Night Harvester vs. Luden’s – Which One Is Better?

League of Legends has hundreds of items under its belt. With so many items that it accrued over the years, some would inevitably share similarities. These similarities can be pretty confusing for newer players and intermediate ones. 

Choosing the correct item at the right time is crucial to your winning potential. Many items may share the same passive effect, such as the Sheen items (Trinity, Essence Reaver, etc.). 

In this article’s case, the two items share the “Echo” passive that used to be exclusive only to Luden’s Echo item. Since that item has been reworked and a new one was introduced, it caused some confusion among the community.

We’re here to resolve that confusion and answer which is better. Firstly, we’ll go over each item separately and then compare them head-to-head at the end of the article. 

So, without further ado, let’s begin! 

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Night Harvester

• Stats: +90 AP, +15 Ability Haste, +300 HP
• Unique Passive – Soulrend: Damaging an enemy champion deals 125 (+15% AP) bonus magic damage and grants you 25% bonus movement speed for 1.5 seconds, with the duration extending on subsequent triggers (40 (per champion) second cooldown).
• Mythic Passive: Empowers each of your other Legendary items with 5 Ability Haste.

The Night Harvester is a great AP item that amplifies damage dealt immediately. The extra damage from the Soulrend passive will ensure that the enemy doesn’t survive with that last bit of health left. 

It works on a per-Champion basis, meaning that you can use it on each enemy individually once every 40 seconds. This is great since you don’t have to worry about waiting for a recharge after using it on one enemy Champion. However, the considerable cooldown means that it isn’t spammable, and you will have a long hiatus between your amplified bursts. 

The extra movement speed is also great to have as it will allow you to chase down fleeing enemies with ease. For example, a Champion like Fiddlesticks works wonders with the Night Harvester. After using his Ultimate, that extra movement speed buff gives him the chance to run after the enemy, continuously damaging them with the Ult’s AOE. 

As a mythic item, and at a 3200g price, the Night Harvester is genuinely an excellent item to have. The mythic passive will buff you significantly in spell casting, counterbalancing its own non-spam nature. 

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Luden’s Tempest

• Stats: +80 AP, +20 Ability Haste, +600 Mana, +6 Magic Penetration 
• Unique Passive – Echo: Dealing ability damage to an enemy deals 100 (+10% AP) additional magic damage to them and launches orbs at up to 3 other enemies within 600 units around them, impacting after 0.528 seconds to deal the same damage to each, and grants you 15% bonus movement speed for 2 seconds. Dealing ability damage against champions reduces the cooldown of Echo by 0.5 seconds per champion, up to a maximum of 3 seconds per cast (10-second cooldown).
• Mythic Passive: Empowers each of your other Legendary items with 5 Magic Penetration.

The Luden’s Tempest, formerly known as Luden’s Echo, is a fantastic AP item that can turn any spell into a burst cast. The extra damage from Echo allows for swift execution of any enemy, and you’ll even do some damage to those around them. Echo helps you clear waves faster, burst down the enemy Champions, and just do more damage overall. 

Despite being so similar in function, it works quite differently from the Night Harvester passive. It is spammable, as it fills up in charges as you move around the map. The more you move, the faster you’ll get it. This means that you will have it up pretty often, unlike the Night Harvester passive. But the comparison has to wait for a moment more, so keep reading. 

The Mythic Passive focuses on Magic Penetration, as do the base stats. Having no Ability Haste means that you will not be spamming spells that much with Luden’s. However, as the item itself has a passive that’s more active than not, it doesn’t represent much of an issue. It would be nice to have some Ability Haste built into the item. 

At 3200g, it’s a tremendous Mythic Item to have on your build, especially if you’re a burst mage. 

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The Comparison 

When facing these two head-to-head, we have to be aware of their differences more than their similarities. Though functionally the same, these two items fit into vastly different builds. 

While the Night Harvester might be found on a Champion such as Fiddlesticks, who strives from movement speed and spamming spells – Luden’s Echo is more fit for a Champion like, say, Kassadin. Kassadin’s priorities are dealing as much damage as possible in a single-target combo. 

However, with their differences aside, the similarities are pretty striking. Both offer extra damage on spells, extra movement speed, etc. Having items that are this samey makes it rather difficult to conclude which is better. 

I’d say neither is, as despite being of the same category, their use is found in some pretty opposite scenarios. Burst and spamming are two entirely different categories of spell casting. The first focuses on instantaneous kills, while the other goes for a peeling approach. 

If we’re only talking base stats, I’d say that Luden’s Tempest takes the win there. Magic Penetration is lethal and can drastically impact how well you perform. But we mustn’t exclude Harvester’s Ability Haste that can turn you into a machine-gunning spell-casting beast. 

Conclusion

I hope you’ve found this article informative and fun to read, despite there not being a clear winner. Sometimes items in League of Legends can be so similar yet vastly different. This is what represents the depth of League’s itemization system. Even the slightest change in stats or function can impact the item’s build viability, usability, etc. We hope that Riot continues the solid work they’ve been doing on the items in these past years. 

Thank you for reading, and I wish you all the best on the Summoner’s Rift!