A critical strike is a basic attack or ability that deals 175% of its normal damage by default.
All basic attacks and some abilities can critically strike. Most champions cannot critically strike structures. The exceptions are , , and .
Champions can increase their chances to critically strike and the damage they deal with critical strikes using items and abilities. Critical strikes are specially valuable for champions who deal damage primarily with basic attacks rather than abilities. Some champions, like , have an affinity for critical strikes and benefit more than others from items that improve them.
Contents
Critical strike chance
Critical strike chance is the chance that a basic attack of a champion critically strikes. Every champion starts with 0% critical strike chance, and level-ups do not increase the critical strike chance.
Critical strike chance can be increased with items and abilities; it stacks additively, and each bonus point acquired directly affects its statistic. It cannot be increased beyond 100%, although some effects will benefit from the stat despite the cap.
Gold Value
: Critical strike chance has a gold value of 40 per point.
Critical strike chance changes dynamically based on how many times the champion did not critically strike. For instance, with 30% critical strike chance, it is guaranteed that the champion will have roughly 30 critical strikes for every 100 attacks. If the champion did not critically strike for a long period of time, their future attacks will have a higher probability of critically striking, and vice versa; if the champion has been critically striking subsequently overtime, their future attacks have a lesser probability of critically striking.
When averaged over a high number of basic attacks, critical strike chance is essentially a damage multiplier. At base critical damage (75% bonus damage) every 1% of added critical chance adds 0.75% bonus damage. For example, the damage dealt with basic attacks by a champion with 50% critical strike chance and base critical damage is on average 137.5% of the damage they would deal if they had 0% critical strike chance. For this reason, the critical strike chance scales well with both attack damage and attack speed. The formula for this damage multiplier is:
- Damage multiplier = 1 + (Critical chance × (0.75 + Bonus critical damage))
Increasing critical strike chance
Items
This table is automatically generated based on the data from Module:ItemData/data.
Champion abilities
Critical strike chance as scaling
Some game elements scale with the champion's amount of critical strike chance.
Champion abilities
- and
Items
Modifying critical strike damage
General
- In most cases, critical strike damage
stacks additively.
- Damage modifiers apply to critical strike damage normally.
Champion abilities
- when used to
Items
Guaranteed critical strikes
Some game elements can critically strike with no dependence on critical strike chance.
Champion abilities
- second attack
- fourth attack and shot
- against low health enemies
- when used to
- when close to his target
Game elements that can critically strike
Champion abilities
- Basic attack modifiers
Many abilities in the game enhance basic attacks, causing them to deal increased damage. Since these are basic attacks, they can critically strike, with a few exceptions (see below), however, the ability's damage itself will only be amplified by a critical strike for the following abilities.
- and
- (only the base damage)
- (only to primary target)
- with empowered basic attacks
- (only to primary target)
- and with
- Other abilities
- , , and
- and
- and (while )
- and
- and
Items
Some items that deal bonus damage can critically strike if the basic attack that triggers them critically strikes.
Exceptions
- - both enhanced attacks cannot critically strike.
turrets.
- the first attack cannot critically strike, and the second attack will also critically strike - - the fourth attack can critically strike turrets.
- - the empowered attack can critically strike turrets.
- , and - enhanced attacks cannot critically strike.
Others
- wind up percentage when critically striking enemies sprays 6 missiles in a wider cone when critically striking enemies and has a reduced
- grants him movement speed when critically striking enemies.
cooldown when critically striking enemies.
reduces its armor penetration against
bonus armor.
grants all critical strikes - and prevent the user from critically striking.
- makes critical strikes reduce the user's basic ability cooldowns.
Cosmetic critical strikes
Some abilities are displayed as a critical strike under certain circumstances but do not interact with critical strike chance, , or . These are use for cosmetic purposes to indicate high amounts of, empowered, or otherwise significant damage on an ability.
- far end of the first two casts, center of the third
- enhanced damage
- against enemies hit beyond the first while revealed by
- and empowered damage
- doubled damage against targets that have already been terrified recently.
- if enemies hit terrain
- against a single target
- 40% of their maximum health against enemies under
- , , and against a target marked by
- against enemies in the center
- to enemies hit by both bolts
- against a single target
- against enemies
- 20% of their maximum health against enemies under
- if it executes a champion
- 50% of their maximum health if it hits a target under
- against enemies
- if used against a low-health target
- when it deals its maximum increased damage
- and to all units hit in the center
- with maximum damage
- if it a champion
- when damaging an enemy while fully charged
- if the target hits terrain
- with
- on a wounded target and
- if used to Hexplode a turret
- leap attack against a turret
- shield when it is destroyed by
crowd control
Trivia
- In many MMO settings, a number of attack damage-based assassins or secondary assassin-based champions also benefit from high critical strike chance in varying forms, as a means to help finish off targets faster as well as to deal more damage in bursts overall.
- Most champions have special basic attack animations when they critically strike, even champions that do not itemize critical strike chance. Other champions have a sound that plays when they critically strike, typically a grunt of effort.
- Some champions may actually use their critical strike animation for their empowered-basic attack if they ever activate a single-use on-hit effect, only it does not actually count as an actual critical strike.
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