Magic resistance

Magic resistance (or MR) is a stat that all units have, including minions, monsters, and buildings. Increasing magic resistance reduces the magic damage the unit takes. Each champion begins with some magic resistance which may increase with level. You can gain additional magic resistance from abilities, items, masteries, and runes. Magic resistance stacks additively.

All champions begin with 30 or 32.1 base magic resistance. Currently no ranged champion gains magic resistance per level, but most melee champions do except  Kassadin and Yasuo.

Elise, Gnar, Jayce, Kayle and Nidalee do not gain magic resistance per level because they are not always melee champions due to their variable attack range.

All champions that do gain magic resistance per level gain 1.25 magic resistance per level, reaching 53.4 base magic resistance at level 18.

Damage reduction

Magic Resistance reduces the damage of incoming magical attacks by a percentage. This percentage is determined by the formula: Damage Reduction = Total Magic Resistance / (100 + Total Magic Resistance). For example, a champion with 150 points of magic resistance would receive 60% reduced damage from magical attacks. Incoming magic damage is multiplied by a factor based on the unit's magic resistance(same with armor):

$${\rm Damage\ multiplier}=\begin{cases} {100 \over 100+{\it MR}}, & {\rm if\ }{\it MR} \geq 0\\ 2 - {100 \over 100 - {\it MR}}, & {\rm otherwise} \end{cases}$$

Examples:

• 25 magic resistance → × 0.8 incoming magic damage (20% reduction).
• 100 magic resistance → × 0.5 incoming magic damage (50% reduction).
• −25 magic resistance → × 1.2 incoming magic damage (20% increase).

Stacking magic resistance

Every point of magic resistance requires a unit to take 1% more of its maximum health in magic damage to be killed. This is called "effective health."

Example: A unit with 60 magic resistance has 160% of its maximum health in its effective health, so if the unit has 1000 maximum health, it will take 1600 magic damage to kill it.

What this means: by definition, magic resistance does not have diminishing returns, because each point increases the unit's effective health against magic damage by 1% of its current actual health value whether the unit has 10 magic resistance or 1000 magic resistance.

For a more detailed explanation, see this video.

Unlike health, increasing magic resistance makes healings and shields more effective because it requires more raw damage from your enemies to remove the bonus health granted. This is called indirect scaling.

Optimal efficiency (theoretical)

Note: 'Effective Health' describes the amount of raw damage a champion can receive before dying. It will always be more than or equal to a champion's displayed Health in their Health bar and it can be increased by buying items with extra Health, Armor and Magic Resist. In this article, Effective Health will refer to the amount of raw 'Magic Damage' a champion can take.

In almost all circumstances, champions will have a lot more Health than Magic Resistance such that the following inequality will be true: Champion-Health > (Champion-MR + 100).

If this inequality is true, a single point of MR will give more 'Effective Health' to that champion than a single point of Health.

If (Health < MR + 100), 1 point of Health will give more Effective Health than 1 of MR.

If (Health = MR + 100), 1 point of Health will give exactly the same amount of Effective Health as 1 point of MR.

Because of this relationship, theoretically, the way to get the maximum amount of Effective Health from a finite combination of Health and MR is to ensure that you have exactly 100 more Health than MR (this is true regardless of how much Health and MR you actually have).

Example: Given a theoretical situation where you start off with 0 Health and 0 MR and are given an arbitrary number of stat points (x > 100) each of which you can either use to increase your Health or MR by 1 point, the way to maximize your Effective Health is to add points to your health until your Health = (MR + 100) = (0 + 100) = 100, and then split the remaining stat points in half, spend half on your Health and half on your MR.

It's important to note that this information is purely theoretical and due to limitations from the game from champions' base stats and item stats it is incredibly difficult to acquire enough MR to satisfy the conditions given above (to the point where players shouldn't attempt to if they are trying to actually win games).

Instead, broadly speaking, items which provide both Health and MR give a very high amount of Effective Health against Magic Damage compared to items which only provide Health or only provide MR. These items should be purchased when a player is seeking efficient ways to reduce the magic damage they take by a large amount.

Magic Resistance as Scaling

These use the champion's magic resistance to increase the magnitude of the ability. It could involve total or bonus magic resistance. By building magic resistance items, you can receive more benefit and power from these abilities.

Champions

• Braum's Stand Behind Me grants magic resistance equal to 10 / 11.5 / 13 / 14.5 / 16% of his bonus magic resistance to himself and the target ally (in addition to a base amount) for 3 seconds.
• Galio's Runic Skin grants him bonus ability power equal to 50% of his total magic resistance.
• Leona's Eclipse grants additional magic resist equal to 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 + (20% of her bonus magic resistance) for its duration.
• Poppy's Steadfast Presence passively grants magic resistance to herself equal to 12% of her total magic resistance, increased to 24% of her total magic resistance while below 40% maximum health.
• Trundle's Subjugate takes 40% of the target's magic resistance and gains an equal amount of magic resistance. Half of this magic resistance is stolen on cast, and the next half is taken over 4 seconds. The magic resistance bonus/reduction lasts for another 4 seconds after the drain completes.

Increasing magic resistance

Items

Template:Stat table header Template:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table rowTemplate:Item table row Template:Stat table footer

Champion abilities

Note: Only the magic resist buff effect of these abilities is shown here, to read more information on each of these abilities, follow the link on each of them.

• Anivia's Rebirth allows her to enter an egg-state for up to 6 seconds upon taking lethal damage. While in this state, she will receive a magic resistance modifier of .
• Braum's Stand Behind Me increases magic resistance by 15 / 17.5 / 20 / 22.5 / 25 + (10 / 11.5 / 13 / 14.5 / 16% bonus magic resistance) to himself and the target ally for 3 seconds.
• Galio's Bulwark increases an allied champion's magic resistance by 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 for 4 seconds.
• Gnar's Rage Gene increases his magic resistance by (2 × Gnar's level) when transformed into Mega Gnar.
• Garen's Courage permanently gains 0.25 bonus magic resistance every time he kills an enemy, up to a maximum of 30.
• Graves' Quickdraw increases his magic resistance by 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 for 4 seconds stacking up to 4 times when shooting pellet, up to 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 bonus magic resistance.
• Jax's Grandmaster's Might increases his magic resistance by 30 / 50 / 70 + (20% AP) for 8 seconds.
• Jayce's Transform: Mercury Hammer increases his magic resistance by 5 / 15 / 25 / 35.
• Kennen's Lightning Rush increases his magic resistance by 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 for 4 seconds.
• Leona's Eclipse increases her magic resistance by 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 + (20% bonus magic resistance) for 3 seconds, deals damage after that time to units around her, and retains the defensive buff for an additional 3 seconds if any enemy is struck by the blast.
• Olaf's Ragnarok passively increases his magic resistance by 20 / 30 / 40. He loses the passive while his ability is active.
• Orianna's Command: Protect increases an allied champion's magic resistance by 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 as long as the ball is attached to it.
• Poppy's Steadfast Presence increases her magic resistance by 12% doubled to 24% while below 40% of her max. health.
• Rammus' Defensive Ball Curl increases his magic resistance by 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 for 6 seconds.
• Rengar's Battle Roar lets out a battle roar, damaging enemies increases his magic resist by 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 for each enemy champion or large monster hit for 4 seconds.
• Shyvana's Dragonborn passively increases her magic resistance by . This bonus is doubled while she is in dragon form ().
• Singed's Insanity Potion increases his magic resistance by 35 / 50 / 80 for 25 seconds.
• Trundle's Subjugate immediately steals 20% of the target's magic resistance, and a further 20% over 4 seconds. These magic resistance bonuses lasts for another 4 seconds after the drain completes.
• Wukong's Stone Skin grants him magic resistance for each visible nearby enemy champion.
• Xin Zhao's Crescent Sweep increases his magic resistance by 15 / 20 / 25 for each enemy champion hit for 8 seconds.

Masteries

•  Unyielding increases bonus magic resistance and bonus armor by 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5%.
•  Legendary Guardian grants 0.6 / 1.2 / 1.8 / 2.4 / 3 magic resistance and armor for each nearby enemy champion.

Runes

Name	Type	Tier 1 (Lesser)	Tier 2 (Normal)	Tier 3 (Greater)
Magic Resist	Mark	X	X	0.77 205 Influence Point
	Seal	0.41 N/A	0.58 1 Influence Point	0.74 205 Influence Point
	Glyph	0.74 N/A	1.04 1 Influence Point	1.34 205 Influence Point
	Quintessence	2.22 N/A	3.11 1 Influence Point	4 1025 Influence Point
Magic Resist, Scaling (Magic Resist per level)	Mark	X	X	0.07 per level (1.26) 205 Influence Point
	Seal	X	X	0.1 per level (1.8) 410 Influence Point
	Glyph	X	X	0.16 per level (2.88) 205 Influence Point
	Quintessence	X	X	0.37 per level (6.66) 1025 Influence Point

Other

• Disconnecting gives approximately +1000 magic resistance after a delay.

Ways to reduce magic resistance

See magic penetration. Note that magic penetration and magic resistance reduction are different.

List of champions' magic resistance

Main article: List of champions' magic resistance

• 63 champions have 30 base magic resistance from level 1 to level 18. These champions are mostly ranged champions, with the exception of Kassadin, and Yasuo.

• 65 champions start with 32.1 base magic resistance at level one, and at 53.4 base magic resistance at level 18. These champion are all melee champions, without exception.

Trivia

(Last updated 08/06/2016 on patch 6.11)

• One of the biggest amount of magic resistance any champion can obtain is 1042.53101184 (which reduces magical damage by 91.248%), being a level 18 Poppy.

• Base stats: +53.4 magic resistance
• Runes:
  • 9 ×  Scaling Marks of Magic Resistance (+9 × 1.26 magic resistance)
  • 9 ×  Scaling Seals of Magic Resistance (+9 × 1.8 magic resistance)
  • 9 ×  Scaling Glyphs of Magic Resistance (+9 × 2.88 magic resistance)
  • 3 ×  Scaling Quintessences of Magic Resistance (+3 × 6.66 magic resistance)
• Masteries:
  • 5 points in  Unyielding (+5% bonus magic resistance)
  • 5 points in  Legendary Guardian (+3 × 5 magic resistance)
• Items:
  • 6 Banshee's Veil (+6 × 70 magic resistance)
• Buffs:
  • Galio's Bulwark (+90 magic resistance)
  • Orianna's Command: Protect (+30 magic resistance)
    •  Windspeaker's Blessing (+11 magic resistance) (this mastery can not stack)
  • Braum's Stand Behind Me (+110.41792 magic resistance)
  • Poppy's Steadfast Presence (+24% total magic resistance)
• Relevant mathematics:
• Braum's bonus magic resistance:
  • Items =  6 × 70 = 420 magic resistance
  • Runes =  1.26 × 9 +  1.8 × 9 +  2.88 × 9 +  6.66 × 3 = 73.44 magic resistance
  • Mast. & Buffs =  15 = 15 magic resistance
  • Bonus Magic Resistance Amplification =  1.05 = 1.05 = 5% bonus magic resistance
    • Braum's bonus magic resistance = (420 + 73.44 + 15) × 1.05 = 533.862 bonus magic resistance
    • Stand Behind Me's bonus = 25 + (16% bonus magic resistance)
    • Stand Behind Me's bonus = 25 + 85.41792
    • Stand Behind Me's bonus = 110.41792
• Poppy's magic resistance:
• Base stats: +53.4 magic resistance
  • Items =  6 × 70 = 420 magic resistance
  • Runes =  1.26 × 9 +  1.8 × 9 +  2.88 × 9 +  6.66 × 3 = 73.44 magic resistance
  • Mast. & Buffs =  15 +  90 +  30 +  11 +  110.41792 = 256.41792 magic resistance
  • Bonus Magic Resistance Amplification =  1.05 = 1.05 = 5% bonus magic resistance
  • Magic Resistance Amplification =  1.24 = 1.24 = 24% magic resistance
    • Poppy's magic resistance = (((420 + 73.44 + 256.41792) × 1.05) + 53.4) × 1.24 = 1042.53101184 magic resistance

• Having an enemy Trundle with the same setup use Subjugate on Poppy will yield a total of 1278.6138409728 magic resistance, which reduces magical damage by 92.746%.

• Poppy's magic resistance = 1042.53101184 magic resistance
  • Subjugate's bonus = 40% of enemy's magic resistance
  • Subjugate's bonus = 417.012404736

• Trundle's magic resistance:
• Base stats: +53.4 magic resistance
  • Items =  6 × 70 = 420 magic resistance
  • Runes =  1.26 × 9 +  1.8 × 9 +  2.88 × 9 +  6.66 × 3 = 73.44 magic resistance
  • Mast. & Buffs =  15 +  90 +  30 +  11 +  110.41792 +  417.012404736 = 673.430324736 magic resistance
  • Bonus Magic Resistance Amplification =  1.05 = 1.05 = 5% bonus magic resistance
    • Trundle's magic resistance = ((420 + 73.44 + 673.430324736) × 1.05) + 53.4 = 1278.6138409728 magic resistance

It is still possible to go higher through metagame functions. If a summoner disconnects from the server and is in the fountain, his/her champion will gain 1000 magic resistance. With the same setup as above, a disconnected Poppy will have approximately 2042.53101184 magic resist. Trundle cannot exceed this. This reduces magical damage by 95.333%.

• Prior to Patch 3.10, a level 18  Master Yi with 1  Runic Bulwark, 5  Spirit Visages, 3 points in Resistance, 3 points in  Legendary Armor, Creeping Death, Bulwark, Aria of Perseverance, Command: Protect, an allied Runic Bulwark aura, a full page of Template:Rune runes, and  Meditate active gave a total of approximately 1004 magic resist. Switching  Mordekaiser for  Trundle and having an enemy  Trundle with the same setup use  Subjugate on Master Yi and the allied  Trundle use Subjugate on the enemy  Trundle, yielded a total of approximately 1297 magic resist. This is the highest possible amount of magic resistance, which is 92.8% reduction.
  • If Garen disconnects from the fountain and has the same setup, he will have 2108 magic resist. This is a 95.5% reduction.
  • NOTE: This calculation does not include the Defender mastery.

Champion statistics