LoL Recall Guide: What Interrupts It and What Doesn't

The last tenth of a second is immune, damage into a shield doesn't stop it, and the sound you heard finish is not evidence anybody went home. Here's how recalling actually works.

League of Legends Guide

Recall

Interrupts and Timings

Recall is the button you press most and understand least. It can be broken by things that do no damage at all, it cannot be broken once it's nearly finished, and the enemy can hear a version of it that never completed.

Here's the full set of rules, including the two buffs that upgrade it and the one item that cancels it outright.

What Stops It What Doesn't The Sound Empowered Recall Two Oddities FAQ

0.1sImmune window at the end

0Damage needed to root-cancel it

2Buffs that upgrade it

YesPotions mid-channel

NoWorks on the Abyss

WalksWhat a disconnect does

Crowd control stops it without any damage

Roots, grounding and silences all break the channel on their own, with no health taken off at all. That's worth remembering while chasing somebody who's outside your damage range but inside your crowd control range, because the tool that stops a recall is often not the one you were reaching for.

Two ways your damage does nothing

The last tenth of a second is immune. Once the channel is inside its final 0.1 seconds, nothing you do interrupts it. That's the recall you swear you broke and didn't: you hit them, and the game had already sent them home.

Damage that never reaches health doesn't count. If your damage lands entirely on a shield, is absorbed by invulnerability, or gets reduced to zero before arrival, the channel continues. Poking somebody who shielded before pressing the button accomplishes nothing at all.

The sound keeps playing after they leave your vision

You can't see a recall through fog of war, but if you watched one start and then lost sight of the champion, the audio continues to its end whether or not the channel did.

This is the most misleading thing in the whole system. Hearing a recall finish is not evidence anybody went home, and plenty of dives have been called off on exactly that non-information.

Only two buffs upgrade it

The Baron buff turns yours into the faster empowered version, and so does the void buff you get from carrying the Rift Herald's eye. Nothing else does, which makes an enemy going home noticeably faster a quiet announcement of which objective their team just took. The grubs do not do it, whatever the name of their buff suggests.

You can also upgrade a recall already in progress. If the empowered version becomes available mid-channel, pressing the key again swaps you onto it rather than canceling. So the teammate who started recalling a second before your team finished Baron doesn't have to sit through the slow one.

The one item that cancels you

Consumables are fine mid-channel, so drinking a potion on the way out is free. The exception is the objective pickup you'd most want to use the moment you get it. Summon the Herald first, then go home.

Two oddities worth knowing

A disconnected player walks. Their champion doesn't recall, it turns around and physically walks back to base, becoming invulnerable partway. The invulnerability arrives late rather than immediately, which is why a disconnected teammate can donate a kill for the first stretch of that walk and then can't be touched at all.

It's disabled on the Howling Abyss and still plays the animation. Press it in ARAM and you get the full performance without going anywhere, which is the entire reason recall animations became something worth buying. It's the one piece of a skin you're guaranteed to watch repeatedly.

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Frequently asked questions

Why didn't my damage cancel their recall?

Either the channel was inside its final 0.1 seconds, or your damage was fully absorbed by a shield or invulnerability.

Does crowd control stop a recall?

Roots, grounding and silences do, with no damage required.

Can you drink a potion while recalling?

Yes. Consumables don't break the channel, though attacking, moving and casting do.

What gives you empowered recall?

The Baron buff and the void buff carried with the Rift Herald's eye, and nothing else. Voidgrub stacks do not.

Does the recall sound mean they left?

No. The audio finishes even if the channel was interrupted after they left your vision.

The short version

Timing beats the button. Recall where crowd control can't reach you, don't trust a sound you can't see, and press it again if Baron lands while you're mid-channel.

For the timings that decide when to go home at all, our guide to back timings covers the tempo side, and our gold guide explains why sitting on unspent gold is the expensive half of staying in lane.

Have you ever called off a dive on a fake recall? Let us know in the comments below.