Lucian has clearly been struggling for some long time now, and despite receiving a buff to his passive on patch 8.3, which increased the damage done on his second shot in the early game, it was not enough, still leaving him a few steps behind when compared to other marksmen who dominate the current meta.

Holding a mediocre win ratio of a little less than 48% (and that is actually an improvement of more than one perfect when compared to numbers from the previous patch according to Champion.gg) that puts him in the lower third of the statistics, Riot decided to help the Purifier a little bit more, and tomorrow’s patch 8.6 will see substantial buffs to his early phase, which once used to be Lucian’s trademark: a champion who could dominate the lane and quickly snowball a game out of control in favor of his team.  

Ardent Blaze, the W ability, will now be hurting his enemies harder, giving 25 more base damage for each level – from 60 at rank 1 and 220 at rank 5 to 85 and 245, respectively. Sounds not much, but remember that this is meant to help his laning phase, where 25 extra damage can very well mean a big difference between coming out victorious from a skirmish… or being forced to respawn at the fountain.

Lucian’s second ability that will be dealing more damage is his famous ultimate, the Culling, whose AD ratio has been increased from 20% to 25%, with the max ratio also increasing 25% per level. Another buff that actually seems to be no big deal, 5% can however prove to be important during team fights, especially if the player manages to hit all shots, increasing his damage output significantly.

Despite the good news, it is still unsure whether these changes will really boost Lucian back to popularity, especially in the esports scene, where he has been picked only 21 times so far this season across all regions – where he holds an atrocious record of 5 wins with 18 losses -  with only 5 of those games being as the team’s ADC, where he managed to win just a single game, according to Games of Legends.

Personally, I think the Purifier will become actually an even more established pick in the top lane, where he can use his range and mobility – and now, his increased damage on W and more burst potential with the Culling - to try coming out of lane with a great lead, and render his opponent virtually useless throughout the game. As the ADC, I am still rather skeptical, taking into consideration aggressive laners are way too often punished by enemies junglers and midlaners - and toplaners too thanks to Teleport - alike.

Besides, Lucian is highly depended of a playmaking support as well, who offers him the openings to go in and burst down enemies. It is rather complicated to dominate a lane as the Purifier when your support is Janna or Soraka, right?

But, to recap, here is the list of all changes releasing tomorrow:

Ardent Blaze (W):

- Damage increased from 60/100/140/150/220 to 85/125/165/205/245

The Culling (R):

- AD ratio increased from 0.20 total attack damage to 0.25 total attack damage

- Max Ratio from 4.0/5.0/6.0 total attack damage to 5.0/6.25/7.5 total attack damage

Are you excited about the buffs coming to Lucian? Let me know in the comments below!

(Pictures courtesy of Riot Games andSurrender@20)