The Collector

The Collector is a Legendary Marksman/Assassin item costing 3000 gold providing +50 Attack Damage, +10 Lethality, and +25% Critical Strike Chance. Its passive DEATH executes enemy champions if the carrier deals post-mitigation damage that would leave them below 5% of their maximum health — the target is immediately killed rather than left alive at low HP. DEATH deals raw damage and does not trigger spell effects. It is not blocked by spell shields. The passive cannot be triggered by Energized effects (bug), zero-damage instances, or parried basic attacks. DEATH is special-cased to not affect Kled while he is mounted (Kled’s Skaarl prevents the execution). The second passive TAXES grants +25 bonus gold on each champion kill. The Collector is the definitive snowball execute item for crit-lethality ADCs and assassins who need a reliable low-HP kill confirmation — the 5% execute threshold converts any nearly-dead champion into a guaranteed kill, eliminating the risk of trading, flashing, or item-healing them back above the execution threshold. Limited to 1 The Collector per player. Keywords: deathblade, gun, lethality.

The Collector is a Legendary-tier item available on Summoner’s Rift (5v5), ARAM, Nexus Blitz, and Arena. Categorized under Marksman, Assassin, Attack Damage, Critical Strike, and Armor Penetration menus. ID 6676. Limited to 1 The Collector per player. Sell value: 2100 gold. Arena stats: +45 AD (SR: +50), +12 Lethality (SR: +10), TAXES grants +125 gold per kill (SR: +25).

📊 Stats at a Glance

💡 What ‚5% Maximum Health Execute‘ Actually Means in Practice: The DEATH execute triggers when the post-mitigation damage of any hit would reduce the target below 5% of their maximum health — not exactly at 5%, but any damage event that crosses that threshold. At 2000 max HP: the threshold is 100 HP. If the target is at 150 HP and receives any post-mitigation damage of 51+, DEATH fires and kills them instantly. The execution is not reactive to the damage amount — it doesn’t require a large hit to trigger. A single auto-attack’s base physical damage, if enough to cross the 5% floor, is sufficient to trigger DEATH. Against 3000 HP targets: the threshold is 150 HP. Against 5000 HP tanks: 250 HP. Higher target HP means a larger absolute HP window where execution fires, making The Collector more valuable against HP-stacking targets than it initially appears.

💡 TAXES +25 Gold Per Kill — The Long Game Accumulation: TAXES grants 25 bonus gold on each champion kill — not just the standard 300 kill gold, but an additional 25 on top. Over a 30-kill high-CS game where the ADC secures 8 champion kills: TAXES provides 200 bonus gold — approximately two-thirds of a Long Sword. This is modest compared to the item’s offensive stats, but meaningful in games where the gold lead from snowballing is how the item pays for itself beyond its base stats. In Arena, TAXES grants 125 bonus gold per kill — dramatically higher, making The Collector a significant gold generation engine in that format.

🔨 Recipe & Build Path

💡 The Unique Stat Profile — Crit + Lethality on One Item: The Collector is the only Legendary item in the game that simultaneously provides crit strike chance AND lethality. Every other crit item (Infinity Edge, Kraken Slayer, Galeforce) provides no lethality. Every other lethality item (Youmuu’s, Voltaic, Umbral Glaive) provides no crit. The Collector bridges these two damage archetypes in a single item slot — enabling builds that previously required choosing between the two. ADCs who want crit AND lethality penetration to deal with lightly-armored enemies can now achieve both from one item, using the remaining build slots for pure crit or utility rather than splitting across both stat types.

💡 Component Priority: Serrated Dirk (1000g) is the standard first-back component — it provides early lethality and AD for kill pressure and establishes the Collector’s lethality contribution from the first back. Against tankier early-game opponents where crit-scaling is more important, Cloak of Agility (600g) or a second Long Sword to rush the AD total can shift the order. Pickaxe (875g) is the pure AD accelerator — no lethality or crit, just AD for raw damage output during the laning phase. The 525g combine is moderate — plan the full Collector completion at approximately minute 13–16 depending on CS and kills.

⚡ Passive Effects

UNIQUE Passive — DEATH (Execute)

EFFECT: If the carrier deals post-mitigation damage that would leave a champion below 5% of their maximum health, that champion is immediately executed. DEATH deals raw damage, is not blocked by spell shields, and does not trigger spell effects. It cannot be triggered by Energized effects (documented bug), zero-damage instances, or parried basic attacks. Kled is specially excluded from DEATH while mounted.

💡 Post-Mitigation Calculation — What the Threshold Actually Checks: DEATH checks post-mitigation damage — meaning the damage after armor and MR reductions have been applied. The item checks: would the remaining HP after this hit be below 5% max HP? If yes, DEATH fires. Against a 3000 HP target with 100 armor (50% physical damage modifier): a 250 physical damage auto deals 125 effective damage after armor. If the target is at 200 HP: 200 – 125 = 75 remaining HP. 5% of 3000 = 150. 75 < 150 — DEATH executes. If the target is at 170 HP: 170 – 125 = 45 remaining HP. 45 < 150 — DEATH also executes. The key understanding: the execution threshold (150 HP at 3000 max HP) is a fixed floor for the entire fight — any damage that takes the target below that floor kills them instantly, regardless of how small the damage is.

⚠️ The Kled Special Case — Skaarl Mounted Immunity: DEATH is special-cased to not affect Kled while he is mounted (riding Skaarl). When Kled is mounted, he is technically at HP values above his dismounted threshold — the design intention is that Skaarl provides a separate HP layer that Kled’s executes should not bypass. Once Kled is dismounted (Skaarl has fled), DEATH functions normally against Kled’s personal HP bar. In practice: against a mounted Kled at very low Skaarl HP, The Collector does not execute him at the Skaarl-riding HP. Stripping Skaarl’s HP to dismount Kled first, then dealing damage, does allow DEATH to fire against Kled’s personal bar.

⚠️ Energized Effects Bug — FIRMAMENT and Statikk Shiv Cannot Proc DEATH: This is a documented bug as of the current patch — Energized effects (the bonus damage from FIRMAMENT on Voltaic Cyclosword, Statikk Shiv’s lightning, Galeforce’s DREAMSHATTER) cannot trigger the DEATH execution even if their damage would take the target below 5% HP. A target sitting at exactly 4% HP would survive a FIRMAMENT true damage hit of 104 because the Energized damage source is excluded from DEATH’s trigger check. Plan execute timing around non-Energized damage sources — standard ability hits, regular physical autos, DoTs — when the target is at very low HP and the DEATH threshold is near.

UNIQUE Passive — TAXES

EFFECT: Killing a champion grants +25 bonus gold (SR) or +125 bonus gold (Arena) in addition to standard kill gold. TAXES is passive — no action required beyond securing the kill.

🎯 Who Should Buy This Item

Champion Archetypes

• Crit ADCs Who Want Lethality Access Without a Second Item: Traditional crit ADCs (Jinx, Tristana, Miss Fortune) buy exclusively crit items and lack lethality to penetrate lightly-armored targets early. The Collector provides 25% crit + 10 lethality on one item, enabling the ADC to deal with both squishy lightly-armored targets (lethality helps) and tanks (crit for raw physical volume) from a single purchase. Previously, accessing both damage archetypes required two item slots — The Collector compresses this into one.
• Lethality Assassins Who Need Kill Confirmation: Burst assassins (Zed, Talon, Kha’Zix) whose damage rotation sometimes leaves targets alive at 2–8% HP benefit from The Collector’s execute as a kill confirmation tool. The DEATH passive converts every nearly-successful assassination into a guaranteed kill — the gap between ‚close kill‘ and ‚clean kill‘ is closed by the 5% execution threshold. Against high-HP targets who survive the burst rotation at low HP and then use a defensive ability (Stopwatch, Barrier), DEATH fires on any subsequent damage hit if the target is still below 5% after the defensive active expires.
• Snowball ADCs and Assassins in Composition-Dominant Metas: TAXES accelerates the gold lead from a winning position. A kill-securing The Collector carrier generates +25g per kill on SR — over 10 kills, that is +250g, enough to partially fund the next component. Combined with the execute threshold guaranteeing kills that might otherwise be denied by enemy defensive items, The Collector is the optimal snowball item for champions who expect to enter the mid-game with multiple kills and want to turn kill participation directly into item acceleration.

Specific Champion Examples

⏰ When to Buy

As a First Item

First item The Collector is correct on lethality assassins who want early crit access and on ADCs whose first-item power spike is kill confirmation. Zed, Talon, and Kha’Zix who rush The Collector have 50 AD + 10 lethality + 25% crit from their first completed Legendary — the crit is suboptimal early for assassins who don’t have a crit synergy kit, but the AD and lethality are competitive. For ADCs like Draven and Jhin, first item The Collector is a frequently correct choice because the execute guarantees kills during the first powerspike window where the ADC is dealing burst damage and needs reliable kill conversion.

As a Second Item — After Establishing Crit or Lethality Foundation

Second item The Collector is the most common timing for ADCs building a hybrid crit-lethality profile. After a first item that establishes the primary damage path (Kraken Slayer for on-hit, Infinity Edge for crit amplification, Youmuu’s for pure lethality), The Collector second adds the complementary stat type — lethality to a crit build, or crit to a lethality build — plus the execute confirmation. At second item completion, the 5% execute threshold fires against targets who have been poked down through the laning phase and are susceptible to burst below the floor.

When NOT to Buy

Skip The Collector against full-tank compositions where the primary targets have 4000+ HP and armor stacking makes lethality inefficient — 10 lethality provides minimal penetration against 200+ armor targets, and crit’s value lies in physical damage volume which armor still reduces. For pure tank-shredding roles, Kraken Slayer (on-hit percent current HP) and Lord Dominik’s Regards (% armor penetration) provide more effective damage against tanks than The Collector’s combination. Also skip in compositions where consistent sustained DPS outperforms burst-kill-confirm — the execute threshold is a kill-securing tool, not a sustained damage source.

💡 Synergies

Best Paired Items

• Infinity Edge: Infinity Edge requires 60% crit to activate its 35% bonus crit damage amplification. The Collector’s 25% crit contributes toward that 60% threshold. With The Collector (25%) + two other crit items (25% + 25% from Galeforce + Runaan’s, for example): total crit approaches or reaches 75%, fully activating IE’s bonus. The Collector solves a crit-threshold gap — IE buyers who need 60%+ crit can use The Collector as one of the crit sources while additionally gaining lethality penetration and the execute passive.
• Youmuu’s Ghostblade: Youmuu’s provides +55 AD + 18 lethality + WRAITH STEP mobility. Combined with The Collector: +105 total AD, +28 lethality, +25% crit, WRAITH STEP, DEATH execute, TAXES. This is the highest combined AD + lethality + crit + mobility on any two-item combination for physical damage dealers. Youmuu’s WRAITH STEP closes the gap to the target; The Collector’s DEATH confirms the kill. The combination is particularly strong on mobile assassins (Zed, Kha’Zix, Talon) where the two items solve both the approach problem (WRAITH STEP) and the kill-confirmation problem (DEATH).
• Galeforce: Galeforce provides 20% crit and its active DREAMSHATTER dash deals physical damage. Combined with The Collector: 45% combined crit — approaching the 60% IE threshold with one more crit item. Galeforce’s DREAMSHATTER can theoretically trigger DEATH if the dash’s physical damage takes the target below 5% HP, though Energized effects (if DREAMSHATTER is categorized as such) may interact with the documented Energized bug. Galeforce also provides the repositioning dash to create safe positioning for the execute auto after abilities.
• Navori Flickerblade: Navori reduces non-ultimate ability cooldowns on crit hits. The Collector’s 25% crit contributes to the crit-frequency that drives Navori’s CD reduction — on champions with multiple short-cooldown abilities (Caitlyn Headshot, Jinx Flame Chompers), each crit through The Collector’s 25% chance accelerates the Navori ability reduction cycle. The combination creates an ability-spam ADC playstyle where each crit hit reduces the next ability’s CD, generating a faster burst rotation that brings the target into DEATH threshold range more quickly.

Champion & Ability Synergies

• Jhin 4th Shot + DEATH execute timing: Jhin’s 4th Whisper shot deals increased physical damage scaling off crit chance (each 1% crit = 0.4% bonus 4th shot damage). The Collector’s 25% crit contributes 10% bonus 4th shot damage on top of base. More importantly, if a target is below 5% HP when Jhin fires his 4th shot and the shot’s post-mitigation damage would take them below 5% (which at this point is guaranteed if they’re already at 5%), DEATH fires from the 4th shot’s damage event — the execute confirmation is built into the most powerful single hit in Jhin’s rotation.
• Draven TAXES + Whirling Death + Blood Rush compound: Draven’s unique passive grants him stacks of Adoration from catching axes and killing minions, converting to bonus gold on kills proportional to stacks. TAXES adds 25 additional gold on top of the Adoration conversion. Against a Draven player who has maintained 50+ Adoration stacks through a full lane phase, a kill provides: standard 300 kill gold + Adoration conversion gold + TAXES 25 gold. Every kill Draven secures during a snowball window is worth substantially more than the base 300g — The Collector amplifies this gold generation by adding a flat bonus to an already gold-rich kill event.
• Kha’Zix Void Assault re-engagement + DEATH: Kha’Zix’s assassination pattern often involves burst combo, Void Assault re-stealth, then leap re-engagement. The DEATH passive converts many of these re-engage attempts from ‚necessary to finish the kill‘ to ‚optional for other threats‘ — if the initial burst rotation brought the target to below 5% HP, DEATH fires on the next standard auto or damage hit without requiring the full second rotation. Kha’Zix’s Void Assault charges can therefore be saved for repositioning or escaping rather than spending them for a second burst attempt that DEATH makes unnecessary.
• Caitlyn Headshot crit into execute: Caitlyn’s Headshot (passive empowered auto from brush or after traps) deals 150–250% AD bonus crit physical damage. With The Collector’s 25% crit, Headshots that crit deal massive physical damage in a single hit — and if that single Headshot crit takes the target below 5% HP, DEATH executes immediately. Against squishy targets in the early-mid game where Caitlyn’s Headshot from max range deals 70-80% of a squishy’s HP, the remaining 20-30% margin makes 5% execute threshold a meaningful range where DEATH confirms the kill that the Headshot alone couldn’t fully secure.

❌ Common Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

• Expecting DEATH to fire from Energized effects: The documented bug means FIRMAMENT (Voltaic Cyclosword), Statikk Shiv lightning, and similar Energized effects cannot trigger DEATH even when their damage would cross the 5% threshold. Building Voltaic Cyclosword + The Collector with the intention of using FIRMAMENT’s slow proc to also execute low-HP targets creates a timing gap — the FIRMAMENT proc fires, doesn’t execute despite the target being at 4% HP, and the target can still flash or use a defensive item before the follow-up auto fires DEATH from the standard damage event. Use standard ability damage or regular auto-attacks as the intended DEATH trigger.
• Using The Collector as a primary tank-shredding item: 10 lethality is not a significant armor penetration source against 200+ armor tanks. Against a Malphite at 200 armor, 10 lethality reduces effective armor to 190 — approximately 5% more physical damage gets through. The Collector’s value against tanks is the execute threshold (which is higher in absolute HP at 5000 max HP = 250 HP floor) combined with the ADC’s ability damage volume. For pure tank-shredding, Lord Dominik’s Regards (% armor penetration against high-HP targets) provides dramatically more effective physical damage against tanks than The Collector’s flat 10 lethality.
• Not accounting for the Kled mounted immunity in matchups: Against Kled in top lane, DEATH does not execute him while he is mounted on Skaarl. A Kled at 6% HP riding Skaarl appears to be in execute range — The Collector will not execute him at that HP until Skaarl flees and Kled is dismounted. Against Kled, the execute window is only available during his dismounted state (when Kled is at low HP without Skaarl). Build the kill attempt around stripping Skaarl’s HP first, then dealing damage to Kled’s personal bar below the 5% threshold after dismount.
• Misunderstanding how the 5% threshold scales with max HP: At 2000 max HP: DEATH fires below 100 HP. At 5000 max HP: DEATH fires below 250 HP. Higher max HP = larger absolute HP window for execute. Against a Cho’Gath at 8000 max HP: DEATH fires below 400 HP — a meaningful 400 HP window that makes the execution relevant even when the target is technically at 4.9% HP with 392 remaining. Against squishy 1800 HP supports: DEATH fires below 90 HP — a very narrow window. The Collector is proportionally more valuable against high-HP targets than against squishies, counterintuitively.
• Forgetting TAXES and not accounting for the gold in item planning: TAXES‘ +25 gold per kill is small per-instance but adds up over a full game. After 10 kills, +250 gold is nearly a Long Sword’s worth of free gold from The Collector alone. In item planning, this gold should be mentally factored as ‚The Collector partially pays for itself through kills‘ — making it slightly more gold-efficient than its 3000g sticker price against kill-securing ADCs. Against players who rarely secure kills (more assists than kills), TAXES provides less value, and a pure-stat item at comparable cost becomes relatively more efficient.

⚔️ Counter Items & Playing Against The Collector

Avoiding the Execute Threshold

• Barrier / Heal Summoner Spell — Spike Above 5%: Barrier instantly provides a shield that increases effective HP, potentially pushing the target above the 5% execute threshold. If a target is at exactly 4% HP and Barrier adds a 200 HP shield, their effective HP is now above 5% of their combined base + shield HP — DEATH may not fire against the temporary effective HP total. Timing Barrier when the target is in the 5–10% HP range creates a window where the execute threshold is pushed above the incoming damage, preventing DEATH from triggering until the Barrier expires.
• Stopwatch / Zhonya’s Hourglass: Stasis during the burst window that would trigger DEATH prevents the execute-triggering hit from landing. If the burst rotation has not yet crossed the 5% threshold when stasis is activated, the 2.5-second invulnerability window allows the target to exit stasis above 5% HP — preventing DEATH until the next damage hit. If the target is already below 5% HP when stasis is activated, the next damage hit after stasis ends triggers DEATH — stasis does not permanently prevent the execute, only delays the hit that would trigger it.
• Lifesteal Above the Threshold Between Hits: If the target has significant life steal or omnivamp and heals back above 5% HP between hits, DEATH does not fire on the heal-recovered HP. This is unreliable as counterplay since it requires healing from below 5% to above 5% in the gap between hits — but champions with Bloodthirster or extremely high omnivamp who proc lifesteal healing from the same attack sequence may theoretically recover above the threshold before the next DEATH-eligible damage hit arrives.

FAQ

Q: Does DEATH execute fire on DOT damage (poison, bleed) at low HP?

A: Yes — DEATH fires on any post-mitigation damage instance that would take the target below 5% maximum HP, including damage over time effects like Singed Poison Trail, Teemo Toxic Shot, Noxious Blast DoT. If a DoT tick deals damage to a target already at 5.1% HP and the tick’s post-mitigation damage crosses the floor, DEATH executes. This means The Collector carrier can apply a DoT effect and let it tick for the execute rather than needing to manually deal the final hit — practical on champions who combine auto-attacks (applying The Collector) with DoT abilities that could theoretically deliver the final crossing hit.

Q: Can two champions both have The Collector on the same team?

A: No — The Collector is limited to 1 per player, meaning each individual player can only carry one The Collector. However, multiple players on the same team can each independently own The Collector — the limitation is per-player, not per-team. A Zed mid + Draven ADC can both build The Collector and both have independent DEATH passive executions firing on their respective targets. In compositions where both the jungler and ADC expect to be primary kill secures, two The Collector owners on the same team is a fully legal configuration.

Q: Does DEATH work on structures (turrets)?

A: No — DEATH’s execute is specifically conditioned on champion targets. Structures (turrets, inhibitors, Nexus) are not champions and do not have the champion-type classification that DEATH checks. TAXES also only grants bonus gold on champion kills, not on structure destruction. The Collector is purely a champion-versus-champion item — its passives provide no structural damage benefit beyond the raw +50 AD from its stat line.

Q: Does DEATH fire on kill-secured abilities that already deal massive damage (like Zed Death Mark)?A: Yes — if Death Mark’s detonation damage (which can deal 40%+ of the target’s max HP) would take the target from above 5% to below 5% HP in the single detonation event, DEATH fires from that damage instance. The execute doesn’t require the target to already be below 5% — it fires on any damage event that crosses the threshold. A Zed Death Mark detonation at 200% total damage on a target at 8% HP who would be reduced to 3% by the detonation triggers DEATH — even though the detonation itself would have killed them anyway. In practice, this means the execute confirmation is redundant on one-shot rotations but crucial when the burst rotation leaves the target at 4–6% HP and the enemy team can heal or shield.