In Riot Games’ League of Legends (LoL), you’ll see mention of complex calculations alongside widely differing opinions regarding the Lethality in LoL stat. Take a seat, Champions of Summoner’s Rift, and put away those calculators.
We’ve got you covered with a full explanation of the Lethality stat in LoL, including how the stat works, how it compares to % Armor Penetration, the best items to use, how or if you should prioritize the stat, the best Champions to use, and counters to implement.
What Is Lethality In LoL
The Lethality Stat Explained
In LoL, Lethality is the stat that represents flat Armor Penetration. Simply put, a target’s Armor value is reduced for damage calculation purposes. For example, 20 Lethality is equal to 20 Armor Penetration. Therefore, a target with 35 Armor, when hit by a Champion with 20 Lethality, takes damage as if they had 15 Armor (35 – 20).
The target’s Armor value does not change for anyone else in-game, as the calculation is just for the physical damage hits from a Champion with some Lethality thanks to items, Runes, or skills. A target’s Armor cannot be reduced below zero with Lethality. The Lethality stat is additive, which means if you have one item that grants 18 Lethality and uses a Rune that grants 9, you have a total of 27 Lethality.
Lethality is flat Armor Penetration in LoL. The most significant difference between Lethality and % Armor Penetration is simple: The higher the target’s Armor, the more effective % Armor Penetration and % Armor Reduction stats become. At the same time, Lethality’s effectiveness remains constant.
Put on those thinking caps, as we’ll explain how % Armor Penetration and % Armor Reduction works in LoL for a complete overview and Lethality comparison.
% Armor Penetration & Reduction in LoL
% Armor Penetration reduces more Armor on targets with higher Armor. For instance, with 20% Armor Penetration, a target with 200 armor will have 40 less, while a target with only 50 Armor will have 10 less during LoL’s internal damage calculations. The simple math is:
- % Armor Penetration / 100 x Target Armor
- 20 / 100 x 200
The same math works for % Armor Reduction. However, with % Armor Reduction, all your teammates also benefit from effectively lowering the Armor of an enemy Champion. Both % Armor Reduction and % Armor Penetration stack multiplicatively.
We’ve outlined the effectiveness of Lethality and % Armor Penetration below using clear and concise examples to make the comparison as simple as possible. In all examples, the enemy Champion has 200 Armor.
- With 20 Lethality on your Champion, your physical hits deal damage like the enemy Champion has 180 Armor.
- With 20% Armor Penetration on your Champion, your physical hits deal damage as if the enemy has 160 Armor.
- If an enemy Champion is hit with a 20% Armor Reduction, the physical damage of your Champion and your teammates is dealt as if the enemy has 160 Armor.
Lethality is flat Armor Penetration that stacks additively, while % Armor Penetration and % Armor Reduction scale multiplicatively.
Two or more players on the same team can add % Armor Reduction to an enemy for a certain period (usually a few seconds), with a multiplicative effect. For example, suppose one player causes a 20% Armor Reduction to an enemy while another causes a 30% Armor Reduction to the same enemy. In that case, the enemy’s Armor will be temporarily reduced from 200 to 112.
How To Calculate Lethality
We’ve talked a lot about calculations in the previous section of this guide. Now, we’ve got some great news to share if you don’t like math: You can put your calculators away, thanks to Riot Games’ change to Lethality with the LoL 14.1 update on Jan 10, 2024.
Many guides on the internet still need to be updated with the latest details, so if you haven’t played LoL in 2024, you may think there are some level-based scaling calculations to do. Previously, Lethality’s Armor Penetration value was scaled by 62.22% to 100% based on your Champion’s level.
Since the LoL 14.1 update, Lethality grants flat Armor Penetration equal to its value. Simply put, 20 Lethality means 20 Armor Penetration on your target.
Do Any Champions Benefit From Lethality?
Yes, many Champions benefit from Lethality. All Attack Damage (AD)-reliant Champions benefit from the flat Armor Penetration because it allows them to deal more damage to their enemies. Many ADCs don’t use one or two items that add Lethality, especially in the early game. Lethality is particularly useful for Assassin Champions.
In particular, there are two Champions that have abilities that scale with more Lethality on Summoner’s Rift, namely:
- Senna
- Pyke
Aphelios is the only Champion to further increase their Lethality in LoL with Weapon Master in The Hitman and the Seer.
Best Items For Lethality
One of our favorite items in LoL that increases Lethality is Youmuu’s Ghostblade, especially with Champions such as Senna. This item also increases AD and movement speed. Below are our top seven picks for the best items for a Lethality build in LoL.
- Youmuu’s Ghostblade
- Ataraxia
- Axiom Arc
- Certainty
- Edge of Night
- Serylda’s Grudge
- Serpent’s Fang
Fun fact: The highest Lethality value Champions can reach with items alone is 127. You can get up to 136 with the Sudden Impact rune. The only Champion that can go higher is Aphelios, at 169 Lethality when The Hitman and the Seer are fully active, granting an additional 33 Lethality.
How To Use And Prioritize Lethality in Lo
Every physical attack you deal with takes advantage of Lethality, treating the target as if it had less Armor during the game’s damage calculations. Therefore, using Lethality is as simple as hitting an enemy with a physical attack, either melee or ranged.
Effectively using Lethality means going for the low-armor targets, as you’ll see the most significant impact with your hits. You could target specific enemy Champions during battle, for example, helping your team take out the ADC multiple times early in a match.
We don’t recommend reaching 136 Lethality, as this will severely limit your build. Instead, we recommend using items in your build that make sense for your Champion and mixing in a couple that add Lethality. For example, as Senna’s core three items, you’ll have:
- Boots of Swiftness
- Bloodsong
- Youmuu’s Ghostblade
Only Youmuu’s Ghostblade adds Lethality. As a fourth item, you can add Edge of Night (15 Lethality) and expand with Lord Domenik’s Regard in the late game, adding 35% Armor Penetration when the Lethality stat starts to drop off in effectiveness.
The only Rune in LoL that adds Lethality is Sudden Impact (Domination path), which has the following passive effect: “Dealing damage to an enemy Champion within 4 seconds of using a dash or blink, or exiting from stealth, grants 9 Lethality and 7 Magic Penetration for the next 5 seconds.”
How To Counter Lethality
Lethality becomes less effective if you can effectively stack your Armor high enough. For example, if an enemy champion has 60 Lethality and your champion currently has just 60 Armor, the enemy champion in this scenario will do 100% of its raw physical damage to your champion.
However, if you add items and level up your character to the point where you have 160 Armor, the enemy Champion with 60 Lethality will reduce your Armor to 100, effectively doing 50% less damage to your Champion with each hit that deals physical damage. Each champion gains more Armor passively as they level up in a game. Therefore, Lethality as a stat becomes less effective as one progresses into a competitive game of LoL.
Pro tip: A fantastic item to counter Lethality is Thornmail, which costs 2700 Gold and adds 70 Armor and 350 Health to your champion. If you want to commit less, the Cloth Armor item costs only 300 Gold and adds 15 Armor.
High Armor Champions To Counter Lethality
If you are a bit annoyed at players stacking Lethality and slaying you early in a LoL match, you can choose to play some stalwart Champions who start with 40 or higher base Armor. We’ve listed all eight of these Champions and the Armor value they start with below.
- Braum (47)
- Leona (47)
- Alistar (47)
- Pyke (47)
- Tahm Kench (42)
- Rammus (40)
- Pantheon (40)
- Taric (40)
Players can choose one of these Champions to make those who stack Lethality a bit less, well, lethal early in a match. Some Champions also gain more Armor thanks to passive skills. For example, Garen permanently gains bonus Armor and Magic Resist with his Courage passive as he kills enemies.
Please note: Riot Games may make balance changes to one or more Champions in future LoL updates, including increasing or decreasing base Armor values.
Wrapping Up: The Lowdown On Lethality
Lethality in League of Legends is all about flat Armor Penetration, letting Champions dish out more physical damage by lowering a target’s armor. Unlike % Armor Penetration that gets better against enemies with more armor, Lethality’s punch stays the same and makes it awesome for AD-reliant Champions and Assassins. Plus, thanks to the LoL 14.1 update, Lethality now means straight-up, flat Armor Penetration.
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