Lucien enters the League of Legends roster and joins the likes of other ADC’s in the bottom lane. With a combination of AD & AP ratios and an emphasis on casting his abilities, can Lucien become the next must-have champion? After playing the Purifier on its initial week, it is time to load those guns and find out.
The new Legend has a very strong presence about him in both his skin and artwork. His skin resembles some aspects of Vayne, as Lucien is a hunter by trade, however he is more dark and edgy. The one thing to keep in mind with Lucien is that he is the first Male, Black champion in the League. This gives him a lot more flavour and a fantastic presence on the roster, as if he is the one of a kind killing machine. As for Lucien’s alternate skin, it completely changes his looks.
As he dons the Hired Gun skin, Lucien seems to change his looks to resemble Raven from the Tekken series. This skin also changes his backing animation as he sits back on a large chair with two vials in either hand. This is both amazing and yet confusing for a simple reason, the reference does not go well with the skin. This animation makes reference to Morpheus from The Matrix when he offers the red and blue pills to Neo. The reference is really well received but with the skin it just looks alien. Not a massive concern but something to keep in mind for fans of the sci-fi trilogy.
Anyway enough about the looks, what are Lucien’s abilities like? Time for the ability low down.
Passive: LightslingerAfter 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.
The passive ability for this AD carry champion is very potent and strong at all stages of the game. The ability to put out more damage on an auto attack after using an ability is extraordinary. A key thing to note is that this does not make Lucien’s auto attacks completely overpowered. You have to perfectly time your auto attacks after using an ability to maximise the damage output of this passive, which is no easy task. This gives Lucien both a great entry level quality and a professional quality that can cater to all players.
Q: Piercing Light• RANGE: 550
• COOLDOWN: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5
• COST: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 MANA
ACTIVE: After a 0.35 second delay, Lucian fires a laser in the direction of the target enemy, dealing physical damage to all enemies in a 1100-unit line. Minions take 75% damage.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120% bonus AD)
Lucien’s Q has a nice balance of poking potential, minion clearing and damage. Getting this ability first is a must whilst battling it out in the bottom lane, as it can give you an advantage with the poke. The ability can be tough to master at first as it expands past the initial range. The best trick to this is to target a minion in front of the champion you wish to hit. This allows you to get some gold from minion farm as well as cause damage to your opponent, the old ‘two birds with one stone’ tactic. This skill is balanced nicely as early game it is not that big of a threat but then it scales well into late game. Be mindful of two things however when casting this ability. First you will be static for the cast time, so expect to be hit. Secondly the ability will slow you down if you have an abundance of attack speed. Perfecting the casting time, range and idle time will be necessary to mastering this Q ability.
W: Ardent Blaze• RANGE: 1000
• COOLDOWN: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10
• COST: 60 MANA
ACTIVE: Lucian fires a shot that explodes in a cross pattern upon hitting an enemy or reaching the end of its path, dealing magic damage and marking enemies hit for 6 seconds.
If Lucian damages a marked target with his basic attacks or abilities, he gains 40 movement speed for 2 seconds. This does not consume the mark.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+90% AP) (+ 60% bonus AD)
Ardent Blaze is a key ability that can allow players to really explore the building potential of Lucien. If you look at the ability closely you will notice that it has a much higher Ability Power ratio than it does Attack Damage. Combining these together can only mean one thing, hybrid building. Building a champion hybrid allows them to capitalise on AD & AP ratios as well as Life Steal & Spellvamp all at once. Not every champion can pull it off as it requires at least two abilities with AD & AP ratios. Luckily Lucien has exactly what it takes.
Hybrid building aside, this ability is a great tool for singling out opponents. Catching up with someone is no longer a worry as all you need is a mark on the enemy and a single shot to make up the ground. As well as catching up, the skill also helps with getaway tactics, as you can shoot at your opponents to widen the gap. The ability can also be used to fire into bushes and reveal hidden champions within.
Unless you are going hybrid, you should not worry about the damage output of this ability, as it is mostly used for the mark application. When AP is put into this ability however, it can be a huge bomb and render the Q at later levels useless in team fight situations.
E: Relentless Pursuit• RANGE: 425
• COOLDOWN: 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10
• COST: 60 / 45 / 30 / 15 / 0 MANA
ACTIVE: Lucian dashes a short distance and removes all slowing effects. Relentless Pursuit’s cooldown resets if Lucian scores a kill or assist during The Culling.
Lucien’s E is a dangerous ability that should be a concern to anyone facing him in a one on one situation. Although it is not a damage dealing ability, it allows the champion to position himself for attacks and getaway tactics. As well as using the ability for positioning in fights, it can also be used to dash over certain obstacles such as the Dragon and Baron walls. At first this skill does seem balanced, with its range, cooldowns and mana cost. However, once it has been maxed out, the skill has no mana cost what so ever. This will allow Lucien players to keep dashing all day long with no draw back which can seem a little too powerful for a carry that already has movement speed gain. This can be debated but, from what has been seen of Lucien players so far, this ability can make the champion very difficult to deal with in fights as he can out position his opponents with ease.
R: The Culling• RANGE: 1400
• COOLDOWN: 100 / 75 / 50
• COST: 100 MANA
ACTIVE: Lucian starts firing shots in the target direction for 3 seconds, each shot dealing physical damage to the first enemy it hits. The amount of shots fired scales with his attack speed. The Culling is considered a channeled ability and it can be interrupted, but Lucian can move freely (including movement abilities) without interrupting it himself.
Reactivate The Culling to cancel the ability early.
The Culling deals quadruple damage to minions but not monsters.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE PER SHOT: 40 / 50 / 60 (+25% bonus AD) (+10% AP)
SHOTS FIRED: 7.5 + (7.5 / 9 / 10.5 × attack speed at the time of cast)
MAXIMUM SHOTS: 26 / 30 / 34
MAXIMUM TOTAL DAMAGE: 1040 / 1500 / 2040 (+650 / 750 / 850% bonus AD) (+260 / 300 / 340% AP)
The culling is a great new style of ability which has yet to be seen in League of Legends. It emphasises the use of positioning as well as the skill to know which direction to aim it. This ability is one of the tougher ultimates to master as you must understand the core skills. First off you must target in the appropriate direction, aiming off target will cause you to simply shoot in a direction that won’t bare profit. Second is to utilise the ability to move, unlike Miss Fortune’s ultimate that requires her to be still, Lucien can move around whilst shooting. This means that using your W & E in conjunction with the ultimate is necessary for mastering. Lastly is the amount of shots fired by the ultimate, if you can time how many shots you can hit your opponent with, you can maximise the damage output.
The scare of this ability is that with free movement, bonus damage and a continuous stream of shots, the skill looks to be overpowered. In fact the ultimate is very strongly balanced. As squishy champions will get drilled down by this ability, as intended for Lucien’s assassination style, tanks can easily step in front of the stream of shots and take the full brunt of the damage instead. This means that Lucien can waste his ultimate if he does not prioritise the correct target. As well as this, he is completely susceptible to stuns and slows that can stop him from successfully killing those important targets.
In conclusion, Lucien is a damage dealing assassin with great compatibility in the League. His balanced set of abilities as well as his Hybrid build potential is a welcome sight to the roster. Although his positioning capabilities can be something to debate when it comes to being overpowered, the damage output from both his abilities and Auto-Attack damage is not too overpowering if you know how to counteract the champion. As late game hits, he can deal deadly damage but, with no crowd control to back it up, you can easily freeze him in place with stuns and slows. Lucien is a great choice for any experienced AD carry and anyone that likes playing a hybrid in the bottom lanes.
So there is there is the review of Lucien, The Purifier. But what do you think of the newest Legend to enter the League? Do you think he has the power to overcome any foe or does he simply keep poking you with a small stick? Let us know what you think in the comments below and be sure to share with us your experiences with Lucien in the VGU Forums.
