Guide · ADC

Lucian Guide

the Purifier

Marksman

Assassin

Tier B ADC

Lucian, the Purifier, is a marksman and assassin champion of medium difficulty. Across our 1003 analysed ranked games, Lucian is mostly played as ADC (100% of its games), with a 48.9% win rate in that role: tier B among ADC champions (#23 of 36, ranked by win rate). Lucian's damage is mostly physical (86%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate stays steady whatever the game length (48.2% to 50.0%): a reliable pick in every phase of the game.

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Averages measured over 1003 ADC games played with Lucian, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Lucian is a mobile marksman who chains abilities and attacks: each ability turns your next attack into a double shot. Relentless Pursuit dashes him a short distance (and Lightslinger reduces its cooldown), Ardent Blaze briefly marks and reveals enemies with a movement speed bonus when he attacks them, and his ultimate fires a hail of bullets.

The basic combo

Q › AA AA › E › AA AA

When: An enemy is within range of Piercing Light.

Piercing Light pierces the target, your attack becomes a double shot, Relentless Pursuit repositions you (cooldown reduced by Lightslinger) and sets up the next attack.

Area harassment

W › AA AA › E › AA AA

When: Several enemies are close.

Ardent Blaze explodes in a star shape and marks and reveals enemies; attack them to benefit from the bonus movement speed.

See all 3 Lucian combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Always chain ability then attack to benefit from the double shot. When an ally heals or shields you, or an enemy is immobilized, your next 2 attacks deal bonus magic damage.

Common mistakes

• Attacking without a previous ability: you lose the double shot.
• Using Relentless Pursuit without looking at where you end up.
• Wasting the ultimate on a moving target with no control.

Riot's official tips for playing Lucian

• For optimal burst, try to combine Relentless Pursuit into Piercing Light.
• Ardent Blaze actually explodes in a star pattern. Try to line it up so the spokes hit enemy champions.
• Once you have chosen an angle for The Culling, you cannot change it. Pick your moment well!
• Because of Lightslinger, Lucian benefits more from Attack Damage than he does from Attack Speed.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Infinity Edge, Essence Reaver, and Navori Flickerblade (487 games, 54.0% win rate).

Infinity Edge+Essence Reaver+Navori Flickerblade

487 games · 54.0%

Lord Dominik's Regards+Essence Reaver+Navori Flickerblade

210 games · 57.6%

Infinity Edge+Lord Dominik's Regards+Essence Reaver

201 games · 59.2%

Skill order

Max order : Q > E > W50.6% · 81 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q	●			●	●		●		●
W			●											●	●
E		●						●		●		●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 149 games).

Starting items

Doran's BowHealth PotionHealth Potion52.8% · 89 games

Doran's BladeHealth Potion46.2% · 52 games

First completed items, in order

Essence Reaver›Navori Flickerblade›Infinity Edge

46 games · 58.7%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 4030 gold, 76 CS, 3526 XP. At 15 min: 6758 gold, 118 CS, 5789 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Barrier49.3% · 728 games

Exhaust + Flash48.2% · 170 games

Cleanse + Flash47.1% · 85 games

Most-played runes

Press the Attack + Inspiration

50.1% · 804 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind86%

Legend: Bloodline88%

Cut Down56%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cash Back52%

Triple Tonic44%

Shards

Attack speed92%

Adaptive force100%

Health52%

Press the Attack + Resolve

50.0% · 118 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind74%

Legend: Bloodline70%

Cut Down87%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Shield Bash81%

Bone Plating65%

Shards

Attack speed87%

Adaptive force100%

Health89%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Lucian's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team56.0% · 284 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Essence Reaver 57.3% ▲

Navori Flickerblade 57.3% ▲

Infinity Edge 58.3% ▲

Lord Dominik's Regards 61.3% ▲

The Collector 44.4%

Mortal Reminder 57.7% ▲

The item that stands out most is Mortal Reminder: 57.7% win rate, +9 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team44.8% · 268 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Essence Reaver 45.6% ▼

Navori Flickerblade 47.3% ▼

Infinity Edge 51.4%

Lord Dominik's Regards 53.4%

The Collector 45.2%

Mortal Reminder 35.7% ▼

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team47.0% · 451 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Essence Reaver 46.9%

Navori Flickerblade 50.6%

Infinity Edge 50.7%

Lord Dominik's Regards 53.6%

Mortal Reminder 52.4% ▲

Guardian Angel 55.3%

The item that stands out most is Mortal Reminder: 52.4% win rate, +3 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Lucian as ADC

Samira Lucian: 26.7%15 games

Samira has the edge in 73% of the 15 ADC duels against Lucian. See the Samira guide.

Yunara Lucian: 39.5%38 games

Yunara has the edge in 61% of the 38 ADC duels against Lucian. See the Yunara guide.

Xayah Lucian: 40.0%15 games

Xayah has the edge in 60% of the 15 ADC duels against Lucian. See the Xayah guide.

Jinx Lucian: 44.4%36 games

Jinx has the edge in 56% of the 36 ADC duels against Lucian. See the Jinx guide.

Jhin Lucian: 45.5%66 games

Jhin has the edge in 55% of the 66 ADC duels against Lucian. See the Jhin guide.

Who Lucian is strong against

Ashe66.7% · 21 games

Kalista56.2% · 16 games

Ezreal55.3% · 47 games

Tristana54.3% · 35 games

Zeri53.3% · 15 games

How to play against Lucian

• Lucian has strong burst, but little sustained damage.
• Lucian cannot change the aim of The Culling. Take advantage of this by avoiding the angle of the bullets.
• Piercing Light does not give Lucian extra Attack Range. He still needs to find a target in range to line up his shot. Avoid Piercing Light by anticipating the angle Lucian will choose.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Lucian's matchups.

Lucian ADC: what our games say

Laning phase against the ADC average

Measured over 149 Lucian games with a timeline; the average covers 49 champions played ADC in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

Best result: long (over 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Abilities

PassiveLightslinger

Whenever Lucian uses an ability, his next attack becomes a double-shot. When Lucian is healed or shielded by an ally, or when a nearby enemy Champion is immobilized, his next 2 basic attacks will deal bonus magic damage.

QPiercing Light

Lucian shoots a bolt of piercing light through a target.

WArdent Blaze

Lucian shoots a missile that explodes in a star shape, marking and briefly revealing enemies. Lucian gains Move Speed for attacking marked enemies.

ERelentless Pursuit

Lucian quickly dashes a short distance. Lightslinger attacks reduce Relentless Pursuit's cooldown.

RThe Culling

Lucian unleashes a torrent of shots from his weapons.

Other ADC champions to know

Most played

Jhin48.5 %Yunara52.4 %Kai'Sa49.9 %Ezreal45.2 %Caitlyn50.3 %Jinx51.0 %Tristana50.0 %Zeri51.8 %

Strongest (at least 100 games)

Brand57.7 %Syndra56.7 %Aurelion Sol56.7 %Kog'Maw55.3 %Senna55.3 %Mel54.9 %Vel'Koz53.8 %Xayah53.1 %

Frequently asked questions

Full Lucian page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides