Lancelot

Introduction

It's been a while and welcome back! At last, we really need to talk about one of the best heroes out there. It's gonna be Lancelot, Perfumed Knight. Since the release of Lancelot, you probably have seen him in most games you played. Why? Because he is really powerful and belongs in the S+ Tier. Lancelot isn't any ordinary assassin or fighter. He has a special unique 2nd ability with tons of damage and played more like a spell caster. Let's discuss further below.

Lore

Lancelot hails from the Baroque family in the Land of Dawn, where at a young age he showed exquisite talent in the art of fencing, garnering the praise of the masses, so much so that he became lost in the admiration. When the magical tribes of the attacked, Lancelot, who had just awoken from a drunken stupor, arrogantly attacked them alone. After winning a few battles, he dropped his guard and pursued the remaining forces in arrogance but soon the magical tribes regrouped and defeated him within the mountains. After coming in contact with Princess Odette, he soon became enamored with her purity and also soon understood how wrong he was to be so arrogant and shallow in the past. When he was recovering at the Swan Castle, Lancelot soon realized the magical potential of the Regina family, he was able to integrate it into his fencing culminating in the shadow step maneuver. Now he once again sets foot in the fighting right to test his new skills.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Untargetable/invincibility during Thorned Rose
• Able to dodge targeted abilities/auto attacks with Thorned Rose at a correct timing
• Invincibility during Phantom Execution
• Extremely short cooldown
• High burst/High damage
• High mobility/ good jungle clear speed
• Can hard-carry games and perform outplays when played properly
• Lane bully

I know it seems biased,  but it's really almost everything Lancelot can do.

Cons:

• Dies quickly if gets crowd controlled
• Squishy
• Extremely mana hungry

Abilities

• A good finisher, 1 auto attack burst. Nothing too special, but wait, this ability isn't the one which makes Lancelot so powerful.

• This ability makes Lancelot  really mobile. You can charge around enemies to be more safe. But remember, Puncture's cooldown only refresh when you have hit a target enemy (only once each enemy).
• This ability is mostly used for mobility, damage-wised it's too low.

• This ability is extremely powerful, short cooldown with high burst.
• Skill shot is an area of effect of triangle-shaped in a short-decent range.
• When you are in this ability effect, you are untargetable.
• You can dodge incoming skillshot/targeted abilities/auto attacks/etc.
• Huge outplay mechanic
• Always max this ability first in under any circumstances.
• Very good scaling AD, build lots of AD to scale.

• Decent damage, good initiating ability with decent burst.
• Decent cooldown.

Items

Lancelot playstyle is more like a spell caster assassin, than an auto attack type. Build around abilities have better scalings than critical strike and attack speed items. I'll explain the items.

Bloodlust Axe: +70 Phy Atk and 10% CDR with heal 20% of damage inflicted - Overall the best core items on Lancelot. Physical Attack and CDR both is major for Lancelot. The heal is extremely useful especially when you use your second ability.

Magic Shoes: 10% CDR and 40 movement speed - More CDR = more Thorned Rose.

Hunter Strike: Good flat 100 physical attack and 10% CDR with a unique effect that can boost your movement speed to chase down enemies after 5 attacks.

Endless Battle: Overall a good item to build. Decent stats of everything and boosts your auto attack.

Blade of Despair: Good flat 170 physical attack with 10% attack speed for pushing towers. Another unique effect of 10% bonus damage whenever enemy are in abnormal state.

Malefic Roar: 60 physical attack with penetration. Build this if you are against enemy with heavy armored.

Rose Gold Mentor: Physical attack, Magic RES and Lifesteal. Build this if you have survivability issues.

Immortality: Build this only if you having survivability issues.

Battle Spells

I find Retribution the most useful spell on Lancelot because you could clear the jungle so quickly, it's almost like you are passing by, which helps you to get a major gold lead to carry the game.  The other viable spell would be Flicker or Purify like always.

Gameplay

Because Lancelot is such a lane bully, it's recommended to go into a duo lane which is either top or bottom. Start out with two mana regen necklaces (you'll need it) and/or jungle tier 1 to get more exp/clear faster jungle whenever you are off-lane. Spam your second ability (Thorned Rose) as much as possible to harass enemies. You might able to make them low enough to pickup some kills later on. You can also start with the buffs so you could spam more. Your objective would be try to snowball and gets a gold lead so you could carry the game. Set up an ambush with your fellow teammates to catch enemy offguard.

In teamfights, you would want to stay behind and spam Thorned Rose as much as possible. Or if you are really confident, Puncture into enemy backline and burst them down, this is where Immortality comes handy. If you are really experienced with Lancelot, you could make great outplays that could turn the tides. Such as dodging enemies' ultimates with your Thorned Rose or Phantom Execution.

Will Lancelot be nerfed? I'm not sure. But he is hella' fun to play with, but not against.