Hexdrinker

Hexdrinker is the anti-magic component for physical damage champions in League of Legends: 25 Attack Damage and 25 Magic Resist for 1,300 gold in patch 26.21, plus Lifeline, a passive that gives you a shield against magic damage for 2.5 seconds when a magic hit would drop you below 30% Health. It is two Long Swords and a Null-Magic Mantle with a 200 gold combine fee, and its only upgrade is Maw of Malmortius.

What does Hexdrinker do?

Three things for a melee champion facing a mage. 25 Attack Damage keeps your trades honest, 25 Magic Resist takes the edge off every spell, and Lifeline is the piece that wins the all-in: when magic damage would push you under 30% Health, a shield appears for 2.5 seconds and absorbs the rest of the combo.

Riot’s data text does not state the shield’s size, only the trigger and the duration, and the shop tooltip shows a flat amount that scales with your level. In practice it is the difference between dying to a Syndra ultimate and walking away with a sliver of Health (ask any Zed player who has forgotten to buy it), which is why the item is bought in one specific situation: a physical damage champion against a mage whose burst arrives all at once (Syndra, Annie, Veigar, Lux, Zoe). Does it help against sustained magic damage? Less, honestly, since a Cassiopeia or a Brand simply burns through the shield in two seconds; against them the Magic Resist is the useful part and Lifeline is a bonus.

Is Hexdrinker gold efficient?

Above even: 106%. Priced by the basic items (35 gold per point of Attack Damage, 20 per point of Magic Resist), the damage comes to 875 gold and the resist to 500, which puts 1,375 gold of stats behind a 1,300 gold price before Lifeline is even counted. Free shield, then.

That is unusual for a component with a passive, and it comes from the 200 gold combine fee being one of the lowest in the shop for an epic item (the three components alone cost 1100). Thing is, Riot can afford to price it this way because the item is only ever bought into magic damage, and 25 Magic Resist against a physical team is 500 gold of nothing. The sell price is 910 gold.

What does it build into?

One item: Maw of Malmortius, which keeps Lifeline, adds more Attack Damage and Magic Resist, and gives Omnivamp while the shield is up.

So the Hexdrinker is a half-commitment, and a comfortable one, because the component on its own does nearly everything the finished item does in lane. Put simply, most players buy the Hexdrinker at ten minutes to survive the mage and finish the Maw at thirty minutes if the mage is still the problem, and if the mage is not, the Hexdrinker simply stays as a cheap, efficient slot until something better needs the space. The LoL items database has the Maw’s current price.

Who buys it?

Physical damage champions in a lane against burst magic: top laners into Rumble or Kennen, mid lane assassins like Zed, Talon and Yasuo into Syndra, Annie or Lux, and AD junglers whose first fights are with an AP enemy jungler such as Lillia or Elise. Marksmen rarely take it, since their danger is usually physical. Who skips it? Everyone facing a physical damage team, tanks who get their Magic Resist from Spectre’s Cowl, and mages, obviously.

The habit worth copying from higher ranks: buy the Null-Magic Mantle on the first recall when the enemy mid laner is a burst mage, and complete the Hexdrinker on the second. The Mantle alone takes the sting out of level six.

How has Hexdrinker changed over the patches?

Six entries since 2013 or earlier, mostly small moves to the two stats:

• Patch 4.20: Cost 1350 → 1450 gold, Magic Resist 25 → 30.
• Patch 5.22: Cost 1450 → 1,300 gold, Attack Damage 25 → 20, Magic Resist 30 → 35.
• Patch 12.3: Attack Damage 20 → 25.
• Patch 14.9: Magic Resist 35 → 30.
• Patch 14.19: Magic Resist 30 → 25.
• Patch 14.21: Effect text changed.

Funny enough, after a decade of adjustments the item has exactly the stats it had before patch 4.20, 25 Attack Damage and 25 Magic Resist, for 50 gold less. For what it’s worth, the two Magic Resist cuts in 2024 were part of a broader trim to anti-magic items, and the Hexdrinker took them without losing its place in assassin builds.

When should you buy it?

On the second recall, usually, after a first damage component, when you have 1,300 gold and the enemy mage has hit level six. Buying it before a damage item is a mistake unless the lane is already lost, because a Hexdrinker with no damage behind it survives but does not win. A Long Sword start feeds it naturally, since two of them are inside. If you are still working out whether your champion belongs to the physical damage group that needs this item, the guide to LoL roles covers how mid lane assassins and top lane fighters handle mage matchups, and Hexdrinker is the component both reach for when the enemy is a burst caster.

FAQ

How much does Hexdrinker cost?

1,300 gold in patch 26.21. Two Long Swords and a Null-Magic Mantle make up 1100 of that, the combine step is 200 gold, and selling returns 910 gold.

What stats does it give?

25 Attack Damage and 25 Magic Resist, plus the Lifeline passive.

How does Lifeline work?

When magic damage would take you below 30% Health, you gain a shield that absorbs magic damage for 2.5 seconds. The shield’s size is in the shop tooltip, not in Riot’s item data.

What does it build into?

Maw of Malmortius only.

Does the shield block physical damage?

No. Lifeline’s shield absorbs magic damage only, and it triggers only from magic damage.

Hexdrinker or Quicksilver Sash?

Hexdrinker against burst magic damage; Quicksilver Sash when one crowd control ability is the problem rather than the damage itself.