Fiendish Codex

Fiendish Codex is the Ability Power and Ability Haste component in League of Legends: 25 Ability Power and 10 Ability Haste for 850 gold in patch 26.21, with no passive. It is an Amplifying Tome and a Glowing Mote with a 200 gold combine fee, it builds into nine finished items from Nashor’s Tooth to Cosmic Drive, and at 118% gold efficiency it is the cheapest way for a mage to hold both stats in one slot.

What does Fiendish Codex do?

25 Ability Power and 10 Ability Haste, and that is the complete list. The Tome inside provides the damage and the Mote the cooldowns; the Codex just puts them together.

For a mage on the second recall that pairing is exactly right. Thing is, the first finished item of most mage builds is still a few hundred gold away at that point, and the Codex is the piece that lets you keep casting at a reasonable rate while you save for it, since ten Haste on a champion with a 7 second poke spell is one extra cast every few trades. Is it a power spike? No. Nobody has ever felt the moment they completed a Codex, and nobody ever will. The most common mage component at ten minutes, though? Very possibly, because nine of the items a mage might want start from it.

Is it gold efficient?

Comfortably: 118%. Priced at 20 gold per point of Ability Power and 50 gold per point of Haste, the two stats come to 500 and 500 gold respectively, 1,000 gold in total, against a 850 gold price.

The surplus is the combine fee being small: 200 gold on top of 650 gold of components, so merging the two pieces is nearly free and there is no reason to hold a loose Mote once you have the Tome. Honestly, the efficiency number flatters it a little, because Ability Haste is priced generously in the reference table (a Mote’s 5 Haste for 250 gold sets the rate), but even at a discount the Codex is a fair buy. The sell price is 595 gold.

What does Fiendish Codex build into?

Nine items, covering most of what a mage or an enchanter might want:

• Damage: Nashor’s Tooth, Cryptbloom, Horizon Focus and Riftmaker.
• Scaling and sustain: Archangel’s Staff and Cosmic Drive.
• Enchanter items: Redemption, Staff of Flowing Water and Bloodletter’s Curse.

So the Codex commits you to being a caster and nothing narrower than that, which is why it is such a safe second-recall buy: a Lux can hold one while choosing between Horizon Focus and Cryptbloom, a Lulu between Redemption and Flowing Water, and an on-hit mage like Kayle or Teemo heads for Nashor’s from the same piece. The LoL items database has the nine prices.

Who buys it?

Almost every mage and enchanter at some point, and usually on the second recall. Mid laners building Cryptbloom, Horizon Focus or Riftmaker take it after their first component; supports building Redemption or Staff of Flowing Water take it right after their support item upgrades; Archangel’s users take it alongside their Tear. Who skips it? Burst mages whose first item is Luden’s or Shadowflame, since neither uses the Codex, and anyone who builds Ability Power without Haste, which these days is almost nobody.

One habit worth having: when you are 200 gold short of the Codex, buy the Amplifying Tome rather than the Mote. The Tome feeds every Ability Power item in the game. The Mote alone does very little.

How has Fiendish Codex changed over the patches?

Six entries since 2013 or earlier, and the Ability Power has gone up and down while the price settled:

• Patch 3.6: Cost 1000 → 820 gold, Mana Regen removed.
• Patch 5.22: Cost 820 → 800 gold, Ability Power 30 → 25.
• Patch 6.9: Cost 800 → 900 gold, Ability Power 25 → 30.
• Patch 8.9: Ability Power 30 → 35.
• Patch 14.6: Ability Power 35 → 25.
• Patch 14.19: Cost 900 → 850 gold.

Funny enough, the current Codex has the same 25 Ability Power the 5.22 version had, for 50 gold more, with Ability Haste in place of the old Cooldown Reduction. Put simply, Riot took ten Ability Power off it in 14.6 and gave 50 gold back two seasons later. Quiet since then.

When should you buy it?

On the second recall, as a rule, after a Lost Chapter or a first Tome plus boots, when you have 850 gold and your next finished item starts with one. It is also the right purchase when you are a few hundred gold short of a big item and would otherwise go back to lane with nothing, since every Codex turns into something. For what it’s worth, a Codex sitting unfinished in a mage’s inventory at twenty minutes is normal and not a mistake; the stats work on their own. If you are still working out which of the nine upgrades your champion wants, the guide to LoL roles covers what mid lane mages and enchanter supports build around, and Fiendish Codex appears early in both of those sections.

FAQ

How much does Fiendish Codex cost?

850 gold in patch 26.21: an Amplifying Tome, a Glowing Mote and a 200 gold combine fee. It sells for 595 gold.

What stats does it give?

25 Ability Power and 10 Ability Haste.

Does it have a passive?

No. It is a two-stat component.

How many items build from it?

Nine: Nashor’s Tooth, Archangel’s Staff, Redemption, Cryptbloom, Bloodletter’s Curse, Staff of Flowing Water, Horizon Focus, Cosmic Drive and Riftmaker.

When was it last changed?

In patch 14.19, when the price dropped from 900 to 850 gold. The Ability Power was cut from 35 to 25 in patch 14.6.

Fiendish Codex or Blasting Wand?

Blasting Wand for raw Ability Power toward Rabadon’s or Luden’s; Fiendish Codex if your next item needs it or you want cooldowns as well as damage.