In this Mobile Legends guide, we’ll take a look at stats, Item characteristics and, most importantly, how to make the right Itemization choices. But why? In-game you can customize your Item builds already, you have access to leaderboards and can freely copy pro-player builds.
Items make or break the game – and we all know, every game is different. Therefore you won’t (or at least, shouldn’t) build the same 6 Items all the time.
Item Stats
Let’s start our Mobile Legends Item guide with a generic overview of stats and their features. While clear for the majority of players, understanding the basic values constitutes the foundation of learning how to adapt properly.
Offensive Stats
| Stat | Description | Caps & Effectiveness through the game |
| Mana/Energy | Resource restricting stat mostly for Mages and Assassins | Mana can be increased through Items/Emblem Energy costs can only be lowered by obtaining the Buff |
| Mana Regeneration | Grants Mana sustain | Mostly important for Mages with low Cooldowns that cycle through spells a lot |
| Magic Power | Enhances Magic Damage and Abilities | – |
| Physical Attack | Enhances Physical Damage | Strong throughout the game, but prioritizing it early makes the most sense |
| Critical Chance | Bonus chance to land a Critical Strike that deals 200% Physical Damage upon landing an Auto Attack | Highly valuable for Crit Marksmen/ Fighter Scales heavily into late game with both Physical Damage and Attack Speed |
| Attack Speed | Increases the speed of basic attacks, primarily valuable for Physical Damage dealers with few exceptions | 250% cap, stronger mid-late game due to synergy with Physical Attack |
| Magic Penetration (%) | Grants % Magic Penetration against enemies that cuts through Magic Resistances | Especially valuable late game when enemies have lots of Magic Resistance, also good against tanky teams |
| Magic Penetration (flat) | Reduces a flat amount of Magic Resistance of the enemy | Most efficient early/ against squishy targets due to low MR |
| Physical Penetration (%) | Grants % Physical Penetration and cuts through Armor | see Magic Penetration (%) |
| Physical Penetration (flat) | Reduces a flat amount of Armor of the enemy | see Magic Penetration (flat) |
| Physical Lifesteal | Provides % healing depending on the amount of damage dealt with Auto Attacks | Becomes more effective as the game progresses since more damage means more to lifesteal off |
| Magic Lifesteal | Provides % healing depending on the amount of damage dealt with skills that deal Magic Damage | see Physical Lifesteal |
| Spell Vamp | Provides % healing depending on the amount of damage dealt with skills that deal Physical Damage (including True Damage) | see Physical Lifesteal |
Defensive & Neutral Stats
| Stat | Description | Caps & Effectiveness through the game |
| Health | Increases survivability against all types of damage | Valuable at any point, increasingly effective when paired with additional Defence |
| Health regeneration | Grants Health sustain | |
| Armor | Increases survivability against Physical Damage | Effective throughout the game, scales with Health |
| Magic Resistance | Increases survivability against Magic Damage | see Armor |
| Movement Speed | Available from few Items and several Emblems (both % and flat), especially valuable for Midlane and Support/Tank | Incredibly valuable for rotating faster over the map |
| Cooldown Reduction | Grants lowered Cooldowns on skills | 40%, valuable for most classes, skill-dependant Heroes should prioritize CDR early |
Using Items to counter your opponents
Now that we’ve talked sufficiently about stats in our Mobile Legends guide, let’s move on to some actual build and Item tips. First of all though, make sure to always check the enemy lineup so that you can identify which Items have priority for your next game. And don’t forget to check your enemy’s builds from time to time, so you can evaluate which Items to purchase next.
Sustain/ Durability
This will probably haunt you for the next few seasons. Considering the amount of sustain available through Items and Hero kits, you probably want someone to build against it every game. Luckily, we have 2 Item options, one for Physical and one for Magic Damage dealers.
Even though it might delay your core Items by a bit, the reduced Regeneration can make a huge difference in extended fights. So make sure that someone on your team got it covered.
Health stacking
Especially with Tanks like Hylos being Meta, you need a way to deal with health numbers in 5-figure quantities. As of now, physical damage dealers should opt for Demon Hunter Sword. Even though the passive damage can be reduced by armor, it will help to cut through large health pools. Similarly, Glowing Wand provides an answer to HP stacking for magic damage dealers.
Burst
When it comes to burst damage, we actually have a good amount of Itemization options for every class. But aren’t Mages and Marksmen supposed to deal damage? Overall, yes. However, surviving the initial burst of the enemy assassin is much more valuable – since you cannot deal any damage when you get one-shot. Therefore, make sure to buy a defensive Item if you feel like you need it. Nearly no squishy will survive a stacked Aldous and a farmed Granger will kill you with his ultimate alone.
Undoubtedly, Athena’s shield is one of the best items in the game. Its passive grants you a huge amount of effective bonus HP while it also offers really valuable stats, especially against fed mages. However, don’t buy it against Esmeralda since she will convert the shield into her own HP.
To counter physical burst, Marksmen should consider Wind of Nature. What makes it one of the best Items is its active, making you immune to all physical damage for a short period. But don’t worry if you’re not a Marksman player. Twilight Armor does a good job to prevent late-game Irithel from assassinating you, too. And if you are looking for a hybrid Item choice for mages, go with Winter Truncheon. While it doesn’t provide as much defensive stats, its active allows you to outplay your opponents and avoid critical skillshots as well as telegraphed burst.
Defence Stacking
We all have been there – you were doing quite well but all of a sudden, the enemy has stacked up magic defence and takes little to no damage from your spells at all. Neither Demon Hunter Sword nor Glowing Wand will help much here. Instead, you should opt for Divine Glaive or Malefic Roar. Both provide a huge amount of %-based penetration, which means it will become more effective the more defence your enemies stack.
Read – The ultimate Hero counters guide for Mobile Legends
Tips and Tricks
Now that our guide covered the most important aspects of good Itemization in Mobile Legends, we don’t want to withhold key facts and Item tips from you.
Unique traits and passives
Item effects that are titled “unique” won’t stack when you purchase several of them. For example, 2 Bloodlust Axes won’t grant you 40% Spell Vamp. However, they will grant 140 Physical Attack and 20% CDR.
How Penetration works
In both cases, physical and magical, flat penetration will be deducted before percentage penetration. Therefore you should evaluate your build early into the game and decide whether you want to go for both Genius Wand and Arcane Boots when the enemy has a very tanky line-up. In this situation, you might be better of skipping the Genius Wand in favour of Divine Glaive.
Roaming Items
Currently, you can purchase three different Roaming Items. All of them share the same build path though. While in general, mostly Supports and Tanks should purchase the Wooden Mask, split pushers like Masha can also get it to gain more experience when solo laning.
Masks will prevent you from getting gold and experience while near other Heroes, effectively boosting the income of your teammates.
Jungle Items
Purchasing a Jungle Item will grant you more damage against monsters as well as more experience from killing them. As laner, you should at least purchase the Jungle knife in order to farm more efficiently.
Immortality – why it’s not that great
People love this Item. Many players purchase it, no matter whether they’re playing Marksman, Mage or Tank. Although yes, its passive allows you to revive upon death, you resurrect with really low HP. Chances are the enemies will just wait for you to respawn in order to finish you off.
Instead of purchasing Immortality, especially squishy Heroes might profit more from other defensive Items such as Athena’s shield. However, if you’re playing Tank/Support or a Hero with great dive potential, Immortality is definitely worth it. Just think about it.
Read – Mobile Legends: The complete beginners guide
So, do you have any secret Item tips you’d like to share? Did we miss to mention some underrated Items in our Mobile Legends Item guide? Feel free to drop a comment down below. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to never miss out on the latest news!
