Guardian’s Orb

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

Total cost950 g

Sells for665 g

Gold efficiency147%

Guardian’s Orb stats

+50 Ability Power
+150 Health

Passive and active effects

Passive: Recovery: Restores 10 Mana every 5 seconds. If you can't gain mana, restores 15 Health instead.

Effect text as written in Riot's game data; for scaling effects, the in-game shop tooltip shows the exact numbers that match your current stats and level.

Gold efficiency

Stat	Amount	Gold per point	Gold value
Ability Power	50	20 g	1000 g
Health	150	2.67 g	400 g
Total stat value			1400 g

Gold efficiency = stat value ÷ item cost = 1400 ÷ 950 = 147%. 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 Orb patch history

Patch	Change
14.14	Effect text changed
12.16	Ability Power: 40 → 50
10.23	Ability Power: 35 → 40
7.10	Ability Power: 30 → 35
6.12	Renamed: Orb of Winter → Guardian's Orb; Cost: 2010 → 950 gold; Ability Power: none → 30; Base Health Regeneration %: 100 → none; Health: none → 150; Magic Resist: 70 → none; Mana regen per 5 seconds: none → 10; Effect text changed
5.22	Cost: 2150 → 2010 gold
5.16	Cost: 2200 → 2150 gold
5.6	Cost: 2210 → 2200 gold
4.20	Cost: 2080 → 2210 gold
3.9	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 Orb is the mage starting item for ARAM in League of Legends: 50 Ability Power and 150 Health for 950 gold in patch 26.21, plus Recovery, which restores 10 Mana every 5 seconds, or 15 Health instead on champions who cannot gain Mana. The Howling Abyss shop is the only place that sells it, it builds into nothing, and at 147% gold efficiency it is the best-value first buy any mage can make on that map.

What does Guardian’s Orb do?

Damage and durability at once, cheaply. 50 Ability Power is a Blasting Wand’s worth, 150 Health is a Ruby Crystal’s worth, and Recovery ticks 10 Mana back every 5 seconds for the whole game.

The Mana is the quiet half. ARAM has no recall and no base to walk back to, so a mage who runs dry at minute six is a spectator until they die, and 10 Mana every 5 seconds is 120 a minute, roughly one extra spell per minute for the entire game (a Lux ultimate every ninety seconds, give or take). On champions without Mana, Energy users and the few manaless mages, the passive heals 15 Health instead, which is weaker but not nothing. Is the Orb strong enough to make a mage dangerous at level one? More than any other ARAM starter: 50 Ability Power on a Xerath or a Ziggs before the first poke is why the opening minutes of an ARAM game are so one-sided when one team has three mages.

Is Guardian’s Orb gold efficient?

Hugely: 147%. The Ability Power is worth 1,000 gold at 20 gold per point and the Health 400 gold at 2.67 gold per point, so a 950 gold item carries 1,400 gold of stats before you count the Mana regen.

That number is deliberate. Thing is, Riot prices every ARAM starter so that you buy it with the starting gold and never sell it, so they pack far more into them than any Summoner’s Rift item of the same price, and the Orb is the most extreme of the four. The sell price is 665 gold, which you will only ever see when a sixth finished item needs the slot. Put simply, the item is a gift, and the only decision is whether your champion is a mage.

Who should start with it?

Every Ability Power champion on the Howling Abyss: Lux, Xerath, Ziggs, Vel’Koz, Brand, Veigar, Syndra, Seraphine, Karma and the rest of the poke and burst mages, plus AP assassins like Katarina and Fizz and enchanters who want damage early. Tanks take Guardian’s Horn, marksmen Guardian’s Blade and fighters Guardian’s Hammer, so the Orb is the one of the four that every mage reaches for without a second thought (the other three are not even close for a champion that scales with Ability Power).

Who should skip it? Honestly, almost nobody who casts for damage. The one real exception is a mage who wants a component of their first item instead, such as a Tear of the Goddess start on a Ryze or a Seraphine, and even then most players take the Orb and the Tear together on the first buy because 950 gold leaves room.

How has Guardian’s Orb changed over the patches?

It was a completely different item once. The shop entry begins in patch 3.9 as Orb of Winter, a Magic Resist and regeneration item for the Howling Abyss that cost over 2000 gold, and the history shows Riot replacing that item wholesale:

Patches 4.20 to 5.22: Cost moved 2080 → 2210 → 2200 → 2150 → 2010 gold as Orb of Winter.
Patch 6.12: Renamed to Guardian’s Orb, cost 2010 → 950 gold, Magic Resist and the old Health Regen removed, 30 Ability Power and 150 Health added, Mana regen added.
Patch 7.10: Ability Power 30 → 35.
Patch 10.23: Ability Power 35 → 40.
Patch 12.16: Ability Power 40 → 50.
Patch 14.14: Effect text changed.

Funny enough, Riot has only ever buffed the Orb since it became a starter: three Ability Power increases and no nerfs in nearly a decade. For what it’s worth, the 12.16 change to 50 Ability Power is the one that made it clearly better than the other ARAM starters for its class, and the same patch left Guardian’s Horn untouched.

When should you sell it?

At full build, when the sixth slot is the only place left for a finished item, and not before, because 50 Ability Power and 150 Health keep mattering on a mage at every stage and the 665 gold refund buys nothing worth having. Which slot goes first, the Orb or boots? The Orb, usually, since boots on the Abyss are mostly for dodging and a sixth item of Ability Power outweighs an old starter. If you are new to the mode and want to know which positions and classes the Howling Abyss rewards, the guide to LoL roles covers what mages are built to do on any map, and the LoL items database lists all four ARAM starters, with Guardian’s Orb the one for anyone who casts.