Sometimes it’s useful to know the cost effectiveness of items. If you are building a carry concentrating on attack damage (AD) you would want to know what items are best suited at increasing that stat using the smallest gold investment possible.
The sortable table included organizes all items that increase AD and compares their cost effectiveness. The simple division of gold cost by AD bonus provides an exact measure of how much gold is spent per unit of AD. Each column can be sorted by pressing on its header but sorting by Cost/AD provides the most interesting results.
| Name | AD | Other Bonuses | Cost | Cost/AD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aegis of the Legion | 8 | +270 Health, +18 Armor, +24 MR, UNIQUE Aura: +12 Armor / +15 MR / +8 AD to nearby allied units | 1925 | 241 |
| Atma’s Impaler | 31 | +45 Armor, +18% CS, UNIQUE Passive: 2% of your maximum health is added to your AD | 2355 | 76 |
| B. F. Sword | 45 | 1650 | 37 | |
| Bilgewater Cutlass | 35 | +15% LS, UNIQUE Active: deals 150 MD and slows the target champion by 50% for 3 seconds (400 range, 60 sec. CD) | 1825 | 52 |
| Doran’s Blade | 10 | +100 Health, +3% LS | 475 | 48 |
| Elixir of Fortitude | 10 | Click to Consume: grants 140-235 Health, based on champion level, and 10 AD for 4 minutes | 250 | 25 |
| Frozen Mallet | 20 | +700 Health, UNIQUE Passive: your attacks reduce your target’s MS by 40% for 2.5 seconds (30% for ranged attacks) | 3250 | 163 |
| Guinsoo’s Rageblade | 35 | +45 AP, UNIQUE Passive: on attack or spell cast, increases your AS by 4% and AP by 6. Lasts 5 seconds (stacks up to 8 times) | 2235 | 64 |
| Hexdrinker | 35 | +35 MR, UNIQUE Passive: If you would take MD that would leave you at less than 30% of your maximum health, you first gain a shield that absorbs 300 MD for 4 seconds (45 sec. CD) | 1800 | 51 |
| Hextech Gunblade | 40 | +70 AP, +15% LS, UNIQUE Passive: +20% SV, UNIQUE Active: deals 300 MD and slows the target champion by 50% for 3 seconds (700 range, 60 sec. CD) | 3625 | 91 |
| Infinity Edge | 80 | +25% CS, UNIQUE Passive: critical hits now deal 250% damage instead of 200% | 3830 | 48 |
| Last Whisper | 40 | UNIQUE Passive: +40% Armor Penetration | 2290 | 57 |
| Long Sword | 10 | 415 | 42 | |
| Madred’s Bloodrazor | 30 | +40% AS, +25 Armor, UNIQUE Passive: on hit, deals MD equal to 4% of the target’s maximum health | 3800 | 127 |
| Madred’s Razor | 15 | +23 Armor, UNIQUE Passive: 15% chance on hitting a minion or monster to deal 500 bonus MD | 1000 | 67 |
| Manamune | 60 | +350 Mana, +7 Mp5, +20 AD, UNIQUE Passive: 2% of your maximum mana is converted to AD. UNIQUE Passive: Each time you attack, you gain one maximum mana (3 sec. CD). Each time you use an ability, you gain 4 maximum mana (3 sec. CD). Bonus caps at 1000 mana | 2110 | 35 |
| Phage | 18 | +225 Health, Passive: 25% chance on hit to reduce your target’s MS by 30% for 2.5 seconds | 1315 | 73 |
| Pickaxe | 25 | 975 | 39 | |
| Sword of the Occult | 110 | +10 AD, UNIQUE Passive: Your champion gains 5 damage per stack, receiving 2 stacks for a kill or 1 stack for an assist. This effect can stack 20 times; you lose a third of your stacks if you die. At 20 stacks, your champion’s MS is increased 15% | 1369 | 12 |
| The Black Cleaver | 55 | +30% AS, UNIQUE Passive: physical attacks reduce your target’s Armor by 15 for 5 seconds (maximum 3 stacks) | 2865 | 52 |
| The Bloodthirster | 100 | +60 AD, +15% LS, Passive: gain an additional 1 AD and 0.25% LS per kill. Maximum of +40 AD and 10% LS. Bonuses are lost upon death | 3000 | 30 |
| The Brutalizer | 25 | UNIQUE Passive: 10% CDR and +15 Armor Penetration | 1337 | 53 |
| Tiamat | 50 | +15 Hp5, +5 Mp5, Passive: your attacks splash, dealing 50% area of effect damage around the target (35% for ranged attacks) | 2070 | 41 |
| Trinity Force | 30 | +30 AP, +30% AS, +15% CS, +12% MS, +250 Health, +250 Mana, UNIQUE Passive: 25% chance on hit to slow the target by 35% for 2.5 seconds; on cast, your next attack deals bonus damage equal to 150% of your base attack | 4070 | 136 |
| Wriggle’s Lantern | 23 | +30 Armor, +15% LS, UNIQUE Passive: 20% chance on hitting a minion or monster to deal 500 bonus magic damage. UNIQUE Active: places an invisible ward with 1100 range sight that lasts for 3 min. (3 min. CD) | 1600 | 70 |
| Youmuu’s Ghostblade | 30 | +15% CS, UNIQUE Passive: +20 Armor Penetration, 15% CDR, UNIQUE Active: you gain +20% MS and +50% AS for 4 sec. Attacking enemy units with melee attacks increases the duration by 2 to a maximum of 8 seconds (60 sec. CD) | 2687 | 90 |
Firstly, it comes as no surprise that Sword of the Occult is the most cost effective item; its low price is outwighted by the risk of losing stacks. Secondly, The Bloodthirster follows closely behind for similar reasons. Manamune is quite cheap for its bonus, but only if the maximum bonus mana can be obtained.
Still, some interesting results can be found: Tiamat has quite a fair price for a respectable bonus, as well as Hexdrinker. Infinity Edge is not particularly overpriced, even though it’s one of the most expensive items available. Both The Black Cleaver and Hextech Gunblade are good investments; just like Last Whisper.
Guinsoo’s Rageblade doesn’t prove to be a cheaper, but not by much, alternative to The Black Cleaver. Even though it boosts AD as well as attack speed (AS), the AS bonus depends on stacks and is lower. An hybrid build would find much to like in Guinsoo’s Rageblade but a pure AD build is better off with other items.
Items like Trinity Force and Youmuu’s Ghostblade are not cost effective but their multiple bonuses and utility make them worthy of a build where AD is not the only concern. The same can be said for Frozen Mallet and Madred’s Bloodrazor as they grant very powerful passives.
While not all builds will concentrate on AD and ignore the rest of the stats it is always useful to have an idea of how to get more for less. The League of Legends Wiki has more information on attack damage, abilites that boost it and other sources of bonus AD.
Notes:
– Acronyms: AD: attack damage, AP: ability power, AS: attack speed, CD: cooldown, CDR: cooldown reduction, CS: critical strike chance, Gp10: gold per 10 sec., Hp5: health regen per 5 sec., LS: life steal, MD: magic damage, Mp5: mana regen per 5 sec., MR: magic resist, MS: movement speed, PD: physical damage, SV: spell vamp
– Atma’s Impaler bonus AD of 31.3 corresponds to the smallest health pool at level 18: Soraka’s 1565 HP
– Manamune’s bonus AD of 60 corresponds to the minimum base mana at level 18: Sion’s 625 MP plus Manamune’s full bonus mana: 1350 MP
– Sword of the Occult’s bonus AD corresponds to 20 stacks
– Bloodthirster’s bonus AD corresponds to 40 stacks
– You can sort multiple columns by holding shift and clicking on other column headers