Ability damage

Ability damage is one of the game's archetypal damage types, and is the damage type dealt by most abilities. Ability damage is the pre-requisite for applying ability effects, such as Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Dealing ability damage will also generate aggression from turrets but, by contrast to basic attack damage, does not trigger the Call For Help AI on minions.

Ability damage is never described as such in-game, instead being listed as physical, magic or true damage. However, those typings can be attributed other archetypal damage types (e.g. basic attack damage can be physical and magical, too) and so knowing whether or not an effect deals ability damage can be hard to intuit.

Non-Damaging Abilities

The following non-damaging effects actually deal 1 ability damage, inflicted as true damage:

• Crystallize
• Pillar of Ice
• Time Bomb
• This list may be incomplete.

Non-Abilities

The following non-abilities will also trigger spell effects:

Items

• Bilgewater Cutlass
• Blade of the Ruined King
• Hextech Gunblade
• Hextech Protobelt-01
• Hextech GLP-800
• Luden's Echo
• Runic Echoes

Summoner Spells

• Chilling Smite
• Ignite

Runes

• Arcane Comet

Thess lists may be incomplete.

On-Hit Ability Damage

The following on-hit effects deal ability damage, meaning they will trigger ability effects:

• Ekko's Phase Dive
• Gragas' Drunken Rage
• Illaoi's Harsh Lesson
• Jax's Empower
  • Grandmaster's Might (passive)
• Kassadin's Nether Blade (active)
• Kayle's Righteous Fury
• Kennen's Electrical Surge (passive)
• Kha'Zix's Unseen Threat
• Leona's Shield of Daybreak
• Mordekaiser's Mace of Spades
• Twisted Fate's Stacked Deck
  • Pick a Card
• Udyr's Tiger Stance (activation effect)
• This list may be incomplete.

Attack Effects

As of V7.22, the following abilities now apply both attack effects and spell effects.

Note that, however, the damage dealt by these abilities is not classified as ability damage, except in the case of Whiplash and the magic damage portion of Urchin Strike. Except in those cases, the damage dealt by these abilities will not benefit from  Spell Vamp. It is possible—as with Non-Damaging Abilities (above)—that these abilities actually deal 1 ability damage.

Probably Bug: Steel Tempest is only triggering ability effects on the second and third cast in Steel Tempest's chain, and they are only applied to the first target hit.

Gameplay Elements