Talk:Lux/@comment-31922769-20180405190812

Tentative PBE changes to Lux's W, Prismatic Barrier. Three changes, in fact, all important and impactful:

1) The ability (W) is now instant (no 0.25 second dalay), instantly shielding herself and simultaneously firing her wand out as the shielding projectile. It should feel much more snappy and responsive, which is good, considering it is a mostly reactive, defensive ability. And shields are normally instant-cast reactives. Riot stated this first change is likely to go through as is, regardless if the other changes go through. Alone, this is a huge quality of life chang "feels good" change, with actual gameplay impact. All those times you missed hitting an ally by a just a hair as they swerve riiiight before it tags them and you want to die. Well, they still will probably happen, but a little less frequently if you are on point XD. Probably about +0.5% average win rate increase in all roles, w/more impactful in high skill/low ping environments.

2) The shield now doubles in strength on the first ally tagged (not Lux herself). This means the shield  is always 100/130/160/190/220 (+ 40% AP) for at least one Ally (assuming you you hit an Ally). If you tag the first ally on the way out and on the way back, the total shielding given to that ally is 200/260/320/380/440 (+ 80% AP). Still the same max 150 / 195 / 240 / 285 / 330 (+ 60% AP) on Lux herself, provided she tags an ally going out. This makes the potential shielding from one cast alone rather massive, especially as hit can potentially shield your entire team, unlike most supportive shielding skills. This is obviously much more impactful for support Lux than solo mid Lux, but a boost either way. About + 1.5-2.5% average win rate increase to support Lux (depending on how quickly people figure out to max W first, and buy Athene's into Ardent ASAP after Frost Queen's + basic boots are done.) About + 0.5% win rate increase for mid AP Lux (still not worth maxing before E or Q for mid).

3) The first ally tagged by the shield also gains an empowered auto-attack, dealing an additional 60/80/100/120/140 (+ 40% AP) magic damage on their next attack. Note that this damage scales with Lux's AP not the ally's, but is considered damage dealt by the ally, and uses the ally's magic pen stat, just like Sona's Q aura tag effect. This adds even more supportive power to the shield, and makes leveling the shield up first as support Lux feel much more palatable because you are still increasing damage output with ranks. Also great for mid AP Lux, helping your jungler secure that kill mid lane when they come to gank. Helping take objectives faster / more teamfight power. It makes that level 2 or 3 all-in with Lux support so much more threatening from a co-ordinated bot lane. A solid + 1.5% average win rate increase for support Lux. A respectabling + 0.5% increase for mid Lux.

Final Thoughts:

All together, these changes are more than a sum of their parts. I predict a + 5-6% win-rate increase for support Lux (once the right builds catch on), and about 1.5% increase for mid lane. These numbers are conservative, and could be higher if new builds and strategies are discovered.

This skill has long been an extreme weakpoint of Lux's kit, being at times slow, unresponsive, unimpactful and a "trap" that "wastes" more mana than it is worth given how often it fails to deliver th egoods. The main problem comes from the fact it is an supportive skill that can miss very easily. Trying to read your allies' movements and hit them with your skill-shot is suprisingly hard, especially while also carefully keeping an eye on the enemy movements to line up your three other skillshots and dodge the enemy skills and keep and eye on the mini-map.

I agree with the direction this is going: because the support skill can miss, make it really impactful to reward good use, smart timing, and co-ordinated play. I just wonder if it will be too much as is... Thoughts?