Death occurs when a champion takes sufficient damage to be reduced to zero health. Upon dying, the player's screen is shaded gray, a death recap and death timer are displayed, gold is rewarded to champions who earned a kill or an assist, and other champion or situation-specific events may occur, as detailed below. The death of all five members of a team simultaneously is referred to as an ace; it is possible for both teams to be aced at the same time, and no champions to be present on the map.
Death timer[]
Upon death, every player must wait a given amount of time noted over the champion's portraits located on the screen. Decimals are not shown and will be rounded up.
While the death timer is counting down, the player is able to shop for items as if they were inside their fountain, look around the map, and use the chat. There are a select few items that can be used while dead, these are: , , , , and . Some passive effects may also be disabled.
When the death timer reaches zero, the dead champion is revived at the middle of the fountain.
Summoner's Rift[]
Death timers increase by champion level and by game time. The sum of these two increases is the total death timer.
By level, death timers consider a set time duration, called Base Respawn Wait time (BRW) here, in their calculations:[1]
BRW = 10 / 10 / 12 / 12 / 14 / 16 / 20 / 25 / 28 / 32.5 / 35 / 37.5 / 40 / 42.5 / 45 / 47.5 / 50 / 52.5 seconds
By game time, death timer calculations involve a multiplier that modifies the BRW, called the Time Increase Factor (TIFx) here.
After 15 minutes, the TIFx increases「 2 times per minute 」「 every 30 seconds 」, and it is also multiplied by:
- 0.425% between 15 and 30 minutes
- 0.3% between 30 and 45 minutes
- 1.45% after 45 minutes, until 55 minutes
- In the following table, current minutes is in decimal form, and ceil is the Least Integer/Ceiling function.
Game Time | Formula | Result |
---|---|---|
0 – 14:59 | TIF0 – 15 = N/A ⇒ Only BRW is considered, see above. | |
15 – 29:59 | 0 + ceil (2 × (current minutes - 15)) × 0.425 / 100 | TIF15 – 29.5 = 0.425% − 12.75% (based on minutes) |
30 – 44:59 | 12.75 + ceil (2 × (current minutes - 30)) × 0.30 / 100 | TIF30 – 44.5 = 13.05% − 21.75% (based on minutes) |
45 – 54:59 | 21.75 + ceil (2 × (current minutes - 45)) × 1.45 / 100 | TIF45 – 54.5 = 23.2% − 50.75% (based on minutes) |
Total death time is calculated as follows:
Total death time = BRW + BRW × TIFx | where x = current minute-half.
- The TIFx has a hard cap of 50%, so the maximum possible death timer is at 55 minutes at champion level 18:
- 52.5 + 52.5 × 50% = 78.75 seconds
Howling Abyss[]
The death timer is based solely on level, ranging from 10 to 40 seconds.
Death Timer = Level × 2 + 4, for a total of 6 − 40 (based on level) seconds.
All champions start the game at level 3, so there is always an initial 10-second respawn timer.
Loss of buffs or effects[]
Death interrupts cast times, channels, and all forms of movement (e.g. dashes, displacements). Entering Resurrection will not interrupt cast times.
Upon death, if the champion killed possessed a status effect that doesn't persist through death, it is removed. Specifically the and are transferred to the killer.
Status effects may be reapplied again, depending on their particular conditions.
- Common buffs that are lost
- Buffs that are transferred to the killer
- Champion ability stacks lost upon death
- Item stacks lost upon death
- (loses 5 stacks)
- (loses 10 stacks)
Ways to prevent death when reaching zero health[]
- A unit that is protected by Resurrection will enter a revival state and dispel most debuffs upon taking fatal damage. After the state completes, the unit is revived. Resurrection effects do not count for kills or assists.
Resurrection sources have a hierarchy, and will trigger in the following order:
- and
Resurrection will always take precedence over zombie state effects. Entering resurrection does not cancel cast times. always takes priority over resurrection.
- prevents the target from dying upon reaching zero health.
Ways to prevent dying by not losing health[]
A unit that has gained a minimum health threshold cannot have their health reduced below it from damage dealt by enemies.
The following effects grant a minimum health threshold:
Executes against units within this state will set the target's health to 1. All other sources of raw damage ignore the threshold.
Effects that interact from damage dealt will still take effect even if it is ignored against units within this state.
Ways to revive a champion in the death state[]
The following will revive allied champions while they are in the death state:
Zombie states[]
A buff that allows a player to keep controlling their champion after Death always flags the champion to be in a zombie state. It prevents enemies from gaining full kill credit or triggering most on-kill effects from the champion a second time, and some abilities (e.g. ) interact differently with champions in this state. and Resurrection will always take precedence over zombie state effects.
The following effects trigger a champion to enter a zombie state:
Notes[]
- Zombie states trigger upon taking lethal damage.
- Raw damage effects will not prevent zombie states from triggering.
- All resurrection effects will take precedence over effects that reanimate as a zombie.
- A champion that enters a zombie state will start their death timer upon triggering the effect.
- Most buffs and debuffs will be lost upon transitioning into a zombie state.
- Those that persist through death, such as , will remain.
- Undisplayed marker buffs, such as those imposed by (bug) and to prevent being affected multiple times by the same effect, will be lost.
- This does not apply when transitioning from one zombie state to another zombie state.(bug)
- Units within a zombie state cannot:
- Use or .
- Activate resurrection effects.
- Take Catapult, or gates. ,
- Pick up the .
- Be targeted by the following:
- .
- Be affected by the following:
- chain missile
- initial missile
- Fountain health restore
Trivia[]
- Omen of Death allowed any champion it was cast on to remain in full control of their reanimated champion for up to 10 seconds, if they died while the Revenant clone was alive.
- Rise of the Thorns allowed her to shoot a singular deadly projectile between 2 and 8 seconds after dying.
Order of events upon death[]
Some champions have abilities that trigger after their death or the death of another targeted champion, allowing for limited control by one of the involved parties. These will only occur after the previously mentioned sequence and when more than one of them apply they will occur in the following order.
- (keeping the stolen stats)
- (Mist Wraith appear)
- Zombie state effects - / /
Lore[]
When a champion is summoned to the Fields of Justice, their real, physical form is summoned there, meaning that the champions on the Fields of Justice, do, in fact die upon player death. When killed, it seems as though they are transported back to their respective summoning chambers, brought back to life, and subsequently returned to the Field of Justice to continue fighting. The following is an excerpt from Renekton's League Judgement:
"Renekton bowls through them, his blade deflecting bullets fired at point blank by a buxom redhead. A bulky minotaur slams the ground and a curiously large armadillo drops down on all fours to defend against the attack, but they are no match for the crocodile in bloodlust. The defenders are knocked aside in Renekton's mad dash for Nasus.
The creature charges up the steps, flying onto the platform with enormous momentum. Nasus reaches out to hold up his palm, as if to stop his brother, when suddenly a bright ray of light shoots out, engulfing him in an agonizing fire.
Renekton immediately succumbs to the darkness.
The creature awakens in a dark room, sprawled on a frigid stone floor. A group of cloaked magicians stand with their hands outstretched in a circle around him. They murmur strange words under their breath, ensnaring him in a glowing net of magic.
When Renekton's vision clears, he sees his brother staring dispassionately at him from across the room. Renekton snarls, throwing himself bodily towards Nasus, but the magical chains that bind him hold firm. Nasus gazes back for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then he turns and steps into a lighted platform."It is also confirmed in the Journal of Justice (Volume 1, Issue 20) in the "Mailbag of Justice" section that champions are revived many times, and questions their mental state after being exposed to their own mortality day after day.
See also[]
References