Critical strike

A critical strike is a basic attack or ability that deals twice its normal damage.

All basic attacks and some abilities can critically strike. Most champions cannot critically strike structures. The exceptions are Fiora, Jhin, and Master Yi.

Most champions have special attack animations for critical strikes. This includes mages and other champions not meant to be built using basic attacks as their main source of damage. Other champions have a sound that plays when they critically strike, typically a grunt of effort.

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 Ashe, have an affinity for critical strikes and benefit more than others from items that improve them.

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 ​​​​​​​​​​: The critical strike chance has a gold value of 40 per point.

The critical strike chance changes dynamically depending on the number of basic attack that didn't critically strike. For example, if you have a 30% critical strike chance you are guaranteed to have roughly 30 critical strikes per 100 attacks. If you don't critically strike for a long time your next attacks have a higher chance of critically striking, and vice versa: if you get a lot of critical strikes (with less than 100% critical strike chance), your next attacks are less likely to critically strike.

When averaged over a large number of autoattacks, critical strike chance is essentially a damage multiplier. At base critical damage (75% bonus damage) each 1% of added critical chance adds 0.75% bonus damage. For example, the damage dealt with autoattacks by a champion with 50% critical strike chance and base critical damage is on average 137.5% of the damage he would deal if he 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

Item	Cost	Amount	Availability
Bloodthirster Bloodthirster	3400	20%	All maps
Bloodward Bloodward	3400	20%	All maps
Cloak of Agility Cloak of Agility	600	15%	All maps
Essence Reaver Essence Reaver	2900	20%	All maps
Galeforce Galeforce	3400	20%	All maps
Guinsoo's Rageblade Guinsoo's Rageblade	2800	20%	All maps
Immortal Shieldbow Immortal Shieldbow	3400	20%	All maps
Infinity Edge Infinity Edge	3400	20%	All maps
Kraken Slayer Kraken Slayer	3400	20%	All maps
Lord Dominik's Regards Lord Dominik's Regards	2900	20%	All maps
Mercurial Scimitar Mercurial Scimitar	2900	20%	All maps
Mortal Reminder Mortal Reminder	2700	20%	All maps
Navori Quickblades Navori Quickblades	3400	20%	All maps
Phantom Dancer Phantom Dancer	2700	20%	All maps
Rapid Firecannon Rapid Firecannon	2700	20%	All maps
Runaan's Hurricane Runaan's Hurricane	3400	20%	All maps
Stormrazor Stormrazor	2700	20%	All maps
The Collector The Collector	3000	20%	All maps
Typhoon Typhoon	3400	20%	All maps
Wyrmfallen Sacrifice Wyrmfallen Sacrifice	3400	20%	All maps
Zeal Zeal	1200	15%	All maps

Champion abilities

• Senna's Absolution
• Tryndamere's Battle Fury
• Yasuo's Way of the Wanderer
• Yone's Way of the Hunter

Critical strike chance as scaling

Some game elements scale with the champion's amount of critical strike chance.

Champion abilities

• Ashe's Frost Shot
• Caitlyn's Headshot
• Jhin's Whisper
• Kindred's Mounting Dread
• Quinn's Harrier
• Tristana's Explosive Charge
• Xayah's Bladecaller
• Yasuo's Way of the Wanderer
• Yone's Way of the Hunter

Items

• Guinsoo's Rageblade
• Infinity Edge
• Rageknife

Modifying critical strike damage

General

• By default, critical strikes deal 175% of the normal damage.
• In most cases, critical strike damage stacks additively.
• Damage modifiers apply to critical strike damage normally.

Champion abilities

• Ashe's Frost Shot
• Fiora's Bladework
• Jhin's Whisper
• Senna's Absolution
• Shaco's Deceive when used to  Backstab
• Yasuo's Way of the Wanderer
• Yone's Way of the Hunter

Items

• Infinity Edge
• Randuin's Omen

Guaranteed critical strikes

Some game elements can critically strike with no dependence on critical strike chance.

Champion abilities

• Ashe's Volley
• Fiora's Bladework's second attack
• Jhin's Whisper's fourth attack and Curtain Call's fourth shot
• Kindred's Mounting Dread against low health enemies
• Shaco's Deceive when used to  Backstab
• Talon's Noxian Diplomacy 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 damage itself will only be amplified by a critical strike for the following abilities.

• Aphelios' Infernum and Crescendum
• Darius' Crippling Strike
• Galio's Colossal Smash
• Graves' New Destiny
• Hecarim's Devastating Charge
• Jayce's Hyper Charge
• Jinx's Switcheroo!
• Lucian's Lightslinger
• Master Yi's Double Strike
• Nasus' Siphoning Strike (only the base damage)
• Nocturne's Umbra Blades (only to primary target)
• Pantheon's Shield Vault with Mortal Will empowered basic attacks
• Rek'Sai's Queen's Wrath (only to primary target)
• Riven's Runic Blade
• Shaco's Backstab and Deceive with Backstab
• Shyvana's Twin Bite
• Volibear's Thundering Smash
• Xin Zhao's Three Talon Strike

Other abilities

• Aphelios' Onslaught, Duskwave, Sentry and Moonlight Vigil
• Gangplank's Parrrley and Powder Keg
• Garen's Judgment
• Kayle's Fire Waves and Starfire Spellblade (while Aflame)
• Master Yi's Alpha Strike
• Miss Fortune's Double Up and Bullet Time
• Samira's Flair and Inferno Trigger
• Sivir's Ricochet
• Twitch's Spray and Pray
• Vi's Excessive Force
• Yasuo's Steel Tempest
• Yone's Mortal Steel

Items

Some items that deal bonus damage can critically strike if the basic attack that triggers them critically strikes.

• Runaan's Hurricane

Exceptions

• Camille's Precision Protocol - both enhanced attacks cannot critically strike.
• Fiora's Bladework - the first attack cannot critically strike, and the second attack will also critically strike turrets.
• Jhin's Whisper - the fourth attack can critically strike turrets.
• Master Yi's Double Strike - the empowered attack can critically strike turrets.
• Sylas' Petricite Burst, Twisted Fate's Pick a Card and Zac's Stretching Strikes - enhanced attacks cannot critically strike.

Others

• Aphelios' Infernum sprays 6 missiles in a wider cone when critically striking enemies and Crescendum has a reduced wind up percentage when critically striking enemies
• Jhin's Whisper grants him movement speed when critically striking enemies.
• Tryndamere's Spinning Slash reduces its  cooldown when critically striking enemies.
• Yasuo's Last Breath grants all critical strikes  armor penetration against  bonus armor.
• Guinsoo's Rageblade and Rageknife prevent the user from critically striking.
• Navori Quickblades 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, Infinity Edge, or Randuin's Omen. These are use for cosmetic purposes to indicate high amounts of, empowered, or otherwise significant damage on an ability.

• Aatrox's The Darkin Blade far end of the first two casts, center of the third
• Anivia's Frostbite's enhanced damage
• Evelynn's Empowered Whiplash and Last Caress' empowered damage
• Fiddlesticks' Terrify's doubled damage against targets that have already been terrified recently.
• Gnar's GNAR! if enemies hit terrain
• Gragas' Barrel Roll's enhanced damage
• Karthus' Lay Waste against a single target
• Kog'Maw's Living Artillery against enemies under 40% of their maximum health
• LeBlanc's Sigil of Malice, Distortion, and Ethereal Chains against a target marked by Sigil of Malice
• Lillia's Watch Out! Eep! against enemies in the center
• Malphite's Thunderclap
• Mordekaiser's Obliterate against a single target
• Nidalee's Takedown against Hunted enemies
• Pantheon's Comet Spear against enemies under 20% of their maximum health
• Pyke's Death from Below if it executes a champion
• Qiyana's Elemental Wrath (Terrain)​​​​​​​​​​​ if it hits a target under 50% of their maximum health
• Ryze's Overload against Fluxed enemies
• Samira's Taunt
• Shaco's Two-Shiv Poison if used against a low-health target
• Seraphine's High Note when it deals its maximum increased damage
• Sett's The Show Stopper and Haymaker to all units hit in the center
• Swain's Demonflare with maximum damage
• Urgot's Fear Beyond Death if it executes a champion
• Varus' Piercing Arrow when damaging an enemy while fully charged
• Vayne's Condemn if the target hits terrain
• Vladimir's Transfusion with Crimson Rush
• Volibear's Frenzied Maul on a wounded target and Stormbringer
• Ziggs' Satchel Charge if used to Hexplode a turret
• Rift Herald's leap attack against a turret
• Rift Scuttler's 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.

• 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.

Champion statistics