A critical strike is a basic attack or an ability that deals twice its normal damage.
All basic attacks and some abilities can critically strike. It's not possible to critically strike structures, with the exception of and .
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 , have an affinity for critical strikes and benefit more than others from items that improve them.
Critical strike chance
Critical strike chance is a stat that is the percentage of chance that a basic attack of a champion critically strikes.
Every champion starts with 0% critical strike chance, and level-ups do not grant additional 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.
- Critical strike chance cannot be increased beyond 100%.
General
- Critical strike chance will adjust dynamically based on the number of basic attack that didn't critically strike. At 30% critical strike chance you're sure to have 30 or more attacks critical strike per 100 attacks. If you didn't critical strike for a long time your next attacks will have a higher chance.
- When averaged over a large number of autoattacks and at base critical damage (100% bonus damage), critical strike chance is essentially a damage multiplier where each 1% of critical chance adds 1% bonus damage.
- Thus at 50% critical strike chance a champion deals (on average) 150% damage with autoattacks, not counting bonus critical strike damage. Because of this, critical strike chance scales well with both attack damage and attack speed. The formula for this damage multiplier is:
- Damage multiplier = 1 + (Critical chance × (1 + Bonus critical damage))
Increasing critical strike chance
Items
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Champion abilities
Critical strike chance as scaling
Some game elements scale with the champion's amount of critical strike chance.
Champion abilities
Modifying critical strike damage
General
- By default, critical strikes deal 200% of the normal damage (twice as much).
- 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 fourth 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 damage itself will only be amplified by a critical strike for the following abilities.
- (only the base damage)
- (only to the primary target)
- empowered basic attacks
- (only to the primary target)
- and with
- (if in it amplifies only secondary targets damage)
- Other abilities
- 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.
- - the first attack cannot critically strike, and the second attack can critically strike turrets.
- - the fourth attack can critically strike turrets.
- - enhanced attack cannot critically strike.
Others
- cooldown when critically striking enemies. reduces its
- 50% armor penetration against bonus armor. grants all critical strikes
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 damage on an ability.
- far end of the first two casts, center of the third
- enhanced damage
- and empowered damage
- if enemies hit terrain
- against a single target
- 40% of their maximum health against enemies under
- and against a target marked by
- against a single target
- against enemies
- 20% of their maximum health against enemies under
- if it executes a champion
- Terrain) if it hits a target (
- against enemies
- if used against a low-health target
- and to all units hit in the center
- with maximum damage
- if it a champion
- if the target hits terrain
- with
- against a dashing or airborne target
- if used to Hexplode a turret
- leap attack against a turret
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.