Before we get into the article let me explain what defensive items are and what they provide to the player. These items provide the player with only health, armor, or magic resistance or it can be a mash of all three altogether. What you will buy only depends on the current match you’re playing and who you’re going up against. If you’re going up against a team that deals majority AD damage you won’t be building magic resistance and vice versa. 

That’s the beauty of this game, no match will ever feel the same and in no match are you going to be building the same things over and over again, there will always be a different build path that you can take. With that knowledge in mind today I’ll be listing one of the best defensive items that this game can provide to the player. These items will range from the early game of the match all the way to the late game, additionally I’ll also be listing the reasons why this item would benefit the player and when you should be buying it. With that in mind let’s get into this article!

15. Cloth Armor (300 Gold)

“Hey this is pretty good.”

When we’re talking about defensive items it doesn’t get more basic than the first item on our list which in the ye olden times made you look like a peasant but in league it gives you armor. The beauty of this item is that it can be used to build even offensive items later on in the match or it can be used in a crafting recipe to build a fully defensive item, that all depends on you and the match-up you’re playing against. 

Additionally the item provides the player with 15 extra armor which might not seem a lot but keep in mind that this item is specifically meant for the very early stages of a match hence the low price. In most situations it can mean the very life or death situation for the player when going up against an AD champion that can easily poke you from afar. 

How To Get Cloth Armor:

To obtain this piece of armor all you have to do is head over to your base and purchase it for 300 gold. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If you’re going up against an AD champion that can damage you from afar and you can’t return that damage.
• If the enemy assassin is mainly targeting you in the early stages of a match. 
• The extra protection from the armor can save your life in certain situations. 
• The item is used in many different crafting recipes. 

14. Plated Steelcaps (1,100 Gold)

“I’m fast as f boi.”

Without a question, the most hated defensive item by assassins has to be the Plated Steelcaps because of the sole reason that the item provides the player with a 12% damage reduction from all auto-attacks. Alongside that damage reduction and fashion points the player also receives 20 armor and 45 movement speed. 

The great thing about these boots is that they can be bought on any champion no matter what role you’re playing. If the match-up you’re playing against is perfect for this item you should be buying it without giving it a second thought. Another great thing about these boots is that they can be bought at any point of the match and they will have their use. 

How To Get Plated Steelcaps:

To purchase these boots and receive extra fashion points you have to get 1,100 gold and buy them from your base. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If you’re a mid lane player and the enemy deals most of their damage with auto-attacks. 
• If you’re taking a lot of damage during the laning phase of the match you can safely buy these as your first item. 
• The added movement speed from the item can benefit the player and make it easier for them to dodge abilities. 

13. Chain Vest (800 Gold)

“The stronger version of the cloth armor.”

This is a direct upgrade of the cloth armor and it only costs 500 gold more which doesn’t seem a lot when you realize that this item gives the player 40 armor. Additionally, it’s solely meant for the early game and it’s most commonly seen on top lane champions such as tanks or bruisers. 

But it’s not uncommon to see it on an assassin or jungle champion as the item can be built into a “Death’s Dance” or “Guardian Angel” which are qualified both as offensive and defensive items. Additionally, the item can be also built into fully defensive items as well such as “Sunfire Aegis”, “Iceborn Gauntlet”, “Deadman’s Plate” and many others.  

How To Get Chain Vest:

To obtain this great item all you have to do is acquire 800 gold and buy it from the in-game store inside of your base. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If the enemy team has a full AD composition. 
• If the opposite team has 2 to 3 assassins and you don’t have enough armor to survive their onslaught. 
• If you’re a tank or bruiser champion in the top lane who’s playing against a ranged top laner. 

12. Bramble Vest (800 Gold)

“Why are you punching yourself?”

This defensive item is quite situational and it’s only bought by top laners as the item only builds into “Thornmail” which is strictly a defensive item. Additionally, it has a unique passive “Thorns” which will reflect the damage taken onto the attacker and also apply 25% grievous wounds that last for 3 seconds. The grievous wounds effect reduces the amount of healing that the attacker receives. 

Now you’ll only want to have this item in your possession if you’re playing against someone like Aatrox or Yone who solely rely on life-stealing from their auto-attacks and abilities to survive. Having this item completely counters their kit to some degree and leaves them open to a beating that they can’t recover from easily. Alongside this brutal debuff the player also gets 30 armor. 

How To Get Bramble Vest:

To obtain this bully item you have to acquire 800 gold in your bank account and then buy it in the in-game store when you recall to your base. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If the enemy opponent relies heavily on life-stealing from their auto-attacks or their kit. 
• If the enemy team decides to build a lot of life-steal items during the match. 
• The item can also return the incoming damage onto an enemy, which is great against opponents that you can’t get close to  return the damage. 

11. Frozen Heart (2,700 Gold)

“Ice cold baby.”

When the enemy has a lot of champions who rely a lot on dealing damage with auto-attacks or they are building a lot of attack speed items, there is not a better item that counters them than my ex’s heart or better known as “Frozen Heart”. But please also make sure that you are able to get close enough to the enemy team to apply the passive aura “Winter’s Caress” that reduces their attack speed, otherwise if you can’t get too close it’s better to skip over this item as you won’t be able to get its full use. 

When it comes to its stats the item will reduce the attack speed of enemies by 20% due to its passive aura “Winter’s Caress” within 700 units, additionally it will provide the player with 20 ability haste, 400 mana, and 90 armor. Due to the massive amount of mana the item gives it can also be built on AP champions like Veigar, Sylas, Diana and so on but it can also massively benefit bruiser champions who require a lot of mana to survive like Irelia, Volibear, Nasus and the list goes on. 

How To Get Frozen Heart:

To have this item in your inventory all you have to do is go back to your base and buy it if you have the required amount of gold. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If the enemy team consists of mainly champions who deal damage with their auto-attacks. 
• If the enemy team is building a lot of attack speed items. 
• If your champion has huge mana issues like Irelia, Volibear, and Nasus it can resolve that problem by providing them with 90 armor. 
• The item can also be built on a few AP champions due to the huge mana boost it gives like Veigar, Diana, and Sylas. 

10. Dead Man’s Plate (2,900 Gold)

“Dead men walkin.”

Let me introduce you to my little friend who is perfect for those bruisers and tanks that have no way of catching up to assassins or champions who build movement speed primarily. When you finally catch up to them with this item it will feel like a truck has hit them. The item’s passive “Shipwrecker” will start to generate 7 stacks of momentum every 0.25 seconds when chasing down someone which grants up to 40 movement speed at 100 stacks.

Once you finally catch up to that rodent that was evading you all game the stacks will be converted into on-hit damage which scales based on how much total AD you have currently. Additionally if you attack them at max stacks they will be slowed down by 50% for 1 second which is also a part of the passive “Shipwrecker”. 

How To Get Dead Man’s Plate:

Contrary to the name you won’t have to kill anyone to obtain the item instead you just have to purchase it from the in-game shop. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If your bruiser or tank champion has no way of catching up to the enemy. 
• It’s perfect for bruisers who build a lot of AD as this item scales insanely well with that stat. 
• If you auto-attack someone at 100 stacks they will be slowed down by 50% which will allow your team to catch up to them easier.

9. Knight’s Vow (2,300 Gold)

“I will die for my queen!”

Let’s give a bit of love to the tanky supports who absolutely love buying this item as it gives the player an active ability called “Pledge” to tether themselves to their main carry. After successfully tethering to the ally they both will receive the item’s unique passive ability “Sacrifice” where the player can take 10% of the total damage the tethered ally receives as true damage but this only works if the player is above 30% of their maximum health. 

On top of taking that damage the player will also receive additional 400 health, 20 ability haste, and 200% base health regeneration. It’s a great item for those who love to jump into battle first without thinking like Leona and just protecting their hard carry. Because of the tether, assassins will have a harder time killing the ally that you’re connected to because of the 10% total damage that goes to you, which in return simply lowers the chances of your hard carry being one-shotted. 

How To Get Knight’s Vow:

To get yourself this item all you have to do is play the correct champion that would benefit from it and get the required amount of gold and purchase it in your base. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If the support champion you’re playing can tank a lot of damage. 
• If your champion builds a lot of health items so that the passive ability can activate. 
• If your playstyle revolves around engaging into team fights head first the 200% base health regeneration comes in very handy. 

8. Thornmail (2,700 Gold)

“The more you hurt me the more you hurt yourself.”

Are you playing a tank that can’t deal out a lot of damage and your own team is using you as a brick wall to only tank the damage so they can survive? Well, if that is the case and you are taking a lot of damage upfront for your team why not as well deal some of that damage you tank back at the enemy team with this item. 

You see the item has a unique passive called “Thorns” which will redirect the damage taken back at the enemy team and the best part about this is that you don’t even have to attack them to apply the “Thorns” passive on them. Alongside the enemy beating themselves up involuntarily they will also inflict grievous wounds back at themselves for 40% which lasts for 3 seconds. When it comes to the base defensive stats the item gives 350 health and 60 armor to the player. 

How To Get Thornmail:

To get yourself thornmail you have to head over to your spawn and buy it for yourself.

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If you’re a tank who’s constantly taking damage and you’re always at the frontlines.
• If your tank champion doesn’t deal enough damage with their attacks and abilities. 
• The item is perfect when you’re playing against Aatrox, Rengar, Vayne, and other champions that do a ton of damage in a short amount of time. 

7. Zhonya’s Hourglass (3,000 Gold)

“You can’t kill me, my time is now!”

Time to spread some love to AP champions as they don’t have a huge choice of defensive items they can buy to protect themselves against imminent danger. So what better item to list for them than the Zhonya’s Hourglass that the player can activate at any point to turn themselves into gold and dodge all the incoming damage that was aimed at them with the item’s active ability “Stasis”. 

The only downside to this active ability from the item is that the player becomes a paraplegic and they aren’t able to move from the spot until the effect wears off and if it’s used in a bad spot it can still result in their death. But if it’s used in a relatively safe spot and your team protects you while the item’s ability is active it’s a great item to have. Additionally, with that great active ability “Stasis” the player will receive 80 ability power, 15 ability haste, and 45 armor. 

How To Get Zhonya’s Hourglass:

To obtain the chance to turn yourself into a million dollars all you have to do is head over to your spawn area and buy it for 3,000 gold. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If you’re playing against a majority AD composition. 
• If you’re a squishy AP champion and the enemy team is constantly targeting you. 
• If the enemy team has a lot of assassins that can get to you easily due to their high mobility and abilities. 

6. Guardian’s Angel (3,000 Gold)

“Too bad sucka you gotta kill me two times now!”

If you don’t believe in reincarnation well maybe you should after owning this item as it has the passive ability “Rebirth” to fully revive the player after they have suffered a fatal blow or died. Now it might not seem that big of a deal until you realize that the person holding the item can kill the whole enemy team alone. Once the player or anyone holding the item has been revived by its passive ability “Rebirth” it will go on a 6 minute cooldown. 

The stats that the item provides aren’t anything special as it only gives 45 attack damage and 40 armor. But don’t get it twisted this is a late game item that’s purchased for its passive ability “Rebirth”. If you’re someone who’s ahead in gold than everyone else in the match or you have gold to throw away you can sell your boots and buy “Guardian’s Angel” for its passive ability to revive you and once the passive ability has gone on the 6 minute cooldown you can sell it and buy boots or another item again. You can repeat this process as many times as you wish as long as you have the shekels. 

How To Get Guardian’s Angel:

If you have the required amount of gold for the item you should purchase it in your home base. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If you’re someone who can carry a match alone, having this item is necessary. 
• If you have accumulated a large bounty over your head and you don’t want it falling into the wrong hands so you don’t give the enemy team a huge lead.
• If the enemy team has a lot of dive champions such as Kha’Zix, Talon, Zed and they are targeting you as a main priority. 

5. Gargoyle’s Stoneplate (3,200 Gold)

“Hard as a rock baby!”

Have you ever wanted to cosplay as a rock? Well, if that thought ever crossed your mind all you have to do is buy this item as it has a passive ability called “Fortify” that reduces the amount of damage the player takes by 5% for each unique champion that attacks them, it goes up to a maximum of 25%. 

In addition to the passive ability “Fortify” the item also comes with an active ability promptly named “Monolith” which makes the player unkillable and gives a total 100 +90% of their bonus health as a shield that decays over 2.5 seconds. Just make sure that you activate the item at the right time so you don’t waste it. The great thing about this item is that it works against both AP and AD damage as it provides 60 armor and 60 magic resistance in total. 

How To Get Gargoyle’s Stoneplate:

To be able to cosplay as a rock you have to head over to your spawn and purchase the item. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If the enemy team deals AD and AP damage together. 
• If you’re always on the frontlines taking damage for your team. 
• Champions who are able to stack a lot of health like Cho’Gath or Sion. 

4. Hullbreaker (2,800 Gold)

“Loneliness gives me strength.”

I never thought that there’d be a day when Riot Games would finally reward split-pushers with their own item. Let me be clear that this item only works if you’re alone in your lane and if anyone of your allies is detected within 1400 units its passive ability “Boarding Party” won’t work. Speaking of the passive ability “Boarding Party”, once it knows that you are lonely and nobody is around you it will provide you with bonus armor and bonus magic resistance depending on your level along with an increase of 20% damage to structures. 

Moreover it will also empower your cannon and siege minions with extra resistances and damage toward structures will be increased by 200% but as soon as someone comes near your vicinity all of these bonuses will be deactivated. When it comes to its pure stats that won’t run away like me from any social interaction they are as follows: 400 health, 150% base health regeneration, and 50 attack damage. If you haven’t realized it’s perfect for champions who are duelists and champions that can easily split push lanes. 

How To Get Hullbreaker:

To get this magnificent item for split pushing all you have to do is head over to your HQ and purchase it!

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If you’re playing a champion who is a duelist or a split pusher. 
• If your primary objective is destroying structures and ending the match as fast as possible. 
• If you constantly find yourself far away from your team farming or pushing lanes. 

3. Randuin’s Omen (3,000 Gold)

“Who the hell is Randuin and why is he giving me an omen?”

Well, whoever this Randuin person is, his omen is quite legendary as it can reduce the amount of damage a critical strike will do from an auto-attack with the passive ability “Critical Resilience”. Specifically it reduces those pesky crit strikes by 20% in total. This item is not commonly bought and can only be seen on tanks or bruisers if the enemy has a lot of champions who are building items that give them critical strikes. 

The item will also provide the player with 60 armor and 400 health making sure that they are nice and protected. Along with that the item also has an active ability called “Humility” which you can use to break ankles and slow nearby people by 55% for 2 seconds. This ability also has a chance of revealing a hidden enemy and can easily break their stealth if they are found to be hiding nearby. 

How To Get Randiuin’s Omen:

You can successfully obtain this random guy's omen by buying his item in the in-game store. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If the enemy team is building a lot of items that give them critical strikes.
• If you need to slow down people in an AoE area so your team and yourself can catch up to them. 
• If the enemy has at the minimum 2 champions who can use stealth this item can reveal them with its active ability if they are found within 500 units. 

2. Sunfire Aegis (2,700 Gold)

“Everything will burn around me!”

Due to the recent changes and to the shifting meta this item was transformed from a mythic into a legendary item. The use of the item hasn’t fallen off in fact it became even more popular. Sadly it did lose its mythic passive buff but to compensate for the removal they made its standard passive ability “Immolate” stronger. The standard passive ability “Immolate” of the item burns everything and everyone around in 325 units. 

The damage of the burn effect depends on how much total HP the enemy has. So the greater the HP of the enemy the greater the burn effect and damage they receive. A great thing about the passive ability “Immolate” is that it activates on itself when you receive or deal the damage. Along with this passive the player will also receive 500 health and 50 armor which isn’t that bad considering its low price. It’s quite gold efficient. 

How To Get Sunfire Aegis:

To obtain the ability to burn people around you, you have to make your way to your spawn area and buy it for yourself. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If the majority of the enemy team is building a lot of items that give them extra health. 
• If you constantly find yourself in the middle of a team fight. 
• Due to the damage from the passive burn it can be great for pushing huge minion waves. 

1. Jak’Sho The Protean (3,200 Gold)

“What the hell is this thing?”

This weird looking thing with 6 eyes is the newly added tank or bruiser mythic item and it’s one of the best defensive items that you can get currently on the market. The “mythic passive” of this item gives the user 5 armor and 5 magic resistance for every legendary item in their inventory alongside that buff the item itself gives 20 ability haste, 400 health, 30 armor, and 30 magic resistance. Furthermore, while fighting huge crowds of champions the item will activate its second passive ability named “Voidborn Resilience” which stacks its resistances for every unique champion in the team fight. 

That goes up to a total of 8 stacks and results in 16 additional armor and magic resistance. Once it has reached max stacks it will instantly deal 80 +7% of the total bonus health that the user has as magic damage to every enemy champion within 700 units. But that’s not where the story ends. It will also heal the player for the same amount of each target it damaged and bump all of your resistances by 20% until you either die or kill everyone and everything that was breathing and existing near you. 

How To Get Jak’Sho The Protean:

To get the power of the Gods you have to make your way to your base and purchase this item for 3,200 gold. 

When Should You Buy This Item:

• If you’re playing a bruiser who’s constantly fighting and your team doesn’t really know how to connect with you in the fight. 
• If your champion lacks any armor or magic resistances due to its base stats being very low. 
• If the enemy team deals a lot of AD and AP damage at the same time and you can’t decide which item to go first. 
• If you’re the only hard carry in your team who needs to stay alive during a team fight so that you can win. 

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