on the solo queue tier list rather abruptly a few days after the initial update. I didn't put up an explanation right away, since I figured with a celebrated hero like Lucian deserves his own article.



Patch 9.4 featured a direct nerf to Lucian in the form of a mana cost increase on his Ardent Blaze [W] coupled with an overall damage decrease to the skill. On paper however, this doesn't seem like enough to seal the deal on Lucian's power, so what's really responsible?



Turns out there are a few factors at hand.

Lucian Nerfs Or Meta Shift?

Some of you may have noticed I dropped Lucian out of God Tier on the solo queue tier list rather abruptly a few days after the initial update. I didn't put up an explanation right away, since I figured with a celebrated hero like Lucian deserves his own article.

Patch 9.4 featured a direct nerf to Lucian in the form of a mana cost increase on his Ardent Blaze [W] coupled with an overall damage decrease to the skill. On paper however, this doesn't seem like enough to seal the deal on Lucian's power, so what's really responsible?

Turns out there are a few factors at hand.

1. Crit Items Rework

Patch 9.3's release featured a large number of reworks to critical hit items, including Infinity Edge. This resulted in a major boost to auto-attack heavy champions like Jinx and Caitlyn. Lucian players generally prefer a build that gives him more durability (i.e. Black Cleaver) since his short range means he needs to get up close and personal.

2. Farming Meta Shift

As a result of the powerful scaling the critical hit items provide, marksmen are now back on top as one of the most important roles in the game, capable of carrying all by themselves. This means that early game aggression is no longer as beneficial, and players prefer to farm up with champions like Jinx and Sivir. This reduces the chances of Lucian getting to utilize his powerful early game damage, thus dropping his snowball ability.

3. Weaker Scaling

New meta marksmen like Ezreal and Sivir scale incredibly well at six items, and have nearly risk-free damage scaling when it comes to poke and overall sustained damage. Lucian on the other hand, still needs to put himself deep in harm's way to maximize his damage. In a meta full of insanely powerful, long-range, Infinity Edge packing champions, he's not nearly as effective.

Conclusions

These three factors contribute to the overall decline in Lucian's power level. He can certainly still snowball if enemy laners are willing to fight you early or with some jungle assistance. However, in most games Lucian players will find themselves getting outscaled into the late game as a result of item changes and overall late-game oriented marksmen picks.

On the other hand, if we can find a new build for Lucian (Essence Reaver?!) that works well, he may very well come back into action.

Thoughts on Lucian? Comment below!