LoL Gold Efficiency Guide (2026): Stat Values, Items and Income

Patch 26.22 · the gold standard

Every stat has a price. Items either beat it or buy something else.

Riot's basic items set the exchange rate: what one point of each stat costs when you buy it on its own.

Attack damage35 gper point

Ability haste50 gper point

Crit chance40 gper 1%

Attack speed25 gper 1%

Ability power20 gper point

Armor20 gper point

Magic resist20 gper point

Move speed12 gper point

Mana regen4 gper 1%

Health regen3 gper 1%

Health2.67 gper point

Mana1 gper point

Rift shop · receipt

Doran's Ring

18 AP × 20 g360

90 HP × 2.67 g240

Stat value600 g

÷ shop price400 g

gold efficient150%

Gold values: the official League of Legends wiki's gold-efficiency table, item costs checked against Riot's Data Dragon 16.22.1 (patch 26.22). Read 8 November 2026.

Every item in League of Legends is a trade: gold for stats, plus an effect. Gold efficiency is the tool that separates the two — it tells you how much of an item's price is paid back in raw stats, and therefore how much you're really paying for its passive. Used well, it explains why Doran's Ring is such a good start, why some components are worth holding in your inventory and why the "worst" item on paper can be the best one in your build. This guide gives you the gold value of every stat on patch 26.22 (live since 4 November 2026), shows you how to calculate any item yourself, ranks starters, boots and legendaries, and covers where the gold comes from in 2026.

What gold efficiency means

The idea is simple. Riot sells some stats on their own in cheap basic items: a Long Sword is nothing but 10 AD for 350 gold, so one point of attack damage costs 35 gold. Do that for every stat and you have a price list. Any other item can then be measured against it: if a 3,000-gold item gives stats that would cost 3,400 gold bought separately, it's about 113% gold efficient and the passive comes free. If the same stats would only cost 2,000, you are paying 1,000 gold for the passive — which is fine if the passive is what you need.

The official League of Legends wiki is clear about the limits: gold efficiency is "a theorycrafting heuristic", the gold values are "base values for valuing items", and the true worth of an item depends on its named effects, on penetration, on how items combine and on the champion holding it. Treat the percentage as a lens, not a ranking.

The gold value of every stat (26.22)

These are the baseline items the wiki uses, with costs and stats checked in Riot's own item data for patch 26.22 (Data Dragon 16.22.1). Patch 26.22 didn't touch any of them; its only item changes were to Doran's Bow (8 → 7 attack damage) and Overlord's Bloodmail (30 → 40 attack damage).

StatBasic itemCostGivesGold value

Attack damage Long Sword 350 g10 AD 35 g per point

Ability haste Glowing Mote 250 g5 haste 50 g per point

Critical strike chance Cloak of Agility 600 g15% 40 g per 1%

Attack speed Dagger 250 g10% 25 g per 1%

Ability power Amplifying Tome 400 g20 AP 20 g per point

Armor Cloth Armor 300 g15 armor 20 g per point

Magic resist Null-Magic Mantle 400 g20 MR 20 g per point

Move speed (flat) Boots 300 g25 12 g per point

Base mana regen Faerie Charm 200 g50% 4 g per 1%

Base health regen Rejuvenation Bead 300 g100% 3 g per 1%

Health Ruby Crystal 400 g150 health 2.67 g per point

Mana Sapphire Crystal 300 g300 mana 1 g per point

Some stats have no single-stat item, so the wiki values them by subtracting the stats it already knows from a mixed component:

How to calculate an item's efficiency

1. List the stats. Only numbers count: attack damage, health, haste and so on. Ignore the passive for now.
2. Price each stat with the table above and add them up. That's the item's gold value.
3. Divide by the shop price and multiply by 100. Over 100% means the stats alone are worth more than you paid.
4. Then judge the passive. The gap is its price. Ask whether it does something your champion needs in this game.

Doran's Ring400 gold · starter

18 AP × 20

360

90 health × 2.67

240

Stat value

600

150%stats worth half as much again as the price

Black Cleaver3,000 gold · legendary

400 health × 2.67

1,067

40 AD × 35

1,400

20 haste × 50

1,000

Stat value

3,467

115.56%123.56% while Fervor's movement speed is up

Mercury's Treads1,250 gold · boots

20 MR × 20

400

45 move speed × 12

540

30% tenacity

not priced

Stat value

940

75.2%you're buying the tenacity

Mercury's Treads is the perfect example of why the number lies. Tenacity has no basic item, so it has no gold value, and the boots look like a bad deal at 75.2%. Against a team full of stuns they're often the best purchase in your build — the crowd control guide explains what that 30% actually does.

Starters: the most efficient gold you'll spend

Starting items are deliberately generous, because you can only hold one and they fall off as the game goes on. On the wiki's table:

StarterGold efficiency · 100% marked

Doran's Ring150%

Doran's Blade125.19%

Doran's Shield97.19%

Doran's Blade (10 AD, 80 health and 2.5% omnivamp) gets most of its value from the AD and health; the wiki prices omnivamp on top. Doran's Shield is just under 100% because its regeneration passive isn't counted. The catch with all starters is the resale: Doran's items sell back for only 40% instead of the usual 70%, so the value is spent in the first fifteen minutes. Selling a starter to make room is a slot decision, not a gold one — the gold you get back is small. The full list of starters and their costs is in our items guide.

Boots by efficiency

Every pair of Tier 2 boots starts from the same 300-gold Boots, and they show the "price of the passive" idea better than any other slot. Ionian Boots are the most efficient pair because ability haste is the most expensive stat; Mercury's Treads and Boots of Swiftness look poor because their tenacity and passive effects aren't priced:

BootsGold efficiency · 100% marked

Ionian Boots of Lucidity115.56%

Spellslinger's Shoes110.19%

Berserker's Greaves105.91%

Sorcerer's Shoes100%

Gunmetal Greaves100%

Plated Steelcaps86.67%

Mercury's Treads75.2%

Chainlaced Crushers74.29%

Boots of Swiftness66%

Swiftmarch52%

Spellslinger's Shoes, Gunmetal Greaves, Chainlaced Crushers and Swiftmarch are the Tier 3 boots that only the Mid lane's Role Quest unlocks — they're free upgrades, so their efficiency against the shop price matters less than what they add for nothing. Bot laners who finish their quest move boots into the Role Quest slot instead; our Role Quests guide has the details.

Legendary items: efficient vs effect items

Legendary items cost roughly 2,250–3,200 gold on the current patch. The wiki's table splits them into two families: stat sticks that pay back more than their price, and effect items whose value hides in a passive or an active. A selection, read 8 November 2026:

Legendary itemStats only · 100% marked

Serylda's Grudge126.11%

Void Staff124.87%

Nashor's Tooth124.14%

Black Cleaver115.56%

Mortal Reminder111.62%

Ravenous Hydra111.14%

Trinity Force109.45%

Bloodthirster105.98%

Stormsurge103.24%

Warmog's Armor95.7%

Zhonya's Hourglass95.38%

Infinity Edge94.93%

Guardian Angel88.28%

Blade of the Ruined King80.02%

Rabadon's Deathcap74.29%

Liandry's Torment66.67%

Sterak's Gage33.33%

Why 100% isn't the whole story

Three reasons the percentage misleads, and how BoostPirate's coaches think about each one:

So use efficiency for the choices it's good at: two items with the same job, the order of your components, and whether a cheap item is a fair way to spend leftover gold. For your core build, start from what your champion needs to do, then let efficiency break ties.

Components and partial buys

Because basic components are 100% efficient by definition, the gold in your inventory is never wasted as long as it's in a component. That turns into a few practical rules for every recall:

1. Never back with gold you can't spend. Push the wave and stay until you can buy a component that matters — a 300-gold Cloth Armor or a 350-gold Long Sword still beats coins in your pocket.
2. Buy the component that wins your lane first. Armor against an AD bully, ability power to trade back — the order inside your build is where efficiency and matchups meet.
3. Watch for completion spikes. A legendary's passive only switches on when the item is finished, so the last few hundred gold can be worth more than the first thousand. The power spikes guide covers the timing.
4. Use the undo button. The shop's undo refunds 100% of a purchase; selling later only returns 70% (40% for starters).

Recall timing decides how often you can follow these rules — the recall timing guide shows when to back with a crashing wave and a full purse.

Where your gold comes from in 2026

Efficiency is half the economy; the other half is income. Patch 26.1 rebuilt several gold sources, and the ones that matter most for spending decisions are below (values from the 26.1 notes unless noted; the laning numbers are the ones our laning phase guide uses):

Two things stand out. Plates now pay for the whole game, so chipping a side turret is real income long after laning — the split pushing guide builds a plan on that. And Riot cut how much global gold epic monsters hand out (Baron went from 1,525 total to 850 in 26.1), so the buff is worth more than the gold.

Spending small amounts well

Leftover gold after a recall is where efficiency thinking pays most, because there's rarely a "right" answer from the build guide:

Control Ward · 75 g

No stats, so 0% on the wiki's table — and still one of the best buys in the game, because vision wins objectives. Supports who finish their quest pay 40 gold.

Elixirs · 500 g

Elixir of Iron (300 health and 25% tenacity), Sorcery and Wrath last three minutes. Buy one for a Baron or Elder fight when your inventory is full — not as a habit.

A component of your next item

Full value, permanent and it spikes you towards completion. The default answer when you have 300–900 gold.

Potions · 50 g

Early on, a potion or two lets you stay in lane for another wave — which is more gold than the potion cost.

Common gold mistakes

Read next: armor, magic resist and penetration, power spikes and the items guide.