Guardian’s Blade

Starter item · Patch 26.21 · numbers from Riot's Data Dragon files, refreshed every patch

Total cost950 g

Sells for665 g

Gold efficiency232%

Guardian’s Blade stats

+30 Attack Damage
+150 Health
+15 Ability Haste

Gold efficiency

Stat	Amount	Gold per point	Gold value
Attack Damage	30	35 g	1050 g
Health	150	2.67 g	400 g
Ability Haste	15	50 g	750 g
Total stat value			2200 g

Gold efficiency = stat value ÷ item cost = 2200 ÷ 950 = 232%. The gold per point comes from basic items of the same patch (for example, Long Sword: 35 g per Attack Damage). Passives and actives are not counted.

Guardian’s Blade patch history

Patch	Change
10.23	Added to the game data

We compare cost and stats patch by patch in Riot's Data Dragon files. "Effect text changed" means the passive or active wording changed in that patch.

Guardian’s Blade is the marksman starting item for ARAM in League of Legends: 30 Attack Damage, 150 Health and 15 Ability Haste for 950 gold in patch 26.21, with no passive. Only the Howling Abyss shop sells it, it builds into nothing, and at 232% gold efficiency it carries more than twice its price in stats, which is the point of every ARAM starter.

What does Guardian’s Blade do?

Three stats and no tricks. 30 Attack Damage is close to a B. F. Sword’s worth, 150 Health is a Ruby Crystal, and 15 Ability Haste is more than a Kindlegem, all in one slot for less than the price of a Pickaxe.

On the Howling Abyss that combination is what a physical damage carry needs at minute one: enough damage to kill minions and threaten the first poke war, enough Health to survive the enemy’s three mages, and enough Haste that the abilities a marksman uses for poke (Ezreal’s Q, Caitlyn’s traps, Jhin’s W) come back a cast sooner. Is it the strongest of the four Guardian’s items? In raw gold value, yes, by a wide margin, and it is not close. Thing is, that only matters if your champion uses Attack Damage, because 30 Attack Damage on a mage is 1,050 gold of nothing.

Is Guardian’s Blade gold efficient?

Absurdly: 232%. The Attack Damage is worth 1,050 gold at 35 gold per point, the Health 400 gold and the Ability Haste 750 gold at 50 gold per point, so the item carries 2,200 gold of stats on a 950 gold price.

That number is by design. Honestly, Riot prices every ARAM starter for the opening gold and never expects you to sell it, and the Blade gets more than the others because physical damage carries have the hardest early game on a map with no lane to farm safely in. The sell price is 665 gold, which you will see only at full build when a sixth finished item needs the slot. Put simply, it is a gift, and the only question is whether your champion attacks for a living.

Who should start with it?

Every marksman and physical damage caster on the Howling Abyss: Jinx, Caitlyn, Ezreal, Jhin, Ashe, Kai’Sa, Varus, Miss Fortune, Xayah, plus assassins like Zed and Talon and most AD junglers who find themselves on the map. Mages take Guardian’s Orb, tanks take Guardian’s Horn, and melee fighters usually take Guardian’s Hammer, so the Blade is the one of the four for anyone who deals physical damage from range or through abilities (a Pantheon or a Renekton could go either way, and most pick the Hammer for the lifesteal).

Who should skip it? Nobody who uses Attack Damage. The one argument for a different start is a marksman who wants a Tear of the Goddess from the first buy, and even then most players take the Blade and the Tear together, since 950 gold leaves room.

How has Guardian’s Blade changed over the patches?

It hasn’t. The item appeared in patch 10.23 with the 2021 item overhaul, when Riot reworked the ARAM starters into the current set of four, and Riot’s data records no change to its price or stats since. Funny enough, that makes it the most stable of the four: the Orb has had three Ability Power buffs and the Horn has a decade of trims, while the Blade has sat at 30 Attack Damage, 150 Health and 15 Ability Haste from day one. For what it’s worth, that is usually a sign an item is doing exactly what its designers wanted.

When should you sell it?

Only when a sixth finished item has nowhere else to go, and no sooner. 30 Attack Damage and 15 Ability Haste keep mattering on a carry at every stage, and the 665 gold refund buys nothing useful on its own. Which goes first, the Blade or boots? The Blade, usually, since a sixth finished item outweighs the starter, while boots on the Abyss are mostly for dodging skillshots. New to the mode? The guide to LoL roles explains the marksman job on any map, the LoL items database has the other three ARAM starters side by side, and Guardian’s Blade is the one to pick whenever your champion attacks for a living.