Itemizing correctly and efficiently in League of Legends can make or break a game. Hitting the strongest power spikes that the earliest times possible is what snowballs games out of control.

A lot of time players will end up building the flashier items, thinking that they are the best items, but that is not always the case. There are several items that give great stats and have really high value, but don’t get built in favor of their flashier counterparts.

Here are some items that have the stats and abilities to help you win games, but don’t have the pick rate that you might expect for such strong items. Using mobachampion.com and the item stats that they gather, you might be surprised at how strong some of these items are.

Anathema’s Chains

Cost: 2500 Gold

Stats: 650 Health, 20 Ability Haste

Up first is the health item Anathema’s Chains. There are a lot of things working in this item’s favor. For champions that are looking to only stack health, this item is one of the best, giving a whopping 650, only falling behind Warmogs and actually coming ahead of items like Winter’s Approach, Spirit Visage, and Thornmail.

For most champions that build it, the ability haste is also a nice bonus, but that is still not where the real strength of this item lies. Its active allows for the player to choose someone on the enemy team as their nemesis, and at full stacks, this person will do 30% less damage to you. Added to the damage reduction is a 20% reduction in tenacity when your nemesis is in range of you.

If you find yourself in a game where the other team is all AD with one AP champion, or vice versa, building an Anathema’s Chains and placing it on the one champion with the different damage type is a solid way to reduce their damage without having it fully itemize into resistances. Additionally building the item and then placing it on the enemy carry is a great way to not only make yourself tankier in the fights, but also make crowd control last longer on them with the reduced tenacity, making them much easier to lockdown.

Its win rate seems to back up the item’s strength. Mobachampion has the item sitting at a win rate of 54.9 with only a 0.4% pick rate.

Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

Cost: 2600 Gold

Stats: 75 Ability Power, 400 Health

Next up is the mage item Rylai’s Crystal Scepter. This item is a really solid second item on a lot of mages. Specifically, those that deal area of effect damage can get really good value out of the item.

Really, Rylai’s is a simple item. It gives some AP, some Health, and provides your damage with a 30% slow for one second. There is no active, no hidden stats, just that.

It doesn’t really sound that strong until you use it. Being slowed in League of Legends is incredibly frustrating, and when that slow is being applied whenever you deal damage, it can be a nightmare to try and play against. Simply put, there is no running away from someone with this item. You can choose to turn and fight them, but now you’re fighting on their terms.

On Mobachampion the item is listed as having a 56.4% win rate, while only having a 3.5% pick rate. While this item does have a considerably higher pick rate than Anathema’s Chains, it is still one of the less popular items, but still, it manages a solid win rate in-game.

Warden’s Mail ---> Randuin’s Omen or Frozen Heart

Warden’s Mail Cost: 1000 Gold

Warden’s Mail Stats: 40 Armor

Frozen Heart Cost: 2500 Gold

Frozen Heart Stats: 80 Armor, 400 Mana, 20 Ability Haste

Randuin’s Omen Cost: 2700 Gold

Randuin’s Omen Stats: 250 Health, 80 Armor, 10 Ability Haste

The next item on my list is actually three grouped into one. Warden’s Mail is not even a full item but building it early and then turning it into one is a really strong option for tanks or bruisers against an AD champion.

If you’re not going against an auto-attacking champion, Warden’s Mail is worth the extra 200 gold that it costs over a bramble vest. Getting the item’s “Rock Solid” passive in the lane phase can significantly reduce your opponent's damage on you, and it also gives you a couple of solid options for building into a full item later on.

Both Frozen Heart and Randuin’s Omen are really good options for tanks or bruisers (and Ezreal, but what can’t he build?). Frozen Heart focuses on reducing the enemy’s attack speed while Randuin’s Omen has an active that slows briefly and reduces critical shot damage.

Mobachampion has Frozen Heart at a 56.3% win rate with only a 2.5% pick rate in games. While Randuin’s Omen has a 55.5% win rate with a 1.3% pick rate. Once fully completed from the early Warden’s Mail, both options prove to be underrated ones and might be worth including in your next build.

Vigilant Wardstone

Vigilant Wardstone Cost: 1100 Gold (Upgrades from Watchful Wardstone)

Vigilant Wardston Stats: 150 Health, 15 Ability Haste

On the surface, this item doesn’t look good at all. It doesn't give you a good amount of stats for any champion, and to a lot of players, it doesn't seem that useful.

Vigilant Wardstone is an item that can only be built by the support player on your team. First, they have to build the item Watchful Wardston, and then it upgrades to the Vigilant Wardstone once the support quest is completed and they hit level 13.

This item is a vision item. It is often the support’s job to go and control vision for your team, and this item is the absolute best at doing so. Once upgraded this item allows you to hold three control wards instead of two, it also increases your cap for stealth and totem wards by one.

Once upgraded into Vigilant Wardstone there are some stats that are given to the player. The “Blessing of Ixtal” passive gives a 12% increase to bonus AD, bonus health, AP, and ability haste.

There is a lot to unpack from this little 1100 gold support item. The bottom line is that it's a really good item for supports, but the main goal of the item is to help with vision control. The stats on Mobachampion back up the strength of this item too. It currently sits at an incredible 66.3% win rate while only being picked 0.4% of the time. Admittedly, part of that is because only the support can build it, and most of the time they’ll only build it when they’re ahead, still though those numbers prove its underrated status.

Void Staff

Void Staff Cost: 2800 Gold

Void Staff Stats: 65 Ability Power, 40% Magic Penetration

When looking to add some magic penetration to their build players are presented with two options. Shadowflame or Void Staff, and while Shadowflame is the flashier of the two items, I think that the flat magic penetration that Void Staff gives makes it the better item.

Shadowflame does give more flat AP, but the item is also 200 gold more expensive, and in League, the full item is always better than just the parts. Being able to finish an item 200 gold sooner is an advantage.

At its most effective, Shadowflame will ignore 20 magic resistance, and the vast majority of the time Void Staff will deliver more bang for your buck.

For instance, a level 18 Darius has a base magic resistance of 66.85. So, while Shadowflame at its best will ignore 20 of that, Void Staff will ignore 26.74. That is with no additional magic resistance. The higher the number, the better the Void Staff will be.

Shadowflame is by no means a bad item, and when playing into a team with a lot of shielding it is probably the better option, but in general, Void Staff is the more underrated item. The stats between the two are quite similar. Shadowflame has the worse win percentage while it is being built nearly twice as much as Void Staff. So next time, you might want to think twice about which magic pen item you pick.

Stridebreaker

Stridebreaker Cost: 3300 Gold

Stridebreaker Stats: 50 Attack Damage, 20% Attack Speed, 300 Health, 20 Ability Haste

Finally a Mythic makes the list! Stridebreaker is one of the most forgotten Mythics in the game, with only a few champions running it as their primary option. Whenever I build it though, it always feels like one of the best Mythics.

It tends to get overshadowed by the other Ironspike Whip item Goredrinker. The sustain that the item gives is good in fights, but I really think that Stridebreaker is the better of the two. Let’s examine:

In terms of build path, the only difference is that Stridebreaker builds a Hearthbound Axe instead of a Phage. In terms of stats, Goredrinker gives 8% omnivamp and 150 more health than Stridebreaker. On the other hand, Stridebreaker gives 5 more AD and 20% attack speed. Additionally, Stridebreaker has a unique passive that gives 20 bonus movement speed for 2 seconds when dealing damage.

Both the Stridebreaker and Goredrinker actives deal the same amount of damage, and obviously the Goredrinker active heals. The Stridebreaker active instead provides a 40% slow for 3 seconds.

The active ensures that whatever ability is coming next hits, and that whoever your target is will not be able to get away. Stridebreaker is great for picking off players on the enemy team. The slows and movement speed buffs paired with the additional attack speed make this item really good. On Mobachampion, Stridebreaker has a higher win rate and only half the pick rate that Goredrinker does. If you are going to play a bruiser that builds Goredrinker, I suggest giving Stridebreaker a try, you may like it better.

Evenshroud

Evenshroud Cost: 2500 Gold

Evenshroud Stats: 200 Health, 20 Ability Haste, 30 Armor, 30 Magic Resistance

Another Mythic item makes its way onto the list! Evenshroud is a supportive Mythic item that is really good on frontline champions with a lot of crowd control, but that is not where I think the biggest value comes from.

If you are like me, sometimes you forget that your items have active abilities. This is especially the case when I’m playing an engage support. It is really easy to turn off your brain when playing someone like Leona or Nautilus. See enemy, engage on enemy.

The beauty of Evenshroud is that it fits that playstyle brilliantly. Its ability kicks in whenever you immobilize a champion, or someone immobilizes you. So, when you throw that hook at the enemy ADC, they’ll take 9% more damage from your team for 4 seconds.

Evenshroud is my go-to Mythic when I’m playing an engage support. It helps you deal more damage as a team, and makes you a decent frontliner, all without having to worry about those pesky active abilities. Feel free to build it, and throw out all the hooks you can.

Gargoyle Stoneplate

Gargoyle Stoneplate Cost: 3200 Gold

Gargoyle Stoneplate Stats: 60 Armor, 60 Magic Resistance, 15 Ability Haste

Rounding out the list is another underrated tank item, this time it is the opposite of Anathema’s Chains, having all resistances and no health in the item.

Gargoyle Stoneplate makes the tank even tankier, more so than your average tank item. This item gives you 60 of both resistances, so you don’t have to debate which one you want. Stoneplate slots in well when you are rounding out your build and being ahead in the game certainly helps manage its hefty price tag.

Using Stoneplate is a really fun experience as a tank. Popping the active in the middle of the fight turns you into this massive damage sponge. The shield you get is massive, and the increase in size really makes you feel like a monster in the fight.

I honestly prefer this item later on in builds more than something like a Warmog’s Armor. The team fight strength is much better in this item and will benefit you more unless you are dedicated to a split pushing strategy. Stoneplate has one of the highest win rates on this list, being listed at a 58.3% on Mobachampion, and that is paired with a pick rate below one percent.

The active and the massive amount of resistances make this item really strong, to the point where I like it better than most other late-game tank items. If you are ahead on a teamfighting tank, you should give Stoneplate a try.

Conclusion

Most of the items on this list aren’t super popular amongst players, but their stats and abilities are highly underrated. Try them out in your builds and you may be pleasantly surprised at their current strength. Just because they aren’t the most popular choice doesn’t mean that they aren’t strong items.