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League of Legends is a game that encourages creativity and teamwork. As such, the game features aspects that reward good decision-making. In Season 11, Riot introduced mythic items to provide players with more flexibility and build choices for champions. The balance team designed these items to influence players’ decisions when getting legendary items on champions.
Kraken Slayer is a Mythic item that gives champions who rely on auto-attacks a significant damage boost. It has two passive effects, with the first being the item’s passive which grants true damage on every third auto-attack. The second is the Mythic passive that gives extra attack speed for every other completed item. Kraken Slayer works best on Marksmen (ADCs) and auto-attack-focused assassins and bruisers.
Mythic items do not build into other items as opposed to item components. They also grant unique mythic passives and stats. These mythic passives increase based on the number of completed items on your champion. Note that mythic items do not count towards this feature.
Kraken Slayer is one of the 25 mythic items in League of Legends and is popularly known for its damage output. While the balance team originally intended it for marksmen, auto-attack-based assassins like Master Yi and Kayle have found it optimal compared to other mythic items.
I started League of Legends back in Season 7 and I play for hours every day before and after the additions of the Mythics. Kindred is one of my prominent champions, and since Kraken Slayer is one of their most potent mythic items, I have spent the more significant part of last season enjoying its benefits. As a Jungler who sometimes plays the ADC role, I also understand how this item interacts with Marksmen.
As expected, Kraken Slayer sacrificed survivability for damage. Compared to other items like Immortal Shieldbow and Galeforce, it is more of an all-in item. Fortunately, this disadvantage has not interfered with the item’s ability to help marksmen fulfill their responsibility. It significantly boosts their damage output due to its mythic passive.
Kraken Slayer Key Details
Price – 3400 Gold
Stats
65 Attack Damage
25% Attack Speed
20% Critical Strike Chance
Item passive: Bring it Down: Every third attack deals an additional (60 + 45% bonus attack damage) true damage.
Mythic passive: Grants all other legendary items 10% attack speed.
Kraken Slayer is an item that favours marksmen as they deal most of their damage through auto-attacks. You will notice that the item gives attack damage, attack speed, and crit chance, all of which are important for damage per second (DPS).
The item is notoriously strong against tanky champions, i.e. champions with high damage resistances or heath pool. With a passive that grants true damage on every third auto-attack, you will mow down enemy tanks and frontline with ease in every fight.
Kraken Slayer Components
The mythic item builds from three components, namely:
Noonquiver (1300 Gold) – 30 attack damage and 15% attack speed (passive: basic attacks deal 20 bonus physical damage on-hit to minions and monsters).
Cloak of Agility (600 Gold) – 15% crit chance.
Pickaxe (875 Gold) – 25 attack damage.
Each of these components gives stats to any champion you build them on, and you get the complete item once you buy all three of them. Whenever I want to build Kraken Slayer on a champion, the first component I opt for is Noonquiver. The reason is that it offers the best stats of all the components in the early game and its passive helps in killing minions, making it easier to farm.
If I had to base early and a little short on gold, I would go for the pickaxe instead. You should not buy the cloak of agility because it offers no damage and is less optimal for early skirmishes and last-hitting. However, having the cloak of agility is better for some champions than having no component at all.
There are times when I don’t have enough gold to afford any of the components on first base, and during these times, I buy one or more of Noonquiver’s components. Yes, you read that right; Noonquiver has its sub-components, they are:
Short Sword (350 Gold) – 10 attack damage
Dagger (300 Gold) – 12% attack speed
Short Sword (350 Gold) – 10 attack damage
Once I get the three sub-components, the Noonquiver completes. However, the case is slightly different for completing Kraken Slayer. After getting all the components, you still need an additional 625 Gold to complete the item. This extra gold was previously for the recipe, but Riot removed it from the game, and now players call it the shopkeeper’s fee.
Items that Complement Kraken Slayer
Since mythic items dictate the path for building other legendary items in League of Legends, players have to buy things that work well with the mythic item. These additional items might vary from champion to champion. Still, most of the time, players select items from a specific pool of choices. Let’s check them out.
Blade of the Ruined King
Price – 3200 Gold
Stats
40 Attack Damage
25% Attack Speed
10% Life Steal
Mist’s Edge: Basic attacks deal (Melee 10% / Ranged 6%) of the target’s current health bonus physical damage on-hit, with a minimum of 15 against all units and a maximum of 60 against minions and monsters.
Siphon: Basic attacks on-hit against enemy champions apply a stack for 6 seconds, stacking up to 3 times. The third stack consumes all stacks to deal 40 − 150 (based on level) bonus magic damage on-hit and slow the target by 25% for 2 seconds while also granting you 25% bonus movement speed for the same duration (20-second cooldown).
Blade of the Ruined King (BorK) is a popular anti-tank item, and it goes well with Kraken Slayer because of its passive effects. BorK deals percentage-based damage meaning the tankier the target, the greater the damage. It also slows down the target while granting you extra movement speed for kiting or running down your target.
When paired with Kraken Slayer, you find it easy to maintain your distance from enemy juggernauts while dishing out steady damage and, if need be, run-down fleeing enemies. The life-steal gotten from Bork also helps in keeping you healthy during fights.
Infinity Edge
Price – 3400 Gold
Stats
70 Attack Damage
20% Crit Chance
Perfection: Gain 35% bonus critical strike damage if you have at least 60% critical strike chance.
Infinity Edge gives the highest attack damage of all of the items in League of Legends, and it dramatically boosts critical strike chances for marksmen.
I will recommend building it as your third or fourth item as that is when you can fully benefit from its passive. For clarity, other markmen items grant critical strike chance and accumulating enough to reach at least 60% can increase your crit chance to 100% after completing Infinity Edge.
Building this item on a champion with Kraken Slayer increases the bonus damage from its mythic passive because the damage benefits from every additional damage you get throughout the game. However, I sometimes skip this item as it is expensive; instead, I opt for other available but cheaper choices.
Bloodthirster
Price – 3400 Gold
Stats
55 Attack Damage
20% Critical Strike Chance
20% Life-steal
Blood Barrier: Convert the healing received from Life steal above100% maximum health into a Hybrid resistances shield for up to 50 − 350 (based on level). The shield slowly decays after not dealing or taking damage for 25 seconds.
Bloodthirster is a legendary item that boosts survivability for Marksmen and auto-attack-based champions. The lifesteal and shield it provides make it easy to stay healthy longer in fights and even heal up from damage faster. When you add these benefits to the attributes gotten from Kraken Slayer, what you get is tremendous damage coupled with massive sustainability.
Runaan’s Hurricane
Price – 2600 Gold
Stats
45% Attack Speed
20% Critical Strike Chance
7% Movement Speed
Wind’s Fury: Basic attacks on attack fire additional bolts at up to two enemies in front of you, each dealing 40% AD physical damage. Bolts apply on-hit effects at 100% effectiveness and are affected by critical strike modifiers. (The bolts will target the closest enemies to you that are not the primary target).
Runaan’s Hurricane‘s attack speed increases the rate at which you can apply Kraken Slayer’s true damage. Also, the extra movement speed makes it easy to kite enemy frontline champions during fights or skirmishes, and it helps with repositioning during team fights.
The item is cheap compared to other marksmen items. I build it on champions like Jinx and Kalista because they benefit from its passive. However, Runaan’s Hurricane grants no bonus attack damage, but then no one builds it for that as it makes up for this lack through its attack speed and passive.
Note: You can only build this item on ranged champions, so melee champions that benefit from critical strike and attack speed cannot build Runaan’s Hurricane. Also, it does not apply Kraken Slayer’s passive on secondary targets, only on the primary target.
Wit’s End
Price – 3100 Gold
Stats
40 Attack Damage
40% Attack Speed
50 Magic Resist
Fray: Attacks apply 15 – 80 (based on level) magic damage on-hit and grant 20 movement speed for 2 seconds.
Wit’s End is crucial whenever Marksmen go up against teams with decent to massive magic damage output. The item gives enough magic resistance to keep them alive against Mages during team fights or skirmishes.
Fray grants on-hit magic damage and extra movement speed, both of which synergize well with Kraken Slayer by helping you kite enemy champions. Also, the bonus attack damage contributes to the Mythic item’s true damage output.
Rapid Fire Cannon
Price – 2500 Gold
Stats
35% Attack Speed
20% Critical Strike Chance
7% Movement Speed
Energized: Moving and basic attacks generate Energized stacks, up to 100.
Sharpshooter: Your next basic attack deals 120 bonus magic damage on-hi when fully energized. Energized attacks gain a 35% bonus range, capped at 150.
Apart from the attack speed and crit chance, I like this item because of the extra range when you fully stack it. Since marksmen do a lot of moving and auto-attacking, stacking Rapid Fire Cannon is relatively easy. The bonus range and damage helps with sticking to enemies or simply poking them before team fights to discourage them from committing.
Due to its low price, building this item immediately after completing Kraken Slayer and upgrading your boots is always a good idea. The extra stats it gives will significantly increase your damage output throughout the game.
Runes That Work With Kraken Slayer
Understanding the runes that work with Kraken Slayer is linked to examining the champions involved. Almost every champion who builds this mythic item goes for runes that give attack speed because it favours their kit. However, this fact does not limit the item to attack speed runes only as I am about to show you.
Press The Attack (PTA)
Press the attack does not grant attack speed, but it works great with the mythic item. The reason is that attacking an enemy with a champion that has PTA applies a stack three times and then causes the enemy to take increased damage from every source. The increased damage can come from turrets, teammates, DoT (damage over time) effects, and even minions.
While a percentage of the community believes that PTA offers lesser value than other Precision runes when used with Kraken Slayer, the results say otherwise. The only part of this rune effect that might support this is that the increased damage excludes True Damage. However, the attack speed the item grants let you apply PTA stacks quickly, and the increased damage is always helpful.
Vayne is an example of a hyper-carry that uses PTA, and Kraken Slayer is her most efficient item. Twitch also does this with excellent results.
Lethal Tempo
Whenever you use an auto-attack on an enemy champion, you gain a stack from Lethal Tempo. At maximum stacks (6), the rune gives you increased attack speed, attack range and temporarily increases the attack speed cap to 10. This rune works great in prolonged fights because you need to fully stack it to get the most benefit.
Using Lethal Tempo with Kraken Slayer allows you to apply the item’s true damage passive faster. Also, the bonus attack range aids in sticking on fleeing enemies or kiting any pursuing you. As you complete more things later on in the game, the extra attack speed from Kraken’s mythic passive begins to shine because of the rune’s effects.
Hail of Blades (HoB)
Hail of Blades is a skirmish rune and the only Domination keystone that grants attack speed. It basically increases the attack speed cap and gives 110% extra attack speed when it activates. The rune works great for champions with special effects on third attacks as it helps them fulfill the ‘third attack condition’ faster.
Since Kraken Slayer deals true damage on every third basic attack, HoB makes it easy to land the third attack in short fights or skirmishes. This way, the champion can always get the better of every trade in the early game and the lane.
Conqueror
Conqueror is arguably the most popular rune in League of Legends because it offers lots of utility across all the champion classes. The keystone grants extra attack damage for each stack and provides healing at full stacks. It is the most favoured rune amongst bruisers, and recently, marksmen have started finding it great to use.
Kraken Slayer benefits from the bonus attack damage from Conqueror, and the healing helps stay alive through team fights. While melee champions benefit the most from this rune, ranged champions with relevant kits and passives can also use this rune.
Honourable Mention – Legend: Alacrity
Alacrity is one of the tier 3 runes under the Precision rune tree. While it is not a keystone, it contributes much to Kraken Slayer’s usefulness in the late game. The rune grants a champion permanent extra attack speed based on the number of takedowns (kills and assists) gotten in the game up to a specific limit.
Legend: Bloodline
Bloodline is also a T3 rune under Precision. However, it grants permanent extra lifesteal instead of Alacrity’s attack speed. This rune is generally the best T3 rune in the late game. The sustain it provides makes a huge difference between surviving fights or dying.
Champions that Build Kraken Slayer
Like I mentioned earlier, Riot intended the mythic item for marksmen, but it also favours certain melee champions. Champions that work well with Kraken Slayer include all Marksmen except:
Ezreal (He performs better with other Mythic Items like Duskblade and Divine Sunderer)
Jhin (His unique kit does not work well with the item)
Graves (His kit renders the item lacking)
Corki (He performs better with other Mythic items like Ludens and Immortal Shieldbow)
Other champions who benefit from Kraken Slayer include:
Kayle
Master Yi
Twisted Fate
Tryndamere
Yasuo
Yone
Viego
FAQs
Question: Is Kraken Slayer Good Against Tanks?
Answer: Yes. Kraken Slayer is an anti-tank item meaning it specifically counters tanky champions. The good idea is to build Blade of the Ruined King together with the Mythic Item. This way, you have two anti-tank items that let you mow down the enemy frontline while staying alive and reducing their movement speed.
Question: Is Kraken Slayer Good Against Squishy Champions?
Answer: No, it is not. For squishy champions like Mages and Assassins, you should consider other Mythic choices as they offer better survivability. Remember that these types of champions have low health pools, so Kraken Slayer’s passive does less damage to them.
Question: Did Kraken Slayer Get Nerfed?
Answer: After its release, the balance team made further adjustments and changes to Kraken Slayer. It previously triggered on abilities like Katarina’s R, but that was adjusted as it was too broken. Overall, Kraken Slayer is now in a good spot, and you should try it out on relevant champions.
Question: Does Kraken Slayer Work on Turrets?
Answer: No. Kraken Slayer’s passive does not proc on turrets; instead, its stacks remain at 2 until you attack an enemy or neutral monster, then it procs. There was a time when the item affected towers, but that feature has been removed.
Question: Does Kraken Slayer Affect Runaan’s Hurricane Secondary Targets?
Answer: No, it does not proc on the secondary targets. Kraken Slayer only procs on the primary target.
Question: Is Kraken Slayer Only For Marksmen?
Answer: No, other champions with relevant kits can benefit from Kraken Slayer. See the champions that build Kraken Slayer section for more details.
Kraken Slayer Guide: Conclusion
Kraken Slayer is a powerful Mythic Item that gives relevant champions strong power-spikes immediately they complete it. However, since the item offers no survivability, I advise you to build items like Bloodthirster and Sterak’s Gage that help sustain you during team fights.
There are also times when buying a legendary item first before Kraken Slayer pays off better. An example is when you have a hard lane and need stats from a different item to make it easier. At these times, the mythic item can come later because staying alive is quite important.
