Lucian: A Surface Analysis

I'll be going through Lucian's abilities and give each of them a grade for aspects of the game I think they're relevant for. The scale goes from A: Exceptional B: Good C: Gets the job done D: Needs work F: Riot pls. Plusses and minuses are added for things like utility, mechanics and all around variety.

Lightslinger: "After using one of his abilities, Lucian’s next auto attack shoots twice."

Right off the bat I notice that this passive could get out of control, very fast. It's a great ability that, if properly utilized, can win a poke skirmish without a doubt. In order to get the maximum output from this passive, a player would want to auto attack (AA), hit an Ardent Blaze and then auto attack again.

I chose Ardent Blaze because of the marks it leaves on a target. If you get the double AA with the marks on, you'll be hitting some major chunkeroonies. If a player builds a good lifesteal item like Blade of the Ruined King, they get the lifesteal for both AA's as well as the passive percent health damage.

Personally, I'm forseeing a Critplank style build will become popular with Lucian. If a player can hit two successive crits to the opponent's one normal, that fight is already won. I give Lucian's Lightslinger a flat A, because it has a lot of potential, but not a plus due to the fact that it gives him only damage and no utility.

Piercing Light: "Shoots a bolt of light through a target, damaging enemies in a line."

This ability is pretty cut and dry like that of a Varus Piercing Arrow. Heck it's even named similarly, so I wouldn't consider this ability anything more or less than a tool for poking and farming. I give Lucian's Piercing Light a C-, because of the extension it gives his reach for last hitting and harassing but that's really all it is.

 

Ardent Blaze: "Fires a shot that explodes in a star pattern and marks targets. Shooting marked targets deals extra damage and grants Lucian a short burst of speed."

This ability is what makes Lucian interesting, in both lane and team fights. Dealing magical damage upon contact, it's meant most for lighting up enemy carries by marking them for extra damage on AA's. In the earlier laning phase the extra damage can help a player to get the edge in an initiation, and then kite the opponent with superior movement speed. The mark lasts for only 6 seconds, so if a player can mark multiple foes in the late game team fight, it'll mean they can not only deal extra damage but stay away from tanks who would try to peel for their carries.

For people with great mechanics, this ability allows you to shoot (pun intended) around the battlefield with ease, however I don't know if the speed buff stacks. I give Lucian's Ardent Blaze a B+, because it widens his given range of operation in a fight, provides extra damage and gives him a speed buff that continues for 2 seconds each time an AA is hit. 

 

Relentless Pursuit: "Lucian dashes a short distance and removes all slowing effects. Relentless Pursuit’s cooldown resets if The Culling kills an enemy champion."

What's cool about this ability is that it gives him a great escape tool. Not only can he close a gap (like the last 10 champions), but he can do break free of slowing with a sort of half Cleanse. It'll be this ability that makes or breaks a Lucian player. If the player goes in to deal some damage in a fight and finds themselves slowed by an opponent's ability, they can break free of the crowd control to continue to wreck havok.

When Lucian's ultimate kills someone, the reset allows a player to either continue their relentless pursuit, or dash away to safety. When used in tandem with Ardent Blaze, it makes me imagine Lucian to really be some beam of light darting around a battlefield. I give Lucian's Relentless Pursuit a B+, because like Ardent Blaze it gives him a larger area to work with, gives him a bit of anti CC and even has a reset. Maybe Scarra will play him! (Scarra pls)

 

The Culling: "Lucian moves freely while firing rapidly in a single direction, dealing damage to the first enemy hit."

My understanding of this ability is that a player activates the ability in a particular direction, and Lucian begins to fire. Then the player can continue to move or use Relentless Pursuit to keep up with an enemy or kite. If that's so and it only damages the first enemy hit, it can easily be countered by a tank or anyone with health in their build who feels like walking in the way. Heck in a busy team fight, anyone could walk in front of the ult without realizing it, or juke or dodge it when they see it coming, making it pretty unreliable to hit necessary targets. For the ability to be effective, a player would have to position themselves in a place that allows them to hit the enemy carries, which is likely to be in the back or behind a tank.

Dashing and ulting would get some damage on, but it would send off a clear message to your opponents saying "I'm not protected by my team and dealing damage, focus me." I say in that situation that a player would be unprotected because just before a team fight or as it begins, teams circle each other until they spot an opening, and if the protection were to follow Lucian, the other team would (likely) respond and move in opposite fashion.

I give Lucian's The Culling a D+, because it's an ability that can help dole out damage in a team fight while he stays mobile, but could easily be missed, dodged or even unknowingly countered during a fight.

 

Overall Opinion B-: I think that Lucian is an incredibly mobile champion through his W and E, and it'll take a finely tuned mechanic to get maximum output of his abilities. With almost all of his abilities being skill shots, positioning is probably the most important thing for a Lucian player. They can't just sit in the back, helping out where they're safe. Instead for someone to be successful with Lucian they need to know exactly where to be and when.

In terms of viability, he's got nothing but damage and speed like that of a blaster shot from a gun in Star Wars. Maybe if his ultimate was tweaked so that it involved champions being hit and blinded by a certain length depending on how much of The Culling hit them. As someone who wants to purge the world of undead and darkness, it makes sense that his greatest ability would blind those he hits with rapidly fired light bullets. For the lore junkies out there, he's got a pretty cool connection to Thresh as well as the other champions from the Shadow Isles. The extra dialogue applies to champions like Thresh, Hecarim and Mordekaiser.

Follow RoscoeThorncage via twitter @robertwery.