Vampiric Scepter

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

Total cost900 g

Combine cost550 g

Sells for630 g

Gold efficiency100%

Vampiric Scepter stats

+15 Attack Damage
+7% Life Steal

Build path

Builds from

Long Sword (350 g)

Builds into

Gold efficiency

Stat	Amount	Gold per point	Gold value
Attack Damage	15	35 g	525 g
Life Steal %	7	53.57 g	375 g
Total stat value			900 g

Gold efficiency = stat value ÷ item cost = 900 ÷ 900 = 100%. 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.

Vampiric Scepter patch history

Patch	Change
12.10	Life Steal %: 8 → 7
12.6	Life Steal %: 10 → 8
5.22	Cost: 800 → 900 gold; Attack Damage: 10 → 15; Life Steal %: 8 → 10
4.10	Life Steal %: 10 → 8
2013	Earliest record in Riot's Data Dragon (2013); the item is older

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.

Vampiric Scepter is where Life Steal enters a build in League of Legends: 15 Attack Damage and 7% Life Steal for 900 gold in patch 26.21, built from a Long Sword with no passive attached. Five items use it, Bloodthirster, Blade of the Ruined King, Ravenous Hydra, Mercurial Scimitar and Hextech Gunblade, so it is the component you buy when you want to stay in lane instead of recalling.

What does Vampiric Scepter do?

Each basic attack heals you for 7% of the physical damage it deals, and the 15 Attack Damage makes those attacks a little stronger. That is the whole item.

7 percent sounds tiny, and per hit it is: a 100 damage auto heals single digits. The point is volume. A marksman who farms a full wave with autos heals a potion’s worth over the wave, and a top laner who trades with autos gets a chunk of every trade back, so the Scepter changes how long you can stay in lane far more than it changes any single fight (which is why it feels so much better on a champion who attacks fast than on one who attacks slowly). Does it heal off abilities? No. Life Steal is attacks only, and spell-based champions want Omnivamp or a different item altogether.

Is it worth the gold?

Exactly even: 100%. Vampiric Scepter is the reference item our efficiency numbers use to price Life Steal, so after the 15 Attack Damage is valued at 525 gold (35 gold per point from Long Sword), the remaining 375 gold of the price sets the rate for Life Steal at about 53.57 gold per 1%.

Put simply, Life Steal is expensive. One percent of it costs more than one and a half points of Attack Damage, which is the game’s way of saying sustain is worth paying for. The sell value is 630 gold. Compared with a Long Sword plus a potion, the Scepter wins over any lane longer than a few minutes, because the healing never runs out.

What does Vampiric Scepter build into?

Five items, every one of them a sustain item:

Bloodthirster, the marksman Life Steal item with an overheal shield.
Blade of the Ruined King, on-hit damage plus Life Steal.
Ravenous Hydra, the fighter Hydra with Life Steal on its cleave.
Mercurial Scimitar, a cleanse active with Life Steal attached.
Hextech Gunblade, the hybrid item for champions who want both AD and AP sustain.

Thing is, the list is short but it covers three roles: marksmen through Bloodthirster, fighters through Hydra and Blade, and anyone needing a cleanse through Scimitar. The LoL items database has all five with their current prices.

Who buys it?

Marksmen on their first or second recall when the lane is a poke war, fighters and skirmishers who trade with autos (Jax, Irelia, Tryndamere, Master Yi), and anyone planning one of the five items above. In practice the most common buyer is a marksman who is being chipped down by a Caitlyn or a Karma and wants to stop losing CS to recalls. Honestly, it is also the better early buy for a marksman with no support sustain, since a Soraka or a Sona behind you makes the Scepter’s healing feel redundant for a while.

How has Vampiric Scepter changed over the patches?

Four times, mostly through the Life Steal number:

Patch 4.10: Life Steal 10% → 8%.
Patch 5.22: cost 800 → 900, Attack Damage 10 → 15, Life Steal 8% → 10%.
Patch 12.6: Life Steal 10% → 8%.
Patch 12.10: Life Steal 8% → 7%.

For what it’s worth, the two 2022 nerfs came in a stretch where Riot was cutting sustain across the game, and the Scepter has sat at 7% ever since. The table above has every entry.

When should you buy it?

On a recall where you have 900 gold, your lane is a long poke battle and your finished item is one of the five above. Skip it when the enemy is all-in rather than poke, since 7% Life Steal does not save you from a burst combo and a Pickaxe or a defensive piece would. Worth buying as a pure lane sustain tool with no plan to finish it? Rarely; the gold is better spent on a component you will keep. If you want a sense of which lanes turn into the poke wars that make the Scepter shine, our guide to LoL roles covers it, and Vampiric Scepter is a staple in most of the bottom lane builds there.