Counter Guide

How to Beat Lucian

Matchup Guide · Evergreen · 3 Counter Picks

Lucian dashes in, fires two shots for every ability he casts, and is back out before your support has finished turning around.

Laning against him is exhausting. Every spell he casts turns his next attack into a double shot, and landing those shots brings his dash back sooner, so a good Lucian trades in quick, sharp bursts you can't answer in time. He's built to win lane early and snowball from there. He's also one of the shortest-ranged marksmen in the game at 500 units, which is where every answer to him starts. You beat him by out-ranging him in lane, or by surviving it and out-lasting him later. If you're deciding whether he's worth a ban, check where he sits on our solo queue tier list this patch.

Matchup Snapshot Lucian, the Purifier

Where You Meet HimBot lane

Damage TypeMostly physical

Why He Is FrustratingShort trades you can't answer

MobilityA dash that keeps coming back

Biggest ThreatRelentless Pursuit [E]

Hardest CounterYasuo

What a Counter Needs

More range than his 500, or a way to stop his shots from landing
Something waiting where his dash is going to land

Patch 26.18 Matchup Data

Who Beats Lucian on Patch 26.18

Best Picks Into Lucian

Yasuo1,151 games56.1%
Jinx10,284 games54.2%
Caitlyn11,681 games53.4%
Aphelios2,402 games52.8%
Tristana6,304 games52.4%

Picks Lucian Beats

Ezreal8,881 games48.3%

Win rates are for the champion listed, in the bot lane against Lucian. They come from Nerfplz's own ranked solo queue games on Patch 26.18, Silver and above, 110,511 Lucian games in all. Only matchups that show up in at least 1% of those games are listed.

Lucian Overview

Strengths: What Makes Him Dangerous

Every spell is two shots. After any ability, his next attack fires an extra shot (Lightslinger [Passive]), and that shot can crit and life steal like a normal one.
His dash refunds itself. Every Lightslinger [Passive] shot that hits a champion takes two seconds off Relentless Pursuit [E], so in a real trade it's back almost at once.
His support makes him stronger. Any heal or shield from an ally, or any enemy getting stunned nearby, charges his next shots with bonus magic damage.
He can move while he ults. The Culling [R] fires a stream of shots for up to three seconds while he walks.

Weaknesses: Where You Get In

His range is short. At 500 units, most marksmen can hit him from a spot he can't hit back from.
He has to commit to trade. The double-shot pattern means walking into your range, and a dash forward is a dash he can't use to leave.
His damage is mostly projectiles. His attacks and every bullet of The Culling [R] can be blocked.
His range never grows. Some marksmen reach further as the game goes on (Tristana's range climbs every level), and his stays at 500.

Countering Lucian

Any of these will do. You don't need all of them:

Out-range him. Hit him from outside 500 and he has to spend his dash just to trade back.
Trap his landing spot. Traps, roots and slows placed where he wants to dash stop the all-in dead.
Don't feed the snowball. He's built to win lane and roll that lead forward, so an even lane is a small win for you.

Stuck in the matchup without one? It's still playable.

Playing Into Lucian Without a Counter

Watch his cooldowns. Right after he's used Relentless Pursuit [E] and missed his shots, it's still down (the refund only comes from hits), and that's your turn to trade.

Don't stand in the lane with no minions between you. Piercing Light [Q] goes through targets in a line, so a wave in front of you doesn't block it, but it does make him pick between farming and harassing.

Give up a little farm under your tower rather than trading into him with his cooldowns up. He wants a kill to snowball from, and a lane that ends even takes that away.

Best Lucian Counters

Two marksmen and one wall. Each one takes a different piece of his lane away.

Yasuo Walls Off His Shots

Yasuo plays bot lane more often than you'd think, and he wins this lane on one button. Wind Wall [W] destroys every enemy projectile that touches it for four seconds. Lucian's attacks are projectiles, and so is every bullet of The Culling [R], so a well-timed wall turns his burst trade into nothing.

His laser is the exception. Piercing Light [Q] isn't a projectile and goes straight through (don't expect the wall to save you from it). Yasuo's passive shield soaks some of that, and Sweeping Blade [E] lets him dash through the wave to reach a Lucian who's trying to kite him.

Caitlyn Out-Ranges Him

Caitlyn's attack range is 650 to Lucian's 500, and that gap decides the lane. She can hit him every time he walks up for a last hit, and every sixth attack is a Headshot [Passive] that hurts (she charges them faster from brush).

Her traps answer his dash. Yordle Snap Trap [W] roots for 1.5 seconds, and a Lucian who dashes onto one is stuck in her range with no way out. If he gets on top of her anyway, 90 Caliber Net [E] slows him and knocks her backwards, which is usually enough to reset the fight at her range.

Jinx Out-Lasts Him

Jinx is the late-game answer. Fishbones gives her attacks extra range (Switcheroo! [Q] swaps to the rocket launcher) and splash damage, and every takedown sends her into a burst of speed from Get Excited! [Passive]. Flame Chompers! [E] root anyone who walks over them for 1.5 seconds, and they knock a dashing champion out of the dash, so drop them where Lucian wants to land.

Itemizing Against Lucian

Plated Steelcaps take 10% off every attack, and each of his double shots counts as two attacks. Frozen Heart cuts the attack speed of every champion near you by 20%. Thornmail hits attackers back and applies 40% Wounds, which cuts any healing he gets from his attacks. On a tank, Randuin's Omen has an active that slows everyone near you by 70%, and it's best used the moment he dashes in.