Description
Execute instantly kills a target whose Health is below a threshold.
Read moreShow less about Execute
The threshold is typically a percent of max Health.
It resolves as true damage equal to the target's current Health. So it ignores all of these:
- Armor.
- Magic Resist.
- Durability.
- damage reduction.
Note: Unlike ordinary true damage, an execute destroys any active Shield before it applies the kill. A shielded unit at low Health (HP) is still executed once the threshold check passes. The Shield does not save it.
Listed in: Anti-tank
What enables Execute (4)
Champions with Execute effects (1)
1 champion · paste in the game's Team Planner
-
Heat Without Equal Passive: Attacks deal 75 / 75 / 100% damage to enemies adjacent to the target. Active: Become invulnerable and fly into the air. On return, stun all enemies for 1.25 / 1.25 / 99 seconds, gain 15 / 15 / 100% Omnivamp, and Ignite them for 3 / 3 / 99 seconds. Ignited enemies take 2 / 2 / 20% max Health physical damage per second. Replace this ability with Flame Breath and immediately cast it. Flame Breath: Spew fire at the most enemies in a line through the target, dealing 305 / 465 / 7200 physical damage, reduced by 20% for each enemy it passes through (minimum 20%.) Ignite those enemies for 3 / 3 / 99 seconds. Elder Dragon Buff: Damaging an enemy below 12% Health executes them.
Emblems with Execute effects (1)
-
- +20% Crit
- +8% Crit Damage
The holder gains the Executioner trait. Damage executes enemies below 8% of their max Health.
- 2
- Executioners gain Precision and 15% Critical Strike Chance.
- 3
- Additionally, enemies bleed for 25% bonus true damage over 3 seconds.
- 4
- Bleed damage increased to 35%.
Artifacts with Execute effects (1)
-
- +35% AD
- +20% Crit
Attacks and Abilities execute enemies below 12% of their maximum Health. Executions on champions have a 33% chance to drop 1 gold. Unique - only 1 per champion
Wisps with Execute effects (1)
- Killing Frenzy Combat
Fighters execute targets under 12% Health. They gain 30% Attack Speed on kill.
What counters Execute
What Execute counters
Frequently asked questions
-
What does "execute" actually mean in TFT?
Execute means removing a target from combat by dealing 100% of its current Health as true damage. It is not a normal damage instance.
The effect is keyed to a Health-threshold check. The threshold is commonly a percentage of max Health, for example "below 25%". If the check passes, the unit is killed outright. It skips the resist, reduction, or amplification math.
Note: mechanically the kill resolves "as damage". Players still experience it as instant death the instant the threshold is crossed. It does not matter how much damage the trigger ability would otherwise have done.
-
Does a shield protect a unit from being executed?
No. Executes are explicitly written to destroy any active shield before applying their kill. So a Shield bar does not save a unit that has already crossed the execute threshold.
This is the opposite of true damage in TFT. True damage is absorbed by normal Shields, just like physical and magic damage.
Note: the mental model is this. A Shield buys a target HP back against damage. But the threshold check that triggers an execute compares the unit's underlying Health, not the Shield bar. Once the underlying Health is low enough, the execute fires through the Shield.
-
Are execute and true damage the same thing?
No. They are different layers.
True damage in TFT is a damage type. It ignores Armor, Magic Resist, damage reduction, and damage amplification. But it is still damage: Shields absorb it, and it has to chip a target down hit by hit.
Execute is a kill outcome, not a damage type. The trigger checks "is this target's current Health below the threshold?" If yes, it removes the unit outright.
Note: many execute effects are delivered as true damage equal to 100% of current Health, after the execute destroys any active Shield. That is why the death is instant rather than an HP bar slowly emptying.
-
Can damage reduction or Durability stop an execute?
No. Execute kills are dealt as true damage equal to 100% of current Health.
True damage is documented as ignoring resistances, damage reduction, and damage amplification. None of these scale it down:
- Armor.
- Magic Resist.
- Percent damage reduction.
- The Durability-style flat "take X% less damage" stacking effects.
The threshold check looks at the target's current Health and either fires the kill or does not. Once it fires, no defensive multiplier reduces it below 100% of current HP.
Note: stacking Durability is still useful against the damage that brings a target to the threshold. It just does not help against the execute itself.
-
Does invulnerability or untargetable block an execute?
Yes, in most cases, and each in a different way.
Invulnerability does block standard executes. The wiki explicitly notes the kill "will have no effect if the unit is invulnerable". The exception is a source of the rarer internalraw type.
Untargetable is a separate state and works differently. An untargetable unit cannot be picked as a target by an ability that requires targeting in the first place. So most threshold-based execute abilities simply skip that unit, because the targeting step fails.
Note: neither status is an absolute save. Invulnerability stops most executes. Untargetability only blocks effects that must pick the unit as a target. An already-applied damage-over-time effect keeps ticking on an untargetable unit and can still carry it past the threshold. Short windows of either are still valuable counterplay.
-
Can an execute kill a unit that is untargetable or invulnerable mid-fight?
No. An execute does not punch through a death-escape window.
During an untargetable window, the unit cannot be picked as a target. So a threshold-based execute has nothing to fire at and is simply skipped. An example is an item effect that triggers at a Health threshold to briefly make the holder untargetable, shed negative effects, and heal.
An invulnerable unit can still be targeted but usually takes no effect from the kill. The wiki states that "Most have no effect if the unit is invulnerable."
Note: Once the window ends, the unit is killable normally. Execute is an instant kill, not a special bypass of untargetable or invulnerable states.
-
I had ~30% HP and the execute fired anyway — was the threshold higher than the tooltip?
Almost always, no. The same ability hit the unit with normal damage and then checked the execute threshold against Health after that damage tick.
So a target at 30% before the ability lands can be at 18% afterwards. It can then fall under a 20% threshold and be executed in the same animation. The tooltip percentage is the post-damage threshold, not a pre-damage one.
Note: the fix is to read the ability as two stages: "deal damage, then check threshold". Then position so the carrier never lands its damage instance into the threshold band against a key target.
-
Do executes work on summoned units, clones, and pet-style units?
In general, yes. Anything that occupies a hex, has a Health bar, and is a valid target for damage is also a valid execute target. The threshold check is just a current-Health comparison.
Players run into two practical exceptions:
- Untargetable summons during invulnerability or dodge windows, where the targeting step itself fails.
- Summons whose Health pool is so high relative to the executor's threshold band that the threshold rarely matters before normal damage finishes them.
Note: no source found documents an "executes ignore summons" carve-out. Treat them as ordinary execute targets unless an ability explicitly says otherwise.