Unending Despair

Unending Despair is a 2,800 gold tank item in League of Legends that heals you for standing in the fight: 400 Health, 50 Armor and 15 Ability Haste in patch 26.21, plus a passive called Anguish. Every 4 seconds in combat with champions it deals magic damage around you and heals you for 250% of that damage.

What does Anguish do in a fight?

It’s a pulse (no button to press). While you’re in combat with enemy champions, the item fires every 4 seconds, hits the champions near you for magic damage and converts 250% of that damage into healing for you. More enemies standing next to you means more damage dealt, which means more healing, so, put simply, the passive is at its best when you’re surrounded.

How much does it heal? Riot’s data files describe the effect but leave the damage number to the in-game tooltip, since it scales with your stats, so check the shop in your client for the figure that matches your build.

The healing is what separates it from other armor items. Sunfire Aegis burns everyone around you too, but it gives nothing back; this one trades some of that pressure for sustain, which matters in the long front-line fights where a tank’s job is to still be standing at the end (and not just to deal chip damage on the way down).

Is Unending Despair worth the gold?

Yes, at 101% on stats alone. To be fair, that’s the rare case where a tank item pays for itself before the passive even starts.

Priced off basic items of the same patch, 400 Health at 2.67 gold per point is worth 1,067 gold, 50 Armor at 20 gold per point is worth 1,000, and 15 Ability Haste at 50 gold per point adds 750. Total: 2,817 gold of stats for a 2,800 gold item, and Anguish sits on top of that for free. For what it’s worth, the healing is the part that decides fights, so the real value in a drawn-out teamfight is higher than 101%.

What does the build path look like?

Chain Vest (800 gold), Kindlegem (800 gold) and Ruby Crystal (400 gold), then 800 gold to finish. Chain Vest is the piece to grab first into a physical damage lane (it carries the whole Armor line); Kindlegem brings the Haste and some of the Health, and the Ruby Crystal fills in the rest on a cheap back.

Nothing builds out of it, so once the three parts merge the slot is finished for the rest of the game.

How has the item changed over the patches?

A lot, for an item this new. Riot added it in patch 14.1, and the stat line has been rebuilt three times since:

• Patch 14.19: Armor 55 → 60, Health 400 → 350.
• Patch 25.S1.1: Armor 60 → 25, Health 350 → 400, Magic Resist added at 25, effect text changed.
• Patch 26.1: Armor 25 → 50, Magic Resist removed, Ability Haste 10 → 15.

So for one season it was a mixed-resistance item with a bit of both, and now it’s back to pure Armor plus Health. Honestly, that’s the swing to remember, because the version many players learned during the 2025 season was a different item. The LoL items database keeps the complete list, effect text updates included.

Who should buy Unending Despair?

Tanks and juggernauts who spend the whole fight in melee range of several enemies, facing a team that deals mostly physical damage. The more champions you can keep nearby, the better Anguish gets, so a front-liner who dives the backline and stays there gets far more out of it than one who stands at the edge of the fight.

Facing a mostly magic damage team? Then the Armor is wasted, and since patch 26.1 there is no Magic Resist on the item to soften that. The catch is also that the passive needs time: a tank who gets burst down in the first pulse never sees the healing, so it fits better as a second or third item than a rush. If you’re deciding which position suits a tank in the first place, our guide to LoL roles covers that, and the champion guides on this site list Unending Despair where it belongs in a build.

FAQ

How much does Unending Despair cost?

2,800 gold in patch 26.21, with an 800 gold combine cost. It sells back for 1,960 gold.

What does Anguish do?

Every 4 seconds while in combat with champions, it deals magic damage to nearby enemy champions and heals you for 250% of the damage dealt.

What stats does it give?

400 Health, 50 Armor and 15 Ability Haste.

Does it give Magic Resist?

Not any more. It had 25 Magic Resist from patch 25.S1.1 until patch 26.1, when Riot removed it and raised the Armor instead.

Is it gold efficient?

Yes. The stats are worth 2,817 gold, or 101% of the price, before counting the Anguish healing.

What does it build from?

Chain Vest, Kindlegem and Ruby Crystal. It does not build into anything else.