Armor in League of Legends (2024)

Definition

Richard Heimer

5^thAugust 2024Edited at: 5th August 2024

Armor is a critical stat in League of Legends, providing essential defense against physical damage. Understanding how armor functions can significantly impact your gameplay, allowing you to optimize your defenses and enhance your survivability.

How Does Armor Work in LoL

Basic Concept

Armor reduces the amount of physical damage taken by your champion. It converts incoming physical damage into a reduced amount, helping you survive longer in battles. Each champion starts with a base armor value that increases with levels. Additionally, armor can be boosted by items, abilities, runes, and buffs.

Armor Formula

The formula to calculate post-mitigation damage is:

Where RRR is the armor value. This formula shows how armor mitigates the damage taken from physical attacks.

Base and Bonus Armor

• Base Armor: This is the initial armor value of a champion, which increases with levels.
• Bonus Armor: This includes any additional armor gained from items, abilities, buffs, or runes.

Effective Health

Each point of armor increases the effective health pool against physical damage by 1% of the champion's maximum health. This means that higher armor values significantly reduce the physical damage taken.

Examples

• 25 Armor: 20% physical damage reduction, 25% effective health increase.
• 100 Armor: 50% physical damage reduction, 100% effective health increase.
• 200 Armor: 66.6% physical damage reduction, 200% effective health increase.

Stacking Armor

Armor does not have diminishing returns for effective health. Each additional point of armor consistently increases the effective health pool by 1% of the champion's maximum health. This consistency makes stacking armor a reliable way to boost survivability against physical damage.

Increasing Armor

Armor can be increased through various means:

• Items: Items like Thornmail, Randuin's Omen, and Frozen Heart provide substantial armor boosts.
• Abilities: Certain champions have abilities that increase their armor. Examples include Malphite's Granite Shield and Rammus' Defensive Ball Curl.
• Runes: Runes such as Aftershock and Conditioning offer additional armor.
• Buffs: Neutral buffs like Mountainous Vigor also contribute to armor.

Reducing Armor

Armor can be reduced or negated using armor penetration, lethality, and armor reduction effects. These mechanics decrease the target's armor, making them more vulnerable to physical damage.

Armor vs. Health

Choosing between armor and health depends on the enemy team's composition and damage types. Armor is specifically effective against physical damage, while health provides a more general defense, mitigating both physical and magical damage. In some scenarios, prioritizing health might be more beneficial, especially against teams with a balanced mix of damage types.

Key Champions and Items

• Champions with Armor Scaling Abilities: Malphite, Rammus, Leona, and Sejuani benefit significantly from armor due to their abilities that scale with armor values.
• Notable Armor Items: Thornmail, Randuin's Omen, and Frozen Heart are key items for increasing armor.

Understanding and utilizing armor effectively can greatly enhance your gameplay in League of Legends, providing your champion with the necessary defenses to withstand physical damage and excel in battles.

Comparison Between Lethality and Armor Penetration

Lethality

Lethality is a flat amount of armor penetration that scales with the user's level. It directly reduces the target's effective armor value by a fixed amount. Lethality is particularly effective against targets with lower armor values and is often used by assassins and champions focusing on burst damage. For example, if you have 20 lethality, your target's armor is treated as if it were 20 points lower for damage calculations.

Armor Penetration

Armor penetration can be divided into two categories: flat and percentage-based.

• Flat Armor Penetration: Similar to lethality but does not scale with level. It reduces the target's armor by a fixed amount. However, this method is less common since lethality replaced flat armor penetration.
• Percentage Armor Penetration: This reduces the target's armor by a percentage, making it more effective against high-armor targets. Items like Lord Dominik's Regards provide percentage armor penetration. For instance, 35% armor penetration treats the target as if they had 35% less armor.

Comparison

• Lethality: Better for squishy targets with low armor. Ideal for assassins and burst damage champions. Example items include Duskblade of Draktharr and Youmuu's Ghostblade.
• Percentage Armor Penetration: More effective against tanky champions with high armor. Essential for sustained damage dealers like marksmen. Example items include Lord Dominik's Regards and Mortal Reminder.

When Should You Build Armor Penetration Items?

Building armor penetration items depends on the enemy team's composition and the armor values of your targets.

General Guidelines

• Lethality: Build lethality items when facing squishy champions with low to moderate armor. Ideal in scenarios where you need to burst down key targets quickly. Example: Assassins like Zed and Talon often build lethality.
• Percentage Armor Penetration: Opt for percentage armor penetration items when the enemy team has one or more tanky champions with high armor values. This helps in dealing sustained damage over time. Example: ADCs like Vayne and Jhin benefit from items like Lord Dominik's Regards against tanky teams.

Here is a comparison between Kraken Slayer + LDR or Collector to determine the best item in the situation.

Total Stats with Each Item

1. Kraken + LDR
   • AD: 50 (Kraken) + 45 (LDR) = 95
   • Attack Speed: 40%
   • Critical Strike Chance: 25%
   • Armor Penetration: 35%
2. Kraken + The Collector
   • AD: 50 (Kraken) + 60 (Collector) = 110
   • Attack Speed: 40%
   • Critical Strike Chance: 25%
   • Lethality: 12

Base Damage Calculation

Assume a base physical damage output of 1000 for simplicity.

Damage Formulas

• Post-mitigation damage with LDR

  

• Post-mitigation damage with The Collector:

  

Armor Values Comparison

Conclusion

The calculations show that The Collector provides more damage than Lord Dominik's Regards at armor values below approximately 100. However, Lord Dominik's Regards becomes more effective at armor values above approximately 100.

Therefore, if the enemy team has champions with armor values around or below 100, it is more beneficial to build The Collector over Lord Dominik's Regards. For higher armor values, Lord Dominik's Regards will provide better damage output.

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