"Hmm... let me fix that." This article or section is substantially or structurally incomplete. You can help the League of Legends Wiki by expanding it. For more projects, see the Community To Do List. Additional information: This article and the Damage types section in particular contain confusing or outdated information that is presently subject to a complete overhaul. This article was last edited by 1Dawn2Dusk3 on 19-Sep-2024 20:16.

Note: Not to be confused with attack damage, a champion statistic, nor health costs.

Damage is the deduction of a unit's current health as a result of an offensive interaction referred to as a damage instance or damage event.

Damage type classifications[]

Damage events in League of Legends can be assigned different types, tags and properties to manage interactions, such as mitigation by the respective type of resistances or additional effects to be triggered by the damage event based on tags.

Damage types[]

Any instance of damage can have only one of the following types:

Champions killed from outside standard Attack rangePhysical damage

• Mitigated by  armor. Almost all units' basic attacks deal exclusively physical damage.

Damage mitigated with Shifting Sands (E)Magic damage

• Mitigated by  magic resistance. The powerful ability casts of Mages deal magic damage.

Skillshots dodged with Void Surge (Q) True damage

• Not reduced by resistances nor almost all damage reduction effects. Reserved for powerful effects or those that for gameplay or technical reasons are not supposed to interact with resistances or reduction effects. True damage still respects shields and invulnerability.

Damage tags[]

Any instance of damage can have none or multiple of the following tags:

BasicAttack

• A tag found on the primary damage instance of basic attacks including empowered forms of basic attacks (e.g. Blitzcrank's Power Fist, Darius' Crippling Strike), attack-like spells (e.g. Ezreal's Mystic Shot, Fiora's Lunge) and automatic effects behaving like attacks (e.g. Akshan's Heroic Swing, Bel'Veth's Royal Maelstrom, Urgot's Purge, Runaan's Hurricane). Damage with this tag will interact with Warden's Mail.

ActiveSpell

• A tag found on damage instances of most abilities and some systemic effects that makes them trigger spell effects, including most empowered basic attacks. Often associated with the user spending mana and/or a cooldown to deal the damage.

AOE

• A tag that lets the game recognize an instance of damage as coming from an area of effect source. Certain pets are more resilient against damage with this tag in order to make them less susceptible against champions with strong area-of-effect abilities. Often accompanies the ActiveSpell tag.

Periodic

• A tag that lets the game recognize an instance of damage as a repetitive kind. Found on Damage debuffs (e.g. Malzahar's Malefic Visions, Singed's Poison Trail, Liandry's Torment), most non-targeted spells that deal damage repeatedly (e.g. Lucian's The Culling, Morgana's Tormented Soil). Damage with the periodic tag does not interrupt sleep.

Item

• A tag that lets the game recognize an instance of damage as coming from a non-champion source, such as an item or summoner spell. This allows effects that are supposed to only trigger on champion abilities (e.g. Tiamat's Cleave, Liandry's Torment's Torment) to ignore damage instances with this tag.

Proc

• A tag that lets the game recognise an instance of damage as being applied as a secondary effect. This is commonly used for on-hit effects or other instances of damage that shouldn't interact with anything else. This tag is normally reserved for automatic applications of on-hit effects (e.g. Jax's Grandmaster-At-Arms, Kog'Maw's Bio-Arcane Barrage, Blade of the Ruined King).

Pet

NonRedirectable

Indirect

Damage properties[]

Any instance of damage can have none or multiple of the following properties:

ApplyLifesteal

• A tag that forces a damage instance to apply life steal. Unless otherwise specified it applies at 100% effectiveness, with no penalty for AoE damage. Found on certain auto-attack-like abilities (e.g. Samira's Flair, Camille's Precision Protocol, Hecarim's Devastating Charge).

EnableCallForHelp

RespectImmunity

RespectDodge

• A tag that forces a damage instance to respect dodges (e.g. Nilah's Jubilant Veil, Jax's Counter Strike). This is the default for basic damage, as well as some abilities.

TriggerOnHitEvents

TriggerDamageEvents

ApplyOmnivamp

Nameless property

Damage values[]

Base values and character statistics ratios[]

Critical strike[]

A damage instance can critically strike when it is implemented as such on an active attack or ability. Damage that critically strikes has been modified by a percentage above 100%, thus deals increased damage. Critical strikes interact exclusively with  Time champions spent slowed by Miasma (W)critical strike chance,  Champions killed with Noxian Guillotine (R)critical strike damage, and Randuin's Omen's Critical Resilience. The highest critical strike damage instance is also tracked in the post-game statistics.

Champions killed from outside standard Attack rangePhysical damage critical strike	Damage mitigated with Shifting Sands (E)Magic damage critical strike	Skillshots dodged with Void Surge (Q) True damage critical strike

A basic attack that critically strikes is modified by the attacker's  Champions killed with Noxian Guillotine (R)critical strike damage, which is by default 175%. Most on-hit effects will not be affected, unless specified (e.g. Riven's Runic Blade).

 Time champions spent slowed by Miasma (W)Critical strike chance above 100% does not affect critical strikes.

Average damage calculations

Assuming:

• All amounts are in decimal form.
• DamageBase = the normal damage amount (before any modifiers)
• CritChance = critical strike chance
• CritMod = critical strike modifier/ratio

Then the average damage per attack when continously attacking can be calculated with the formula:

${\displaystyle DamageBase+CritChance\times {\Bigl (}CritMod-1{\Bigr )}\times DamageBase}$

For example:

• 100 DamageBase, 40% CritChance, 175% CritMod
  • ${\displaystyle 100+0.4\times {\Bigl (}1.75-1{\Bigr )}\times 100=130}$ average damage per attack
• 100 DamageBase, 100% CritChance, 175% CritMod
  • ${\displaystyle 100+1.0\times {\Bigl (}1.75-1{\Bigr )}\times 100=175}$ average damage per attack
• 100 DamageBase, 80% CritChance, 215% CritMod
  • ${\displaystyle 100+0.8\times {\Bigl (}2.15-1{\Bigr )}\times 100=192}$ average damage per attack
• 100 DamageBase, 100% CritChance, 120% CritMod
  • ${\displaystyle 100+1.0\times {\Bigl (}1.20-1{\Bigr )}\times 100=120}$ average damage per attack

Successful ability casts[]

Certain abilities have unique impact text that triggers when they deal increased damage due to the player successfully passing the ability's condition (e.g. to denote Karthus' Lay Waste hitting a single target). On the LoL Wiki, these are referred to as cosmetic critical strikes (not to be confused with actual critical strikes). A list of all abilities that use this impact effect can be found below.

Champions killed from outside standard Attack rangePhysical damage "successfully enhanced"	Damage mitigated with Shifting Sands (E)Magic damage "successfully enhanced"	Skillshots dodged with Void Surge (Q) True damage "successfully enhanced"

• Aatrox's The Darkin Blade against enemies hit by each cast's Champions killed with Living Artillery (R)Sweetspot.
• Anivia's Frostbite against enemies recently hit by Flash Frost or a fully formed Glacial Storm
• Aurelion Sol's Breath of Light against bursted enemies and The Skies Descend against enemies hit
• Bel'Veth's Endless Banquet against champions with her attacks
• Briar's Chilling Scream against enemies that hit a wall
• Caitlyn's Piltover Peacemaker against enemies hit beyond the first if they were revealed by Yordle Snap Trap
• Evelynn's Empowered Whiplash against the target and Last Caress against enemies under the health threshold
• Fiddlesticks' Terrify against the target if they were recently feared by the ability
• Gnar's GNAR! against enemies that collide with terrain
• Gragas' Barrel Roll against enemies hit after the barrel has fully fermented
• Gwen's Snip Snip! against enemies hit in the center of the cone
• Hwei's Severing Bolt against immobilized or isolated targets
• Karthus' Lay Waste against an isolated enemy
• Kog'Maw's Living Artillery against enemies under the health threshold
• LeBlanc's Sigil of Malice, Distortion, and Ethereal Chains against enemies marked by Sigil of Malice
• Lillia's Watch Out! Eep! against enemy champions and monsters hit in the center of the area
• Lulu's Glitterlance against enemies hit by both bolts
• Malphite's Thunderclap against the target hit by the first attack
• Mordekaiser's Obliterate against a single target
• Naafiri's Darkin Daggers against the target if they are already bleeding
• Nidalee's Takedown against the target if they were Hunted
• Pantheon's Comet Spear against enemies under the health threshold
• Pyke's Death from Below against executed enemy champions
• Qiyana's Elemental Wrath (Champions killed within 3s of being infested by Umbral Trespass (R)Terrain) against enemies under the health threshold
• Rek'Sai's Furious Bite at maximum Fury
• Ryze's Overload against enemies marked by Spell Flux
• Samira's Taunt against the enemy hit
• Shaco's Two-Shiv Poison against enemies under the health threshold
• Seraphine's High Note against enemies that take increased damage
• Sett's Haymaker and The Show Stopper both against enemies hit in the center of the area
• Smolder's MMOOOMMMM! against enemies in the center
• Taliyah's Threaded Volley when casting on inheritWorked Ground
• Udyr's Wilding Claw on awakened cast, against both the target and enemies hit by the lightning
• Urgot's Fear Beyond Death against the executed target
• Varus' Piercing Arrow against enemies hit if the ability was fully charged (includes Blighted Quiver's bonus damage)
• Vayne's Condemn against the target if they collide with terrain
• Vex's Doom 'n Gloom against targets marked wtih Gloom
• Vladimir's Transfusion against the target if the ability was empowered by Crimson Rush
• Volibear's Frenzied Maul against the target if they are Wounded and Stormbringer against enemies hit in the center of the area
• Yorick's Mist Walkers upon leaping to enemies marked by Mourning Mist
• Zeri's Basic Attack against executed targets
• Ziggs' Satchel Charge against turrets below the health threshold
• Rift Herald's charge against turrets
• Serpent's Fang's Shield Reaver against shields

Capped damage[]

Damage value modifiers[]

See also: Damage modifier

Invulnerability[]

See also: Invulnerability

Calculating mitigation[]

See also: Armor and Magic Resistance

Calculating applied damage[]

See also: Shields

The information below describes an outdated model of damage classification, but will continue to exist until the section and cross-wiki references are fully overhauled.

There are two systems for classifying damages: an engine-level system and a script-level system. As the name suggests, the engine-level system is integrated into the game's engine; while the script-level system is a relatively modern addition that allows Riot more flexibility.

Damage classifications modify what effects are triggered when damage is dealt or received - e.g. on-hit effects (such as Wit's End) are triggered whenever your champion deals a source of basic damage.

Engine level[]

Wiki Name	API name	Description	Example(s)
Raw damage e	raw	Damage that ignores shields. It is hard-coded to ignore resurrection, but specific instances are then special-cased to be un-ignored.	Fear Beyond Death, Death from Below and Nexus Obelisk (to non-champions)
N/A	internalraw	As above, but also ignores invulnerability. Resurrection and Bailout are ignored.	Nexus Obelisk (to champions), Rift Herald's self-damage, Cell Division's redirected damage, and Friend of the Forest's grove freeing to monsters
Default damage e	periodic[s 1]	Ability-based procs with no interactions. Effects without a proper damage type default to this category, including most splash damage.	Umbra Blades, Ricochet, Liandry's Torment, Tiamat, Ignite
Proc damage e	proc[s 2]	Attack-based procs with no interactions. Proc effects are triggered whenever you deal basic damage.	Wit's End
Reactive damage e	reactive	Damage type dealt by Thorns. Similar reflection effects (e.g. Annie and Rammus) are classified as area damage.	Only Thornmail and Bramble Vest
Basic damage e	attack[s 3]	Damage dealt by any unit(s), which includes turrets, neutral monsters, and minions basic attack and some champion abilities.	Mystic Shot, Lunge, Steel Tempest
Spell damage e	spell[s 4]	Damage used for single target abilities and some basic attacks.	Disintegrate, Ace in the Hole, Noxian Diplomacy, Pick a Card
Area damage e	spellaoe	Damage dealt by most abilities capable of damaging multiple units.	Incinerate, Rupture, Eye of Destruction
Persistent damage e	spellpersist	Damage dealt through DoTs	Blaze, Malefic Visions
Pet damage e	pet	Damage dealt by most pet basic attacks. Other pet damage is classified as Spell/SpellPersist.	Tibbers, Daisy, Eulogy of the Isles

Before our editors determined the above damage types from the game files, the wiki's damage type documentation was based on observation. The wiki previously grouped spell, spellaoe and spellpersist as a single 'ability damage' type, with 'single target,' 'aoe' and 'dot' being noted as subtypes. The wiki also used pure damage as a conjectural placeholder for the now-termed raw damage. While the described functionality was usually correct, the previous documentation included many 'special cases' for abilities that did not behave consistently with the observed rules.

Despite having distinct use-cases, proc damage and default damage are almost indistinguishable in terms of their gameplay functionality. Differentiating the two damage types without accessing the game files is extremely difficult for some effects. One of the only known ways to distinguish the two types involves Teemo: Instances of default damage do not disable Move Quick's passive movement speed, while instances of proc damage will. This distinction does not apply to other "out of combat" effects.

Script level[]

The following are the currently known script-tags:

• AOE
• Periodic
• Indirect
• BasicAttack
• ActiveSpell
• Proc
• Pet
• NonRedirectable
• Item

For the most part, the two systems correlate and so the League of Legends Wiki has elected to not to document the script-level system separately across all articles. Instances where script-level tags create deviations from engine-level rules will be noted on a case-by-case basis in the ability-details. A notable but consistent deviation is persistent area damage, as documented below:

Wiki Name	API name	Description	Example(s)
Persistent area damage e	N/A	Abilities classified as area damage on an engine-level, but periodic on a script level. This means that engine-level effects (such as spell vamp) trigger the reduced healing, while script-level effects (such as Arcane Comet) trigger the damage-over-time cooldown reduction.	Darkness Rise, Tormented Shadow, The Equalizer

Subtypes[]

Resistance subtypes[]

See also: Armor and Magic Resistance

Resistance subtypes are a secondary typing system that exists to promote champion classes by diversifying the effectiveness of items and champion match-ups. There is a small selection of effects that are triggered by specific subtypes rather than the above archetypes - e.g. Morellonomicon will trigger on anything with the Damage mitigated with Shifting Sands (E)magic damage subtype, including abilities, basic attacks and on-hit effects (i.e. Wit's End will trigger Morellonomicon on a champion with no other source of magic damage). These are the damage types visible to players in-game.

Name	Description	Example
Physical damage	A damage type thematically associated with making physical contact, such as fists, swords and the physical projectiles of bows and guns.  Armor reduces incoming physical damage.	Most basic attacks; most Champions stunned with Pyromania (P)AD-scaling abilities; some item effects.
Magic damage	A damage type thematically associated with non-physical, such as magic or the supernatural.  Magic resistance reduces incoming magic damage.	Most Multiple champions hit with Between Worlds (R)AP-scaling abilities; some item effects.
True damage	A damage type thematically associated with bypassing the target's defenses. Not to be confused with raw damage.	A select few sources, such as Smite, Ignite, Silver Bolts and Reckless Swing.

Calculating Damage[]

Also see: Damage modifier.

The following effects influence damage as non-zero values, in no particular order of calculation. They may originate from the attacker or the target.

• Percentage damage amplification
• Percentage damage reduction
• Flat damage reduction
• Resistances, meaning  armor and  magic resistance, against Champions killed from outside standard Attack rangephysical damage and Damage mitigated with Shifting Sands (E)magic damage, respectively
• Resistances reduction
• Resistances penetration, meaning  armor penetration and  magic penetration

Resistances effectively reduce the respective damage subtype (physical or magic) by a percentage. However, "percent damage reduction" is a different, independent effect: abilities such as Alistar's Unbreakable Will and item effects such as Plated Steelcaps' Plating may grant it as a beneficial effect while effects such as Exhaust may apply it as a debuff. Percent damage modifiers stack multiplicatively with the damage reduction achieved through resistances.

After the physical and magic damage is affected by the various reductions, it is applied to the target in  health amount. This amount received by the target is called post-mitigation damage.

Capped Damage[]

Some abilities, scaling with Champions killed with Comeuppance (R)target's health, have a capped amount of damage they can deal to a target. This is made to avoid dealing massive damage to targets with a lot of health, most often against only minions and/or monsters.

• If the ability deals enough damage (before damage reductions) to reach the cap, the ability's damage is reduced to the cap and damage reductions are then applied. This means that against a target that has negative armor or magic resistance the ability's post-mitigation damage can be higher than the cap.

Misconceptions[]

The resistance types—physical, magic and true—are often regarded by players to be the archetypal damage types, which leads to a lot of misconceptions.

For example, some players believe that magic damage, ability damage and AP are all interchangeable terms, with even prominent streamers referring to abilities as dealing "AP damage" and "AD damage". This is incorrect. It is possible for basic attacks to deal magic damage (e.g. Thresh with a point in Flay); it is possible for abilities to deal physical damage (e.g. Riven); it is possible for AD-scaling abilities to deal magic damage (e.g. Shyvana); and it is possible for non-magic damage to apply spell effects (e.g. Luden's Companion would trigger on Riven if she chose to buy it, although she's discouraged due to her having no AP scalings).

Similarly, many players believe that life steal and spell vamp are specific to physical and magic damage, respectively. Life steal will apply to anything classified as basic damage (including the magic damage from Takedown and Infinite Duress and true damage from Hextech Munitions), and spell vamp will apply to anything classified as ability damage (including the physical damage from Comet Spear and true damage from Reckless Swing).

See also[]

• Damage modifier
• Magic damage
• Physical damage
• True damage