As I’ve said in our best Anti-Armor items list, which you should definitely read up on, Tanks are a nuisance. They can suck up all of the damage you throw at them and likely return some back, too, depending on their build. Armor items I’ve also covered in a list, so check it out.
But not everything is about Armor. Another factor that should be considered is – Magic Resist. Magic Resist, similar to Armor, provides the Champion with a flat percentage of Magic Damage reduction. A 100 Magic Resist will provide about 50% of Magic Damage reduction, though the math is more complicated than that.
If you happen to have a lot of AP on your team, the enemy Tank will certainly build a crap top of Magic Resist to mitigate that. This means that you will likely be weakened against them, which allows them to stone-wall you into submission while their allies reign supreme. Luckily, League of Legends offers us ways around that – Magic Penetration.
In this list, I will detail the 7 Best Anti-Magic Resist items to help you get an edge over your healthy opponents. Keep in mind that there are, ironically, exactly 7 Items that provide Magic Penetration in League of Legends, meaning they’re all on this list, only ordered by usefulness.
So, let us begin with our list.
7. Divine Sunderer
Stats: +35 AD, +20 Ability Haste, +400 HP
Unique Passive – Spellblade: The numbers are rather tedious, and I shall refrain from using them here. Check the League wiki for exact equations. After using an ability, your next attack deals bonus damage based on the enemy’s max HP. You also heal based on the target’s max HP if it’s a Champion.
Mythic Passive: Empowers all of your Legendary items with 5% Armor Penetration and 5% Magic Penetration.
Despite not being the worst of the ones listed, I put this Item on the bottom as it already has its place against Armor Tanks. Another reason for its low ranking is that it’s more of an AD item (literally meant for AD Bruisers), and it has a general anti-Tank utility rather than a specific one.
It deals damage based on max HP, heals a lot based on the same stat, and also provides some other goodies. It is included as number 7 and as an anti-MR item because of its mythic stat, which is rather good, to be honest. Apart from giving your Legendary Items 5% Armor Penetration, it also provides 5% Magic Penetration. This means that at a full build of 4 Legendary Items, you’d get 20% Magic Penetration from this Item alone. When you combine that with other items, you’d look at a very powerful build.
Combining this Item with others, however, will prove difficult to perform. Anti-MR items are often tailored for Mages, and the stat is built within their Items. It doesn’t appear on any other AD item apart from Sunderer itself. I guess you’d be fine if you had a hybrid build on a Champion such as Jax, but that’d just be limiting yourself.
At 3300 gold, it is a great item to buy, being a Mythic and all. Although it is on this list and kind of an anti-MR item, I wouldn’t recommend picking it up IF you weren’t AD/Hybrid.
6. Sorcerer’s Shoes
Stats: +18 Magic Penetration, +45 Movement Speed
The most basic Item on this list, it’s just a good ol’ boots item. These are the staple Mage’s boots. You’ll seldom see a Mage in League of Legends sport any other, apart from, perhaps, the ones giving Ability Haste.
There’s not much else to say here. Boots are boots. They do give a high amount of Magic Penetration, though. This Magic Penetration is a flat amount, and it can be confusing as opposed to Armor.
When we speak of Armor Penetration, there’s the percentage-based Armor Penetration and flat-reduction based Lethality. You can easily differentiate between the two, and you know exactly what each does.
With Magic Penetration, it’s… different. There’s Magic Penetration based on percentage and Magic Penetration based on a flat amount. You can already see the problem. Both share the same name but different values. This can confuse new and unknowing players, so I decided to explain that bit here. Some items will give the former and others – the latter. Be sure to keep an eye out for what exactly an item gives, whether it’s a percentage or just a plain number.
At 1100 gold, they are at the regular boots price, so there’s not anything else to go on.
Also read: Best Tank Junglers in League of Legends
5. Hextech Rocketbelt
Stats: +90 AP, +6 Magic Penetration, +250 HP, +15 Ability Haste
Unique Passive – Supersonic: Dash in a target direction, doing 125 + 15% AP Magic Damage in a cone in front of you. Also, gain +30% Movement Speed for 1.5s afterward.
Mythic Passive: Empowers all of your Legendary Items with +5 Magic Penetration.
Hextech Protobelt is similar to the Divine Sunderer but only ranks a lot better due to its fitting role within a Mage/anti-MR purpose. It provides only 6 Magic Penetration by itself, but as a Mythic item, it empowers Legendary items with an extra 5, meaning that you’ll have about 26 when you get a full build. Ignoring 26 Magic Resist is a substantial buff to have, especially against enemies that have less of it.
To go against Tanks, well, there are better items, and it won’t help as much as others on this list. It will improve your mobility, though, giving you a short but vital dash that can be a lifesaver as well as help you close the gap between you and your enemies.
The extra damage from the dash also is a nice addition, making this a nice but not great anti-MR Item. At 3200 gold, I’d suggest you look at some of the other items on this list to get the best bang for your buck, but you can pick it up if you’re playing Champions that benefit from the other stats it gives and the dash too. A good example is Kennen, and it is one of his core items.
4. Void Staff
Stats: +70 AP, +40% Magic Penetration
I think I spoke about specific and simple-to-understand items in the Best Anti-Armor items list. Well, this one just takes the cake when put into comparison. This has to be one of the most basic items in the entire game and yet is one of the best known – for a good reason.
The Void Staff has for long been considered the anti-MR Item. And it remains so. It will give you 40%! of Magic Penetration that will allow you to ignore half of the enemy’s defenses basically. It also provides a substantial amount of AP, which will empower your abilities greatly and elevate your damage to new levels.
FOR EXAMPLE, whenever I play Kassadin, I find that the biggest power-spike is when I purchase Void Staff. It’s incredible how much this Item, simple as it is, can provide and do to impact the entire gameplay. I highly recommend you buy it whenever playing Burst AP and even other Hybrid Champions like Corki, which benefit greatly from increased Magic Penetration. Void Staff costs only 2700 gold, making it a great mid-game purchase that will change how you do damage and play the Mage role.
Also read: How Much CS is a Kill Worth?
3. Liandry’s Anguish
Stats: +80 AP, +20 Ability Haste, +600 Mana
Unique Passive – Torment: Dealing ability damage burns enemies, causing them to take 60 + 6% AP + 4% target’s max HP over 4 seconds.
Unique Passive – Agony: Deal 0 – 12% (based on target’s bonus HP) bonus Magic Damage to enemy Champions.
Mythic Passive: Empowers all of your Legendary items with 5 Ability Haste.
Liandry’s is a special item and stands out among the rest on the list due to how it functions. The rest of the items likely have an active/passive that does flat damage, usually instantaneous. Well, Liandry’s gives you damage over time. A burn, to be precise. This burn is one of the most notorious over-time spells in the game due to how long it’s been in it.
I remember Liandry’s for as long as I’ve played the game, and its damage and burn changed as the years went by. The Season 11 itemization rework brought in Liandry’s Anguish – a reworked form of Liandry’s Torment that, quite literally, tormented games for years. And now, even more so. The burn does damage based on the target’s max HP (and your AP), meaning that it will tick them down, bit by bit, and can do a fifth of their HP in just 4 seconds. That is an incredibly powerful tool that can serve as Ignite, though not with True Damage. Just imagine if it was True Damage… I dread the very thought. Let’s not give Riot ideas, shall we?
Other than doing the max HP burn, it also gives you bonus damage based on bonus HP. This is extremely effective against Tanks, which will build a lot of HP amplifying items. Those Tanks that have Warmog’s on them or some other invigorating HP item will take huge damage from you, and no Magic Resist will be able to stop what’s coming for them. Liandry’s is a Mythic item, sporting a Mythic price of 3200 gold. I don’t even have to tell you how valuable the Item is at that price point.
2. Riftmaker
Stats: +80 AP, +300 HP, +15 Ability Haste, +8% Omnivamp
Unique Passive – Void Corruption: Each second in combat with enemy Champions gain 3% bonus damage. At maximum strength, the bonus damage is dealt as True Damage instead.
Mythic Passive: Grants all of your Legendary items +8 AP and +2% Omnivamp.
Riftmaker is an item that is the AP duelist’s wet dream. The Void Corruption passive is one of the best passive abilities on any item in League of Legends, period. There’s nothing to be discussed about it – bonus damage that eventually turns into True Damage. This simple yet incredibly ravenous buff can obliterate enemies – Tanks and non-Tanks alike.
Apart from granting this ridiculous passive, it also buffs just about everything about you. It is an item best suited for an AP Bruiser like Mordekaiser, who you will see build it often. Lately, it’s become one of his core items, and I understand why. He can keep enemies trapped within his realm for long enough to proc all the Item has to offer and kill his opponents without much trouble.
The Item gives a ton of AP, solid Haste, and Omnivamp. This will help you heal from dealing damage with your spells, a buff that was once forgotten in League of Legends and has been reintroduced recently. The Mythic passive gives even more Omnivamp to your Legendary Items, meaning that, apart from dealing brutal True Damage, you’ll also substantially heal yourself from the damage done. At 3200 gold, it is an incredible Mythic Item that you will surely find useful for your Bruisers and other roles alike.
Also read: How to Send Gifts in League of Legends?
1. Luden’s Tempest
Stats: +80 AP, +20 Ability Haste, +600 Mana, +6 Magic Penetration
Unique Passive – Echo: Dealing ability damage to a target deals bonus 100 + 10% AP Magic Damage to the target and 3 enemies around it. Also grants +15% bonus Movement Speed for 2 seconds. This passive’s cooldown is reduced when dealing ability damage to Champions.
Mythic Passive: Empowers all of your Legendary Items with 5 Magic Penetration.
The Mage’s favorite Item – Luden’s Tempest, comes across as the best anti-MR Item as of now. Though, as was the case in the Armor list, the top 3 shouldn’t be looked at with a particular order – despite being numbered. It should give you just an overall implication of general quality, rather than which Item is better than the other. Every Item has its use and situation, so look at it that way.
This Item gives Magic Penetration in the same way Rocketbelt mentioned above does. Its anti-MR potential lies in the fact that it’s a Mythic item. This means it doesn’t reach its full buffs until you’re at a full build. This means that it doesn’t do as much against Tanks as others, but the rest of its buffs will make you strong enough to do whatever you like to whomever you like.
Bonus damage on your abilities? Done. Movement speed? Check. Everything else? Yes, please. That’s Luden’s Tempest. It will make any Champion into a Burst AP Assassin, at least for a while, that is. But even when it starts dropping off as enemies get better defenses, adding one of the non-Mythic items mentioned above will fix the issue immediately. No one should be playing anti-MR without combining the best situational items from this list, and you will surely find yourself obliterating all Tanks with no issue. At 3200 gold, compared to other 3200 gold items, Luden’s Tempest is just a steal.
Conclusion
Make sure to see our Best Anti-Armor Item List to have the maximum insight into Tanks’ inner workings, defenses, and stats. You’ll also learn what items to go for when facing both the Tank and enemy defense varieties if you study these lists and the topics relating to them well enough. I recommend that you do so, as you will have an educated advantage against your probably less-learned enemies.
These lists take time and effort to make, so make sure you leave feedback to help me improve them. As you already guessed, I love hearing your thoughts, so don’t miss out on that. Also, keep a keen eye out on the LeagueFeed website for more similar guides, lists, and articles relating to League of Legends.