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Lucian Counters: Who Beats Lucian

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Lucian counters are bot laners who either outrange him or win the short trades he lives on. He’s a 500-range marksman whose passive turns every ability into a double shot, whose only mobility is a short dash, and whose ultimate is a channeled stream of bullets, so long range, a slow that pins him after the dash, and early kill pressure beat him.

Five picks, chosen from his patch 26.21 ability text against theirs. No tier lists, no win rates.

Lucian counters: Lucian, the Purifier, splash art

Why is Lucian hard to counter?

  • Lightslinger (passive): after he uses 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 missile that explodes in a star shape, marking and briefly revealing enemies; attacking marked enemies gives him 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.

Lucian’s game is the short trade. Ability, double shot, dash out, and the double shot brought the dash back sooner, so by the time you’ve answered he’s already gone. With an enchanter behind him the passive adds bonus magic damage to the next two attacks every time he gets a shield, and with a support who roots, the same thing happens every time you get caught. Thing is, all of that happens inside 500 range. Anyone who stays outside it is trading with a marksman who has to dash forward to start the fight, and a dash forward is a dash he no longer has for leaving. What about the ultimate? The Culling is a channel, and a channel is a thing you interrupt.

Which champions are the best Lucian counters?

Caitlyn

650 range against 500. That gap is the entire matchup, because Lucian’s short trade needs him to be in range to start it, and Caitlyn’s Headshot (passive) lands every few attacks from a distance he can’t answer without Relentless Pursuit. If he dashes in, Yordle Snap Trap (W) is waiting: a sprung trap reveals and immobilizes him for 1.5 seconds and hands her an empowered Headshot with doubled range. 90 Caliber Net (E) slows him and knocks her back out of his reach, and Ace in the Hole (R) deals massive damage at a huge range to a marksman with no shield of his own (or anyone else’s, if his support is asleep). In practice he spends the lane farming under turret, which is a Lucian who doesn’t scale.

Draven

Draven doesn’t outrange Lucian; he out-hits him. Spinning Axe (Q) puts bonus physical damage on his next attack, and catching the axe readies another, so the double shot Lucian is proud of meets two axes and loses the exchange (ask any Draven main, they’ll tell you at length). Blood Rush (W) gives Move Speed and Attack Speed and refreshes when he catches an axe. Stand Aside (E) throws axes that knock targets aside and slow them, and a knock aside during The Culling stops The Culling. Whirling Death (R) finishes anyone with less Health than his Adoration stacks. Same 550 range as most marksmen. Better numbers at every level that matters.

Ashe

Frost Shot (passive) slows the target of every Ashe attack and makes her deal increased damage to slowed targets, and a slow is the one thing a short dash can’t fix: Relentless Pursuit moves Lucian a short distance, and a slowed Lucian on the far side of that distance is still in 600 range. Volley (W) fires arrows in a cone and applies the same slow. Enchanted Crystal Arrow (R) stuns the first champion it hits, longer the farther it has flown, and Hawkshot (E) scouts the bush he’d like to dash out of. Ashe wins by being boring. Honestly, she never lets him leave (or arrive, really).

Senna

Senna fires from 600 range and her Relic Cannon gains Attack Range as she collects Mist, so the gap over 500 grows all game. Piercing Darkness (Q) heals allies and damages enemies through a target, which means every poke exchange ends with her side healthier. Last Embrace (W) latches onto the first enemy it hits and roots them and everything nearby after a brief delay, and a rooted Lucian is a Lucian whose dash is cosmetic. Curse of the Black Mist (E) camouflages allies inside the storm and makes them unselectable as wraiths, so Piercing Light has nothing to target (a bolt needs a body). Dawning Shadow (R) shields allies globally and damages enemies in the center. The catch is Senna’s own fragility; a Lucian who gets the dash in on her wins the trade, so she has to be the one choosing when he’s allowed close.

Tristana

Draw a Bead (passive) increases Tristana’s Attack Range as she levels, so the matchup starts even and ends with her comfortably outside his 500. Rocket Jump (W) propels her to a distant location, damaging and slowing where she lands, which answers Relentless Pursuit with a longer jump. Buster Shot (R) knocks the target back. A knock back ends The Culling. Explosive Charge (E) sticks a bomb to a target that goes off after a short delay, with double the radius if Buster Shot lands while the bomb is on them. Rapid Fire (Q) adds Attack Speed for the all-in. Funny enough, she’s the only pick here who beats him at his own game: a short, violent trade that ends with somebody dashing away.

How do you play the lane against Lucian?

  • Stay outside 500 range. Every trade he wants starts there, and a Lucian who has to dash to reach you has spent his only escape.
  • Trade when the dash is down. Relentless Pursuit is on a 16 second cooldown at rank 1, and Lightslinger attacks shorten it, so count the double shots.
  • Don’t stand next to a rooted teammate. A nearby immobilized enemy champion gives him two attacks with bonus magic damage.
  • Respect the mark. Ardent Blaze reveals marked enemies and gives him Move Speed for attacking them, so a marked retreat is a slow one.
  • Interrupt The Culling. It’s a channel. A knock back, a stun or a knock up ends it, and his cooldown is 110 seconds at rank 1.

Which items counter Lucian?

His attacks are physical and the passive adds magic on top, but Armor still answers most of it. Plated Steelcaps, 25 Armor and Plating reducing incoming damage from attacks by 10%, cover the double shots for 1,200 gold. Frozen Heart is 75 Armor, 400 Mana and 20 Ability Haste, and its Winter’s Caress passive takes 20% off the Attack Speed of champions near you, which breaks the rhythm the whole kit depends on. Thornmail turns every attack on you into magic damage back at him plus 40% Wounds for 3 seconds, and Lucian attacks a lot. Dead Man’s Plate is the one to buy if you’re the target he keeps dashing at: 350 Health, 55 Armor, up to 20 bonus Move Speed while moving, and Unsinkable, which reduces the effectiveness of slows by 15%. Randuin’s Omen matters only if he’s building Critical Strike, in which case Resilience’s 30% less damage from Critical Strikes earns its price. The full list with build paths is in our item database, and the Sunfire Aegis page is where tanks who want Health with their Armor should look.

When is Lucian at his weakest?

With Relentless Pursuit on cooldown. The dash is 16 seconds at rank 1, and without it he’s a 500-range marksman with no shield, no slow and no way to leave a fight he started. That’s the window. It opens every time he uses the dash to engage rather than to escape, which is most of the time, because the kit rewards it.

And during The Culling. He channels it, so he’s committed, and he channels it from inside his own range, which is inside yours. Did he start it before the fight was decided? Then put a stun on him and watch the cooldown tick down from 110 seconds, because the Culling he wasted is the one he needed for the next fight.

Our guide to LoL roles is worth a read if the marksman and support pairing still confuses you. The Lucian skins page holds the cosmetics; the Lucian ARAM guide covers the mode where his modifiers actually favour him. To be fair, nothing the best Lucian counters do is clever. They stay out of his 500 range and let him come to them.

FAQ

Who counters Lucian the most?

Bot laners who outrange him or win the short trade: Caitlyn, Draven, Ashe, Senna and Tristana.

Can you interrupt The Culling?

Yes. The Culling is a channel, so a knock back such as Tristana’s Buster Shot or Draven’s Stand Aside, a stun or a knock up ends it early.

Does Lucian have an escape?

Only Relentless Pursuit, a short dash on a 16 second cooldown at rank 1. Lightslinger attacks shorten that cooldown, but he has no shield, blink or slow.

Does Ashe counter Lucian?

Yes. Frost Shot slows every target she attacks, which keeps Lucian in her 600 range after his short dash, and Enchanted Crystal Arrow stuns him.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. We lined up Lucian’s patch 26.21 ability text against each pick’s kit and chose from the interactions, not from statistics.