Patch 26.1 put base critical strike damage back to 200%, and that quietly changed how every crit build in the game works. Here's the math, why 50% crit is worth more than you think, and why the last few percent are worth the most.
League of Legends Guide
How Crit Actually Works
The Math Behind 100% CritCritical strike is the most quietly misunderstood stat in the game, and Patch 26.1 made that worse by changing the number everything else depends on. Base critical strike damage went from 175% back to 200%, which is a bigger buff to marksmen than any item change in years, and it happened without most players noticing what it did to their build.
So here's the whole thing: the formula, what each chunk of crit chance is actually buying you, why the last 25% is worth more than the first, and when a crit item genuinely isn't the right purchase.
The Formula
Crit isn't a damage bonus, it's a chance at a damage bonus, and the way to think about it is average damage over many attacks.
At 200% base crit damage the arithmetic is unusually friendly. A crit doubles your attack, so the bonus is a full 100% of the original hit. That means every 1% of crit chance is worth exactly 1% more auto-attack damage, right the way up the curve.
50% crit chance means half your attacks double, which averages out to 1.5 times your normal damage. 100% crit chance means every attack doubles, which is 2 times. There's no diminishing return anywhere in that line.
What Each Step Actually Buys
| Crit chance | Average damage multiplier | Gain over zero crit |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | 1.00x | Baseline |
| 25% | 1.25x | +25% |
| 50% | 1.50x | +50% |
| 60% | 1.60x | +60% |
| 75% | 1.75x | +75% |
| 100% | 2.00x | +100% |
That answers the question players ask most often about crit: how does 50% compare to 75%? On average damage, 75% crit is exactly 1.75 divided by 1.5, so about 17% more damage than 50%. Not double, not marginal, just a steady linear climb.
What Patch 26.1 Changed, and Why It Matters
For several years base crit damage sat at 175%. A crit dealt 1.75 times a normal hit, so the bonus part was only 75%, and every 1% of crit chance bought you 0.75% more damage. Full crit was a 1.75x multiplier.
Patch 26.1 restored 200%. Full crit is now a 2.0x multiplier instead, which is a straight 14% damage increase on a fully-built crit marksman without a single item changing.
This is why so many marksmen got nerfed in the same patch. Riot didn't nerf them because they were overperforming; they nerfed them to pay for the crit change. If you looked at a champion's ability ratios going down in 26.1 and concluded they were gutted, check their auto-attack damage at three items before believing it. A lot of those champions came out ahead.
The practical consequence: crit items are worth more relative to everything else than they were before the patch, and builds that hedged toward on-hit or lethality on a traditional crit carry are worth re-examining.
Why the Last 25% Is Worth the Most
The average-damage line is perfectly straight, so on paper the last 25% of crit is worth the same as the first 25%. In an actual game it isn't, and the reason is that damage you can't rely on is worth less than damage you can.
At 60% crit, whether you win a duel depends partly on the dice. You might land four crits in a row and delete someone, or land none and die with them at 20% health. At 100%, that variance disappears completely. Every trade, every last hit, every tower shot does exactly what you expect.
That predictability is worth real money. It's the difference between a burst pattern you can plan around and one you can only hope for.
Overcapping is wasted
Crit chance is hard capped at 100%. Anything above that does nothing at all for most champions, so buying a fourth crit item when three already got you there's throwing away a full item slot.
Check before your last item
The common mistake is buying a crit item out of habit at five items when you were already at 100%. Look at your stat sheet before that purchase and buy damage, penetration or survivability instead.
Crit damage stacks separately
Some items add crit damage rather than crit chance, raising the multiplier above 200% rather than the odds. Those keep scaling after you hit 100% chance, which is exactly why they belong late in a build and not early.
Attack speed multiplies with it
Crit raises damage per attack, attack speed raises attacks per second. They multiply rather than add, so the two together are worth more than either looks alone. That's the whole reason the standard marksman build buys both.
Consistency Against Average
Two builds with identical average damage can feel completely different, and crit is the biggest reason why.
A 50% crit build and a hypothetical build with 50% more flat damage average out the same, but the crit one wins some fights it shouldn't and loses some it should. Over a hundred games those even out. Over one teamfight they absolutely don't.
This matters most in short exchanges. In a long fight against a tank you'll take enough attacks for the average to hold. In a two-second burst on a squishy, the variance is the whole story, which is why assassins and burst mages don't build crit and marksmen who plan to auto-attack for ten seconds straight do.
The Exceptions Worth Knowing
Jhin
Deals reduced critical strike damage compared to everyone else, and converts crit chance into attack damage instead. His crit items are bought for the attack damage conversion, not for the crits, which is why his build looks strange next to other marksmen.
Yasuo and Yone
Their passive doubles crit chance from items, so they reach the cap at roughly half the investment, with reduced crit damage to compensate. Working out their real crit chance means halving what the shop tells you.
Senna
One of the few champions who genuinely benefits from crit chance past 100%, since her kit converts the excess rather than discarding it. She's the exception that proves the overcapping rule.
Abilities that always crit
Several champions have abilities that guarantee a critical strike, or that can crit when a normal ability can't. Those interact with crit damage items rather than crit chance, so read the tooltip before assuming a crit item helps.
What Players Argue About
The "always rush 100%" camp
The most common advice is to get to the cap as fast as possible for the consistency. It's usually right for traditional marksmen, and usually wrong for champions whose damage is front-loaded into abilities.
The variance sceptics
Others argue the consistency argument is overstated, since across a full game the averages hold and the real decision is just gold efficiency. There's something to it, though it undersells how many games are decided by one fight.
The overcap confessions
Every discussion of crit surfaces players admitting they finished games at 110% crit chance without noticing. It's the single most common wasted item slot in the game.
The post-26.1 rethink
Since base crit damage moved back to 200%, a lot of the conversation has been about which non-crit builds stopped making sense. That re-evaluation is still ongoing and worth watching.
Perspectives paraphrased from various Reddit discussions of marksman itemisation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much damage does a critical strike do in League of Legends?
200% of a normal attack, so exactly double. Patch 26.1 increased base critical strike damage to 200% from the 175% it had been sitting at, which raised the ceiling on every crit build in the game.
How does 50% crit compare to 75% crit?
50% crit averages 1.5 times your normal damage and 75% averages 1.75 times, so 75% is about 17% more damage than 50%. The relationship is perfectly linear, so there's no threshold where crit suddenly becomes better value.
Is crit chance capped in League of Legends?
Yes, at 100%. Anything beyond that is wasted for almost every champion, so if three items already put you at the cap, a fourth crit item is a thrown-away slot. Senna is the notable exception, since her kit uses the excess.
Why is 100% crit better than 80% if the math is linear?
Because of consistency rather than average damage. At 80% you sometimes lose a duel to bad luck; at 100% every attack does exactly what you expect. The averages are linear, but a fight you can plan is worth more than a fight you have to hope about.
Why did marksmen get nerfed in Patch 26.1?
To pay for the crit change. Raising base critical strike damage from 175% to 200% is roughly a 14% damage increase on a fully built crit champion, so Riot reduced ability ratios and crit scalings to keep overall power in line. Many of those champions still came out ahead.
Do Yasuo and Yone really get double crit chance?
Yes. Their passive doubles the crit chance they get from items, so they hit the 100% cap at around half the usual investment, with reduced crit damage as the trade-off. Halve whatever the shop shows you to work out their real crit chance.
Should every marksman build crit?
No. Crit rewards champions who expect to auto-attack repeatedly in a fight. Champions whose damage is front-loaded into abilities, or who build on-hit effects, often get more from attack speed and penetration. Jhin is a special case: he buys crit for the attack damage his passive converts it into.
Be honest: how many games have you finished at 110% crit chance? Confess in the comments.
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