BLG3RNT BUILDS: The Complete Lyra Guide [Updated for 1.23] by BLG3RNT

BLG3RNT BUILDS: The Complete Lyra Guide [Updated for 1.23]

By: BLG3RNT
Last Updated: Nov 3, 2016
46 Votes
Build 1 of 4

Lyra

Build: Lane

Ability Path

Principle Arcanum
Heroic Perk
Imperial Sigil
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Bright Bulwark
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Arcane Passage
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Lyra

Build: Roam

Ability Path

Principle Arcanum
Heroic Perk
Imperial Sigil
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Bright Bulwark
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Arcane Passage
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Table of Contents Top

Introduction Top

BLGRNT BUILDS

I've been playing Vainglory casually since around 1.6 when Rona was released. I've always been a fan of VGF guides and they've helped me a lot through the game. I never felt my understanding of the game was good enough to create build guides, I just played.

I have constantly bounced from character to character trying to find that character that "just fit" me and never really found one. With the 1.19 update and the release of Lyra I found a character I truly enjoyed playing. It made me want to understand the minutia of the game. So I wrote a simplistic guide for Lyra, but it felt unfulfilling for me. So I set out to write this guide; a more fulfilling guide.

I collected stats and compiled ways to understand the game, and what effects the builds truly have. Hopefully that will translate well to my build guides. I hope this to be the first of many guides. I'm not a pro player, but I think I am pretty good with analysis, and I think my guides will contribute to other players enjoying the game further.

A final note on my guides and guides in general: The author of the guide has a particular play style. As do I. My guides reflect my play style. They won't fit everyone's style. Typically for my builds I look for different ways to build characters. There isn't a reason to repeat the same stuff over and over, but mostly I look for what works for me. So understand these guides probably won't reflect the typical thought process towards a character.

Check out my other guides
Catch me streaming on Twitch
Follow me on Twitter
My YouTube Channel
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Welcome to BLG3RNT BUILDS: Lyra

Featured Top

This guide was featured twice on this site:
This guide was featured in the game:

Change Log Top

1.20


Added New Builds
Added Updates Section
Changed Update Section to Change Log
Added Planned Guide Additions
Updated Stats
Updated Abilities Section
Added a note about Imperial Sigil
Updated Build Items Section
Updated Option Item Section
Added Other Builds Sections
Added Roam Lyra Section
Added Aggro Roam/Jungle Lyra Section
Added Weapon Lyra Section
Updated "What can Bulwark Do for You" section


1.21
Bright Bulwark nerfed down to 2 second duration.
Note Added in Abilities Section to reflect this change.
Updated 'Hey! That's not fair...' section to reflect this change.
Added Lyra Lore
Added Table of Contents
Added Item Economics Section


1.22
Added Updates Section
Added Update 1.22 section


It's very possible I missed some numbers in the recalculation update (perks of creating such a detailed guide). If you notice any please let me know!

Updates Top

I try my very hardest to keep my builds up to date. One thing that I've found, however, is that the size and depth of my guides can become quite the hinderance in this process. Also as the number of my guides grow, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with all of them all of the time. What I've now decided to do is to simply add an "Update 1.xx" section each time character receives a stat change. That stats in the builds will not be changed, I quote numbers far to often throughout my guide to constantly have to try to track down every instance that is affected by the nerf/buff. I do hope this is acceptable to those who enjoy my guides.

The stats in this guide are accurate as of 1.21

Update 1.23 Top

Lyra experienced no changes in 1.23

Update 1.22 Top

Principle Arcanum

Changes
Slow on basic attack down from 70% to 35% + 1% bonus health ratio
Energy cost up from 12-20 to 15-20

The slow is self explanatory I believe. Her slow is far less effective. Those playing against her are thanking the Halcyon Fold Gods, those who play Lyra are cursing them.

The energy cost is significant early game, but identical late game. This will hurt those playing Lyra in the lane primarily, but it will hamper roam Lyra as well if she needs to help in any early game fights.

Possible solutions
Frostburn: Frostburn offers a 10% slow +1% for every 10 CP. This item in itself offers 100 CP, so the mathematical reality is that Frostburn gives you 10% slow from it's passive. If you couple this with a Shatterglass (or some other combination of 150 CP) you have it maxed out at the 35% ceiling for this items slow capabilities, which raises Lyra's slow back up to 70%+ (+ depending on your bonus health). This may be the best solution for counteracting the nerf for lane Lyra

Shiversteel: The main difference between this item and Frostburn as far as the slow is concerned is that this item has to be activated. However, it's a stronger slow. This item may be the best solution to counteract the nerf on Principle Arcanum's slow for roam Lyra since roam Lyra will depend far less on CP than a lane Lyra. This item all by itself when activated will give Lyra 80% slow.

Imperial Sigil
Energy cost changed from 65-70-75-80-85 to 60-70-80-90-100

Actually is cheaper at level 1, not significant until level 4. At level 5 what this essentially means with the main build of this guide (1015 total energy) is that you can cast it approximately 2 less times before depleting your energy pool.

Possible solutions
If you aren't already, start favoring Halcyon Chargers over any other boots. Also when speaking strictly about the builds I offer in this guide consider adding a Clockwork over another CP item. Consider Stormcrown in the WP build.

About Stats and Items Top

Throughout this guide I will explain what this build actually does for your stats, how the items affect your build and abilities. It is my hope that this will help you better understand how swapping items effects your character. A guide is a exactly that, a guide. You don't have to follow this to the letter. Your game play is probably different than mine.

The reality of this, however, is that it's virtually impossible to cover every variation against every opponent. If there is something specific you are having problems understanding let me know in the comments and I'll try to help you out. I will say up front, that it is completely possible that I won't be able to answer every request. That circles back around to not being able to cover every variation.

All of the stats I give here are based on the characters lvl 12 stats

I will offer stats vs particular items. Such as "This build deals x damage vs Aegis. Since I cannot account for every character and every possible statistical build I will let you know what the stats vs that item are.

I generally math well, but if you see a calculation that might be inaccurate please, please, please let me know.

In general stats are rounded off rather than ridiculously long decimal numbers.

One final note I can think of: I searched for hours looking for basic attack speeds. I could not locate anything that stated what 100% attack speed officially meant. The closest I came to an answer was that at 100% attack speed a character would attack approximately 1 time every 1.3 seconds, so that's what I ended up using for my stat analysis.

Lore Top

‘THE CONSEQUENCE AND THE INCEPTION’
Spoiler: Click to view

‘THE FIRST MISTAKE’
Spoiler: Click to view


Vainglory Spotlight Top


Abilities Top

Principle Arcanum
Slot: Heroic Perk

Lyra's attacks are arcane missiles that deal crystal damage. if she holds her ground after releasing an attack, she automatically follows up with a heavy attack.
  • Each channeled missile consumes 15-20 (level 1-12) energy, but Lyra can continue using these even if she runs out of energy.
  • Light attack damage: 60-95 (level 1-12) (+40% crystal power) (+100% weapon power)
  • Heavy attack damage: 70-180 (level 1-12) (+120% crystal power) (+100% weapon power)
  • Heavy attack slow: 0% (+0.05% of bonus max health)

With the recommended build of this guide this heroic perk will deal 237 crystal damage/84 crystal damage vs Aegis with the first arcane missile. It will deal 322 crystal damage/143 crystal damage vs Aegis.

Imperial Sigil
Slot: A

Lyra creates a sigil that heals nearby allied heroes and damages nearby enemy heroes. Reactivate this ability to detonate the sigil, dealing heavy damage to enemies while providing a move speed boost to allies inside and immediately consuming the remaining duration to heal at 30% effectiveness.
  • The healing per second is increase by 15% of Lyra's bonus health.
  • The sigil depletes faster the more heroes it is healing/damaging.
  • The sigil has vision, so it can see enemies.
  • The Detonation deals 50% less damage to minions.

This build effects this ability's stats as follows:
Cooldown: from 8 to 5.7
Damage/sec: Increase of 196 crystal damage
Detonate dmg: Increase of 294 crystal damage
Dmg to minions: Increase of 245 crystal damage
Heal/sec: Increase to 115/130/145/160/190
Detonate heal: Increase to 114/134/154/174/214
NOTE: When using this ability on anything but a Hero (i.e. Turret, Kraken, Minions) it doesn't do Damage/Sec. I see a lot of players toss it out under the Kraken and just leave it there. Detonate it, so you can deal the damage and start your cooldown and reuse it faster.

Bright Bulwark
Slot: B

Lyra creates a walled zone around her, damaging and applying a slow to surrounding enemies.
  • Enemies inside the zone are slowed.
  • Enemies attempting to dash through the wall are stopped.
  • Enemies who cross the wall take the same damage and slow again.

This build effects this ability's stats as follows:
Cooldown decrease to: 17/16/14/13/10
Damage: Increase of 122.5 crystal damage
NOTE: As of 1.21 (tomorrow) the duration of Bright Bulwark will only be 2 seconds. I imagine VGF will get it updated quickly, but wanted to put the note here (one day early) until then.

Arcane Passage
Slot: C

Lyra teleports to the target location, creating portals at both ends that allow anyone to teleport across.
  • Portals last for 8.5s.
  • After travelling through a portal, heroes must wait 4.5s before re-entering one.
  • Enemies inside of Lyra's Bright Bulwark cannot enter a portal.
  • Heroes standing directly on top of a portal as it forms must step off the portal then re-enter to use it.

This build effects this ability's stats as follows:
Cooldown decrease to: 53.6/42.9/32.1

Build Stats Top

Here are the lvl 12 stats for this build. Numbers in parenthesis indicate how much of that number is effected by the items in the build. If no parenthesis exist it's a stat that is only influenced by items.

* = The amount of the attack that is attributed to +40% additional crystal power from Principle Arcanum
** = The amount of the attack that is attributed to +60% additional crystal power from Principle Arcanum
Basic Attack 1: is the 1st arcane missile from Principle Arcanum
Basic Attack 2: is the 2nd stronger arcane missile from Principle Arcanum

Basic Attack 1 188/Vs Aegis (84)/(98)*
Basic Attack 2 322/Vs Aegis (143)/(147)**
Health 2166 (800)
Energy 1015 (250)
Crystal Power 245
Weapon Power 10 (0)
Cooldown 40%
Energy Regen 6.5
Health Regen 0
Atk Spd 201 (65)
Armor 233 (170)
Shield 98 (35)
Range 6.8 (0)
Move Speed 3.8 (0.5)
Crystal Lifesteal 0
Weapon Lifesteal 0
Shield Pierce 0
Armor Pierce 0
Crit Chance 0
Crit Dmg 0
Sprint 3

Build Items Examined Top

Total Build Cost|14450
Energy Battery:
I start with this item always with Lyra. The main reason I start with this item is because of Lyra's heroic perk. Her arcane missiles use your energy, which means you are going to go through energy much faster than you are used to. It gives you an additional 150 energy plus energy regen. But wait! You might be thinking, Isn't that a wasted item? You aren't building Clockwork or Eve of Harvest.

Full disclosure: I thought this was true of this build. During the course of my battles I didn't pay that close of attention until I played a match in the middle of developing this guide.

The reality is you, like myself, may not have noticed that there is a new item that is on the Energy Battery build path as of 1.19, which isn't a crystal item so you may have missed it like I did. That item is in this build, that item saves you from wasting an item to get Energy Battery to start. Halcyon Chargers.
Alternating Current:
This item is probably the most powerful item for Lyra. You'll see most builds for Lyra include this item. If fact you'll see most builds start with Swift Shooter in order to race to this item. From my experience that choice instead of Energy Battery will lead you to energy depletion. So what exactly does Alternating Current do for us?

Stats:
+60 crystal power
+65% attack speed

Here is a simple explanation: The attack speed changes allows you to increase from 1 attack per second to 1.5 per second. Simple math tells you that's an extra attack per every 2 seconds. Let's look at what that does with Lyra.

(disclaimer: the following stats are using stats from the full build)
I'm unclear about Lyra's heroic perk and whether the second stronger channelled missile is counted as a basic attack, or if it's a bonus. For this example I'm going to count it as a basic attack, if I'm wrong just know these stats would be even stronger.

3 attacks in the course of 2 seconds with this item. Therefore in 2 seconds you will have channelled 2 basic attacks and 1 strengthened missile. As noted earlier that's 188+322+188=698 damage in 2 seconds.

But wait! There's more
Alternating Current has an additional perk: Every other basic attack deals 70% of your crystal power as bonus damage. So that means every other attack with this build deals an additional 172 crystal damage. So if we only apply that 1 time assuming the second attack is "every other attack" that means we deal 870 damage in the course of 2 seconds.

Let's compare that to if we swapped Alternating Current for another item like Eve of Harvest and left all of the other items the same. With the loss of the attack speed we now only do 1 basic attack every second, which means 2 attacks in the 2 second time frame we've been using.
The crystal power from Eve of Harvest isn't much different +55 as opposed to +60 for Alternating Current so at first glance you might think that the loss of damage is in significant. You'd be correct, but wrong. Our regular arcane missile now does 186 damage vs 188 with Alternating Current. Our boosted arcane missile now does 319 with Eve of Harvest vs 322 with Alternating Current. Not that much, but let's do the math with the attack speed.

Alternating Current: 188+322+172+188=870
Eve of Harvest: 186+319=505

That's only 58% of the damage in the same 2 seconds.

"You're missing a bunch of numbers you didn't math correctly!" But I did. To clarify, we lost the last 188 because we can't achieve the 3rd attack in that 2 second time frame. We lost the 172 because we no longer have the perk from Alternating Current
Crucible
Lyra has the 4th worst health stats with only Blackfeather, Celeste, and Petal with less health to start. So let's boost that. No item offers more health than Crucible. Only Shiversteel and War Treads have close at +500. War Treads costs 650 more gold, and Shiversteel is cheaper but only offers slow as any additional effect, and Lyra already has a built in, and stronger, slow with Principle Arcanum.
Halcyon Chargers
I choose these boots because their cooldown allows me to choose Shatterglass instead of Clockwork. It's not nearly as big of a cooldown boost, but let's look at the results of needing Clockwork instead of Shatterglass.

With this build if we select Clockwork the following occurs:

Arcane missiles from Principle Arcanum decrease: with Shatterglass - 188/322; with Clockwork - 128/232
Alternating Current bonus decrease: 172 to 67

So using that let's look at our example from earlier. Our 2 second attack looks this:
With Shatterglass: 188+322+172+188=870 damage
With Clockwork: 128+232+67+128=555 damage

But what else does this effect? Let's look at one of the abilities shall we?

Imperial Sigil
With Shatterglass this ability looked like this:
Cooldown: from 8 to 5.7
Damage/sec: Increase of 196 crystal damage
Detonate dmg: Increase of 294 crystal damage
Dmg to minions: Increase of 245 crystal damage
Heal/sec: Increase to 115/130/145/160/190
Detonate heal: Increase to 114/134/154/174/214

With Clockwork this ability looks like this:
Cooldown: from 8 to 4.2 (+1.5)
Damage/sec: Increase of 76 crystal damage (-120)
Detonate dmg: Increase of 114 crystal damage (-180)
Dmg to minions: Increase of 95 crystal damage (-50)
Heal/sec: Increase to 115/130/145/160/190
Detonate heal: Increase to 114/134/154/174/214

Shall we look at this further?

We gain 1.5 seconds of cooldown which basically means for every three times we cast Imperial Sigil with Clockwork we get one free. But is it worth it?

Let's use just the detonate damage to examine this. I could look at all of the stats but I think you'll get the point.

At lvl 5:
(note: these stats are the total damage not just the crystal increase)
Detonate Damage with Shatterglass: 619*3=1857
Detonate Damage with Clockwork: 439*4=1756

So we are losing 100 damage with 1 extra detonation.

But let's think realistic gameplay. You aren't going to simply cast 1 right after the other. After all the opponents move. So if we go back to a single detonate we are losing 180 crystal damage per hit, and that could be the difference between the opponent getting killed or getting away. Or worse it could mean you fall 180 damage short of saving your teammate, or yourself, in the middle of a team fight.

Sorry the boot section became all about other items, but the cooldown from Halcyon Chargers allows this item choice.
Metal Jacket
Originally I was playing Lyra with Atlas Pauldron to counter the speed of Krul, Koshka, and other speedy characters. Then I started looking at it closer.

So here's what I did. I created a Krul build that included Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger, serpent's mask (actually when playing a match during the development time of this build I encountered a Krul with precisely these items in his build). I understand that most builds here on VGF use crystal items, but I wanted the build to be weapon heavy so I could look at the effects of Atlas Pauldron vs Metal Jacket.

Something to remember is the effect of Atlas Pauldron is an active and it lasts for 5 seconds. So I looked at this in burst of 5 seconds of damage. It has a 15 second cooldown, and slows attacks by 65%.

Reduces attack speed of nearby enemies by 65% for 5 seconds in a 4-meter range. Does not reduce below the base attack speed animation. (15s cooldown)

Here's how it breaks down:

Atlas Pauldron:
Armor: +85
In 5 seconds without Atlas Pauldron active this Krul would cause 1035 damage (this accounts for the damage negated by the armor).
In the 5 seconds with Atlas Pauldron active this damage lowers to 673.

Metal Jacket:
Armor: +170 (twice as much armor btw)
In 5 seconds this Krul build would cause 710 damage

Conclusion:
With Atlas Pauldron active we save ourselves 37 damage. That's with the caveat that we remember to activate it.
Without the active we are hammered with an extra 325 damage.

To put this in perspective let’s look at a 10 second encounter, which means you'd have 5 seconds with the active and 5 while it was on cooldown.

Atlas Pauldron: 1035+673=1708 damage taken
Metal Jacket: 710+710=1420 damage taken

So yes, if you manage to only fight Krul for 5 seconds in which 37 damage is the difference between living and dying and you have the active available and not on cooldown, yes it would save you.

but in the long run you have 282 health better chance at survival with Metal Jacket if that encounter goes beyond the 5 seconds the active lasts. Of course the choice is up to you.
Aftershock
Stats:
+25% Cooldown Speed
+2.5 Energy Recharge
+35 Crystal Power

Here's how I'm going to present Aftershock:

Aftershock is another item with a neat perk.

After using an ability, your next basic attack deals 15% of your target's max health as damage with +50% lifesteal. Max 400 damage vs non-heroes. 1.5 second cooldown.

To understand this ability I'm going to use Krul again (also remembering that I'm simply not going to account for every character and every item combination). For this build I gave Krul War Treads, Crucible, and Atlas Pauldron. This puts his total health at 2601.

So let’s look at this combo: Imperial Sigil detonate dmg + our 2 second build combo from earlier with the effects of Aftershock added in. Since I didn't give him Aegis I'm not going to account for the effects of that... frankly it makes it more simple to understand what this item does.

So Krul jumps out from the bushes and rushes you. You toss an Imperial Sigil on the ground between you and him and when he walks over it you detonate it for 619 damage. Over the course of the next 2 seconds you hit him with your 3 basic attack of arcane missiles for 188+322+172+188=870 damage. Oh wait, Aftershock give an additional 15% of his max health damage to the basic attack immediately following the Imperial Sigil detonate. So it actually looks like (188+390)+322+172+188=1260.

So in 2-3 seconds this build allows you to deal 1879 damage to Krul.

Didn't expect that from the every squishy Lyra did he? This item choice has been questioned by some who have read this build, and that’s fine. It’s not the typical Broken Myth or Clockwork choice that CP players tend to go towards. I continue to like this choice, but will say this:

Aftershock is the last item I build, and usually don’t get to it before the match is over. When I get to build it I am usually relieved because of the added power in the match. Aftershock is designed to combat players with high health, the higher the health the better this item works. This can be very useful with the added squishiness of Lyra after the 1.20 update. This is a guide, and this is what works for me. Of the CP items I’d consider this one the most flexible.

Optional Items Top

To reiterate these are the core items. I consider these the irreplaceable pieces of this build. I've supplied you with what I think is the best combination, but now we will take a look at some of the items that could be possible replacements.
This is simple so I won't spend much time on it. If you are facing Crystal instead of Weapon choose Aegis it's really your only choice for shield protection instead of armor protection.

Earlier I gave the comparison between Metal Jacket and Atlas Pauldron. I personally don't consider this to be a choice any longer, but you might. I will acknowledge that Atlas Pauldron active will affect more than one character that's within range. Lyra is a ranged character. She is meant to participate from a distance. Atlas Pauldron in my opinion is better served on a brawler type character like Phinn or Ardan who will be in the middle of the foray.
Let's say you thought about trading Shatterglass out for Broken Myth because you want more damage to go through Aegis. Let's look at what happens.

In the following chart you'll see build stats. To the left of the / are the original build stats and on the right of the / are the stats affected by the item being discussed.

Basic Attack 1: 188/Vs Aegis (84)/(98)/156/Vs Aegis (78)/(66)
Basic Attack 2: 322/Vs Aegis (143)/(147) /274/Vs Aegis (137)/(99)
Crystal Power: 245/165
Shield Pierce: 0/10%

So you can see Shatterglass is so powerful in this build that the shield pierce doesn't make up for the lost crystal power.

But what if we swap it out for Aftershock or Alternating Current instead of Shatterglass? I demonstrated about in the Build item section what the loss of the extra damage from the basic attacks would do. However if you were to swap it out with Aftershock let's take a look:

Basic Attack 1: 188/Vs Aegis (84)/(98)/202/Vs Aegis (101)/(112)
Basic Attack 2: 322/Vs Aegis (143)/(147) /343/Vs Aegis (172)/(168)
Crystal Power: 245/280
Cooldown: 40%/15%
Energy Regen: 6.5/4
Shield Pierce: 0/10%
Alternating Current perk: 172/196

There are some significant changes if you swap Broken Myth for Aftershock.

But let's look at our combo example from earlier. Remember attack speed isn't affected by this change so we will get all three attacks with Broken Myth as well:

vs the Krul build from the previous section.
With Aftershock: 619+(188+390)+322+172+188=1879 dmg
With Broken Myth: 619+202+343+196+202=1562 dmg

So you lose 317 dmg in that example (which is even greater that before the 1.20 nerf this number was only 293). You also lose the 390 from aftershock from every attack after an ability. Lyra relies heavily on her abilities and you are more than likely going to cast them very often.

However if we look at just the 3 hit 2 second combo:

With Aftershock: 188+322+172+188=870
With Broken Myth: 202+343+196+202=943

You gain 73 (down from 97 pre-nerf) dmg with every 2 second attack combo we discussed. It's more consistent than the ability combo. So this is a swap you might consider depending on your preference, and how often you cast your abilities. It may be a situational swap if you are facing a shield heavy opposing team. Just remember you are sacrificing cooldown and energy regen as well.
Let's compare the boots.
Passive: +0.6 move speed. (Does not stack with other boots.)
Activate: Sprint for 2 seconds (60s cooldown). Damaging heroes instantly sets the cooldown to 12 seconds if it is above it.
+250 Max Health
I don't personally consider this a viable option for Lyra. It only offers +50 health more than Halcyon Chargers and the only other benefit is that you can reduce the cooldown. The only argument I can make to myself for these boots is that they would allow you to flee more often which could be helpful for someone as squishy as Lyra
Pasive: +0.4 move speed. (Does not stack with other boots.)
Activate: Grant a sprint to all nearby teammates for 2 seconds (60s cooldown).
+500 Max Health
If the opposing team are doing heavy damage these may be a suitable replacement for Halcyon Chargers. It's more than double the HP bonus. If you decide to play more of a support role with Lyra these may be the boots for you. I just prefer the stats of the Halcyon Chargers.
Let's address my opinion of Clockwork.
Passive: Amplify Crystal Power by 25%

+40% Cooldown Speed
+250 Max Energy
+7.5 Energy Recharge
Many have expressed an preference to Clockwork over some of the other items in my builds. I can see some of the benefits. If you were to swap Clockwork out for Aftershock for example, you'd achieve a higher CP because of Clockwork's passive. I personally prefer Aftershock's passive. Additionally you only gain 1 second of cooldown on abilities when they are maxed out, except with Arcane Passage which is significantly affected. Furthermore, the reason I don't choose Clockwork is because I don't find I place I'd rather build Clockwork over another item early in the build. Once I've achieved Void Battery it's really difficult to run out of mana, so the extra energy and energy recharge don't help me any. I won't say it's a bad choice if you wish to create your build with Clockwork involved. It could still be a solid build, but it's not my preference. I prefer Clockwork on characters with longer cooldowns.

Item Economics Top

When you are building your items, what is the best approach to building them? We often talk about rushing items, but is that the best way to do it? Let's take a look.

Let's say the first two items we are going to build are Shatterglass & Broken Myth.

To get there we know we have to build:

4 Crystal Bits
2 Heavy Prisms
1 Eclipse Prism
1 Piercing Shard

Before finally reaching our goal. For this example let's say we start the game with a Crystal Bit and 2 Halcyon Potions, as we want to keep one item slot always open for our Halcyon Potions, so we will be left with 4 item slots.

On your first trip back to the shop you've amassed 1400 gold, which would be enough to purchase a Heavy Prism (750 by upgrading the Crystal Bit), and a Eclipse Prism (650). That's a total of 85 CP.

On the other hand we could purchase 3 more Crystal Bits for 900 gold since we know we need a total of 4 for the Shatterglass & Broken Myth we are building towards. Then we could also upgrade 1 of those Crystal Bits to an Eclipse Prism for an additional 350. Putting our total cost at 1250. In this case we'd have a total of 95 CP for 150 less gold.

This still leaves you with 1 item slot open, which you could soon place Sprint Boots in or whatever other item you like to get in the early game.

In Vainglory the lower tier items often offer more bang for your buck, so to speak. Obviously eventually we have to upgrade because we have limited item slots. If you know your build well, and plan it out, sometimes building towards 2 items by stocking lower tier items first makes you more powerful early game, instead of rushing and pouring all of your resources into rushing that Shatterglass. Also keep in mind, that in this particular scenario the Shatterglass, which we are building towards first, has no special passive that benefits us if we get there sooner, it's pure CP. Take this into account with your build when deciding if you want to rush an item or stockpile smaller items first.

Other Builds Top

Understand that Everything in this guide is built around Lane Lyra. That's where I prefer to play Lyra despite her intended purpose and despite SMC's attempt to take her out of the lane by changing her stats. After the 1.20 nerf I still prefer playing her in the lane. I've included other builds, and while I will not address all the stats and items for the builds as detailed as I have above, I will address these builds below. It's also notable that when originally creating my lane build I examined Lyra through the stats, chose items, and then tested and adjusted in game. It's why you may find my lane build statistically sound, and why some of you have responded that it doesn't work great for you in practice. (It does work great for me). For the rest of the builds I developed them through feel and in game application. It is easier (for me personally) to develop a lane character through stats than it is a roam character. It should be obvious to you, but I'll state it anyways, if I was just building a tank roam through stats I'd build Crucible, War Treads, Shiversteel, Metal Jacket, and Aegis since these will give the most health and protection, but they aren't completely functional in practice. They make you hard to kill, but not good at much else.

Roam Lyra Top

With my Roam build I consistently achieve huge assist numbers, and almost zero deaths. The key to any Lyra build is positioning and board presence. Roam Lyra is no different. position yourself for escape, and manipulate the board with your abilities. When you've mastered that you'll avoid death with the roam build.

My goal with roam Lyra is purely protection and board control.

Fountain of Renewal allows you an additional way to heal everyone. Imperial Sigil has a cooldown, but can also be used to attack, or in defensive manner to block opponents, it also can be used for vision, and choosing Fountain of Renewal allows you to use Imperial Sigil more often for these reasons than keeping your team healed.

I find Contraption a mandatory item for nearly all roam characters, and personally being a player that favors squishy lane characters I understand that importance of vision. It's extremely frustrating when my roam isn't providing me with vision on the board with Contraption. This item also adds 350 bonus health, which directly effects how much healing Imperial Sigil provides.

Dragonblood Contract is the last item I'll address, because it's probably an item that is uncommon, and will lead to questions.

Dragonblood Contract
Activate: After a brief delay, nearby enemy heroes are marked for 3 seconds. The next basic attack from an ally consumes the mark, slowing by 30% for 2s and dealing 100 bonus crystal damage. 15s cooldown. 2 max charges, 40s per charge.

Range: 4m

Here's how I use this item. At select times in team brawls I will use Arcane Passage to warp into the middle of a team fight, or chase down a fleeing opponent, and then trigger the contract. Alternatively you can trigger it first, but you have to be more accurate with your Arcane Passage. Mark the opponents for my teammates, and then I get out of the way. It can be a tricky maneuver, but it's very possible. I understand this isn't a very commonly selected item, but I like using it. I wait to grab it 3rd because of the tactic I use with it, I have to be at level 6 before it's useful. It only costs 300 to buy, so it's not setting your purchasing track back very far, and while I realize it's becomes less useful in the late game, every little bit helps. You can replace it later on, but when I roam with Lyra very rarely does the game last long enough for me to build my 6th full item.

Aggro Roam/Jungle Lyra Top

If I'm jungling as Lyra I'm typically alone. This occurs when playing with random matching where my teammates choose to double lane. Otherwise if there are 2 bodies in the jungle Lyra should be the support. So I need to accomplish 2 things. I need to blend my roam support style, with my lane style. I need to be effective and powerful enough in combat, but if we are paying a double lane team composition then I need to be support as well. This is why I simply substitute in Alternating Current and Shatterglass for Contraption and Metal Jacket. Alternatively you could use this build as a roam if you wanted a more aggressive build path, thus "Aggro Roam"

Stormcrown is the only item I'll touch on in this section, because I haven't yet addressed it anywhere else in this guide.

Passive: Basic attacks deal 50-150 (level 1-12) bonus true damage per second to non-heroes, 20% to heroes

+30% Cooldown Speed
+4 Energy Recharge
+200 Health

This item will help you tear through the jungle creeps much faster. If you are newer and don't understand what "true damage" is, this means that those stats are not effected by the creeps shield or armor stats, you are doing that much extra damage regardless. Now, personally I build Stormguard Banner and leave it at that, and I don't until my last item if I have nothing else to buy. Alternatively in the late game you could sell Stormguard Banner if you are in one of those fights where you have more money than you can spend.

Weapon Lyra Top

I will admit I'm not the biggest fan of WP Lyra, but it's becoming more common, and if I truly want to call this the "complete" Lyra guide I had to understand it better. First and foremost understand that Lyra is built to work with CP. None of her ability stats are synergistic with WP. Furthermore you are seriously crippling your impperial sigil damage ability, which gains huge buffs with CP.

That all being said what I've been most successful with when it comes to WP Lyra is substituting Sorrowblade, Breaking Point, and Tornado Trigger for Alternating Current, Shatterglass, and Aftershock.

The reason I build Sorrowblade first is because Breaking Point's passive (Passive: Gain 10 weapon power for every 125 Weapon damage dealt to enemy heroes (+5 damage needed for each stack thereafter). 25 stacks max. Decays 2 stacks per second after you’ve stopped stacking for 2 seconds.) doesn't trigger until you've done 125 weapon damage. If you start with Breaking Point you won't trigger the passive with each basic attack until you've build Sorrowblade. Even with Breaking Point (+55) and Heavy Steel plus Lyra's own weapon power of 10 (120 total) on the way to building Sorrowblade 2nd you still won't trigger the passive with every basic attack.

Once you have built Sorrowblade and Breaking Point you'll be dealing a total of 215 weapon damage with each basic attack, plus adding an additional 10 weapon damage each attack. It scales quite well with Lyra's double tap style heroic perk Principle Arcanum. Just think by your second Principle Arcanum (4th attack total) you'll land 255 weapon damage with that one single missile.

I may revisit this section. I may add an alternative weapon build later as I toy with it more. For now that's what I offer for the WP Lyra build.

Playing in the Lane Top

I prefer playing Lyra in the lane. She works great in any role really, and with the new gold system you don't need to change play style too much if you decide to take her into the jungle. She's labelled a protector, but I prefer to lane with her.

Lyra is a Closer. It is more than likely that you will not gain any ground in the lane early-mid game on your own. In fact I've had several matches where I lose ground, losing the first two turrets to the opposing team. Lyra is dependent on a good jungle team in order to gain ground, and will lose ground early-mid without a strong jungle team. This is okay, much like it's okay for a Closer race horse to be at the back of the pack early in the race. There have been many occasions where my team was requesting surrender, and we won. Lyra can take time to come into her own as a laner, and really as a character in general. Be patient.

When you lane with Lyra, your focus must be on two things: position and farming. My experience in the lane in general is that many players are out for the kill. This is why so often you will run into someone who is so hell bent on kills they will select a laner as a roam when the team already has the lane filled, leaving you weak in the jungle, because they would rather make kills than tank and protect. That being said your positioning in the lane is paramount. Lyra is unusually squishy, so you can't handle much damage ever during the match.

Positioning
Know your opponent. By that I mean know what the character you're laning against is capable of, and understand what they want to do, and how they want to position themselves for that character's abilities. Once you understand this you will use your Imperial Sigil to damage and control the board.

Imperial Sigil
Lyra is about manipulating the ground on which we play. With her abilities she marks areas on the map essentially laying claim to that land. One mistake I've seen from opposing Lyra players is trying to get extra damage from the Imperial Sigil burst damage. They toss Sigil out and instantly trigger it to try to get the burst damage. Unless your opponent is so low on health that this tactic will kill them, or you are trying to utilize the slowing effect from the burst in order to save an ally, this is a mistake.

Resist going for the kill, and play the game. By that I mean don't be a kill chaser. Yes, killing opponents moves you closer to the win. Acing the team moves you closer to the win. But when you go up against more advanced, smarter players, trying to quickly bust your wad will leave you quickly busted up.

Instead understand that while your Imperial Sigil is on the ground you've eliminated an entire portion of the board. Few players will deliberately stand on Imperial Sigil because they need the position on the board, they will instead go around it to avoid damage. This means you can decide where you want them to lane from, and thus decide where you want to be safe.

Lane Combo Top

So... Let me teach you how to wreck the lane. Now, understand it may take you some time to learn the timing on this. It may take a few deaths to learn how and when to do it. However, once you've learned this little trick Lyra can take away nearly the entire lane and force the opponent into retreat.

This works best when in your territory with your back against the turret. The reason for this is that, as I stated earlier few players will deliberately stand or walk through Imperial Sigil, most often they will retreat as soon as it hits the ground (some are starting to learn to walk forward through it and attack, which is why this works best close to your turret, but most will turn back).

Step 1:
You will toss Imperial Sigil on the ground, preferably with them dead center, but if you miss, you want to miss in front, not behind. That way if they do come forward they will be damaged for a longer period of time. If you are close enough to your turret, and they rush forward and attack you instead of retreating, the turret will engage. This needs to happen to one side of the lane, and you need to be positioned on the opposite side of the lane, so you should be tossing it diagonally.

Step 2:
Immediately after tossing out Imperial Sigil you want to move forward (again, on the opposite side you tossed Imperial Sigil, and when you are even with the Imperial Sigil you will hit Bright Bulwark. It's very wide, it should overlap imperial sigil], and if you're lucky your opponent will have started moving towards your side since you closed off the other side with the Sigil. [[bright bulwark is more than a slow, the initial pulse does damage. So at the least you have now produced a barrier that spans most of, if not all of, the lane.

Now you can retreat and farm the lane minions, or try to burst down your opponent, especially if they were hit with the Bright Bulwark and slowed. Keep in mind that the effect of this tactic has been reduced after the 1.21 nerf, since the Bright Bulwark only lasts 2 seconds now, but can still be effective.

Here is a video depicting this combo:
You'll see the Imperial Sigil tossed to one side. In this case it was to provide vision in the bushes. Adagio enters into the scene. He attempts to move around the sigil towards the top of the lane, which is then removed by the placement of the bulwark. He retreats to his turret having nowhere in the lane to go.

An alternative tactic to counter what many players are doing now. Many players are now walking through the Imperial Sigil to continue their attack, ignoring the damage. As they approach hit your Bright Bulwark and overlap the edge of the Imperial Sigil thus forcing them to retreat back through the Imperial Sigil or take damage and snare from the Bright Bulwark.

Here are two videos depicting this combo:
In the first Skaarf is attacking. The Imperial Sigil is placed mostly behind him, and to avoid him moving forward and continuing the attack on the turret, his adavance is cut off by the Bright Bulwark

In the second example SAW is hit with an Imperial Sigil notice the placement, again behind him so his retreat will hurt more. Bright Bulwark is then placed in front of him. He chooses to stand in the Imperial Sigil to attempt to continue his attack. Ultimately it was a poor choice as I secure the kill.

Capture Combo Top

Here's another trick. There will be times where an opponent is fleeing and near death. Alternatively you'll be in the middle of a team fight, you're team is gaining the upper hand, and you anticipate them needing to retreat. You can use a Arcane Passage/ Bright Bulwark combo to capture them (in a sense) removing their movement abilities, finish the kill or give your opponents a chance to secure the kill.

Step 1) Use Arcane Passage to catch up to, or move behind the fleeing enemy.

Step 2) Trigger Bright Bulwark

Here is a video depicting this combo:
You'll see a team fight occur. SAW is bursted down, and the opposing team is running low. Playing as Lyra I use Arcane Passage to move behind the enemy team. My initial intention was to finish off SAW, but as you'll see I did that prior to the combo with a final arcane missile. What results, however, is Adagio and Ardan are cut off, their retreat slowed, and ultimately my teammate Taka secures a kill on Ardan because he was slowed, and damaged by passing through the Bright Bulwark.

Lane Opponents Top

Allow me a few thoughts on those who you may oppose you in the
Adagio: His biggest threat is his damage. He moves too slow to pose much of a threat vs Lyra's lane control, and Lyra has enough range with her basic attacks to avoid the arcane fire. You'll have to make sure you keep your lane positioning in mind.
Blackfeather: I don't have much experience vs him. I've never had much problem with Blackfeather in the lane with any character.
Celeste: The most dangerous thing about her is her Core Collapse. If she hits you with a stun you are a sitting duck for Heliogenesis or ganks
Kestrel: This is an interesting mach up for Lyra depending on the skill of the opponent. Kestrel's Glimmershot is powerful, and poses a serious threat that if it hits Lyra can burst her down fairly quick. The problem for Kestrel is that the range of Glimmershot doesn't come close to the range Lyra has with Imperial Sigil or her basic attack. Enter Active Camo. Kestrel can limit Lyra's ability to control the lane by disallowing Lyra to know her position, and thus sneak up on Lyra for a Glimmershot strike.
Lance: I don't encounter Lance often in the lane, but I enjoy playing Lance that way, so I can offer some thoughts on the match up. Lance would pose a certain challenge for Lyra in the lane due to his bulkiness. He's has the highest HP in the game. This would allow him to walk through Imperial Sigil with far less effect than it would have on other lane players. I think the range difference would help Lyra, but a Lance player willing to walk through the damage could take that advantage away.
Lyra: I hate playing against the same character in any match up. The gawd awful Krul v Krul battles that never end because the damage and life steal are too similar. I enjoy the draft format much more. From this guide you should be aware of how Lyra handles the lane. I will say this. If you are playing vs Lyra in the lane be the aggressor. Be the first to act. Generally the first Lyra to act can claim the lane real estate.
Petal: This is one of the more difficult lane match ups for Lyra in my opinion. Those damned Munions. She can send them in and stay at a distance. One of the few range wars that poses issues for Lyra. The plus side is that Petal is one of the few more fragile than Lyra and so should retreat from damage easily.
Ringo: He is always dangerous, and quite difficult in the late game. We already know that about Ringo. The range will help you handle him in the lane as long as you are careful with your positioning. Handle with caution.
SAW: Surprisingly I enjoy the match up with this lumbering nightmare of an oaf. Imperial Sigil will help you take full advantage of SAW's limited mobility. Just stay out of his reach.
Skaarf: This is one of my least favorite match ups. He has a ridiculous range on his Spitfire. Even if you hold him away at range, Skaarf can be off screen and still reach you with his fireball.
Skye: This is another very difficult match up because Skye has such mobility it's difficult to control her the way you want to. However, watch your positioning and keep your minions between you and Forward Barrage is harmless.
Vox: This is probably my least favorite match ups. That darn bouncy Pulse thing can whittle you down without you realizing it. You can focus on manipulating the lane and keeping Vox where you want him, and without realizing it those shots are bouncing off of the minions and into you. Be aware.

Bright Bulwark Top

Having watched my share of people play Lyra on opposing teams I've decided that there is a misunderstanding as to the use of Bright Bulwark. In fact I'm of the opinion that most don't understand the nature of her abilities in general. However let us focus primarily on Bright Bulwark for now.

Just as a reminder:
Bright Bulwark
Slot: B

Lyra creates a walled zone around her, damaging and applying a slow to surrounding enemies.
  • Enemies inside the zone are slowed.
  • Enemies attempting to dash through the wall are stopped.
  • Enemies who cross the wall take the same damage and slow again.

This build effects this ability's stats as follows:
Cooldown decrease to: 17/16/14/13/10
Damage: Increase of 122.5 crystal damage

Ok. So. I see most players using Bright Bulwark as a shield of sorts. When they or their team gets into trouble they throw up the Bright Bulwark and huddle inside hoping the terminator won't get through the door. Ok, so that last part about huddling like scared children may have been a bit of hyperbole. This isn't a bad usage of the ability, it creates a misleading barrier between you and your opponents.

I say it is misleading because it's not a shield. SMC did a spectacular job making it look like a force field on the ground, but I promise you it's not. The visual representations of Lyra's abilities are in general misleading I believe. I've had damaged teammates purposely avoid my Imperial Sigil (I assume) thinking it would damage them. I've seen people run into Bright Bulwark thinking it would heal them. And I've witnessed someone fleeing certain death being chased down by the opposing team stop running inside my Bright Bulwark thinking it was a shield not understanding I was using the snaring walls to slow and create space for them to get away and that that Ringo who was chasing them can still shoot through the bulwark walls. Granted I realize all of this happened during the early access period so a very limited number of people have used and understand what her abilities are.

But I digress..

So let's talk about what Bright Bulwark actually does. When you trigger the ability Lyra sends out a burst of light. Picture Vox's Pulse ability. The difference being that when Bright Bulwark hits, instead of reverberating with some weird bouncy pulse thingy, it causes damage. Now, this is relatively insignificant damage - at lvl 1 it only achieves 50 damage. Never the less it still causes dmg.

Secondly it slows the enemy. Any enemy hit by the pulse is slowed by 80%. They call it a "decaying" slow, which I'm assuming means it starts at 80% and slowly wears off, instead of staying at 80% the entire time and suddenly disappearing, but since they didn't give us any type of stats or description of "decaying" let's just focus on the fact that it slows them by 80%.

Once this initial pulse happens causing damage and slow to anyone in the affected area. Which, by the way, is a HUGE area. There are no stats given as to the size of the Bright Bulwark, but it's large. It makes me wonder if it won't be made smaller in future nerfs. The Bright Bulwark then maintains it's walls. These walls apply the slow to any opposition who pass through them. This also means leaving the Bright Bulwark reapplies the slow if they've been inside long enough for it to wear off. We'll talk more about these walls later.

Now, anyone inside these walls is considered "snared", which is a new effect (to my knowledge) to Vainglory. Snared means all abilities that cause movement are silenced. Let's look at the different heroes and how it effects them. (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). By "will" I mean "should". It's possible I'm missing an abilities debuff like Taka's Kaiten has.
Adagio: unaffected.
Alpha: Prime Directive& Core Charge - will be disabled.
Ardan: All abilities - will be disabled.
Blackfeather: Feint of Heart& Rose Offensive - will be disabled.
Catherine: Merciless Pursuit - will be disabled. Note - After some more experience I discovered that unlike other characters ( like Koshka & Rona ) who will smash into the wall if they try to leap in, Merciless Pursuit will be slowed, but Catherine will continue to pursue into the Bright Bulwark if it started from outside the bulwark.
Celeste: unaffected.
Fortress: Truth of the Tooth - will be disabled.
Glaive: Afterburn - will be disabled.
Joule: leap of faith - will be disabled.
Kestrel: unaffected.
Koshka: Pouncy Fun& Yummy Catnip Frenzy - will be disabled.
Krul: Dead Man's Rush - will be disabled.
Lance: Combat Roll & Impale- will be disabled.
Lyra: Arcane Passage - will be disabled. Yes, so understand that if you are playing as Lyra and are caught in an opposing Lyra's Bright Bulwark you won't be able to use Arcane Passage to escape the battle.
Ozo: All abilities - will be disabled.
Petal: Trampoline! - will be disabled.
Phinn: unaffected. As a side note, he's resistant to slows so the 80% slow will be lessened by his heroic perk.
Reim: unaffected.
Ringo: unaffected.
Rona: Into the Fray - will be disabled.
SAW: Roadie Run - will be disabled. Note - After some more experience I discovered that unlike other characters ( like Koshka & Rona ) who will smash into the wall if they try to leap in, Roadie Run will be slowed, but SAW will continue to pursue into the Bright Bulwark if it started from outside the bulwark.
Skaarf: unaffected.
Skye: Suri Strike - will be disabled.
Taka: X-Retsu & Kaiten - will be disabled. Keep in mind Kaiten is immune to debuffs so Taka can still use it to attack you if he flips into the Bright Bulwark from the outside. He doesn’t smack into the walls like other characters will, but he can’t use it once inside.
Vox: Sonic Zoom - will be disabled.

I'll be nice, because this took about an hour or more to code. If you'd like the coding for this table with all of the Heroes listed it's available below. I've even removed the comments for you.
Spoiler: Click to view


Walls are for a reason
Continuing with our examination of Bright Bulwark let's discuss the walls of this ability for just a moment. The walls of this ability are cool stuff! Not only does the snare effect of Bright Bulwark prevent movement abilities while inside it, the walls of Bright Bulwark prevent those abilities from getting in. Taka's Kaiten being the exception for the reasons mentioned above.

Trust me when I say
Very few things are as satisfying as seeing Koshka try to pounce you, and watching her smack face first into a well timed Bright Bulwark

One other neat little benefit I'd like to point out has to do with Petal. Bright Bulwark will block the rush of Petal's stoopid little munions during Spontaneous Combustion and you'll get to watch them explode harmlessly against the wall of Bright Bulwark. (disclaimer: I'm not sure if it blocks them completely or if it just slows them so you may want to keep retreating from them. Either way they won't reach them).

Results Top

Here are some of the results I've gained. At the time of this guide being written I play at skill tier 4. I have lots of screen shots with similar results, but for space purposes I won't post them all.

Videos Top

Lyra is squishy is she? Check out this 1v1 against SAW both characters start at full strength.

Thank you Top

Thank you for reading my Lyra build guide. If you enjoyed it, please consider giving it an up vote. I hope this build guide has helped you better understand Lyra, and I hope I don't have to face you when you're using this build. I genuinely would love any feedback you might have for my build. If you have any questions on this build, the stats and calculations, or would like me to run through any scenarios leave a comment and let me know. I will do my best to answer as many as I can, though as I said earlier I can't handle every single scenario this amazing game can produce.

~BLG3RNT

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