Forbidden Idol

Forbidden Idol is the enchanter component in League of Legends: 50% Base Mana Regen and 8% Heal and Shield Power for 600 gold in patch 26.21, with no passive. It builds from a Faerie Charm with a 400 gold combine fee, and it is the first step toward six support items: Redemption, Mikael’s Blessing, Ardent Censer, Staff of Flowing Water, Dawncore and Whispering Circlet.

What does Forbidden Idol do?

Two things, both for supports who heal or shield. 50% Base Mana Regen keeps an enchanter casting through a long lane, and 8% Heal and Shield Power makes every heal and shield a little bigger, which on a Soraka or a Janna is the stat that matters most.

Heal and Shield Power is rare in the shop. Thing is, no basic item sells it, so the Idol is the cheapest way to get any at all, and on a champion whose whole job is to keep the carry alive, eight percent on every spell adds up over a game to far more than the item’s price suggests. Does it do anything on a champion who does not heal? Not really, which is why the Idol is the single most class-specific component in the game (a Faerie Charm plus 400 gold that only enchanters ever want).

Is it gold efficient?

By the numbers we can price, badly: 33%. The Base Mana Regen is worth 200 gold at 4 gold per percent, and Heal and Shield Power has no basic item to set a rate, so the figure leaves it out entirely. Misleading, then.

That makes the efficiency number useless here, since the unpriced stat is the one you are buying. Honestly, the fairer comparison is with the finished items: every one of the six costs between two and three thousand gold, and the Idol is the part of each of them that carries the Heal and Shield Power, so the 400 gold combine step is where that stat enters your build. The sell price is 420 gold.

What does Forbidden Idol build into?

Six items, all of them for the support role:

• Redemption, the area heal active.
• Mikael’s Blessing, the cleanse for an ally.
• Ardent Censer, which buffs the attack speed of whoever you heal or shield.
• Staff of Flowing Water, the Ability Power and Haste buff for allies.
• Dawncore, the scaling Heal and Shield Power item.
• Whispering Circlet, the Tear item for enchanters, new in patch 26.1.

So the component commits you to being a healer or shielder, but it leaves the choice among the six wide open, and most enchanters decide after seeing the enemy draft: Mikael’s against crowd control, Ardent for an auto-attacking carry, Redemption when fights are long. Current prices for the six are listed in the LoL items database.

Who buys it?

Enchanter supports, nearly every game: Soraka, Janna, Lulu, Nami, Sona, Seraphine, Milio, Karma, Yuumi and Renata Glasc. Usually on the first or second recall, right after the support quest item and boots, because their first finished item revolves around the Heal and Shield Power (a Redemption without it would just be an expensive Kindlegem). Who skips it? Tank supports, mage supports and anyone outside the role, since none of the six upgrades does anything for a champion who does not heal or shield allies.

One habit worth copying from higher ranks: buy the Faerie Charm on the first recall even when you cannot afford the Idol, because the regen alone keeps you casting and the Charm is never wasted on an enchanter.

How has Forbidden Idol changed over the patches?

Eleven entries, and the item began life as something else entirely:

• Patch 4.5: Renamed from Malady, an old Attack Speed and Ability Power item, to Forbidden Idol; cost 2035 → 750 gold, the damage stats removed and Mana regen added.
• Patches 4.10 to 5.22: Cost moved 750 → 700 → 600 → 550 gold, with the regen reworked to a percent of base in 4.21.
• Patch 6.13: Cost 550 → 850 gold.
• Patch 6.22: Cost 850 → 800 gold.
• Patch 12.14: Heal and Shield Power trimmed from 10% to 8%, part of the durability update.
• Patch 14.19: Cost 800 → 600 gold.

Put simply, Riot has used the Idol’s price as a dial for how fast enchanters reach their first item, and the 14.19 drop of 200 gold was the biggest single change in a decade. Funny enough, the 2015 Idol cost 550 gold, which is only 50 less than it costs now, so after all the moves the item has nearly come full circle.

When should you buy it?

On the first or second recall as an enchanter, after the support item and a Faerie Charm, when you have 600 gold and the lane has settled enough to show which of the six items you want. For what it’s worth, the Idol is the right placeholder in almost every enchanter inventory until the second finished item, since all of their options use it and holding it costs nothing (the stats work on their own). No hurry. If you are new to the role and want to know what a support is actually expected to do with their gold, the guide to LoL roles covers it, and Forbidden Idol is the first non-starter purchase in the enchanter section of that list.

FAQ

How much does Forbidden Idol cost?

600 gold in patch 26.21: a Faerie Charm plus a 400 gold combine fee. It sells for 420 gold.

What stats does it give?

Two stats: 50% Base Mana Regen for sustained casting and 8% Heal and Shield Power for bigger heals and shields.

Does it have a passive?

No. It is a two-stat component.

What does it build into?

Six support items: Redemption, Mikael’s Blessing, Ardent Censer, Staff of Flowing Water, Dawncore and, since patch 26.1, Whispering Circlet.

Why is its gold efficiency so low?

Because Heal and Shield Power has no basic item to price it, so only the Mana regen counts in the figure. That unpriced stat is exactly why enchanters buy it.

Was it always called Forbidden Idol?

No. Until patch 4.5 the shop entry was Malady, an Attack Speed and Ability Power item; that patch rebuilt it as the enchanter component.