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10 Common League of Legends Item Questions Answered

Published: March 19, 2020
League of Legends Jinx Item Questions Answered

If you’re a new player to League of Legends, you may be a little confused about how some items are purchased, used, and sold. Or, you may be wondering how to ping items like all of your teammates keep doing. We’ll answer all of these questions and more. Feel free to jump right to the item question you’re most interested in.

How do you ping items in the shop?

To ping items in the League of Legends shop, hold ALT while you left-click the item in the shop. Pinging an item will show your teammates what item you are considering purchasing.

How do you ping how much gold you need to purchase an item?

In the same way that you can hold ALT when you left-click an item in the shop to ping what item you want to buy, if you don't have enough gold to buy that item, your ping will also say how much gold you need to buy that item.

How many items are there in League of Legends?

There are currently 175+ items available for purchase and use on Summoner’s Rift. Riot periodically releases new items, updates some, and removes others. Items in League of Legends are split into different tiers: basic, advanced, and finished. Basic items require no other items to be purchased. Advanced items have a specific recipe that must be completed to buy them. Finished items are like advanced items in that they also require components, but they cannot be built into anything further.

Ornn, as a smith, provides the unique ability to purchase exclusive, more advanced versions of several finished items. These items can only be obtained if Ornn is on your team. They are extremely powerful but are also very expensive to finish.

How do you buy items in League of Legends?

When your champion is in the shop, there are three ways you can buy an item: 1) you can single left-click the item you want to purchase and then left-click the “Buy” button; 2) you can double left click the item you wish to buy; and 3) you can single right click the item you want to buy.

How to Sell Items in LoL?

When your champion is in the fountain shop, there are two ways you can sell an item: 1) you can single left click the item in your store inventory and then left-click the “Sell” button and 2) you can right-click the item in your inventory to sell it. Be careful when selling items, as you only earn a fraction of the original gold back from each sale.

I accidentally bought or sold something I didn't want to. Can I undo it without losing gold?

Yes, you can if you don’t leave the fountain before you undo it. To reverse your last store transaction, left-click the “Undo” button.

How do you know what items to buy?

If you are starting with a champion, there are great in-game recommendations on which items to buy when you are in the shop. If you intend to use the game’s suggestions and your chosen champ is played in multiple positions, you may see a dropdown in the top left of the shop’s menu where you should ensure your role is selected before following the guide.

The in-game guides will provide ok suggestions, but they don’t change very often, so if you are a more advanced player or want to become more skilled with your champion in the current meta, you should check out champion guides from sites like ours that are generated by our algorithm analyzes millions of League matches each week.

This was a feature in earlier versions of the client but has since been disabled. It is planned to be re-enabled in a future update. When it is re-enabled, we will provide a brief guide.

What LoL items do percent health damage?

The Blade of the Ruined King, Liandry’s Lament, and Demonic Anguish are the only items that currently do percent health-based damage. The Blade of the Ruined King (aka BORK) is especially powerful if combined with attack speed items or items that empower on-hit effects. Liandry’s torment will deal more percent health damage if you combine it with the slow effect provided by Rylai’s Crystal Scepter.

Whate are unique item effects?

Some item effects are labeled as unique. A typical unique effect means that if you purchase two copies of this item, you will only receive a benefit from one of them. If, however, the unique effect is named, that means that two items with the unique named effect won’t stack that unique ability, even if the two items have different names.

What kinds of items can help keep me alive?

Some items have traits that include Omnivamp, lifesteal, and physical vamp. These convert some of the damage you deal into life. They can be game changing for some champions that try to sustain based on healing rather than passive defences.

How do you disassemble items in League of Legends?

You cannot disassemble items in League of Legends. You must sell them if you wish to exchange them for any other items. Be careful, as the gold you earn from selling items is only a fraction of the original cost.

If you would like to learn more about specific items, such as what positions they are best used by, what other items they synergize well with, what champions they are best wielded by, etc…, check out our item stats.

We hope our LoL item guide has helped you out. If you are also a newby who is looking for the best League of Legends champions for beginners or a great LoL slang glossary to help get you started with League of Legends, we have great guides for you!

Images Courtesy of Riot Games.