3,077 Pages

The Gold efficiency of an item tells you how much stats it provides for its price (gold cost). This is a theoretical value with no direct game impact, used mainly to compare items.

A base gold value for each stat has to be defined in order to calculate gold efficiency. This is a form of "theory-crafting" because gold value is not a part of the game's rules; the number has to be derived from the prices of in-game items (see below).

Gold efficiency is then the ratio of the item's theoretical gold value to its actual in-game price.

In general the theoretical gold efficiency is most useful for comparing items' relative, theoretical values. The "real" value of an item during an actual game is influenced by many other factors that are not easily modeled (in terms of gold or otherwise).

## Calculating Gold Efficiency

The formula for the gold efficiency of an item (as a percentage figure) is simple:

$\pagecolor{Black}\color{White}{\rm Gold\ efficiency}={{\rm Gold\ value} \over {\rm Item\ price}} \times 100$

The difficulty is in determining the gold value given the stats on the item. It is done by using the price of "reference items" (see next section).

If the item has passive or active effects they are only taken into account if they provide stats with a gold value (e.g. if an item's effect added a temporary flat movement speed, the gold value of this effect could be determined, because there is a reference value for movement speed). See the next section for how the base gold value of various stats is derived from "reference items".

The item price is simply the price from the in-game shop.

Since gold efficiency is usually given as a percentage value, we have to multiply the ratio by 100.

An item is said to be gold efficient if its gold efficiency is at least 100%. Usually, items that are less than 100% gold efficient have other (passive or active) effects that are not taken into account when determining their gold value. This then results in a theoretical gold deficit in the item's value; in those cases, the items passive or active effects usually make up for the deficit.

## Base Statistic Prices

The gold values assigned to stats are not measures of the effectiveness of those stats. They are simply base values meant to be used in determining the theoretical value of other items (or effects that are not item-related, such as Dragon buffs or Runes).

A stat's gold value is derived from the least expensive basic item that provides only that stat:

Champion Statistic Base Item Item Cost Stat Raised Gold / Stat Bonus
Attack damage 350 10 AD 35
Ability power 435 20 AP 21.75
Armor 300 15 Armor 20
Magic resistance 450 25 MR 18
Health 400 150 HP 0 2.6
Mana 350 250 MP 0 1.4
Health regeneration 150 50% HP5 0 3
Mana regeneration 125 25% MP5 0 5
Critical strike chance 400 10% Crit 40
Attack speed 300 12% AS 25
Flat movement speed 300 25 MS 12

Life steal, Lethality, magic penetration, on-hit damage, cooldown reduction, and percent movement speed are not found isolated on any single item, so their gold values are calculated using the least gold efficient, lowest-tier items that provide the stat: , , , , and has been generally accepted to be a fair gold value for life steal, armor penetration, magic penetration, on-hit damage, cooldown reduction, and percent movement speed respectively. Spell vamp (on an item) is currently only found on the non-static passive Lifegrip on , making its gold value incalculable.

Champion Statistic Base Item Item Cost Stat Raised Gold / Stat Bonus
Life steal 900 10% LS
37.5
35
Lethality 1100 10 Lethal
22.5
35
Magic penetration 1100 18 MC Pen
45 MS
31.1
12
On-hit damage 1000 15 OH Dmg
25% AS
25
25
Cooldown reduction 800 10% CDR
200 HP
26.6
2.6
Percent movement speed 850 5% MS
30 AP
39.5
21.75
Heal and shield power 800 8% HS Power
50% Base MP5
10% CDR
35.416
5
26.6

## Item Statistics

### Basic Tier Items

350 10 35 N/A
875 25 35 0% Greater Efficiency
1300 40 32.5 7.69% Greater Efficiency

Base Item Item Cost AP Value Gold / AP Equivalence
435 20 21.75 N/A
850 40 21.25 2.35% Greater Efficiency
1250 60 20.833∞ 4.4% Greater Efficiency

Base Item Item Cost Armor Value Gold/ Armor Equivalence
300 15 20 N/A
800 40 20 0% Greater Efficiency

Base Item Item Cost MR Value Gold / MR Equivalence
450 25 18 N/A
720 40 18 0% Greater Efficiency

Base Item Item Cost HP Value Gold / HP Equivalence
400 150 2.666∞ N/A
1000 380 2.63 1.46% Greater Efficiency

Base Item Item Cost MP Value Gold / MP Equivalence
350 250 1.4 N/A

Base Item Item Cost Hp5 Value Gold / Hp5 Equivalence
150 50% 3 N/A

Base Item Item Cost Mp5 Value Gold / Mp5 Equivalence
125 25% 5 N/A

Base Item Item Cost Crit Value Gold / Crit chance Equivalence
400 10% 40 N/A
800 20% 40 0% Greater Efficiency

Base Item Item Cost AS Value Gold / % AS Equivalence
300 12% 25 N/A

Doran's items are meant to be powerful early game, but lose effectiveness in the later stages of the game, as they do not build into the higher-tier items found in the late game. In terms of gold per statistics, however, these are among the most cost efficient items in the shop.

provides 7 Attack damage, heals 3 life on hit, and grants 1 extra gold per minion kill. Reaching 100 minion kills gives 350 and disables the passive

• 3 Life on hit = ??

Using the Basic Items Statistics, the actual value of a is 245, making it 54.44% gold efficient. Once 100 minions have been killed, becomes 154.44% gold efficient.

provides 8 Attack damage, 80 Health, and 3% Life steal.

• 80 HP × 2.666∞ gold per HP = 213.333∞
• 3% LS × 37.5 gold per LS = 112.5

Using the Basic Item Statistics, a is worth 605.833∞, making it 134.63% gold efficient.

provides 15 Ability power, 60 Health, 50% Mana regeneration, and recovers 4 Mana each time you get a kill.

• 15 AP × 21.75 gold per AP = 326.25
• 60 HP × 2.666∞ gold per HP = 160
• 50% MP5 × 5 gold per % MP5 = 250
• 4 MP per kill = ??

Using the Basic Items Statistics, the actual value of a is 736.25, making it 184.06% gold efficient excluding the passive. Doran's Ring is the most cost-efficient of the Doran's items.

provides 80 Health, 6 Health regeneration, +5 damage to minions on-hit, and 20 health over 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion.

• 80 HP × 2.666∞ gold per HP = 213.333∞
• 6 HP5 × ?? gold per HP5 = ??
• Basic attacks deal +5 damage to minions on-hit = ??
• Regain 20 health over 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion = ??

Using the Basic Items Statistics, the actual value of a is 213.333∞, making it 47.41% gold efficient excluding the passives.

provides 15 Ability power, 100 Mana, +25% increased healing from potions, and the unique passive Do or Die and Dread, which grants bonus Ability power upon killing or assisting kills, but losing 12 Ability power upon dying.

• 15 AP × 21.75 gold per AP = 326.25
• 100 MP × 1.4 gold per MP = 140

Using the Basic Items Statistics, the actual value of is 466.25, making it 133.21% gold efficient excluding the passives. can reach a gold efficiency of 319.64% at maximum stack of Glory.

Gold-generating items are items that, while being moderately inefficient to start out, boost the gold income of the user independently of obtaining last hits, thus potentially allowing any of them to become gold efficient given enough time. Unlike the Doran's items, these items all have intermediate and legendary-tier upgrades.

provides 25% Mana regeneration, 5% Cooldown reduction and the unique passive Favor, which grants 4 gold and heals for 5 health whenever a nearby minion dies that the user did not kill.

• 25% MP5 × 5 gold per MP5 = 125
• 5% CDR × 26.666∞ gold per CDR = 133.33
• Unique Passive – Favor: Grants 4 and restores 5 health each time a nearby enemy minion dies that you didn't kill (1400 range).

Using the Basic Items Statistics, the actual value of is 258.33, without counting the passive, making it 73.81% gold efficient. By counting the passive, you get 4 for every minion death, making the gold efficient after generating 91.67 (~23 minion deaths).

provides 75 Health, 2 per 10 seconds, and the unique passive Spoils of War, which grants the user charges which cause melee attacks to execute minions below 195 + (5*level) health, healing you and the nearest allied champion for 40 health and grants them gold equal to the kill.

• 75 HP × 2.666∞ gold per HP = 200
• 2 Gp10 = +2 gold every 10 seconds
• Unique Passive – Spoils of War: Melee auto-attacks execute minions below 195 + (5*level) health. Killing a minion by any means heals you and the nearest allied champion for 15 health and grants them kill gold. These effects require a nearby allied champion and consume a charge. Recharges every 60 seconds. Max 2 charges.

Using the Basic Items Statistics, the actual value of is 200, without counting the passive, making it 57.14% gold efficient. The becomes gold efficient after granting 150 to allies utilizing the Spoils of War passive.

provides 5 Ability power, 25% Mana regeneration, 2 per 10 seconds and the unique passive Tribute, which deal 10 additional damage and grant 8 whenever the wielder damages an enemy champion or structure.

• 5 AP × 21.75 gold per AP = 108.75
• 25% MP5 × 5 gold per MP5 = 125
• 2 Gp10 = +2 gold every 10 seconds
• Unique Passive – Tribute: Spells and basic attacks against champions or buildings deal 10 additional damage and grant 8. This can occur up to 3 times every 30 seconds. Killing a minion disables this passive for 12 seconds.

Using the Basic Items Statistics, the actual value of is 233.75, without counting the passives, making it 66.79% gold efficient. By counting the passives, you get an additional 2 every 10 seconds and an additional 8 after attacking an enemy champion or structure. The becomes gold efficient after generating 116.25.

## Trivia

• Spell vamp used be a statistic available on items. It was valued at 27.5 per percentage point before it was removed from . It is still available through passive.
• The former values for Mp5 and Hp5 were 60 and 36 respectively. Even though flat Mp5 is nonexistent on the Rift, flat Hp5 is still available on certain items like and .
• An affecting all five champions on a team was (before V5.16) the most gold efficient item that all champions can be said to make at least some use of, with a theoretical price of 4954; 450.36% of its purchase price.
• With the maximum amount of ability power, a grants about 424 ability power, with a theoretical price of 9222; 280% of its purchase price.
• The snowball item begins with a very low gold efficiency, but upon reaching maximum stacks has one of the best possible in the game.
• has a theoretical price of 4390 when fully stacked; 313.57% of its purchase price.
• has no gold efficiency cap with or because they infinitely increase their health, which will scale Health regeneration.
• A also has no gold efficiency cap with or .

## Start a Discussion Discussions about Gold efficiency

• #### Mathematical validity of the Gold Value calculation method.

3 messages
• Moyon wrote: Can anyone justify why picking the small items is better than picking the larger items ? Both seems as arbitrary to me. Beca...
• It's sort of like with SI units. They've been somewhat arbitrarily determined, but something had to be used to determine value so...
• #### Gold efficiency item classification

2 messages
• I really want to change the classification of the items in the Gold Effiency page : * Leave Basic Tier Items where they are, without chang...
• Wrong forum. Use: :'''Wiki discussions and announcements''' :Discussions and announcements pertaining to the wiki