Lucian ARAM Build and Guide

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch; ARAM balance numbers come from the League of Legends Wiki’s champion data.

A Lucian ARAM build is crit and Ability Haste on a marksman the mode openly favours: Lucian deals 105% damage, takes 95% damage, gets 120% Tenacity and 10 extra Ability Haste on the Howling Abyss. Four modifiers, all in his favour. The double-shot passive, a short dash and a channeled ultimate down a single corridor all benefit, so you build items that feed the passive.

Items below are our choice from the patch 26.21 data. We don’t use win-rate tables.

How is Lucian changed in ARAM?

Lucian deals 105% damage and takes 95% damage in ARAM, with 120% Tenacity and 10 bonus Ability Haste on top. That is as generous as the Howling Abyss gets. Every number moves his way, and the Ability Haste one is quietly the biggest, because Lightslinger turns every ability into a double shot and the Ability Haste means more abilities per fight (more double shots, in other words). Why would Riot buff a marksman with a dash? Because 500 range on a map with no jungle and no side lane means he’s always in reach of something, and a short dash is a short dash (no matter how many times he resets it). The Tenacity is the tell: the modifiers exist so that he survives being caught, not so that he avoids it. To be fair, a damage bump on a champion who already front-loads his damage is noticeable the first time you land a full combo.

Why does Lucian fit the Howling Abyss?

Because the kit is built around short bursts of damage, and ARAM is nothing but short bursts of damage. Riot’s data for patch 26.21:

• Lightslinger (passive): after an ability, his next attack is a double shot. When an ally heals or shields him, or a nearby enemy champion is immobilized, his next 2 attacks deal bonus magic damage.
• Piercing Light (Q): a bolt of light through a target. Cooldown 9/8/7/6/5 seconds.
• Ardent Blaze (W): a star-shaped explosion that marks and briefly reveals enemies; attacking a marked enemy grants Move Speed. Cooldown 14/13/12/11/10.
• Relentless Pursuit (E): a short dash; Lightslinger attacks reduce its cooldown. Cooldown 16/15.5/15/14.5/14.
• The Culling (R): a torrent of shots from both weapons. Cooldown 110/100/90.

Look at the second half of the passive. Bonus magic damage on two attacks whenever an ally heals or shields him, or whenever a nearby enemy champion is immobilized. On the Abyss there is always a support nearby and somebody is always being stunned, so that bonus is up more often than it’s down. Piercing Light goes through a target, which in a corridor means through two or three. Ardent Blaze reveals a clump. The Culling fires down a straight lane at a team that can only retreat in a straight line. Where does it go wrong? 500 range, and a dash that is short even by dash standards, against teams that never have to look for him.

What should a Lucian ARAM build focus on?

Ability Haste first, because every ability is a double shot and the mode already gives him 10 of it, then Critical Strike Chance to make the double shots count. Four items from the current patch.

Essence Reaver opens the build: 50 Attack Damage, 20 Ability Haste and 25% Critical Strike Chance, and Spellblade makes the next attack after an ability deal bonus physical damage and grant Mana On-Hit. Lucian casts an ability, then double-shots. Spellblade triggers on that same attack. Honestly, the item reads like a Lucian passive with a price tag, and the Mana refund means he can keep casting through a long Abyss fight without a recall to refill.

Navori Flickerblade is next, and it’s the Ability Haste item that doesn’t say Ability Haste on it: 40% Attack Speed, 25% Critical Strike Chance and 4% Move Speed, with Transcendence making attacks reduce your basic ability cooldowns by 15% of their remaining time. Attack, ability, double shot, attack, and the ability comes back sooner each time. The catch is that Navori gives no Attack Damage at all, so the damage has to come from the other three slots.

Third comes Infinity Edge, which brings 75 Attack Damage along with 25% Critical Strike Chance and a 30% increase to Critical Strike Damage. With Essence Reaver and Navori you’re already halfway to full Critical Strike Chance, and a double shot that crits twice is the moment the build starts to feel unfair. Fourth is Bloodthirster, 80 Attack Damage and 15% Life Steal, with Ichorshield turning excess healing from Life Steal into a Shield. No recall means no fountain between fights, and a Shield that builds while you farm the wave is worth more here than another crit item.

Boots are a real choice. Berserker’s Greaves bring 30% Attack Speed and 45 Move Speed, Boots of Swiftness bring 55 Move Speed and Fleetfooted cuts the effect of slows by 25%, and Ionian Boots of Lucidity add 10 Ability Haste and 10 Summoner Spell Haste for 900 gold. In practice the Lucidity pair wins more often than people expect (ask the enchanter players), since every point of haste is another double shot.

How do you play Lucian on the Howling Abyss?

• Ability, attack, ability, attack. Lightslinger gives a double shot after every ability, so never cast two abilities in a row without an attack between them.
• Dash last, not first. Relentless Pursuit is your only escape and on the Abyss there’s nowhere to run to, so use it to reposition inside your team, not to open.
• Piercing Light through the line. The bolt passes through a target, and in ARAM there’s always someone behind the target.
• Ask your support for the shield before the trade. Two attacks with bonus magic damage on demand is a lot of free damage over a game.
• The Culling from behind the tank. It’s a channel, and the only thing that stops it is somebody reaching you.

How do shopping and Mark change the game on the Howling Abyss?

Shopping is a fountain-only affair here, at the start and after each death, because recall doesn’t exist in ARAM. Between deaths the Health relics on the lane are what heal you, plus whatever your support brings, and for Lucian the second half of that matters: every heal or shield from an ally arms Lightslinger’s bonus magic damage. Buy order is simple. Caulfield’s Warhammer before the crit components, because the Ability Haste is worth more to him than the Critical Strike Chance early (and the double shot doesn’t care whether it crits). Finish Essence Reaver before anything else.

Then there’s Mark, the snowball spell you only get in ARAM, which lets you dash to any champion it lands on. You choose spells before loading and keep them for the match. For a champion whose dash is short and whose passive wants him close, the snowball is a second Relentless Pursuit with better range, and the sequence writes itself: Mark, dash, ability, double shot, Relentless Pursuit out. Funny enough, the mode’s 120% Tenacity is what makes that sequence survivable, since the crowd control waiting for you on arrival runs shorter than it would on the Rift.

Is Lucian good in ARAM?

Yes, and the modifiers are not subtle about it. 105% damage dealt, 95% damage taken, 120% Tenacity and 10 bonus Ability Haste is the Howling Abyss handing a champion four presents, and all four land on the parts of the kit that matter: more abilities, more double shots, more time alive after the dash. What he still can’t do is fight from range. 500 is short, and against a team of mages who poke from well beyond that distance, the buffs don’t reach him until he’s already close.

The lane matchups that keep him out of range are in the Lucian counters guide, and our guide to LoL roles explains what a marksman is for in a normal game. The item database keeps the numbers and patch history for each item named here, and his cosmetics are on the Lucian skins page.

Put simply: Essence Reaver first, an attack between every ability, the dash for leaving, and The Culling from a spot your tank is standing in front of. That’s the Lucian ARAM build using everything the mode gave it. Then you respawn, buy the Warhammer, and go double-shoot someone.

FAQ

Is Lucian buffed in ARAM?

Yes, on four counts. The League of Legends Wiki’s champion data for patch 26.21 gives him 105% damage dealt, 95% damage taken, 120% Tenacity and 10 bonus Ability Haste on the Howling Abyss.

What items does the Lucian ARAM build use?

Essence Reaver, Navori Flickerblade, Infinity Edge and Bloodthirster, with Ionian Boots of Lucidity or Berserker’s Greaves depending on how much haste you want.

Why Ability Haste on Lucian?

Because Lightslinger turns the attack after every ability into a double shot, so each extra cast is extra damage. On the Howling Abyss he also starts with 10 Ability Haste that no item had to buy.

Can you interrupt The Culling on the Howling Abyss?

Yes, the same as anywhere: it is a channel, and a stun, knock back or knock up ends it. Fire it from behind your front line.

Is this build based on win rates?

No. Lucian’s patch 26.21 ability text and the item data are the only inputs; statistics never entered the picture.