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Lethality redirects here. For the 2013 Mastery, see Lethality.

Armor penetration icon Armor penetration is a champion statistic that determines the amount of a target's Armor icon armor that will be ignored when the user deals physical damage. Percentage armor penetration and Lethality have no effect if the target's armor is less than or equal to 0.

Armor reduction is an effect that reduces the target's armor for a period of time, by an amount or percentage. Flat armor reduction can reduce armor values below 0, while percentage armor reduction cannot.

It is important to note that penetration treats the target's resistances as being multiplied by a percentage or reduced by a flat amount, in contrast to reduction which applies to the target's resistances as a whole.

All champions have 0 base armor penetration and lethality, but they can be increased by items, runes, and with certain champions' passive ability effects.

Starting in V6.22, lethality replaced flat armor penetration as a statistic, and offered 40.33% − 100% (based on target's level) of the value as penetration.[1] In V7.14, it was changed to scale with the user's level instead of the target's level, offering 62.22% − 100% (based on level) of the value as penetration. In V14.1 lethality was changed back to no longer scale by level; it grants the full amount of flat armor penetration at all levels, but keeps the name to differentiate it from percent armor penetration and emphasize its relative effectiveness against low-armor enemies rather than high-armor enemies.[2]

Order of calculations[]

Armor penetration and armor reduction are considered in the following order:[3]

  1. Armor reduction, flat
  2. Armor reduction, percentage
  3. Armor penetration, percentage
  4. Armor penetration, flat (Lethality)

Base armor and bonus armor are calculated separately.

Flat armor reduction[]

The target's armor is reduced by an amount. Flat armor reduction Additive stacking icon stacks additively and is distributed proportionally between base armor and bonus armor.

Example: 30 armor reduction against a 20 base armor and 40 bonus armor target will reduce base armor by 10 and bonus armor by 20, so the target will be reduced to 30 armor ((20 − 10) + (40 − 20) = 30).

Flat armor reduction can reduce a target's armor below zero. For example, if an enemy with 10 armor has their armor reduced by 25, the enemy will have −15 armor.

Percentage armor reduction[]

The target's armor is multiplied by a percentage (100% − the listed reduction). Applies to both base and bonus armor. Percentage armor reduction Multiple stacking icon stacks multiplicatively and is ignored if the target's armor is 0 or less.

Example: 30% armor reduction multiplies the target's armor to 70%, so a target with 20 base armor and 40 bonus armor will be reduced to 42 armor ((20 × 0.7) + (40 × 0.7) = 42).

Percentage armor reduction reduces more armor on targets with higher armor. For instance, with 40% armor reduction, a target with 200 armor will lose 80 while a target with only 50 armor will lose 20.

With 40% armor reduction, the physical damage dealt to a target with 50 armor is only increased by around 15%, whereas the physical damage dealt to a target with 200 armor is increased by around 36%.

If one wanted to calculate the total armor reduction after two consecutive percent armor reductions, the following formula may be useful:

Each r is the individual percent armor reductions. For example, the calculation of two armor reductions, 20% and 30%, would yield the following:

Percentage armor penetration[]

The target's armor is treated as being multiplied by a percentage for purposes of damage calculation (100% − the listed penetration). Percentage armor penetration Multiple stacking icon stacks multiplicatively and is ignored if the target's armor is 0 or less.

Example: 30% armor penetration causes the target to take damage as if its armor was multiplied by 70%, so a target with 20 base armor and 40 bonus armor will be treated as though it had 42 for purposes of damage (the target's actual armor value will not change, however) ((20 × 0.7) + (40 × 0.7) = 42).

Because the target's actual armor value does not change, anything else depending on that value also doesn't change.

Percentage armor penetration reduces more armor on targets with higher armor. For instance, with 40% armor penetration, a target with 200 armor will be considered as having 80 less while a target with only 50 armor will be considered as having 20 less.

Gold Value

  • Percent armor penetration has a gold value of 41 41.666667 per point.

Percentage bonus armor penetration[]

Percentage armor penetration that applies only to bonus armor.

Example: 30% bonus armor penetration multiplies the target's bonus armor to 70% without affecting base armor, so a target with 20 base armor and 40 bonus armor will be treated as though it had 48 for purposes of damage calculation (the target's actual armor value will not change, however). (20 + (40 × 0.7) = 48).
If the unit has multiple sources of percentage bonus penetration, they stack multiplicatively:
Example: 10% armor penetration and 30% bonus armor penetration. (20  × 0.9)) + (40 × 0.7 × 0.9)) = 43.2).

Because the target's actual armor value does not change, anything else depending on that value also doesn't change.

Percentage bonus armor penetration reduces more armor on targets with higher bonus armor, but will not have an effect against base armor. For instance, with 40% bonus armor penetration, a target with 200 bonus armor will be considered as having 80 less while a target with only 50 bonus armor will be considered as having 20 less. In contrast, a target with any amount of base armor and no bonus armor will be considered as having the same value.

Lethality[]

Lethality is the statistic that represents and grants flat armor penetration.

The target's armor is treated as being reduced by an amount for the purposes of damage calculation, but cannot be reduced below 0. Flat armor penetration Additive stacking icon stacks additively.

Example: 20 lethality on a user will cause a target to take damage as if its armor was 20 less, so a target with 30 armor will be treated as though it had 10 for purposes of damage calculation (the target's actual armor value will not change, however).

Because the target's actual armor value does not change, anything else depending on that value also doesn't change.

Gold Value

  • Lethality has a gold value of 12 12.5 per point, for more details see this page.

Examples[]

Given 10 flat armor penetration and 45% bonus armor penetration, and the target is affected by 30 flat armor reduction and 30% armor reduction;

  • Target A has 300 armor (100 base and 200 bonus armor).
    • The 300 is reduced to 270 (90 base and 180 bonus armor) by the 30 armor reduction.
    • The 270 is reduced to 189 (63 base and 126 bonus armor) by the 30% armor reduction.
    • The 189 is considered to be 132.3 (63 base and 69.3 bonus armor) by the 45% bonus armor penetration.
    • The 132.3 is considered to be 122.3 by the 10 armor penetration.
    • Target A takes damage as if it has 122.3 armor.
  • Target B has 18 armor.
    • The 18 is reduced to −12 by the 30 armor reduction.
    • The −12 is not affected by any further calculations because it is less than 0.
      • Target B takes damage as if it has −12 armor.

Lethality as scaling[]

The following have their stats improved based on the amount of lethality acquired:

Champion abilities[]

Items[]

Increasing lethality[]

Champion abilities[]

Items[]

This table is automatically generated based on the data from Module:ItemData/data.

ItemCostAmountAvailability
Ataraxia Ataraxia3000 3000 Gold27Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Axiom Arc Axiom Arc3000 3000 Gold18Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Certainty Certainty2700 2700 Gold27Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Edge of Night Edge of Night2800 2800 Gold15Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Hubris Hubris3000 3000 Gold18Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Opportunity Opportunity2700 2700 Gold18Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Profane Hydra Profane Hydra3300 3300 Gold18Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Serpent's Fang Serpent's Fang2500 2500 Gold15Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Serylda's Grudge Serylda's Grudge3200 3200 Gold15Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Swordnado Swordnado2900 2900 Gold27Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
The Brutalizer The Brutalizer1337 1337 Gold8Nexus Blitz, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
The Collector The Collector3100 3100 Gold16Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Umbral Glaive Umbral Glaive2600 2600 Gold15Nexus Blitz, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Voltaic Cyclosword Voltaic Cyclosword2900 2900 Gold18Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Youmuu's Ghostblade Youmuu's Ghostblade2700 2700 Gold18Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Youmuu's Wake Youmuu's Wake2700 2700 Gold27Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid

Item passives[]

Runes[]

Increasing percent armor penetration[]

Champion abilities[]

Items[]

This table is automatically generated based on the data from Module:ItemData/data.

ItemCostAmountAvailability
Last Whisper Last Whisper1450 1450 Gold18%Nexus Blitz, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Lord Dominik's Regards Lord Dominik's Regards3000 3000 Gold30%Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid
Mortal Reminder Mortal Reminder3000 3000 Gold30%Nexus Blitz, Arena, Classic Summoner's Rift 5v5, All Random All Mid

Item passives[]

Reducing armor[]

Champion abilities[]

Percentage Reduction
Flat Reduction

Items[]

Percentage Reduction

Monsters[]

Flat Reduction

Notes[]

  • Armor penetration will apply to any and all sources of Attack damage physical damage.
    • It will apply to the damage dealt to almost every type of unit, including Turret icon turrets but not other structures (Inhibitors are the only building with armor).
  • Armor reduction will affect the physical damage from any unit source.
  • Percentage penetration is applied before flat penetration.
  • Turret icon Turrets and Dragons Dragons have 30% armor penetration.

Trivia[]

Highest Lethality[]

Last updated: January 20, 2024, patch V14.1

The highest amount of lethality any champion can obtain is 136.

Highest Armor Penetration (%)[]

The highest amount of percentage armor penetration any champion can obtain is 34.63% using Serylda's Grudge Serylda's Grudge Rancor passive.

The highest amount of percentage armor penetration obtainable in the game is 60.788% with Darius Darius when Apprehend's Apprehend's passive (max rank) is included in the above equation.

  • Relevant mathematics:
    • (1 - 0 0.4) × (1 - 0.3463) = 0.39222
      • 1 - 0.39222 = 0.60778 × 100 = 60.788% armor penetration

Media[]

See also[]

References[]

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