Known as a highly dangerous mid-lane champion (sometimes played top lane) who has dominated against mage champions due to his mobility skills over the past two years, Lucian has now been brought back to his original ADC position after Riot stepped in following a previous explosive version. Along with this, several power stats for the support champion Nami (who synergizes perfectly with Lucian) have also been adjusted by Riot.
This can be seen as an opportunity or a turning point for the return of both champions in the bot lane. Therefore, at the upcoming World Championship, we might see many top-tier players using this duo.
Lucian
Base Stats
Base Attack Damage: 64 ⇒ 62.
Passive – Lightslinger
[New] VANGUARD: Enhances Lucian’s next two attacks after allies deal damage to enemies, dealing an additional 14 (+10% AD) magic damage. Lucian can stack up to 4 Vanguard shots at once.
W – Piercing Light
Energy Cost: 70 ⇒ 60.
[New] THANK YOU, FRIEND: Activates Vanguard when an ally damages a marked enemy.
R – The Culling
Number of shots: 22/28/34 ⇒ 22 (+25% Critical Strike Chance).
Damage per shot: 20/40/60 (+25% Attack Damage)(+10% Ability Power) ⇒ 15/30/45 (+25% Attack Damage)(+15% Ability Power).
Nami
Base Stats
Base Health: 475 ⇒ 490.
W – Tidecaller
Energy Cost: 70/85/100/115/130 ⇒ 70/80/90/100/110.
Explanation:
It can be asserted that Lucian and Nami are not only a very powerful duo in the bot lane after the adjustments but are also expected to become a hot pick in the near future for the following reasons.
Firstly, stemming from the new skill set of Lucian after the adjustment. Now, Lucian will not unleash his full power when playing solo lane, as he requires ally intervention on enemy champions to maximize damage during the laning phase.
Secondly, concerning poke and skill exchanges, while Lucian is an ADC, he has a very limited attack range, which means he must always position carefully in lane to avoid being “shot down” by the opposing ADC. Therefore, the healing ability from Nami’s W will compensate for this weakness, as her base health has been increased and the energy cost for using W has decreased, allowing Nami to hold the lane and cover Lucian much better.
To put it simply, Lucian is the only champion who can maximize damage and effects from Nami’s E passive, as Lucian has just been changed to allow him to stack 4 shots from the Vanguard passive.
Finally, if used effectively, Nami and Lucian will be a tremendously powerful duo shining in the early game. When combining Lucian’s (new) passive with Nami’s E (Tidecaller’s Blessing), it will become a weapon that both slows and maximizes damage with every shot.
LCS spokesperson and content creator David “Phreak” Turley stated that Lucian’s passive damage has been boosted to 128% at level 1 and 121% at level 18 compared to the previous 11.16 update, which is a significant increase in damage.