Tiamat

Tiamat is the wave-clear component for melee champions in League of Legends: 25 Attack Damage for 1,200 gold in patch 26.21, plus Cleave, which makes your attacks deal physical damage to enemies around the target, and Crescent, an active that damages everything around you. It is two Long Swords with a 500 gold combine fee, and it builds into the three Hydras, Ravenous, Titanic and Profane, as well as Stridebreaker.

What does Tiamat do?

It turns single-target attacks into area damage. Every auto attack also hits the enemies near your target through Cleave, and the Crescent active lets you swing at everything in a circle around you on demand, which is how a melee champion clears a wave in two or three attacks instead of eight.

Riot’s data text gives no numbers for either effect, only that both deal physical damage, and the shop tooltip shows the Cleave and Crescent amounts as a share of your Attack Damage, so the item scales with every damage purchase after it. What the Tiamat changes in a game is tempo. A top laner who buys it can shove the wave and leave for a fight, a jungler clears camps noticeably faster, and a champion with no built-in area damage suddenly has some (Fiora, Tryndamere and Master Yi are the classic cases). Is it a damage item for duels? Barely, since 25 Attack Damage is less than a Pickaxe for more gold, and nobody buys it to win a one-on-one.

Is it gold efficient?

Not on stats: 73%. The Attack Damage is worth 875 gold at 35 gold per point, and the other 325 gold buys the two area effects, which our table has no way to price.

In practice the item pays for itself in minions rather than in fights. Thing is, a melee champion who clears a wave two seconds faster over a whole game earns hundreds of extra gold from farm and arrives at fights earlier, and that is worth far more than 325 gold to a split pusher or a jungler. A champion who never leaves lane and never needs to clear quickly overpays for it. Simple as that. The 500 gold combine fee is high for two Long Swords, and the sell price is 840 gold.

What does it build into?

Four items, each keeping the Cleave and adding a different purpose:

• Ravenous Hydra, the Omnivamp version for fighters who want to heal while clearing.
• Titanic Hydra, the Health version where the cleave scales with maximum Health, for juggernauts and tanks.
• Profane Hydra, the Lethality version for assassins.
• Stridebreaker, the active slow for fighters who need to reach their target.

So the Tiamat is a commitment to area damage but not to a class. Honestly, that spread is the reason players buy it so early: a Jax, a Darius, a Talon and a Sion all start from the same two Long Swords and end up in four different places. All four, with current prices, are in the LoL items database.

Who buys it?

Melee champions who want to push or farm faster: top lane split pushers (Fiora, Tryndamere, Jax, Camille), juggernauts heading to Titanic Hydra or Stridebreaker (Darius, Sion, Garen, Illaoi), AD assassins heading to Profane Hydra (Talon, Qiyana, Zed in some games), and melee junglers who struggle with camps early (Master Yi, Xin Zhao, Olaf). Who skips it? Marksmen and every ranged champion, since Cleave only works with melee attacks, and melee champions whose kit already clears waves on its own, like Riven or Renekton, who usually have better uses for 1,200 gold.

One habit to copy: buy it on the recall after you have your first real component, not before. A Tiamat as the very first purchase delays the item that wins lane, while a Tiamat second lets you convert a winning lane into map pressure.

How has Tiamat changed over the patches?

Fifteen entries, most of them rewording Cleave and Crescent, with a handful of number changes:

• Patch 7.24: Attack Damage 20 → 25.
• Patch 9.1: Cost 1200 → 1325 gold.
• Patch 10.23: Cost 1325 → 1,200 gold, with the 2021 item overhaul.
• Patch 14.1: Attack Damage 25 → 20.
• Patch 26.16: Attack Damage 20 → 25.
• Patches 10.4 to 14.21: Seven effect text changes as the area damage was rewritten.

Funny enough, the item has now returned to the exact Attack Damage it had from patch 7.24 through 14.1, after spending two seasons at 20. For what it’s worth, that recent buff in 26.16 is the first number change in over two years, and it made the Tiamat a slightly less painful first component for the champions who need it.

When should you buy it?

On the second recall for split pushers and junglers, after a first component and boots, when you have 1,200 gold and the lane is stable enough that you want to start moving. A single Long Sword on the first back is the right placeholder, since it feeds almost every physical damage item if the plan changes. Put simply, the Tiamat is a purchase about where you want to be on the map rather than about who you want to kill. Not sure yet whether your champion is a split pusher or a teamfighter? The guide to LoL roles covers how top laners and junglers choose between the two, and Tiamat is the item that marks the split pushing version of both. Buy it with a plan.

FAQ

How much does Tiamat cost?

1,200 gold in patch 26.21: two Long Swords plus a 500 gold combine fee. It sells for 840 gold.

What stats does it give?

25 Attack Damage, plus the Cleave passive and the Crescent active.

Does Tiamat work on ranged champions?

Cleave is built around melee attacks, as Riot’s description says, so ranged champions get little from it and almost never buy it.

What does it build into?

Ravenous Hydra, Titanic Hydra, Profane Hydra and Stridebreaker.

Any recent changes?

Yes. Patch 26.16 raised its Attack Damage from 20 to 25, the first number change since patch 14.1.

Tiamat or Pickaxe?

Pickaxe for more damage in duels; Tiamat if your champion needs to clear waves or camps faster and your finished item is a Hydra or Stridebreaker.