Executioner’s Calling

Executioner’s Calling is the anti-healing component for physical damage champions in League of Legends: 15 Attack Damage for 800 gold in patch 26.21, plus a passive that applies 40% Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds to any champion you deal physical damage to. It builds from a Long Sword with a 450 gold combine fee, and it upgrades into Mortal Reminder for marksmen or Chempunk Chainsword for fighters.

What does Executioner’s Calling do?

It cuts enemy healing. Every instance of physical damage you deal to a champion, attacks and abilities alike, applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds, which means their heals, lifesteal and regeneration all work at reduced strength while the mark lasts. The 15 Attack Damage is just the Long Sword you built it from.

Three seconds is long enough that a marksman who keeps attacking holds the mark permanently, and that is the design: the item is not a one-off counter but a constant tax on the enemy’s sustain for the whole fight. Against a Soraka, a Yuumi, an Aatrox or a Dr. Mundo it is the difference between a fight you can win and one you cannot, because their healing is the entire plan (nothing is more frustrating than watching a Mundo walk away at 5% Health and come back full). Does it matter against a team with no healer? Barely, since almost every champion has some lifesteal or regeneration late, but not enough to justify 800 gold before the third item.

Is Executioner’s Calling gold efficient?

Not on stats: 66%. 15 Attack Damage is worth 525 gold at 35 gold per point, so you pay 275 gold for the Grievous Wounds.

Whether that is cheap depends on how much healing it removes, and in the right game the answer is thousands of points over twenty minutes. Thing is, the item costs almost nothing extra when you were going to buy a Long Sword anyway, and the 450 gold combine step is the entire price of the passive. The sell price is 560 gold, 70% back, so buying it early and selling it late is a small loss at worst.

What does it build into?

Two items, split by class:

• Mortal Reminder, which adds critical strike and percent Armor penetration, for marksmen.
• Chempunk Chainsword, which adds Health and Ability Haste, for fighters and bruisers.

So the Calling is a short commitment: whichever class you are, there is exactly one place for it to go, and the only decision is when. Honestly, most players hold the component for a long time, since the Wounds work fully on their own and the upgrade is usually a third or fourth item. The LoL items database has both prices.

Who buys it?

Any physical damage champion facing serious healing: marksmen against an enchanter support or a lifesteal-heavy enemy carry, fighters against Aatrox, Illaoi, Warwick or Vladimir in a side lane, and junglers against a Dr. Mundo or a Swain who keeps outlasting them. Who skips it? Mages and other magic damage dealers, who have Oblivion Orb for the same job, and tanks, who get their Wounds from Bramble Vest and Thornmail by being attacked rather than by attacking.

The timing habit worth copying: buy it on the recall after the enemy sustain starts winning fights, not at the start of the game on a guess, because a Long Sword on its own keeps every option open until then.

How has Executioner’s Calling changed over the patches?

It used to be a finished item. The history shows the moment that changed and a few adjustments since:

• Patch 3.6: Critical Strike Chance 15% → 20%, effect text changed.
• Patch 5.22: Cost 1900 → 800 gold, Attack Damage 25 → 15, Critical Strike Chance removed. The legendary item became a component.
• Patches 11.1 and 12.10: Effect text changed.
• Patch 12.11: Attack Damage 15 → 20.
• Patch 13.3: Attack Damage 20 → 15.

Put simply, the 2016 preseason turned a 1900 gold crit item into an 800 gold component, and that is the version players know. For what it’s worth, the 12.11 buff and 13.3 revert are the same 5 Attack Damage going out and coming back, and the Wounds percentage in Riot’s text settled at 40% with the 12.10 durability update.

When should you buy it?

As soon as the enemy healing is clearly affecting fights, which in a lane against an Aatrox or a Soraka can be the first recall, and in a game against a late Dr. Mundo may be the fourth item. Before that, a Long Sword is the right placeholder, since it builds into the Calling and into nearly everything else. Not sure yet whether your champion counts as physical damage for this purpose? The guide to LoL roles covers how marksmen and fighters deal their damage, and Executioner’s Calling is the anti-healing item both of those groups buy.

FAQ

How much does Executioner’s Calling cost?

800 gold in patch 26.21. The Long Sword inside is 350 of that and the combine step 450; selling returns 560 gold.

What stats does it give?

15 Attack Damage, plus the Grievous Wounds passive.

How does the passive work?

Any physical damage you deal to a champion marks them with 40% Wounds for 3 seconds, and while the mark lasts their heals, lifesteal and regeneration are all weaker.

Does it work with abilities?

Yes. Any physical damage applies it, not only basic attacks.

What does it build into?

Mortal Reminder and Chempunk Chainsword.

What is the magic damage equivalent?

Oblivion Orb, which applies Grievous Wounds through magic damage and builds into Morellonomicon.