Bandlepipes

Bandlepipes is a 2,300 gold tank legendary in League of Legends for engage champions with crowd control: 200 Health, 15 Ability Haste, 20 Armor and 20 Magic Resist in patch 26.21. Its Fanfare passive triggers when you slow or immobilize an enemy champion, giving you Move Speed and giving nearby allies, you included, bonus Attack Speed.

How does the Fanfare passive work?

Land a slow, stun, root or any other immobilizing effect on an enemy champion, and you get Fanfare for a short window. While it’s up, you gain 20 Move Speed, and every nearby ally (yourself too) gains Attack Speed.

That’s a support passive dressed up as a tank item. The tank who starts the fight is usually the one landing the first crowd control, so the item converts your engage into a damage buff for the marksman and fighters standing behind you. Funny enough, Riot’s data file leaves out both the Fanfare duration and the Attack Speed amount, so check the in-game tooltip for those two figures.

Does the slow have to come from a spell? Not according to the text. Any slow or immobilize on an enemy champion counts, which matters for champions whose basic attacks or passives apply slows.

Is Bandlepipes good value?

A little under par on stats, at 91%. Every stat has a basic-item price, and together they’re worth 2,083 gold for a 2,300 gold item.

How the number breaks down: 200 Health at 2.67 gold per point is 533 gold, 15 Ability Haste at 50 gold per point is 750, 20 Armor at 20 gold per point is 400, and 20 Magic Resist at 20 gold per point is 400. The shortfall is 217 gold. Honestly, that’s a fair price for a passive that buffs your whole team’s Attack Speed, though the item does carry the cost increase from its second patch (more on that below).

What are the components?

Three cheap ones: Kindlegem (800 gold), Cloth Armor (300 gold) and a Null-Magic Mantle (400 gold), plus 800 gold to combine. Kindlegem already holds the item’s full 200 Health, so it’s the usual first buy for a tank who needs to survive the next engage. After that, pick Cloth Armor or the Mantle depending on which kind of damage the enemy laner deals.

Bandlepipes doesn’t upgrade into anything.

What changed in its patch history?

Just the price, so far. Riot’s data first lists Bandlepipes in patch 26.1, and the next patch raised it:

• Patch 26.2: cost 2,000 → 2,300 gold.

A 300 gold hike one patch after release, with no stat changes, reads like a nerf to an item that launched underpriced. It also explains the efficiency number: at the old price, the same stats would have been worth more than the item cost (the gold efficiency table above uses the current price). Our item list keeps the same record for the other tank legendaries.

Who should build Bandlepipes?

Tanks and engage supports with reliable crowd control, especially in teams built around Attack Speed carries. Put simply, the more often you land slows and stuns, the more uptime your team gets on Fanfare. The catch is that the buff only reaches nearby allies, so a split pusher on a far lane gets nothing from it.

Who should skip it? Tanks on a team of mages, because Attack Speed does little for spell-based damage dealers (well, mostly; a few mages do lean on basic attacks). In practice, the decision comes down to who your carries are. Not sure what your role is supposed to bring to a fight? Our guide to the LoL roles lays that out, and for an engage tank next to a hypercarry marksman, Bandlepipes is close to a perfect fit.

FAQ

How much does Bandlepipes cost?

2,300 gold in patch 26.21. Combining the parts costs 800 gold, and selling it gets you 1,610 gold back.

What does Fanfare do?

Slowing or immobilizing an enemy champion grants Fanfare. While it lasts, you gain 20 Move Speed, and nearby allies, including you, gain Attack Speed.

What stats does Bandlepipes give?

200 Health, 15 Ability Haste, 20 Armor and 20 Magic Resist.

Is it gold efficient?

Its stats are worth 2,083 gold, or 91% of the price. The Fanfare passive is not included in that number.

What does it build from?

Kindlegem, Cloth Armor and Null-Magic Mantle. Nothing builds out of it.