How to win lane as Lucian against Nautilus · 43.14% win rate over 51 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | You both have weak level 1s, but your long auto range and Lightslinger first-cast shot edge it — just don't walk into Dredge Line range to throw it. |
| Level 2 | Lucian | Piercing Light plus the Lightslinger double-tap lets you win a real trade before he has Riptide, and Relentless Pursuit dashes you out of his auto-root range. |
| Level 3 | Lucian | With Q-W-E up you poke, kite his approach with Ardent Blaze move speed, and dash any hook attempt — your peak lane control before his all-in tools arrive. |
| Levels 4-5 | Nautilus | His Riptide slow blunts your kiting and his hook threat forces you off the wave, so the immobile tank starts dictating the trades. |
| Level 6 | Nautilus | Dredge Line into Depth Charge is a full lockdown chain that bursts your low base HP through The Culling — his single biggest window and you cannot dash a landed hook. |
| First item | Nautilus | His first tank item makes him near-immune to your physical burst while one hook still one-shots your squishy frame into the CC chain. |
| Two+ items | Nautilus | A full-tank Nautilus walks through your DPS, his passive auto-root cancels your kiting, and as a poor scaler you can't out-stat him — close early or lose. |
Levels 1-3 are the only phase I genuinely own, and even then it's a knife-edge. My long auto range plus the Lightslinger double-tap off Piercing Light lets me chip him every time he steps to last-hit, and at 2 I can land a brutal double-shot trade before he has Riptide and Depth Charge online. The one rule: never stand still in his Dredge Line range. If he lands the hook, his passive root locks me in place and a squishy Lucian eats the entire CC chain. I dash with Relentless Pursuit to break spacing, not to chase.
The full Lucian vs Nautilus report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Nautilus vs Lucian guide →
All Lucian top lane matchups →