In League of Legends, there are a vast number of items that can greatly affect gameplay both positively and negatively. Most people have strong opinions on certain items, claiming they are too good or too bad.
This article will talk about the most broken, overpowered, and game-changing items in the game by giving a brief description of what they do and their counter options. Champions who benefit from these items will also be mentioned so you know who to pick if you want them to become even more powerful.
10. Deathfire Grasp
Deathfire Grasp was the most recent addition to this list as it was released as a core item with patch v1.0.0.109. At first glance, its stats seem pretty lackluster but its active is what makes this item so powerful. The active allows the champion to deal 15% of their target’s current health in magic damage while also reducing their magic resistance by 25%.
This effect can be used through death, fog of war, and stealth making it impossible for targets to escape the death grip of DFG users once they get close enough. The burn becomes stronger with each rank in the ability increasing from 15%, 17.5%, 20%, up to a maximum of 30% at max level.
Early game, this would make almost any champion deadly when within range because most low-level players don’t start building magic resist until later on unless they are facing an opponent who deals magic damage frequently or are playing a squishy mage. The burn damage would also make it impossible to fight back once the user gets in range because their resistances would be too low to do anything against it.
For late game, this is still a powerful item as the flat reduction from the active will allow mages with high base damages to deal even more damage as most mid-game players have built magic resistance by now so they won’t take as much of a hit from DFG users. Late game carries or tanks that have already built a lot of health will not feel much pain against this due to its percentage-based damage and burning effect.
9. Blade of the Ruined King
The Riven of the Ruined King is a Legendary Item in League. BotRK has always been an incredibly powerful item, but the update to this item has left people wondering if Riot Games is even attempting to balance anything anymore.
This item is amazing for bruisers that like to engage face-to-face since it provides a passive CC after every 2 auto attacks, making them almost impossible to escape from. Not only does it provide bonus attack damage and magic damage on hit, but it also gives a passive CC on hit.
For example, Jax is a powerful fighter that relies on his empowered basic attacks to deal damage. Giving Jax a genuine weapon like the Blade of the Ruined King increases his potential significantly, and due to his excellent mobility, he’ll be hard to escape once he starts hitting you with his lamp post.
Also read: How to Use Dark Harvest?
8. Sword of the Divine
The Sword of the Divine is a relic from Season 3 and 4’s wild balancing days. One of the greatest base attack speeds on an item, with 45 percent attack speed. Along with the statistic, its function would give the user’s next three auto-attacks 100% attack speed and critical strike. Every 60 seconds, the active provides consistent burst windows, allowing marksmen and assassin champions to quickly dispatch a squishy opponent.
7. Innervating Locket
The old Innervating Locket used to be a support item. It was very cheap for the amount of health return it provides and its unique passive allowed users to restore mana equal to 15% of damage taken from champions, health equal to 20% of mana spent, up to 25 health per cast, while toggle abilities could heal for up to 25 per second.
This item gave champions like Gragas, Udyr, or Sona infinite amounts of sustain. Riot Games ultimately decided that that was too good, so they removed the item altogether.
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6. Black Cleaver
The Black Cleaver is currently an uninteresting item in season 10. However, this venerable bruiser equipment has had a tumultuous history. It provided not only a stacking armor debuff (which caps at 30% after four hits) but also a flat armor penetration, which stacked with itself.
Top laners with many Black Cleavers were terrorizing the game, as predicted. It took a nerf to the percentage debuff and making the flat penetration a unique passive to bring this brutalization back under control.
5. Force of Nature
For its time, Force of Nature was one of those items that were undoubtedly OP, but it wasn’t fully utilized. The item provided health (the most magic resistance for any single item) as well as health regeneration, 10% movement speed, and 1% maximum health regeneration for 2610 gold.
With Singed and Mundo, a pair of champions that benefit from health regeneration, one of the most absurd combinations was utilized. This was combined with Spirit Visage, which granted a 20% boost to all health regeneration effects on yourself.
Because it also increased the passive Power of Nature, this meant you could have a somewhat lower version of Warmogs’ healing effect; nevertheless, unlike current Warmogs, this is one that works in battle. This is why many old-school top-lane players favored Singed as a main champion. Ultimately though, Force of Nature was removed from the game, although it’s still relevant (and still OP) in Teamfight Tactics.
Also read: What To Do As A Jungler When All Lanes Are Losing?
4. Aegis of the Legion
The most egregious offenders were the Aegis of the Legion, which granted magic resistance, armor, and health regeneration to nearby champions, as well as to neighboring allied minions. This was in direct contrast with Riot’s eventual policy decision, which was not to invent items, champions, or situations that have limited interaction between the player controlling it and the player opposing it.
The first tier of Aegis was a must-buy item for most supports, and it was even purchased by some junglers. The most ridiculous Aegis strategy involved stacking auras, but only for the champions who bought it (can only stack twice; not three times if three players buy it).
In Season 3, gold was less plentiful, and therefore it made more sense to purchase a cheaper item like this. It meant players would typically assemble it in the support and jungle roles, and because it only cost 1900 gold, it was an extremely effective investment.
3. Runeglaive
Runeglaive was arguably the most over-tuned item in League of Legends history, and it’s easy to understand why someone might think that. Runeglaiver was introduced in Season 5 on patch 5.12, giving junglers a 75 percent bonus AD (+30% AP) on their next basic auto-attack after using an ability (essentially a Sheen), but it changed the damage into magic instead. The item also returned 8% mana to champions, 10% CDR, and 200 Mana. Although the item was created with junglers in mind, mid laners began using Smite and Ezreal was one of the main beneficiaries.
The plan was quite straightforward. Ezreal would start a Doran’s Ring in order to gain mana sustain, but it also boosted the Runeglaive’s damage because of the (+30% AP) modifier on the passive once you bought the item. Since Ezreal’s damage profile changed to AP with this build, Sorcerer’s Boots were an obvious choice.
After completing Runeglaive, he would create Luden’s Echo, which is crucial since the passive for Luden’s Echo (the splash damage comet effect) would proc with Ezreal’s Q, but also because the way Luden’s Echo works is that any movement or spell cast charges the item to then release the splash damage once it reaches a count of 100. Ezreal’s Arcane Shift (E) can also be used for this purpose, sending the counter zooming significantly as he blinks a long distance.
Runeglaive gave so much pressure because Ezreal’s Mystic Shot (Q) would automatically activate Runeglaive without requiring an auto-attack owing to how it was programmed, and to top it off, Essence Flux (W) scales with AP, therefore the spell began to do significant damage. Ezreal’s ultimate also scales off of AP as well as AD, which made him an easy burst champion.
Unsurprisingly, the item received an immediate nerf, followed by another one soon after.
Also read: When Should You Roam As A Mid Laner?
2. Sunfire Cape
Sunfire Cape was not broken on its own, but it did have some very petulant behavior in the game’s early days. Sunfire Cape’s scorching AOE was stackable throughout Season 1.
The stacking of Sunfire Capes caused them to deal 40 damage every second, for a total of 200 damage per second in this scenario. It was an excellent method because of the item’s excellent protection and health bonuses.
Stacking Sunfire Capes on Evelynn was another popular technique. Unless Evelynn auto attacked or used a spell, she was completely invisible before her rework. This gave her tremendous early map pressure. Evelynn would then stand next to you while ganking a lane or, even better, invade the enemy jungle and slowly murder the opposing jungler by just standing there until she had an HP advantage, at which point she’d full combo them to death.
1. Zhonya’s Ring
Zhonya’s ring is one of the coolest (and one of my favorite) items in League history, Since its first incarnation, the item has been divided into two separate items, similar to what was done with Force of Nature. This item gave you 120 flat AP, +25% AP, and had the active effect of “stasis”, familiar? Yup, you guessed it.
The item was a mix of god-tier offense, along with god-tier defense. Eventually, though, Riot realized that having so much sheer power within a single item was a bit OP, therefore, they decided to split up the item in two, giving birth to Rabadon’s Deathcap (which took the +25% AP), and Zhonya’s Hourglass (which took the “stasis” effect).
This decision was made due to Riot’s thoughts that it was better for the game overall, to have these effects in two separate items. This offered more build diversity, and it also meant that people would now have to choose between prioritizing offense or defense.
Summary
In this article, we have looked at the top 10 most broken items in League of Legends. Some of these items were incredibly overpowered in the early days of the game, while others still pose a significant threat to the balance of the game today. Hopefully, with more careful balancing and design, Riot can avoid situations where some items can completely dominate the game.
