In League of Legends, mastering game mechanics can be the difference between outplaying your enemy and watching a gray screen. Among the more complex in-game stats is lethality—a mechanic that often confuses newcomers but plays a critical role for assassins and physical damage champions. So, what exactly does lethality do, and why is it such a game-changer?
Lethality Defined
Lethality is a stat that reduces a portion of the enemy’s armor, making your physical damage more effective. It is not flat armor penetration, but rather a scaling stat that gets stronger the higher your opponent’s level is. The idea is simple: the more lethality you have, the less armor your opponent has to block your attacks.
This makes lethality extremely powerful in the early and mid-game, especially when enemies haven’t yet built heavy defensive items.
How It Works
When you purchase an item that provides lethality—such as Youmuu’s Ghostblade or The Collector—you’re not directly reducing your opponent’s armor by a fixed number. Instead, the amount of armor you ignore scales with your target’s level, making lethality particularly effective against squishy champions.
Here’s how it breaks down:
- The formula for lethality converts a flat number (e.g., 18 lethality) into effective armor penetration.
- The amount of armor bypassed = Lethality × (0.6 + 0.4 × target’s level ÷ 18)
This scaling keeps lethality balanced—it’s great against low-armor champions, but less effective against tanks with high armor values and scaling.
Who Uses Lethality?
Lethality is primarily used by AD assassins and burst champions who aim to eliminate squishy targets quickly. Champions like Zed, Kha’Zix, Miss Fortune, and Talon often build lethality to amplify their burst potential.
Unlike armor penetration items that are more suited for extended fights, lethality is all about deleting enemies before they even get a chance to react.
Lethality vs Armor Penetration
It’s important to note that lethality is different from percentage armor penetration. While lethality reduces a flat amount of armor (scaled by level), percentage penetration reduces a portion of the target’s total armor, regardless of level.
This makes lethality ideal for snowballing early kills and pressuring the map, whereas percentage penetration is more useful in late-game fights against tanks and heavily armored foes.
Strategic Considerations
Building lethality is not always the answer. Against tank-heavy comps, it quickly falls off in value. However, when facing a team filled with mages, ADCs, and supports with little or no armor, lethality can help secure early leads and dominate skirmishes.
Additionally, lethality items often come with valuable passives—movement speed boosts, extra gold on kills, or bonus damage on ability hits—that enhance the playstyle of fast-paced, roaming champions.
Conclusion
Lethality is a stat designed for aggression. It rewards early-game dominance, sharp mechanics, and calculated burst damage. For players who thrive on precision and high-risk, high-reward gameplay, lethality offers the perfect toolset.
So next time you’re wondering why Zed just deleted your health bar in under a second, remember: it’s not just skill—it’s science. And a lot of lethality.
Written by:
Christian