Q: What does "stat steal" mean in TFT?

Stat steal is a two-sided effect. A source takes a stat away from a target and gives that same stat to itself or an ally. The stat is typically Armor, Magic Resist, Attack Damage, or Ability Power. The transfer lasts for the steal's duration. The target loses the stat at the same moment the source gains it. So a single proc both weakens the enemy and strengthens the holder. Note: This is what separates stat steal from one-way reductions like Sunder or Shred . Those only subtract from the enemy and give nothing back to the source.

Q: How is stat steal different from Sunder, Shred, or Wound?

Sunder, Shred, and Wound are pure debuffs . They reduce a stat, or its effectiveness, on the target. The source gets nothing back. Stat steal is a transfer. The same value the target loses is added to the source's stat pool. In practice this means: Stat steal scales the holder's defense or damage as the fight goes on. Sunder and Shred only amplify damage against the debuffed target. Note: Stat steal stacks with Sunder and Shred on the target side. They affect different keywords.

Q: Where does stat steal come from in TFT — items, traits, or abilities?

Right now it comes from items, a matched pair of Artifacts . One steals Armor from enemies standing within a hex of the holder. It turns the holder's own Armor into healing . The other steals Magic Resist the same way. It turns the holder's Magic Resist into magic damage. They are built to be worn together. Equipping both on one unit cuts the interval in half, so each of them fires twice as often . Stat steal is a generic transfer, not an item-only keyword. Traits, champion abilities, and augments can all carry it, and have in the past. The sources you will actually meet right now are those two items. Note: Whatever the source, read its own tooltip. It gives the exact stat, the flat or percent amount, and the trigger condition.

Q: Can stat steal reduce an enemy's Armor or MR below zero?

No. A reduced resistance bottoms out at 0 . It does not go negative. At that point incoming damage of the matching type is fully unmitigated, but it is not amplified beyond that. Once stat-steal procs and other reduction effects bring a target to 0 Armor or 0 Magic Resist, further steals cannot push that number any lower. Note: Riot put that guard in years ago and has kept it. An archived patch note carries two separate lines adding exactly this limit. One went to an Ability that had been reducing Armor. The other went to an Ability that had been reducing Magic Resist. Reduction and steal sources have behaved the same way ever since.

Question 1

What does "stat steal" mean in TFT?

Accepted Answer

Stat steal is a two-sided effect. A source takes a stat away from a target and gives that same stat to itself or an ally. The stat is typically Armor, Magic Resist, Attack Damage, or Ability Power. The transfer lasts for the steal's duration.

The target loses the stat at the same moment the source gains it. So a single proc both weakens the enemy and strengthens the holder.

Note: This is what separates stat steal from one-way reductions like Sunder or Shred. Those only subtract from the enemy and give nothing back to the source.

Question 2

How is stat steal different from Sunder, Shred, or Wound?

Accepted Answer

Sunder, Shred, and Wound are pure debuffs. They reduce a stat, or its effectiveness, on the target. The source gets nothing back.

Stat steal is a transfer. The same value the target loses is added to the source's stat pool.

In practice this means:

Stat steal scales the holder's defense or damage as the fight goes on.
Sunder and Shred only amplify damage against the debuffed target.

Note: Stat steal stacks with Sunder and Shred on the target side. They affect different keywords.

Question 3

Where does stat steal come from in TFT — items, traits, or abilities?

Accepted Answer

Right now it comes from items, a matched pair of Artifacts.

One steals Armor from enemies standing within a hex of the holder. It turns the holder's own Armor into healing.
The other steals Magic Resist the same way. It turns the holder's Magic Resist into magic damage.

They are built to be worn together. Equipping both on one unit cuts the interval in half, so each of them fires twice as often.

Stat steal is a generic transfer, not an item-only keyword. Traits, champion abilities, and augments can all carry it, and have in the past. The sources you will actually meet right now are those two items.

Note: Whatever the source, read its own tooltip. It gives the exact stat, the flat or percent amount, and the trigger condition.

Question 4

Does stolen Armor or Magic Resist stack across the combat round?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Periodic stat-steal items add a small amount each tick, 3 Armor or 3 Magic Resist per proc. Those values build up on the holder for the whole of that round of combat. Each affected enemy loses the same amount. The longer the holder survives in range, the larger the swing.

The current item-side cadence is:

Once every 2.5 seconds by default.
Once every 1.25 seconds when both the Armor-steal and the Magic-Resist-steal Artifact sit on the same unit.

Question 5

Do stolen stats carry over to the next round, or do they reset?

Accepted Answer

They reset. The current steal sources are items with a per-combat cadence. That is a fixed interval that starts when combat starts. Their text carries no clause that holds the accumulated total into the next round. So the count begins again from zero each fight.

That is the normal shape for stat steal: a within-combat swing, not a bank.

Note: If you want stat gains that survive across rounds, you are looking at a different mechanic class. That is permanent stacking, where the source says as much in its own tooltip.

Question 6

Can stat steal reduce an enemy's Armor or MR below zero?

Accepted Answer

No. A reduced resistance bottoms out at 0. It does not go negative. At that point incoming damage of the matching type is fully unmitigated, but it is not amplified beyond that.

Once stat-steal procs and other reduction effects bring a target to 0 Armor or 0 Magic Resist, further steals cannot push that number any lower.

Note: Riot put that guard in years ago and has kept it. An archived patch note carries two separate lines adding exactly this limit. One went to an Ability that had been reducing Armor. The other went to an Ability that had been reducing Magic Resist. Reduction and steal sources have behaved the same way ever since.

Question 7

Does stat steal still proc on shielded or invulnerable targets?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the steal's trigger. The sources on the board right now are all of the timed kind.

A periodic proximity steal does not need damage to land. It fires on its own clock. It pulls the stat off every enemy inside its radius, whether or not a shield is still absorbing that enemy's hit points. So a shield does not stop it.

The other trigger class is a steal that needs the target to take damage. That one behaves the opposite way. An Invulnerable target takes 0 damage. The wiki is explicit that invulnerability also prevents effects that trigger from damage. So a damage-gated steal simply never fires while that window is up.

Note: Read the trigger wording on whatever source you are holding. Timed means the shield is irrelevant. Damage-gated means it is decisive.

Question 8

What's the difference between flat-value and percent-value stat steal?

Accepted Answer

Flat steal moves a fixed number from each affected target to the holder per proc. It does not matter how much of that stat the target had. In the current items that is 3 points of a resistance.

Percent steal takes a fraction of the target's current stat and grants that fraction to the source. So it scales with the size of the target's pool. It hits far harder against a well-built enemy than against a bare one.

Both shapes belong to the game's vocabulary. The difference decides who you want the steal standing next to. But the sources on the board right now are the flat kind. So a proc is worth the same 3 points whether the enemy in range is the carry or the front line.

Note: Flat steal is the predictable one, and it caps out fastest. It stops paying the moment the target reaches 0 of the stolen resistance.

Stat Steal

Items that apply Stat Steal (2)

What Stat Steal counters

Frequently asked questions

Description

Items that apply Stat Steal (2) #

What Stat Steal counters #

Frequently asked questions

Items that apply Stat Steal (2)

What Stat Steal counters