Ravenous Hydra

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

Total cost3300 g

Combine cost150 g

Sells for2310 g

Gold efficiency111%

Ravenous Hydra stats

+65 Attack Damage
+15 Ability Haste
+12% Life Steal

Passive and active effects

Passive: Cleave: Attacks deal physical damage to nearby enemies.
Active: Ravenous Crescent: Deal physical damage to enemies around you. Your Life Steal applies to this damage.

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.

Build path

Builds from

Champion guides with Ravenous Hydra

Nocturne Nocturne ARAM build
Fiora Fiora ARAM build
Renekton Renekton ARAM build
Riven Riven ARAM build
Camille Camille ARAM build
Briar Briar ARAM build

Gold efficiency

Stat	Amount	Gold per point	Gold value
Attack Damage	65	35 g	2275 g
Ability Haste	15	50 g	750 g
Life Steal %	12	53.57 g	643 g
Total stat value			3668 g

Gold efficiency = stat value ÷ item cost = 3668 ÷ 3300 = 111%. 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.

Ravenous Hydra patch history

Patch	Change
14.21	Effect text changed
14.19	Ability Haste: 20 → 15; Attack Damage: 70 → 65
14.4	Effect text changed
14.2	Life Steal %: 10 → 12; Effect text changed
14.1	Cost: 3400 → 3300 gold; Ability Haste: 25 → 20; Attack Damage: 65 → 70
13.3	Ability Haste: 20 → 25; Life Steal %: none → 10; Omnivamp %: 10 → none
13.1	Effect text changed
12.23	Cost: 3300 → 3400 gold; Effect text changed
12.22	Attack Damage: 70 → 65; Effect text changed
12.3	Attack Damage: 65 → 70
11.18	Effect text changed
11.3	Omnivamp %: 15 → 10
10.23	Cost: 3500 → 3300 gold; Attack Damage: 80 → 65
10.5	Life Steal %: 12 → 18; Effect text changed
8.13	Cost: 3250 → 3500 gold; Attack Damage: 70 → 80
8.12	Cost: 3500 → 3250 gold; Attack Damage: 80 → 70
7.9	Attack Damage: 75 → 80
6.3	Effect text changed
6.1	Cost: 3600 → 3500 gold
5.22	Renamed: Ravenous Hydra (Melee Only) → Ravenous Hydra; Cost: 3300 → 3600 gold
3.6	Cost: 3500 → 3300 gold; Life Steal %: 10 → 12
0.152	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.

Ravenous Hydra is a 3,300 gold Attack Damage item in League of Legends that adds area damage and sustain: 65 Attack Damage, 15 Ability Haste and 12% Life Steal in patch 26.21. Its Cleave passive makes your attacks hit nearby enemies too, and the Ravenous Crescent active deals physical damage around you that your Life Steal can heal from.

What do Cleave and Ravenous Crescent do?

Cleave turns single-target attacks into small area hits. Every attack also deals physical damage to enemies near your target, so minion waves and jungle camps go down faster and grouped enemies take a bit of extra damage in fights. For a jungler, camps with several monsters die faster; for a laner, a stacked wave melts quicker because every swing damages the whole group at once, which frees you up to roam or reset sooner.

Ravenous Crescent is the active. Press it and you deal physical damage to every enemy around you. The detail that sets this version apart: your Life Steal applies to that damage, so hitting a full minion wave or several champions at once heals you for a chunk in one press. Riot’s data text gives neither the damage nor the cooldown, so check the tooltip in the client for both.

Is it worth binding the active to a key you’ll actually press? Absolutely, yes. Honestly, a lot of the item’s value sits in that button (forgetting it is the most common way to waste a Hydra), and it also works as an attack reset in many champions’ combos.

Is Ravenous Hydra gold efficient?

Yes, at 111%, with the passive and active free on top. The three stats add up to 3,668 gold against 3,300 gold.

Per stat, using same-patch basic items: 65 Attack Damage at 35 gold per point comes to 2,275 gold, 15 Ability Haste at 50 gold per point comes to 750, and 12% Life Steal at 53.57 gold per percent comes to 643. That’s a 368 gold surplus before Cleave does anything. To be fair, the efficiency only translates into real value if you hit things that are standing close together, which most fights and all minion waves provide.

What’s in the recipe?

Tiamat (1,200 gold), Vampiric Scepter (900 gold) and Caulfield’s Warhammer (1,050 gold), finished for just 150 gold. Tiamat first is the standard choice (your jungle clears speed up too), since it already has Cleave and its own active, which speeds up your farm right away. Vampiric Scepter adds early sustain; Caulfield’s adds haste. It’s the last step.

How has it changed?

Riot’s data has the item from 2013. Patch 13.3 swapped its Omnivamp for Life Steal, and the numbers have been adjusted since:

Patch 13.3: Omnivamp removed, Life Steal added at 10%, Ability Haste 20 → 25.
Patch 14.1: cost 3,400 → 3,300 gold, Ability Haste 25 → 20, Attack Damage 65 → 70.
Patch 14.2: Life Steal 10% → 12%, effect text changed.
Patch 14.19: Ability Haste 20 → 15, Attack Damage 70 → 65.

Riot also reworded the passive in 14.21. In practice, the 14.19 trim took back the Attack Damage that 14.1 had added, so today’s version sits close to where it started that season, just with more Life Steal.

Who should build Ravenous Hydra?

Melee AD champions who fight in close quarters (top laners especially) and want to clear waves fast: fighters, some junglers, and skirmishers who stay in long trades. The area damage plus Life Steal works best when several enemies are within reach.

Who should look elsewhere? Look, ranged marksmen who want sustain usually get more from Bloodthirster, which has no area damage but far more Life Steal and a shield. Assassins who need one big hit on one target may prefer a Lethality item. If you’re unsure, our champion guides list builds per champion; and for a melee fighter who’s always surrounded by minions or enemies, Ravenous Hydra turns that crowd into healing.