Serrated Dirk

Serrated Dirk is the component every AD assassin in League of Legends opens with, giving 20 Attack Damage together with 10 Lethality for 1,000 gold in patch 26.21 and carrying no passive. It is two Long Swords with a 300 gold combine fee, and it builds into seven finished items, including Youmuu’s Ghostblade, Edge of Night, Hubris, The Collector and Serpent’s Fang.

What does Serrated Dirk do?

20 Attack Damage and 10 Lethality. The Attack Damage is the two Long Swords; the Lethality is what the 300 gold combine fee buys, and it is the first flat Armor penetration most assassins ever hold.

Lethality is flat penetration that scales with your level, so against a squishy target with 50 Armor at level nine, ten points of it removes a meaningful share of their defence and makes an ability combo land noticeably harder than the raw Attack Damage suggests. Against a tank it does almost nothing, which is fine, because assassins are not meant to be fighting tanks. Is the Dirk a big spike? Honestly, yes, for the champions that want it: a Zed or a Talon who completes it on the first recall can suddenly kill a mid laner from full Health with one rotation at level six, and that threat shapes the next ten minutes of the lane (the enemy mage starts standing further back whether or not the kill ever happens).

Is it gold efficient?

Exactly even: 100%. The Attack Damage is worth 700 gold at 35 gold per point and the Lethality 300 gold at 30 gold per point, which is 1,000 gold of stats on a 1,000 gold item.

Lethality’s reference price comes from this very item, so the number is even by definition, and the real comparison is with The Brutalizer, the other Lethality component: more Attack Damage and Ability Haste there, less Lethality, for 337 gold more. Thing is, the two are not really in competition, since each feeds a different set of finished items, and the second item, not the component stats, decides which one an assassin picks. The sell price is 700 gold.

What does Serrated Dirk build into?

Seven items, nearly all of them for assassins:

• Youmuu’s Ghostblade, the Move Speed active for roaming.
• Edge of Night, the spell shield.
• The Collector, the execute, for assassins and marksmen alike.
• Hubris, Serpent’s Fang and Umbral Glaive, the stacking damage, anti-shield and anti-ward options.
• Bastionbreaker, the bruiser outlier that trades Lethality for Health.

So the Dirk commits you to flat penetration, and within that it leaves the whole assassin menu open. Put simply, a Dirk on the first recall is the standard opening for the entire class, and what the enemy team turns out to be decides the finished item it becomes. The LoL items database lists all seven with current prices.

Who buys it?

AD assassins in every game: Zed, Talon, Qiyana, Naafiri, Kha'Zix, Rengar, Nocturne, Pyke and Kayn in his red form. Lethality marksmen like Jhin, Caitlyn in some builds and Varus take it on the way to The Collector or Youmuu’s. Supports who build Umbral Glaive take it early for the vision control. Who skips it? Crit marksmen, fighters who want Health with their damage, and anyone whose targets are tanks, since flat penetration against 150 Armor is the least efficient damage purchase in the shop.

The habit worth copying: finish the Dirk before boots on an assassin with a winning lane, because the Lethality converts directly into a kill threat that boots do not provide.

How has Serrated Dirk changed over the patches?

Ten entries, and the shop entry has carried two names:

• Patch 5.22: Renamed from The Brutalizer to Serrated Dirk; cost 1337 → 1100 gold, Attack Damage 25 → 20.
• Patch 6.22: Attack Damage 20 → 25.
• Patches 7.14 to 9.23: Four effect text changes to the old passive, since removed.
• Patch 10.1: Attack Damage 25 → 30.
• Patch 14.1: Cost 1100 → 1,000 gold, Attack Damage 30 → 25.
• Patch 14.6: Attack Damage 25 → 20.
• Patch 14.10: Lethality added at 10.

Funny enough, the Dirk is the original Brutalizer under a new name, and the current Brutalizer in the shop is a separate item that Riot added in patch 14.1 next to it. For what it’s worth, the 14.10 change that put 10 Lethality on the Dirk is the one that defines it today; before that the item had an on-hit passive that changed wording four times and never quite worked.

When should you buy it?

On the first recall, on any assassin who has 1,000 gold, and as the second purchase after a single Long Sword on the first back if you do not. There is no reason to delay it on an assassin, since every item the class wants starts from one and the stats are the right ones at every stage of the lane. Not sure whether your champion is an assassin in the sense that builds Lethality? The guide to LoL roles covers how mid lane and jungle assassins put their builds together, and Serrated Dirk is the first item in nearly all of those builds.

FAQ

How much does Serrated Dirk cost?

1,000 gold in patch 26.21; the two Long Swords account for 700 of that and the combine fee is 300 gold. It sells for 700 gold.

What stats does it give?

20 Attack Damage and 10 Lethality.

Does it have a passive?

No. The old on-hit passive is gone, and the item is now a two-stat component.

What does it build into?

Youmuu’s Ghostblade, Edge of Night, The Collector, Hubris, Serpent’s Fang, Umbral Glaive and Bastionbreaker.

Serrated Dirk or The Brutalizer?

Whichever your finished item needs. The Dirk leads to Youmuu’s, Edge of Night and The Collector; The Brutalizer leads to Profane Hydra, Voltaic Cyclosword and Axiom Arc.

When was Lethality added to it?

In patch 14.10. Before that the Dirk gave Attack Damage only, plus a passive that has since been removed.