Lucian, The Purifier: Build Analysis

Disclaimer: This article represents the opinion of the writer and not necessarily that of Team Dignitas.

Lucian, The Purifier, the not-so-hidden champion that is soon to be released on the Fields of Justice. This next champion holds much of what an AD Carry is looking for providing him with a reset from his Relentless Pursuit, a strong laning phase due to his Passive granting him ability to farm better, soft CC coming from his two AoE skills, speed increase, and a dash to disengage/engage to or from a fight quickly.

In this article I’ll be listing some of the core items that can be built on Lucian as a AD Carry or in the Top or Mid Lane.

 

Attack Speed

To begin, the Blade of the Ruined King is an excellent item on Lucian. The Blade of the Ruined King is an item that is best built when the AD carry has a lead over their laning opponent but is highly beneficial too Lucian at any stage of the game. The item will boost both attack speed and attack damage, which will combine nicely with Lucian’s passive dealing the extra damage while still allowing him to deal large amounts of damage when his passive isn't active. Both of his passives on this item grants Lucian extra harass when in team fights so he can burst the enemy down while getting his resets and life stealing his health back so he can gain more kills and assist his team mates more often.

The Phantom Dancer and Statikk Shiv are both helpful on Lucian if wanting to focus more on his auto attack output to get as much as possible out of his passive after building a few attack damage items to work on his skills. The attack speed and critical strike on these items will make Lucian be a constant threat to the enemy even when his skills are on cooldown dealing his base damage plus additional damage if critting the opponent. Furthermore, the Phantom Dancer and Statikk Shiv provides a movement speed multiplier. With his dash and short speed boost with the items speed multiplier this will make Lucian hard to gank in laning phase or when roaming throughout the map. This will also allow him to provide more ganks to team mates once and if he gets a lead over his laning opponent. What’s different between these two items is the passive. The Phantom Dancers allow Lucian to ignore unit collision and the Statikk Shiv’s builds a static charge that deals bonus damage to all nearby enemies and it can crit. This will allow Lucian to get through to the enemy and deal additional damage and quicker allowing these two items to overall lay a large amount of harass to his opponents.

 

Attack Damage

As Lucian progresses throughout the game, his attack speed and base damage will increase largely and be more occurrent in team fights. This is where the Infinity Edge fits perfectly into Lucian’s build, prompting him to lay much more harass onto the enemy increasing his attack damage by 70 and his critical strike practically capped by this point. This, combined with his passive can definitely benefiting in finish opponents off in team fights and poking the enemy down from afar bringing Lucian a lot of burst overall to the battlefield.

Like all AD carries, Lucian has no sustain but has some kind of mobility. Due to him being a prime target in team fights along with the AP Carry his aim is to stay alive as long as possible. The Bloodthirster is then perfect for this, granting Lucian 12 life steal which then turns into 18 life steal after stacking the life steal contained in the passive. The item also will also allow Lucian to show further aggression in the lane due to the 70 attack damage on this item and the damage stacks from the passive as well as, being able to life steal his health back so he can show more presence in lane and team fights.

The Last Whisper is a beneficial item for Lucian in the mid to late game granting him the ability to shred through the tankiest champions armor. The attack damage will not only allow Lucian to lay much more poke but will allow him to get a fair amount of poke onto the tankiest champions as well, benefitting greatly to his ultimate which deals a large amount of damage to the first champion it hits. This overall, allows Lucian to be a nuisance to every enemy champion in the game opening up opportunities for his whole team.

In comparison, the Black Cleaver can be built on Lucian as a separate choice if wanting the extra survivability. The Black Cleaver isn’t as strong as the Last Whisper but provides Lucian with 200 health and 10% cooldown reduction allowing him to be slightly tankier while still being able to deal a considerably amount of damage and use his skills much more frequently.

 

Armor

Heading into the late game, Lucian should have about four full items completed now. This is the point of the game where Lucian can own a defensive item if he’s not living to do as much damage as he should against enemy or being burst down too quickly. Randuin’s Omen and Frozen Heart both fit Lucian well in the late game allowing him to be a much tankier carry while still dealing a huge amount of damage.

The Frozen Heart will boost his armor by 95 but instead of health like Randuin’s Omen he gains 400 mana and 20 cooldown reduction. Lucian only suffers from a shortage of mana in the early game but having the mana in the later parts of the game may just benefit him by staying in the lane longer, or farming jungle camps before going back. As for the cooldown reduction, this will in general allow him to lay much more harass onto the enemy by lowering his cooldown and reducing his ultimate down to about 50 seconds and being similar to Miss Fortune’s ultimate is incredibly beneficial to catching a couple of enemies off guard or a baron/dragon dance!

Furthermore, Randuin’s Omen is a better pick if wanting to go for complete defensive stats boosting your armor by 70 and health by 500. This item won’t make a huge difference in the late game but it will make a difference, with a full build of damage, attack speed and life steal it can be ensured that a kill can be finalised through Lucian’s Ultimate or Piercing Light if an enemy champion is low these large ranged skills can definitely help out.

Lastly, The Guardian Angel, due to the soon-to-be changes to the Runic Bulwark and Aegis of the Legion, the Guardian Angel will grant Lucian that extra bit of Magic resist and armor needed. Along with the defensive stats the Guardian Angel will revive Lucian with 30% of his health and mana remaining, this makes him harder to deal with, since the opponent will be killing practically 6 opponents instead of 5 allowing him to run around like a maniac with two guns and finish off the remaining skills with one of his skills then activating his passive to finish off!