Youmuu’s Ghostblade

Ghostblade, full name Youmuu’s Ghostblade, is a 2,800 gold Lethality item in League of Legends for assassins and roaming Attack Damage champions: 55 Attack Damage, 18 Lethality and 4% Move Speed in patch 26.21. Its Wraith Step active gives a burst of Move Speed plus Ghosting, and the Haunt passive adds speed while you’re out of combat.

What does Youmuu’s Ghostblade do?

Two things, both about speed. Haunt is the passive: walk around the map without fighting and you move faster, which turns every rotation, every trip back to lane and every jungle route into a shorter one. Wraith Step is the active you press: a big Move Speed boost plus Ghosting for a few seconds.

Ghosting means you pass through other units instead of bumping into them. Sounds minor? It isn’t, once you try to reach a marksman standing behind three minions and a support. The catch is that Riot’s data text leaves the actual numbers out (the Move Speed amounts and the active’s duration), so the in-game tooltip is where you read them.

Lethality is flat armor penetration. It ignores a fixed amount of the target’s armor, so it hits squishy targets hardest, and that’s exactly who a Ghostblade user wants to reach.

Is it gold efficient?

Very close to even, at 99%. Its stats are worth 2,765 gold against the 2,800 gold price, so you pay only about 35 gold for two Move Speed effects.

The math, using basic item prices from the same patch: 55 Attack Damage at 35 gold per point is 1,925 gold, 18 Lethality at 30 gold each is 540 gold, and the 4% Move Speed adds 300 gold. Put simply, the active and passive are almost free. Few legendary items give that much raw damage and still have room for an active.

What does it build from?

You buy Serrated Dirk for 1,000 gold, Rectrix for 775 and a Long Sword for 350, then pay a 675 gold combine. Dirk first, usually. Nothing builds out of the finished item.

What changed in recent patches?

It’s one of the oldest Lethality items, in Riot’s data since 2013 or earlier, and most of its history is cost tweaks and swaps between Attack Damage and Ability Haste. The entries that shaped today’s version:

• Patch 13.10: cost 3,000 → 3,100 gold, Attack Damage 55 → 60, Ability Haste 15 → 20.
• Patch 14.1: cost dropped from 3,100 to 2,700 gold.
• Patch 14.19: cost 2,700 → 2,800 gold.
• 14.22 (the big one): Attack Damage 60 → 55, plus a flat 4% Move Speed stat for the first time.

Ability Haste is gone from today’s stat line, and the patch 14.22 Move Speed stat made the item even more about getting places first. The full table above lists every change since patch 6.22, effect text rewrites included, and our LoL items database has the same history for each other item.

Who should build Youmuu’s Ghostblade?

Attack Damage assassins and skirmishers who win by showing up before the enemy expects them. Junglers who gank a lot like it for the out-of-combat speed, and mid laners who roam to side lanes get the same benefit (the passive only works out of combat, and a roam is mostly out of combat). In practice it shines most when the enemy has several squishy carries and little armor.

Who shouldn’t? Marksmen who stand still and fire usually want crit or Attack Speed items, and bruisers need Health more than a speed burst. If the enemy team stacks armor, Lethality loses value too, since a fixed amount of penetration matters less when a tank is sitting on a few hundred armor and your real targets hide behind him all game. Picking it into a team of three tanks is a trap we see a lot in normals. Honestly, the clearest signal is your own champion: when your damage depends on reaching the target first, Youmuu’s Ghostblade belongs early in the build, often first or second item.

FAQ

How much does Youmuu’s Ghostblade cost?

The full price is 2,800 gold right now, and selling it returns 1,960 gold.

What does Ghosting do in LoL?

Ghosting lets your champion move through other units without being blocked by them.

Which stats are on it?

55 Attack Damage, 18 Lethality and 4% Move Speed.

Does Ghostblade still give Ability Haste?

No. Ability Haste was removed from its stats; the current item has Attack Damage, Lethality and Move Speed.

What does it build from?

Youmuu’s Ghostblade builds from Serrated Dirk, Rectrix and Long Sword.