Thornmail

Thornmail is a 2,450 gold Armor item in League of Legends that punishes champions for attacking you: 75 Armor and 150 Health in patch 26.21. Its Thorns passive deals magic damage back to anyone who hits you with an attack, and against champions it also applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds, cutting their healing.

What does Thorns do?

Two things, both triggered when an attack hits you. First, the attacker takes magic damage. Second, if the attacker is a champion, they get 40% Wounds for 3 seconds, which reduces the healing they receive.

The healing cut is the real reason most tanks buy it. Champions who heal through attacks (Life Steal marksmen, fighters with self-healing on-hit effects) lose a big chunk of their sustain simply by hitting you. And because the trigger is getting hit, you don’t need to land anything yourself. Put simply, the enemy applies the healing reduction to themselves.

How much damage does Thorns deal? It scales, and Riot’s data leaves the exact figure to the in-game tooltip. It’s not a lot on its own, honestly; think of it as a tax on every attack rather than a damage source.

Is Thornmail gold efficient?

Below par on paper, at 78%. The two stats add up to 1,900 gold for a 2,450 gold item.

By stat: 75 Armor at 20 gold per point is 1,500 gold, and 150 Health at 2.67 gold per point is 400. That leaves 550 gold unaccounted for, which is what you pay for Thorns. To be fair, a passive that applies healing reduction without any effort on your part is worth that much against the right team, and nearly worthless against a team of mages who never attack you.

What does it build from?

Bramble Vest (800 gold), Chain Vest (800 gold) and Ruby Crystal (400 gold), plus 450 gold. Bramble Vest already carries an early version of Thorns, so buy it first if the enemy laner heals off attacks; you get the healing cut long before the full item is done. Chain Vest is the bigger Armor chunk for when you just need to survive.

No item builds from Thornmail.

How has the item changed?

Riot’s data has it from 2013, and the Armor and Health split has been reshuffled several times. The recent changes:

• Patch 10.23: cost 2,900 → 2,700 gold, Armor 80 → 60, Health 250 → 350.
• Patch 13.3: Armor 60 → 70, effect text changed.
• Patch 14.19: cost 2,700 → 2,450 gold, Armor 70 → 80, Health 350 → 150.
• Patch 14.20: Armor 80 → 75.

So the current version is cheaper and heavier on Armor than it used to be, with much less Health (14.19 cut the Health by more than half). Riot followed up the very next patch with a small Armor trim, the usual sign that a change landed a little too strong.

Who should buy Thornmail?

Tanks and frontline fighters facing attack-based champions who heal: Life Steal marksmen, sustain fighters, and junglers who heal off their attacks. It’s usually bought as soon as one of those champions starts to snowball.

When is it the wrong buy? Against mostly magic damage, the Armor and the passive both go to waste. A carry facing a fed attack-based champion may also prefer Mortal Reminder, which applies the same 40% Wounds offensively rather than defensively. And against plain auto-attack damage without healing, Plated Steelcaps may be the cheaper fix. Look, the test is simple: does the enemy carry heal off hitting you? If yes, Thornmail is close to mandatory.

FAQ

How much does Thornmail cost?

2,450 gold in patch 26.21, including a 450 gold combine cost. It sells for 1,715 gold.

How much healing reduction does Thornmail apply?

40% Wounds for 3 seconds to any champion who hits you with an attack.

Does Thorns trigger on abilities?

No. The passive triggers when you are struck by an attack.

What stats does it give?

75 Armor and 150 Health.

What does it build from?

Bramble Vest, Chain Vest and Ruby Crystal.