2.14 The Shop and Item Purchasing
The Shop is your primary interface for acquiring power in League of Legends. Located at the bottom of the screen during a match, it's where you spend your hard-earned gold to purchase items that enhance your champion's stats, grant new abilities, or provide crucial utility. Mastering the shop and itemization is fundamental to winning games.
When you open the shop (default keybind 'P'), you'll see a variety of item categories. Items are broadly divided into several types:
- Starting Items: These are purchased at the beginning of the game and are designed to help you survive the early laning phase and farm efficiently. Examples include Doran's Blade (for AD champions), Doran's Ring (for AP champions), and Relic Shield (for supports).
- Components: These are smaller, less expensive items that build into larger, more powerful items. You'll often buy components first to gradually increase your power.
- Legendary Items: These are the core, powerful items that provide significant stat boosts and unique passives or actives. They are typically built from multiple components.
- Mythic Items: These are the most impactful items in your build, offering a powerful unique passive that defines your champion's playstyle. You can only build one Mythic item per game.
- Boots: Essential for increasing movement speed, with various enchantments offering additional utility.
- Consumables: Items like Health Potions, Refillable Potions, and Control Wards are crucial for sustain and vision control.
Navigating the Shop:
The shop interface is designed to be intuitive. You can browse items by:
- Recommended Items: This tab suggests items based on your champion and the current game state, offering a good starting point for new players.
- All Items: A comprehensive list of all available items, categorized for easy browsing.
- Item Sets: You can create custom item sets that appear in the shop, pre-sorting their preferred build path.
Gold and Itemization Strategy:
Gold is earned primarily through last-hitting minions, killing champions, taking objectives, and passive gold generation. Your itemization strategy should be dynamic and adapt to the game's flow:
- Early Game: Focus on starting items and components that help you farm and trade effectively in lane.
- Mid Game: Aim to complete your Mythic item and at least one or two core Legendary items. This is often when teamfights begin to occur frequently.
- Late Game: Complete your build with synergistic Legendary items that complement your Mythic and champion's role. Consider defensive items if you are being focused or offensive items to carry teamfights.
Key Considerations:
- Enemy Team Composition: If the enemy team has many tanks, you'll need armor or magic penetration. If they have high burst damage, consider defensive items.
- Your Champion's Role: A tank needs different items than a mage or an assassin.
- Synergy: Choose items whose passives and actives complement each other and your champion's abilities.
The shop is your arsenal. Understanding what each item does and how to build them effectively is a continuous learning process that is vital for success in League of Legends.