Void Staff

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

Total cost3000 g

Combine cost1050 g

Sells for2100 g

Gold efficiency63%

Void Staff stats

+95 Ability Power
+40% Magic Penetration

Build path

Builds from

Champion guides with Void Staff

Nidalee Nidalee ARAM build
Elise Elise ARAM build
Heimerdinger Heimerdinger ARAM build
Mel Mel ARAM build
Vel'Koz Vel'Koz ARAM build
Viktor Viktor ARAM build
Karma Karma ARAM build
Ekko Ekko ARAM build
Karthus Karthus ARAM build
Zyra Zyra ARAM build
Ziggs Ziggs ARAM build
Anivia Anivia ARAM build
Zoe Zoe ARAM build
Taliyah Taliyah ARAM build
Azir Azir ARAM build
Brand Brand ARAM build
Syndra Syndra ARAM build
Diana Diana ARAM build
Ornn Ornn counters
Poppy Poppy counters
K'Sante K'Sante counters
Rammus Rammus counters
Zac Zac counters
Braum Braum counters

Gold efficiency

Stat	Amount	Gold per point	Gold value
Ability Power	95	20 g	1900 g
Total stat value			1900 g

Gold efficiency = stat value ÷ item cost = 1900 ÷ 3000 = 63%. 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, and neither are Magic Penetration (no basic item sells this stat alone).

Void Staff patch history

Patch	Change
14.15	Ability Power: 90 → 95
14.12	Ability Power: 80 → 90
14.1	Cost: 2800 → 3000 gold; Ability Power: 65 → 80
12.10	Magic Penetration %: 45 → 40
11.23	Cost: 2700 → 2800 gold; Ability Power: 70 → 65; Magic Penetration %: 40 → 45
11.6	Cost: 2500 → 2700 gold; Ability Power: 65 → 70
10.23	Cost: 2650 → 2500 gold; Ability Power: 70 → 65
8.23	Effect text changed
8.4	Ability Power: 80 → 70
7.22	Effect text changed
5.22	Cost: 2500 → 2650 gold
5.13	Cost: 2295 → 2500 gold; Ability Power: 70 → 80
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.

Void Staff is the 3,000 gold Magic Penetration item in League of Legends: 95 Ability Power and 40% Magic Penetration in patch 26.21. No passive, no active. It exists for one job, which is making your spells hurt tanks and anyone else who stacked Magic Resist against you.

What does Void Staff do?

It ignores 40% of the target’s Magic Resist on every bit of magic damage you deal, and it brings 95 Ability Power along so the slot isn’t a pure utility buy.

Percent penetration is the key word. Flat penetration from a boot or a cheaper item removes a fixed amount of resistance, which matters most against squishy targets with little Magic Resist to begin with. Percent penetration scales with the target, so the more resistance an enemy buys, the more the staff takes away. Against a tank sitting on a lot of Magic Resist, the item removes a big chunk; against a marksman with almost none, it removes almost nothing.

When should it come out of the shop? The usual answer is after two or three damage items, once the enemy front line has started buying resistance (nobody builds Magic Resist at minute ten, so there’s little to penetrate yet). Sure, you can buy it earlier, but then it’s mostly 95 Ability Power for 3,000 gold.

Is Void Staff gold efficient?

On paper, no: 63%. The Ability Power alone is worth 1,900 gold against a 3,000 gold price, a 1,100 gold gap.

The reason is simple. Only the Ability Power can be priced (95 points at 20 gold each from basic items of the same patch), because no basic item sells Magic Penetration on its own, so the 40% gets a value of zero in the table above. In practice that percentage is the whole point of the purchase, and against a resistance-stacking enemy it adds more damage than any other 3,000 gold mage item would. Against a team with no Magic Resist? Then the table is right and you should buy something else.

What does it build from?

Two parts: Blighting Jewel for 1,100 gold, which already carries a smaller share of the Magic Penetration, and Blasting Wand for 850 gold, plus a 1,050 gold combine. Blighting Jewel first if the enemy already has resistance, Blasting Wand first if you just want damage now. The item builds into nothing further.

How has the item changed over the years?

It has been in the game since 2013 or earlier, and most of the changes are small swings in Ability Power and price. The recent ones from Riot’s data:

Patch 11.23: cost 2,700 → 2,800 gold, Ability Power 70 → 65, Magic Penetration 40% → 45%.
Patch 12.10: Magic Penetration 45% → 40%.
Patch 14.1: cost 2,800 → 3,000 gold, Ability Power 65 → 80.
Patch 14.12: Ability Power 80 → 90.
Patch 14.15: Ability Power 90 → 95.

The trend since season 14 is clear: more Ability Power for the same 40% penetration, which turned it from a late utility pick into a reasonable third item. The full table above lists every entry back to patch 5.13, and the LoL items database has the same history for the rest of the mage shop. To be fair, the penetration number itself has barely moved in four years.

Who should buy Void Staff?

Any mage or AP champion whose damage is being eaten by Magic Resist. That’s the entire rule. Tanks with resistance items, bruisers who picked up a Magic Resist item, supports stacking resistance for their team: each of them makes the item more valuable than its stat line suggests.

Who can skip it? AP champions facing a team with no resistance, and anyone who deals most of their damage through true damage or attacks rather than spells. The catch is that games change, and a team with zero Magic Resist at minute twenty often has three items of it by minute thirty, so the late-game buy is rarely wrong. Is the enemy tank already shrugging off your combo? Then Void Staff is the next purchase.