Armor is one of the two core defensive stats in League of Legends that reduces incoming physical damage by a percentage. Here's everything you need to know about armor mechanics:

Basic Mechanics:

• Armor stacks additively
• Every champion has base armor that increases per level (except Thresh)
• Bonus armor comes from abilities, items, runes, and other sources
• Base armor at level 18 ranges from 87 (Kassadin) to 149.4 (Mega Gnar)
• Each point of armor costs 20 gold

Damage Reduction Formula: Damage Reduction = 100 / (100 + Armor)

Example Effects:

• 25 Armor = 20% damage reduction
• 100 Armor = 50% damage reduction
• 200 Armor = 66.6% damage reduction

Key Concepts:

• Each point of armor increases effective health by 1% against physical damage
• Armor has no diminishing returns on effective health
• Negative armor cannot reduce effective health below 50%
• Optimal efficiency is achieved when Health = 7.5 × (Armor + 100)

Sources of Armor:

• Items (Thornmail, Randuin's Omen, etc.)
• Champion abilities (Rammus W, Malphite E, etc.)
• Runes (Aftershock, Conditioning)
• Neutral buffs (Mountain Drake)

Armor can be reduced through:

• Armor penetration
• Armor reduction abilities
• Lethality

When deciding between armor vs health:

• Consider damage type distribution of enemies
• Account for healing/regeneration effects
• Factor in true damage presence
• Check for champion-specific steroids
• Evaluate item secondary effects

The interaction between armor and health creates a complex optimization problem that varies based on game state and team compositions. Focus on balancing both stats while considering the specific match context.

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